It was 5 pm on Sunday. The heavy rains of Vaishakh had already submerged the Dasharath Stadium. In this vast field where sports used to be a joy, hundreds of faces looked sad and dirty. There were scattered ashes, wet blankets and shattered dreams. The bulldozers that were driven through the slums on the orders of the government had not only destroyed their homes, but also the laughter and happiness they had accumulated over the years had been mixed into the soil.

On the side of that scattered Pokapuntura, 53-year-old Pakacha Tarim Kasai was sitting without caring even though he was soaked in the rain. Not only were there wrinkles of age on his face, but the deep emptiness of a man who had been robbed of everything could also be clearly read. When a dozer ran through the settlement on the banks of the Bagmati in Thapathali on Saturday, he not only lost his house, but also lost his wife.

He had arrived at the stadium premises on Saturday in search of a house. In the evening, a team from the Metropolitan City put him in a car and took him to a hotel in Balaju. As soon as he reached there, he started looking for his wife Pushpa in panic, but he could not find her anywhere. ‘Yesterday, we were just trying to find a place to stay. We were together here (at the stadium) until noon,’ he said, wiping the water dripping from his wet cloth. ‘Then, where did she get lost in the crowd?’

As the crowd and rush at the stadium increased on Saturday night, he did not stop looking for his wife. The police stationed there, who were scared, had assured him, ‘We will meet you in a moment, don’t panic.’ At around 9 pm, when they tried to put him in a metropolitan vehicle and take him to Balaju, he stood at the door of the vehicle and asked the police again, ‘Where is my wife Pushpa? How can I go without her?’

‘The metropolitan police will send my old lady to where I am, if you don’t panic, go now,’ he said, remembering the police’s words. Even after reaching the 'Mission Baglung' hotel in Balaju, he kept looking at the door all night, waiting for his wife, but she did not come. He pleaded with the police who arrived there, and pleaded with the hotel manager with folded hands. After a long time, someone told him, 'Your wife has been admitted to another hotel.'

'How can I stop without listening to the old woman at a time like this? Only after the police spoke to the old woman on the phone did I breathe a little and lie down with peace of mind,' he let out a long sigh. The butcher couple does not have a mobile phone, so they are alone and helpless in this technological city.

'I woke up in the morning and came here (the stadium) again in search of my wife. At around 3 pm, I finally came to know that she was heading towards Kirtipur,' he said. He was pleading with the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority employees to send him to Kirtipur. But, even after 5 pm, there was no sign of him being taken. ‘They had said they would send him with the team going to Kirtipur, but it must have been raining, so why was it late?’ he was remembering his destroyed house and his missing wife.

On Sunday evening, hundreds of displaced people, like Pakacha, were sitting on the cold floor of the stadium, soaking in the water and shivering from the cold. The Kathmandu Valley Development Authority was conducting ‘screening’ (collecting data and classifying) to see where to send them. They have been homeless since Saturday and are wandering like refugees in the city.

According to the authority’s data, 476 families have come to the streets in Shantinagar, 162 in Gairigaun, 143 in Thapathali, 77 in Gothatar and 13 in Manohara Tole. The authority is arranging to send them to spend the night at the Radhaswamy Satsang Vyas Ashram in Kirtipur and various cheap hotels in the capital.

According to the data of the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, 476 families were living in Shantinagar, 162 in Gairigaun, 143 in Thapathali, 77 in Gothatar and 13 in Manohara Tole. According to Valley Development Authority engineer Dorkaji Shrestha, out of those who came into contact till Sunday evening, 33 families have been sent to Kirtipur and 62 families to various hotels.