A Perspective on Agriculture Input Marketing in Nepal-Prashant Bhandari

A  Perspective on Agriculture Input Marketing in Nepal-Prashant Bhandari

1.      Introduction 

Agriculture inputs refers to crop related inputs like seed, fertilizer, fungicide, pesticides and also seedlings, feeds, and machines which support crop production. The availability, accessibility, quality and price have been major issue in this sector from the farmer perspective. The shortage of these inputs at critical stage of crop management has plagued Nepalese agriculture for decades. The shortage is multifaceted- firstly the inputs aren’t available timely, especially in the remote areas of hills, where limited stocks of input are sent and which sadly remain only in  headquarter, even not catering to the needs of the headquarter. Secondly, the quantity distributed isn’t enough and at times there is even no option of buying and at times unaffordable. The quality of inputs is even questionable it is important to recognize that in agribusiness sector, the agro-input sector is the most crucial even to attend to concerns of food quality, food safety, and cost competitiveness. On the other hand, agro inputs are crucial for small farmers in terms of yield enhancement, cost cutting, and better quality production for better price realization.

 Small farmers in Nepal are in dire stress due to low farm yields, increasing cost of cultivation, unstable market prices and lack of various other support mechanisms. The only a few ways to help such farmers is to either help cut down their costs of production and marketing, provide stable and remunerable market access and improve price realization or increase yields. Therefore, there is a role for innovations, institutions, and institutional innovations in achieving inclusive agricultural development in a context like that of Nepalese agriculture.

There have been not been enough studies on client oriented research, and on the on the rationale, organization and performance of the new models in comparison with existing channels.

2.     Present features  of Agriculture Input Marketing in Nepal

·        Government doesn’t directly sell inputs to farmers. Government supplies inputs to cooperatives which then distribute it to farmers.

·         The institutional mobility of government is very slow and that coupled with beaurocracy and existing corruption, the marketing channel turns inefficient.

·         The partition of inputs isn’t scientific. The most rural, resource poor farmers will remain always in the margin of current system.

·         The inputs aren’t adequately available

·         The inputs are not timely available

·         No differential treatment between commercial and subsistence farmers

·         Private companies and suppliers of input are limited to certain belts

·         Quality inputs beyond affordability of resource constraint farmers

3.     Proposed Vision:

Realizing that the scarcity is chiefly due to inefficiency of current marketing channel, a direct flexible model is proposed. The idea is to classify farmers as commercial farmers and subsistence farmers. The current production patterns will give us clues on demarcating those areas.

A)    Marketing at commercial zones

Government will directly sell the seeds and fertilizer to the commercial farmers (determined by either total production or total cultivated area) with option to farmers to reject government’s price and buy from market. The government will market inputs to those farmers with recommendations from scientists of NARC or professors of Agriculture university. Government also to provide free consultation to farmers who sign contract to buy from government for at least three years.

B)    Marketing to Subsistence Farmers

Firstly, identification of resource poor farmers through out the country, estimation of their total need, cross-geographical analysis and marketing through a newly formed village level structure called Fertilizer dal instead of existing inefficient agro co-operatives.

Compostion of Fetilizer dal:

·         Chairman: ward incharge - 1

·         Represenattive of political parties- 7( maximum, all major parties to be represented)

·         Senior person- 1

·         Women-1

·         JTA- 1

    Role of Fertilizer dal:

·         Fertiliser dal is a group of farmers at ward level who will negotiate with government and all stakeholders for listed farmers in that ward.

·         Make justified demands with government body and government market their stock to them and distribute through the dal;  government to provide tax incentives to businessmen and shops catering to the input needs of rural farmers

·         Members of Fertilizer dal will not be paid rather given discount on the purchase they make with the government and the percent of discount to be determined by the efficiency of the distribution made by the dal.

The proposed idea of input marketing focuses mainly on the marketing of seeds and fertilizers, however it can be applied with considered to other inputs as well.

Role of Government:

·         Identify the need of input through fertilizer dal and prepare for marketing it to the farmers through the fertilizer dal

·         Consult Scientists and professors in terms of planning, verifying of the demands made and incorporate those suggestions for implementation

·         Market inputs to the Fertiliser Dal under supervision of DADO and DLS

·         Establish independent monitoring body comprised of JTAs and agriculture students enrolled in various universities of Nepal

·         Provide Tax breaks to private companies and suppliers supplying inputs to remote areas of the hills

·         Promote self-sufficiency in agriculture input through gradual industrialization

·         Further expansion of easy micro-credit and limiting bureaucratic hassle to bare minimum

4.     Significance of the proposed model:

·         Inefficient co-operative channel of government marketing removed and replaced by more mobile and direct channel.

·         Utilization of already segmented Nepalese society, uniting through common goal and meanwhile establishing an auto-balance mechanism at Farmer’s level for transparency

·         Different approach for commercial and subsistence farmers catering to their diverse needs in terms of quantity, frequency and types

·         Prioritizing of remote, resource constraint farmers in terms of accessibility and affordability, bringing them into the national mainstream

·         Quick fix possible as it already utilizes components of existing channels like government, DADO, suppliers except the Fertiliser Dal.

·         Quick flow of information of demand allowing for timely response and thereby timely availability

·         Increased competition among suppliers for remote tax-breaks

5.      Limitations of the presented model

·         Direct Political role in Fetiliser Dal could backfire.

·         Addition of new channel could be new breeding ground for corruption

6.     Conclusion:

Thus, a marketing vision correcting the existing hurdles, with focus on farmer tailored channel, government competing with firms, and mobilization of ward level structure, is proposed.

A Report on Global Tigers Day 2016 Celebration at Chitwan.

Title: Global Tigers Day Celebration by Team Roar in Chitwan

Background: A group of students from Agriculture and Forestry University, assembled at Youth Leadership Training for Tiger Conservation (Hetauda) took a shape and formed a group called Team Roar. Team Roar consists of 11 members which comprises of 5 students pursuing Bachelors in Agriculture, 5 pursuing BVSc & AH and a member pursuing BSc Fisheries. Team Roar was mentored by Ms. Bindu Bhandari & Mr. Ashish Niraula, both mentee, TGG Mentorship program 2015. Team Roar executed the ideas it generated over the course of training, targeting the Global Tigers Day, July 29 2016.

Objectives:

·         To assess the level of awareness and extent of concern among people in Chitwan, around Chitwan National Park regarding Tiger conservation.

·         To identify the latent issues that hinder conservation actions, affect effective communication among stake holders

·         To explain the gravity of conservation action to students and members of community and motivate them to speak and act for Tiger conservation

Significance:

The number of Tigers in world is low and the target set to double the number by next Chinese year of tiger 2022 is really a lofty goal. To realize this dream countries like Nepal which have successfully achieved Zero Poaching needs to maintain  and improve their good work and while the conservation action is Nepal is carried out by Nepalese Army and handful of NGOs and INGOs in Nepal, the general audience, youths, children need to know about the current global predicament with Tiger population. So, to spread the word on the existence of Tigers day, raise awareness, brainstorm, have meaningful discourses, inspire youth activists and student researchers to work on the field of tiger conservation, Project Roar was executed.

Events:

First Paaanipuri Fellowship: This was one of the main activity on Project Roar. The first Paanipuri fellowship was conducted on July 21, 2016 at premises of Agriculture and Forestry University. The program began at 4 PM.. There were 40 participants in the fellowship. First of all Project Co-ordinator Abhisek Niraula gave orientation to the pariciapants about Paanipuri Fellowship and its objectives. This was followed by talk from Ashish Ghimire, member of Team Roar and Rotaract Shova Barali, President of Rotaract Club of Chitwan. Then the chief guest Associate Professor Dr. Hom Bahadur Basnet shared his views with the participants. After concluding remarks from Prashant Bhandari, Director of Project Roar, the formal program ended.

The informal program began with divison of 40 paricipants in 5 groups namely Tigers, NGOs/INGOs, Buffer Zone, Government & Students/Activist. This was a role playing game, each team had to represent the name they were assigned, for instance the group Tiger had to say things from the perspective of Tiger.

Participants were given 20 minutes to discuss within their group and during this time paanipuri was offered, particpants discussed things over the plate of Paanipuri. After discussions, a member from each team presented the conclusion of their group and the rest of the teams commented on that, the process continued thereby creating a multi-stake holders dialogue and helping everyone see and understand things from different perspectives. At the end, the participants were told about the global TX2 campaign and asked to join the global Thumbs Up For Tigers Campaign.

2^nd Paanipuri Fellowship: This was organized on27th July, 2016 at Balkumari College of Science, the participant consisted of 30 students of Balkumari College. The program was conducted the same way first Paanipuri fellowship was conducted.

Road Interviews:

we travelled to different places of Chitwan, interacted with people in campus and outside on the road, asked questions about Tiger conservation like What do you think should be done for conserving Tiger? Or Should Tiger be conserved? Or what do you think are the major threats for tiger?

The footage was used as content for online awareness campaign.

Flash mob:

This was organized on the morning of 29^th July, the program was scheduled for 9 AM but the continuous rain made us postpone the program to 11 AM. Volunteers from Third semester veterinary and Fisheries performed on the song “ROAR” by Katy Perry, the dance was choreographed by Mr. Amik Shrestha. It was conducted in the middle of Rampur bazzar targeting the people working in their shops and the residents. People had asked what was about to happen and we told them about the Tigers Day and TX2 Campaigns and asked them to stay around. The flash mob was viewed by in excess of 100 peoples which included Housewives, Shopkeepers, Workers, Childrens, Youths, Policemen etc.

Wall Painting:

Inittially the plan was to paint the image of Bengal Tiger in AFU, Rampur but upon discussion we came to a consensus that our wall painting should be in area where the mobility of people is higher and the target audience less familiar about Tiger Conservation and campaigns. With that in mind we identified the location of wall of District Development Office, Chitwan as the ideal venue. Akshar Samuha, bearing responsibility for artistic management of wall were positive and the official campaign photo of TX2 was painted there by Ms. Nisha Shrestha.

Documentary Show:

A collection of videos narrating stories, experiences and talk from conservationist, poachers and researchers was shown in AFU Conference Hall. Videos containing activities of Project Roar and the flash mob was also shown. The participants of this show were university students, lecturers, canteen owners and AFU staffs.

Formal Ending Program:

At 3 PM, 29^th July the formal program for conclusion of Project Roar was organized at AFU Conference Hall. The program was chaired by Mr. Prashant Bhandari, Director, Project Roar; Associate Professor Dr. Krishna Kafle, was invited as chief guest. The speakers of the program were Mr Ashish Ghimire, Mr. Abhisek Niraula, Ms. Bindu Bhandari and chief guest Dr. Kafle .The program ended with remarks from the chairman.

Conclusion:

The project first of all was a huge learning experience for the members of Team Roar about the magnificent animal tiger and the complexities around its conservation. The project was able to first inject the idea about the existence of Tigers day, secondly the success of Nepal in achieving Zero Poaching Years and finally motivating Youths and young researchers to understand, advocate and pursue research on Tigers.

Chitwan...

She walks with her googles on

She is out there to have some fun

She moves so gently that the time feels slow

Her laughs make the whole street glow

With the perfect walk

With the perfect grace &

With the perfect dress

She is riding on the streets of

chitawan *2

She enters into the bar

She births a war in that bar

She turns the guys into the beast

Hemingway would have called her

a moveable feast!

With the perfect touch

With the perfect style

With the perfect ann-daaz

She is back on the streets of chitawan *2

She takes her cell & checks her message

The breeze draws her hair

Does she care?

With the striking charm

With the bursting beauty

With the killing smile

She is roaming in the streets of chi chi chitwan

Training on Youth Leadership for Tiger Conservation Hetauda, 19 June-21 June, The Generation Green, WWF Nepal

Nepal has had plethora of non-governmental organizations and their working has been questioned fairly & unfairly at times. WWF Nepal is one of the few organization working in Nepal with high impact & intact reputation. I had read and heard about the wonderful work The Generation Green (TGG) program of WWF Nepal had been doing, I was thrilled to have been selected to attend the training on leadership with emphasis on Tiger Conservation; Leadership, a trait many of us think we have, some of us really have and one definitely we all wish we had.

 I started my pre-training preparation with a book by John Maxwell entitled The Five Levels of leadership and few videos on YouTube. There is clearly a lot of room for quality Nepalese content in this area.

I arrived at Hetauda City at 16:00 on 19 June with couple of my friends and checked in the hotel Seema at 17:00 pm. The light rain that greeted us, the sight of e-mayuri and trees on either sides of the road felt like a warm welcome from the city, a fine background to the intense learning that was to follow.

We got notified that the program would start from 18:30 the same day and the team of We Inspire Nepal (WIN) would be giving us the training. This was an exciting news as I had been familiar with work of some of the members of WIN & heard volumes about Saunak Bhatta. I had heard instances of their radical approach in trainings, I didn’t know what to expect, yet I was delighted by the prospect of listening to young team of WIN, whose emphasis I knew would not be just conducting training for trainings sake but to make a real impact in the lives, personality of the participants. We have a bad air of cynicism in our society for youth innovations, WIN is one of the team that is proving people wrong day in day out.  Many of trainings I took in recent times had been a bit one dimensional and I was even close to death-by-slides in some. This promised to be different and it was.

The training kicked off with a brief overview about the program. Participants introduced themselves. I introduced myself and shared my excitement, I was looking forward to learning, specially, discourses on Leadership from Nepalese trainers with our own organic take and perspectives. I have to praise the organizers for assembling that unique group of participants which included students from universities and youths working for conservation actions at local level. As an activists who roams around papers more than beings, for me, the informal talks I had with field activists is one of the highlight of the training, they shared their experience, the psyche that drives local people among many more interesting anecdotes.

This was followed by a pair activity called Putali ra paat (Butterfly – Leaf). The session was wonderfully facilitated by Samikshya Neupane   , Trainer WIN, her voice couldn’t have been clearer and her energy any higher . Each one of us, in turns, guided our eye-closed-partner (putali) through the crowded room, acting as Paat.

After the activity, people were asked to share their learnings, take on the activity. I saw it as a metaphor of two activists from different origins, nature and properties exploring the unexplored territory for common good. It was exciting to hear varied interpretation of fellow participants for the same activity. People saw different metaphors in it, it felt like a window into their thought process.

This was followed by a stirring talk by Mr. Ram Prit Yadav    , he shared us the roots of wildlife conservation action in Nepal, present status, challenges overcame and the hurdles that remain. His talk was as thorough as it was motivating. He was a walking example proving that age is just a number, he looked as energetic & passionate as any of us youth present in the program.

After dinner, amidst the participants four separate families were created and first family meeting was held instantaneously. It started by sharing about oneself among the members of family. It is so amazing what people share when the mood is set right. We were practically strangers yet what people shared was not only their general story which they lay out for the whole world to see but their real personal opinions, incidents, dreams and secrets even. It was probably one of the moments when I strongly bonded with participants.

The next day began with light physical exercise at 7, on the roof of the hotel. This training was really different than any of I ever attended with respect to focus on the mental and physical dimensions of individuals. The use of dance/music, jumping, shouting were masterfully used as a tool of facilitation. Those activities really lifted the energy, involvement and flow of the program.

After tea, we had yet another session of reflection, people shared their learnings, takeaways, friends they made etc. This was followed by the discussion on the projects that could be carried out within the period of one month. The ideas were laid out on the floor, the ideas were numerous, some routine, some innovative, group members commented on the idea itself, the way the idea could be better executed, the impact maximized and sustained

This was followed by intense session by Saunak Bhatta where he shared insightful, readily executable tools, ideas and suggestion for effective communication, rapport building & public speaking. He also introduced us to the power of introduction, showed us how he does it and then made each and every one of us introduce ourselves in a new way, in a loud voice with confidence. From now on, I definitely will be introducing myself more creatively.

This was followed by the a session by Santosh Pandey where he shared how to start a campaign, he dwelled on some of his past campaigns as case studies and highlighted on the points of utmost importance like the extent to which the campaign is to be taken, the tools to be used, ethical boundaries, time factor etc.

This learning filled session was then followed by session on death hypnosis by Saunak Bhatta. I was moved earlier by a couple of hypnosis already conducted by Samikshya and Saunak himself but this death hypnosis was another level. It made me pin point my regrets and will be important for me now, in constructing my tomorrow more lucidly. It triggered different emotions in other participants, some couldn’t control their emotions and let their tears burst, I can only guess what they went through.

It was kind of poetic that this intense session was followed by painting session where we were free to add any color to any shape, in any manner, over our own canvas. It was fun even for people like me who aren’t particularly good at painting. It is at occasions like this, I come to admire abstract paintings even more.

Post dinner, cultural night was staged, we had open floor for performances. Beautiful songs were performed, Dohori sung, legs pulled, all in good humor. The timing of this cultural program couldn’t have been better.

Day 3, the final day, many strange faces had become names by now. The session began at 9 with the reflection of Day 2. This was followed by further discussion, planning & writing of the plan, which would provide concreteness to our projects to be carried out for Global Tigers Day, July 29.

Shika Gurung, Campaigns and marketing officer, TGG, WWF Nepal then shared us the actions TGG team had taken over the years, their objectives, missions and future plans. The dedication & passion of TGG, WWF Nepal team was aptly mirrored in the presentation & talk by Shika. People like her are the unsung heroes who have powered us to maintain if not improve the status of endangered species even through this decade of political transition.

The last activity of the program was a treasure hunt, as the name suggests, it is a game among the groups, to decode the clues and then perform the tasks assigned. The task were the real tests of everything we had learned, heard, discussed over the last two days. The tasks at times felt insane, irrational but all were heart pumping and I cannot stop smiling as I recall those tasks. Some of them were painting colors in faces, adding a tiger tail and walking like a tiger in the street lanes, another included going on a school bus and informing children about tiger conservation. However the pick of the task was the last one, where we were made to debate for and against tiger conservation. It was a heated debate, the reasoning was sound, all the running, chasing of the clues had lifted us to whole different level of energy, (kudos to the trainers for precise placement of the activity) and that energy flowed through our voices. It was a proof of all the things WIN Team had taught works.

I felt a different kind of high. I felt whole lot more confident. I felt transformed.

There are certain people, who perceive the wave length of people, We Inspire Nepal (WIN) is definitely one of them, and they resonated with our wavelength, then increased the energy gradually, finally fine tuning our presence, confidence and energy level. They arguably are the best team working in this domain and without a doubt a serious force to be reckoned with and given that all of them are around their mid-twenties, they can only get better.

It was departure time already and as I looked back with gratitude, I could see, the room filled with transformed Leaders like me.

 

Dhwajabahak on the Road: Rampur-Sundarbazaar-Besisahar-GhaleGaun-Bhujung-Khudi-Besisahar-Sundarbazaar-Rampur

Any time you spend with friends from your wavelength is fun and with them by your side, exploring beautiful landscape, scenery and pristine culture only gets better. That is what I was fortunate to explore recently. I, Prashant Bhandari, along with my friends Bibek Shrestha, Mahesh Jung Karki, Bhakti Regmi, Abhiskar Khatri, Bibek Raj Kunwar, Ashish Adhikari & Kiran Khadka trekked our way to Besisahar-Ghalegaun-Bhujung-Khudi-Besisahar.

Interestingly this was not a planned trip at all, we travelled to Sundarbazaar, Lamjung to attend Welcome Program 2073 of ANNFSU, Lamjung Campus as representatives from ANNFSU, AFU. The program was on 2073/02/09-10,

We reached there at around 1 PM, 2073/02/10(thanks to the ever existing jams at Mugling). We were overwhelmed by the excitement our friends from Lamjung showed to us. The fact that Bibek Shrestha, permanent resident of Sundar Bazaar was also with us helped us get to know boys from lamjung, easily and for myself also it was exciting to meet with my high school friends (currently studying there) Sujan Subedi, Milan, Kiran, Parina. So, we attended the program which by the way was filled with rocking performances and Abhiskar lit fire in the stage with his vocal on songs Guransai Fulyo Banaima, Rato ra Chandra Surya accompanied by Bibek Shrestha, Kiran khadka on the Guitar and Indrajeet on the drums.

This exciting evening was followed by a walk down the Paudi Jholungey-bridge, the sun set seen from there was one of the best I have ever seen. We sat on large stones by the river and out of nowhere Ashish & Bhakti suggested that we trekked to Ghale gaun tomorrow, Bibek said that it would be more fun at Bhujung and within few minutes we were all ready for the trek.

Our friends at Lamjung sponsored the dinner that night, prior and post dinner agriculture students from Rampur, Lamjung & Paklihawa sat at the same table and discussed politics, sports, music, agriculture and many more. Given that IAAS/AFU comprises of students from every region of Nepal, It is fair to assume we had voices from almost all zones of Nepal which is may be why the conversations were hilarious and enriching at the same time.

Sadly on the morning of trekking my dear friends Bibek Dominice & Kiran khadka had minor health issues and had to bow out of the trekking. Wishing them to chill at sundarbazaar, we reached Besisahar at 10 am.

The first half hour was tiring, the stairs were uncomfortably vertical, our stomach not fed and the psyche of having to still walk good 5-6 hours clearly took a toll on us. We quickly reached a gumba, we observed the gumba and the little kids in robe talking in language we didn’t understand. May be they were talking about us, making predictions about us or maybe they couldn’t care less. We breathed a lot better after the gumba and the roads were more horizontal now. It had been more than 30 minutes since we started our journey and we knew we had a couple of Dado to climb, so, we made stop at the first shop we encountered, we bought six noodles for six persons, a bottle of sprite, a bottle of juice and walked. We sat at the base of Dado, below a chautari and had our first meal. The meaningless conversations we had at the base of that tree is perhaps one of the best meaningless conversation I have been part of.  The position of my friends, what they said, the expressions in their faces when they spoke, all has been imprinted vividly.God, that was fun.

Two hours into the trek and the trail only got steeper, the first Dado was supposed to be the tallest and hardest, the top third of that Dado was the hardest bit climbing up. With my body used to riding in bikes in the plains of terai, it was way far from comfort zone of my body.

As soon as we reached the top of first Dado we were greeted by  cool breeze, kissing our faces (haha). It felt like one of those moments you read in books about self-discovery except that all I discovered was I still had two Dado to climb. We rested there for a while, recharging ourselves. I removed my shirt and tried to absorb the breeze I talked about. Bibek, Bhakti, Mahesh, Ashish made calls to family & friends; Abhiskar meanwhile started playing clash of clans.

The following trail was easier and we chatted our way up and down, observing the plants, flowers, trees growing and arguing about their scientific names, family etc. and we couldn’t help but notice the difference in color, texture and structure of soil as we travelled. Within a span of few minutes one would observe completely contrasting soils.

We stopped in a restaurant-shop at a village which seemed to be gurung dominated. We inquired about our road, had tea, lunch and marched on. It was around 2:15 PM and we came across a board which read Ghale gaun-5 Km. We were ecstatic and marched with increased pace; we walked for more than one hour and we were nowhere near any settlement and to our despair another Dado greeted us. With hypothesis on why would somebody lie about the distance we started climbing another, luckily the last we had to climb.

With our water finished and spirit dampened we were walking with baby-steps, luckily we came across a tap, made by some colonel in memory of his late wife. The water was cold, sweet and felt divine. We all read the inscription made and paid our respect to the man & women. We couldn’t help but compare this act with that of Sharjah-who made the famous Taj Mahal in memory of his wife. My contention was the colonel is the better lover of the true, given that he had only one wife unlike Sharjah and probably didn’t cut off hands of the workers who made that tap. :D

The road seemed like it wouldn’t end any sooner, then out of sudden, there it was the board reading welcome to Ghale gaun, the map, and points of attraction. We stopped there and took photos, it took us roughly six hours to get there, which secretly I am proud of.

The village was as beautiful as I had heard. The houses were small, made of woods mostly and the streets in the village were paved with stones. We delightfully strolled, observing the houses, people, small children playing, the road, the plants, the cloud and the Annapurna range in the background. We arrived near an office of Aama Samuha where we were greeted and welcomed by women in cultural dresses and a man, who later turned out to be an active member of local club. They inquired us where we had come from, how long would we stay and other phatic questions. The immediately offered Sel-roti and tea, which by the way was delicious The women seemed to be having lot of fun, they were talking in their own local language and laughing, we didn’t know what they were talking but we knew it was about us. He managed us six in a home stay and were guided to it and informed about the local Ghatu dance that was taking place in the community hall.

The hall was made of concrete, probably with capacity for hundred people and situated on the upper part of village, meaning you could see people arriving and returning clearly. As we entered the hall, without knowing what to expect, were greeted and asked to sit. We saw predominantly women and pondered may be it is celebration just of women but turned out it was not. There was two types of dance going on simultaneously. On the stage, their priest Gurau and his helpers were citing words which seemed very ritualistic. There were three dancers, dressed entirely in their mandated dance cloth, they wore unique crown in their heads and danced in slow motion and in tandem. We were invited to sit in front of Gurau and he was reciting mantras, the three girls put on tika in our foreheads in a ritualistic way. We didn’t know what we should do/say or even what we shouldn’t do/say; then a women instructed us and we followed it, turns out all we had to do was sit, take the blessings, and offer Dakshina to the girls as much as we desired.

On the other hand, dance on the floor was in Nepali bhaka, so we could relate what they were saying. We joined in the dance and danced for some time with the local girls, they were quite shy but not too afraid I must say. They were quiet vocal and sporty to the attempted flirt. We were alert on having fun without causing offence. We were offered tea and juice, we consumed both and that made assimilating to the floor much easier. We returned to our home stay around 8PM.

The dinner that night was lovely, we had the taste of local rice, potato and chicken. We ate like pigs and slept like bears.

We woke around 7 the next morning and we had millet sel-roti and tea for breakfast, the tea had the flavor of local spices, catered to living in the cold. After the fierce tea, we walked to the view tower with intentions of seeing the mountain range and clicking some  pics. Sadly, it was all cloudy and we couldn’t get that clear view. However the village seemed even more beautiful from the top. The hospitality of our hosts made our stay ten times more wonderful.

Around 9 AM we left Ghale gaun for Bhujung. The trek was supposed to take us two hours but we did in one and half hours. Kudos, right? :D

Bhujung was even more densely populated, houses denser and offered hospitality like in Ghale gaun . We struck interesting conversation with the local ladies, some of them didn’t speak Nepali but only their own language, which I am assuming is gurung. But they didn’t have to say a word in Nepali, their face were filled with expressions, anyone, except the mentally cracked, could look at them and understand them without them having to say a word. If there is one thing better than the pure air, lovely climate and scenery of this place, it’s the people in here. All through the journey I repeated, to find job move down, to find love move up.

Time was not on our side, so we had to return quickly; we had good4/5 hours still to walk. So, we left bhujung at2 PM with some wonderful meal in our bellies and wonderful memories in our hearts.

We needed to get back to Khudi by 6 PM to catch the last bus to Besisahar. We were on track for that but then out of sudden rain poured in; we hadn’t carried umbrella or rain coats. We took shelter for some time but we didn’t have much time to lose. So, we decided to walk in the rain. While walking in the rain, with shirts removed in lanes of hills sounds poetic and romantic, the ground reality is bit different; we got leeches in our thighs and legs, some even dropped from trees, the road became slippery, the slope vertical, all adding strain to our already tired legs.

No matter the strain I felt in my body I couldn’t help but notice old men walking in torn clothes, women probably in fifties carrying big load of firewood, children walking back from school, how it must have been like to walk through such paths every day and not complain. At that moment, we had to consider ourselves utterly lucky. 

Luckily, we arrived at Khudi at 6 PM at caught the last bus to Besissahar. From there on we were back on familiar territory.

Only when you have returned from an exciting trip/journey back to your home, everyday life, you relish each moment of that trip.

This has been one of the most exciting three days of my life and I will forever cherish the time spent with my Dhwojabahak boys.

la vie est bell!