The Hindu Business Line : Where Sherpas dare

Khumjung and Namche Bazaar are tiny sherpa settlements in the Solu-Khumbu district deep in the Nepal Himalayas. They’ve an almost legendary standing — an outcome of the conquest of Everest. For, if Namche Bazaar has become a vital stopover on the route to Everest Base Camp, Khumjung is where Edmund Hillary built the first school for sherpa children.

Namche Bazaar

Shopping @ the foothills: Namche’s colourful bazaar allows trekkers to indulge in some last-minute shopping.

Namche was always a bustling market town. While in the days gone by it was a staging post for traders’ expeditions over high mountain-corridors into Tibet, today its streets with their colourful stalls, and a lively biweekly bazaar that brings together people from the surrounding regions to vend their wares, keep the tradition alive.

It is from Kathmandu that we whizz over mountaintops to Lukla, where the runway goes up the slope to settle on a small clearing. A day’s stay at Phakding and we are off to Namche, walking along the hurtling white waters of the Dudh Kosi; along villages with their ‘teahouse’ homestays, past magnificently etched mani stones, bridges that swing as we set foot on them, the gradient now steep, now gentle, through a forest of oak and pine from where a monal pheasant scurries by, its multihued feathers brilliant.

Namche unfolds in a mountain basin, its homes spread up to the horseshoe ridge. Surrounded by snow-capped peaks, the bare upper reaches defined by icy waterfalls threading their sides, lower down clothed in a cloak of green, they descend to the river that flows deep in the valley below. A large stupa defines the entrance and a wide-stepped pathway, once a muddy trail, leads to the centre. Prayer flags flutter from every rooftop, yaks roam about nonchalantly, their bells gently tinkling. While the Sherpa men, much-sort-after guides, direct trekkers along higher trails, just about every family is busy engaged in indigenous crafts, or commerce, the shops filled with exotic bric-a brac. For trekkers it is really the last place to stock up on just about anything one might have missed out on, be it an anorak or chocolates for instant succour.

And the chill does not lessen the vibrancy of the hamlet. Brimming with people from around the world, daytime spent in cafés sipping a hot cappuccino, and evenings by a bukhari, hands twirled around a bowlful of steaming thupka, laced with mountain lores and trekkers’ tales.

A steep, but thankfully short climb lands us at Everest View Hotel, nestling among the firs, famed for the views it offers. As we sit in the courtyard, the cloud cover that frames the far mountains lifts slowly to reveal Mount Everest straight ahead of us. It’s far, yet every bit as majestic…

Khumjung

It’s a couple of hours’ trek from Namche to Khumjung. But it takes us longer, as it has snowed all night. We trudge through ankle-deep snow, and as the day wears on through slush. The track winds uphill, meandering through forests of oak and blue pine, the habitation coming as a surprise. It’s in a hidden valley.

At the top the trail levels, passing by a chorten wreathed in prayer flags and yaks loaded and ready to move. As we turn into the village, the first sign to greet us is “Everest Bakery.” Famished and cold, sustenance is just what we need. It’s warm and cosy inside, and it’s got the best apple pie and cinnamon rolls I’ve tasted in years. A pot of mint tea later we are ready to take on the chill again.

Just a bit further up, I stand by a low stonewall, gazing at the panorama that unfurls. As the fine veil of mist slowly lifts, it unwraps neat green-roofed homes with square glass windows — the woodwork a bright blue. They stretch far into the valley, where hidden among a clump of trees is the gompa, believed to have the skull of a yeti. It may look more like that of a Himalayan brown bear but letting imagination run riot and believing it for the moment adds to the magic of the place.

Meera Joshi

Sir Edmund Hillary’s statue at Khumjung, where he built a school for Sherpa children.

Like Namche, Khumjung is home to many of the climbing Sherpas. Those that do not traverse the mountains stay on to tend their fields or run homestays. Our host, dressed in a chuba — the traditional thick woollen, long ankle-length robe — is an enterprising young man who, along with his family, runs a guesthouse. And there are quite a few others too that offer a comfortable stay with great food, for Khumjung has a steady stream of outsiders all through the year. And it’s all because of the school built by Sir Edmund Hillary. Asking the Sherpas — the backbone of his expedition — what he could do for them, he was told that what they wanted most was the education of their children. So he built a school for Sherpa children, choosing Khumjung for it. Today there’s a flow of dedicated workers who come for short spells round the year.

The school was closed for holidays. But the chowkidar opens the gate and lets me in. As I glance through the windows at the artwork adorning the walls a couple of chubby, red-cheeked children come and take me by the hand. I then walk along a mani wall (some believe it’s the longest in the world) to two chortens at the far end, turning the prayer wheels for the hardy, wonderful, ever smiling people of these mountains.