At World’s Wettest Place – Cherapunzee!

Arrived Cherapunzee at abt 8 in the evening. Came to know that town is also known as Sohra. Was looking for a place to eat and stay. A young man in his late 2os, Atanu, ‘kidnapped’ me, so what he says, and took me to his resort abt 2 kms away from the town.

Initially, I was reluctant to be ‘kidnapped’, but later we settled the deal in Rs. 2oo per night. And believe me, that’s really cheap compared to the place and facility.

Atanu is a nice guy from Assam. When I asked him: Are you a manager here? He replied: That’s what people say. But I was also travelling like you, and I ended up here. Atanu is also an intelligent boy.

I keep on remembering the comment from the American girl I met in Chilika: ‘You’re a man. Therefore, you’ve more options.’ Boy, she’s totally right. It’s because I was a man that I happily allowed some terrorist looking men to ‘kidnap’ me at night, put me in their Tata Sumo, and take me to their resort far away from the town.

The most interesting part of travelling is that, like in life, things suddenly turn unexpected. And I like that.

The weather is chillier in Cherapunzee, and awesome landscapes – perhaps much more beautiful and serene than Kathmandu in some ways. And the Cherapunzee culture is completely ‘un-Indian’. A refreshing experience.

The next day, met the  resort owner, a local lady from Cherapunzee. Unlike in the ‘Hindu’ part of India, entrepreneurship is very strong among North-East women. From betel leaf vendors to restaurant and resort owners -you will find enterprising women everywhere.

The lady dropped me off to the town. She said that she had a friend from Nepal’s royal family while studying at Loretto in Darjeeling. And I told her that Nepal’s former royals are also in the tourism business. She asked me to visit often and refer other people to her resort.

There were also a few young adventure tour guides spending their time in the resort. One of them came to meet me when he learned that I was from Kathmandu. ‘So, you’re Kathmandu? My wife is also from Kathmandu, she’s a Tamang’ he said. I asked him how a boy from Meghalaya met a girl from Kathmandu. ‘oh..we met when I was working in Mumbai’, he disclosed.

I’m posting it from Shillong. Coz surfing the net is much easier and reasonable in Shillong.

Thinking of going to Mizoram side as well!

What is this Life, If there were no Dangers in it

By Divas

Everyday i try to put myself in some sort of danger at least once. And people call me  eccentric for my such nature. But people don’t understand that it’s the  eccentric people who change the world. Otherwise, society remains in a stalemate.

Even while bicycling, generally i don’t follow the ‘normal’ pattern. For i know that only those who break the ‘normal’ pattern change the course of history. Most of the time i cycle from the middle of the road. And vehicles keep on honking behind me. And i enjoy and laugh when vehicles honk behind me annoyingly. Some drivers and mostly idiot mo-bikers even scold me. ‘You should take your bicycle to the side, not on the middle of the road’, they warn me. And then i remind them, ‘You’re over-speeding. Therefore, you should drive slow”

Today, i survided from another near death experience. I was caught between the competing Nepal Yatayat and another Lalitpur Yatayat company’s buses.  Nepal is in a strange situation these days. Even a driver thinks that he’s smarter than another driver. People scolded me for biking between the buses. And they said that it was my luck that i survived. But what people don’t know is that that’s how i do the job of a volunteer traffic controller.

My friends often used to say that they wouldn’t be surprised if met with my death some day. Even nowadays some of the friends i meet on the road ask, “Are you still alive?” But who doesn’t meet their death some day? And i’m so lucky that every time i put myself in danger, i survive.  And the thrill that i get from the adventure refreshes me. Life would not be worth living if there were no dangers in it.

Another Hike to a Kathmandu Hill on a Rainy Day

Last weekend, i thought of hiking a ‘virgin’ hill… got off from the bus, and started hiking uphill…i even don’t know the name of this place…but that gives you a sense of discovery

The climb now gets wilder…

Since it’s the rainy season, the most annoying part of the climb are these fucking leeches…well, i don’t mind donating a few pints of my blood to these creatures, but i get auto-immune reaction for some days after the leech-bite…the foot swells and the wound itches a lot…

i’d call it a Mushroom Hike…coz you see various types of mushroom everywhere…i think, this is the largest mushroom i saw…does anyone know it’s name?

And is it a mushroom or a lichen? i wish, i hadn’t bunked H. D. Ranjitkar Mam’s Botany classes…

eureka! looks like i discovered a new species of mushroom…it looks poisonous…i’d call it Cluster Mushroom…coz it looks like Cluster Bombs…

And what do you see here? hahaha….You dirty mind…i was showing you some fern species, and you noticed the mating insects instead…well, these insects are called Jhyaukiri in Nepali…but i don’t know what they’re called in your language…These Jhyaukiri make annoying noises when you’re walking into the jungle…and they won’t allow you to get this close…i was lucky to take their photo coz they’re in their orgasmic bliss…

Boy, never saw such a tiny mushroom species…

a movement? what could it be? a jackal or a leopard? anyway, why fear? what could be more dangerous than me, a human?

And this is the top of the Hill…every time i’m into the wild, i ask myself, “Will i get back again?” And since i didn’t know this location, i was even more exposed…but even when you’re walking on the road with hundreds of other people, is there any guarantee that you’d get back to your room in the evening? The joy of life lies not in seeking safety, but in living dangerously…

Climbing a Hill is like possessing a girlfriend….once you possess a Hill, the next one looks  prettier than that you possess…

Divas Baba: Note the Rudrakshya Mala…part of my drama to fool people…Some people have started calling me a ‘Jogi’…but they don’t know  how ‘Bhogi’ i am…it’s so fun to dupe people, especially when they try to play clever with you…hahaha 😈

hahaha…The downhill path is slippery, and Divas Baba slips…

What is this flower called? Wild Orchid? Oh…i really miss my Taxonomy classes…

Wow Marijuana…a sign that you’re approaching civilization…

Never saw a horse and a cow grazing together before….so Divas Baba survives yet another excursion into the wild…