within the mountaains

He stared at me for a while. Then asked me pointing at my Nikon D3100 “ tam kyaa boknyaa hun” (what are you carrying) in his typical far western accent. I replied “this is a camera to click pictures”. He then said to me “ tala gaam ma ta gundaa haru bandook bokera mathi gaachan bhanne halla cha” (in village there is a rumor that goons are travelling with a gun towards mountains). I was numb for a while and scared. Before I could come back to normality, he again said to me “tamnyaa dedh lakh ehi gandinyaa hun..becha I malai” (I will count US$ 1500 here, sell it to me)!
Gagan Dhami, a youth in his early 20s was among one of the interesting character I met during my 18 days extensive trek towards Saipal Base Camp, the farmland of Yarsha- a himalayan Viagra. YarshaGumba as popularly said is a Himalayan Viagra found in the upper belt of western Nepal which cost around 10-15000 US Dollars in international market, attract thousands of people like Gagan in this extreme part above 5700m above sea level. They travel with all their logistics such as tent and food and stay there for more than 3 months to collect Yarsha. Also some are the traders, like Gagan was and with huge profit margin it was easy for people like him to buy a camera from outsiders in more than 1000 Dollar market price as a status symbol.
Before I started my 18 days trek in one of the most unexplored region of Nepal, many had said it is hard life out there. But that 18 days of my life gave me the new meaning of survival and joy. The western belt of Nepal is relatively unexplored despite of its massive mountains in compare to northern and eastern belt and the people over there are least concerned about tourism. Hence my camera was gun and I was a goon, as before me there were no outsiders trekking in that virgin area to see their massive mountains.
My daily chores started with having a tea in the local hotel or home wherever I stay and start walk. For 18 days with same routine of having tea in morning, lunch whenever my stomach feel like playing cricket, dinner whenever it is dark and rest of the time walking, I completed my trek learning about life and simple moment to cherish about. the stories of hunting in dense mountainous forest to swimming in the minus five degree, these people had so much to share yet were not aware about the technologies we are blessed with. After this trek, i learned one basic thing "life is all about how you choose to live and be happy".