ANNAPURNA

Buddha Air, one name one destiny.
Shaking and dancing little bit over the Himalayan clouds, a Buddha Air plane brings me to Pokhara, nice place indeed.

I must though admit that this trip has seen a rapid and deep decrease of my own personal hygienic standards. Not too many showers and I did practically sleep all this week with the same clothes I was wearing during the day.
And now while I am here sitting in the cold early morning in a Himalayan Hill waiting to see the sunrise over the wonderful Annapurna`s range I fear that tomorrow I will probably be the worst ever smelling passenger ever to have travelled on Thai Airways business class.
Yes you read it right indeed, I will be flying in business class but not because I did become suddenly rich but thanks to my precious Gold Card Member status and the courtesy of the airline which gifted me an upgrade for my birthday.
For sure once I will be in my Bangkok hotel I will spend one hour in a hot bath tub, full of scented soap.

But now I am here, in the cold of this hill. Getting up at 5 a.m. in the morning is not surely my favourite hobby, but today I took a chance hoping the clouds will go elsewhere leaving space to the sun. I woke up and anxiously opened my hotel room`s door and… here are the stars in a very dark but clear sky.
Here we go on top of the hill.

In my younger years I had the chance to do the same thing at Tiger Hill, Darjeeling.
I could have watched the sunrise over the Kanchanjunga but my deeply rooted laziness always had the better over my good intentions literally forcing me to lie under my warm sheets.
Now as I enter the twilight of my existence I realise this is too much of a good chance and I will not let it go.
Here I am raring to go.

And thank God I did, it was just wonderful. Simply breathtaking and no photos in the world will give what I have seen any justice.
All thoughts about the meaning of life disappeared while I was watching this mighty mountain slowly getting enlightened by the first sunrays.
Those mountains have been there for centuries, watching men`s meaningless struggles, men`s dumb fights for power, kingdoms, money and supremacy.
In the meantime how many times did we are born, die, reborn again?
But they always have been there, shadowing the planes, steady, mighty, majestic and powerful.

For a moment I forget about the Tsunami, the rich, the poor, about everything and I just sink into mother nature`s own masterpiece.
I repeat no photo will ever be able to describe the feeling.

At the feet of these mountains men are still fighting, I had to pass through many Nepalese army check posts to reach the top of the hill.
The Maoists are fighting the King and the Government, the King and the Government are fighting the Maoists.
Both claim to be fighting for the people, but I suppose no one ever dreamt to ask the people what the people really want… and I guess the answer would be very simple.
One shall not be a genius to imagine that all they would like is to have the chance to live in peace and to earn enough to eat and survive.

And the Mountain is watching while history is repeating itself all over again.

Poor humans we are, poor creatures we are, so stupid we are.

Pokhara, December 2nd, 2548

C – COPYRIGHT / Claudio Romano