THE WHITE MONASTERY (SETO GUMBA)

23^rd June 2013

Although not quite sure of the route to Ramkot, we walked from Swoyambhu at about 11 am towards the White Monastery, also known as Druk Amitabh Mountain. We carried a bottle of water, lunchbox and some fruits. It was a cool day. Asking people ahead of us on the way about the way to Gumba, who seemed to be going to the same destination as ours, we kept following them. After walking for about 10 minutes, we took a shortcut through the steps. We were a bit sad not to find any signposts to make our travel easier. The shortcut was not a proper way. It was rather an open barren field of someone and the way through it was quite narrow. From there, we could see a steep hill ahead of us through which people were moving upwards. Soon we realized that the Seto Gumba experience was going to be adventurous. We reached to the motorway area and continued walking across the road. We could see many people preceding and following us. It seemed like a fair. We wondered what made Seto Gumba so popular and special. It must have been about 45 minutes with our slow gait when we reached the bottom of the steep hill. Scary it looked. We were to choose between scary shortcut and long safe way. We chose the former one. 

The steep hill was without any way. We were to make our own. Taking hold of some grass, we would climb up. The water bottle and lunchbox bag seemed a burden during climbing. We reached a bit up and felt dizzy. However, we did not lose hope and continued upwards clicking ourselves. We again met the motorway in about 15-20 minutes and felt satisfied on our accomplished adventure. By that time, we were soaked in sweat. 

Continuing our walk for about 10-15 minutes, we finally reached the Druk Amitabh Mountain. It looked huge and covered a wide area. There were hundreds of motorbikes but a few number of other vehicles and uncountable number of people.  Family, couple, friends, children, school children were the visitors. After receiving visitor passes, we walked through the area. 

Gardens were in most of the places. There were large Buddhist arts on the walls resembling Thanka paintings. There was a big statue of Buddha on the first part of garden. Steps on both sides of the statue led to the next Buddha statue which was again in between steps. Those steps led to the last statue of Buddha which was the largest and well decorated. This was a huge open area. Everyone seemed excited to click themselves in front of the well maintained, neat and tidy gardens and big statues. 

Most of the places notified “No entry” and they looked very neat and tidy. The entire floor was smoothened with marble and pitch. There was a Cafe Naro reminding me of Cafe Nero of the UK. We could see Buddhist Ani (nun) handling the cafe. There were two places of shelter which was all occupied. By this time, the weather was typical of a June day. People rested and enjoyed a glimpse of green dense forests on the hills. We enjoyed our lunch by the side of shelter. Just close to it was a garden with replica of bridge, river and birds. After taking snaps, we moved down and followed a queue. It was the only permitted area of the Gumba besides the gardens. A temple was situated on the first floor. We took off our shoes in a shoe rack and went to the temple upstairs.

The temple was massively decorated. We could see a huge statue of Buddha facing the door and the walls were all filled with small statues of Buddha. There were hundreds of Buddha statues in those walls, preserved inside the glasses. We saw an individual standing and delivering a speech to about 20-25 audience listening to him. They were in ordinary dress. 4-5 Anis were guarding the room as it was meant to be quiet. We exited the temple. Our barefoot on the cool, smooth marble felt heaven in the midday heat. From the temple, we could see a nice view of Kathmandu along with green dense forests by its side which looked magnificent. The ground floor had a gift shop managed by Anis. This reminded me of the UK gift shop in different travel destinations. 

The crowd seemed to expand more and more. We decided to return. Gave back our visitor passes, bought cold fruit juices and a bottle of water and left the place. Enjoying the drinks, we travelled through the long motorway this time. We saw many people going towards the Monastery on our way back. It was indeed a popular place and worth a day out.

PALETI AND DIPAK KHAREL

1^st June, 2013

On a special occasion (friend’s wedding anniversary on 31^st May), we went to a special place for celebration. The show was to begin at 6 pm in Paleti in Nepalaya hall. Socializing would begin at 5:30 pm. We reached at 5:15 pm. The venue already had about a dozen numbers of guests.  The place was peaceful and well managed and the weather was cool.

Around one corner was a table over which a number of books were kept for sale. We glanced through the books and were waiting for the program. The number of guests was increasing. Snacks and drinks were being served. We were relishing and were excited to see the popular figures of the country in the venue. We could see journalists, poets, musicians, politicians all who loved Nepali culture and were eager to listen to Dipak Kharel in front of them. 

At 6 pm, we entered the Paleti hall. We could hear soothing instrumental tune emerging out from the room. The room was cool but cozy, and we could see the legend Dipak Kharel in front of us already well prepared with musicians behind him in a semi-circle. Soon the Paleti room was full. I could see why they had notified me in the email that the ticket had been sold out for this show. The show began. 

It began with a song which sounded like a Bhajan. What followed were his popular songs and the ones which I had never heard before. Some of them were - “Pratikshya gara…”, “Purnima ko raat…”, “Badal banai deu….” He would sing with his eyes closed and through the depth of this heart. The hosting of Aavash was entertaining. He kept asking Dipak Kharel about the making and background of those songs throughout the program. 

Dipak Kharel looked charismatic and handsome. The red-colored top, which he later mentioned he wore upon his father’s request, on the white face looked awesome and the shining steel-rimmed glasses made him a gentleman. His voice was not much different from what it was in his songs 30-35 years back. It was fit for singing. He spoke less but answered all questions tactfully. The audience seemed happy to hear him.

 The show had a break of 15-20 minutes in between. Everyone was outside again chatting about the program and relishing the snacks. We made some friends during the break. All the Paleti audience seemed to admire Deepak Kharel’s voice. The break seemed too long for us. Listeners were back in the hall. The second half of the program started. 

Once he began singing, time ran quickly. We could enjoy songs like “Timro tyo hasilo muhar…”, “Kati anautho chha…”, “Yo karma bhumiko…” this time. The more he sang, the more claps were heard. A few times, they even prolonged. He kept singing his evergreen songs and the listeners were never tired. Upon our request, he re-sang “Pratikshya gara….” As all good things come to an end, the good show ended too.

We are thankful to Paleti for organizing such programs and honoring the legends of the country. We also feel grateful to be a part of it and will always want to be. We hope the Paleti continues.