My solo trek to Mardi Himal (Day One)

There is good, there is bad and there is ugly. In acceptance of these three, there is a fourth- the unnamed, the unheard, the unspeakable but the one that “exists in the here and now”. The one that is full and perfect. The one that is all embracing. My solo trek to Mardi Himal is a testament to that. I experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. Being one with the fourth allowed me to live it all, feel it all so that I could empathize, not judge embrace not decline what was happening.

My journey begins

As I began my journey on the bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara, the person sitting next to me was a timid, skinny Mongolian guy who I thought was just another random guy. A laborer perhaps who had come to the city to make money so that he could send it back to his family. Looks can be deceiving though, who he was within, the things he believed and valued was immensely touching. He taught me lessons of independence, positivity and love.

The guy who lived in the monastery for 17 years as a kid

He had lived in the monastery as a child to learn about Dharma. He told me that one son in his family is sent to the monastery while the other’s attend normal schools. He was a great listener and I felt easy to talk to him. He shared with me some fascinating stories about different masters that roamed the earth. He told me stories of Manjushree, the second Buddha, Milarepa, Tilopa and Naropa. It was refreshing to hear those stories. He was both surprised and happy that I was familiar with the stories.

All these masters belonged to the “Kyagyu” tradition and he also belonged to the same. It was great because it helped me connect with him more deeply. He was very open minded and curious about the stories of Hindu Gods. One particular story he told me was about Ravana. Before his birth as Ravana he was a guard at Vishnu’s abode with his brother. One day a sage came in a different form which they could not recognize. They told me it is not child’s play and that he was not allowed to enter. In his anger, the sage cursed them. Vishnu being who he is could see the whole thing happening. He gave them two options either you take another millions of lives and then come to the same place or you will have to be my enemy in one of my lives and after I defeat you in the battle you can come back to the same place. The second one will be shorter and as we know Vishnu came as Rama to end the life of Ravana and his brother Kumvhakarna. The eight hour journey became smooth and enriching because of his company.

Beginning from the end

I was not aware about where I could take the bus to Dhampus from. That was supposed to be the start of the trek. I chose to wait for my friend who lived in Pokhara. We found it tough to find a bus that could take me there because it was too late. Taking a taxi was too expensive. My friend helped me find a jeep that went to Siding which was for most people the end of the trek.

Home stay

I started from there as we found a jeep after my friend made a few calls. There were other locals in the jeep too. There were like three couples riding in the jeep with me. One of them was actually the owner of the jeep. They let me know more about the trek and what it was like moving forward. My friend had helped me with the hotel in Siding since he had a friend from there. I was also being offered home stay by the couple. I thought about it for a bit and decided to go with them. I really wanted to see how they lived, what they ate, how they sustained their livelihood, what they liked and disliked, how they thought, what they felt about people from the city?

You can’t make everyone happy

I learnt an important lesson here, “when you really know and feel that you are doing the right thing, just do it and whatever happens, you will be at peace with it. When you attempt to make everyone happy, you will end up making no one happy including yourself. In the home, I swam in the fresh air and freshened up with the water then went to the kitchen to talk to the family. I talked to their children, what grades they were in and their favorite subjects. They had a little garden and kept goats and buffalos. I tasted the vegetable from the farm which was so rich in taste and made me feel so good. I drank a little bit of their local liquor which was mild and relaxing.

Are they evene real ?

The owner shared with me his love for volleyball and how it had been a gateway for many young boys who got selected to play for the army. He shared his struggles in his life. He had spent nearly eight years of his life as a laborer living in Qatar and Dubai. In the end, he asked me if I wanted to get high. I said, how you know that I smoke weed, he said “I just do”. We laughed and I brought some I had brought from home. I got really high and one thing you know when you are high and alone you start getting paranoid and think about all the crazy things in the world. At one point, I thought all these people are not real. The driver also got drunk and started cursing and making a lot of noise which was not fun at all. I had to calm myself down, I took a few deep breaths, recite the little bit of “Hanuman Chalisa” I knew and went to sleep.