| Username |
Post |
| Longwood Ave |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 08:06 AM
It was two years back in the month of May/June that I visited Nepal for my parent's silver wedding anniversary. Of course nothing exciting was planned for the wedding anniversary; not out of negligence but by default. This year I had arrived in Nepal from Boston, MA in early March as part of my academic requirement to provide some specialized service in the only children's hospital in the capital city. After the arrival of my youngest sister in Nepal from Boston in mid May we decided to travel to east Nepal to a place that had for once and for all changed the course of our entire family's destiny.
On a hot and humid May morning a few weeks back we drove from our grand parents house in Thapa Niwas in Biratnagar towards Jhapa. Our journey would take us through the fake "Industrial Drive" on the Biratnagar Itahari sector of the highway after which we headed east on the East West Highway. I was amazed to see the transformation rural Sunsari, Morang and Jhapa districts have undergone. Birat Chowk, which was a tiny hamlet has now turned into a booming alternative to Biratnagar. I stopped at Belbari for an hour to take some pictures of the often fancy graveyard of the deceased Limbu. While I was taking pictures my sister decided to kill time and log on on the Internet cafe at Belbari and send e-mails to our two other siblings in the US and mother who was away on a business trip in New Delhi. Laxmi Marga that I knew of say six or seven years back had transformed into a frontier town. And of course, there was an Internet cafe there as well. The only thing that I found amiss was that Kaney Pokhari on the eastern banks of the Chisang river no longer served "kheer." The Dairy Development Corporation's milk chilling center has made very little milk available on the local market for the once famous "kheer" the local speciality.
We stopped at Pathari, the closest thing to a wild frontier I have visited in Nepal, after Jogbudha, Dadeldhura. Pathari is famous all over eastern Nepal for all the wrong reasons. Cheap home made brew filled in empty beer bottles and fitted with the husk of a corn is infamously known as "khoye birko" in this part of Nepal. This is one of the specialities among several others of Pathari. I stopped for half an hour to meet some people and take some snaps at the PHC at Manglabare that has earned a very good reputation for being the ideal "village hospital" in Nepal. If it was not situated in the over populated Morang District, our next stop, Urlabari would have gained the status of a Municipality a few years back I would think.
We cross the Mawa river into Jhapa district. Jhapa district, in general, and the western banks of the Mai Khola past Surunga, in particular, is our destination for today. We stop at our cousins' place at Damak for lunch. We chat until one in the afternoon and we ask permission to leave.
We drove past the extremely busy as well as chaotic Damak Bus Stand as we headed for the Kerkha junction. As we arrived at the small road side town of Kerkha my sister began to have tears all over her eyes and asked me to turn back and to drop her off at Damak. Obviously, at this time it became clear that she was not mentally prepared to face the western banks of the Mai Khola. So we returned to Damak and after dropping her off there I returned on my onwards journey to Mai Khola. During this half an hour or so I could think of nothing except the fond memories of my childhood. As I arrived on the western banks of the Mai Khola I stopped and took out the five packets of Tibetan incense and the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". As I got of the air-conditioned car I could feel the very warm breeze sweeping through the riverbank. It was exactly in this spot some 16 years ago when I was eight years old that my father died on a head on collision between the Toyota Land cruiser he was riding and a long haul bus travelling to Kakkarbhitta from Janakpur. I got the courage to light the five packets of Tibetan incense and recite the five sections of the book which my mother had marked.
On the day of the death of my father it had been barely 42 days since we had returned from UPenn where my father had completed his doctoral degree. According to the wishes of my father we performed his last rites on the banks of the Sapta Koshi in Chatara. That very same day my mother packed a only a few of our belongings and came to Kathmandu. My mother never returned to our family house in Kanchanbari area in Biratnagar. All the rooms were padlocked and remain exactly the same as they were at the time of that unfateful day on the highway in Jhapa some 16 years ago. Out of respect for this extra ordinarily strong woman and mother none of us four children have been to that house since that day either.
Jhapa is always on my mind after that uneventful morning some 16 years back!!!!!!!
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| deep |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 08:39 AM
Memories. Memories! It feels good to share, sometimes.
[Internet cafe in Belbari and Laxmi Marga, huh?]
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| jaya_nepal |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 09:08 AM
Jhapa - one of the few notorious places in Nepal. I feel sorry for you that Jhapa came to you as a nightmare in your life. I am from Jhapa but it has been more than decade that I left, though I visit that place almost every year. Things have changed a lot since 1992 when I left home. Damak Chauk, Birtamode,Dhulabari, Kakarbhitta, everything has changed. Usually I enter the Nepal border from Jhapa. After crossing the demarkation pilars of Mechi River there is a different feeling. As my car wheels cross the Lekhnath Chowk in Chandragadi towards Bhadrapur, it seems I am back to my childhood that I lost somewhere behind. The famous chatpatte, Bhola Dai's ghupchup, walk around Campus Mode and Hospital Mode, a rickshaw ride to Bhadrapur Bazaar and chat puja at Mechi Khola. The scenic drive to Ilam Jilla through lush green dhan bari of Budabare and Charali. Many other memories get me back to my childhood that I lost in the busy life of New Delhi and Chicago. Its all about rethinking the past.
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| SITARA |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 09:23 AM
Longwood ji:
Such painful memories and yet you have the courage to express much with such tranquility! I wish you and yours well!
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| sks |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 09:39 AM
Thanks for sharing this very poignant and beautifully written memoir! Best wishes to you and your family.
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| Arnico |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 10:41 AM
Thanks for sharing!
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| jhapali |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 11:35 AM
Longwood Ave, very sorry to hear what happened to your father in jhapa. I have some wonderful memories of mai khola. mange sangrati ko mela lakthyo mai khola ma. people from all over jhapa and neighboring towns used to come to mai beni mela. I was a kid back then. For us kids it was fun to get up early in the morning and take a bus from sanichare to mai khola. However, once we got there, taking a dip in the cold water was no fun. Thousands of people would get in the water and bathe. Some would sacrifice pigeons right there and some would get on the rote ping.
For me the joy was in watching a tapari filled with flowers and a diyo in the middle just move along with the water until it was out of my sight. I would just sit there and watch it move away from me until it became invisible. This drifting of tapris would make me feel somewhat empty inside yet i wanted to watch them until i could no longer see them.
Thats what I remeber the most about mai khola.
jaya nepal, how about santinagar with all the chiya bari? its abeautiful little town. I have heard that birtamod has become a big city now. have lots of memories of birtamod too.
Suman
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| DWI |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 11:54 AM
Never been to Jhapa, but you took us on a memorable and sentimental trip. I am sure his soul is resting in peace and blessed by the offsprings including yourself. Heartwarming narrative. Hope to read more.
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| vivid |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 03:44 PM
LA ji,
Cruised along , sneaking past all those memories, both sweet and sour. Thank you for sharing your past, very poised and overwhelming.
My sincere admiration to this extraordinary strong women!
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| vivid |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 03:45 PM
Women=woman!
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| noname |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 04:08 PM
I entered this thread with something different in mind. I am leaving this with something different in mind. Thanks for sharing your reminiscer.
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| redneck |
Posted
on 03-Jun-03 07:17 PM
pic from Kankai Mai - 3 years ago - sweet jhapali memories to you all
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