Hurried Trip To Avoid A Bad Star – M. Lilla and C.

Bishop Barry

Summary

“Hurried Trip To Avoid A Bad Star” was jointly written by two American geographers, M.Lilla and C. Bishop
Barry. Based on the writer’s first-hand experience of traveling on the hills of Western Nepal, this essay
depicts the social and economic life of the Karnali region.

The writers started their trekking from Jumla to Nepalgunj after Christmas. The writers were accompanied
by a group of local travelers who were carrying some local products like hashish, medicinal herbs, hand-knit
sweaters, and blankets to trade them in the market of Nepalgunj. While climbing down a 11350 feet high
mountain, Hari Lekh, the writers met a handsome Chhetri woman of about 30. She asked them the usual
questions they had been asked on the way. She also requested them to ask her husband to return home if
he had moved to their village. The way the woman talked and behaved with the writers revealed that the
people of the Karnali region were imprisoned in the narrow universe of their own.

While climbing down, the writer met a group of 8 or 9 people who were processing Silajit. It is a tar-like
substance that oozes out from the rocks. It is processed and made into flat discs and sold in Nepalgunj.
They are used for pharmaceutical purposes in India. It is boiled with milk and when the milk is drunk, it
cleans your inside, and keeps you healthy and strong. When asked why they had not processed it before
they left their homes (Sinja), they replied to the writer that they had to start their journey in order to avoid
the influence of a bad star. Their superstitious belief is that one must do one’s work when the propitious
day arrives.

After descending to a lower elevation, the writer passed through the forest of skeletal-looking sal trees.
They could hear the local people (women) cutting down the branches of trees to feed their cattle. When
the writer pointed out the possibility of deforestation due to ruthless exploitation of nature, they replied
that they could do nothing as they had to feed their cattle at any cost.

Spending a night in a tent in the Terai, the writers arrived at the market of Nepalgunj. The fellow travelers
sold the goods, and bought daily needs like cotton cloth, aluminum, iron wares, utensils, spices, jewelry,
and even distillery equipment (Karma). The writers returned to Jumla to complete their project. During
their 15 months of wandering through Western Nepal, they learned that the people of this region were
devoted to farming, but farming alone didn’t sustain them all the year round. So, they had to look for
alternative means of earning besides agriculture.

Q. Write a paragraph or two to show how Karnali is linked economically with the lowland regions of the
south.

Answer. Karnali region is one of the troublesome lands of Nepal where there is neither enough cultivating
land nor alternative sources of income of its own. The people of this Karnali region are wedded (devoted)
to farming, but it doesn’t yield enough to keep them alive throughout the year. So the people of this region
have to depend on the Terai region for their livelihood. They carry the local products like hashish, medicinal
herbs, hand-knitted sweaters, and blankets to sell them in the market of Nepalgunj. With the money they
earn selling the goods, they purchase the goods of daily needs like cotton clothes, spice, ironware,
aluminum, jewelry, distillery equipment, etc. Some people go to Nepalgunj and other cities of Nepal as well
as India looking for alternative sources of income or to work. Thus, the Karnali region depends
economically on the lowland regions in the south. (add more ideas of your own)
Q. Give a short account of the life of the people of Karnali.

Answer. The life of the people of Karnali is economically weak and they are dependent on the Terai region
and socially traditional, superstitious, and backward. This region doesn’t have alternative sources of income
besides farming. Therefore, people have to depend on the Terai region for their livelihood.

The girls are married at a premature age and are compelled to send their husbands away from home to
look for job opportunities. Since the people don’t have outside contact, they are imprisoned in the narrow
universe of their own. They believe that the position of heavenly bodies influences their lives and schedule
their everyday activities accordingly. Being unaware of the consequences of deforestation, they are
exploiting nature ruthlessly. As a whole, the life of the people of this region is poor and deplorable. (add
more ideas) ……..castes, income, education, development, infrastructure, ……

Some Important Questions:

 What does the skeletal looking sal trees indicate about the exploitation of nature? What does the
reply, “What can we do? The animals must eat today” signify?

 Why were the local travelers going to Nepalgunj? What did they carry?

 Why did Karma buy only distillery equipment?

 What is Silajit? What are its uses? How is it administered? Explain.

 What did the two writers learn about the life and culture of the people of the Karnali region during
the journey on foot?