The day began like any other day this week: it was pouring outside, I had gone to bed pretty late last night, and I wasn’t in ‘early to rise’ kind of mood. Besides, I’ve been a long time believer that the early worm gets eaten by the birds. No alarms to go off, no office to rush to, it was almost perfect, but as it turned out I’d been overlooking something – the Hike. This was to be my first D2 hike in over six months that I’ve been here and I had been looking forward to it, until it rained for the whole day yesterday and the hike seemed surely out of the picture. The cell phone rang with the tune of premonition; Shankar was on the other side of the line and then it hit me: I’m going on the hike. And after a couple of calls to Kumar and Ashish I was in New Baneshwor waiting for D2 van.
We left New Baneshwor at around 8:00am and stopped somewhere around Banepa for breakfast at 8:30, and the time in between just passed listening to the two Ex-KU’eans, Ashish and Lava dai, reminiscing on their college days. We had the much awaited breakfast, carried water bottles and continued the journey in the van, looking for someone who could tell us where exactly we were going and how to get there. After a few bewildered pedestrians we finally met few people who could tell us the route to “Srikhandpur”. The only problem was that they knew the vehicle route but no hike route. When asked how we get there on foot they gave us a blank look which can be summarized by the words: “well then get off the van and walk”. Finally, somebody pointed us towards a hill. We stopped in front of the ‘IT Park’, and started to scale the muddy slopes at around 8:45am.
There was no scorching sun in the sky and the walk felt relatively easier. All was going well until suddenly it started to rain. Luckily, the rain never grew beyond a mild drizzle. There was a brief respite in the form of leveled & smooth pitched road but it didn’t last for long as we again took a sharp turn perpendicular to the road and started on a very slippery ascent. And just when I thought it can’t get any worse, it did – the slopes were infested with leeches. I was probably overreacting but I hadn’t seen leeches that size my whole life. The whole area seemed to me like an extract from a Hollywood horror movie, and Kumar shared my trepidation. We were constantly checking the insides of our shoes and shocks, and throwing out the few that made in. I was much relieved when we finally got out of that site.
Soon we reached Devithan temple, which has a NTC tower guarded by the army on its side. It was the apex of our journey and from there we were on our way back. We were all tired, hungry and dying for lunch. After walking down the hill on sets of staircases – a luxury I had been missing the whole time – we got to the town at the foot of the hill. We walked for some 20-30 minutes through the town and got to a fine restaurant around 1:30pm. As soon as we got there Dhilung got busy with his cell phone, and the rest of us busy basking in the sun with drinks of our preference.
The sun was out and shining with all its glory, and I had three glasses of cool beer just to cool myself down – I’ll come up with a better excuse next time. Bishnu dai’s theory about cheese and beer going well together was terrific. We were enjoying ourselves and soon it was time to go into one of the rooms for lunch. I got up, attempted to walk, and was struck by a sudden revelation – all these years I took walking for granted. Beer on empty stomach had taken its toll on me. Still, somehow I made it to the lunch table and we all satiated our hunger. After the lunch Ashish took us to a nearby field which served a great view of the valley. The site motivated guys to give their own rendition of Rang De Bashanti’s “Rubaroo”. We ran around for a while ,and after a call from Vishnu dai from the van, we had to bid the place goodbye and make our way back to the van.
All in all, this was an unforgettable escapade. I can’t imagine what I would’ve missed had I not got those wake up calls early in the morning. This has been a day of many ‘firsts’ for me, and to top it off, for the first time I’m thanking someone for not letting me sleep till late in the morning. My thanks to Shankar and Ashish. Looking forward to hike with you guys many times in coming weeks.
. However the most amazing part is, all these years and nothing has changed – except for the bunking part (which has been reduced to 5-10 minutes at the office canteen).
…hope my stupid jokes weren’t responsible 
