November 10: Gorakh Singh and Shova Singh from Jiri of Barekot Rural Municipality-4 in Jajarkot are inconsolable after the earthquake that claimed the lives of their two daughters.    
Their daughters- Upasana and Urja- died in the midnight quake of November 3. It has been almost a week since the tragic incident, but the Singh couple is yet still distraught with tears running down their cheeks continuously.

Upasana was 21 years old and Urja 18 years old. They had been living in Nepalgunj, a city in the southern plain, in recent times, but were in the village for the festivals of Dashain and Tihar when the disaster struck.    
In the fateful night, both Upasana and Urja were staying at their aunt's (mother's sister) home. The 6.4 magnitude earthquake killed both of them along with their cousin sister (aunt's daughter), Merina RC, 25.    
The eldest daughter Upasana was a fifth semester student at Everest Engineering College in Lalitpur. She had a dream of pursuing further education abroad and to return to Nepal to serve the Karnali hamlets, where people are deprived of access to information technology. Not only her dream got dashed, but herself crushed in the debris.    
Similarly, younger daughter Urja had completed Grade 12 exams from the Saint Thomas English Secondary School, Nepalgunj. She was planning for medical education.    
Urja was all set to fly to Australia in the last week of December.    
Although she made through an entrance exam for higher study at a private medical college, she did not like to burden her parents for her medical studies. She had realized well that her parent could not afford huge amount required for her medical study, so she opted to go abroad.    
Nevertheless, the Singh couple was prepared to do anything for realizing the dreams of their daughters at any cost: One daughter an IT engineer and another a doctor. They were collecting money to manage their higher study. "Everything perished in the earthquake – including hope and dream, life and luck," Singh couple said univocally in despair.    
Gorakh says with a tearful eyes that their daughters calling him “Baba” still resonates in his ears.

Similarly, his spouse Shova said, "Life has turned lifeless. I see my daughters standing before me as I wake up in the night, but I can't embrace them. Then, there is no option but to cry and mourn." She wished none faced such tragedy in life.    
     
The Singh couple also had the dream- daughters with higher education becoming able workforce for the country. But the dream turned into an ugly reality as the disaster brought the deaths, a callous moment to their lives.    
The departed ones were honest and had good understanding of their parent's problems, the couple recalls.    
Meanwhile, Merina was also a civil engineering graduate from College of Engineering and Management, Nepalgunj. She was awarded scholarship by Pokhara University.