The winter sun is fading towards the horizon, appearing for a moment. Vehicles are rushing along the road in front of the house. Sumnima Shrestha of Biratnagar-4 has been looking towards the same road every morning and evening for the past three months, waiting for her husband who has not returned home.

Sumnima's husband, 53-year-old Sunil Kumar Tamrakar, has not returned since the day he left to go shopping. He has been out of contact since 9:30 am on Asoj 5. Not only Sumnima, but her two daughters are also waiting for their father. 'Sometimes, I feel like he might come back,' Sumnima said, 'I keep hoping for him as long as I can.' According to family sources, Sunil, the youngest son of the family, has been a little more depressed lately. Especially during the Covid period, after suffering losses in business, he had a heavy burden of debt on his shoulders. He had a pottery shop in Biratnagar. He had quit the business after the losses from that shop. He had been unemployed for some time. He was further troubled by the addition of a disease that pinched the nerves in his back. Work was lost, income stopped . The mind was more tired than the body . According to the family, he had gone into depression  due to the constant stress . 

He did not return that evening after leaving home . As night fell, Sumnima  became increasingly worried .  Close relatives were asked . The squares, markets and alleys were searched . But, he was nowhere . That night Sumnima could not sleep . The next day, she filed a complaint with the police . 

The police say – ‘The search is on .’ The family has identified all possible places . They reached from cities in Nepal to India . ‘I remembered that Sunil had previously gone for training near Siliguri, and was questioned there too . But, we couldn't meet,' Sumnima said in a bewildered tone, 'Now we are tired of looking at the road.'

All of Sunil's documents, including his citizenship, are at home. He had left without even taking his phone. Sunil was not someone who would leave home and disappear. His family was his world. He loved his two daughters very much. 'I remember staying up all night when his daughters were sick,' Sumnima says, 'but I still haven't understood why he loved them so much.'

Sunil's belongings are still there in the house. His clothes, shoes, old documents, all are silent. Sometimes these belongings comfort Sumnima, sometimes they hurt her more.

The two daughters have been affected the most by their father's absence. When they open the door to go to school in the morning, they stop for a moment and look outside. Even when they play in the yard in the evening, they keep their eyes on the road. They have not stopped asking their mother, "Will father come today?" Sumnima is speechless every time her daughter asks her.