A friend of mine made phone call to me for a hike. Undeniably, I said yes to his request. After a week of preparation, we went on a hike together on November 10, 2020. Although, we both had things to do and live far apart nowadays, we didn't make excuses in order to postpone our hike. However, we decided to make our hike possible. And it did. He was doing 10 day challenge about walking 10 km a day. Happily, we walked for more than 10 km on that day and our footsteps were uncountable.
As we walked through the shortcuts from Chapagaun, Himalayan ranges were so clear as gin on that day and we were amused by them. It seemed like they were following our entire trials. At the same time, our eyes were distracted by the flowery vegetation which is in full bloom along the way. After walking for almost an hour through bucolic country sides and crossing small rivers, let's say rivulets, we reached to the Badikhel. It's the neighborhood of Chapagaun. Now, if you want to hike our destination, all you need to do is to reach Badikhel, (Buspark) wherever you live.
Badikhel is a small village which lies within Godawari Municipality. It's popular for pure drinking water. When we were young, we used to come here more often to get open bath at Gulinda, where crystal clear icy cold water comes from underground. It is nowadays collected and used as drinking water.
Moreover, it lies on the lap of mountain ranges from where little Amazon begins. As we walked winding roads up the eastern mountains, we were welcomed by the bird's morning songs. Happily, I recorded their songs in my phone. If you are lucky enough, you would see squirrels too. Swaying our footsteps to and fro, we reached our destination. As I said, destination wasn't ordinary, it's something very special for those who do meditation. It is Tapeshwor Mahadev and is named after Mahadev who did mediation on the steep rocky mountain. As far as I know, this place has got enormous popularity during lockdown. But I do not know much about it. I would take a help from locals next time. The hike wasn't mean to know everything about Tapeshwor Mahadev. But it was all about enjoying some time together with a friend on the mountains as we met after so long.
After our morning prayers at the temple, we sat on the top of the mountain and had our tea and biscuits which I brought in thermoflask from home. Because of covid-19 outbreak, we thought that we shouldn't have any tea or things from teashop. While having our tea, we enjoyed the superb view of the place. The view literally was amusing on that day. Everything: the Ktmvlly, Himalayas, and the other mountain ranges illuminated with the morning sun. In the mean time, we got distracted from the colorful birds singing on the branches of the pine trees looking at us listening our talk. To be quite honest with you, we were only humans in the middle of nowhere. We didn't find anyone at the temple or along the trials. That is why, I said that it's one of the quite places where you can spend all day enjoying everything around you. Friend and I had a good time like we used to have when we were young. We talked a lot about our good ol' days. It seemed like we had a good break after so many days, months, and years. He shared his personal experiences about being away from Nepal. And I shared mine being in Nepal. What Nepal should be and what it is now! We came to know that the stability of Nepal in all respects takes time now.
After half an hour finishing our tea and talk, we spent some time on photography capturing our moment in a frame. Then, we slowly walked down the winding road to the Badikhel Buspark Chowk and we used the other road to the Chapagaun.
To sum it up, the hike was memorable for sure. We made fond memories along the trials. I still remember that I had an intense headache when I reached home all day and night. And I had to take a day of rest next day.
As I said to my friend along the trials that I would love to see my father visiting the Tapeshwor Mahadev, father and I went again after taking a day of rest. With my father too, we used the same routine. We started walking at 7:00 am and reached the temple at 8:30 am. But while walking up the mountain, my father had dizziness. I was so afraid that what if something would happen what would I do in the middle of the mountainside! There was no sign of humans.
After taking rest at so many places, we finally reached Tapeshwor Mahadev temple. We did our morning prayers and lit up oil lamps too. Soon, we had our tea and biscuits. I knew my father was loosing glucose level in his body. Then I made phone call to my brother to take us home on his motorbike. We waited for almost 20 mins. And I left my dad to his quite time. Man needs more quite time. He was amazed by the charming and glorifying landscapes, mountains all round. Yet so simple and massive valley stands still in the middle. While my father having his time, I took the photographs which I missed before when I was with my friend. Then my brother came to take us home. Happy, I didn't have any headache but my father had little leg pain which was obvious.
Now, coming to the point that we should live in "now". I lived the moment of now with my friend and my father and brother. On this unprecedented time, we gave our precious time with one another. After all, time is all we have. So make the moments last.
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