Hey folks,

I just found out that a couple of thieves broke into my parent's house in Kathmandu last night. My parents live right outside Ring Road but apparently that was the fifth such event in the neighborhood in the last few months. Once the thieves broke in at 2am, they first went to the living room, took the TV outside the house along with some shoes that were in the lobby. Then they went into the kitchen and took a chulesi... apparently they didn't have too many weapons with them.

Then they went into the room my mom was sleeping in and asked where my dad was. My mom started screaming and they told they'd kill her if she shouted. Two of them gagged and went around the house looking for my dad. When my dad heard the commotion, he woke came out to the lobby and they tried to hit him with a khukuri and a sword. He asked what they wanted and that he would give them whatever wanted. They wouldn't say anything. And when they tried to hit him with the khukuri, he blocked the khukuri with his hands. The khukuri got in between his right thumb and the forefinger so he got cut badly. And while he was resisting them, another one hit him hard on his head with a chulesi.

My two younger brothers were sleeping upstairs and being the deep-sleepers they are, they didn't wake up for a while. When they heard all the commotion, they started yelling at the thieves and ran down the stairs. I guess the thieves were a little surprised there were others in the house and fled, with my dad bleeding heavily and my mom in a state of shock.

When they panicked and fled, the thieves didn't take the TV or the old shoes that they had taken outside the house. They didn't ask for money or jewelry. They didn't even take away the few pieces of jewelry that my mom was wearing. But they took away the remote control, which one of them had put in his pocket. And while some of them were beating up my parents upstairs, one of them was staying outside, trying out my brothers' shoes that they had taken outside the house. And when he realized he had to flee, he left all the shoes, including his own that he had neatly unlaced!

Luckily enough, the thieves didn't take much away. And my parents weren't hurt too badly. My dad has a couple of stiches on his head and a few more on his palms. But their peace of mind had been taken away for ever.

I wouldn't even have found out about all this had I not called home out of a hunch this morning. Parents these days try not to tell their kids(who're living away from home) everything for fear their kids will worry too much. But who will we get concerned about if not our own parents?

With my long story, I wanted to remind all of you to call home once in a while - if you aren't doing so already. There's too much happening in this world. We ourselves are going through enough hardship in our lives. But let's not forget to keep in touch with our near and dear ones - even when they're far far away!

TitoMitho.

Hey TithoMitho dear....

Just to say im sorry n sad to hear about wat happened to your parents..i actually felt a jolt reading the incident that happened to ur dad...when it happens to ur own parents...its horrid...i was imagining wat it would have been like to hear it if it were my parents who had got assaulted...its too terrible to think about so.....just passing on my sympathetic thoughts n well.. some warm wishes to u n ur parents..hope things will get back to normal...but like u sed...they're peace of mind has been affected as well as yours....hhmm..well..again im sorry to hear about wat happened is all..

Take care....bub byee..

Domi

Hi titomitho, first of all I am sorry to hear what happened to your folks. I absolutely understand what you meant. I understand some people call home on weekly, fortnightly, monthly or even in a couple of months to check back on their folks. Sometimes when you are stressed and on this "rat-race", you tend to take a bit easy on things which are meant to be your first priority.

Similar thing happened to me yesterday. I called back home after a long break of about a month and found out that my brother had collapsed in his office. Later it was found that he had developed internal bleeding and had ulcer which could have been fatal if had hapened at the wrong place at the wrong time. Quite unexpected with so less symptoms. A week in the hospital and good medication and thanks god he is back recovering and would probably will be healed and good as ever soon. Apparently I was not informed (as people usually do) for the sake making relatives worry far away. When you told your story I couldn't stop relating it to myself.

TitoMitho,

Sorry to hear that......I hope they are fine now.....

Hope such things don't happen in Nepal......

Thank you for reminding to call home regularly.

Isn't there something that the general people can do in Nepal like set up some kind of neighborhood watch so that everyone watches over each other? It's high time nepali communities wake up and try to protect themselves. We know by now that the government and the police and the army isn't going to do anything about it.

Hey Domi, OZ_GUY and forget-me-not, thank you for your kind words. We read about unfortunate things in the news all the time. People are injured and killed in bus accidents, houses are gutted and flooded, some are kidnapped, and others die natural deaths. It's only when these things happen to someone near and dear that all this hits home. That's what happenned to me too. Often times, there's isn't much we can do even if we knew that something bad happenned because we live so far away from home. So the best we can do is to keep in touch with them regularly and hope that things go well.

Saroj, I agree that neighborhood watch is probably the best thing people can do give the violent-rife times we live in and the be-kamma police. Apparently a bunch of people from the neighborhood have started partrolling the neighborhood at night after the incident. It will probably die down after a while, though, unless they hire someone to do the job.

TitoMitho.

Titomitho bro.....I have sympathy for u pal.......I don't call that often back home but hearing the truth what u have written here......i will for sure call back home more often......I will pray for ur mom and dad safety and as well all related to u........That's why I say that immediately my parents and one of my sisters is here, I will forget about going back to Nepal.....I wake up everyday wishing not to hear anything bad from back home...........

Ram Prasad