Bunchhe, a 13-year-old school boy joins Maoist protest with four pieces of rotis

Bunchhe, a 13-year-old school boy joins Maoist protest with four pieces of rotis

 

Look & Gaze, KATHMANDU, NOV. 13

 

Bunchhe Tamang moves his small feet faster and faster to keep pace with the crowd marching toward the Singhadurbar eastern gate. He does his best to make his voice audible amid the sloganeering crowd. “Nagarik Sarbochhata Jindabad, Jindabad,” he shouts in excitement with the mass.

 

As the protesting Maoists marched toward Nepal’s administrative powerhouse, the 13-year-old schoolboy from Kavrepalanchowk was one with the mob. He said he did not know what he was shouting about.

 

Time and again he was checking the plastic bag he was holding. It was some food stuff (four rotis or the breads) that his mother gave him while he left home with other villagers for the protests in Kathmandu.

 

He said he would take the food when he would feel hungry in course of the protest. He would sling the plastic bag containing the food back and forth as he would run here and there just if a jiffy. He knows he will have to follow the group that came from his village. He does not like to stop and talk. “If I stop, I will miss my group and lose my way,” said Bunchhe.

 

As he walked side by side and reached the Maitighar Mandala along with the crowd, he saw the protestors are being served with Cheura tarkari (bitten rice and vegetable curry). The prospects of the breakfast brought a new glow in his face. “Now, I am going to save this stuff for the day,” he said when asked about the food he is carrying.

 

Bunchhe thinks as the eldest brother in his family he has the permission and the courage to come to Kathmandu to take part in the protest. “One of my brothers is very young, but the elder one who can walk was also willing to come with me,” Bunchhe explained. “But I stopped him saying the police will beat him up. I am the eldest son and therefore Maoists let me join.”

 

He joined the protests because he does not fear the police. “It is good that I can see Kathmandu and enjoy the protests. I don’t have to pay either for this trip,” Bhunchhe said.

 

School is not so fun for him. He wishes he could get chance to come to Kathmandu every day on similar programs. He does not know what is Kranti or Aandolan (revolution) and why so many people are there. “I think, they are here because the Maoists asked them to come along,” Bunchhe smiles as he replies.