Tilak Pokharel

Excitement and thrills. There was excitement as the millennium was nearing and there was an acute desire of undergoing thrills, as I was a young fellow, wanting to experience nature in a different way. And finally, my great friends made the mission a success and we went on a long cycle ride to Hetauda. The entire experience was worth remembering and novel. One year has already passed. But I still see the trip as if it happened just yesterday.

I managed to convince my friends to say “yes” to the once-in-a-life-time journey. At the end, all of them – Parbat, Saroj, Saurav, Ram Babu and Chandra- agreed to go on the thrilling ride. Since Saroj was from Hetauda, he went there before the start of the journey. It was unfortunate for Chandra (lambu) and the team that he, at the end, could not join us. The unavailability of a bicycle in time was the barrier. Though we told him to go to Daman by bus, he did not do so. He still recalls his disappointment at not being able to go there and sometimes chides us too.

I was so excited that I bought one brand new bicycle on the eve of the trip. Finally, the four of us gathered in Saurav’s house in Thankot on the eve of the trip on December 30. Our parents had strongly advised us against the trip, as it was dangerous cycling along the Tribhuvan Highway. Parbat’s mother cried when he left his home for the trip. Saurav had not told his parents about it right until the last moment. His father, so calm and cool, asked about the trip and signalled his displeasure. However, he relented.

The next morning, the inevitable came up and we four – myself, Saurav, Parbat and Ram Babu – started the journey with red tikas from Saurav’s mother on our foreheads.

Though my bicycle was brand new, it gave problems right from the start because of its loose handling. As much as the bicycle gave problems, equally its water-bottle gave us amusement (in a different way which I cannot mention here).

When we cycled down from Thankot, leaving the Kathmandu Valley, hardly any cars, buses or motorbikes overtook us. We were maintaining such speed. The first bit of trouble hit us immediately after we crossed Naubise. About four kilometres away from Naubise, a tire from Rambabu’s bicycle

punctured. Maybe it happened because his weight was nearly equal to the combined weight of the other two of us. Furthermore, his bicycle was quite old (bajeko palako cycle). Ram and Parbat went back to Naubise to repair the bicycle, while Saurav and I remained there until they came back after nearly two hours. Now began innumerable bends and sharp steep trails, which were really hectic to cross. First came Naughumti (nine bends). One ghumti (bend) took almost 20 minutes to cross. Once, Parbat carried his bicycle on his back and walked up the trails, taking a short-cut. It was really funny. Though we laughed at him at that time, our fate was the same later.

After hours of climbing up the trails, Ram and Saurav found the journey very exhausting and challenging. They even wanted to go back to Kathmandu, cancelling the trip. While Parbat and myself, despite facing problems, were tolerating it anyway. What it came down to in the late hours was— walking was much faster than the cycling, since the highway was acutely steep.

Ram had a peculiar habit. When he got intensely tired, he used to recharge himself by smelling a bottle of tharra (wine) by taking it out of his jacket.

Since it was the eve of the millennium, there was intense activity along the Highway. Some were out camping on motorbikes, while others were in cars. But, just like us, a group of foreigners were returning back by bicycle. Local children, on the way, were encouraging and revitalising us by waving their hands at us and saying “bye-bye” in their sweet and lovely way. They might have thought that we were foreigners, since hardly any Nepalis go for such excursions.

It was already night (about 7.00pm) and totally dark when we reached Bhanjyang about seven kilometres before Shikharkot – that day’s destination, where Saroj had reserved rooms at a Hotel. We had a short rest there and many cups of tea since we were tired and hungry. After we left the small station, we slowly moved off to our destination. Suddenly, we heard a familiar voice. The voice went like this -” hey guys! …you arrived? “. It was Saroj who had come all the way from Hetauda, first by bus and then by cycle. We all once again felt like we had won a great battle. We hugged, cheered until we were hoarse and once again we were energised. I felt it was the climax of the whole journey.

Then, we went steeply down to Shikharkot and stayed there overnight. There were many teams who had come there to celebrate the Millennium. Everybody was cheering. We celebrated the Millennium at 12.00 with many cheers,and the morning came with a brand new day, a new month, a new year, new century and finally the new millennium.

Then the difficult journey began again. We had to go nearly 9 kilometres up to reach Daman. Everyone in the team was really tired. We just couldn’t cycle any longer. One of us proposed to cross the trail by bus. Nobody wished to challenge this and finally, we crossed the distance of about nine kilometres by bus.

After reaching Daman we heard that the hijackers had released the jet (IA-814), which was hijacked immediately after it took off from Tribhuvan airport on Christmas eve. It had garnered a lot of space across almost all the world’s media at that time. On hearing the news, we also got some relief. Due to the heavy influx of the people into Daman, even the jungle was full. There were tents everywhere. Thank God, we did not arrive the previous night! But Daman Tower was really beautiful and worth every bit of sweat we spent getting there. We could see almost all of Nepal’s high peaks from there.

It was steep down from Sim Bhanjyang to Bhainse, a distance of about 50 kilometres heading into Hetauda. We did not have to turn the pedals. Ram was very fast. He would say – “This is the benefit of being fat”. He sometimes used to give a scientific explanation as to being slow one day, and fast the next. A majority of the trail went through forests. The place was like a den. Below a big rock, was written – “Lovers’ Chair”. We heard that a couple had committed suicide there, after others opposed their love.

Finally, Bhainse came and we took a rest. Hetauda was hardly 10 kilometres from there. Saroj gave a call to his house. We slowly moved off. Saroj’s family warmily welcomed us back with vermilion powder, garlands and saguns. I felt that we had climbed Mt Everest.

On the night of the following day, we came back to Kathmandu by bus and the whole journey was over. The physical impact of the journey left our bodies aching and sore for about two months.