An elderly woman from Dhankuta district has got her blanket and umbrella 14 years after she lost it, reports Kantipur daily.

On Sunday, 70-year-old Bishnumaya Tamang of Dhankuta municipality-1 finally received the two items that had found its way to the court after the police recovered it from her neighbor’s house following a complaint filed by her late husband 14 years ago.

Ramesh Pokharel, an official at the Dhankuta district court, said they had written a letter to the rightful owner to come and claim the items after the police submitted it to the court. But no one came and it gathered dust at the store of the court. What happened was that soon after filing a complaint, Bishnumaya’s husband Mandal Singh had died and she all but forgot about the lost items. Only after a neighbor told her that her blanket and umbrella are still in the court she finally remembered about it.

When she was given her belongings upon reaching the court with her granddaughter on Sunday, she was taken aback. Although rats had made holes all over the blanket and umbrella, she had memories attached with the blanket which explained the tears running down her cheeks when she finally ran her hand over it.

“My husband and I had bought this woolen blanket with the money we earned by selling our harvest,” a visibly shaken Bishumaya told journalists, adding, “even though late, I found it, but my husband has already died.” Although she could no longer use the blanket to drive away the cold as it is completely ruined through dampness, she said she would take it home and keep it safely as she had memories attached with it.

Court officials said that they haven’t kept an exact record of lost and found items at the court store house, but there are television sets, radio, clocks and various bits and pieces which the police had recovered and submitted to the court. They eventually auction off such items if the rightful owner does not come to claim it. nepalnews.com ag Feb 11 08