A Day in the Life of a Kathmandu Schoolboy
Under the night sky full of bright stars, a silent boy is lost in thoughts. Sitting alone in a veranda after dinner is quite a joyous experience. In the meantime, a voice from inside the house brings him back to reality.
“Prayash, come here.” “Coming mamu,” I say. I go in through the dark passage of our house to the bright corridor. I turn right and then right again to get into mamu’s room. Mamu says, “Your favorite program.” I forget about all the worldly things on my mind and become completely engrossed in the TV show. “Mamu,” I call her after the show is over. “Uh, ah…” is all I hear only to realize she is asleep. I turn the TV off, switch off the light and close the door. Across the bright corridor in our room, I say “Dada, mamu fell asleep while the program was still on… haha” unfolding my blanket. I get no reply. I turn around to see my brother. He is asleep too. Daddy has not yet come home. Both my mother and my brother are sleeping leaving the smallest one in the house in charge. I am getting a little drowsy now but I can’t sleep waiting for daddy to arrive. I am a little afraid too, but that’s too shameful to admit. So I have to live with it. As these thoughts kept brewing in my head, I hear the tring-tring of the bell. Thank god, daddy’s home. As I open the door, “Are dada and mamu asleep?” daddy asks. “Yes, I am in charge,” I answer to see a faint smile on his face. A few minutes later, as I lay in my bed, I shout out “Daddy, would you switch off the lights and shut the door please?” before covering my head with the blanket.It feels like it has only been a few minutes but I already hear my mamu’s piercing voice right in my ear, “Prayash, your milk.” I half open my eyes, throw off the blanket and clumsily walk to the wash-basin. Splash! Now I can open my eyes wide. Gargle! Now my teeth do not feel thick when I run my
tongue over them. I creep inside the blanket again and reach out for my milk. I lean against my pillow kept upright at the headboard. I notice my brother still sleeping soundly as I sip on my milk. “Before me at night and after me in the morning,” I murmur loud and clear enough for my brother to understand, like that is going to make any difference. To top it off, I shout “Dada, your milk is getting cold.” I feel mamu’s belief in me as she also yells from the kitchen, “Prem, wake up already. Your milk’s colder than a cat’s nose now.” I giggle and shout out, “Have you ever felt a cat’s nose mamu?” Mamu bursts out in laughter as well.
The thought of having to cross that dingy little half a minute long alleyway has been on my mind from the moment we left home. It is an everyday challenge for me to walk through that filthy, awful smelling alley. We cover our noses with our hands and walk as fast as possible trying not to step on any of the human, dog and god knows what else fecal matter. Another challenge will be waiting for me as soon as we storm out the alley. Two little Lhasa Apso looking dogs always bark ferociously from inside the gate of a big bungalow style house right after that much hated half minute walkathon. Once I had been chased by one of those little devils and I ran as fast as I could with my tail between my legs and stormed into Sravan’s house. Sravan is a good friend of mine. We have been studying together since kindergarten.
All my family knows him quite well and I am a familiar face in his home too. We quarrel often and don’t speak to each other for some time, but thankfully that does not last long. After the adventure through the alley and facing up to those menacing dogs, I am standing in front of Sravan’s house shouting his name. He never hears me the first time. My friends point out to me that I cannot shout. I am supposedly too soft spoken and so I try again to scream a little louder, “Sravaaaaan.” “Prayash, just a minute,” finally comes a reply from the window I am looking at. He comes out adjusting the strap of his school bag. “Let’s go,” he says but dada gives me an accusatory look of potentially running
him late for school. Thinking “Who asked him to wait for my friend?” we walk out to the main street that takes us to the school. The street is flooded with kids in navy blue and white clothes, and dada joins his friends and we walk with ours.