“My mother was killed by a tiger when she went to the forest to collect ferns for vegetables. She did not notice that the tiger was following her and later attacked her all of a sudden. Her scream vanished silently with the woods as she was all alone in the forest when the tiger attacked her. The villagers found her half eaten body after searching for her. After some days, I cremated the remaining half of her body and prayed for peace to her soul. When I even think about the pain and suffering my mother would have gone through in her final moments, I get heart wrenching chills all over my body. I think it’s the worst way to die for such a gentle and caring soul, where is Karma in all this?

Apart from this, I was attacked by a rhino and a crocodile seriously both of which could have taken my life, but I somehow survived. My father-in-law used to work nearby at the Crocodile Breeding Center. His used to catch fishes in the river to feed the crocodiles. One day he was ill, so I and my husband went fishing in the river in the river. While fishing, something grabbed on my shoulder suddenly and took me deep under the water. I didn't realize it was a crocodile. Feeling as near death as I could be, I pulled my shoulder from the crocodile, but by that time it had already taken a chunk of my shoulder’s meat. I was too nervous to be aware of my bruise. The crocodile then grabbed my leg, however, this time I was better prepared and kicked it as hard as I could and swam to the bank of the river as fast as I could. At the river bank, I felt with my hand and noticed no skin in my shoulder with the bone being visible. I felt dizzy with blood everywhere which lead to my unconsciousness in a few minute. I was then rushed to a local hospital. It took me five months to recover from this incident.

 Two years after this incident, I was attacked by a rhino and was almost killed.

I went to collect fern vegetables with a few friends although deep inside I was not feeling comfortable at all. As I was picking ferns a rhino came out of nowhere with its baby. She had noticed me but I did not see her until she approached near me. She seemed ready to attack. I shouted as hard as I could giving a chance to all of my friend to run away. However, I could not get that chance allowing the rhino to hit me from behind. I fell down so badly. I got up and tried to flee but she hit me again on my hip with her horn. For the third time she took me up and threw me on the ground. With some energy I managed to go to a tree nearby and hold it. At this time, the rhino’s baby came running near to me. It held me to bring under her stomach to bite me. It tried to bite me but she could not find my stomach as I wore a jacket that day. Luckily for me, my jacket would stretch each time she tried to bite me. She later came towards my face to bite me in the face. At that moment, I thought my life was coming to an end and gave everything up, just remembering god. My sister-in-law was on the top of the tree I was lying under.  She saw the rhino covered in blood with me.  She started crying for help.  The baby rhino got scared and ran away and then the mother rhino also ran away.

After both rhinos left me, people came and rescued me. All my clothes were torn with blood everywhere. I didn't know how badly I was hurt until I started crossing the river. That’s when the pain began.

 I was rushed to the hospital. It hurt more in the hospital. The doctors took measurements of my wound to estimate its depth with no medication for pain. At the hospital too, I felt like dying from the rhino attack. All the nurses were new practitioners and one left thread while doing stitches. I cried so much.

 When I was recovering, I was so angry with the rhino. If I had a stick on my hand, I would have hit and run away. But now I am more afraid. I see rhinos everywhere now if I go to the forest. A few days ago I encountered another rhino.

 Why do you have to risk your life?

What to do sister? Sometimes we don't have a choice. We have our own problems and only have a little source of income. We have to depend on the forest for livelihood. We sell vegetables that we collect and don't have to buy gas if we have enough wood. It's all for survival.” Magari Bote, Chitwan