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,

it was time to move on site; the National Park at Bardiya. Being a night journey away; through small streams and a dense buffer zone I reached to find myself couple hundred meters away from core zone. A homestay among the rice fields, the family and village at large was warm treating me with all the respect of a highly educated professional. I was a guest to the whole community being a part of festivals, celebrations with everything home-made from food to wine and cutting a rooster by myself. The indigenous taught me self-sustenance and of course survival; with an elephant breaking down a house to shooing away rhinos from cornfields at midnight hours. Days kept content. In the last month, I visited birthplace of Buddha, Lumbini. It was a ten day meditation course, teaching the law of nature through science of sensations. Observing noble silence for all days, we weren’t allowed to talk, touch, read and write, with no electrical devices. Going there just out of curiosity and place, turned into learning a technique. Such a climax of experiencing solitude felt like cherry on the cake concluding the two quarters with memories to cherish for lifetime. Coming back to the rat race and commodification of life in cities, I contemplate the extremes trying to establish that fine line in between.