“Basanta, did you hear?” she began explaining as she switched on the T.V.[break]
“What happened?” asked Basanta, getting up. Ashmina didn’t have to answer that for him. The news from Nepal that was repeatedly being broadcast on BBC and CNN brought joy to their faces.
They could see the victory procession of people with red vermillion all over their faces, touring around the streets of Kathmandu on the television screen. Below the big letters read, ‘Breaking News: People’s victory in Nepal, Democracy restored. The monarch who had the country under his direct rule hands over his power to the people.
Some youngsters sprawled the TV camera showing ‘V’ for victory signs. While flags with four stars and sickle and hammer covered the TV screen time and again, the excited mass shouted the slogan of a new republican system.
Ashmina and Basanta too had been soldiers of Jana Andolan, stepping into the war with weapons of thought. Due to work, they had to leave for America during their fight against the direct rule of the king. The news of democracy being restored to the nation, within a week of their departure, brought tears of joy to their eyes. They embraced like the warriors of the winning side. There were no other means to express their happiness. She felt, if only she were a bird, she would fly across the oceans and join the victory procession.
It was those 19 days of Jana Andolan that had brought Ashmina Ranjit and Basanta Ranjitkar closer together.
“We fell in love during the protests and demonstrations on the streets,” Ashmina told us her love story that bloomed during the historical Jana Andolan.
The revolution had heightened against the dictatorship of then King Gyanendra and Maoist violence. The entire nation had come out on the streets with republican slogans. She felt she had to contribute somehow as well. So she stepped down on the streets along with the artists and civil society groups under the name of ‘Independent Artist Group’.
Some days it would be the fire of burning tires at Ratna Park and some days it was police chase in Basantpur – the revolt had become a daily routine of her life. And, during this same hustle-bustle, she met Basanta.
“Basanta was decent, fearless and energetic. I would see him arranging stages and sometimes distributing placards in gatherings and assemblies at different places. I would join in and help him on several occasions.” Ashmina turned to the initial days of her love story.
“We didn’t talk much around that time. If we did, it would only concern the revolution and politics.”
Basanta, who was the general manager of Sajha Yatayat at the time, had stepped into the revolution as a government employee, whereas Ashmina as an artist. As the revolution intensified, so did their meetings.
Actually, they had met each other before, but on some coincidental occasions.
It was around 1998. Ashmina was speaking on a discussion series, “Women and children,” at Martin Chautari. One particular person from the audience was asking thoughtful questions. She took notice of the person. She had been quite hypnotized with his questions, his simple yet attractive mannerism and his shy eyes at the time. The questioner was none other than Basanta. But for the attraction to materialize into a deeper bond, it had to wait until the revolution.
“I was attracted to him but I never had the right place or the right time to express my feelings for him.” She told us with a bit of regret that she could not open up back then.
“Coming from two different fields, we didn’t get to meet that frequently. But once we met during the revolution, our goal was one. And the love that had sown its seeds 10 years ago finally got its opportunity to blossom fully.”
Ashmina still remembers one particular gathering at Basantpur. Many artists, literati and people from civil society were present. It was a protest program against bloodshed through paintings. Basanta was coordinating the program whereas Ashmina was painting along with other artists.
While Basanta was setting up the stage, Ashmina was busy drawing people being shoved into prisons. She also painted scenes of weapons being piled up in the Dabali of Kumari Temple, and people drowning into the heap of shoes. All of these were pictures she drew on her canvas that the whole world could see. But secretly on the canvas of her heart, she was drawing a perpetual picture of Basanta with deep colors of love.
“I don’t know why, but that day I was filled with hope and excitement,” even now she recalls that day, and she looks all excited and joyous. “I was occupied with my brush swaying across the canvas, but I was intently watching him work as well. I felt like I was losing myself in him and in the newly sprung desires of my heart.”
She feels that it was the meeting and the close interactions of that special time which opened up a new chapter in their lives.
Almost everyday during the revolution, the couple would be seen together. Along with working for bringing a revolution for the country, they were longing for freedom for themselves as well. Freedom from their lonely lives. Every meeting brought them closer to each other.
Both of them were mature and independent individuals, so they had no qualms about family or society. They went out a couple of times to Nagarkot and Godavari. To get away from the maddening daily hassles of the city, the couple would seek out the more peaceful and personal surroundings of Pokhara. The romantic lovebirds would frequently go out on dates and dinners and meet as often as they could.
“We would mostly talk about the revolution, country and politics’” shares Ashmina. “The talks we had during the days of revolution and the times we went out brought us even closer. Frankly speaking, I thought myself to be a selfless person and used to think that there were very rare people like that. But once I met Basanta, I could see a bit of myself in him. As I got to know him, I found him to be a far better person than myself, who would think more about other people than himself,” she disclosed the reasons she fell in love with this man.
Before she met him, she had never thought of getting married. She did not even want to marry because of the patriarchal system and reserved Newari traditions.
“I didn’t want to get entangled in any kind of family or marital relationships,” she put in. “So at an early age, I had already decided that I wouldn’t get married, and even if I did, it wouldn’t be a tradition-bound Nepali family marriage.”
But once she met Basanta, she gave in.
As she had found her soulmate, she now wanted to settle down and start a family. And then she herself took out the topic of marriage. Her family was more than happy. They quickly gave their approval without any hesitation as they were from the same caste. Moreover, Basanta was a successful general manager of Sajha Yatayat. On the side of the groom, too, the family was happy to welcome a famous artist as their daughter-in-law.
Ashmina never wanted to have a grand marriage ceremony and Basanta was in her favor.They decided to get married in a very simple manner. On April 20, 2007, Ashmina’s family had Basanta’s family over for dinner. By the end of the occasion, both families declared and accepted their wedding.
“I still get confused sometimes, if we really got married,” says Ashmina, and adds, “We feel more like two best friends than husband and wife.”
Their love flourished during the revolution and blossomed. But at the time when the revolution came to its conclusion, both of them were in America.
“It’s distressing sometimes to think that we couldn’t experience for ourselves the success of the revolution- the one which had brought us together.”
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