A Trip to Nepal
February had stepped in and there were only two months for
the doomsday to arrive. As our college life had been proceeding towards its
end, I wanted to glean and clutch tight each and every moment possible from
erstwhile with my friends. So we planned a trip to Nepal, the nearest foreign
destinations from Varanasi and one of the most lively and vivid heavens on the planet
Earth.
We were a group of nine friends at IIT(BHU), Varanasi. We
packed our bags small and also carried a few warm clothes as we were heading
into the laps of icy mountains. Our journey began as we boarded a bus at 9 p.m.
to the Indo-Nepal Sanauli border, around 10 hours’ drive from Varanasi. Only
the sluggish bus made it a ten hours’ drive which indeed was only 7 hours’ but
we had to acquiesce to it for it was the most convenient form of conveyances
available. In the bus, a few of my friends got engaged in a conversation with a
Swedish co-passenger. Despite indulging in to the conversation, as I was
feeling a bit sleepy, I just eavesdropped on them that led me to know that she
has been travelling India since last one and a half month and now she was going
to Nepal. She has been on a banana and walnuts diet for almost a year to save
money for traveling Asia. I was flabbergasted as well as inspired exorbitantly
by the determination and the endeavors that she had put to make her dream of
travelling the world possible.
Amidst their conversation, despite the incessant cacophony
of the deplorable bus at every pothole, I fell asleep in the congested space
that the bus offered to wake up the next morning with body ache. Finally we
reached the Sanauli border at 7 a.m.
***
As soon as we crossed the border, we were swarmed by the local Nepali travellers and money exchangers. We had breakfast at a restaurant and booked a mini traveller to Kathmandu. The weather seemed to be concordant, for whole of our trip, with the weather forecast predictions that we had checked before starting our journey. It rained heavily followed by thunderstorm and lightning strikes. We got quite apprehensive of the bad weather but the rain stopped after 45 minutes and the cloudy sky made the weather so pleasant for our trip.
Finally, we started for Kathmandu at around 10 a.m. with a
lot of excitement and enthusiasm. We had only listened about the beauty of
Nepal but witnessing it was beyond we could have imagined. Wet road narrowing
far away into the horizon; its beauty aggrandized by the natural pine trees on
both sides. I was titillated by the natural scenery of the place adorned by the
calm and clean weather. Further, we had to pass through hilly terrains as
Kathmandu is situated on the top mountain ranges and is surrounded by four
major mountains. As we proceeded on our way, we had to cross a narrow stream of
water, that later widened as we furthered, named Trishula, believed to have
been evolved when Lord Shiva tore apart the bosom of a mountain with his
weapon, Trishula. The river flowed quite shallow through large and small rocky
stones on one side of the road and on the other side were large mountains
almost trying to push vehicles down into the river off from the narrow single
lane road.
We set out to explore the much boasted about night life of
Kathmandu. As we were scouring the streets of Kathmandu in search of a good
club, a Nepali boy came to us and asked us to follow him to his club at the
fourth floor of a building. Most of my friends were amateurs and were lured in
the name of free entry in the club. We sat on to the sofas and my friends ordered
beers. I was on a forty one days challenge of abstemious drinking and diet so I
didn’t order anything. The bar dancers’ short skirts enticed my friends to
order drinks for them. They started enjoying the mood and I was observing them
phlegmatically sensing something ominous. Finally, the much expected egregious
happened. As the bill arrived, we were shocked to see the figure of Rs. 10,000.
We were charged almost twice the amount according to the menu. Despite our
resilience to pay the sum, we had to conform to the illegitimate bill and pay
the whole amount as we were threatened of whip lashes and abduction in case we
didn’t conform. As we exited out of the bar, our mood was in shambles and we
felt so small. Still everyone consoled themselves and put this incident in the
list of their experiences.
***
Recollecting our excitement we went to search for some
reputed club. Our search ended at I-club. As we entered, there was an orchestra
playing Indian songs. The complementary drinks and the cute girl who was the
lead singer of the orchestra alleviated our disrupted mood instantly. As we
started blending into the warmth of the place, a Nepali Air Force Marshal,
Captain Robert, in around his late thirties, noticed our group and was willing
to join us. He offered us cigarettes that we suspiciously accepted. Later on,
he ordered a bottle of Blender’s Pride, Premium Whisky( that cost Rs. 6000) and
said to us, “ The drinks are on me, guys.”
We just couldn’t believe our ears. We, after our earlier
experience, were quite suspicious of that Marshal but his friendly countenance
forced us to believe his true endeavors. After that bottle he ordered another
bottle of whisky. Each one of us was so delighted that our madness knew no
bounds.
I was not drunk so I asked Mr. Robert, “Sir, I appreciate
your effort but still why did you threw a party on us for no reason?”
His reply made me love Nepal and Nepalese as much as I started
hating them after our experience at the previous club. He replied, “Nepalese are
Bahadurs( watchmen, he intended) in India. I don’t like it. We have served
India for years but still you Indians hate us. I just want every Indian to know
that we Nepalese love Indians. We love India. We serve India. Just treat us
right.”
I was literally moved and hugged him saying, “We love Nepal
and we love Nepalese, sir.”
That moment strengthened Indo-Nepal bond much more that
Modi’s visit to Kathmandu could ever have. We danced a lot in the Discotheque
with him and thanked him to make our first night at Nepal so splendid.
***
The cottage was located at the bank of the river separating
the city and the National park with everything you could see was made up of
wood from room walls to your sleeping beds. It was one of the most resplendent and adventurous cottages that I had seen in my life. We decided to stay there for
that night. We got fresh and went out to see traditional cultural program going
on near the cottage. Being our age group, anybody would have gotten bored as we
did. Consequently, we left the theatre amidst the ongoing performance and
looked for a restaurant to have dinner. After the dinner, we reached to the cottage
and asked the attendant to arrange for a bonfire. I asked my friends for a
leave for 30 minutes to do my meditation by the time the bonfire, drinks and
the hubble-bubble be arranged. It was the best place I have ever meditated at
for the calmness and serenity of the place let me drown deeper and deeper into
myself and allow me to feel my each and every breath so subtly.
During our journey from Chitwan to Pokhara, I realized the
personification of heaven in the brooks that followed us throughout as if
touching our feet and asking for blessings, in the huts adorning the rocky
hills as if welcoming us to their home, Pokhara, in the rocks that patted our
backs and ushered us safely to our destination, far in the view of the
mountains covered with ice as if taking care of all of our comfort. It was in
Pokhara where I had the most beautiful view I would have ever had in my life. I
was simply amazed by the fact that something so stunning could even exist.
We were again behind time as we reached Pokhara and were to
leave for India the next morning at around 10 a.m. As we were discussing the next
day plan with our hotel manager, he advised us to extend our trip for at least
one day else we would miss the best of Nepal. So we decided to extend our trip
for the next day even though we had already booked our respective trains to our
homes in India.
***
We took possessions of our rooms and without wasting any
time just set out to be acquainted with the night life of Pokhara. We split
into two groups over the choice of dinner for some of my friends still wanted
to eat typical Indian cuisine while I and a few of my alter egos wanted to try
the traditional Nepali or some different cuisine. I and three of my congenial
friends traversed the boulevards of Pokhara while the multi colored lights from
various shops and restaurants glistened the streets. We passed by various
Italian and Spanish restaurants and were baffled reading their menus. We finally stopped
at a Chinese restaurant to have Thupka, a popular Chinese soup, for dinner. It
was sumptuous and healthy as well. I, then understood the reason for Chinese’ effortless
fitness and envied them for that.
After the dinner we moved out to check out the clubs of
Pokhara. We tried out a few but the dullness of the club environment and our
tiredness of the three days’ travelling didn’t let us enjoy the clubs. So we
came to our hotel room and slept for we had to wake up early to go to the
Sarangkot hilltop for the sunrise view.
***
As we proceeded to check out, the hotel manager produced
some glitches in the hotel bill quite aware that we didn’t have time to
settling scores. He tried to extort some money wrongly assuming us amateurs and
naïve. He threatened us of police and local goons. We tried to end up the
altercation with peaceful negotiations but he added, “It is typical of you
Indians. You Indians always do chik-chik(arguments) over the bill while
checking out.”
Such remarks infuriated us all and we decided to change his
views about India and Indians. We called the tourist police forthwith. The
police came and we explained him the whole story. The police agreed that it was
the hotel manager’s willful attempt to cheat us and we were totally just on our
part. The police settled the dispute and we paid the actual bill to be paid.
We said to the hotel
manager, “Never entangle with an Indian on an unjust issue and don’t you dare
pass any facetious remark on India or Indians ever in your life. It will be
really healthy for you else you will keep dealing with the tourist police
throughout your life.”
The sheepish countenance on his face vindicated that he
imbibed the point we tried to make and in a way promised us to deal fairly and
with dignity in future. We left for the bus stand and despite wasting a
substantial amount of time we reached there around an hour before. So my
friends did some shopping and finally we boarded the bus to Sanauli border and
reached Sanauli at around 5 a. m. the next morning. From Sanauli we hired a
private cab to Gorakhpur. We had breakfast at Gorakhpur and took a bus to Varanasi.
The bus took 8 hours to cover a distance of 200km making it the slowest and the
most irritating buses I have ever travelled in so far. It also laid bare the shortcomings
and the scope of improvements of the Uttar Pradesh Transport Corporation.
Nevertheless, we reached our hostels in the evening enervated. We rested for
that night in our hostel and left for our home the next day for the Holi
vacation.
***
It was an awesome experience to travel to a new country for
the very first time in my life. There have been a lot of moments on the trip
that each of us would cherish for lifetime. The trip ended with a feeling of
despair and nostalgia for we are not sure of having another such trip with the same
people in life again.
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