Lack of sleep, no energy, 5 people in a small cab with no AC, infinite traffic jams, and an important meetup to attend, a blog full of interesting events. 

June 10, 2022

Early in the morning around 5 AM, we gathered, booked a cab, and headed towards Bharatpur. I (Surendra Shrestha) along with Suvash Khadka, Yam Bahadur Chhetri, and Kosish Bhandari were 5 people along with the cab driver. Kosish Sir had just returned from the US and we were looking forward to this event. Unfortunately, almost 30km before Kurintar, our journey to endless traffic jams started. We heard that Landslide had occurred somewhere, but we didn’t exactly know the location then. The traffic jam was checking our patience level. An hour and two passed away, and barely an inch of the cab was moved. So, we called a few of our friends in Chitwan to ask about the situation and if we could drive through all this way. But they gave a good response, indicating that the gridlock would ultimately clear and we could get to the site easily. Since we had a WordCamp Nepal 2022 Organizers Orientation Meetup wherein, active representatives from all the WordPress Communities in Nepal like Kathmandu, Butwal, Biratnagar, and Pokhara were about to join at Bharatpur. Not only that, we had an event at U-Tec Engineering College. It was a very important meeting for us to join on time but there we were, in the middle of nowhere.  

After a pretty long ride. Well, we cannot even call it a ride since the cab was barely in motion. We decided to get something to eat but the restaurant was extremely packed. After hopping a few more local restaurants, we settled for whatever was available in that place. 

Lack of sleep, no energy, and 5 people in a small cab with no AC, quite an interesting journey. Eventually what we thought was the way from Kathmandu to Bharatpur would be no more than 4 hours so we decided not to travel through our personal vehicle. Instead, book a cab and have a fun, full-of-talks journey. It was fun. Indeed.               

It was already 2 AM at night, and a friend of mine decided we should go get a coffee. Out of frustration, I also thought it would be a good idea to get some caffeine, so we hopped off the cab and went to get some coffee. However, just then, the traffic jam started to loosen up. In a flash, all of the vehicles were moving and had vanished from view. However, as soon as we sat down in the cab, traffic backups started up once more. We continued to move slowly till we eventually arrived in Kurintar at around 6 AM. Before arriving in Kurintar, we observed two minor and one significant landslide, the roads were quite dangerous. After we passed the Manakamana Temple, we thought ok, that’s it. The jams are over now, we could smoothly reach Bharatpur in an hour or so. However, another landslide occurred after ten minutes of driving. 

There were so many simultaneous landslides and we only had an hour to get there because the event wasn’t until 8 AM and it was already 7 AM. We had to ask some of our friends in Bharatpur if they could finish the first event taking place at U-Tec Engineering College so they could ride their bikes to pick us up. Because in no world we could reach Bharatpur in an hour. We had panel talks and were to discuss how vital it was for young people to participate in WordCamp at the event that took place in college. But we couldn’t attend it. So, we told our cab driver, who was also our friend to head back to Kathmandu leaving us there. He was quite furious about it, but we had to do something about the situation, or else, we would also miss the other organizer meetup event. Our team arrived at the location where we were stuck around 11 AM after getting done with the first college event. We were on the other side of the street from the team. There was a steady landslide happening in the middle. It was challenging for us to cross over. However, coordinating with the rescue team we decided to get moving. There was no choice but to run, so we ran. It was a very awkward situation, people were filming, and some were live on Facebook. But the only thing we had on our minds was the passion we had to contribute to our community. 

We had a bike ride for over half an hour after that. The squad moved very quickly, and we soon arrived at the college. The college event was over but we had to attend the organizer meetup event. I still remember rushing to the washroom of that college and seeing myself in the mirror, all tired, with no sleep, and no proper food since the day before. But we had to get going. We changed and headed to Wutung Thakali Bhansa Ghar for our lunch. Following that, we traveled to the event site, which was at the Chitwan Garden Resort, where WordCamp Nepal 2022 was hosted. In that venue, active community representatives from Biratnagar, Pokhara, Kathmandu, and Butwal itself had come over. 

The meeting was really productive; we spoke about the general strategy for hosting WordCamp Nepal in 2022. From 3 to 5 PM, the meeting took place. After the meeting was over, we had to carry on the legacy of clicking the picture and raising our hands.

Our Season 2 Picture

The team then decided to travel to Sauraha, we booked hotels, and we started talking about ways to expand WordCamp Nepal to a worldwide audience. We hardly slept, but this time it was not because of the traffic jams. It was a result of the pleasant company we were in. 

The next day, we had our breakfast and returned to Kathmandu. It only took us around 5 hours to reach. Also, we drove back to Kathmandu with the same driver friend who was furious with us when we told him to return back. He happened to be in Sauraha as well. So, we communicated and decided to drive back together. It was a fun ride. Indeed.

Despite all the challenges and difficulties, active representatives of their respective communities were present in that meetup and this meetup played a significant role to conclude WordCamp Nepal 2022 successfully.

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