One day ride to "Mattikhan"

Sorry mom I lied to you. Had I told that I’m going to Mattikhan with my friend on bike you wouldn’t have allowed me to travel that long journey on bike. That’s why I lied to you and told that I’m going in my previous office’s vehicle with my colleagues and also told that I was invited to participate in training as a facilitator. But all this was fake. Neither I was invited as facilitator in the training nor I was going in the office vehicle. I was going on bike with Pankaj and Rajesh and our sole purpose was just to travel in bike in a long journey in a new and beautiful place.

Mattikhan lies in boarder of syangha and Kaski district. It is one of the potential tourist destinations. It can be a good destination for hiking and trekking from Pokhara. It takes around 6-7 hrs to reach to Mattikhan by walking from Pokhara. We were in Bike so we reached in around 2 hrs. As it is in the hill, there is already a tower of Gandaki FM and I’ve heard that world link is also going to build another tower in Mattikhan. According to the senior citizens living there on a clear day, from Mattikhan we can watch 22 districts from Mattikhan. I don’t know whether it is true or false……but if it is true then Mattikhan can be a new tourist destination near by pokhara and the only spot in Nepal from where we can see maximum number of districts.

Me and Pankaj on the way to Mattikhan

Mattikhan provides a very different view of Pokhara city. From Sarangkot (another hot destination in Pokhara) one can see the Phewa lake and north parts of Pokhara valley. But from Mattikhan we can see the complete view of Pokhara valley except that of phewa lake. As we move more towards Syangha we can see the tail part of Machhapuchhre. The view of Machhapuchre seen from here is completely different from what we see from Pokhara.

Anyway, Rajesh, Me and Pankaj had a nice ride to Mattikhan of Syangha district. We enjoyed the panaromic view of Pokhara from there….a complete and distinct view which we have never seen before from Sarangkot and Kahun danda. I also enjoyed one more dashain and tihar vaccation day by riding to a new and different location in Pokhara. While returning we took a new and short cut way. It was new way which joins chhorepatan with Mattikhan and the road was still under construction. People were still working on it while we were riding. But still we rode through this road and returned to Pokhara at around five in the evening.

Rajesh and Me in Mattikhan

Review of "Antarmanko Yatra"

Among some of the books from Nepali literature which I have read, some of the books worth remembering are Pagal Basti (Saru Bhaktta), Palpasa cafe (Narayan Wagle), Gauri (Madhav Ghimire) and Ghanachhakar (sanjeev Upreti). And another book is going to be added in this list that is "Antarmanko Yatra" by Jagadish Ghimire.

I made one record in reading this book. It took around ten days for me to finish the book. But I finished it just in three sittings in different settings. The first sitting was on a small hill behind my home in pokhara, the second sittting was in the bank of phewa lake and the third sitting was in my own study room.

After I finished reading this book, one question striked in my mind, "Is this a novel, autobiography, monologue, travelouge or daily journal of writer ?" Though writer has called it a Aatmalap, it's a mixture of all so i calle it a mixologue (my own word).

It's a story of a writer, how he became writer and what were the challenges faced by him when he was aspiring to become a writer. The writer has raised one question "In Nepal can one make his living just be becoming a writer ?". Jagadish ghimire has proved that during his time it was not possible but I think it is possible in todays context.

It is not the story of a writer only, it is the story of a successful development expert who has worked in highly responsible posts in international non governmental organisations. The lessons of organistion management that writer has shared is very useful for the readers. I completely agree that "In any organsition human are the core element in its success or failure" because I have also realised this during my two years of professional experience.

The works done by Tamakoshi Sewa Samiti is vey appreciative. It has forced me to plan to travel to Ramechhap. Once while I was studying Bachelors, we guys from college had planned to travel to Ramechhap but at that time it was cancelled due to some reasons. After reading the success stories of Tamakoshi Sewa Samiti, I'm desperate to visit that place and i think i will do it soon.

I was laughing alone in my room when i was rading in the book that "When the writer was DG of CRS company, Radio Nepal didn't played the advertisement of condom and it was played latter on only after King Birendra gave order to play that".......it was too funny..........

The book has helped me in hating the dirty political game of Nepal, which I have always hated the most. The story of Jogi shared by the writer in this book is very much pertinent to the political leaders and maoists of today.

The only flaw I found in this book is that while reading the book, somewhere I felt like the writer is trying to prove himself innocent in some of the accusations of which he was charged during his life. It seems like the write is advocating in favor of himself. So one question arised in my mind "was that necessary ?"............ Otherwise the book is flawless.

Though there are many, I just like to pointout three quotes from this book which impressed me very much.

• Live every momment of your life as if it is the last moment of your life.
• Neither friendship nor rivalry is good with bad people.
• It is better to be envied than pitied.

After finishing the book, I was thinking "Where would Nepal have reached today if every citizens of Nepal have thought like that of Jagadish Ghimire, If every Nepali have loved Nepal like Jagadish Ghimire and every NGO have worked like Tamakoshi Sewa samiti ? "

Review of "The Kite Runner"

I just finished reading “Kite runner” by Khaled Hossini. This Novel came to my hand when I was accumulating the books to be read during my Dashain and Tihar vaccation in Pokhara. Thanks to brother pradeep who provided me the book

I found the novel neither too interesting nor too boring. I must say it’s just an average type for me. But undoubtly there are some suspense and twists and turns which keeps the readers turning on the pages. The plot of the novel moves through Afghanistan, USA and Pakistan. It’s about an Afghan boy Amir raised by a rich single father “Baba”. In the family of Amir there are other two persons as well Rahim Khan and Hassan. Rahim khan and Hassan are servants to the Amir’s family. Rahim khan is of Baba’s age and Hassan is of Amir’s age. Though Rahim khan and Hassan are servants to that family they were like friends to Baba and Amir. Hassan belongs to Hazara class, a class considered too low in Kabul. It’s due to this reason that whenever Hassan and Amir go around the city Hassan is teased by other guys. Amir doesn’t like this but he does nothing. Amir considers himself guilty for being unable to do anything in defense of Hassan. Once Hassan is accused of theft, then Rahim khan and Hassan leave the house. Latter on when Russians invade Kabul Aamir and Baba also move to US. The plot of the novel then goes to US. Later on Aamir comes to Afghanistan in search of Rahim and Hassan. He meets Rahim Khan but he can’t meet Hassan as he has already passed away. Aamir knows that Hassan is also son of Baba born from his illegitimate relationship with a Hazara servant. But Hassan is survied by a son named Sohrab. Aamir makes a very risky journey to war ravaged Afghanistan to find Sohrab and returns to USA with Sohrab.

The strengths of the novel is that it has symbolically shown many things. The relationship between “Baba” and Amir is too placid and compels readers to think why so? The Novel has shown the situation of Afghanistan as resulted by the war. Many people and children are killed everyday in bombings. The children living in orphanage are also physically and mentally tortured. This gives another message that war never does well for any country. And children are more severely affected due to war in any country.In my opinion the novel also provides a good understanding of the culture and lifestyle in the Middle East. So if anyone wants to know more about the lifestyle and culture in middle east then going through this novel is the most.The write has linked kite running event in Afghanistan in a very interesting way in the novel. In Afghanistan anyone who is able to fly the kite in sky for longest period of time by cutting other kits becomes very famous and once Amir wins this event. And finally the Novel ends with Amir and Hassan’s son flying the kite together in USA.

I Love Loadshedding

I love load shedding. You might be wondering what a stupid person is this, who loves to live in darkness in this 21st century. But I’m not joking. I really love load shedding very much. I have once read somewhere, “If there is no any option to run away from something you hate the most, then try to love it”. I’m doing the same. Inverter is not yet installed and I hate the noise of generator. So to enjoy the service of our government (i.e. load shedding of 48hrs per week), I began enjoying the load shedding.

Really load shedding has changed my life. It has brought changes in my reading habits. Previously during summer when there was no problem of load shedding, I was busy most of the times surfing through the net, it used to be blogging, uploading photos in Hi5 and facebook, downloading songs and chatting with friends. In rest of the spare time I had to go through the course books. So I had very little time or none at all for my passion which was reading Novels. Thus it used to take almost one month for reading one Novel. Thanks to load shedding, because these days I love reading Novel in the evening time by sitting in the verandah, lighting a candle, a cup of coffee in one hand and book in the other. I really love that cool environment in the evening where there is darkness everywhere and a dim light of candle in my table only. I have made the schedule that whenever there is load shedding every evening I will read Novel in the candle light. Then see the results……. I have finished two novels in on week. Previously it used to take around one month to finish one novel. Thanks to load shedding I have already finished seven novels in just one month and there are still more waiting for me in the cupboard. I will finish them too soon because the load shedding is not going to decrease rather it is increasing.

Another opportunity Load shedding has provided to our family is of candle light dinner. Previously we had to go to either Thamel or Kingsway for Candle light dinner and it used to be just once in a month. Now we can have Candle light dinner three times a week. Oh my god! I just love that environment during dinner time in our kitchen where we all family members sit together in dining table and have candle light dinner. We all have gone so crazy that during the day of load shedding in the evening we just wait for load shedding so that we can have candle light dinner. Thanks to the government and Nepal electricity authority for this wonderful Load shedding. I love this load shedding.

A Generation awakens

For most people Dashain is over once they receive tika and blessings from their family members and relatives. But for some youths from Pokhara, Dashain is more than that. For them Dashain is not over until and unless they visit a special place in Pokhara. This special place is Bridhaashram (elderly home) of Pokhara. For some Pokhareli youths it has become a culture to visit the elderly homes during Dashain, receive blessings from the senior citizens living there and enjoying one full day with them by singing and dancing in Bhajan. Giving continuation to this tradition, some thirty youths from different parts of Pokhara went to Harihar Bridhaashram located in the upper hill of Bhalam during this Dashain as well. The program was jointly organized by many youth organizations like, Alternatives, Youth Initiative, Yuwa Forum, Paila and HRERLIC, Kaski.

The main objective of this programme was to lessen the generation gaps that exist in our society between the senior citizens and youth. Senior citizens are ornaments of our society. They are like ocean of knowledge and experiences which they have accumulated over their age. If they could share their knowledge and experiences with young people then young people would be enlightened. And yes the thirty youths who have visited the Bridhaashram, have been enlightened by receiving tika and blessings from senior citizens and listening to their experiences of life.

The Harihar Bridhaasharam located in the middle of a thin forest in the North side of Pokhara, is at a distance of one hour walk from Bagar. From the bridhaasharam we can see a panoramic view of Pokhara city. When we reached the Bridhaashram, water fountain in the middle of the boulevard, flowers of different colors, cool and fresh air blowing from the nearby trees and the Bhajan in the background held us spellbound. We felt like we were in heaven. Talking to the senior citizens living their and listening to their experiences of life was really wonderful. After brief introduction we received tika, Jamara and blessings from the senior citizens. Then we handed over some of the daily utilities which we have bought by our self contribution. After that we enjoyed by singing and dancing in Bhajan. Finally the Bridhaasharm family also offered us some snacks and we returned from there at around five in the evening.

The programme has raised the feeling of social responsibility in Pokhareli youths. After being born as a human being in this world each and every individual has some social responsibility and he/she must fulfill it, otherwise he/she is no more different from an animal. This is just one benchmark stepped by Pokhareli youths in the field of social responsibility and such programs will be continued throughout the year.