Godavari | KrantiKarki

Phulchoki is a hill in Lalitpur district and falls within the Kathmandu valley. My father and I decided to go to Phulchoki for a picnic. We drove from Satdobato to Godavari from where the road to Phulchoki begins. We passed St. Xavier’s School at Godavari where my father went to school as a kid and it lies right on the bottom of Phulchoki hill. My father told me that in his St. Xavier’s years, they used to have an annual Phulchoki day where they used to scale the hill on foot. He viewed the hill with a certain sense of nostalgia which intensified my curiosity. The hill is foggy throughout the year. Even the occasion that I had chosen wasn’t that auspicious, the hill was lost in a thick fog. The gravel road was intermingled with patches of black-topped road and it was steep and rough most of the way. But even then, the road was quite scenic with mother nature at her most brilliant. On the way, I saw rhododendrons, the national flower and a hummingbird which I tried to photograph but it was too fast for me. Phulchoki is also rich in iron ore deposits and purple colored rocks are scattered all over the road. When we reached the top, we found a communication tower which plays a crucial role in the telephone and televisions networks as with as civil aviation of Kathmandu and the whole country. And as a result there is an army regiment garrisoned on the top of Phulchoki which safeguards the tower. There is also a small temple dedicated to the local Phulchoki Mata. A temple, a tower and an army regiment, we found them all gathered on top of Phulchoki. “This is different”, he murmured as the military encampment went against his expectations. We had our picnic nearby the small temple, as my father began drowning in his past recollections of the hill as he’d known as a kid at St. Xavier’s Godavari. I ignored him and watched the tower which was beleaguered in the mist. I observed the siege that the mist was carrying out on this hill. A serene moment of perfect silence as I felt the chains of civilization break. And this is the reason why I love traveling.