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My Trip To Bhairahawa

I went to my uncle’s house in Bhairahawa in this Dashain. The trip was very fun. I also wanted to add a backstory to this article.

The Backstory:

It was 2082/06/06, one day before Ghatasthapana, and I was sitting in the reception of my school. That day was supposed to be my recording of a nepali poem. But my mentor was not there in the school. I called my mom to inform her that my recording was cancelled. As she was coming to pick me up, I saw every teacher going to their home and I imagined how good this Dashain was going to be. I went back to the reception and took my laptop out and played some games in it for some time. I then closed it after getting bored and I talked with the guard brothers for some time and they offered me an orange for the upcoming Dashain. I ate with relish and then went outside to walk. I went into the building and went to the Staff Room to see if there were any teachers sitting in it. There were surprisingly many teachers including my science teacher, nepali reading teacher, nepali teacher and my other former teachers who used to teach me when I was in elementary school. I then waited for some time but my mom still did not come so I sat on the benches under the shade of the solar panels. Then around 6:00 p.m. I saw the familiar shape of my car and I took all my bags and went into the car. Then instead of going home, we went to a furniture store and bought a beautiful wardrobe. Then, as we headed home I started sharing my unfortunate and fun experience in my futsal club in school. We also spotted the turned into ashes and the broken down Bhat Bhateni Super Market (BBSM) of Naksal on the way. We then reached our destination, our home, and not after long even the wardrobe arrived. I then watched a football match and ate dinner. I could not sleep for long because of the excitement as Dashain, one of the biggest festivals in Nepal, was just after this day. I fell asleep around 11-12 a.m. I woke up at 5 a.m. and went to the terrace of my house. And to my surprise there was a beautiful scene of a himalayan mountain range right beside a big yellow house. The temple of Lord Shiva was also playing the local tune called Malshree Dhun which was played in Dashain. That day itself, my mom bought the tickets to go to Bhairahawa and also to return from Bhairahawa. After that, I went down and saw my mom planting new flowers on pots. I helped as much as I could to my limit because my hand was really hurting. My restlessness irritated my mother and she was a bit disappointed that I did not help her. I had forgotten to tell the truth and I finally told it after lunch. My mom was consoled after she heard that. I also spent Tuesday doing everything the same as Monday (except planting the flowers of course).

The Big Day:

It was 2082/06/08, the day where we would go to the dearest town for me, Bhairahawa. We bought the tickets which said the flight would be at 9:00 p.m. That day, I woke up at 4:00 a.m. that day and heard Radio Nepal’s morning tune being played from a speaker. After an hour, my grandparents woke up and I realized that it was 5:00 a.m. so I went and woke my mom up. She cooked breakfast and we ate fast. My younger cousin brother also phoned us so we talked for some time with him for at least half an hour. It was 7:30 when we were getting ready to go to the airport. I asked for blessings from my grandparents and bid them goodbye as we got into the car. It was 8:15 when we got to the airport. We got our baggage checked, got the boarding pass and asked to take our suitcases on a cart. We then went to the other side of the airport where there were gates to exit the building. Unfortunately, our flight got delayed for 30 minutes. We got onto the bus and took time because all the people were not there and the driver also was late. After 15 minutes everyone came and for some reason, we were taken to the edge of the airport and took a full 360 degree around the runway and finally were in front of the aircraft. It was an ATR-42 200, a small version of the ATR-72. We were again late because the driver told us to not exit the bus till people called us onto the airplane. After 10-15 minutes, the crew members finally called us onto the airplane. We got to our seats, and I still remember the seat number (the seat number was 5a and 5b). We sat on the seat, ready for the plane to take off. But the air hostess informed us that due to air-traffic, our flight had been delayed for 20 minutes. After waiting, we were again informed that the flight was delayed for more than 15 minutes, and therefore our flight was delayed for 2 hours. After staying on the engine-not-started airplane, the engine finally turned on and we headed for the runway. The plane stopped again for 5 minutes because a bus was parked too far away from the plane and in the middle of our aircraft’s way. Ughhhh! We finally reached the runway but again stopped for 10 minutes because 2 domestic airlines and 1 humongous international airline took off before us and we finally took off after hours of waiting. But the pilots took us to Bhairahwa very fast in 27-28 minutes. We finally landed at Gautam Buddha International Airport.

Going towards our home:

We were taxiing towards the building where we exited the airport out into the parking lots. My mother phoned my maternal aunt that we were at the airport. My mother’s former classmate from her old school came to pick us up and drop us in the house of Meudihawa. My mother and her friend talked and reminisced about their childhood until we got to the house. We finally got to the house where we were greeted by the sweet dogs Juli (the friendliest), Saana (the most aggressive) and Siphar (the easily scared). We went inside and I first saw my maternal aunt and the maid Akalaa. My uncle came downstairs and we talked for some time before having lunch. The menu included chicken meat, some saag and delicious rice and daal. This trip was up to a very good start.

The fun days:

The days in Bhairahawa were full of fun. I spent a lot of time playing with the dogs and the very old scooter (it was actually older than me). I prioritized screen time in the bottom because I was playing all the time. After 3 days staying at Meudihawa, my thuliaama, my thulobaa and my older brother came to the house. They were much later than expected because their flight was delayed for more than 3 hours. They came home at 10:00 p.m. and we all had dinner together and talked into the morning. My older brother and I shared one room. The next day, my older sister and her husband came and they were also late. We talked again into the morning and slept at 2:00 a.m. My other older sister was supposed to come home that day but unfortunately her flight got cancelled. So she came home the next day at around 6:00 a.m. while I was snoozing. She also brought me gifts from the U.K. too. I was very happy with the gifts because one of them was lego (my favourite) and the other was a figurine. These were all the guests coming to the house of Meudihawa.

Visit to my mother’s friend:

After a couple of days, my mother decided to take me out with her to meet her friends from her school. We took an auto-richshaw to the Siddhartha Highway and waited for my mom’s friend. She arrived in her Tigor car and took us to a clothing shop named The Golden Collection. There we bought some clothes for us in Tika and went to the other friend’s house in Manigram. There we went inside the house and drank some milk tea. We then picked up the friend and her daughter and headed for the hotel called Tiger Palace Resort By Soaltee. The sight was very beautiful right near the entrance, there was a big fountain that would change colors to the 7 colors of the rainbow in the night. We went to the restaurant and ordered some food and returned to the friend’s house and slept there for the night. I would say I slept in the morning because my mom’s friend’s son did not stay in the house without her so her husband dropped him in the house we were staying in. We played all night by jumping off beds, watching only a bit of mobile and singing songs. It was 1:00 a.m. by the time I slept. Then after lunch we all returned to our houses and returned to normal life.

Tikaa:

It was the biggest day of the Dashain festival, tikaa. I went to the market with my uncle in the morning to buy vegetables, meat and fish for dinner that night. After we returned to our house, we saw that everyone was already ready. I rushed to my room and had a bath and then changed my clothes. Then I went down to the kitchen to eat some breakfast and then went to the sitting room where everyone was there. Then my uncle dropped us in front of my elder maternal aunt’s house where I got tikaa for the first time in Bhairahawa. Then all of the others got tikaa and then we went to my thulobaa’s house where I got tikaa as well. I also talked with a former British Army Sergeant. Then we went to my uncle’s house and again got tikaa. That day I was very tired so I went home early with my older sister. As I counted my money, that day I earned Rs. 6215. Another day, the day before I would return to Kathmandu, we went to my Saili Bajai’s house to talk for some time and again went to my aunt’s house to get tikaa and I earned 505 rupees which made it Rs. 6720. I got Rs. 3000 more from my maternal aunty which made it 9,000 rupees. Wow! I needed only 1,000 rupees more to make it Rs. 10,000.

Return to Kathmandu:

The next day, I woke up early to get ready for our flight back to Kathmandu. I went down to the kitchen, ate breakfast and spent my final times with the beloved dogs and my scooter. Then I went to my room and got changed and packed my suitcase. We then got into the car and my thulobaa and his friend dropped us in the airport. We said goodbye to everyone in the house of Meudihawa and went to the airport, said goodbye to my thulobaa and his friend and went to get the boarding pass. After waiting for a couple of minutes, we went to the gate where we would board the plane. Our flight was on time, but when we were in the sky, the air hostess informed us that the landing would be 25 minutes late, when the flight already was for 35 minutes. I took a video of the mountains I saw on the way and the landing of the plane. We got off the plane, into the bus, got our luggages and got into our car and headed home. There I unboxed the lego and assembled it fast and again got ready to get tika in the house. There I finally got 1500 rupees which made my money Rs. 11,000. Then I went to my thuliaama’s house to get tika again. I earned 1000 rupees there again. My goal was finally achieved, to get Rs. 10,000.

This vacation of Dashain was very fun and full of experience. There with my brother-in-law, I saw a live snake at the banks of Dande Khola. I also visited the very old house where my great-grandparents, grandparents and my mother lived, and the house was very sweet. I had also gone there 4 years ago, but I had completely forgotten the house. I was very surprised to see that my mother’s school uniform was still there and it also welled me up a bit.

Bhairahawa is a small town in the Rupandehi district in Nepal and is a very beautiful and very hot place. I really miss Bhairahawa, the house of my family’s many generations and especially the dogs in the house of Meudihawa. I am looking forward to staying in Bhairahawa for a very long time and visiting the attractions of that small and beautiful town.