घनघस्याको उकालो काट्ता
Introduction
Ghanghasyako Ukalo Kattha (घनघस्याको उकालो काट्ता, "While Crossing the Ghanghasya Ascent") is a famous travel essay (नियात्रा) by Taranath Sharma (तारानाथ शर्मा, born 1991 B.S. in Ilam), who is regarded as the pioneer of the niyatra genre in Nepali literature. The essay records his journey through far-western Nepal in 2024 B.S., as he travelled via Baitadi towards Dadeldhura and climbed the fearsome uphill path of Ghanghasya.
Summary
The essayist sets out on his far-western journey carrying one belief close to his chest: that wrestling with nature is the true joy of life. He dreams of spending spring in Khaptad, playing in the snow at Tumling, and singing jhyaure songs in the grass-thickets of Rajapur; places like Tilkeni, Chandani, Satbanjh, Tyamke hill, Antu hill and Chandragiri all hold his deep affection. But the "cap-dropping" ascent of Ghanghasya tests him to the limit.
Stout of body, the writer pants and sweats up the stony trail through a frightening forest, thirsty with no water to drink, walking in constant fear of leopards, tigers and bears, at times cut off even from his companions. Struggling on the rough footpath, he finds himself cursing the comfortable blacktopped roads of other places (the Jogbani–Dharan road, the Bhadgaun–Barhabise road, the road in front of Singha Durbar and the Butwal–Bhairahawa road), and jokes that Neil Armstrong and his crew had no such trouble reaching the moon, since they carried plenty of scientific equipment while he toiled with nothing.
The essay's most striking feature is its personification of Ghanghasya itself: the mountain appears as a stiff, angry old man with a banana of ice flowering on his head, his hard head growing ever more stubborn: unlike the Seti river, which sinks lower and lower while Ghanghasya stands as upright as ever. The journey also gives the writer a golden moment: at the snowy heights of Satbanjh he plays in snow in his own country for the first time. Though he had known snow well in Britain, this snow was his own ("the snow of my heart", bright with Himalayan warmth), and he and his companions pelt each other with snowballs and shape figures in it with childlike joy.
Theme
The essay celebrates the struggle with nature as the deepest pleasure of life. Through hardship, humour and vivid personification, it expresses intense love for the natural beauty of Nepal and a shining patriotism: the writer's joy at playing in his own country's snow is the joy of belonging to the Himalayan homeland itself.