रारा भ्रमण (दैनिकी)
Introduction
Rara Vraman (रारा भ्रमण, "A Visit to Rara") is a daily diary (दैनिकी) chapter in the Class 11 Nepali course, written in the style of a travel account. Day by day, it records a journey from Gulmi to Rara Lake in far-western Nepal, and the writer's wonder at the country's most beautiful lake.
Summary
The diary opens before dawn on the first day. Waking at half past three, the writer sets off at about four in the morning with five friends by jeep from Talla Phant of Gulmi. Crossing the Rudrawati river and threading through villages and open fields, the party reaches Ridi, then Tansen of Palpa by half past seven, where they breakfast on pakauda, chukauni and tea. By nine they are in Butwal; by four in the afternoon Kohalpur; and after seventy-five more kilometres they reach Surkhet at about nine at night, exhausted from the long jeep ride, and sleep in a hotel by the bus park.
The second day begins at five in the morning. The road follows the bank of the mighty Karnali river, passing the district headquarters of Kalikot and turning at Nagma into the Sinja valley: a historic land, once the capital of the Khas kingdom and honoured as the birthplace of the Nepali language, its fertile fields watered by a glacier-fed river. After a meal in green Sinja, the travellers climb on through rock-cut roads and high passes to the checkpoint of Rara National Park, leave the jeep at a pine forest near the lake, and walk about an hour to a resort by the shore. That evening, cold for travellers come up from the heat of the plains, they warm themselves by the fire, drink tea, watch song and dance, and gaze at Rara by night.
Then comes the morning revelation of the lake itself. Rara lies at 2,872 metres above sea level, up to five kilometres long and 3.2 kilometres wide, spreading over 10.8 square kilometres. Ringed by hills of evergreen forest, its very water gleams green, and its restless waves seem to the writer like youth overflowing, hurrying to the shore as if eager to fall in love with the visitors. Rara's beauty is magic, the diary says: it can steal the heart of every tourist, and could turn even a ruler into a poet. Watching sun, moon, clouds and mountains leap upon the waves, the writer personifies all of nature and, chest swelling with pride, feels the glory of being Nepali, for this piece of heaven is nature's matchless gift to Nepal.
Theme
The diary celebrates the natural beauty of far-western Nepal and the joy of travelling one's own country. Through vivid personification of rivers, hills and waves, it awakens love for nature, knowledge of historic places like Sinja, and pride in the homeland that holds a wonder like Rara.