April 3, 2014
Our first trials to fly past Mount Everest early in the morning was unsuccessful, weather was fine on the ground but very quickly a cloud cover enveloped the summit and we could see nothing from our flight. The Buddha Airline's Beechcraft 1900 with 16 passengers returned. We were promised another attempt, the next day on April 3rd. The second attempt was successful. The majestic mountain unveiled itself at our eye level, all bright and shinning and we had a glorious view of it. We clicked our cameras, heart-full. The flight turned around, without going Into the Chinese airspace and we had a second view of the mountain top. The pilot informed us that he turned around from the very spot where Hillary and Tenzing in 1953, fixed their third or fourth tent on South Col (another peak) and took the southern route via Lhaotse to get to the summit. We patted ourselves for an achievement with thanks to the tourist bonanza which Nepal is having these days and a bunch of daring pilots who fly these small planes at 30,000 feet, so close to the summit.
We are eight of us in Nepal for the last five days. We have seen much of Kathmandu both the current city and three ancient cities, which formed the core of today's Nepal. There are 26 million people who live here and make a living. Much of the income is money orders and tourist trade. Soon they may be exporting hydroelectric power, if they get over the civil war which has engulfed the countryside. The ancient cities, one Baktapur (one hour drive) is the oldest where one of the ethnic Nepalese people established a city and a strong point. The city as people tell us, has been here since 8th century and was ruled by "Newari" people. The second one, Patan has been around for the last four hundred years built and ruled by another ethnic group "Malla" and the third one is Kathmandu, ruled by another ethnic group. Each of these are about an hours drive from each other. They tilled the same valley land but split it up and avoided confrontation. Then in 1740AD, a strongman lead by Narian Shah from surrounding India (may be) conquered all the three ethnic groups and established what is now called present day Nepal. This family has ruled till 2001, when the King's son and heir apparent killed the whole family, leaving a leadership vacuum. King's brother succeeded but a civil war broke out as the brother as a king, incompetently handled issues and chaos prevailed. In 2006, monarchy was abolished and the new king became a common man. This transition is hotly debated with no peace in sight.
The political troubles aside, the brave Gorkhas under their General Amar Singh, conquered everything from Sikkim to Himachal Pradesh in 1800. They fought the British to standstill in early 1800s until the British General Octorloney brought in the long range guns and blew up the Malon fort near Arki in Himachal Pradesh. The Gurkhas lost the battle and decided to become loyal servants of the, British Empire. For the British, they conquered the rest of the empire, including recently beating up the Argentinians in Falkland War in 1980.
Back to the historic sites, these three ancient cities all very ancient looking and mostly made of wood have become UNESCO heritage sights. These cities have a unique architecture which need to be preserved. But the level of repair and preservation is mediocre. The buildings are not well kept and much of the cultural heritage is undergoing a decay with most of it likely to disappear sooner than later. If you remember the TV show Chanakya of 1990 era, it was shot here. It gave the TV producers ready made site, much of it looking like what Indian cities looked during Chanakya era in 320BC.
Nepalese people surprisingly look like "us" in Kathmandu. They speak Gorkhali, but their names like Upadhaya, Kulsheshta, Gore etc., which are common names of northern UP tell me that much of the population base is of Indian extraction. I believe that it is UP culture which had been transplanted in Kathmandu in last three or four hundred years. My question repeatedly to the guides was, that where do the Indo-Tibetan look-like, the much famed Gorkha soldiers come from. Bulk of the population looks like us, only a small percentage looks like Indo-Tibetan here in Kathmandu. The answer was, that they live to the northern part of Nepal in much of the rural area. All soldier recruitments are done in the rural area, not in Kathmandu. British still recruit Gorkhas, but much less. The Indian Army recruit Gorkhas both from Nepal as well as from Darjeeling area. They are Gurung, Thapa, Pradhan etc.
Kathmandu, a city of about one million looks like any other Indian city, but it is a bit cleaner. It's traffic is as bad as any Indian city of that size. Pollution is less than Delhi, but quite a few people are supporting a face mask as a precaution. We also as like any other tourist visited the Pashupati Nath Temple. It probably is a few hundred years old. It's architecture is like the three ancient cities which pre date modern Nepal. Also we made a three hour rough drive thru the mountains on not so good road to visit a temple popularly known as "Manokamana Shrine". Here all your wishes are fulfilled (so they say ). It is a hilltop temple of Kali/Parvati about 2,000 feet above the river level. It is hard to approach, hence a rope way/cable car has been built. It is fun, ten minutes ride. Still you have to climb 134 steps to reach the shrine. The whole party of eight reached there. This again is built with the same architecture with multiple floors. It is about, twenty feet by twenty feet base but rising 100 feet above in the sky in multiple levels.
A very peculiar shrine we visited was "Kumari Temple". A live young girl of about 10 to 12 is worshipped as an incarnation of Kali. She has been featured in the TV series on National Geography. Kings and commoner come to take her blessings. We also got her blessings. Tourists flock in numbers to this shrine. Why? - I do not know. Her blessings are pretty important to the local ex King, although he did not survive inspite of her blessings.
Let me be frank, it is not one of the best or unique places I visited this time around. It is a third world country, but still fairly well clean. It's economy is money orders and tourists. It is heavily dependent on goodwill of India and the United Nations. There are 2 million Nepalese working in India and sending money home. That is a major contribution to the Nepalese economy but from time to time, they do pick up a fight or two with its mighty neighbour India, with whom they are culturally and economically connected. China drops in from time to time with a bag full of money, but of no avail.
The Nepalese have to thank India a lot for preventing majestic Mount Everest becoming a Chinese mountain. It was Nehru, who told Mao Tse Tung in 1956, that Mount Everest is not Tibet although, it is at the border with Tibet, and it is internationally recognised as part of Nepal. Chinese relented and never made claims after that.
Rest of the world which sends mountaineering expeditions to Mount Everest has to be questioned for leaving an infinite amount of garbage near the Summit. A few years back, the Indian Army organised an expedition to the Mount Everest, probably the eleventh, but this time to pick up the garbage that had been left there by the European and Western expeditions. They picked up 4,000 pounds of it and brought it down. Shame on these mountaineering clubs in the West, who wish to be heralded as pioneers in mountaineering but left their garbage up near the top for somebody else to clean it up.
We are all eight of us returning tomorrow to New Delhi. Now I have to visit Shimla, otherwise I will make a whole lot of my family mad.
Cheers
Hari Sud
Our first trials to fly past Mount Everest early in the morning was unsuccessful, weather was fine on the ground but very quickly a cloud cover enveloped the summit and we could see nothing from our flight. The Buddha Airline's Beechcraft 1900 with 16 passengers returned. We were promised another attempt, the next day on April 3rd. The second attempt was successful. The majestic mountain unveiled itself at our eye level, all bright and shinning and we had a glorious view of it. We clicked our cameras, heart-full. The flight turned around, without going Into the Chinese airspace and we had a second view of the mountain top. The pilot informed us that he turned around from the very spot where Hillary and Tenzing in 1953, fixed their third or fourth tent on South Col (another peak) and took the southern route via Lhaotse to get to the summit. We patted ourselves for an achievement with thanks to the tourist bonanza which Nepal is having these days and a bunch of daring pilots who fly these small planes at 30,000 feet, so close to the summit.
We are eight of us in Nepal for the last five days. We have seen much of Kathmandu both the current city and three ancient cities, which formed the core of today's Nepal. There are 26 million people who live here and make a living. Much of the income is money orders and tourist trade. Soon they may be exporting hydroelectric power, if they get over the civil war which has engulfed the countryside. The ancient cities, one Baktapur (one hour drive) is the oldest where one of the ethnic Nepalese people established a city and a strong point. The city as people tell us, has been here since 8th century and was ruled by "Newari" people. The second one, Patan has been around for the last four hundred years built and ruled by another ethnic group "Malla" and the third one is Kathmandu, ruled by another ethnic group. Each of these are about an hours drive from each other. They tilled the same valley land but split it up and avoided confrontation. Then in 1740AD, a strongman lead by Narian Shah from surrounding India (may be) conquered all the three ethnic groups and established what is now called present day Nepal. This family has ruled till 2001, when the King's son and heir apparent killed the whole family, leaving a leadership vacuum. King's brother succeeded but a civil war broke out as the brother as a king, incompetently handled issues and chaos prevailed. In 2006, monarchy was abolished and the new king became a common man. This transition is hotly debated with no peace in sight.
The political troubles aside, the brave Gorkhas under their General Amar Singh, conquered everything from Sikkim to Himachal Pradesh in 1800. They fought the British to standstill in early 1800s until the British General Octorloney brought in the long range guns and blew up the Malon fort near Arki in Himachal Pradesh. The Gurkhas lost the battle and decided to become loyal servants of the, British Empire. For the British, they conquered the rest of the empire, including recently beating up the Argentinians in Falkland War in 1980.
Back to the historic sites, these three ancient cities all very ancient looking and mostly made of wood have become UNESCO heritage sights. These cities have a unique architecture which need to be preserved. But the level of repair and preservation is mediocre. The buildings are not well kept and much of the cultural heritage is undergoing a decay with most of it likely to disappear sooner than later. If you remember the TV show Chanakya of 1990 era, it was shot here. It gave the TV producers ready made site, much of it looking like what Indian cities looked during Chanakya era in 320BC.
Nepalese people surprisingly look like "us" in Kathmandu. They speak Gorkhali, but their names like Upadhaya, Kulsheshta, Gore etc., which are common names of northern UP tell me that much of the population base is of Indian extraction. I believe that it is UP culture which had been transplanted in Kathmandu in last three or four hundred years. My question repeatedly to the guides was, that where do the Indo-Tibetan look-like, the much famed Gorkha soldiers come from. Bulk of the population looks like us, only a small percentage looks like Indo-Tibetan here in Kathmandu. The answer was, that they live to the northern part of Nepal in much of the rural area. All soldier recruitments are done in the rural area, not in Kathmandu. British still recruit Gorkhas, but much less. The Indian Army recruit Gorkhas both from Nepal as well as from Darjeeling area. They are Gurung, Thapa, Pradhan etc.
Kathmandu, a city of about one million looks like any other Indian city, but it is a bit cleaner. It's traffic is as bad as any Indian city of that size. Pollution is less than Delhi, but quite a few people are supporting a face mask as a precaution. We also as like any other tourist visited the Pashupati Nath Temple. It probably is a few hundred years old. It's architecture is like the three ancient cities which pre date modern Nepal. Also we made a three hour rough drive thru the mountains on not so good road to visit a temple popularly known as "Manokamana Shrine". Here all your wishes are fulfilled (so they say ). It is a hilltop temple of Kali/Parvati about 2,000 feet above the river level. It is hard to approach, hence a rope way/cable car has been built. It is fun, ten minutes ride. Still you have to climb 134 steps to reach the shrine. The whole party of eight reached there. This again is built with the same architecture with multiple floors. It is about, twenty feet by twenty feet base but rising 100 feet above in the sky in multiple levels.
A very peculiar shrine we visited was "Kumari Temple". A live young girl of about 10 to 12 is worshipped as an incarnation of Kali. She has been featured in the TV series on National Geography. Kings and commoner come to take her blessings. We also got her blessings. Tourists flock in numbers to this shrine. Why? - I do not know. Her blessings are pretty important to the local ex King, although he did not survive inspite of her blessings.
Let me be frank, it is not one of the best or unique places I visited this time around. It is a third world country, but still fairly well clean. It's economy is money orders and tourists. It is heavily dependent on goodwill of India and the United Nations. There are 2 million Nepalese working in India and sending money home. That is a major contribution to the Nepalese economy but from time to time, they do pick up a fight or two with its mighty neighbour India, with whom they are culturally and economically connected. China drops in from time to time with a bag full of money, but of no avail.
The Nepalese have to thank India a lot for preventing majestic Mount Everest becoming a Chinese mountain. It was Nehru, who told Mao Tse Tung in 1956, that Mount Everest is not Tibet although, it is at the border with Tibet, and it is internationally recognised as part of Nepal. Chinese relented and never made claims after that.
Rest of the world which sends mountaineering expeditions to Mount Everest has to be questioned for leaving an infinite amount of garbage near the Summit. A few years back, the Indian Army organised an expedition to the Mount Everest, probably the eleventh, but this time to pick up the garbage that had been left there by the European and Western expeditions. They picked up 4,000 pounds of it and brought it down. Shame on these mountaineering clubs in the West, who wish to be heralded as pioneers in mountaineering but left their garbage up near the top for somebody else to clean it up.
We are all eight of us returning tomorrow to New Delhi. Now I have to visit Shimla, otherwise I will make a whole lot of my family mad.
Cheers
Hari Sud
No comments:
Post a Comment