It was 2072. Another new year had arrived with new hopes, new ambitions, and new resolutions. On the first of Baisakh, I went to Chobhar with a group of my relatives. Many people were there for New Year celebration. Many families had come for picnic, and many teenage couples had come for a date. Everything about the day was pleasant, except for the sun that was hiding behind the clouds. Despite the gloominess I thought it was going to be a great year.

The following days were made up of academic pressure of grade 12 for me. I was studying for my finals. With exams approaching, I was growing more nervous by the day. And then arrived Baisakh 12, the day everything changed.

The weather was gloomy, just like on the first; the warmth of sun was nowhere to be found. Looking at the weather, I had decided to drop my plan of bathing. I would focus on physics all day long instead. I remember I was reading the Hubble’s Law, the law of expansion of the universe; when it arrived. I couldn’t tell what was happening. Everything was moving, everything was shaking. I could hear people screaming and crying. An earthquake had hit us and it was going to change a lot of things.

Later that day I learnt that many heritage sites had been devastated. Dharahara that I had visited only a week ago had been brought down to rubbles. That day many hopes, ambitions, resolutions ended with many lives. The country was painted in the shades of loss—some lost their home, others loved their loved ones, some lost their confidence, others lost their desire to live. 

Fear took over those who survived. People like me started living in constant fear. The few open spaces in the Valley and elsewhere were now crowded with people from all over. Even those who had roof to stay under were sleeping under the open sky.

My family and I also slept three nights under the open sky. We drank bottled water, ate packaged food and woke up after every aftershock. We endured mosquito bites and light rain storms. It all felt like a nightmare.

Two years have passed ever since. Two years is a long time for reconstruction, and it’s a long time for resurrection. But the government has not taken solid steps to make things better. Many people and locales have not moved on from their state of two years back. So many families are still living in make-shift shelters, living from hand to mouth.

I don’t want to ever go back to the unfortunate day, but the reminders are everywhere.

Acharya is a student at Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus