2022
Highlights: We lost the direction in a green lush forest and followed the course of stream and landslide. My paint tore, the watch broke, the jacket chain destroyed, while pulling up Surendra the camera collided with stone, Ambili's leg muscle cramped, Shankar slipped in the stone and momentarily stocked, Stone fell due to Rupendra's gait and hit Laxmi's head and so on. We reached to the back of hotel under construction, a security guard came and said that we're in restricted area. He showed a way to the Bhaleshwor Mahadev Temple which is at the top of hill.
WE'VE MISSED THE DIRECTION, NOT THE DESTINY. AS ALWAYS, WE DIDN'T GIVE UP THE MEETUP.
Meetup slogan: The mountain reveals the truth of your youth.
November 24, 2019; a wonderful, challenging, thriller day but at the end the most auspicious day of our life. First of all a heartiest thank to all the 11 participants of the hike for being a part of this memorable day.
We all were from three districts; Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. Three days before the hike the task was divided into persons. Everyone was notified to bring one plate, one spoon, a glass and a liter drinking water. Beside that the following responsibilities were given:
Shankar – Bread and Chana
Jamuna and the team – Bread
Laxmi – 2 liter curd, Onion, Tomato, Spices
Surendra and Ambili – Sugar, Beaten rice, Bhogate
Rupendra and Ashish – Apple, Banana, Dalmot, knife
Bishnu – Fruit juice
Me – Noodles, Medical Kit, Knife, 1 liter curd
Finally the day arrived. The hikers started their preparation from early morning. Jamuna got up at 4 am and started to prepare 20 breads. Meanwhile Rupendra along with his brother Ashish Wagle, being far away, left home and walked towards Surendra's home. It's the winter season and the day length is very short and there's darkness till 6 am. The public vehicles start to operate from 5:15 am but until 7 am it's difficult to find them. Surendra already had informed that his friend nonresident Indian friend Ambili is coming with him. They all met Laxmi in Lagankhel buspark and took a bus to Kalanki.
Shankar, Jamuna and the team proceeded from Dhumbarahi to Kalanki via bus at 5:30 am. With 20 minutes' walk I went to pick up Bishnu from Nayabazzar. Then we, together, walked to Balaju and ride a bus to Kalanki. Bishnu and I reached to Kalanki at first and did a bit shopping. Nobody arrived yet so we went to eat breakfast (selroti & tea). Now the team from Dhumbarahi arrived and it was around 7 am. We asked them for breakfast and they said to take a breakfast at Check Post; the place from where our hike was started.
I called the team from Jawalakhel and they said that they're on the way. Then I told them to come directly to check post. It was 7:30 am that we took a ride for Check Post. But unfortunately as our bus moved another team just arrived to Kalanki. I shared a Google map location of Check Post with Surendra and we all met there. Then we all had took a breakfast in a hotel. In 8:30 am we started our hiking.
Our previous plan was to start a hike from Matatirtha. Our team member Bishnu already had done hiking to Chandragiri from this location so he took a lead. After passing from school we encountered the green lush dense forest with a little remark of the way. With knife and sticks we cleared the way and proceeded. The problem is that the bush was rich with spiny plants and stinging nettle (Urtica dioicia). Anyway we moved ahead and reached to the course of stream. Then Bishnu said that we missed the way. The fact is, with the establishment cable car the local walking path remained unused and slowly the bushes regime the place.
Now we decided to walk vertically through the course until the road was not found. But the course slowly changed its steepness. Our member Ambili didn't take any hike till the date so she got fatigued at first followed by Laxmi and Prativa. All the lady members except Jamuna dropped their pace. Now the only thing that can be done was to go ahead and give them hand to pull up in the big stones. First we shared their backpack with us and made them free from additional weight. As Ambili shared a sign of hunger we had bread, Chana and fruit items there. Then as we moved Shankar slipped in the stone, the knee collided with the stone and stopped momentarily. While pulling up Surendra at one point my camera also collided with the stone but luckily there was no severe damage.
Now due to different pace gaping between hikers was increasing. Amblili and Laxmi being not so quick to ascend up me, Surendra, Rupendra and Ashish stayed with them. As we saw the soil land on the top we thought that the path would be easier than the stony path but the reality was just opposite. To prevent the soil erosion and land slide bamboo trees were planted there. As we stepped in the soil fell down and as we grabbed the bamboo trees they came out of land. As I was taking Laxmi the road ended so we had to return a bit down and that was so scary. She scrolled down and I gave my hand for her footsteps. The similar was the case with Ambili too. Ambili got the leg muscle cramped and there was no place to seat on the steep slope. If in case fell down, there was minimal chance of survival. It was the time my watch broke and the paint tore from knee because of iron wire present there. Then we crossed from one elevation to another elevation via. Bamboo wood. The other six hikers notified us from the cell that they reached to the top. We took much time to crawl up and finally reached to the backward of hotel. In this period we didn't have proper things to grip to prevent from falling so holding a camera and taking a photos was out of possibility.
The hotel was under construction. Reaching to the upstairs via thin beam ladder was also scary so nobody wanted to be the first to climb. I took a lead and other followed. Now the security guard came and said "It's amazing how you come here. But this is a restricted area so please leave a place". We asked him a way to Bhaleshwor Mahadev Temple. Now the road was plastered one. That was the time we saw the road immensely beautiful than any other roads in the world ever. We have a common statement in Nepal which is "ITS NOT THE FOOD BUT THE HUNGER WHICH IS TASTIER". We proved the statement by our experience.
We took some rest and had some food & fruits. Then for the shortcut way we escalated the stone upstairs to meet the same road again. Fifty meter ascend from there was the temple. Ambili and Laxmi said, "Oh! Keep it for next time. We want no more ascending. You guys go and visit the temple". So me, Rupendra, Surendra, and Ashish went to the temple and roamed around for 10 minutes. It was already 4 pm so we called those six who were ahead of us and visited the temple already. They went to buy tickets for cable car and stood in a line for our turn to ride a cable car. The big line was because the ticket counter closes at 5 pm. We didn't get sufficient time to explore the beautiful top of the hill. Not only that we didn’t have sufficient time to eat what we have brought. In winter season the sun sets early and the environment starts to become dark around 6 pm. All the curd, noodles, beaten rice and more returned back. Being in an altitude of 2520 meter the air was very cold. It felt like the nose was wet but actually wasn't. So some of us had a tea and corn flex in the coffee shop. We had the food items on our bags because we hiked the hill. Those who are reaching there via cable car are not allowed to take any food items with them and they need to buy in shops at the top.
We made two groups each of six people to ride a cable car. One box of cable car had seats for 8 people. Taking two box of cable car all of us met at the base station. That was the exclusive time to take a group photo. Now we took a bus ride and went to Kalanki. From Kalanki we separated for respective destinations.
MOTIVATION
It may sound odd but the fact is that it's the motivation which led us to the top; not only the physical strength. If someone says, 'I can climb no more.' then the other says, 'Look there, the slope is not so steep'. If someone asks 'How far is the apex?' the other says, 'It's not so far'. If someone says, 'Let's return from here.' Then the other says, 'A cable car is waiting at the top for your return'. The ultimate statement was, 'There's no one who had ascended to the top from this route and there will be no one in the future. Yeah! We're the one to make it happen'. It's certain that this life has to fall but till we exist, as a part of life, we have to enjoy all the troubles and happiness equally. (सुखदु:खे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ i.e. victory-loss, advantage-disadvantage and happiness-sadness, take each of them as equal).
WE'RE THE SELF MOTIVATED LOCAL GUIDES.
The photo album of our life threatening meetup is in this link. Thank you so much for losing your time reading this.
With best regards,
Bishowvijaya Pandey
