Shatrughna Malah Hanumnagar, Kankalni NP 1, Saptari
“My community has been continually fishing since the days of the Gods. But with the emergence of the human rule we are in decline and so is our occupation. There are people from elsewhere who have bought land near the rivers. With their money and their greed. They have started constructing their own boats and sewing their own nets. And it has affected us, the Malahs, who have relied on this for livelihood. There is too many people in the Koshi and not many fishes for everyone. So men have started leaving. All that is left here are old men who find shade and talk about the past and how life was good back in the day. All that is left here are women and their children waiting for their husbands and fathers to return. There is not much left for us here.”
