In Lahan-15, Simaltol, Hari Prasad Chaudhary and his wife Jaleshwari Devi sit quietly on the veranda, their eyes fixed on the road in the hope that their son Vijay will return.
But that hope will never be fulfilled. Twenty-seven-year-old Vijay was killed last Tuesday in Kathmandu during the “Gen-Z” protest when police opened fire. His parents have not been told the full truth, as relatives continue to reassure them that he is under treatment.
Hope and Loss
Relatives initially told the parents, “He was shot but is receiving care,” leaving them clinging to fragile hope, even as Vijay’s phone and messages stopped. His sister Sushila, who rushed from Hetauda to Kathmandu, also withheld the truth. She told her mother: “He is in the ICU, unable to speak. I’ll update you once he regains consciousness.”
For five years, Vijay had worked in Kathmandu as a house-wiring technician. His earnings supported his parents’ medical needs, household expenses, his wife Urmila, and their four-year-old daughter. Now, the courtyard in Simaltol still echoes with footsteps that will not return.
In reality, Sushila had already identified her brother’s body in the morgue of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital after searching hospitals across the capital. Fearing her parents would collapse under the truth, she told them he was still being treated. His elder brother Ajay is returning from abroad this Saturday, tasked with deciding how to break the news.
The Final Day and Aftermath
On the day of the protest, Vijay had gone out with friends to buy household items. Near the Parliament building, he stopped to film the crowd when a bullet struck his chest. According to ward chair Tejnarayan Chaudhary, “Vijay was always calm and friendly. He never quarreled with anyone and often mediated disputes in the community.”
The village is in shock. But deeper than the silence of the community is the silence inside Vijay’s home, where his parents still wait. Their eyes remain on the road, their ears on the phone, their hearts suspended between hope and fear.
