These figures are massive, but they don’t capture the full extent of the tragedy Nepal has endured. The books and school bags of children whom the flash floods likely reduced to mere statistics do, revealing the loss humanity has collectively incurred, unleashed by the forces it cannot control. At least 1,252 confirmed dead and 4,216 missing.
During its incessant coverage of the Nepal flood tragedy, NDTV stumbled upon a soiled knapsack and mud-covered school textbooks left behind by children scampering to safety when a wall of water, mud, and boulders approached at great speed, destroying everything that came in its way. He studies — or studied — at Shri Bageshwari Secondary School. A plastic ruler was found wedged between two leaves of the book, perhaps to mark where his teacher ended her last class. Inside the bag were two pens and a lunch to be eaten during recess.
The textbooks bear the name of a boy named Roshan Mijar, a student of Class 7, Roll Number 31.
