Nepal: Trishuli’s bustling bazar and a lifetime memories wiped out by disaster

My father, Baa, and I stand on the debris of what used to be Trishuli Bazaar, Nuwakot, central Nepal. The expanse of the mud, rocks and silt spread before us, all the way down to the river. It is October and the river has now shrunk back to its regular autumn volume.

I put my arms around Baa to comfort him as he sighs.“Everything is gone,” there’s a catch in his voice.

Earlier this year, in March 2026, he had walked through Trishuli Bazaar, Nuwakot district in Nepal, entering shops, greeting passersby, shaking hands with past schoolmates, childhood friends and acquaintances. He had a spring in his step.

That was his first time back in over five decades since finishing high school and returning to his Kathmandu home to get on with adult life. My grandparents lived in Trishuli for 31 years when my grandmother was a staff nurse at Trishuli Hospital and my grandfather, a supervisor at the Trishuli Hydropower Station.

Baa would wonder why his parents abandoned the comfort of their Kathmandu life to move to Trishuli where they had to walk in scorching heat on hilly terrain to reach work, school, hospital, or the market. Settlements sprawling on the hills back the...

Read more