You weren’t around to experience the Great Quake first hand. What was your reaction to the disaster?

The situation was horrifying: you are in a foreign land, you hear about the devastating situation back in your country, you are out of contact and there is nothing you can do to help out.

I came in contact with my family and friends three days after the quake. The situation was excessively stressful for me. I would surf the TV channels and all I could see was visuals of destroyed houses and casualties. I thought nothing was left and that Nepal was destroyed in its entirety. I didn’t attend the closing ceremony of the festival, as I was very much worried.

What did you do next?

I wanted to come back Nepal as soon as possible. My return flight, which was scheduled a day after the quake got cancelled so I had to wait for a week before I could comeback. This added to the anxiety and stress.

I finally I landed in Nepal just three days before the second big quake that hit on May 12.  Coming here, I found out that the situation was not as intense as I had thought it was.

You experienced the second quake. What was your reaction?  

I wasn’t here during the first quake. And when the second struck, I didn’t run away. I was already in a safe location so I observed the movement of the earth. I wanted to feel it; I kept my eyes open, listened to the sound and looked around very cautiously. Once the quake was over, I felt dizzy. My body felt rather uncomfortable.

You are originally from Bara. How has the quake affected your hometown?

After I got back to Kathmandu, my family kept calling me to come back home. I had some work here with Mandala theatre.  After the second quake, I came to know that my house in Gadhimai Municipality, ward-15, was badly cracked. We have a two-storey houses there. I stayed for a week, demolished the first floor, reconstructed it and came back to Kathmandu. Almost all the houses in my village have sustained damage of similar nature. Luckily, no casualties were reported there.

Did you involve yourself in relief work thereafter?

Before my arrival, the Mandala theatre group had been doing relief works. Our entire group had been involved. My friends Dayahang Rai and Som Nath Khanal were coordinating the campaign. Five people from our own group had been rendered homeless due to the quake. Our team had gone to their villages, distributed relief material and had been involved in reconstruction there. I myself went to Sindupalchok, the most affected area, and helped the quake victims rebuild their homes.

What plans does Mandala Theatre have for the future?

Right now, we are working on a new play. Dayahang will be performing the directional duties. The script has been penned by Dayahang and Som Nath. The play will see actors playing various animals and is a metaphorical take on a real issue. After staging the play, we have plans on working with newer concepts as well as experimenting with various forms.  We have already figured out what we will be doing in the next 12 months and have divided the projects into different phases.

We have also decided to do something for the children and are looking to stage dramas for them on a regular basis. Through the plays, we want to help them forget the traumatic situation they have been forced to live through.

Other than that, the team at Mandala will be travelling, as a mobile theatre group, to the quake affected areas in the country.

Our primary focus will be to express in newer ways, in newer forms.

So, we are looking for theatre artists from other countries who can help us develop fresh ideas and concepts.

What do you think is the most challenging thing for Nepalis theatre in the coming days?

Nepali theatre was going through a slow revival; we were able to help create a theatre culture here in the past two years.

But after the quake, all the progress has been lost and we are back to square one.

Nepali artists will now have to live through a difficult survival phase.

A way out would be to build the people’s confidence, and assure them that our

theatre halls are safe to spend time in.  

At the moment, our primary concern is food, shelter and security. Many of us are tormented mentally and are still trying to recover.