Himalaya’s own nation…

Days on new route, days of new challenges, days filled with new surprises have begun. The first city of our new route was Haridwar — one of the seven holiest places to Hindus.

Known for its famous ghat — Har Ki Pauri (steps of God Hara or Shiva). There is something about all the holy places; you feel different. You detach yourself from the outer world and are just in the very moment at that particular holy place. The same happened with me and Parth. We saw around 5,000 people on Sunday evening for the prayer (aarti).

The next day we left for Nepal — Himalaya’s own land. We decided to spend a night at Mahendranagar, a border town on the Nepali side of the border. But the journey to Mahendranagar was not so easy. We had to pass Banbasa, the last village on the Indian side before

entering. We had a car with us carrying our luggage but the river dam bridge right before the border is closed from 2 to 6 pm for cars to enter and exit.

We didn’t want to go back or wait there for 4 hours so we tried to find a way out. We told the check post police officers about De Paix Yatra. He smiled, said to pay the entry fees for the car and go. This is not the first time we have experienced an act of kindness on our journey. It is in our human DNA to be kind always but in the journey of winning in life we hardly remember this simple fact.

At the Banbasa border customs office we experienced another act of compassion. The officers chatted with us for more than an hour and gave us tips on the Do’s and Don’ts for Nepal.

“You are our citizens; we do not want to face any kind of difficulties in Nepal. We would like you to respect the nation and culture,” said Mr Tiwari, senior officer at the Border Custom office. By the way, before leaving India, do not forget to have the famous Aloo chaat which is right outside the office in Banbasa.

We stayed the night at Mahendranagar and left for Nepalgunj at noon the next day. No doubt it is the land of Himalayas but we had to cross Bardia National Park in the evening. It feels like a long drive on Marine Drive in Mumbai, the only difference being that it continues for a couple of hours without any road lights through the forest! For us this was one of the most silent trips between cities.

The following day we went to meet people at Saathi where we met three incredible women who have been standing against domestic violence and working for the upliftment of Nepali women for the last 20 years. “Selfless service is the only religion,” says Saraswati Sharma. By the time you read this column, we will be in Kathmandu. With October 2 around the corner, stay tuned for some more amazing stories! 

The columnist is on a peace mission along with friend Parth Vasvada. The duo will ride across eight countries and 13,000 km Every week they will share their travel tales with us.