Breakfast at Mayudia Pass


I was all excited that we were going to Mayudia Pass. The views would be gorgeous, I imagined, and Probin assured us that the birding would be exciting.

It was a 4 am departure from the camp and we were to assemble at the 'new petrol bunk' spot.

The day was cloudy and a
Slight drizzle greeted us when we awoke. The mountains were under
Cloud cover. The sparrows on the Yatri Nivas roof were not even awake. Our first departure before dawn!

We started our ascent in darkness and soon I was dropping off. Shamim our driver did not have that luxury. Rain steadily increased as we ascended. Past a completely shut Tiwarigaon. Visibility reduced and we slowed to a crawl.

We reached and crossed the board announcing our arrival and it was pouring. Now what? 😀 we sat huddled in our cars while the birds huddled out of sight. In fact there was no sight of anything.

Out of the mist, the toilet emerged magically and soon we were all darting in and out. Amazingly clean and well ventilated and at the same time non leak proof.

And then the tea shop emerged and 21 MNS members were quickly crowded in, dripping rain ponchos and all. Much hilarity and leg pulling. A black hen and a colourful cock clucked disapprovingly at this intrusion on their space.

The conversation about breakfast of course popped up and then Vijay says it's in Dhananjay's car. Where is dhananjay, he asks. And then remembers the members of the missing car - ay where is Elu and Suresh and doc? Pritam goes looking outside bracing the rain - breakfast is important you see - to see the car go by and everyone waving and smiling at him. Breakfast gone with the wind.

Then the penny dropped for the breakfast car occupants. Oh these others are somewhere dry maybe we should check. And then they also tripped in to the already crowded room. Soon we were all breathing carbon dioxide along with plastic fumes. Like death eaters we had sucked out all the oxygen.

Somehow in a Houdini act breakfast was laid out in this crowded room and even more magically the members got into a-line in this space! Poha egg fried rice and kesari filled our stomachs and cheered us up.

Vijay was optimistic that the rain would stop and we should wait for a bit. I wandered into the warm kitchen, where the locals told us to leave sooner than later to avoid the risk of landslides. Maybe they wanted to be rid of us but we left with alacrity.

The drive back was a bit nervy. Small rocks on the road and water gushing down any possible slope. At one point we had to drive through a 'waterfall'.

The first picture is a waterfall we saw the previous day and the last one is the same one after the rains. Chekopani bridge.

The drizzle continued all day. We wandered into town, bought bamboo baskets and then went for lunch.

Drive for breakfast to myodia. 😀