Why did the electricity that brings light to my life bring darkness to my life?' This question has been haunting Anil Pahari for a year and a half. Twenty-two-year-old Anil cannot control himself when he sees his friends his age running. He keeps on laughing, hiding the tears that are welling up in his eyes. He dreams of running like his friends. But he cannot even walk fast. It takes him two hours to cover a distance that would take others an hour. That is why he has problems commuting to and from his home and office. He has to climb up and down hills and mountains to get to his office. Pahari's legs have a hard time supporting his body when walking on such a path. It feels like his legs are not supporting him as he walks. Yet he does not lose courage. He gets tired every now and then and keeps moving forward. He was not always like this. Until a year and a half ago, he could walk and run like others. Now, the path that was difficult to walk on seemed to be a muddy one. What about home and office, he could walk across the district in a day. What happened one and a half years ago, that changed his life? Anil's job is to stretch electricity wires to illuminate every house. He lays wires in places where the line does not reach. He installs electricity meters. And, he stretches wires from one house to another. He has been doing this work for four years. But one and a half years ago, an accident happened that cast a shadow over his life. Born in Sindhupalchowk's Lishankhu Pakhar Rural Municipality-6, Anil is the eldest son of the family. He has one brother. Father Ramkrishna Pahari works as a bricklayer. Mother Bindu takes care of the house. Bindu is not the mother who gave birth to him. He does not remember the face of the mother who gave birth to him. She left him when he was three or four years old. After that, they never met. From the age of six, he grew up in the care of his younger mother. Anil studied at the village's Seti Devi Secondary School until grade 7. He should have enrolled in grade 8; he didn't. While going to school, he started working as a wage laborer to earn a few paisa. He was 15 at the time. I couldn't continue going to school, watching the misery of the family,' he said, 'The family's income was low. Growing maize and millet wasn't enough to eat for four or five months. The responsibility of feeding four people was on my father's shoulders. That's why I started earning money rather than studying.' Although he didn't have book knowledge, the challenges of life have taught him a lot. At a young age, he carried bricks, dug a garden. He cut firewood, and carried water. He did whatever work he could get. Working 20-22 days a month, he earned two to three thousand rupees. He kept two to four hundred for himself and gave the rest to his father. 'My father was relieved when I started earning. My brother was able to study,' Anil's face was clearly visible as he said this. Two years passed like this. It was in 2077. With the help of two or three brothers from the village, he got a job as an assistant in the Electricity Authority. He helped those brothers pull wires, carry them, and bury poles.
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