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ठूला ठूला महल दिनेछौं भन्नेहरु
आज तिनै ठूला ठूला महलका मालिक भएछन्

भष्ट्राचार सामन्तवाद र्निमुल गर्छु भन्नेहरु
आज तिनै भष्ट्राचारी र सामन्ती भएकाछन्

देश र जनताका लागि मर्छु भन्नेहरु
आज तिनै जनता पो मार्न भएछन्

ठूला ठूला सपना र आश्वसान बाटनेहरु
आज आफ्नै सपना र आकांक्षा पुर्ति गर्न भएछन्

शहिदको महिमा र गुनगान गाउनेहरु
आज तिनीहरुको मार्गदर्शन कुलचिने भएछन्

जनता जनता सङ्गर्घ सङ्गर्घ भन्नेहरु
आज नातावाद विलासीपनमा रमने भएछन्

देश जनता परिवर्तन क्रान्ति गर्छु भन्नेहरु
आज आफ्नै बचाउ पो गर्न भएछन्

ठूला ठूला महल दिनेछौं भन्नेहरु
आज तिनै ठूला ठूला महलका मालिक भएछन्

Baneshwor is one of the most busiest and crowded area of the Kathmandu
Valley. When you go to Baneshwor in the evening time you can feel the energy in the atmosphere. You can find all sorts of people out there- People from Mechi to Mahakali, people from Himalayas to people from terrai, peoples possessing Mercedes to a disable beggar who does not even have two square meals a day to eat and a set of clothes to cover his body. You can also find a hawker shouting on top of his voice to sell his goods; to a lousy shopkeeper listening to music and waiting for the customer to come. You can also smell the aroma of the Bar-b-quee from a "Sekuwa corner" which like an lasso ties you by your neck and pulls you toward it. You can also find a 5 year old kid arguing with his unwilling mother to buy him some toys to a housewife vigorously bargaining with a vegetable seller to reduce the price of the vegetables by one rupee.

It seemed as if the whole crowd was in a great hurry and had got some mission to accomplish. For the housewife, her ultimate mission was to reduce price of the vegetable by one rupee. And for the 5 year old kid his ultimate aim was to persuade his mom to by him a toy. And for the people of the sekuwa corner, their aim was to attract some costumers to have their sekuwa. Similarly every one in the crowd had some thing running in their head and had some mission to accomplish.

But on the other hand you can also find another group of people – People like me, people who have come to Baneshwor just to enjoy, have fun or just to stroll and stretch their legs. There in Baneshwor you can also find few senior citizens keenly observing the happening around them and an expression of unsatisfaction is written large on their face towards the present world and towards the younger generation. You can also find group of people in front of a "PAN SHOP" trying to socialize with each other and talking about political issues. You can also find a group of junkies at their junction discussing about the latest gang war in which they were involved. And so on, all of them on their own.

These are the regular happening of the Baneshwor area. And this evening was also similar to other usual evening of the Baneshwor. The atmosphere was full of energy. Though the area was every crowded and noisy, but I enjoyed it a lot. The sound produced by the engine of the vehicles, the horns blown by the vehicles and the shouting of the hawkers in a combination sounded like a heavy metal song and I felt like I was in the wood stock•. Every thing was going fine. But suddenly this rhythm was broken. "BOOM" a loud sound was heard. Every body started to run and screams of the people could be heard, "Bomb-Bomb" people started to shout. I also ran along with the crowd. Then again, I heard some people shouting "Do not run, Do not- run; it's not a bomb, it was just a balloon". Every body stopped running and started to laugh at themselves though their eyes were still filled with fear and terror. Within few minutes everything again came back to normal but a sense of insecurity was prevailing in the atmosphere.

After that incident my head became heavy and many questions started to echo in my brain. I asked to myself- What is responsible for creating such kind of insecurity in the hearts of the people? Are we being deprived of our right to live in peace? Till when we have to run after the rumors? With all these questions in my head, I went back to my home.


written by:Bipashwi Nath Uprety (2003/4)