Picture Courtesy: Nikita Gautam

2015 has finally said goodbye and 2016 has arrived with new hopes and dreams. 2015 has been a year of disaster, despair and helplessness for all Nepalese but implementation of new constitution emerged as the light of hope in the darkness of despair. The year has been a combination of ups and downs. Let’s go back and have a look of the major events that took place in the year 2015 in Nepal.

January 20- The ugly and shameful display of anger was encountered in the house of parliament during the constituent assembly where so called lawmakers created vandalism by breaking the chairs, microphones and also involving physical violence among the other lawmakers. The violence was initiated by the UCPN (M)’s members.

February 22- A young boy expressed his anger upon a girl and her family by splashing acid on two school girls in a tuition center located in Basantapur, Kathmandu. Sangita Magar and Sima Basnet were injured physically and mentally by this event.

March 4- The only international airport of Nepal got shut for 85 hours after Turkish Airline’s plane  lost its balance while landing and ended up skidding against the runway. The airport had to shut down because Nepal lacked the technology needed to lift the plane.

April 15- The former prime minister of Nepal, Surya Bahadur Thapa lost his life while fighting against respiratory problem in Medanta Hospital, New Delhi. Surya Bahadur Thapa was a powerful leader who five times served as a prime minister of Nepal.

April 25- “Black Day Of Nepal”, when the major earthquake of 7.8 magnitude hit the land of Nepal killing over 9,000 people and leaving more than 23000 people injured.

May 12- Aftershocks were gradually decreasing where another major aftershock of 7.1 magnitude hit the already shaken land of Nepal that added salt to the wound caused by first earthquake.

This devastating earthquake was followed by landslides and avalanches that made lives more threatened and disastrous. People were devastated, they lost their family, their friends and barely had any hope for living. Government did not seem to care much about the situation of the people but volunteers and organizations from all over the nation and outside the nation united and helped those in need. They themselves went into the field to help the earthquake victims with whatever they could, be it money or hope, commodities or smile.

The bright side of earthquake was that it brought equality among people. The people of all the class, races, origin and status slept under the same roof together fighting for their lives. People seemed to reach out for each other and help each other on a national alert situation.

Deerwalk Family also played a major contribution in helping the victims. Despite of the incoming aftershocks students and employees from DWIT and Deerwalk Services united to provide any help people of our country required at that moment. Be  it collection of dead bodies in Teaching Hospital or provision of any kind of support to the victims, Deerwalk family was always there. This demonstrated the wholeheartedness of Deerwalk family and their concern towards people of our nation.

July 25- A ten year boy was brutally murdered by 5 people as a sacrifice to the god in order to cure the youth who suffered from illness in the village of Nawalparasi (a dangerous and inhumanly myth).

August 20- One of the notorious gangster Kumar Shrestha (Ghaite) was killed during the police encounter at  Samakhusi.

August 24- The outrage of Tharuhat andolan in Tikapur, Kailali took violent turn and 7 police officers including one Senior Superintendent Police and a two year old child was killed by the protesters where the APF head constable was burnt alive by spreading petrol all over his body.

September 3- Chandra Bahadur Dangi,The Guinness world record holder for being the shortest man alive passed away.

September 20- The long awaited constitution came into formulation as the symbol of hope among the despair citizens. The constitution was welcomed by lightning, music and celebration all around the nation.

September 26- Dr. Baburam Bhattarai left his party.

October 11- KP sharma Oli was elected as the 38th prime minister of Nepal by 338 votes.

October 14- Five Nepali National Football players along with Captain Sagar Thapa were arrested for the case of Match Fixing. The players include Sandip Rai, Anjan KC, Bikash Singh Chetteri and Ritesh Thapa.

October 16- Nepal got its first female speaker as Onsari Gharti Magar.

October 28- Nepal got its first female and second president in the form of Bidhya Devi Bhandari.

November 5, 6- International well known figures arrived Nepal for their respective projects. On November 5, Benedict Cumberbatch who is famous as his character Sherlock Holmes in detective series Sherlock was found shooting in Kathmandu for his upcoming movie Dr. Strange.

Similarly, the football legend of Manchester United and inspiration of many football fans visited Nepal as a part of a global tour for a BBC documentary and aid of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Nepal. The project was titled under ‘Beckham Match for children’.

November 16- The president of All-Nepal Football Association (ANFA) and former vice-president of Asian Football Confederation was banned for 10 years by FIFA’s ethics committee. He was accused for bribery.

December 16- The president of Nepal Bidhya Devi Bhandari was insulted on her visit to Ram Janaki Mandir in Janakpur Dham. The Temple was purified by people after Bhandari performed puja over there because according to them, widows are considered as bad faith and are not allowed to worship.

Among these events many events took place over the period, which made major impact in life of Nepalese citizen over the year.

After the implementation of New Constitution in Nepal, the unsatisfied Madhesi Party started their demonstration of disapproval by declaring strike over the Terai area. The Indian Government considered the strike as the disturbance over the border area and formulated ‘undeclared’ economic blockade around southern border of Nepal. The Indian Blockade has still not ended and the whole nation is suffering from fuel crisis, black market, rise in expenses, lack of goods in market etc. This problem has reached its break even point  but the government is still unable to solve the problem.

The SLC evaluation system got reformed to letter grading system. The traditional percentage system is replaced by the grading system by letters.

The year was particularly good for Nepali movie industry. The movies like Kabaddi Kabaddi, Resham Filili, Nai Navannu La 3 etc. were able to capture the heart of Nepali Movie Viewer. The song ‘Jalma’ from the movie Resham Filili was the most famous song of the year.

The year was full of ups and downs, mostly downs but every dark night comes with a glowing morning. New Year has arrived as the light of hope. Consider the New Year, forget about all the problems for a while and relish the new fragrance in air, the fragrance of New Year. Happy New year to all the people out there. Make the moment count.