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गर्मी न गर्मी शहरबाट एउटा चिसो सम्झना:
I had originally posted this memoir in 2003. अहिले फेरी युनिकोड हालेर प्रस्तुत गर्दैछु। त्यो बेला त अलि अलि अंग्रेजी आउँथ्यो, चौतारीमा गफ गर्ने थाले पछि त बिर्सिए जस्तै पो भो त गाँठे।
After an absence of a few days, I am back to Sajhapur today. I just thought of sharing a brief account of what had happened during those days. As forecasted, a freezing rain started on Saturday night. Around 3 am on Sunday, I woke up to the noise of falling tree branches. My first concern was about my car's safety. I immediately rushed downstairs to the parking lot. चप्पल लाएर ओर्लिंदा त चिप्लिने डर त्यस माथि चिसोले बित्यास। बजियाहरुले नून पनि हालेका रहिन्छन्। A lot of ice had already accumulated on the staircases. Fortunately, the car was still spared by the branches. I moved it to a safer location and went back to sleep. It must have been at least after an hour or so when I finally fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke up as the phone rang. "हेलो" "ए चिप्ले" "बत्ती छ तिमी कहाँ?" It was my छिमेकी नेपाली दाई। Bhauju was in Nepal for her brother's wedding. I looked at my desk as I was shivering with cold. Alarm clock त off छ। "छैन दाई म कहाँ पनि।” बहिर हेरेको, it was snowing pretty heavily. A large part of the town had lost electricity. Power cables had collapsed both due to ice accumulation and because of being hit by the falling trees. चिसै पानीले भए पनि दाँत माझें। अब के गरेर समय बिताउने जस्तो बत्ती नआउन्जेल। I just went back to bed. A little later, the phone rang again. It was the same dai again. सानी छोरी पनि जाडो भो भनेर सुत्न गएकी रहिछ। He said he was coming to my apartment. जाडो भएकोले jacket लाएरै living room मा बसियो। भोक लाग्न थाल्यो but all I had that could be eaten without heating or cooking was some bhujiya and bananas. त्यही अलिअलि खाएर एक छिन् त्यत्तिकै गफ गरेर टाईम बिताइयो।
It was around 5 pm but neither the power was restored nor it had stopped snowing. अब के खाने कहाँ बस्ने भन्ने पीरले सताउन थाल्यो। After calling around a few restaurants, we picked one that still had power for an early dinner. दाइको छोरीलाई pick up गरेर रेस्टुराँतिर गैयो। It was pretty crowded. According to the waitress, most of the customers were there because they did not have power in their homes रे। त्यही बेला दाइको सेल फोनमा अर्को नेपाली दाईको फोन आयो। He did not have power either but he did have a gas heater in his basement. He offered us refuge for the night. डेरामा गएर we picked up our essentials with the aid of a flashlight and headed towards his house.
There was no power most of the way. One needed to drive extremely carefully, as it was not only pitch dark but also the road was slippery and often blocked by trees. Traffic lights needed to be treated as stop signs. As we exited the car in front of his house, it looked like a scene from a horror movie. The ground looked whitish with snow and the tree branches looked as if they were made of glass. Except once during a lightening it looked pitch dark elsewhere. There were also sounds from collapsing trees. The mayor of the city declared a state of emergency.
All of us spent some time in the basement in the warmth of the gas heater under मैनबत्तिको मधुरो उज्यालो। There were many incoming and outgoing telephone calls checking each others whereabouts. Cell phones were sparingly used to save battery. Fortunately I was off from work for President’s Day and I had also taken the next day off just to have a 4-day break. काममा जाने टेन्सन भएन। भोलिपल्ट सबैजना went out for lunch. नेपाल गएको अर्को साथीको डेराको साँचो मसँग थियो। Luckily that apartment did have power but that friend was returning the following morning. दिउसोसम्म बत्ती नआए त्यतै ढल्ने बिचार गरियो। To our dismay, the power was not restored that afternoon either so while dai left his daughter with the dai with whom we took refuge the previous night (since she could at least play with his children), the two of us headed towards my friend’s apartment and provided shelter to another mutual friend of ours as well. We felt like we had made a major leap into civilization as we entered the apartment. It had electricity, so that we could cook, take a hot shower, watch TV, and access the Internet. We took advantage of all those amenities. CNN bata coastal area को दुर्दशा पनि थाहा भो।
The next morning, I was supposed to pick up my friend at the airport. I accessed my voice mail and he had called from Atlanta airport advising me that his flight was expected to land on time. I double-checked it in Delta’s website. It was still on time. As I walked towards my car, I saw more trees that had fallen down. It was lightly snowing then. I had a hard time unlocking my car. As I was battling with the lock, I heard another loud noise and saw a huge tree collapsing barely a hundred meters away. On the way towards the airport, I saw several houses that were damaged by trees. It took me about twice the normal driving time to reach the airport.
Landing at a location north of Atlanta (he was connecting from LA) must have been a shock to my friend. “गुरु, यहाँ त सेत्ताम्मै रहिछ” he remarked as we drove away from the airport. I was not sure how to break the news to my jet lagged friend that there were three refugees in his apartment. After a brief chat about his Nepal trip, he asked me, “अनि गुरु के छ त यतातिरको हालखबर?” I told him that he will know it in the next five minutes or so. I wanted to show him the devastated area before breaking the news. As we passed the first non-functional traffic lights and collapsed trees, I told him about the situation. After reaching his apartment, we prepared tea followed by lunch sharing Nepal ko guff gaff.
त्यो दिन अझै बत्ती आएन, so we were forced to bother our jetlagged friend again. दाईको छोरीको दुई चोटि फोन आयो। The poor little girl was crying missing her parents. I t was around 10 pm. He decided to stay where his daughter was. “तिमीहरुले आफ्नो छोरा छोरी भएपछी थाहा पाउँछौ कस्तो हुन्छ भन्ने कुरा. Imagine how your parents must be feeling about you. मलाई त उसलाई कहिले देखू जस्तो भैरहेको छ,” he said something of that nature as he exited the apartment.
The next morning I left for work from his apartment. I first went back to my apartment as I returned. Finally the power was restored!! As I walked upstairs, one of my neighbors saw me and said, “hey we have power now!!”
As I entered my apartment, it was freezing cold. I turned on the heater, called my friend and soon left for his apartment to collect my stuff. Thanking him from my heart for providing refuge despite of his jetlagged situation, I happily drove towards my apartment, stopped at the grocery store and bought some food. As I dumped some old food from the refrigerator and turned on the TV, accessed the Internet, I tried to return towards normalcy.
(Now that I have moved to a hurricane-prone city, I just hope that I don't have to encounter another powerless situation again. Thankfully Eduardo spared Houston from any major problem.)