Abhishek Chhetri
The day started like any other, except that it had been quite a while that I needed to wake before 7. My body was really unwilling to get up at 6 in the morning, and frankly, I didn't want to leave the warmth of the bed. But having missed two of my previous hikes for various reasons, I decided to attempt this one no matter what. And so I got ready and headed for the office. Getting to the office, riding on the office van, and reaching the "terminus a quo" happened without me realizing it. The next thing I knew was breakfast at Tiffany's....oops, i meant, Kaanchi's. It was a warm sunny morning in November, and the hike had officially started. It was good and all for the first half hour or so, but then we came to what appeared to be the end of the road. We were posed with a dilemma: to return back all the way to the previous junction on the road, or to brave the steep cliff in front of us, and probably pave our own way through the field of corns. Vishnu broke the tension by being the first one to jump and slide through the cliff. We had no other option, but to follow him. We had to hold to corn branches and hope they would hold our weight and not get uprooted as the safety of our descent depended on their hold to the ground. I even remember nearly toppling over because of mistakenly holding a stray branch! As soon as this endeavor was over, nature presented another one of it's challenges; a wide stream, with only a log across it. There was an alternate route to the stream, which most of our friends took. However, a few of us decided to undertake the challenge, and a hell lot of a scary challenge it was. Luckily, I crossed the stream without any incident. Abhishek was the last one to follow, and I still remember how Kumar was laughing over the way Abhishek crossed it. It was no wonder he kept to the safest of roads after that. Luckily, that was the last of the challenges nature had in store for us for the day, for the day went on with us going besides numerous rivulets, fields and a few jungles as well. Munching on what we carried along and conversing all along the way, it wasn't long before the hike was over, and we reached Dakshinkali temple at around 1:30 PM. We paid our homage to the goddess, and then went on to have lunch. After about an hour or so, we returned, bringing back memories and a wonderful experience from the trip. AbishekPC After my first ever D2 hike about a month ago, I had promised myself that I'd be going on hikes more frequently from then on; but things are easier said than done. Due to my other obligations it took me almost a month before I got to join my friends in a walk in the nature's foreground. Like every single day I had to drag myself out of the bed but I knew all this was going to be worth the effort. Ashish and Gaurav joined me at the office as planned, but Dhilung somehow couldn't make it. Kumar and Shankar gave us a pleasant surprise by showing up coz they weren't in the list of hikers. As it is customary in our Hindu tradition before starting on any endeavor, we started our walk with blessing of lord Ganesha at Karya Binayak. The good walk soon turned into a struggle as we tried to make it through an adamant field of corn like plants which was reluctant to let us pass. I had the scare of the day when I had to cross a small rivulet over a wooden log which would start to shake as soon as one stepped on it. Shanker gave me a hand and pulled me through, after which I only took the easiest of ways. The walk was much longer than the one I had last month; thank goodness we had carried a lot of food to stuff ourselves with. Our final destination, Dakshinkali, was somewhat nostalgic for me coz it was where I had my last picnic as a student. Even though because of the terrain I had to be on a constant lookout for next thing I'd step onto, or a muddy patch of land I could slip on, all in all, it was a wonderful experience, and the sheer beauty of nature made all the difficult and scary moments worthwhile. ShankarSu The day started with ……6:00 am.., …9841….. ring ring.. hello hello …. Kumar jane hoina….. Arrived D2 office at Nepali time (about 20-30 minutes late). Most of hikers were already there. First stop was at khokana for some breakfast. The combination of jeri, swari, tea and chilly wind of khokana was awesome. The real hike started at about 8 am. After 10 minutes SaradP was left behind with camera. 3-4 of us were waiting for him……. “ Buda ta haraye” I don’t know who said that. After short puja of Karya Binayaka we resumed our hike. On our way we reached a dead end. Actually, it was a dead end for normal hikers…… someone was there shouting.. “Vishnu arko bato jam”.. But Vishnu insisted on continuing the same route. Vishnu, PurushottamP, KumarK, PreranaP were in the front line sliding to get down. Some of us were shouting to hide fear. Thank god no one was injured. 100 years old bridge (constructed sambat 1964), pharping powerhouse (first powerhouse of Nepal) added extra energy. Finally, after 4 hours of ups and downs, we reached our destination Dakshinkali. With huge blessing from Goddess and the company of friends that made my journey to be remembered in due course came to an end.
