I met Bhawana who is next door neighbor of my brother number five. Because he is the youngest almost five brothers, so I made a point to mention this here. He lives in Madhavpur Chitwan. I always wanted to know what is the reason I [we] land up in Bal Mandir. the question that nagged me was, is this the death of our mother or the flood that dispersed our family of seven ?
In our society its regarded that the birth of daughters brings bad omen to a family however at the same time the family which don't have a single woman also dooms or dispersed. But ironically; my society gives more importance to the bad omen part not the doom part. In the family of seven and being the only daughter and the youngest one in the family after the death of mother, there was no one to work as a super glue to bind the family so the question persisted in my head.
For a long time, I thought no one knows the answer, but it so happened that the father of Bhawana knew our father; because they were neighbors, when the flood swept the area. Although, Bhawana also had lost her father long time back yet she did remembered the talk of our father so. It was the flood that had dispersed the family than the death of the mother the only person to take care of six children. With that single flood almost all of us landed in Bal Mandir, only the father and the oldest son was left behind.
So, the question is; who rescues us from the misery of cruel flood ? When I wanted to find more one name stood tall in this matter and that name happened to be a royal member. All I know about her name is as Myli Maharani alos knows as princess Shah. She was the social worker in true sense, who used to visit across Nepal and then find family in need of help children and then she used to take each of them to the Bal Mandir.
Junkiri who hails from Dang tells me that Myli Maharani was the person, behind the scene she and her younger sister found themselves in Bal Mandir. Her mother was abandoned by her father due to case reason only when he had five children from her. Do I need to say more that, her mother was pregnant with her fifth child when he left her to marry with another woman. you can read about her full story in my earlier post locked up or shadow of a ghost.
My case was different. I was the victim of flood that swept the village. as mentioned above the person who took me and my four other siblings to Bal Mandir was Myli Maharani. Unlike Junkiri who knows that who took her to Bal Mandir, I was too young to know all this fact, but I wanted to know about it, once I grew up. I was only about three years old at that time and was the youngest one in the plight. You can read the full story of my condition in, I am not alone and with love from God.
Then I heard about Parthana a woman, who used to stay in the same apartment where a friend of mine used to stay. She too was one of those ‘needy one’ who had received help from Myli Maharani. I would like to mention here one thing, she never had stayed in any children home, but just a group of a small community of a village within the ring road area. There they were provided the food we used to eat in Bal Mandir.
This particular incident do have power to tell me a different story than what we used to think of the royals at times, we thought they stole things from us and the reality who know would have been like this. Therefore, I think there should be always enough at one place, so that that somebody can think of providing it to someone who needs it more than we can consume it.
Unlike other royal member - ladies only who used to take active part in social work rather than men from royal family - Myli Maharani was not the lady we used to see her in this or that occasion during many functions that used to take place in in Bal Mandir during my childhood days. May be she used to be there in every functions, but I was just too young and careless child to keep an eye on her. But the fact remains, Bal Mandir was the result of all royal members and not one particular member. Different individual played different role that suited them perfectly. One thing for sure, what I remember about this kind lady , she was the wife of middle brother of King Mahendra. In my vague memory, she was an obese lady, compared to our Nepali size. When I say Nepali size it undoubtedly means lean, thin and hungry face. Interestingly, it seemed that despite she being huge size, she liked going out there in the remote places in search for the family in need whose children needed help.
I have heard that she was the most sensitive in the family as well as lighthearted at the same time. It seems to me that he the angel for children in need like one of those in fairy tale stories ? or she was just another representative of the royal family, who was needed to go out in the villages and then find the needy children to provide better them better education and future by keeping them in Bal Mandir.
I was still in Bal Mandir when I have heard the news of her death. May be she must have died around in 1986 and the reason of her death was heart attack. During that time I do remember one thing, some big boys in Bal Mandir had huddled in a group to read the news of her death. Some said that her obesity had direct connection with her health and death heart attack. She may have died long time back, but she will never die in her good work and in our heart. Her golden heart and work will keep her alive forever !
No comments:
Post a Comment