She arrived this morning for tuition and is unable to return: Confusion and closed doors at the Nepali border during the Gen Z protest

“Aap peeche chale jaiye, yahan khade mat hoiye (move back, don’t stand here).”

“Jaoun Peeche Kahan? How can I move back? Wahan to mera kuch bhi nahi hai. I have nothing there).”

At the Bharat-Nepal Maitri Bridge, which connects Raxaul in Bihar to Birgunj in Nepal, this conversation between 19-year-old Chanchala Kumari and a Sashtra Seema Bal officer captured the frustration of many who find themselves stranded on the border as political turmoil unfolds in Kathmandu.

“I live in Nepal,” Kumari, who was half as tall as the man she was battling with, attempted to explain to the officer. I arrived here this morning for tuition classes (on the Indian side). On the opposite side is where my family resides.

Chanchala is getting ready for the police test in Bihar. “My father settled in Bhansar, Nepal, and operates a business there, but our family is originally from Sitamarhi,” she explains.

According to Chanchala, she wasn’t excited to go to tuition today. “Despite my constant excuses to skip class, my mother told me that everyone is passing through the bridge,” she says.

Around 7:45 am, she finally crossed the bridge from Nepal to India, and at 9:30 am, she was informed that she couldn’t return.

Chanchala is not by herself. As the Gen Z protests in the neighboring country intensify, many people who entered India today are now being informed they cannot return right away.

Outside the Raxaul Land Port, a large number of truckers are also waiting.

Umesh Gupta, a 24-year-old from Amnishganj, Nepal, is one of the truckers. “I carry petrol from Barauni (Begusarai, Bihar) to Nepal for Nepal Nigam Oil,” he says.

Every delivery, which often takes five to six days, brings around Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 for him. For the past two days, he and his truck laden with gasoline have been stuck in India. In addition, my father drives a truck between Nepal and India. In our family, we are the only ones that make a living. The longer this continues, the more financial loss we have to bear,” he says.

“I used to do business of nearly Rs 1 lakh (Nepalese currency), which has completely stopped,” says Kamlesh Raj, who operate a ration store at check post 93 close to the border. For the past three years, he has been operating the store. He claims that whereas Nepal depends on India for supplies, the border merchants mostly rely on Nepal.