'Balen, come to your home village after win'

By Mahesh Kumar Das, Jaleshwar, May 26: Locals of the home village of Balendra Shah, Mayor-elect of Kathmandu metropolis, are restlessly waiting for his warm homecoming after the win.

Binita Devi, a resident from Ekdara Rural Municipality-2 in Mahottari district, who works at the ancestral home of Balendra Shah, entreated, “Please, visit your hometown once, we all are waiting for your arrival.”

Binita has known Balendra since his very young age of 3 or 4 years and is overjoyed to hear that Balendra is being elected the mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, the seat of the federal capital of the country. But, she wants to see him in person again after the victory. 

Recalling Balen’s childhood, she said, We saw Balendra in his childhood, now he must have grown up. We want to see him once again in his own native land.

“Balendra should come to his native place to share the happiness of winning the prestigious post of mayor of the capital,” she said, “Come to the village once you have won, Balen, we will share the joy of your victory with you and the whole village.”

Sakina Khatun, who was found sitting in the mango orchard ready for grass cutting near Balen’s house at Ekdara-2 said that she was very happy with the news that Balendra is leading for the win.  The happiness that Balendra is sure to win the post of mayor in the KMC was reflected in her face.

Smiling, Sakina said, “There can be no great happiness for villagers of Ekdara. Until yesterday, nobody knew about our village but now it is well known all around the nation and even in a foreign land, all because of Balen.”

Not only her, but the whole villagers are elated and there is an atmosphere of enthusiasm in the whole village. “We are waiting for his victory that would be like Dewali for the village,” said Sakina.

There is a pond behind Balen’s ancestral house. There is a Mahadev temple in the heart of the pond engraved with Shri 108 Vishownath temple within.

Ram Chandra Tiwari, a priest of the same temple, said that the news of Balen’s victory has brought a wave of happiness not only in the village but also across the district.

Balendra rarely visited the village, but his father, Dr. Ram Narayan Shah did frequently visited it, and is well-known to the villagers.

The priest said, “This temple also belongs to Shah’s family. The 10 khatta land was given for living and even had managed to maintain puja in the temple.”

Priest said that he was able to serve God daily with their help for 12 years.

Naresh Tiwari, a resident of Ekdara Rural Municipality-1, said that it was natural for the residents of Ekdara Rural Municipality to be happy as Balendra Shah was leading with the majority in vote-counting in KMC.

Villagers are waiting for the final result and the whole village will give sweets and celebrate like Diwali soon after the announcement of the final result as nobody anticipated that Balendra will lead with the majority of votes. Some youths have traveled to the capital to participate in Balen’s victory rally.

“A lad from our own village is making history in the country’s capital. Balendra Shah, an independent candidate for mayor of KMC has come close to victory, is the son and grandson of this village, said Indra Kant Jha, another local of Ekdara ward-1. 

The ancestral home of Balendra Shah is in Ekdara Rural Municipality-2, Mahottari. His grandfather, Muni Lal Shah, was a landlord, that’s why he was called, “Mahajan” and was father to four sons. Dr. Ram Narayn Shah is one of four sons of Muni Lal. Balendra Shah is the youngest son of Dr. Ram Narayan Shah and his mother Dhurba Devi Shah. Balen’s father is an Ayurveda doctor.

Dr. Ram Narayan had come to work as a doctor in the Ayurveda dispensary at Singha Durbar in Kathmandu about four decades ago. Since then, he and his family is living in Kathmandu. His eldest son is Kaushalendra and his youngest is Balendra Shah.

Riteshwari Devi Shah is the first wife of Dr. Ram Narayan Shah and her maternal home is in the Madhuvani district of India. The second wife, mother of Balendra Shah, is Dhurba Devi Shah. She is from Jamuniwas-4, Dhanusha.

Balendra's ancestral house has been leased to run the administrative office of Ekdara rural municipality. According to the locals, the house has been provided on rent.

Only six months ago, Dr. Ram Narayan and his youngest son, Balendra visited their ancestral home in Ekdara. The land worth Rs 10 million was donated at that time to organise a bazaar (hatiya) once a week. Also, one Khatta land was sold by Balendara, informed Hari Narayan Shah, a near relative of Balendra Shah.