nepaliketi

I remember the first kidnapping case connected to Kathmandu I heard of. It was back in 2007 and there was a little boy who lived not too far from where I do who was in the news for a few days. All they knew was that he had walked back from school, as he usually did, and then one day just failed to get home. Then they found out some kidnappers had nabbed him and wanted money. And then they found out the child had created too much of a ruckus. And they found out the child had been gagged.

I was horrified.

Back in the day, Nepal Television would monotonously declare “balak harayeko suchana” and display amazingly pixelated black and white passport photograph of some child and it wasn’t as horrific. It was a child more often than not, but also a old woman or really old man sometimes. These days they’re kidnapping in broad daylight and kidnapping anyone and everyone – sometimes for ransom, sometimes for revenge. It’s disgusting.

Of course, crimes such as these – looting, burgalry and kidnappings – are very common (immediately) after conflict. As soon as you enter the “post-conflict” phase, it seems law and order is a mess. It’s hard to tell who’s in charge and it feels as though no one’s in charge. Unemployment is rife and opportunities aplenty so it’s a a bit crude, but kidnappings like this isn’t entirely uncommon or unheard of in the case of the aftermath of an insurgency.

Even then it’s largely unsettling. There’s no children in my immediate family but I worry quite a bit about my middle school cousin. Though, of course it’s not just children being kidnapped in Nepal, is it?  There’s no two way about it, Kathmandu is a scary city these days and based on news reports it isn’t feeling any safer.

I suppose there’s little you can do when you are nabbed in the dark and thrown into the back of a van and then stuffed into a dark dungeon, but insofar as many kidnappings aren’t that “exciting” (for lack of a better word, that is), there actually seems to be a few good pointers to keep ourselves (and our younger cousins) safe.

So, I googled and after reading a few sites I realized there was a general consensus on a few bits. One, they always talk about children being kidnapped. Two, they were mostly talking about cases in the US (actually, all of them that I read were). Three, they talk a lot of kidnappers actually being non-strangers. So, it’s not entirely related to how kidnappings happen in Kathmandu, but I liked a few of the suggestions, so if you care, continue reading.

My favorite and very obvious to day was the one that said to know where your children are (but, in our case, let’s just say our friends or family). That’s so easy – we just keep tab on them. When my sibling comes home from work she’ll touch base with us when she leaves her office, approaches our neighborhood and is walking down the gulley to the gate. I guess I could be more courteous and do the same. That way, if I got kidnapped anywhere between my house and New Road at least my family would have a closer vicinity to mark off, to start off with anyway.

They also suggest you don’t go out alone. Of course they are talking about children so it’s weird to tell adults to always take a buddy along, but it’s not a bad idea if you can help it. In boarding school we were told to go out to the buzzar in threes. That way if someone got hurt, one person could stay with them and another could go get help. I suppose a similar purpose remains except if a masked man grabbed you, you’d have two other friends to do the screaming (and hopefully the remembering bit – regarding what the guy looked like, the license plate number and so on).

Then they also talked about how we always teach children to be polite and that made me think, we adults are no different. Like the few times I have met with sick men I always think when they approach me as perfect strangers they want to know the time. So, I stop and smile and respond – only to be horrified. I guess the lesson isn’t to walk around with a scowl on your face, but definitely to not fear being rude if you don’t feel safe. If anyone don’t know starts to act too friendly or gets too close, just very loudly ask who they are because you think they’ve mistaken you for someone else. Hopefully others on the bus or the sidewalk or wherever may be will turn around and stop long enough for the creeper to move away.

Since we’ve crossed year five of having since entered the peace process, things will begin to fall into place. Till then, be safe!