Theme: Revisiting the History – Part I ‘Tour De Gorkha Darbar’
Hiking Route: Gorkha Bazar – Gorkha Museum – Purano Durbar – Siddha Paila – Tallo Kot – Gorakh Nath Temple
Day: July 6, 2008, Sunday
Hike Coordinator: Manoj Rokka
Participants: Bimal Koirala,Sarjan Gautam,Bidha Rimal,Pallavi Sharma,Upasana Rai,Hitesh Karki,Subash Devkota,Biswa Shrestha,Sujan Gautam,Jeevan S. Basnet,Ganesh Thapa,Tilak Thapa,Rajiv Shrestha,Manoj Rokka
Caption: GaneshT
Report: Pallavi Sharma
Camera: SujanG,SubashD,ManojR
Creative Support: Dhilung/Dijup

The trip started with the usual congregation at the office premises. Some of us were in still in awe of the fact that we had finally got selected for the trip after contending with several others who had submitted their names.

We left the office premises at about 6:45 for Gorkha. The start of the journey was solemn with very few of the hikers talking to each other until we reached Kalanki and there was this joke about the “chwank” conductor which evoked a string of joke sessions thereafter. Rajiv was the recipient of some of the funniest comments of the entire trip. We stopped for “masu chiura” at Naubise before heading further.

We reached Gorkha earlier than expected. The hike started with the tour of the “Tallo Darbar” which was recently converted to a museum. The site was absolutely breathtaking. To our surprise, the museum was clean and well managed. The museum boasted a wide array of artifacts dating back to the days of Prithvi Narayan Shah and his descendants. There were cannons, rifles, arrows, spears, the traditional “panas”, “panche baja”, chaityas and other ancient relics. There were several paintings depicting the Shah Kings and their courtiers. Some of us posed in front of the throne of Prithvi Narayan Shah for photograph just to get the feel of the era and giggled all the way about it-only to find out later that actually all of us had posed in front of the throne. There was even a torso of Ram Shah at the museum- the King famous for being just to the public and we couldn’t help but say “hami nyaya pauna Gorkha ako”. On the rear of the palace some few meters below was a garden lush with greenery. The view of the garden from above was awesome. It was like standing on top of an outdoor amphitheatre and savoring the succulence around.

After the tour of the museum we headed for the Upallo Darbar and then the real accent began. Gorkha was hotter than Kathmandu. The scorching heat became unbearable at times and we wished there was some rain. After walking for a while, we stopped at Mahendra Pratap school. One of the teachers at the school told us that all the schools in the area were closed and the only students who were present at the school were of grades 8, 9 and 10. We met the headmaster of the school and Hitesh handed over the stationery that we had carried with ourselves to him to distribute among lower secondary children. The headmaster of the school apparently asked Hitesh dai if there were students among the hikers.

We left the school behind and headed towards the Tallo kot- lower fort and the Upallo darbar. Gradually the heat became unbearable and all the stock of water went dry. The heat seemed to be directly piercing through our heads. The journey was punctuated by sighs and jokes and the cameramen never stopped taking good pictures all the way. There were steps that eventually led to the Tallo kot but Bimal dai had other plans. Half way through he led the whole team through a scanty forest and finally reached the Tallo kot. Hunger-struck all the hikers devoured on the snack that was available and termed the snack as “nyaya”. After the snack break we headed up the steps towards the Upallo Darbar.On our way up to the Upallo Darbar, we practiced some rock climbing as well. Bidha was so scared of the climb she nearly called cried.

A few steps from the main entrance towards the right lay the famous Gorakhkali Temple. We stopped for a while offered some prayers although the temple was closed and the priest spoke to us in Hindi for no apparent reason at all. Hitesh dai punched Sujan with some humor saying “ailenai magihala jj magnucha” . Few steps above, high atop a hill, the Upallo darbar was one of a kind. Although the palace was closed, the view from the palace premises was breathtaking. There was a replica of Pashupatinath at the palace premises. Gorakhnath Temple lay few steps below the main entrance and it too was closed. Nevertheless we explored the area as much as possible. Paradoxically, on top of one of the windows of the palace hung a board which said “Democratic Republic of Nepal”. There were several stone encryptions to which Subhash referred as being the “SVN of the Kings”.

Adjoining the palace was a small cliff which we climbed atop and then took some rest. By the time we reached the cliff, we were so tired that none of us even bothered to pose for photographs. Bimal dai’s photographic mavericks were out of the ordinary-he made us pose for what seemed eternity before he actually clicked a photograph.

After resting for a while, we started the descent. When we reached our vehicle it was such a solace. We stopped for few minutes to fill ourselves with “chana chatpate” that was being sold. We headed to Malekhu for a late afternoon lunch. Some of us managed to enjoy brief siestas on our way to Malekhu. After lunch at 5 PM at Malekhu, we headed towards Kathmandu. Not to forget the shopping that The journey back home was fantastic. The game of “antakshari” was never so funny and so interesting at the same time. We stopped at sounds like “hummm, ummm ” and asked the other team to start a song from there on. Bimal dai kept adding on to the fun with some never-heard-before songs.

All in all a fantastic trip which helped us revisit history and get a glimpse of the past.

Please click on the image to see its large version.

01 First catch	02 Country road take me …
03 I wanna touch the sky	04 Silent Malekhu Bazaar on a hot mid day sun
05 CNN goes green, Nepal comes green	06 Dare you curtail me, I`ll treat u like a li`l dirty earthworm and swallow deep down
07 River_boolean algebra; Trishuli+Marshyangdi = Trishuli	08 Kids strolling around Trishuli river
09 a hydro electricity project in the making	10 a regular scenic beauty
11 D2 Squad all set to explore	12 Capturing a moment of togetherness
13 Temple of rameshower Mahadev & Panchain Vishnu	14 South side of Gorkha Museum
15 See what preservation can get you with	16 D2ians exploring the museum
17 Mused over discovering the history	18 Artilleries on 18th century
19 Weaponries used then	20 PN Shah`s personal armaments
21 Local armaments	22 Typical Nepali Musical instruments
23 Utensils used then	24 Khadkulo
25 Pathee, a unit & device of measurement	26 Pathee in different shapes and sizes
27 Different styles of Oil Pot	28 Roche
29 Lichhavi Chaityaa from gorkha darbar	30 Sample throne of P N Shah at Museum
31 P N Shah giving instruction to his soldier	32 Probably planning over conquering Kathmandu Valley
33 P N Shah showing Nuwakot Darbar to his troops	34 Don`t you also feel like a snapshot here
35 Jeevan,Bidha,Pallavi & Upasana at Museum Window	36 Heart of the palace
37 This is where the Shah dynasty roots to	38 Another Ram Shah
39 Great combination	40 Amazingly organized an art of work
41 Givin a glance back at the palace that we`d left behind	42 And the description of tallo darbar, a museum now
43 Mapping Gorkha in figures and lines	44 D2 is always there for a good cause
45 Back to work after an applauding job	46 Cha Cha Huieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
47 Bimal, is it shortness of breathe	48 A moment in peace
49 Tallo Kot	50 Go clean, prevent wastage
51 Lady on climbing mission	52 Lady on climbing mission I
53 Givin it a hard knock	54 And v for victory
55 Beautifully wild childhood	56 Badalu ko ghumto le
57 Daraudi river	58 A blonde goes brown
59 Gift from mother nature	60 Bimal impersonating Ram Shah
61 Waiting for somebody from D2	62 Helipad, probably in a height of 1500m, amazing
63 Passing by helipad	64 Wondering around
65 South side of Gorkha Darbar	66 Mulling over the majestic beauty of the palace
67 Cannon with inscription mentioning the contribution of Chandrarup Shah during the reign of King Prithivipati Shah	68 Probably this is the palce where Nepal was conceived
69 temple	70 Have you seen the pigeon with red color
71 Have you even seen this immense Chimta ever	72 Moment to cherish
73 Preserving these monuments will be a solid tribute to king PN Shah	74 North side of darbar
75 Hope the black clouds aren`t signifying anything bad	76 Gorkha durbar goes misty at no time
77 Wall,Gorakhakali temple & Darbar	78 Cave at shiddha paila
79 Shiddha paila	80 Smile & the world smiles with you
81 I wanna fly	82 Swara Villege East Side of Darbar
83 Returning back from shiddha paila	84 Raise your hands and say hello
85 Antics Sarjan & Tarjan	86 Bidding adieus to Gorkha Darbar from gorkha bazaar
87 Prithivi Pratap Shah & his residence	88 Colors of nature
89 Legends have it that these hills age back to the time when dinosours once existed