Heera Devi Yami
Heera Devi Yami was one of the leading pioneers and a committed fighter in Nepal’s women’s movement and political movement. She undertook extremely difficult work while being actively involved in the women’s movement. Carrying her infant child on her back, she would distribute leaflets and pamphlets, walking from Singha Durbar through Masanghat and onward to Shankhamul Patan. By the time she reached Patan, it would already be night.
As returning home became difficult at that hour, she would stay overnight at the homes of trusted comrades associated with the party. Among these comrades were, in particular, Keshav Narsingh Shrestha of Patan Baglamukhi, Tulsi Lal Amatya of Satto, and Indragopal Shrestha. Even though she stayed at their homes in connection with party work, she would wake up early the next morning and help with whatever household work she saw there. She would sweep the house and go to the water spout to fetch water. All her colleagues felt that no amount of praise was enough for her simple, cooperative, and warm nature.
She was almost always engaged in work for the Women’s Association, yet from time to time she would ask for leave from organizational duties. When poverty made it difficult to light the household stove, she would go out to work as a daily wage laborer. During the wheat harvest, she would go to thresh wheat, and during the mustard harvest, she would go to process mustard. With the wages she earned, she would buy essential household items and bring them home.
She also provided shelter to political leaders who were engaged in underground struggle for the establishment of democracy. She not only cooked and fed those leaders who stayed at her home, but also cleaned the corners used for defecation and urination by them. Heera Devi Yami did not limit herself to wage labor alone. To feed the leaders, she would sometimes quietly pluck vegetables from the gardens cultivated by Jyapu farmers and cook them. She believed that taking such vegetables to feed those working in the national interest was not a sin.
Whatever responsibility the Women’s Association entrusted to her, she carried it out with ease and commitment. In my memory, Heera Devi was not only a “gem” by name, but also a gem in her work. Carrying her infant child on her back, she remained fully dedicated in every possible way to fulfilling her national responsibilities.