It is still in my memory, one morning my father’s phone rang. I was studying in Grade 5, living in the town where I grew up. ‘Libang’, the headquarters of the Rolpa district, was a little darker. Waiting for the sunlight of early morning to light it up. “Sir, we’ve arrived already!” Someone said to my father on call. It was the month of Falgun, and my father, mother and I were going to ‘Thabang’.

‘Thabang’, the place has a historical significance regarding the decade-long Maoist Insurgency. The group I was going with, had similar political reasons to visit the place as well. I, with my parents, stepped out of my house to join them. They were standing, waiting for us. We had a brief interaction before we went in the jeep. I remember it was a Mahindra – Scorpio.

After almost five hours of journey, we reached our destination. As I was taking my first step into the historical land, my thoughts were dedicated to the tourist attractions we saw on the way. We joined the program that we went for. Before the sun was setting, the event ended, and we went to the Homestay we were staying at.

Early the next morning, my father, me, the visitors who had arrived with us, and some locals roamed the whole village. The roads were tiled up with beautifully shaped flat stones. Human hands are capable of a high level of development, ‘Thabang’ was an example of this. We visited ‘Mahat,’ Rukum which was nearby. Shortly after, we returned for lunch and started to move toward ‘Jaljala’. This plan was made immediately right there. We were supposed to be returning.

We, on the vehicle, reached a higher place from where we had to move on foot. People interested in talking with each other subconsciously formed their respective groups and started moving ahead. I, with a lot of excitement, was walking ahead of all. Amit Uncle, a local from ‘Thabang’, was with us. So, we had no problems regarding directions and all. Although this was my second time going to ‘Thabang’, I had been there through ‘Jelbang’ only. This time we went there through ‘Mirul’ and ‘Thabang’. Roads were different, but the destination was the same.

A place with significance in religious, historical, and natural tourism-related aspects, ‘Jaljala’ was enlisted in the top 100 places for Visit Nepal 2020. It was one of the places with the highest altitude in Rolpa. The uphill I ignored them, I had to reach there first of all. Anyhow! And we did it within a few hours. And most importantly, we were lucky to see the snowfall there. ‘Jaljala’ is not any mountain, nor was it a season for snowfalls. But, the snow welcomed us!

I enjoy the places I go, not the changes occurring there. But, ‘Jaljala’ was different this time. I was expecting to play with the varieties of vegetation there and see the trees of 9 different species of Rhododendron. But there was no greenery, but everything black. Burned because of wildfire. I was a child, sad because I could not get a photo with green in the background.

Regardless of anything, we all gathered there and prepared some snacks to eat. Fortunately, snow fell again. It was a great coincidence, snowfall in Falgun and we were there. It was black a few moments ago, ‘Jaljala’ was now covered in white. This was my first experience with snow. We played with it. And returned, being through the ‘Bhama Odaar’.

I used to think that it must be very cold walking in the snow. But it felt like nothing. I kept moving. I still, felt nothing until I did not see any whites. As soon as I stepped on the land with no snow, I realized how cold it was. I have no idea if it was dopamine, functioning like adrenaline, but I felt no cold when I was in the snow. Getting out of it triggered my realization.

I started contemplating as we returned to ‘Thabang’ back, and started our journey back to ‘Libang’. Is this experience a part of our life? Being in a hole and not realizing it until you get out of it. Try to think about it in the context of everything. Politics, foreign employment, relationships, facilities, education, law enforcement, and every other thing. The warmth within the snow is only if you haven’t seen an actual warm land. Nobody knows the actual problem if they haven’t seen it being solved somewhere. Yes, the biggest lie I’ve known in my life is the warmth within snow.

By: Archit Babu Merciful (Law, M2)