director's note

ONE FROM THE HEART

Why did I make this film "THE RAT HUNTERS?"

For the first time when I came to Nepal after 3 years living in Canada, I was excited to see the changes in Terai Region of Nepal, my country side home and its surroundings.

After a couple days of exciting visit in midsummer, one day in the evening, I was walking down the nearby river. I saw couple of cart loaded with bamboo with group of 7-8 men struggling hard to cross their carts in the river. Men being dragged down on sloppy river road to control the cart speed having no brakes.

Moreover, all five carts were hardly passing through river water, carts wheel being wedged by river sand and bulls dyeing hard to pull the cart out of it. Suddenly, I fixed my little digital camera lens to the pitiful cart accident. An old bull slipped down the slippery up hill and fell in river water. The bull was trying enough to stand and pull the loaded cart up but his effort was not working enough. He tried three times to stand up but couldn’t then kneel down on his fore limb, turning around his head for great help. His master was shouting for help, his friends came down to push the cart and bull to cross the hill up.

I was very eager to know about their work, and followed them for a kilometer to know more, saw a lot of difficulties like carts being pulled through the muddy, slippery, unleveled roads. The carts were driven semi immersed through muddy pond due to the water flooded roads.