Dead silence, as if you have your ears blocked or the world has been muted. Small being amongst mammoth mountains and gusts of wind pushing you forward. It's not one of those weird dreams but a moment from my experience in Mustang.

It's been couple of years that I visited the beautiful mustang district of Nepal. I still remember the day when I got the offer for a pilgrimage to Muktinath. Although I am a zealot when it comes to traveling to new places, I faltered on that occasion. Dashain had just passed and I was in need of a good rest at home. But finally, I couldn't resist and was ready for the tour. Later I thought, may be it was an invitation from the almighty.

Next day, we were on a flight and within an hour, we stepped on the city, which is celebrated the most for its natural beauty in Nepal. Pokhara is a tranquil city. Not much people, except in some special locations. Not much vehicles. Lots of greenery and a huge pacifying lake with reflection of the most abstract and celestially carved peak. A day in Pokhara was great, as one would expect.

We spent a night in Pokhara and early next day, we caught a flight to Jomsom. The real excitement of the tour began on the half way of the flight. Birds eye view of the wonderful landscape and watching the wings of your plane at a touching distance from the mountains is a mind blowing experience.

Jomson is the district headquarters of Mustang so it's quite populated. We frequently came across long lines of devil-may-care horses. Every time we had to make way for them, after all it was their territory. We then stayed for a while in the police quarters as some prior arrangements had been made and after few hours of rest we continued our journey to the holy place. This time the mode of transportation was a little different. Since we planned to return to Jomson the same day, we decided to hire some horses. Next 5 hours or so were full of adventure. Narrow path on the verge of high hills and you on top of a horse, not completely under your control. Whenever, the horses climbed down to the gorge, I tried to make them gallop faster. But when I saw a companion falling from the horse on the rocky ground, I thought may be it was enough being a Texas Ranger. After we reached Kagbeni, everyone wanted to have a rest for a while but I didn't want to stop so I handed over my horse to a guide and started walking alone towards Muktinath.

Just after an hour, I was in the middle of nowhere. I was singing Third Eye Blind songs as loud as I could because I knew no one was listening. Then suddenly I stopped and turned around, there was no one. Not a single sign of life. Not even a plant. Absolutely no sound except for my breathing. I was alone there and not even sure if I was moving the right way. But it didn't matter to me. I was beyond this world. I was in Mustang.

August 9, 2005 - 40 Nepalese soldiers were killed in a so-called battle with Maoist terrorists of Nepal. 70 Royal Nepalese Army personnel are still missing after the attack.

RNA had taken up the responsibility of paving pitch road highway in Karnali district of Nepal. So a group of military people (called "Pioneers") was sent to the remote Maoist affected area of the country. Actually, the name of the team belies their capabilities. Normally, Pioneers in RNA include those people who have completed the first half of their lives and are retired from their service. Most of them are not skilled in weaponry and normally perform the functions of carpenter, plumber, and house builders. That is why they formed a soft target for the Maoist insurgents. Additionally, the workers had some explosives for building road and some weapons. This was a great opportunity for the Maoists to strengthen their arsenal. After all, how much more enticing and softer can a target get?

The most important question that seems to have been lost somewhere is, who are the people responsible for this tragedy? We cannot say that Maoists are because as we all know they are on a war and they have already sent their message loud and clear that "Everything is fair in war"(Love is a cock-and-bull story to those militants). So who is the culprit? I feel that the question has got something to do with the decision makers of RNA. They should have anticipated such attack and either should have given enough protection to the workers or should not have sent them to Karnali at all. A wrong decision of few top-level officers, who I don't think have ever experienced a war situation in their lifetime, has cost the lives of 40 people.

Just few weeks earlier, there was a terrorist attack in Britain that killed fewer English citizens and the incident shook the whole world. There were tones of backlashes and the British government immediately took some serious steps to strengthen the security within their country. Contrastingly, Nepal has lost thousands of lives in the last few years and there were lots and lots of repercussions too but no strong actions. Is Nepal really cursed by Sati? Anyone who tries to do the best for the country gets the worst.

Nepal Blog Discovery expresses a heartfelt lamentation for all those brave Nepali soldiers who lost their lives as a consequence of their attempt to serve our nation. God bless them all.