“But the good part was our school was only five minutes from home,” recalls Madhab, the owner of Mandala Book Point and a known figure in the intellectual community.[break]
The siblings walked to school together until Bel Kumari dropped out in grade one.
“It didn’t interest me,” says Bel Kumari. Aiding his sister, who can’t speak Nepali fluently, Madhab adds that girls back then were encouraged to focus on domestic works as it was considered a prequalification for them, like education was to men.
“And belonging to a middle class family, we didn’t have much option and it was all who got the preference at that time,” she says. As soon as she starts talking in Newari, she turns to Madhab for assistance while he attentively tries to grab the gist of her sentence.
However, with her brother’s encouragement and her own initiation, she was able to educate her first daughter. “The other three followed in her footsteps.”
When inquired about whether she feared her elder brother like sisters usually do, Bel Kumari, without a moment of hesitation, replied, “Why would I?” Speaking in Newari and Madhab doing the translation bit, she says, “Since I respected him, the fear was unnecessary.”
The siblings, along with their two brothers—Dayaram and Bidur—have fond memories of growing up in a joint family of 34. “We were eight brothers and three sisters, including our cousins,” informs Madhab, adding, “We brothers shared a common bedroom and fought for the quilts.”
Though belonging to an almost same generation, the brothers and sisters grew up in different manners because of the traditional family setup.
Like in any typical patriarchal family, works were divided according to gender in the Maharjan family, too. While Madhab and his brothers managed to skip home chores, Bel Kumari and sisters busied themselves in sewing and the citrus orchard.
In leisure, the boys enjoyed cucumbers from the neighborhood and played marbles while girls entertained themselves in five stones and hopscotch. But hide and seek was the game that brought the siblings together, informs Bel Kumari.
Despite the differences in their lifestyle and the environment they work and live in, it is apparent that the siblings have been there for each other without someone telling them about it.
Being the strong pillar of the family, Madhab took the duty of educating his two younger brothers, Dayaram and Bidur, after his graduation. But when it comes to looking after their old parents and taking care of them, Madhab credits his sister for being the real pillar at the moment.
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