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Realities of the Hills of Nepal By- B.Upadhyay B.Upadhyay is a Freelance writer. She is an environmetalist. She is presently based in Nepal.

After getting an opportunity to work as a program evaluator for one INGO located in the eastern part of Nepal, I found myself in dilemma while signing the contract. The reason was very simple--it involved lots of walking in the mountain region--- however, thinking of exploring these remote locations and utilizing my summer break, I finally signed the contract.

After arriving in Tumlintar, I took a long sigh and thanked God for a beautiful and a safe flight. "wow ! what an amazing beauty", voiced my companion, who was with me for the same purpose. I glanced at the natural beauty of Virgin Mountain enveloping in bright blue clouds welcoming me in the land of beauty, which urged me to think of my motherland. Yea, that very moment I had realized how rich we are and felt proud of being a Nepalese.

"La la Nani, kati samana cha", (okay lady, how much luggage do you have?) uttered one old man with wrinkled face and socket in his eyes, wearing torn attire standing in front of me. I simply got disturbed looking at him and started comparing between the two---the huge green mountain and himself, who resides at the lap of such greenery. Suddenly, after few minutes, I felt a tender touch in my elbow, oh! it was him, asking me about my baggage. I simply had two bags packed with some ready-made foodstuffs, books, a pair of sneakers and pullovers.

"Dai, yaha kana kaha paien cha", (Brother, where the food is available here?) asked my companion, who seemed to be starving. An old man, supposedly our porter, took us in a famous local restaurant, where I saw varieties of green vegetables, readymade chow mein and soft drinks. After our lunch, we headed towards our first destination, it was 1100 hrs, a bright sunny day. Literally, it was not that tough trek, so I really enjoyed the beauty of Mother Nature and the whistling of beautiful Sabha and Arun rivers.

Sweating and tired, I took a long breath, thinking of those porters, who never care of heat, cold and rain, just keep on doing their work and still find it hard to solve their hands to mouth problems. We can see their effort in every drops of their sweat and realize how hard working people they are.

Thinking about them I reached to one small cottage, displaying some expired biscuits, gums and chocolates, where I asked a glass of water to cool my face. A lady in red blouse with her long black hair came out shouting---yea pani po, la diye (oh, water okay I 'am giving) ---further she offered us a freshly cut cucumber without any price tag on it. I remembered my days in cities where-no such thing can be available free of cost, sometimes even people take price to open their mouth---the difference I noticed was fondness and ever ending kinship of these villagers, who even do not have anything to eat but still never hesitate to offer to a stranger. "How benevolent they are? Why selfishness never exist here? How kind-hearted people are they?" I questioned myself, and tried to relate it with so called ---development. Is it because of development, people really decline to share their wonderful feelings and kinship with each other in cities? Or, is it because of something else? I know it will take time to figure out these answers.

My feelings were simmering inside me as if they will come out soon and I am going to do something different to these amiable people. Several times these questions had evoked me and all the time I kept on saying, time will come..

I do not know when the favorable season will bring a useful rain to these villagers, so they can think of sending their children to school and consider having rice along with mutton curry. I shared all the steaming feelings to my companion, who advised me not to think of it, because it is one of the better-off areas of Eastern Nepal. Yea, that's true, he was right in saying that. "I think, I became too emotional by seeing their reality", I spoke out with my shivering voice.

After a four hours walk we reached Khandbari, the administrative headquarters of the district, Sankhuwasabha. We checked in at a hotel, had a nice cool shower and were served with delicious and freshly cooked mutton momos. A while later, we went out to watch the beautiful evening sunset from one of the nearby peaks. It was really fascinating, cascading red light over the mountain as if a beautiful bride covering her head with dazzling colorful fabric...

The following day we took a detour of three hours to visit Sekaha village. We reached there at about 9 am, capturing several panoramic views in my newly bought Cannon. I was really fascinated by the natural landscape of distant snow-capped peak of Makalu (8463 m), which reminded me of those people, who concurred her through expedition and celebrated their accomplishment. I wish I could go on that kind of expedition sometime, where I can get a promising inspiration and realize the real heaven in the earth.

A while after, we were offered lunch by one of the beneficiaries of the project, it was nice in the sense that the food was cooked with great devotion and respect, however, as I was not used to that kind of food, I found it really difficult to devour. Nevertheless, I did not discard it, I just gulped all of them failing to enjoy the taste but thanked her for the invaluable effort. I can still imagine the troubles she might have faced while glowing the rain-soaked firewood. I know it was not like turning the gas stove on, which I usually do to boil my noodles.

After visiting three nearby villages in Khandbari, my other destination was Chainpur, which used to be the administrative headquarter of Khandbari before. After a 7-hour walk, we were able to reach the old beautiful city. The walk was really tough specially after crossing the crystal clear cooling Sabha river. I found very hard scaling such a steep climb, but thanked god for a cloudy day. Chainpur is really an old city, where you can find handmade brass and copper soviegner and also some antiques.

They are little bit costly, as the keeper justifies-" It takes two to four weeks to deliver new one and it's a very difficult to find the new materials."

It took just an hour to go around the marketplace and I spent my evening in the lawn of one public school with Ramesh, a porter, who had accompanied me all the way from Khandbari. He was only fourteen years old then, quite short and thin young man. He told me that this was his first job as a porter, he wanted to save some money to join good school in the city.

He had taken his school leaving certificate test recently and had some spare time to earn extra. He unveiled his imagination of being a graduate and getting good job in Kathmandu, where he can earn much more and bring his mother to a comfortable place. His father had left them, when he was too young. He explained, "I always think of bringing comfort to my mom, whose life has been ruined by my father, who is now staying with his second wife". As he concluded his sentence, his eyes were full of tears. I can see lots of desire in Ramesh, which may or may not be rendered.

I thought of all those potential students who really want to go to school and do their best to be good citizens, however their dreams have been never realized and are compelled to their lives as porters or else, and are finally frustrated with no desire at all. I questioned myself, what ease can I provide them, being a Community Development graduate? How can I bring them to school and make the utilization of their utmost potential? Yea, I know, they can be one of the best professionals, like those who had completed their schooling from convents, if they get the appropriate milieu. Gleaming at the dark huge mountain, I stood up and found my way to hotel, Ramesh was following me silently.

Next morning, we headed to our last destination, Siddhapokhari village, where I met some of the project beneficiaries and had a long nice talk. They were really happy to see us and shared their problems. I can still remember the popcorns served by an old lady and her children with torn clothes. I mustered up my courage and asked one sweet little girl-"why aren't you wearing another skirt, see it's already torn?". Innocently she spoke out, "baba le vaneko yashpali ta khana lai paisha chaina, aba keko luga ni, mata yash pali ko dhasain ma pani luga ko shato mashu nai khanchu." (Papa said this time there is no money for food, so he can not buy new clothes for us. I will eat mutton instead of buying new clothes even in Dashain-the biggest festival of Nepalese).

It made a deep bruise inside my heart, reminding of my school days---when I used to ask mom for a pair of new clothes, even though it was really not needed. Today, I have realized what exactly life is? -- Its not only thinking of you and your family but also of those deprive communities, who can never dream for a healthy life.

Completing all the assigned tasks, I packed my things to get back again to my place the so called--- city with lots of insights, absorbing experiences and of course with that profound bruise..

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