The Vishnu Mandir at Timai 'Bhopali' refugee camp in eastern Nepal where the refugees will hold their Dasain festival. A Telegraph picture

Timai (Eastern Nepal), Oct. 3: Zameen before roti, kapda and makan (land before food, clothes and roof over one?s head).

For the more than 12,000 displaced Nepalese of Bhutan origin here, the order of basic human requirements is turned upside down.

Nevertheless, for homeless Bhupalis (as they are loosely termed), Dashain is the time to come together and forget their woes temporarily. So what if they do not have enough to eat or new clothes to wear or do not know whether they will ever be able to get back to their homes.

?Durga Puja will go on,? is the confident verdict of Gouri Shankar Nepal, president of the Vishnu Panchayani Mandir committee, which runs the temple where the Puja is held every year.

Located about 40 km from Kakarvitta near the India-Nepal border in the Jhapa district of Nepal, Timai is one of seven refugee camps that are ?home? to over 1,15,000 Bhupalis, who were forced out of Bhutan more than 15 years ago. Though celebrating a festival that symbolises harvest in a land that is entirely unsuitable for cultivation may seem incongruous, the Bhupalis carry on undeterred.

?The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), which maintains the camps, has, like every year, allocated about Rs 5,000 for Durga Puja. We are also raising funds of our own with small subscriptions from those who can afford it,? a committee member said.

Dashain is also the time when painful memories of homeland are rekindled. ?Festivals are meant to be celebrated at home, isn't it?? Narmaya Das asked.

?What do we celebrate?? asked Hemanta Dahal, an active women's leader. ?People here are forced to barter small amounts of pulses given by the UNHCR with the grocer just to change their menu from dal-bhat to sabji-bhat.?

Not everyone?s bitter though. ?It is after 20 days that we have been given kerosene to cook our food. This calls for a celebration, doesn't it?? Jagannath Adhikary jests, resting his can of kerosene on the ground.

The spirit of being able to smile in pain is evinced by young girls making a beeline for Adhikary?s tailoring shop. ?This time the craze is for short kurta and parallel pants,? he explains with all the elan of a fashion designer.