There
are many places in Nepal with full of natural wonders which is not appreciated
while you are young and seen it every day. It is experience of maturing and
travelling around world makes one realize the true value of those wonders one
grew up with.
I
was born and brought up in Duradanda,
Lamjung and had a privileged to study at Sarbodaya High School established in 2009. Radha Paudel a Nurse, Peace maker, social worker and winner of international peace award and
most prestigious Nepali award ‘Madan Puraskar’ 3rd women to receive
in history has strong root to Lamjung had desire to visit Ghale Gaun for
last decade and we decided to put our plan to implement.
We,
my brother, nephews, Radha and I started our journey to Ghale Gaun on 27th
October 2014. Journey to Besi Sahar, District headquartor of Lamjung was smooth
and comfortable in the context of Nepali Road.
Road to Ghale Gaun (photo from above)
Our
Journey began at 3pm local time and road condition appeared worse than Jumla which
I experienced in our last trip. My nephews had knowledge of driving in
different road conditions and they were very helpful to clear the road as we go
and directing the driver, despite all this the driver was grumpy to the extreme
and to some extent we started regretting our travel plan we thought we were in
danger too. Eventually we arrived to our destination at 7 pm without major
incidence despite the dangerous road and unhappy driver.
We
were welcomed at Ghale Gaun and accommodated in several house. We all enjoyed
the locally grown home cooked meal (cooked in agena) by sitting and eating
around it on Gundri.
Radha
started to interview the daughter of land lord, young girl visiting her parents
in Tihar. I was amazed by Radha’s question very private in nature and young
girl’s answer in such innocent/shy expression which sunk in my heart. We,
Radha, Girl and I had good laugh at the time but I still have that innocent
face fresh in my memory.
On
28th morning we started at 6am to view the sun rise, we were able to
see Annapurna range, Lamjung Himal, Manaslu, Ganesh and only a tip of Machhapuchre
on the left. It might be breath taking for many people but to me It was little
disappointment because I was spoilt by the childhood memory of snowy mountain
surrounded 90 degree from our Aagan. We all (my family) thought Turlungkot in Duradanda would have been the
better tourist spot than Ghale Gaun.
Sunrise at 6 am Ghale Gaun
Duradanda my birth place in Lamjung has
changed a lot because of being the pioneer in education after the independence
in 2007. The education brings changes for better I guess.
Ghale Gaun in other hand I found unchanged,
they still have the house build by their great grand parent, traditional style
of farming, traditional costume which makes Ghale Gaun unique.
People
from ghale Gaun are self sufficient economically according to the locals we
chat with, they grow rice, millet, corn, soya beans, mas, local seasonal
vegetable, even their own tea.
The
houses who meet the criteria (modern toilet, shower, running water and separate
beds in sharing room) to accommodate tourist have another source of income and
are better off than others
My brother trying
to pick the tea in Ghale Gaun Tea Garden.
Our Landlord’s house
Radha peeping out from the window.
Radha - A Nurse, Peacemaker, Great
social worker, Author, True Volunteer and little Ghale girl. Whatever you do, you do it very passionately as well as
selflessly from the bottom of your heart and I have great respect for you for your
compassion, dedication and true determination. People like you are far and few
between in the universe.
I
would like to wish you very best of everything to continue your journey to
fulfil the dream you created which you shared on our way to Kathmandu in a car
during 2 hrs traffic jam and I rejoiced in
pretension of ‘Bhanu Bhakta and Ghanshi’.
Local man, Radha and Master wearing
traditional Bakhhu.
My family in front of Bhedigotha
and mountain at the back ground.
Other
thing brought my childhood memory back is ‘Bhedigotha’ when people used to
bring all their Bheda (sheep herd) to the warmer place when the winter sets in
and sheep do not get any grass.
We
had a privileged to see the Bhedigotha and meet some of their sheep dogs and
shepherd.
When
the sun was rising high then the cloud took over to cover the magnificent snowy
mountains we enjoyed few minutes ago.
Then
it was time to say good bye to Ghale Gaun and start the difficult journey back
to Besisahar and to Kathmandu.
We
were bid traditional farewell by our land lady by putting tika on our forehead
and mala from the local flowers.
Landlady putting tika to bid
farewell to their guest which is their tradition.
This was our second day at Ghale
Gaun and we were preparing to leave with very heavy heart. We were so much like
family with this girl third from the right partly because we were Lamjunge and
she goes to Turlungkot Kalika Mela (my village) every year in Chaitra Dashain
where many people from Lamjung gather to celebrate the festival.
Another interesting thing worth
looking is their museum which depicts very traditional Gurung/Ghale Costume,
jewellery, Dhiki/Jato, Banduk, Shyakhu, khurpeto, Theki, Hukka/chilim,Bhangra
for man and , Ghalek for women, Doko, Soli, Nanglo, Chhatri including
Thal/Kachhaura, Ankhara still use.
This museum made me realise we,
Bahun/Chhetri have nothing to be proud of our tradition.
I hope the road to Ghale Gaun attracts
government’s attention to progress tourism.
Our journey back appear better
because the driver was in pleasent mood perhaps Ghale Gaun was his jurney of a
life time.
Sadly all the good things must come to an end but our memory is fresh of
that most relaxing two days we had.
It was purely relaxing break for
couple days with good view, innocent people but soon I realesed the word RELAXATION in Radha’s dictionary is underconsidered.
October 2014
