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My return to Nepal began with a night in Karkarbhitta. So after emigration in Naxalgiri, West Bengal, I crossed the border and was in Nepal, but more importantly, back in the Terai.

The Terai is the southern flatlands of Nepal. I like to think of it as the heartlands, as this is where the majority of population lives. I had spent the two years of my Peace Corps experience in a more similar to Karkarbhitta than Kathmandu.

I had come to Karkarbhitta by myself and with a jeep stuffed full of Binita’s father’s possessions: linens, curtains, blankets, small appliances, et cetera, et cetera. I was responsible for moving them from point A to point B, from Karkarbhitta to Kathmandu.

The cost of shipping them by air was prohibitive as was renting a private car to transport them. The 700 kilometers separating the two points would take 15 hours by land and less than an hour by air.

The eleven bags would have to be transported by bus. I had come on the main tikka day of Dashain, so most everything was closed. I had lunch in about the dankest dhabba I had ever been in.

The morning after we arrived in Kathmandu, I went to Kalanki to pick up the bags, which were arriving on the Makalu night bus. I have always been impressed with the effeciency with Makalu buses given somewhat impossible operating conditions.

Less than an hour after we were told the bus would arrived, sure enough it rolled in to the dusty Kalanki lot. The bags were visible, stowed atop the bus.

Bus parks, dank dhabbas, and mass transit. Felt good to be back in Nepal.