Chudamani on raising wheelchair buffaloes for a decade

By Bom Lal Giri,Nawalpur, Aug. 24: Chudamani Bohora, a resident of Ward No. 7 of Kawasoti Municipality in Nawalpur district, is now 60 years old.  It was in 1991 when Chudamani fell off a tree and injured his spinal cord. According to him, he was taken to different tertiary health centres and invested a heavy sum of money for treatment. However, without any effective treatment, Chudamani spent the first three years of the injury bedridden.

Chudamani’s family, which consists of wife and two children, worked and lived in a hotel inside the Chitwan National Park then. However, a decade ago, the hotel was removed and the family was forced to leave. 

It was then that the family arrived in Ward No. 7 of Kawasoti as the ward office allowed them to stay on public land as flood victims. Since then, Chudamani, who started using a wheelchair, has been raising buffaloes.

“When I look back, it has been quite a beautiful journey. After the hotel work was gone, a new life started in Kawasoti. I started with one buffalo, and once there were 22 milking buffaloes and 10 calves,” he said.

Chudamani has been taking care of the buffaloes in his shed by himself as he is the one who provides fodder and water to them, clears the shed's dung and milks the buffaloes.

He has been challenging the pain in his body with medication for his veins as he continues to rear buffaloes and earn a living for 10 long years on his own as the breadwinner of the family.

As the buffaloes need him, Chudamani is found mostly in the shed than in his house. And since he uses a wheelchair, his home, shed, kitchen and toilet are made wheelchair-friendly.

“If a workplace is wheelchair-friendly, there is nothing that an individual in a wheelchair cannot do compared to normal people,” said Shobha, wife of Chudamani, as she put her hand on his back and stroked it.

“When there is no one at home, he (Chudamani) cooks food and washes the utensils himself,” she added.

However, now Chudamani’s activeness has declined due to old age. “There are only 14 buffaloes now because I do not have the ability to work actively as before,” said Chudamani as he brushed the white hair on his head with his hand.

Currently, Chudamani sells 34-40 litres of milk daily at a rate of Rs. 100 per litre. Dairy operators reach his home to collect the milk making it a little easier for Chudamani.

“It is about how we live,” said Chudamani, adding, “It does not matter if I do not earn as much as before. My family can survive in the current situation. I will continue to work in the shed with the buffaloes until my body allows.”

Nevertheless, Chudamani says that he only has one expectation from the government now. “Every election, we are assured of a land ownership certificate. If the assurances were fulfilled, I would not be saying this now. I only want to have my land’s ownership certificate in my hands.”

His effort has been well-known to the locals more than anyone else. And honouring the efforts of Chudamani’s family, the locals have named the area “Shobha Chowk” behind the name of Chudamani’s wife.

Thanking the society citing that her family was privileged to have the area named after her, Shobha said, “A number of families without a land ownership certificate resides here now. It is the only thing they want from the higher-ups. All of them, including my family, want to say that we have our own land.”