Written by: Kabin Rijal - 22010, Grade XI
Posted on: 18 February, 2021
It was the morning of the day. I was very happy that I don’t need to go to school because of Saturday. So, me and my brothers made a plan to enjoy that day by visiting the Swayambhunath. I was very excited at that time because I got a chance to wear my new clothes which I had bought in the new year. According to the plan, we visited the Swayambhunath. The base of the temple was not captivating for me because I had already visited so many times, so we went to the top. At the top, we saw two monkeys playing and my brother started teasing those monkeys but after a few seconds, he got a slap from a monkey. After getting a slap from a monkey we thought that it was enough for us to stay there and moved ahead observing the scene.
At the stupa, I saw a transgender woman who was a photographer from Norway. She was very humble and she asked us for a photo. After taking a photo, we went to that telescope tower from where we could see the whole Kathmandu valley nearby. We enjoyed the full view of Kathmandu valley and we also saw 'dharahara' from it. After that, we went back to the stupa and we started shopping. As we were on our own, fun filling, suddenly I felt a massive tremble in the ground which I got to know was an earthquake. I could not easily decide that it was an earthquake because I had never experienced that kind of shake before. There were crackling sounds coming from around me. After that massive shake, we came back to the base of the temple. The road was already cracked, People were crying, desperately running to save their lives and their loved ones. Suddenly we got to find the main road to take a bus home. I was shocked by the devastation around me. There was only dust all over. Finally, we came back home. My house also had cracks in the basement but the only good thing was my parents were unharmed and safe. Now it was time to find a free space for us to stay temporarily at night. We managed to stay on a small ground nearby my house which was somehow safer than the house so we all packed up a few blankets, a pillow, and a light mattress for taking a night outside there. That was the day I will never forget.
