Kathmandu, Sept. 25 -- Two weeks have passed since the Gen Z protests upturned Nepal's political landscape. Yet, on social media, images of the movement's defining moments and reminders continue to circulate. Among them, one symbol has seized the public's imagination more than any other: a blood-soaked white shoe.

Whose shoe was it? Whose foot, pierced by a bullet, left it behind?

It belonged to 28-year-old Prakash Bohara of Dailekh, who now lies in a hospital bed at the National Trauma Centre, Kathmandu, recovering from surgery.

Prakash had joined the protests on the morning of September 8 with friends, determined to make his generation's voice heard. He marched past tear gas, right up to the walls of the Parliament building in New Ba...