Opinion | The lake is perhaps the queen of lakes in Pokhra (Nepal)!

By M S Nazki

If you want to dream about a dream girl then Pokhra is the place:

Neelam told me about this when she first met me on the banks of the

beautiful lake in Pokhra!

-‘The lake is perhaps the queen of lakes in Pokhra (Nepal)!’

-‘It was a one month trek which the man who is a lover of Nepal! I got

a chance to accompany him and it was from Dulabari we took off and it

was a dream for the next thirty days till we reached Pokhra and the

first place we visited was the lake!’

-‘It was there I met Neelam Gurung’ obviously pretty and we military

men also can play pranks in leisure times! We were not in uniform but

definitely the attire could match any of the foreigners there!’

-‘The officer who was leading was a big heated man and from the corner

of his eyes (I do not which one) he had seen us talking!’

-‘Two hours boy, you can talk and yap! It was at dinner when we met

and he said that kid we are here for a week! I knew a week had several

hours’!

-‘Those hours would multiply into years I never knew! A story has a

beginning and this one from the very beginning had to be romantic’!

-‘But the start to any romantic story is boring and if I remember

correctly the start to this one also was boring to the least!’!

-‘This is how madam Neelam began, By radiocarbon dating and

investigating the alluvial deposits of Pokhara Valley, researchers

have found that there were at least three large medieval earthquakes

in 1000, 1255, and 1344 AD. Up to 9 cubic kilometer of conglomerates,

massive mud and silt show indications of one or several megan floods

that emanated from the Sabche Cirque in the Annapurna range.’ This was

a first ball duck, I thought!

-‘My reply was ‘Hey girl (By that time I did not know her name) I’m

not a Geology student and neither I’m of history? Her reply was

prompt, ‘I’m a tourist guide and it’s my duty to tell you as to what

this lake is all about?’

-‘I’m not a tourist, i’m sitting with you, talking to you because

this lake is charming, rather dazzling for the eyes!’

-‘But she would not stop, ‘listen I’m Neelam Gurung, I have been told

to tell you all about the lake that is why I’m with you and perhaps

wasting my time! Anyway this is Phewa Lake, Phewa Tal or Fewa Lake (

it is a freshwater lake in Nepal formerly called Baidam Tal of the

Pokhara Valley that includes Pokhara city, parts of Sarangkot and

Kaskikot’!.

-‘The lake is stream-fed but a dam regulates the water reserves,

therefore, the lake is classified as semi-natural freshwater lake. It

is the second largest lake in Nepal; the largest in Gandaki Province

after the Rara lake in the comparison to Nepal’s water bodies.’

-‘She was talking on and on and then I interrupted in Gorkhali,

‘Kanchi Bookh lageya Ko Chaa, Koi Hotel Chaa’! The rely was in a

hurry, ‘Tapayee Gorkha Chaa?’ ‘Gorkhali Kora Garna Seekhe Ko Chaa’!

This had to be my reply!

-‘From the banks of the lake we were in a hotel! It was a lady running

it and she told the lady, ‘Keta Layi Bookh Lage Ko Chaa’! What to say

the lunch was delicious! It was rice and a acountry rooster!’

-‘Perhaps on the lunch table four eyes had exchanged some looks! The

looks which had begun from the Pokhra Lake!’

-‘This story was narrated to me by my friend! We had to part ways

because the life’s story is as such! I’m alive but he faded away!

Every soldier has a story to tell but Neelam is a very dear sister of

mine! This story is dedicated to my friend and my sister Neelam Singh

Gurung and her two daughters, Aaarti Singh and Netra Singh! If a

soldier has a story to tell then a soldier also knows how to write

(Though just average)!

‘Sometimes you want to say, ‘I love you, but…’? to say ‘I love you,

but….” is to say, “I did not love you at all’. It was after a week

(the time given to me I told her, ‘thank you for the knowledge you

gave me but this does not end here! We are bound to meet again!’ And

we did!’

This was the second day and again the boredom which was all factual

knowledge that was in the offing which became useful now when I got

this story to write upon!

-The lake is also famous for the reflection of mount Machhapuchhre and

other mountain peaks of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges on its

surface.

-The Tal Barahi Temple is situated on an island in the lake. It is

located 4 km from the city’s centre Chipledhunga.

– Phewa lake and water sports is one of the major tourist attraction

of Pokhara city and the north shore of the lake has developed into a

tourist district, commonly called Lakeside, with hotels, restaurants

and bars catering to the tourists.

-On the third to the seventh day we were in Pokhra and the lectures

from the beautiful mouth piece of Neelam were unending! I had no

option but to keep listening to her wobbling tongue!

-Pokhra is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital

of Gandaki Province.’ ‘Thaa Chaa was always she said after completing

the sentence!’

-‘It is the second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu!’

 

-‘Then she showed me the Annapurna Range, with three out of the ten

highest peaks in the world—Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Manaslu!

 

-‘The she was emphatic, ‘Pokhara is considered the tourism capital of

Nepal, being a base for trekkers undertaking the Annapurna Circuit

through the Annapurna Conservation Area region of the Annapurna ranges

in the Himalayas!.

-Tapayee pani Gorkha Regiment Ko Cha (GR word surprised me). The city

is also home to many of the elite Gurkha soldiers, soldiers native to

South Asia of Nepalese nationality recruited for the British Army,

Nepalese Army, Indian Army, Gurkha Contingent Singapore, Gurkha

Reserve Unit Brunei, UN peacekeeping forces and in war zones around

the world.

-Pokhara lies on an important old trading route between China and

India. In the 17th century, it was part of the Kingdom of Kaski which

was one of the Chaubisi rajya (24 Kingdoms of Nepal,) ruled by a

branch of the Shah dynasty.

-Many of the hills around Pokhara still have medieval ruins from this

time. In 1786 Prithvi Narayan Shah added Pokhara into his kingdom. It

had by then become an important trading place on the routes from

Kathmandu to Jumla and from India to Tibet.

-The nearby hills around Pokhara are covered by Gurung villages with

few places belonging to Khas community. Small Magar communities are

also present mostly in the southern outlying hills. Newar community is

almost non-existent in the villages of outlying hills outside the

Pokhara city limits.

She took me to her village on Sunday that week and I had to confess,

‘I say this to you now: I love you, with no beginning, no end. I love

you as you have become an extra necessary organ in my body. I love you

as only a girl could love a boy. Without fear. Without expectations.

Wanting nothing in return, except that you allow me to keep you here

in my heart, that I may always know your strength, your eyes, and your

spirit that gave me freedom and let me fly.’

A soldier did his duty and faded and the wife is doing hers! I’m just

a brother in a mirror! The officer whom I’m talking about was

accompanying a moustached General of Indian Army! The beginning was

from Binnaguri! The story is true!