Karan, Karishma and Khumba, chapter 1 / 3A village three days away.
Karan, Karishma and Khumba come from a remote village in Kalikot, in Nepal’s far west. It takes three days to get there. When they were small, the family was in a car accident in the far west. Their mother did not survive it, and the children were there when it happened. Their father was badly injured, never fully recovered, and went on to hard labouring work.
An address they call home. No one there to ask after them.
At school, the holidays tell the story plainly. Other children’s families arrive at the gate. No one arrives for these three. They stay through every holiday, together, on their own.
Karan, Karishma and Khumba, chapter 2 / 3Someone who asks after them.
Karan and Khumba came to Bhagya Nepal first, with support from Ruta6, Bhagya Nepal’s partner in Spain. Karishma joined her brothers later.
Pooja is not a parent; no one replaces that. She is the adult who keeps showing up, and who knows each of them well enough to know they need different things.
The mischief of the three. He tests every line he finds, and Pooja is the one who holds it — calmly, every time, so the line means something.
Street sense far beyond her years. Pooja’s work isn’t to dull it, but to point it somewhere worth going.
The sincere one. He tries hard, and school doesn’t come easily — so that’s where Pooja’s attention goes for him.
Karan, Karishma and Khumba, chapter 3 / 3Tough, and growing.
They are tough, all three of them. They’ve had to be. But tough is no longer the whole story. They’re in school, they’re learning, and they’re growing into young adults who know someone is paying attention.
Still being written. This time, not alone.