A heavy slap, slapped my cheek. It was my mum. A mighty slap that came with a roar, “You spoilt brat! What are you doing? Don’t you have to study?” I was flabbergasted. 

I was in a rather jolly mood. I had just completed my re-scheduled exam, which was postponed due to the acute fuel shortage. I had hurriedly come back home to sit and watch my favourite show, Motu Patlu. While flipping through channels, suddenly, my eyes fell onto something. It was Kantipur TV. I heard a loud voice speaking on a platform in Tundikhel and it made me laugh. Not the voice, but what it said. Well, what it said was, ‘’I will rather pedal, but not surrender’’. It was Prachanda. Now, you could be thinking why I laughed. It’s actually quite simple. But for that let me take you to the past. 

It was Asoj 3, the day we got our Constitution. I too was rejoicing: shouting infront of BICC Hall. It was great that we finally got our constitution, but who do we thank? Our ‘priya neta jyus’, who are alwaysin the favour of citizens?

A simple tourist who visitsMadhesright now could tell you that it has been more than 125 days of this ongoing ‘blockade’. Think about the children who are, instead of watchingNickelodeon, watching kicks, braving curfews, bullets and pistols, hurling stones, pebbles, and raising voices against corruption and our shameless leaders. What had the people asked for? Surely not a Taj Mahal to be built in Janakpur or Birgunj. They had simply requested their demands to be addressed in the Constitution, but who would listen to them?

The day I was rejoicing, people were dying; when we were lighting fire crackers, they were in blackouts. When the sky was simmering, they were mourning. Our politicians think that if they fulfill the demands of Madhes, the Madhesis will be aware of their political rights. They too will start rising and want power. There is no cooking gas, no fuel and no electricity and our Prime Minister, instead of doing his job, has started selling firewood. 

And, what do our politicians tell us? To eat as less as we can, and not to use the gas too much. What are we supposed to do now? Live like people from the Stone Age? Eat what we farm? Collect dry leaves, two stones, and leave all your work aside and start making fire? When the whole world is taking two steps forward every day, why are we taking three steps backwards?

All I want to say is: why are we not raising our voice against this kind of tyranny? When there used to be a slight price hike in petrol; there would be all sorts of bandhs back in the day. Now, it has already been more than 125 days, and yet no action has been taken.

The solution lies in our own hand, not these pigheaded leaders. Genuine demands of theMadhes should be fulfilled and the rest of Nepal should be left to live peacefully. Let’s come together and raise our voice for the betterment of our nation, and ourselves.

The author is a student of class 8 at Nightingale HS School