CHISAPANI MEMORIES

23^rd May 2014 

 

Packing our stuffs, we moved towards Chisapani in 2 school buses on the above-mentioned date. The buses went through the routes Chabahil- Bouddha- Jorpati- Gokarna and stopped at Sundarijal. From there, we were to walk uphill at 10 am. Enjoying the beauty of waterfalls, forests and nature, we headed upwards slowly. Reached to the entrance of Shivapuri National Park and walked towards Mulkharka from there. 

 

The weather was good. A lot of sunshine could be seen and felt. Resting at times, we were heading towards our destination Chisapani. Some boys proved helpful. They carried stuffs of people who had hard times with their own. A girl had problems with her shoes and bag, improper for hiking. Many students had stairs phobia and their remarks were funny. Some said they would never climb stairs in their life again, not even at their homes. Drinking water at times saved our lives and talking with children made our way shorter. We reached Lamachour and rested for about an hour. After having our packed lunch there, we clicked pictures. Headed again uphill and reached a summit in Chisapani soon. The ways had fern and wild white roses. A plant with a unique name kukurdaini was seen. We heard from the locals that it is used for making pickle. Children were ahead of us and we were following them downhill. Conversation with colleagues and their humor reduced the level of tiredness. We finally reached the place at about 4 pm and rested. 

 

We had travelled for about 6 hours with frequent short breaks and an hour long break in between. We enjoyed the green views of the place. The place was cool compared to Kathmandu. After having tea and bread, we freshened ourselves and rested for a while. Dinner was served after some time. The most awaited moment of bonfire then followed where children danced and sang with full energy. this went on for about 2 hours. Tired as we were, we slept at 10 pm. 

 

The next morning, I got up at 5 am and clicked the sunrise. Then went outside the hotel and enjoyed the natural beauty. Had breakfast at 7 am and packed and left at about 8:30 am. Through another way, which also went towards Nagarkot, we returned back to Mulkharka and Sundarijal. The ways had a lot of aiselu (raspberry) which we picked up and relished. The cool early morning walk was a pleasure. However, slight rainfall that occurred later chilled the environment.

 

We reached Sundarijal and had lunch made by staffs of school canteen. Headed the last slopes towards Kathmandu through the way we had walked yesterday from the National Park. With tired and aching legs, we reached buses eagerly waiting for us at Sundarijal. We felt heaven to be seated. Most of the children slept once they were on their seats. Reached home at about 4:30 p.m. Massaged my legs with hot mustard oil and relaxed for 2 days. The pain ceased. What a memorable journey!

SOME WORDS OF THOUGHT

First of all, let me ask you- What is the difference between developed countries and our countries? What is the difference between them and us? Nothing? Something? Well, I think it is worth sharing with you my experience of the other world. There are few aspects of discipline of a civilized world that I would like to throw light upon. 

One of the first things that we notice of any developed country is cleanliness. Most of the times, our first comment on being in such countries would be “Wow! It’s so clean!” But have we ever thought how it has become such clean? It is clean because there is no one to make it dirty. There is a proper place to throw. People throw garbage in their respective places. In case litter boxes are not kept anywhere, people carry the things along with them until they come across the right place to throw away. I myself have carried the chocolate wrappers and banana skins in my bag throughout the day and have thrown it once I reached home. I have seen managers and bosses mopping, vacuuming and cleaning their workplaces, tables and chairs. This is one practice we should learn from them. And let us not think that only grown up people do the cleaning. Children pick up the wrappers and keep it in their pockets when they fall on the street. Shouldn’t we learn from them? If we dirty our city, it becomes our duty to clean it.

Moving on to the next quality that can be easily observed in the people of developed countries is politeness; politeness in speech, politeness in actions. And this feature comes right from their heart. When they show it, they mean it. This can be seen in the form of speech as “Thank you” and “Please.” In actions, it is seen by their attitude to let others go first, whether it may be during driving or while opening a door. We, on the other hand, always want to be first on the race and try to stop others from moving ahead. We definitely should try to be first but that does not mean we have to block others out of the way. Our approach should be of Win-Win theory i.e. –let us win and let others win too. 

Now I would like to throw some light on one of the most important aspects of our habit, i.e. the use of time. Most of us spend our time in an idle, unproductive manner. We can sit for hours doing nothing, just folding our hands talking unnecessarily, complaining and backbiting. In the developed countries, I never saw people wasting their time during the working hours the way we do. We’ve time for everything – to work, to talk, to eat, to play, to study and to sleep. When one is supposed to study, the sole focus should be in the studies. That is discipline. Discipline does not mean folding our hands in silence. It means doing a right thing at a right time. 

Next thing that is common in the other world is a sense of responsibility. When someone is given a certain task, then it becomes the duty of the individual to fulfill it. But in our case, we do not want to take responsibilities in first place; and even if we do, we would love to have them done by others. We love to cheat and escape. This approach might seem to help at present; but in the long run, it is we who suffer. People won’t be there for us every time. We should learn to do our work ourselves if we are capable enough. Let us know that other people have their own works to do. 

Therefore, let’s not waste our time in trivial matters. Let’s show our discipline and civilization through our actions. Let’s do our work and let others do theirs. Let’s change our mentality. It’s never too late to start. Let’s learn few aspects of the other world so that we can improve ours too.

TRAVELING TO HARIDWAR

Collecting stuffs from our friends on 13^th February, 2014, we headed to Gongabu at 4 pm in a Deluxe bus. They provided us with water and a newspaper, and a South Indian movie was played. The weather was chilly; however, we had our deep sleep in the bus. 

We reached Mahendranagar the next day at 10 am. On a rainy Friday morning, we had our food in a restaurant nearby the bus park. Then we headed from Mahendranagar in tanga to Banbasa in the afternoon, at about 12/1 pm. Mobile had stopped working as we were heading to another country. We reached to Banbasa at 2 pm. Had our tea and roamed here and there. We did some shopping for our friend’s wedding. Then took a bus at 7:30 pm to Haridwar. Driver and conductor seemed jolly type of people.  Hindi songs being played by Anuradha, Lata, Kishor in the background set the mood for our journey. The songs continued throughout the night. When I got up in the night at times, I could see the bus running and hear the songs still being played. The driver seemed untiring and energetic despite his continuous effort to drive. 

We reached Haridwar in the morning, at 5:30. Our friends collected our things from the bus station and kept in a car, taking us to Dharmashala with the name of Palan Dham. We had our breakfast in the Dham. The house had been decorated slightly. Our host seemed to be good people. They must have had trouble because of us. It seemed we were there to give them problem. Haridwar seemed a nice place full of religious houses called “Dharmashala.” We went to Chandi Devi and Mansa Devi in a taxi, after having breakfast. The places are at the top of the hill but reachable quickly through cable car (udan khotala).  We bought few gifts such as bangles for people back in Nepal and returned in the same taxi. It took us about 2-3 hours to finish the visit. Later, we came to know that the vehicle had been hired for INR 600 for the whole day. We regret for not being able to make use of that amount. Later in the eve, we went to Haridwar bazaar triple loaded in a bike and stopped right in front of a cosmetic shop. It took us about 15-20 minutes to reach there. After about an hour, we returned in an auto (similar to vikram tempo in Nepal). 

Haridwar /Indian breakfast usually consisted of tea, biscuits at about 10/11 am; rice and dal at about 3/4 pm and roti and dal at about 10/11 pm which is quite different from Nepali eating habits. On Sunday, we went to Ganga River and had a shower. We returned for breakfast at 12 pm. On the terrace of Dharmashala, we enjoyed the warm sun and applied mehendi on our hands. Loud music started to be played next door letting the world know a ceremony was soon going to take place here. ‘Mehendi ka rasam’ was going to take place in the hall where the to-be-bride-and-groom sat on cushions and relatives and friends gathered. It was accompanied by a reception. After that, it was the turn of the to-be-bride to have mehendi. The bride had mehendi on her hands and legs-starting from her elbows down her hands and from her knees down the legs. It took two hours to complete the mehendi pattern on one hand. It took over 7 hours to complete the mehendi work on her hands and legs. We had dinner at 11 pm, and, we looked forward to the next big day.  

On 17^th February, we did not go anywhere in the morning. We had a shower and pressed our dresses for the evening. We had talks with the bride of the evening in the terrace of the dharmashala as she was supposed to remain inside the house, applied nail polish on our hands and legs. Also watched young girls apply mehendi in their hands.  Then three of us went to the parlor carrying our sarees and accessories with us at about 3/4 pm. The ceremony was to begin at 8 pm. The lady of the parlor was very cooperative and so were her friends. I was busy clicking the beautiful lady readying for a bride. Heavy Lehenga and other accessories looked gorgeous on the gorgeous lady (although she had a hard time balancing herself in it). After she was nearly readied, we began to ready ourselves. The friends of the parlor lady helped us wear the sarees and do our makeup. We beautified ourselves as much as we could and headed back to Dharmashala at about 9:30/10 pm. We reached there to find out the dinner had already begun as planned at 8 pm. Visitors were enjoying their food upstairs. We finished our food and came downstairs. Just outside the main door of the house, we saw fireworks and people dancing, carrying the groom on their shoulders. The groom was wearing sherwani suit and pagari on his head. It lasted for nearly 30 minutes. Cameras and video cameras were capturing those precious moments within them. I captured them too. The mother of the bride had to do aarati and put red tika on the groom’s forehead and let him inside the house. Once he was in, people cheered and again carried him over their shoulders. He was taken to the hall where the mehendi rasam had been carried out the previous day. The groom stayed on a beautifully decorated chair. People were cheering and dancing. Bride came out of the room accompanied by other ladies and sat next to the groom.  

This was followed by a lot of photographic sessions. Each visitor had been clicked with the bride and groom. They received gifts from the visitors. Later on, they danced with their friends and were taken to a room along with some visitors for more photographs. After this session, they were supposed to change dresses and go through a ritual ceremony of the wedding. They were taken to the house by their friends and were seen later in Nepali dresses. 

They went to the jagge upstairs in another hall where mandap had been decorated. A pundit began the ritual ceremony lighting the fire and reciting lines from a Hindu religious book.  The bride and groom followed what he said. Visitors had diminished by 90% by now and it was a quiet function. They moved around the mandap 7 times, gave each other their jutho food to eat and the ceremony finished with them taking blessings from their parents. The ritual was quite similar to any Nepali wedding ritual. At about 2 am, the ceremony ended. 

The next day, we went to the house of one of our friends who lived nearby.  We enjoyed their company and had meal at their place. Then we went to Jain mandir with them followed by ShantiKunj. Coming back to our place, we had tea. We packed our stuffs and met the new relatives we had made recently. After bidding them farewell, we headed to Hariki Pouri. It was a big area and a lot of people gathered there. It seemed like a tourist area.  We had big Punjabi samosa and observed the market as much as we could. We bought few things there. Then we went to the station at about 6:30 pm and headed to Banbasa in a bus at 7:30 pm. The night was chilly.

We reached Banbasa at 5:30/6 am and from there took a tanga to Mahendranagar at 7 am. We reached Mahendranagar at 8 am. Had our stuffs loaded in a guest house and had a meal. We roamed through the Mahendranagar bazaar and had lunch and headed to Kathmandu at 3:30 pm. The very next morning at 8:30 am, we reached Kathmandu. 

Traveling to Haridwar was one of my best trips ever.

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.