Climb to Nangki Gumba: the place where God lives
As per our plan, we all met on Chabahil and had breakfast. Special thanks to Ratish dai who thought and arranged the tempo ride till Jagdole, from where we started our hike. I was enjoying the banana bought by Peace brother (I could only recall his nickname) while having conversations with Ramu Dai and Ratish dai while taking the steps.
After a walk through the pine forest, we came to a rest stop where Ratish dai led a meditation session. Regrettably, I missed it being a slow walker. Then we were introduced to each other, followed by a count, with myself being number 32. Following that, we conducted a photoshoot a few moves forward. And after that, I joined peace brother, who was solemnly walking alone. Then I inquired as to why he was walking alone, to which he replied that he was walking in peace. I nicknamed him peace brother because I have trouble remembering names.
We were enthralled by the views of the Rhododendron trees and praying flags as we walked, which added to the beauty of nature even more. I was walking with Pooja di, Peace dai, and Ramu dai. Suddenly, Ramu dai requested me to join them on their walk since he needed to take a break. Later, he said that he had taken a break to treat the barren ground with urea, which will work as fertilizer to encourage more trees to grow. Thank you so much, Ramu dai for your contributions to the enhancement of beauty. We then proceeded to the second rest stop, where we took photos along with the Rhododendron.
From there we could see our destination clearly and we were a bit relieved to know that we were close enough. The water pipe on the narrow path and the bright sunlight made walking more difficult, but the tunes playing on Goldie’s(Nibesh) speaker encouraged us to keep going. We were all tired and hungry when we arrived at our destination. We were fortunate enough to find a shop where we could order boiled noodles, juice, and chatpatey.
We split into two lines based on the count, one for odd and the other for even. We then used hand gestures to sort by birth month and date. We received the bonus for the next game because our team won this round. We were supposed to offer them a step-by-step song that would be amusing, and one of our team members would demonstrate it with the first person in the following group and vice versa. Then they’ll take the steps one by one. The game was pretty amusing, and we couldn’t stop ourselves from playing it three times.
Finally, we entered the monastery, where Dipesh taught me how to pray. Then I followed him and prayed in accordance. There were Buddha statues inside, and the monks were performing special pujas, which included chanting and meditation. I, together with Nibesh, Dipesh, and Ratish dai, decided to sit and meditate for a time. They played religious music with instruments in the middle, which was soulful. I had a great time and was aware of my presence. I didn’t want to go back, but the clock was telling me that we were running late, so I decided to go. I’d like to return there sometime. For the sake of remembering, we took group pictures outside the monastery.
On our way back, we stopped at a spot where we could enjoy the cool wind and the spectacular view of Kathmandu Valley. We were all exhausted and lying on the ground, where Suman dai demonstrated his ingenuity and Ratish dai guided us to the soul through one-on-one meditation sessions. Nibesh requested me to do some poses after a few walks so he could show off his filming talents. Dipesh captured us dancing while walking down the street.
Last but not least, when walking down, I was holding Nibesh’s hand so that I wouldn’t fall, but when I did, he fell with me, and Ratish dai and Sudarasan dai were perplexed as to whether we had fallen or were posing. After that, Dipesh arrived to assist, but he, too, was unable to assist, and I fell three times, and I was also amused, which was the nicest memory of the hike to recall.
Here are some must-see photos from the hike.
