mero sero phero: 'mug'nificient mugu- part 1 - published on 1 january 2012

this is the first part of the mugu series. i had visited the district (my first in the karnali zone) at the end of november and then again in early december 2011. the pictures below are from the first trip.

the trip to mugu meant flying to nepalgunj and then flying northwards over the plains, hills and mountains... flying by nepal airlines (still known as RA) was going down nostalgia lane itself... especially the bhairab's logo...

our flight arrived.. after having made trips to other karnali districts earlier in the morning...

sweets 'n' cotton offered by the air hostess

more logos

after flying over the smaller hills we flew over the bend on the karnali highway, hugging the river that it's named after.. scene from the scratched and dirty window!

we skimmed over mountain tops...

village in jumla perhaps that follows the contour of the mountain... and all seeming to have their harvest drying on the rooftops

himal in the distance to the west

flying over lake rara with its peacock feathered waters

the black blob is not a shadow.. it's the dirty window!

right after the lake, our plane dipped southwards. passing over gamgadi, the district headquarters. mugu karnali river that we would be crossing the next day can be seen flowing westwards

after landing in talcha airstrip (video of the landing from inside the plane in mugu-part 2 blog)

with the passengers and cargo loaded, our plane heads to the end of the airstrip to take off

himals to the north east

chankheli danda seen from below the airport. the muguites claim that the mountain is featured in the one rupee note.. but of course, the mountain actually featured in the currency note is mount ama dablam!!!

heading down the hill towards gamgadi... on the further ridge we can make out the trail that we climbed up and then down the other side, and then up again the next day to reach luma village in ruga vdc

just before the final climb to gamgadi is this village we called "i love you" as the kids there kept shouting 'i love you" to us!!

back home from india to till the fields for the winter crop...

solar panels of karnali ujyalo .. and now power lines from a nearby micro hydro that lights up the district headquarters

horses by the stream

interesting gamgadi structures

gamgadi bajar

the mugu district hospital below on the other side of the ridge. there are supposed to be two doctors on duty here. one strange thing was the way people we met on the trail almost 'begged' for medicine for various ailments, aches, fevers... makes one wonder about how this had become a mugali habit...

mugu karnali at the bottom of the ridge. it joins humla karnali further west beyond the districts before flowing southwards as a mightier karnali

coming of e-age in mugu

the evening that we arrived a makalu air cessna caravan crashed in talcha airport... i caught the wreckage of the plane in my camera the next morning.. the plane having skidded off and down the side of the runway (some injuries, no casualty). that evening, in the fading light another makalu plane did a risky landing and take off (guided by l.e.d. torch lights, i was told) to evacuate the injured pilot

chankheli danda (4201 m) catches the early morning light. locals said that there is a shrine at the top of the mountain, and that a female member of the ddc has also climbed the peak, and placed a nepali flag at the top!

we head down to the river on our way to luma

... still some way to go towards the suspension bridge. during the armed conflict it seems the maoists had destroyed the bridge further east of this point. since the , and before this bridge was built a couple of years ago, the locals used a tuin to cross the karnali

the himalayan salt caravan -- goat train

mule train crosses the karnali on its way up to gamgadi. most of the mules we met were used to carry the food for work rice provided by wfp from jumla to humla

mules head up the hill that we just climbed down from gamgadi

mugu woman in full finery on her way to the 'bajar' in gamgadi. the big pendant is a chinese coin

while panting up the hill we met a whole lot of elderly folks making their way to gamgadi for the 'eye' camp. there were women headed for the 'gynae' camp too. such medical camps seems to attract villagers to the district hospital. again reflects the dearth of medical services in the villages

then there were a whole stream of villagers from all over ruga vdc heading towards gamgadi to get the subsidised rice. they said they get 20 kgs (if lucky) per month @ rupees 35 per kg of rice. a whole day spent by the family to get the rice that will not last them more than 2-3 days, if they eat it.. and of course will go a longer way if converted to liquor.

this would have been a 'gitti' breaker's delight...

family in neta, the saddle where we had lunch and from where we climbed down again before then heading up for luma. falling in the path of the great himalayan trail, there are many eateries opening shop at neta, a flurry of construction activities.

neta girl.. the building at the back is the original 'hotel' (eatery) of the place.

brother carries his sibling down from the flat roof... it's a wonder that children don't fall off these non barricaded open terraces which seem to act like courtyards, where everybody hangs out...where children play, where the harvest is brought in...

neta lunch... local red rice with bean dal (not in pix) with a twist of lime was good..

our destination.. luma

a suspended bridge at the foot of the hill

clear 'if only in kathmandu' waters

rooftop kids in luma

and a child in grandpa's lap.. he told us that the villagers still have sabres and swords that they used to fight in the tibetean war centuries ago. they still use the sabres (planted in front of rooms where mothers deliver babies) to protect their children.. they also use them to 'heal'.. placing the sabre flat against the aching body parts for miraculous relief!

weathered face (often making women look 20 years more than their age)

this woman showed us a 'khop' (inoculation) mark that she received as a child. the elders all had these marks. they said they were pricked with needles at a tender age. the spot then covered with bandage and allowed to fester for a week. (all the time they were kept indoors, and on a restricted diet) the bandage was then removed along with the scab, 'cooked' in water and the resultant 'potion' given to the child to drink after which they developed boils all over their body, and also, they said, life long immunity against pox and measles!!

flies galore.... these on the ceiling of the house where we boarded for the night.. a little bit of movement would have them buzzing lazily all over... this was lok bahadur rawat's house... the most gracious host who served us the best tasting'home-made' honey with millet bread...

weaving radi paakhi out of sheep wool

mums (and grandmum) with kids whose nutrition status they said had improved a lot after being fed with lito and plumpynut

we chanced upon a 'dowry' procession of a wedding that happened a year ago... the procession was led by the panchey baja

and then the line of the bride's family members... each carrying a load of the dowry goodies

two girls from the groom's side waited by the side of the decorated gate. one holding a plate with a lamp and a ghada, while the girl on the other side had a plate with cigarettes, betel nuts, cloves and cardamom. the bride's side put money on the plate before entering the premises...

and then there was a joyous badaain with the firing of three muskets

that night i slept beside a hen incubating her eggs and clucking protectively from time to time... and sometime during the night i started to hear 'peep peep' sounds... and next morning there were half a dozen chicks!

chillum grandpa.. lok bahadur's brother

terraced luma village in the morning.. a lisno wooden steps leads to different homes

boys herding cattle towards the forest

retired female community health volunteer (fchv)hajari khadka, with her 2-year-old granddaughter dhir maya and the maternal health worker, jan debi buda...

the new fchvm uma khadka and her growing family

heading back towards gamgadi,we met a woman in neta sporting traditional tattoo (a bit faded, though) on her face, which she said was done at a young age to attract young men!

in ruga village...

this ruga woman, moti sheela, had a big laugh at the expense of my big bums...she kept puffing her face and then sticking out her tongue in amazement!

... and this one is taking a 'not-too-often' hair bath on the terrace...

sheep grazing on hillside above the karnali

forest fire creeps up the slopes nest to chankheli danda's lesser cousin

the karnali falls lower and lower as we climb up to gamgadi

next morning we walk uphill towards talcha taking the 'motor' road. the road network has not reached mugu as yet. most people in mugu have seen airplanes, but not any other form of wheeled contraptions. a local was saying that a woman in muga village who saw a mountain biker pedalling away, expressed astonishment at seeing a tiny cheelgadi (eagle craft, thus airplanes) running on land!!

these women below are carrying firewood to sell in gamgadi bajar. they said they did it everyday.. sold the bundle for 100 rupees or so, bought essential commodities on their way back home.

khadga bahadur malla of shrinagar-5, who gave me company for some time on the road, recounted the time when they built the 'ring road' around lake rara. "once the officials heard that king mahendra was going to come, they asked us to volunteer in digging the road. we worked for three months, sometimes in knee deep snow digging that road... we wore shoes made of sheepskin to keep our feet warm... all voluntary work.. not only that, all the houses contributed foodstuff for the labourers. the king came on horseback later.. and hunted also while he was up there."

up in talcha we saw the wreckage of makalu air

they said that the aircraft landed ahead of the markings, and that its wheel collided with a rock neath the soft soil, which made the brakes give away... this crash is what must have expedited the process of repairing the airstrip. the airstrip was closed for a month following our second trip to mugu

close up of a wheel

the talcha air traffic control tower

we watch as the RA twin otter lands... disappearing below the 'horizon' and surfacing half way up the sloping airstrip!!

the aircraft comes to a halt in a wake of dust

then we take off from talcha...

captain vijay lama took the plane over lake rara. got to see rara 'cresting' over the hills that surround it...

we were given a great s-turn flight over the beautiful lake