Komal
I have been seeing the nature of my village changing day after day. The stones I used to play with are disappearing, the forests I used to see are thinning, hills bigger than the roads are falling everywhere, while the streams are disappearing, the rivers are getting bigger. It seems to me—how does change seek to transform the natural form into a new one? Is change just the arbitrary expansion of roads, buildings and markets? Or is it a process that takes us further away from our connection with nature?
No matter how beautiful my village was, living a traditional lifestyle, it was considered incomplete until it was touched by modernity. My village is located in the Chure-Bhawar area of the former Yangshila (Kerabari Rural Municipality), which lies between the Mahabharata and the Terai. These stones, rivers and forests were not just objects for me, they were the basis of life and culture. We grew up with them, we lived as a part of them.
While I am constantly being told that I should leave the village for a brighter future, and if possible, leave the country, I am repeatedly returning to my own village. I am looking at the appearance of my village that I knew before and the appearance it has today.