1 Chapter One

One scintillating morning I awoke when the clock chimed almost seven. The sun shone audaciously and its early light sneaked into the room through the window curtains. I slid the curtains and peeked out of the window. I noticed that it was fine weather with clear clouds outside during the best season of the year, but the weatherman forecasted for some windy rains too for a couple of days. It was the month of April.

It's the time when we feel neither too cold nor too hot. The sky gets clear and open, and meadows and valleys are full of yellow ,red, and white blossoms. We just smell splendacious fragrance of the blooming flowers and mild weather at this time.

To me, it's always a perfect time to go on an adventure somewhere alone, encounter new people, study nature closely and spend a chunk of time in the lap of nature

I have been an intense traveller and often like to go on adventures with my chums or sometimes go even alone because I believe when you go alone on your way, you can get plenty of time to yourself and think of yourself that brings inexplicable ecstasy and pleasures to you.

I prefer to go to the countryside, where living in the changing canvas of weather and foliage, of birdsong and playful wind, even the subtle shifts in light patterns could bring a bit of relief to my restless eyes. and spending time in the lap of nature could make my mind calm and fill with thousands of magical words that help me draw a few words on paper. On the days of rains, on the top of the hillside, each leaf has a glossy shine as pretty as any magazine photograph.

I had spent most beautiful times of my childhood and adolescent age with my family in Dehradun, India as my father had civil government service. After my father had taken retirement, we unfortunately had to leave India to Nepal, and as of now we are living in Kathmandu city.

I'd had breaks from my work and wanted to be away from brushes, palates, and paint colors for a week, and I was carrying sufficient money in my wallet for holiday expenses. In addition, the fine weather of Spring time added an extra charm and enthusiasm to my plan to encounter splendid nature regardless. Everything was in favour of me, so I was anticipating to have some good time, being away from the suffocated city for a few days.

I eventually decided to go on a long holiday to the countryside in pursuit of finding self pleasure after a long hiatus, for I wanted to go to an utterly new place where I've never been to. At first, I thought of going alone but instantly dropped the idea as I reckoned I might have needed a good companionship to make some productive conversations.

I would tell you that I have been to several places for amusement and adventures with friends since I came back to Nepal. I did visit some of the places twice and even thrice, but this time, I wanted to make my long recess really worthwhile, reaching and exploring an out and out adventurous place.

The renowned orator and author Sadguru said,"There is so much adventure that only youth can experience, youth is not the time to languish in pleasure but in exploration and adventure",

All youths undoubtedly agree with this idea, and like me, prefer adventure and exploration to pleasure,

I do not say that I have been inspired for adventure and exploration after reading this quote, but I would say when I read this, his words enigmatically transmitted some more positive vibes into my mind and also body regarding living life that truly teaches us how to live within us.

While I was diving into a deep river of my imagination, lying on my bed, all of sudden my mom shouted, "Sami, come for breakfast."

"Just a minute, mom, I'm coming," I replied back.

At home, we usually have the habit of eating an early breakfast before we go for lunch.

Feeling lazy, I got up and scurried to the bathroom. I grabbed a lean toothpaste which was almost to run out. I spread the remaining quantity of paste over my brush. I took around fifteen minutes brushing my teeth and washing my face.

Quickly, I moved to the kitchen where mom had kept ready breakfast already on the table. The breakfast served by her contained my favourite food items-- poached egg and four pieces of bread with tea. I gulped it all in less than five minutes since I'm used to eating in a hurry.

"Mom, today I'm going on a visit for a few days with friends," I said, hesitating.

"For how many days?" She asked surprisingly.

"4-5 days"

"You have taken leave from your work, haven't you?" She said,

"Yes! I'm on leave for a week, mom, I want to go somewhere to be refreshed."

"Okay! But where are you going and with whom?"

She asked two natural questions in a single sentence.

"I think two of my friends will go with me, but the place hasn't been decided yet. It may take 4-5 days to get back home," I replied.

"Ok! Come back soon."

I just nodded and picked up my phone to make calls to my friends.

My mom has always been a modest and generous lady who did not inquire this time. I guessed my mom also wanted me to have some breaks and rest from work so that I could reboot my mind and look fresh and energetic, and of course happy too.

I dialed my college friend, Jeetu's number, hoping he must have been free from his daily work and would go with me. He picked my call after three late rings.

"Hi! Jeetu, are you free these days?"

"Yes I have holidays, why?"

"Then it's nice. Actually I've made a plan to go somewhere for a four days visit. So, pack your bag and be ready right now. We will meet within half an hour and leave Kathmandu today."

"What are you saying, man?" He asked surprisingly.

"Aren't I clear? We will go for a long holiday for about four days right now. Be ready quickly and meet me within half an hour," I repeated.

He thought for a while and said, "All right! But, where are we going?"

"Yet, the place is not fixed, but we will go to a new place, for we'll meet at The Country Coffee, then we decide," I said "Make a call to Som also, and convince him to come with us."

Som was a bit impudent because he would pretend not to go anywhere owing to the matter of instant plan though he also liked to go on adventures, so I had two minds whether he would be ready to go or would pretend not to go with us. I knew that he would rather stay home with his boring books instead of walking miles. And, I thought if he would not be ready, I had to drop the idea.

But, I was astonished, when I got a call from him.

"Just now, Jeetu called me up, and talked about your sudden plan. Where are we going?" said Som.

I repeated the same words that I spoke to Jeetu.

"Okies! I am also ready, I will be there within half an hour," he said.

I made a quick plan to paint the town red within some minutes and luckily two of my friends also were ready, but I did not have any idea which place we had to go, so I needed to be ready with some names before they arrived. I was absolutely clueless, however, I knew Som would certainly give a suitable name because he studied geography and history of Nepal thoroughly.

Thinking of the visiting spot, I opened my closet and picked my favourite clothes out. I got a small bag and packed with some clothes, such as a couple of t-shirts, one pair of pants, track suit, a warm jacket in case of cold, including sunglasses, perfume, toothpaste, diary, pen, and a book 'The Buried Giant' written by a famous Chinese author Kazuo Ishiguro which I had been reading currently and still some pages were remaining to turn on.

I dressed in my favourite blue jeans pants and blue t-shirt, and put on black boots.

"Wear a jacket, it's cold today," Mom shouted with worries, but I ignored and replied,"No, I needn't, but don't worry, mom, I've carried one in a bag."

I didn't put on a jacket even though it was cold outside.

"Bye mom!" I said as I was in a hurry and came out of the home as early as I could.

"Take care! Go safely and come back soon!" Mom said, coming out of the gate to see me off like everyone's mom does who really cares for her child lovingly.

I hired a cab and reached the coffee shop in a few minutes, where I usually used to enjoy sipping coffee with my besties but sometimes alone. I occupied a comfy sofa and was waiting for my two nutty friends.

Both of my friends, Som and Jeetu, whom I became friends with at college during the first year of graduation, appeared at almost the right time. They came with their backpacks which were a bit heavy. Jeetu is a normal looking guy with average height as I am, dressed in grey pants with pullover while Som who is tall man with short hair, wore black pants with blue shirt inside and covered with a sweat jacket. He put on heavy boots as he was going to scale the mount Everest, looked handsome as he had always been.

Jeetu originally came from Kathmandu and belongs to a common family. He is a generous and honey-tongued man, really honey-tongued who speaks less but worthwhile enough. Jeetu works as a school teacher who earns well. On another hand, Som is a little funny but kind hearted and sensible man who sometimes puts his philosophical ideas across, came to Kathmandu from one of the rural villages in order to acquire higher education and lives with his elder brother. In view of job status, he is fresher but looking for a better opportunity in a finance company. We have different character traits that differ us from each other, but we have similarity in thinking, hobbies, and choices to some extent. Therefore, we were best friends indeed. The most common thing is we three always had a desire for fun and adventure all the time like you all do.

When our discussion began over deciding visiting places, both of them came with different opinions. Som advised a few, but Jeetu had already visited those places, so he wasn't ready for them. And, the places Jeetu prescribed were either too far or did not click our minds, so I and Jeetu did not agree with his ideas. I also gave some names, but they did not agree with me either. In this way, we just talked about holiday destinations, doing contradiction, but did not come to a conclusion.

"Guys! We are wasting our time," I spoke furiously, "Hurry up! Let's decide quickly, We must leave within a while."

"By the way, how many days are we going for?" Som asked.

"I'm planning for four or five days. Are you both ready?" I said.

"All right!" They both said together.

Both of them nodded their heads for my plan as they also looked excited to go on a long holiday.

Som thought for a while, placing his cup of coffee aside. After a few seconds, he broke his silence and said, "Then, let's go to Chautara, then to Panch Pokhari from Chautara. I guess none of us has ever been there."

"I've heard these names. Which district do they situate in?" I asked curiously.

'Sindhupalchok " Som replied,

"It's about 82 km away from Kathmandu and may take around 3 hours and a half hours to get to Chautara by drive. We must stay at Chautara for one night, then we can move to Panch Pokhari via Syaule gaun and Gunsakot the next day. I also have never gone to these places. One of my friends had referred to these places as the best places for holidays during Spring."

"Do you know about the place fully? I mean to say, routes," I said.

"A little. Are you ready guys?"

"Som, are you crazy?" I said.

"No I'm not, Why?"

"You don't even have complete information about it? How is it possible to go?" I added.

"These two places can be the most exciting visiting places so far we've ever come to know. For this, we will be going to have a map and I'm sure that there will be no hazards in finding the routes as local people will certainly guide us. I think we should go for it without delay."

He spoke so flamboyantly that had tempted me ready, and I thumbed up to go to these places.

But Jeetu, who was just listening to us, said hesitantly, "Are you guys crazy? It's just crazy and dumb idea."

"Don't worry! You will not be lost, silly boy," Som said, smirking a little.

"Well, there is no fun where there is no adventure. I know these are new places for us and do have nominal ideas, but It's life and this would be an amazing experience of our lives." he continued.

"All right! But how and which way do we go?" Jeetu asked.

"We have two ways; one goes via Melamchi highway and another goes by Arniko highway via Dolalghat to the east direction. We'll go via Arniko highway by bus."

'I think we have to go via Melamchi road if we're going to Panch Pokhari," Jeetu remarked.

"If we go by this road to Panch Pokhari, there is nothing to view and enjoy on the way until we reach Panch Pokhari. But if we go via Chautara and Gunsakot, we'll have many other new places to explore and encounter. But we may need to catch a bus to Gunsakot from Syaule gaun. " Som explained.

Finally Jeetu also stopped to contradict and nodded his head readily for the place.

We had a long discussion over deciding the visiting point and their routes like a script of any new movie, but, finally both of us Jeetu and I were ready to follow Som.

I was extremely excited to go to Panch Pokhari, for we had to stay first at Chautara. From Chautara, we had to climb uphill till Syaule gaun by walking for about 3 hours, then we'll catch a bus to Gunsakot, from where we had planned to walk till Panch Pokhari.

We spent more than half an hour discussing and deciding the place for our holidays, and each of us finished sipping two cups of coffee, arguing with each other.

We left the cafe as quickly as we could and hired a cab for the bus stop. When we reached the bus-stop, we could see a number of local and long distance tourist buses standing and waiting for passengers. Some buses were ready to depart full of travellers but just waiting for the driver, and some were still waiting for the passengers to fill all seats or for those who had already reserved their seats but had not come yet.

At the bus-stop, passengers were moving hither and thither, worrying and searching for their buses that would go to their destinations. There were some who just came to see off their family members or friends. At the same time, some tea vendors and hawkers were revolving around and asking for tea or water or other food stuff to every passerby. One of them came near us and begged to buy. When we forbade him, he sadly turned back and proceeded to persuade other passersby.

Some conductors and drivers were noticing us, in the meantime, two of them marched near us and asked,"Sir, where do you have to go?"

"Chautara, Sindhupalchok, do you have any bus for?" said Som.

"Yes sir! We have," both replied together.

"How many of you are?" the man who was in ragged pants and an old washed jacket asked.

"We are three," Som replied. "What time will the bus depart?"

"At ten," he replied.

"Okay!"

We did not need to go to the counter to collect tickets as the conductor brought himself for us. Som took money from his wallet quickly saying, "I will pay for the fare from here." He handed two thousand notes to the man, and he pointed out a local bus that certainly would go to Chautara, and I was quite sure that he must have managed comfy seats for us.

Until the bus driver had come, we roamed around other buses and got to one of the stalls to buy some food stuff.

I thought now it was the time to get on the bus. No sooner had the conductor called us than we proceeded towards the bus. We got in it and placed our tired asses on seats that were already a little weak, roaming around. Our seats were in the second row on the left side, we sat on the seats and looked around the bus at one glance. There were many people inside. The bus was carrying plus and minus forty passengers, including some beautiful girls. Among them, some were adult and old people who might be going back to their homes, some were youngsters, and it seemed that they were going to rock and enjoy the captivating Spring.

We had to wait some time for the driver who still had not arrived, perhaps he was enjoying, chewing delicious breakfast

We waited and waited for him about more than half an hour, and finally a man came with outgrown tummy in green plain shirt and old, ragged, and grunchy cargo pants who was the driver of the bus, got in and sat on his large seat, wiping his mouth with a small maroon handkerchief as it seemed to have finished eating food just now.

"Guruji, isn't it time to go now?" Som asked, having a grin on face.

"Bhai, why are you in a hurry?" He said, "We will reach in time, don't worry!"

"Please, make haste!" said Som.

"Okies,"

Before he handled steering of the bus and pulled the gear, some more passengers including two beautiful girls got in the bus. The conductor managed seats for the girls in front, next to the driver, and others walked behind our seats as some were still vacant. Now the bus was fully loaded with passengers and the driver started the bus. And, our journey to Panch Pokhari began from here.

Some time later, he had another gear, and now the bus was flowing so swiftly on the smooth road as a serpent was crawling, and we left Kathmandu bus-park.