Shalin Pradhan
Sunday morning, I used to be on my bed, sleeping, trying to convince my mom that I’m in deep sleep, but in reality I’m a Lazy Bone. For me to start in an early morning is like climbing Mount Everest. However, that day was different. I had given my word to join others.Therefore, after a struggle with myself, I was in front of the gate to our journey. The morning was chilling and I was fully prepared with my weapons. (Gloves, muffler, shocks, jacket, etc, etc). We headed to our starting line, the Godawari around 8 and amazingly there was a huge numbers of crew, 24 (I guess coz I’m weak in remembering things) in a single Micro Bus. Hahaha it was quite a packed bus. Any way I always hate micros and busses, it always make me SICK, and that day was not an exception. We reached Godawari at around 8:10 and filled our tummy with curd (actually it was so sweet) and egg, my breakfast of the day.Our journey to hill begun at 8:30 and guess what, some were already tired of looking on the way. It was a tough (for me) hike. Walking for 2 hours made me exhausted. Nevertheless, one thing was great, our team leader. He always waited for us, the POOR FOOLS, with great excitement and legs aching, we were heading up. Our theme that day was to distribute some stationery to local school. On the way, we found a primary level school named “Chapakharke Primary School” established in 2039 in Vishankhu Narayan, Chapakharke, Lalitpur. It was a small school with bunch of local students. The scenery was marvelous. It was just great. There was a pond, a large ground, some of teammates did not miss the opportunity to kick the football and breath-taking scenery of mountain range made us feel different.The students seemed to be full of puzzled, excited and presented their innocence. It was a sweet mixture. We enjoyed their activities. Some were hiding and some trying to show them. Hahaha it was enjoyable. Our journey was not over yet, the meeting with children gave us energy but our tummy was singing and dancing. On our way we stopped in ‘Adventure Tented camp & Country Kitchen’, lakhuri Bhanjyang, Pokhari Thumko for little snacks. Hahaha we heard there was only 1kilo of ‘ALOO’ and nothing else. Our hunger was increasing but we have to wait. The view of mountain range was one of the popular talks of town. The wide snow, peaked mountain range, oh my god, it was superb. I was there admiring and watching and admiring and watching.Now our journey has to finish, so after a short break, we headed down. (Short path through woods). It was my first hike and I have to trust on myself. We have to crawl through fences. The trail was unnoticeable, and whole gang was marching down just like a trail of ants following one another. Ahh!! It was a trail!!! Full of mud, ditches, and no way to go. We, the team were so determined and focused that we created one. It was a tough one, but we succeeded. Every body fell, every body were laughing, crying and ahhh… a great team. There was support, there was help, and I figured out “UNITE WE WIN”. The trail was full of slippery mud, thorny bushes and determined teammates. “Use your BUTT”, it was our favorite quote - hahaha, coz no one was able to walk straight. After a breath-taking journey, we finally came to halt. Every body was tired but I heard some one telling “Hiking has just begun, I’m not tired”, that was the sprit man, that is the sprit.One thing is for sure, I love hiking and I love it. Hope my ass stops hurting until next time. However, lots of conflicts aroused during the trail, Let’s Enjoy Our Beautiful Nature, Let’s Smell our Warm Earth, Let’s Breath Free!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ShalinP December 24-2006, my first day on hiking in D2- I can say it is my first formal and announced hiking as well. The route was from Godawari to Suryabinayak. Luckily, many colleagues were present. We were able to outnumbered the capacity of the D2 transport; amazingly 24 people were able to sit on 15 seats. This compactness provided extra warmth to fight the evil cold. Prominently, I was the weakest human there as I was the only one quivering because of this brutal cold. Some people were in shorts – to my astonishment. However, more than shivering, I was worried more about my pace. The velocity of Surendra and Vishnu made me worried more. However, it gave me an ease to know that there were some first timers too. We started climbing up around 8:30 am. My dear colleague Rajendra provided me some helpful tips for an effective hike – thanks to him. However, it worked until the first five minutes only. I did not last another minute. My heart pounded against my chest bones so hard that I could listen to it from outside- a one of a kind experience to me. To struggle with the climbing I developed a theory from the story of “Tortoise and Rabbit”- walk two minutes and rest three minutes. I used to rest for three minutes and walked until I have the last drop of energy (which in spite of my endeavor did not last for more than two minutes). Surprisingly it worked- people who believe in “slow n’ steady win the race” might not agree. I reached the top defeating my own expectations. I was happy. In retrospect, I enjoyed my first hike in spite of some bitter moments I had (many people have already talked about it so I will not repeat). I could see people helping others in difficult paths, showing patience when colleagues are late, cleaning trails for their colleagues, enjoying their jokes, sharing photos and many other activities. In addition, I got a victory over myself. I beat my own record. If all these issues arising with hiking were cleared then I would love to continue hiking as if I love to have: a nice fresh coffee, a nice movie etc. Then, I would cry hey tough hills here I come to climb you up. Manisha Pretty much confused about whether or not to hike, i gathered all the courage to join the team. This being my first hike was quite difficult but the experience was great. Scenery, yes it was superb, but getting to know all the wonderful hikers was even better. I would like to thank all the hikers of that day who made “a pathetic hiker like me feel like a winner”.
