Only
if joint family holidays were like getting into a big bus, Hum Saath Saath Hain
style, singing the alphabet while looking at the chacha get out of the sun roof and shout proclamations of love,
would life have been a Bollywood movie. But, this is real life. And joint
family holidays mean flying SpiceJet and heading to Nepal, which can get way
more embarrassing than Salman Khan playing a doting son alongside Munish Behl as
the achhai ki murti.
I’m
really glad I gave away, in the title itself, the destination to which we went
holidaying last month. A build up to tell someone about planning a vacation to
Nepal is never worth it. ‘Cuz my Punjabi peeps don’t care to ask for the name
of the destination straight away. I don’t know if it’s just a poor knowledge of
geography, but the first question always is if you’re vacationing India mein kahin ya abroad jaa rahe ho?
And, this, my friend, is a trick question when it comes to Nepal. Because if
you say “abroad”, and then follow it up with “Nepal”, be sure to have your
friend open his mouth wide and laugh at your face, metaphorically telling you
that you’re just as pathetic as the dhaniya
stuck in his teeth for equating Nepal with what he really meant by “abroad”.
And if you consider it a domestic destination, it’s just geographically
incorrect. There’s no abroad or domestic, here. It’s just Nepal!
We
took an 08:30 flight, expecting breakfast to be served on board, because no
matter how shit airline food is, how else do you pass time on an airplane full
of Indians, half of whom want to use the washroom only because they’ve never
seen an airplane toilet. I mean, over fifty people wanting to pee in a flight
that is a little over one hour long is beyond me! But, I had forgotten how
SpiceJet also belongs to a full-bred Indian masala
lover, who wouldn’t classify it as an international flight and be a little more
generous with his services on the airplane with free food. Instead, the menu
card displayed two samosas priced at
hundred bucks and other such, which made us all turn to the cake rusk and
Haldiram’s Badam Lachha kept carefully in the cabin baggage. Passing the packets
of food to the cousins, over your head, across to the row behind you; and then
rotating it across the aisle and back was all it took to pass time till we hit
Nepal. Summoning the air-hostess and requesting for a glass of water to spend
five minutes seemed like too much of a time waste after the crew captain was
honest enough to announce that our crew for the day comprised Swarn Kumari,
Radhika Devi and Shamim Begum. No kidding!
The
most striking thing about Kathmandu is that it looks and feels exactly like
Pahar Ganj. Also because everywhere you go, your desi parents will look at the
white people walking and exclaim: “Hippie
hain saare”. Shopping makes no sense because “Sadar Bazaar mein aadhe daam ka mil jaayega”. Except cars, which
are so damn force-you-to-sell-your-kidney that a second hand Maruti 800 costs
over a million. And god, if you have a Honda City, you’ll be driving a 7-Series
in India!
There
are some really nice temples and Buddhist Stupas to check out in Kathmandu too,
but along with Namyoho-renge-kyo, other words being mumbled constantly are: “Abey, yeh Mall Road jaisa nahin hai? Saale,
har hill station pe Tibetan Market khol rakhi hai.”
Among
the Nepalese food items to try, there was one called “Jeri-Swari”, which is basically a Jalebi wrapped in a poori, and that’s it! The only reason it
deserves a mention here is because I’m trying to do justice to the name of the
blog. Momos seemed like the staple street food item, much like in Delhi, except
that the family, including myself, seemed really disappointed with the quality
of momos because “Abbey, paneer wale
momos nahin hai kya? Tandoori momos? Yaar, South Ex mein itne zyada better
milte hain.” The traditional Newari food is mostly daal-bhaat, but the most amazing food experience in Nepal is the complimentary
American breakfast at your hotel because what really fills a young desi stomach
and ego is Instagramming one’s food at a five star café, hashtagging Nepal.
Instagramming
reminds me how the chacha went all: “Yaar, yeh sirf buildingon aur pahaadon ki
photo kheech raha hai. Photo mein khud bhi toh khada ho!” and then forced
yours truly to stand in front of different landscapes and monuments, wanting to
have a million pictures clicked by the end of the trip which will all turn out
embarrassing because when an elder family member clicks pictures, you just
smile awkwardly towards the camera, curbing the urge to pose like you do with
your friends. Except, those will be really embarrassing postures to expose your
family to. Let’s just say it’s all cool. You can make your sister click three
thousand pictures of you posing in the hotel room and in the swimming pool,
because why else do you go on a holiday! It’s clear from the priority list
while packing for the trip as the swimming costume always ranks at the top.
The
second city to visit in Nepal, and the biggest tourist attraction in the
country after Mount Everest for adventure tourists is Pokhara. It has a
beautiful lake enclosed between some wondrous mountains, which will inspire you
to start a Facebook Photography page and at the same time challenge you to
click beautiful pictures for your album by ensuring that the kachra on the shore doesn’t get into the
range of the view finder. Inspired by the likes of Kashmir, Nepal goes beyond
the level of natural beauty that the best mountain destinations in India have
to offer. And, it ups the ante for littering the best of God’s creations too.
After all, it’s full of Indian tourists on honeymoon all year round.
During
my trip, I also got to learn of some cool Newari words, one of which is the
word for “no”, and it’s none other than “mwah”, which is like the most epic
thing ever! Because it makes saying no for everything and to anyone so easy;
except to some people making lewd remarks to you on the roads. Where, it would
just be confusing! Best bet in such a scenario is to go full ma-behen.
All
in all, my trip to Nepal was fun, checking out the beautiful paintings in our
hotel, reading an ebook while lying on the hammock at our resort and not
getting a picture clicked at that time because a real paperback in hand would
have looked better in that setting. The hours spent getting pictures clicked in
the swimming pool and then selecting which ones to put up on Facebook from my
hotel room: Bliss!
Image Source: onegreatdewdrop.blogspot.com
