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We all know how does it feels like to live a middle class life in Nepal. While majority of people in Nepal fall under the middle class category I am sure most of our readers are from middle class family.
So, there are high chances you could totally relate to this article. As a middle class person, we struggle to fulfill all our basic needs. We can’t enjoy our life the way rich people do but definitely we live a happy life overall. The say middle class is the most happy and powerful category in the society. Not sure about that but we are definitely the most populated category in Nepal.
As a middle class you can fulfill your basic needs but you will have that scarcity of money when it comes to luxury. An imported car will always remain a dream, expensive college will always be dream for your kid and a diamond set will always be your wife’s dream.
No matter what we are living our life happily with little of what we have. And we must thank god for this beautiful life because there are many people who still live under the line of poverty in Nepal. Today on the article I list few problem you face on everyday basis when you are from middle class family. Please remember that I am not trying to mock or bring anyone down through this article .
Fight for seat in the bus
We all have been through that struggle. Not everyone have their own ride and it is a torture travelling in the public bus. You have to literally fight everyday for a seat in the bus. The buses are always very crowdy and people are always in their best mood to argue with you . So you don’t want to mess with them. And if by mistake you sit in a reserved “ Mahila Seat “ then there is chance your time in bus becomes torture. All the passengers will start shouting at you and it won’t stop even after you apologize and gracefully hand the seat to any women.
And also how can I forget the rude conductors. I don’t understand why the conductors are always grumpy. They are much mean than any person you have met in your life. So in overall a bus ride is directly equal to torture and a middle class man has to deal with it every day.
Traffic Jam
Imagine standing in a crowdy bus or riding your bike in deadly sunny day and then there is the biggest traffic jam. I don’t remember even a single day when there is no traffic jam in my way to college. Traffic jam is another big torture . And in my case when I have to ride my scooter in that jam it Is so annoying. No matter how many rules are imposed traffic jam in Kathmandu never reduces. The roads are always busy and you have to pay the price every day. It could be the weakness of government or public as well but whoever is responsible behind these it is always the middle class person that has to pay the price.
Dhulo Dhuwa everyday
Recently there has been expansion in roads of Kathmandu and many construction works are going. This has resulted pollution at its peak. Dhulo Dhuwa is so much this days that you get covered in layers of dust whenever you get out. Specially when you ride a two wheeler you don’t even recognize yourself . Pollution is a very serious problem and thus has resulted in many people being sick of it. People are getting allergies, throat infection and lung infection.
In many cases it has been proved fatal as well. The masks available in the market do help but not much many particles manage to get into your respiratory track and affect you seriously. In this case as well it is middle class who suffers .if you get sick the medical bills are so high that we often have to take loans to clear that unlike rich people who can go and treat themselves abroad.
Price hike
We struggle every month to fulfill our basic needs as a middle class in Nepal. With limited salary and earnings it is really hard to manage all the expenses and to top it all there is price hike. Everything is so expensive in Nepal. From medicines to vegetables basic things are also very expensive. With unlimited price hike it is often very tough for middle class to cope up with that. Every service and every goods are very expensive in Nepal. Be it health service, education and even transportation , they are really expensive. We struggle to get basic service and facilities . And above all there is corruption so, nothing can be done in Nepal without money. Because of that we often get left behind.
Shortage of petrol
What is worse than not getting something even when you are ready to pay a price for that. Fuel is already very expensive in Nepal and its worse when you can’t get it in time. Even in normal days there is always a long queue and you need to wait hours to get fuel. And most of time we have shortage of petrol. That’s the worst time, you can’t get petrol so, even when you have your ride you need to travel in public bus. In this case also the rich have no problem they will buy petrol in higher price . This thing was clearly evident during the economic blockade . We had severe crisis of petrol since all our way were blocked and this harmed the middle class the most.
My experience in the blockade
I remember my experience when I would ask for lift to any vehicle. Me and my friends used to ask lift to get to our college everyday. We had all the experience : Bus, Truck, Motorbikes, private cars and everything .Only a middle class can understand the real struggle of not getting petrol.