3.3 Shree Krishna – Nowhere to goMy name is Shree Krishna Shrestha. I am 22 years old. I am from a village in Rolpa district. I left my house at the age of 13. I had to leave my village because of the Maoists.
Our family was very poor. My parents used to work as daily-wage laborers. We had to travel a long distance to buy goods. My parents used to work as porters for others, traveling long distances on foot. I used to go with them and help carry the goods. With the little money they earned, they had to meet all the household expenses. We did not get to wear new clothes even during Dashain. There were many problems at home. Some people from our village went to the city to make money. My parents often spoke of neighbors who brought back a lot of money from the city.
One day, my parents sent me to the city with a neighbor. They wanted me to earn some money. I also felt that I could earn something in the city. We walked for two days to come to Pokhara. The journey was long, and it was very difficult for me to walk. We couldn’t find much food on the way, so we walked on an empty stomach. By the time we arrived in Pokhara, my legs were aching badly. In Pokhara, I got a job of a dish-washer at a hotel. They gave me two meals a day. I needed to work very hard, but they didn’t pay me. During my stay in Pokhara, I met some boys my age. They told me that more money could be earned in Kathmandu than in Pokhara. So I also felt tempted to go to Kathmandu.
One day, I took the night bus to Kathmandu. They didn’t even ask me for the fare. Maybe it was because I was little. The next morning, I arrived at the new bus park in Kathmandu. But I knew nothing about the city, as it was my first visit. I was confused. I went looking for work around the bus park hotels and finally got a job at one of those hotels as a dish- washer. At first, the hotel owner treated me well. But later on, he started abusing me. He gave me the food but not the money. He said he would pay me when it was time for me to return home. Slowly, I got to know Kathmandu and also a few people.
After some time, I escaped from that hotel and I started working for another hotel in Lagankhel. After I worked there for some months, they also treated me badly. This hotel was like a hub for drivers and conductors of most vehicles. I knew most of them. I went with one of the drivers I knew and started working as a tempo conductor. When I was doing this work, I got to meet with many young conductors like me and boys who slept on the streets. As a conductor, I couldn’t find a place to sleep. The driver took the tempo home with him, which meant that I couldn’t sleep inside the vehicle. I ended up sleeping on the streets, together with other friends. I saw that these boys were earning money by collecting and selling waste plastic. This looked like an easy job to me, so I also started collecting plastic. I have been doing this work for eight years now.
After coming to Kathmandu, I missed my parents very much. So I once went home, covering a journey of two days on foot. My parents were thrilled to see me after such a long time. One day, six Maoists came to our house and told me to go with them. I refused. They threatened to kill my parents if I didn’t go. I feared for my parents’ lives, so I went with them. They tied me up for four days without telling me the reason. They even beat me up and didn’t feed me properly. On the fourth day, they released me on the condition that I would not leave the village. When I returned home, my parents advised me against staying in the village. Once again, I returned to Kathmandu via Pokhara. I could not find an easier job. I resumed the same old job of collecting waste plastic and returned to street life with my friends. I wanted to become a driver. But one needs a citizenship certificate in order to obtain a driving license. I didn’t have a citizenship certificate. I couldn’t have gone back to my village to have my citizenship certificate made, and I couldn’t have it issued from Kathmandu.
Street life is full of hardships. The police as well as hooligans trouble the street children. They take away even the little money that these children make. One must bear all kinds of weathers, heat and chill, while living on the streets.
At the beginning, I felt like returning to the village because of the hardship in the city. But I couldn’t possibly go back since there were chances that the Maoists would abduct boys like me. I had nowhere else to go other than the street. So I continued to live on the streets.