As Dashain approaches, people living outside the district have begun returning home, markets are filling with shoppers, and households are busy painting their homes, preparing festive dishes and cleaning village paths and water sources. Public squares are livelier, and temples dedicated to goddesses are drawing worshippers.
But the festive mood has barely reached several villages in Salyan, where dozens of people remain missing after the Bhotekoshi floods in Rasuwa. Families awaiting news of their loved ones have little heart for celebrations, while neighbours and other villagers have also scaled back festivities in solidarity with those affected.
In Gairigaun, a settlement in Bhalakharka, ward 6 of Bangad Kupinde Municipality, 11 villagers who had travelled to Timure in Rasuwa for work went missing in the floods on August 26. Their whereabouts remain unknown, and the settlement has seen little of its usual Dashain preparations.
The tragedy has affected communities across the district. Eleven people went missing from Bhalakharka, seven from Kumakh Rural Municipality-3, 11 from Kapurkot Rural Municipality-6 and six from Tribeni Rural Municipality-5. More than 30 others were reportedly missing from other local units.
More than 60 people from different parts of Salyan had travelled to Timure and other locations in Rasuwa for work. Some had built homes there and settled down.
The homes of those missing and the neighbouring settlements are now largely deserted. Families directly affected by the disaster are in no position to celebrate Dashain, while other households have also kept festivities subdued out of solidarity with them. Only a few homes have been painted for the festival.
Mewa Lal Budhathoki of Gairigaun said four members of his younger brother Giri Lal Budhathoki’s family, including his wife and children, went missing in the floods. With most households in the settlement related to one another, he said, the tragedy had plunged the entire village into mourning.
Although families not directly affected could have celebrated Dashain, villagers have avoided even routine preparations, such as whitewashing their homes and buying festive supplies, to spare the bereaved further distress.
“Four members of my younger brother Giri Lal’s family, including his wife and children, went missing. We cannot think of celebrating anything before a year has passed,” Mewa Lal said. “Many people lost their lives or went missing in the disaster, and others have felt their pain. That is why families who were not directly affected have also avoided the kind of celebrations we used to have.”
Arjun Rana of Gurdase in Kumakh Rural Municipality-3 also lost his father in the disaster. After his father and six other people from the settlement went missing from Timure, the families performed the last rites using symbolic bodies made from kus grass, a sacred grass used in Hindu rituals.
Rana said the settlement remained quiet partly because religious customs prohibit families from holding worship ceremonies and other auspicious events for a year after a death.
With so many relatives and neighbours missing, villagers have also abandoned much of their usual Dashain preparation.
“When Dashain arrived in previous years, we would put up long swings and rotating swings, decorate and paint our homes, and gather with friends to sing, dance and enjoy ourselves,” Rana said. “None of that is happening this year.”
Dilli Pun of Bhalakharka said the village had lost its festive atmosphere because 11 people from the settlement remained missing. Although other families were free to celebrate, they had chosen to share the grief of those awaiting news of their loved ones, he said.
Resident Nabin Nepali said it did not even feel as though Dashain had arrived in a settlement in Kapurkot Rural Municipality-6, where 11 people had gone missing. While it was understandable that families who had lost relatives were unable to celebrate, he said, other households had also made few preparations.
Kebal Bahadur Rana, ward chair of Kumakh Rural Municipality-3, said the festival had lost much of its usual cheer in Gurdase after seven people went missing. Their relatives and friends remained in mourning, and far fewer residents living outside the district had returned to the settlement for Dashain than in previous years.