Grief and Fading Banners in Dana: Nirmal Purja’s Village Mourns Missing Mountaineer

Myagdi: Kamala KC has not been able to hold back her tears for the past four days. Ever since she saw the reports on social media platforms that 10 members of a mountaineering team, including her younger brother Nirmal Purja gone missing in Pakistan's Broad Peak, she initially didn't believe it.

Since Thursday, she has been visiting the ruins of Purja's home, which takes her back to the childhood days when she played with him in the same vicinity.

"I had the hope that I would meet him someday. For the past two three days, I have been hearing news about him. I am not able to check the phone, he's all over it. I can hear him speaking but cannot converse with him," Kamala KC, cousin sister of Nirmal Purja, told ANI.

The Titar village in Annapurna Rural Municipality- 3, Dana of Myagdi is mourning his loss. All of Nirmal's relatives, childhood friends and neighbours have fallen silent.

"He was stubborn by nature; he would accomplish whatever he wanted or desired, whatever he thought of doing, no one could have changed his mind he would accomplish it by any means. If I would ask him not to go down or up the slope, then he would go there and get across or climb-up. He used to hunt the crabs and hit on the nest of the bees and similar insects with fist and bear the stings of insects and say I should endure the pain," Kamala recalls her childhood with Nirmal.

A banner reading "Mountaineer Nirmal Purja (Nims) Felicitation Ceremony" hangs on the balcony (veranda) of Kamala's house. It was on March 6, 2025 that Purja was publicly honoured in Beni for setting world records in mountaineering. Kamala didn't let go the banner and hung it in the balcony.

Kamala, a former teacher who had come to the district headquarters, Beni, to attend the same event, brought the banner prepared by Annapurna Rural Municipality back home and hung it there. Although the letters on the banner have faded, the photograph on it can still be clearly seen from the Beni-Jomsom road.

The house where Nirmal was born has collapsed, leaving only the remains of its walls. Kamala has planted maize and vegetables on the site where the house once stood. Kamala recalled that during that visit, Nirmal had asked her to look after the land where their old two-storey house once stood and had shared plans for the siblings to build a traditional-style house together.

"I would build the house, it is where I was born Didi (sister), he had told me. His brothers also had said okay to the proposal and also had asked me to clear the debris so that it can be constructed and I also cleared the site," Kamala said.

It was on March 26, 2023, Nirmal had returned to his birthplace, Dana. While accompanying Qatari Princess Asma Al Thani on an expedition to climb Annapurna, Nirmal spent two nights in Dana, where he spoke with elected representatives, relatives, village elders and neighbors. (ANI)

Also Read: Renowned Mountaineer Nirmal ‘Nimsdai’ Purja Dies in Broad Peak Avalanche