By ATIBA ROUGIER, 8/09/2015. Made it to Nepal! The view of the Himalayas flying into Nepal is what dreams of made of. I mean, pure beauty. I was in awe of its magnitude and utter divine beauty. The ice caps reaching beyond the clouds and the vision of whites, blues, greys from the distance is indescribable. You must see it for yourself, I fail to accurately describe it. Funny, I was reading a book and the author mentions one of his treks to the Himalayas (also, I found this book randomly on my last night in India!). As I am reading, I look up, and to my astonishment and serendipitous shock & awe, out my window, this monstrous beauty is staring right at me. I was stop dead in my tracks, well, the plane kept propelling forward but I was suspended in time & space for a second or two. This dangerous beauty causes one to become humble and prideful simultaneously—humble because of its sheer magnitude and prideful to be part of this universe, this cosmic composition we all share. It was a moment of pure magic and ephemeral divinity when I looking out my window—the ice caps, ah, the only word that comes to mind is beauty. The blues of the sky, the whites and greys of the clouds, the white ice caps, the greyness of the mountains, all meshed into one painting, whereby, the start and finish of either entity became embroiled into one being, it all felt like part of the same, no beginning and no end…endless delineations and contours—bliss! Why are all the most beautiful things in nature the most dangerous at times?
I look down and there are greens, browns, and rivers underneath, and to my left, the Himalayas, honestly, it felt like a dream. And there was a moment, when I questioned my sanity, asking myself: “Wait, is this really happening?” Haaha—basically, “IS THIS REAL LIFE?” (youtube video from a few years ago with the little boy David, high from laughing gas from his visit to the dentist). I found the video, priceless.
I made two friends — one Nepali and the other an American from Seattle (Buddhist practitioner). The American will be in the mountain at a village, re-visiting his friends there, locals we met during his extended stay a few years back.
Happy to be in Nepal. Warm greetings upon my arrival and happy to see my friend-soul sister, Sarita, and meet her loving and compassionate family.
Unlike Bhopal, there is no wake-up call of prayer horns, rather, the charming sound of roosters!!! I was instantly reminded of my time in the Caribbean and it brought me comfort and felicity. The food is also shared with the Caribbean and many vegetables, flowers, and spices used here, are also used in the Caribbean—to my pleasant surprise! For example, callaloo and corella bush! Nepal, has pleased me thus far and I am thankful to have this experience.
Gobinda Hari,
-A