Beyond Karnali bridge, the flat plains of Nepal's Far West are not that different from any other broad geography that covers the country's Terai region. But at the same time it is unique to its own lifestyle, language and eccentricities.

The Bananaz restaurant in Tikapur is a little sprawl of huts, open dining spaces and banana trees. It serves and sells a menu of bananas: banana chips, banana pakoda, banana achaar, banana pancakes, banana juice/wine/brandy, the list goes on. At a nearby park of day time picnics alongside the wide Karnali waters, the restaurant had issued a banner warning which concluded to mean something like this: it has come to our notice that there are products being sold as bananaz's which are not ours. Our products are only served at our restaurant. Thank you, Bananaz. It made me curious of this place in this township which had to issue a message of authenticity for its products.

Walking in a group of twenty five, we must have looked like a curious crowd of family tourists for this establishment as we almost attacked its front desk with questions and orders. Later G. and I reflect on the quick reaction the restaurant had made, and agree that it had indeed been pretty efficient. Service delivery was up to mark and not a lot confused. The wine (served in beer bottles, eighty a piece) tasted like Nigar, cool in Terai's daytime heat. By the time I am writing this, I am yet to try the brandy but its waiting for the cold night at the hotel. Banana chips crunched a little softer than the potato variety, but didn’t vary much in terms of taste. Nothing tasted exactly like banana(z)—the fruit was more of a subtle flavor. The enterprise made me feel good about innovative entrepreneurship beyond the capital.

The Pukar gutka has wreaked some havoc in this town. Shops after shops, its hung in strings of packets and bought and sold like staple. At a "cyber and communication", one rule read: "Please do not spit Pukar here". The place was clean but the roads are full of it. I am told the town is reviving itself. Bicycles are very much middle class, but motorbikes are coming up. Cyber cafes are not rare and Facebook is the first address in the browser. There are motorcycle and car showrooms, bicycle is still very much the middle class transportation, but motorbike is entering the segment. A couple of restaurant here and there, Fancy shops with spelling mistakes.

Tourism is heating up: our hotel is an under construction five storey complex, being built to compete against a couple others. There are a couple of sites to visit: a park about five kilometers from the major market centre, a few temples, Bardiya National Park if you go back a bit, and Khaptad if you go beyond. The town is something of a rest point and building itself along those and many other lines.  

Chiya-Pasaley loves tea and writes about conversations that originate along the hours spent on drinking many cups of it. Besides that he is curious about many things and especially the rural-urban divide, and the coming of modernization to Nepal. He writes on the mundane and the very fantastic, and everything in between.

http://www.parakhi.com/blogs/2012/01/27/to-the-far-west