The distance between Pokhara and Sarangkot

29 July 2021

As I walked up to our open garden/restaurant space to relax a bit after working for a while this morning, I see the thick white clouds looming under us hugging the giant Pokhara city. But since the clouds are floating under us, the view of the sky above and the surroundings is clear.

For someone who resides mostly in the plains, this scene is nothing less than magical, movielike and, of course, photogenic (eminent in the fact that the guests staying at didi's place are on the roof clicking photos right now). For us, who stay here all the time, this is very normal. In fact, as I am writing this, my mom is wiping away the little puddles of rain from last night's rain on this very floor, completely oblivious to the view. I am mostly like my mom, oblivious. But today, for some reason I found something intriguing in this view. Through the clouds, I could see some buildings in Pokhara. Most of Pokhara is opaque, but some is translucent. And those little buildings I see from here remind me of the distance we are in from Pokhara. Sarangkot, indeed, is a hideaway from the city. It's a quiet place (a quiet town, nowadays) and it is as if it serves surveillance purposes of viewing the city from far far away. It's also mystic to say and to think that Sarangkot is a hideaway from the city because if hideaway means that the city is hiding from you, it isn't (in fact, quite the contrary), and if it means that you're hiding from the city, I don't know about that. I mean, the city can look at you. It's only that you would appear small if it were to look at you. Perhaps so small that the city would feel dizzy squinting its eyes looking at you.

Sarangkot is a place to see endless skies. Really, I think that the feeling of seeing everything around you so so open and seeing those hills far far away from here is the reason I like Sarangkot so much. When you see something soo wide open you can take a mouthful and then lungsful of fresh breath, which Sarangkot is rich of. Oh, the fresh mountain wind. That's what its relation to Pokhara is also about. If you tried to go somewhere near Pokhara from where you could breathe fresh air, from where the city is at a perfect distance from you, from where you would get to spy on the city (yes, metaphorically but once there did use to be an army base camp here which is a story for another day) then it's Sarangkot. For those math lovers, Sarangkot is just about 6-8 kilometers from the city depending on your starting point. A perfect 20 minutes of spiraling up to the hill in your scooter or a car, breezing past the cool forestry roads somewhere and perfectly open spaces to view the city and the magnificent lake somewhere would take you to Sarangkot.

We are far, but not so far.

What a cliche to end the blog.

see you....