Shangri-La: Smiling Monk

Breakfast Time

I would like to dedicate this post to the smiling face Monk-Mr. Chetri. On our trip to Bhutan we had the opportunity to meet a Monk who invited us to stay at his place. All of us were impressed with the cool, calm and composed smiling face of the monk when was saw him sitting on stage, we never thought that we can get in touch with him and actually stay at his place. When Maaji asked him about cheapest place to stay in Thimphu, he invited us at his place, we agreed at the same instant. Very few people get this much luck to actually meet a Monk and there we were staying at his place.

Chetri Sir

We completed our Thimpu tour and reached at his place where we were welcomed by a beautiful girl and niece-Chandrika. We confirmed that its Sir’s place, she acknowledged and she also confirmed our identity by asking Sirs number, great skills. There was another lovely creature who welcomed us by barking-Pikacchu. I have never seen such a courteous doggy, before entering the place she was barking on us, but when she understood that we are friends, she became excited to meet everyone. She introduced herself by meeting everyone individually, she jumped on everyone one after another, spent some time and moved to other person. Last, but not the least we met Rockstar of the house and the son-Goku. He is a guitarist and an excellent cook; he cooked a delicious sabzi named Tashi.

Bhutan's Parliament view @ Night

There was a oneness in Chetri Sir’s place, he was such a good host that we felt like home in a foreign country. All the family members were intimate. I remember an instance where Bhampi, Maaji and Pahadi were cooking in kitchen while me, Sir, Goku and Chandrika were eating in the hall. Sir was telling us that we should eat less in night and suddenly Maaji put one more chapati in his plate, all started laughing. Bhutan is actually known as the Royal Bhutan and fortunately we were lucky to become Royal guests as we were staying right in front of the Parliament. All of us had good conversation with the best host, he explained us a lot of things, answered our bulk of queries. He even read our hands and provided info about us that was really incredibly true. Once dinner was over, Anna and others washed dishes and then all of us headed to sleep, although no one wanted to end the conversation, but it was getting late. 

The Gang

Morning, all of us got ready fast, had a photo session with Sir and then we were back on our track towards India.We had such a great time that can’t be explained in words, the only thing we regret was none of us had any pic with Lovely Pikachu.

Time is far too precious to be wasted unhappy, Be Happy.

Trip to Bhutan: Tiger’s Nest Hike

@ Tigers Nest

The 3^rd day of our trip to Bhutan was hiking on a mountain to reach Tiger’s Nest Monastery. Taktsang Monastery hangs on a cliff and stands above a beautiful forest of blue pine. The hike to reach the Monastery is tiring but when you reach there it’s like heaven and you feel like you are @ cloud 9. The monastery seems to appear and disappear in and out of the trees and the mists while trekking up. It is said that even cat is at peace on top.

Takhtsang Monastery playing hide and seek between Clouds

There were prayer flags all over the route to Monastery. These are blessings on the land, a way to sanctify a place in nature, and the higher we hike, the more prayer flags appear, until it seems, the entire sky is strung with long kites of red, green, yellow, blue, and white flags, the pattern repeated again and again, by the hundreds and thousands—a million fluttering prayer flags across the rocky path, and then across the open chasms of the Himalayas.

Cute

Entire Journey was full of ups and downs, first you go up and up and up and then down, then a bridge and then again up. Bridge is between two mountains and after crossing the bridge we have the Monastery.

The return journey is much faster, but equally dramatic. When we were coming down, there was a little bit of rainfall so we were slipping all the time. We had to maintain our pace and balance at the same time. We met lots of people on the way, there was a foreigner singing “Ye dosti hum nahi todenge” song. Then there was one who had her Bday and also the one with whom I took picture-the beautiful one.

Anna

After Monastery, there was another Monastery-a 7^th century one, normally it’s a lot to say about monasteries, but unfortunately there was nothing much about this one. But outside Monastery our Photographer had a conference call, which was something interesting. When we were coming out, we had a conversation with a family and our chatter box started his speech, the dialogue turned so interesting that it lasted for more than 30 mins and kept on going and going. Since half of our crew was waiting outside, so I interrupted the meeting, even then a guy was so moved that he escorted photographer to the car so that they can still talk on the way out. It’s really great thing about our photographer.

Maaji

The FIGHT

There is a known fact that every organization/team/group/company goes through 3 phase.

1.       Grouping

2.       Fight

3.       Regrouping

Our crew also passed through these phases, 1^st in train, we grouped together, and then in restaurant we had a really cool fight, thanks to Bhampi and Anna and kick to Pahadi. Then in last we regrouped. I think this much info is enough here. Will visit Thimphu in next Blog.

Trip to Bhutan: A Tribute

Dear Readers,

If you are Happy, I am Happy.

This is the 3^rd Blog related to my visit to Bhutan. Please read the last 2 blogs to have an idea about my visit. This blog is dedicated to the 5 Pandavas, who made me feel like I was in heaven for 5 days.

I have been blessed over the years with many wonderful people in my life. This is my tribute to the Pandavas who, from the moment I met, had a positive and beautiful impact on my life. I would describe each character in detail later, but before that I would like to thank Pandavas for joining me. I look back now and remember a scene when 3 (Pahadi, Anna and me) of us were fighting that we should attend the conference or no, now I feel good that we attended it. There were many issues that were stopping us from joining, only one reason was enough to join and if Pahadi thinks little bit, she would understand that she was that reason. Then we got a bumper prize, when Maaji agreed. Four Musketeers were set for another cross country run. Then there were surprises when our photographer and Military jumped in. Now it was a complete family unit stuffed with all 3 colors of India. There was a time when our family had disturbances, irritations, frustrations or sometimes gets angry, but I think all the ups and downs are part of our lives. The good time just ran by like a wave of air and retaining the memories of the golden time spent together. I hope this much copy paste would have expressed my feelings. With this Blog, I wanna personally thank all of you for making the journey a memorable event. Love you.

Remembrance is a better compliment than love; people never expect tons of love, but only a milligram of remembrance. Keep Remembering each other.

Running in Kathmandu

Country: Nepal

City: Kathmandu

Crew: Pahadi, Anna, Maag

Boudanath Stupa and Yellow Color

Our Last day in Nepal spent in running on the streets of Kathmandu, we had to cover complete city in a single day of course only Superman can do that without a private cab, in our case, we chose Local conveyance. Note: if you have a single day and you plan to roam complete city, it’s always better to go for private cabs/cars because it’s a big city and to go from one site to another takes a long time via local. Initially we planned to cover whole city, but as the clock was ticking, we had to wrap it up after visiting 3^rd site.

First we saw Pashupatinath Mandir, next we moved to Boudanath. It’s the biggest stupa of Nepal which stands on 3 tired platforms raised over crossed rectangles in order to bring yantra form. 2 interesting incidents happened here, 1^st: Stupa was all white in color and the authorities were pouring yellow colored paint on it, so we fools were mocking on it saying that “stupa has been here from thousands of years and now authorities found time to color it”. But later we found out that they are not just throwing color on it, they are making a lotus shaped painting on it and it’s a practice. It is interesting even if we don’t know something; we can laugh on it, fools. 2^nd: when we were clicking, one old lady called Maag and said something due to which she had to change and stitch her dress, it is better not to go into details on this point. It was another funny instance that took place in Boudanath.

Narayanthan

Next we moved to Changu Narayan (Narayanthan) located on a magnificent hill top commanding a fantastic view of Kathmandu valley. This temple of Lord Vishnu is full of art works in metal and wood, finest example of Nepalese Architecture. This is the place where we understood that all along the journey we were just running from one place to another (due to time constraints) and hence we slowed down here and enjoyed the place. At this time we also learned that last bus to border leaves at around 6 PM (later we knew that it was not the fact, you can even catch bus last by 8-9) so we dropped other spots since it was already 4 o clock and again started running to our hotel in a local bus. There were 3 locals sitting behind us and they only knew English so I was continuously talking with them about the routes, time and about them, kind of flirty, but fun, they were also enjoying. Then I asked Maag to take pics of us.

Then we reached hotel, collected bags and moved to bus station, as soon as we stepped down there, one bus was leaving so we boarded the bus. Later we found out that the bus started before time so other bus drivers didn’t allowed any passengers to board it and hence bus returned station, after an hour or so again started from there.

This journey took the same time (12 hours) to reach border, where our bags, identity cards were checked properly. When we moved to another country Nepal, nothing was checked but when we came back to our own country everything was checked, funny isn't it. Then we had the most favorite snack of India: Samosa as our lunch and headed back to railway station: Gorakhpur.

View of Kathmandu Valley from Narayanthan

We had some time before boarding our train so we thought of visiting Geeta Press or Gorakhpur Mandir, but both were far away from station and there was a possibility of high traffic while returning  so we dropped our plan and relaxed on station only.
Since sleeper coach waiting rooms didn't had proper bathrooms, we paid some money to care takers and entered into AC coach rooms for proper bath. After all this adventure Maag was hell tired, fall sick and slept there for 30-45 minutes, but even this little time was enough to get her strength back.

We boarded our train and headed back towards our routine, I had some private chat with Pahadi about the ups and downs of my life, since she was the only one who can understand it. Anna felt bit jealous due to this and same was seen in whole trip, Maag always seemed to be in her own space. I, Pahadi and Maag stepped down at Bhopal, while Anna continued in same train towards Mumbai. There was a cab waiting for us in Bhopal which was sent by Dad, all boarded it and then finally returned our homes.
Overall it was a nice trip with lots of ups and downs, adventures, secrets and fights. I am never gonna forget this trip and its true that for Naturally Nepal, Once is not enough.

Shri Pashupatinath Mandir-God and Death at the same place

Country: Nepal

City: Kathmandu

Crew: Anna,Maag, Kuntal and Pahadi

Entrance of Pashupatinath Temple

Our last day in Nepal was planned to roam around in Kathmandu, but first things first was to visit Pasupatinath Mandir. Once you enter the temple, you will get caught in its vortex, it is totally a different world inside it. Here the Shivling is panchmukhi meaning 5 faces of God in the same structure, but we could see only 4 gates to enter and worship, so we asked the security person standing at the gate about the catch of last one. He said “it’s present at the top but invisible”. Pashupati actually means “The Lord of all pashus which are living as well as non living beings”.

Baba in Pose

As we moved further maag went into dhyan (she meditated for some time) and rest of us were roaming around here and there. I saw a person giving tilak-chandan in a leaf, so me and anna also took it and applied on our forehead, this was the first time I have seen tilak being given in a leaf.  Some people were chanting bhajans in a corner and obviously Pahadi was attracted to her passion-music. Sound of bhajan was mixed with the environment in such a way that its part of whole shanti (peace) prevailing in the temple. When I looked at the backside of temple, there was a river (Bagmati) passing, in addition to that I can see that it was a cremation place with few bodies in process. Also there was a person with oxygen pump in a corner, he was there as if it was confirmed that he is not gonna make it and has to be here. It’s the only temple where I witnessed Gods image at one end and death at the other.   

Inside the Temple

I was frightened by the look of that place so I told my crew members that we should move out now, but I was not the only explorer out there, Maag wanted to see what’s there at the backside, so we all moved there and rest of my crew members saw what I was afraid of. It was the first time Pahadi had seen a dead body and she was always afraid of the thought of looking at a body. So for her it was a nightmare come true and photographer Maag wanted to take pics here also and she was standing right beside a body, I tried not to take body in the picture. 

Bagmati River: Backside of Temple

It is said that there is aura present around everything / person, and if our aura conflicts with others, it signals that we should move out of the place as soon as possible. It was happening same for me, I was feeling to move out of that environment as if there was something which was telling to move out from there.

Conference 2nd Day-The Fight

Angry Pahadi while giving Feedback

Next day we woke up early as always, got ready to reach the venue. This time too we were not sure that we will be returning to our hotel or head directly from venue to Kathmandu, so we packed our bags and took everything with us. Nothing was decided and everyone had their views so we had a small fight on the choice to check out from hotel or not. Anna didn’t want to check out but Maag and Pahadi thought it is good to check out, so we can directly go to Kathmandu, Anna got angry and took his luggage in rains to venue. We all followed since he was running to escape rains. 

When the conference started only half of the people joined rest either left or started roaming Nepal, they were the people who only wanted certificates. When conference was complete, there was a feedback session in that, Pahadi showed real face of her group members and also of those who came there only for certificates. Up to this time, we planned that will be moving to see Pokhara valley; I was very excited to see it as I heard from many people about its beauty and also we had sufficient time.

Kathmandu Market Pic

Girls from our crew talked to few people and were misguided that its gonna take a long time and will be a hectic journey, so both of them backed out and said that if we want to go we can move on our own, Anna was ready to do it, since he became very angry on this move of girls. In morning, both of them were ready and in evening they backed out, it was very wrong doing on their part. They should not be changing plans on their own from morning to evening which was completely unacceptable to Anna, I was also angry and tried to convince them, but they were adamant. In last we all came on one page and decided to quit Pokhara valley plan, next we headed to Kathmandu with our Mentor and few more people just for shopping. This small journey was a mess from all angles, none of us wanted any shopping, but to roam in Kathmandu we joined, also the cost of this trip was too much and the best part, Pahadi acted weird all the time, that too without any issues. She wanted not to go Pokhar, we all agreed then too she was angry all the time, even I tried to talk her out, but nothing fruitful.

Nepal's famous Rudraksh

Night, we got back to hotel angrily, I was angry because she was acting weird all the time even after agreeing on her idea, then too I tried to talk, but she didn’t wanted to say anything, Anna was also confused what to do next. Maag was all messed because we 3 were fighting, so in night she arranged a meet to solve this fight, after all shouting and sorrys we all agreed to forget the fight and plan for coming days.

The Journey Continues…

If you are following through the previous posts, you will know that we were en route to Nepal for a conference, so far we have reached India-Nepal border. We crossed border on foot only, now after crossing border, we have two options either will get bus direct from border or from Bhairava bus station, it depends on luck. Sometimes buses are ready at border itself and you can get a ticket for it from a red colored counter, if not, you can board local bus to reach Bhairava bus stand and get bus from there. It is suggested to have lunch before boarding bus; also you should board it keeping in mind that it is going to take complete 12 hours to reach Kathmandu. This journey was also a part of the so called “The Journey”. Believe me 12 hours is a long time sitting in bus where seats are so congested that your knee will stick to next chair and if pillar is there near your hair, you may not even be able to get into your chair, depending on your health.

So if you start in morning around 1pm from border, you will reach Kathamandu at the same time i.e. 1am and then you have to rent a hotel room and in night you may not get a proper one. We should check the room and washrooms properly before checking in. 

Same thing happened with us, we had to board the bus at around 1pm and reached at 1 in night and then had to settle in an improper room, because it was raining, we were tired, night time, so I just checked a room, which was too basic and finalized it without giving a second thought, but I should have properly check the room and took a consent from Maag or Pahadi before finalizing the room. It is good to take suggestions from more than one person before finalizing anything, because what I like may not be the best option, but what more than one person likes will be the better option. These are just little things that I learned in this trip.

Our rooms were like, one had fan another not, while another one had light, and first one didn’t. So they were equal in a manner. In night we had tight sleep, since we were hell tired, then too everyone woke up early in morning and got ready to move. Anna showed some quickness and got ready in common washroom.