Chronicles from Nepal Abhishek Patil V Yr amp0610@gmail.com
Anxious and equally excited, I wait at departure terminal looking forward to a new phase of life. The first time I’ll be stepping out staying away with no hints of what next six months would be like. With just a ticket at my hands I landed at TIA Kathmandu, Nepal. A valley with dense fabric, low skyline containing seven of UNESCO World heritage sites in the city. It was pupil dilating experience as I move through the city between riots of sights. Marveling at temples, through the alleys of thamel, I reach my hostel to be introduced to the backpacker’s district. It was fun sharing time with surfers, soldiers from the west to chefs and historians from the east as I explored places. It was time to be a sponge; when I realized for upcoming months as I sensed the experience until had lots to offer. Later as I toured that weekend, Patan Durbar Square was being rebuilt post the 2015 earthquake having one of the finest collection of temples and a rich museum. It is quite a touristy scene with people going shopping and to cafes, restaurants adaptively reused. An hour away from this core to east, lies Dhulikhel where my employer‘s training
centre was situated. Walking the last few kilometers we reach at night through the hills having fireflies to our company. A village in the hills with Himalayan views on a clear day, it was time to host a group of Aussie students for workshop on resilient communities and human centric designs. A week at the farm stays, being a local facilitator and design participant I had a great exposure to the cultural side and the terrain challenges of the country. Further, proceeding to Chitwan where our bamboo workshop, it was a tropical stay where grew lychees mangoes and bananas. Quite a rural isolated setup with basics, I was truly staying in the lap of nature inspiring me to be as light as possible. To my company, were interns from parts of Europe and local helping hands who actually built what we designed. It was tremendous learning the next couple of months from buying materials, experimenting bamboo as a material analogous to learning Nepali. There were often visitors like monkeys, turkeys. Mornings were early with birds chirping and a coffee with dal bhat as our staple. Evenings being early got in the deadly mosquitos; making me sleep in a net each day. Life never felt time bound. As I was appointed a Project Manager,
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