The road from Beni to Tatopani was not a normal road for city cruisers like most of us in that group. As dawn set in and we started to drive up towards Tatopani, there were certain sections of the road that resembled a river. As we drove alongside the fiery Kaligandaki, there were places that could give anyone a heart-skip.One momentary lapse of concentration and one could easily be plunged into the muddy river that recently scared people out of their wits. In fact, we reached the site where the artificial dam had been built from a massive landslide, with a little opening on its right. The fear of people living below made perfect sense. The dam, now blasted open by the army, was huge.
By the time we reached Tatopani, it was pitch dark. I was not expecting electricity and therefore was pleasantly surprised to see what appeared to be a relatively remote place all lit up. Nepal has developed—so was the feeling. Access to bare necessities like roads, power and communication seem to have made a giant leap. Not long ago I had taken a trip to Ghandruk and it was yet another shock, for I never knew that you need not walk for more than an hour. Wherever you go, you seem to find those accesses.
Back to the Mustang trip. After being told that it was going to be one hell of a ride by the local Gurung couple, we settled for some beer. What was supposed to be early morning drive to a place called Ghansa followed by three hours' drive to Jomsom came to an abrupt halt when we were confronted by a waterfall, the "Rupse chango", that fell right on the road trail making quite a deep gorge in the road. We decided not to drive further but walk.
The journey up to what was a 'forbidden kingdom' of Nepal till recently, Lo-Manthang, forced me to note how biased we tend to be regarding the issue of development. To begin with, we feel disappointed to see roads running through places like Jomsom and easily deem it as one travel destination destroyed by development. Our thought process seems to be pretty prejudiced for we seem to believe that these places needed to remain the way they were—clean and more importantly far from modern development. We simply ignore that 'we'cannot live with our road water-logged for a day. More roads; more tourists—the logic is simple. If some choose to walk, building a walking trail should not be that big a deal.
The next couple of days felt like heaven—such was the beauty of the place. There were certain issues that were equally baffling, but for all the wrong reasons. The mountains in many ways seem to be hijacked by a group of entrepreneurs under the guise of transporter unions. In Nepali, they call it Samiti.
Over the next couple of days, we developed a deep understanding of how syndicates operate. Like, you and I could not simply arrange for our own transportation along that stretch of the road. The menace of syndicates has led to a situation whereby there is a complete mismatch between the kinds of economy Nepal as nation claims to have and we experience on the ground. Our economy is neither capitalist nor socialist, nor mixed. To me it feels like a "muscle" economy.
The roads at certain parts were dangerous, to say the least. It would make anyone think hard about who could have possibly designed such roads. The answer was simple—the excavator driver who had been hired by transport entrepreneurs.
Many governments have come and gone and the state to is weak-kneed to curb these syndicated services. If you come to think of it, it's nothing less than daylight robbery. First, these people rob the land of the state and once the roads are built, they never let go. It gets scarier when you are forced to ride a bus on state-built roads. Ironically, we continue to harp on how our economy is foreign investor-friendly. Would those syndicates allow foreign investors to travel freely without being forced to pay additional syndicate-levied road taxes? I don't think so.
It's puzzling how the mighty state turns into a lame duck, almost instantaneously, the moment it is confronted with the menace of syndicate. I remember a brief discussion with one hotel owner in a village, one stop before the final destination. She is sad that the road has jeopardized her hotel business. Her logic was simple. Since her hotel was situated not at the final destination, she has been forced to witness increasing number of tourists bypass her hotel and travel directly to the kingdom of Lo-Manthang in those syndicate run jeeps. Just about then two jeeps full of Indian passengers who would never haved walked up to her village had there been no road arrived on in front of her hotel. She smiled.
We reached Lo-Manthang after three days. After a great time there we walked back to Jomsom and flew to Pokhara having an experience of a lifetime. As we left the last jeep paying whatever they demanded I was left with two thoughts. One, the trip within such short span would not have been possible had it not been for the services provided by the syndicates who built roads at such impossible places. Two, the invasion of syndicates seems to have engulfed all major tourist destinations.The beast threatens the beauty.
hiteshkarki@gmail.com
Related story
Beauty and the Beast on canvas
