Recently, I met someone who shared a story that touched me so deeply that I wanted to share it, but the story isn’t about the person but their parents. It’s about two people in a village who were the closest of friends since childhood. They became lovers by the time they were teenagers.
Suddenly, the Bhutanese government made an oppressive decree for Nepali-speaking Bhutanese to convert their religion and abandon Hinduism. This tore their world apart. This led to a revolt by the Nepali-speaking people, but the atrocity by the government in return was cruel; they faced unimaginable brutality — assault, torture, even the violation of their loved ones. Fear and heartbreak forced them to flee their homeland, leaving everything familiar behind. They had to leave their home, country, and everything they owned overnight just to find escape from assault, jail, or even death.
They became refugees, utterly dependent on the kindness of strangers in a crowded camp. This sudden loss of identity, their separation to different states for sheer survival, piled hardship upon hardship. The couple got separated, and one worked in Sikkim while the other worked in West Bengal just to survive. Remember, this was an era without phones, but they communicated via love letters, and even in all those days of despair, their love prevailed.
They then moved to Canada; even during their days in Canada, their lives weren’t exactly filled with flowers. They had to live in someone’s basement just to make ends meet. But they still did everything with a strong heart.
Fast forward to now. They have two beautiful kids; one of them just announced on Facebook about starting an MD residency in a reputed hospital in Canada.
Their story is a testament to the enduring power of love and the unyielding human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity. This story was nothing less than a movie for me, showing how a high spirit can have a good ending, and how some people have to go through stresses that are unimaginable for us. We, the new generation who get adjustment disorders over petty inconveniences, should learn about love and life from this generation.