Surendra Nath Adhikari

I was eagerly waiting for second official hiking in row as I could not make it for the the first one to Shivapuri, coordinated by Rudra. I was happy enough to be on the second hike which was started from Dhulikhel heading towards Namobuddha and finally destined to Panauti. As it was the first hike ever to me, Rudra picked me up on the way to Dhulikhel and at arriving, I was amused to see other four of the team, who reached Dhulikhel on their bikes before us. That helped us to add extra energy to begin for the journey. After having breakfast, we commenced the journey towards Namo Buddha. The day turned out to be at our side as it was a bright sunny morning that allowed us to enjoy the natural beauties to our sight to far distance. We reached a temple that was situated at the eastern side of the Dhulikhel bazaar. The Kali temple was guarded by armies because of insurgency; after some exchange of introduction they allowed us to pay homage to Goddess Durga. As we were descending from the temple we were showered with few drizzles and that made us to walk on the slippery trail. After careful walk for 2 hours we managed to reach a historic town from where I believe, rich people moved to Kathmandu. This walking reminded me of my personal trek and I lost in past for few moment, but present was a challenge to walk further which landed at premises of Namo Buddha, a famous Buddhist temple among Buddhist people and so for Hindus as well. I was surprised to see the modern civil works in that area which was developing for Buddhist monks and nuns to reside and study Buddhism. But for us it was the time for some other business. The previous walk had compelled us to look for some food. The choices of the meal were so limited and we had to choose cauliflower curry, beaten rice and delicious curd I had ever had for the lunch. To my surprise I was moved with taste of the curry . It was far better than any expensive dishes served at any star hotel of the city with elegant set ups. I wonder why the meal tasted so delicious to me, whether it was the curry or the hungry bellies that we were walking along with. Any way it always gives me a lot of pleasure while remembering the moment that I shared with teammates. Finally we took trail inside a small jungle, downhill, reached the same town and headed towards Panauti. The paddy fields and the fragrance were very inspiring after a long time that I enjoyed on such journey. Crossing the village and walking along the village road, we reached Panauti from where four of us departed for Dhulikhel to ride the bikes to back to Kathmandu. Rudra and I moved back to Kathmandu. I was happy enough and determined to participate in such activities. I remember every moment of this day as it was the first one for me in D2HS. This journey was one of the turning points in my life, after which I continued the hiking as maximum as possible and became one of the top hikers of the company.