Mohari village, located in Patarasi Rural Municipality-3 of Jumla, is a settlement situated in a high-altitude region. One must walk up a steep climb to reach this village. The villagers say, “Not only the path to this village, but its destiny is also uphill.”

Houses uphill, farming uphill, money uphill. The residents here dream of a motor road arriving, but the road has still not reached the village.

Om Prakash Budha, 21, is from this very village. After passing his SEE (School Education Examination) from Lotchaur Secondary School in the village, he started studying Forestry Science at Karnali Technical Institute. When asked about the reason for choosing a technical subject, he said, “I’m studying it so I can get a job quickly.”

But the world of books is not the only challenge in his life; the high pastures of the mountains also test him. That difficult chapter is going to search for Yarsagumba.

Om Prakash Budha

There are 44 houses in Mohari village. Although no one struggles to eat their fill in the village, to gather money for education and medical expenses, locals like 54-year-old Gor Bahadur Budha say they have to climb the high mountains and play with risk. According to him, selling herbs like vanlasun (wild garlic), sugandhwal, and ninai jadi found in the surrounding forests and hills does bring in money, but it’s not enough. “That doesn’t cover the expenses of school, college, or a hospital; the money is spent just on rice and oil. If a big expense is needed, you have to go pick Yarsagumba,” he said.

According to the memory of 77-year-old Bire Budha, when he was young and strong, he would travel from Mugu to Dolpa to pick Yarsa. “We used to hear that you could earn from fifty thousand to hundreds of thousands of rupees in one season, so we would put a padlock on our house and climb the pastures,” he recalled.

Following the footsteps of the village elders, Om Prakash also decided to go look for Yarsa this time. He was going on a Yarsa-hunt for the first time. His mother, Sashila Budha, saw him off from home, telling him to go well and return safe.

Om Prakash shouldered the load of essential supplies for the few weeks’ journey to search for Yarsa, carrying the basket with a namlo (Nepali head-strap). The load contained corn flour, rice, beans, sinki (fermented vegetables), and some clothes. “Seeing the namlo pressing his neck, my heart felt pressed too,” Sashila recalled the moment she saw her son off.

Om Prakash had consoled his mother not to worry, saying, ‘Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll make my studies easier by earning money.’

But deep down, he himself was worried. The destination was the Himalayas, and no one knows what the gods have written there! He followed the village elders and his friends.

Mohari village

They walked continuously for 6 days, passing through Cheptya, Dhelya, and Puwa to reach Dolpa. Jumping across rivers and clinging to cliffs while climbing uphill were regular parts of the journey. But as soon as he reached the pasture in Dolpa, he had an experience he had never had before.

“The day I arrived, I became breathless. My chest felt heavy, I felt like I was going to die,” Om Prakash described the pain.

His friends who went with him comforted him, ‘Nothing will happen, you’ll be fine in a day or two.’

But as days passed, it didn’t get easy as his friends had said; his condition worsened. He was sick for a week. The only medicine they had was Brufen for headaches. “Even when I slept, my breath would stop sometimes. There was only fear in my heart,” he said.

He had to climb uphill for an hour to get a mobile signal. During that time, the news spread about Om Prakash: “Young man from Jumla stranded in the pasture.”

When that news reached home, his mother and father couldn’t control themselves. His father, Aaitaram Budha, recalled, “When I heard that news, I felt like I had collapsed. His mother cried out loud. All the villagers gathered. They said a helicopter rescue was needed. But that required money. We didn’t have money.”

They took a loan of nine hundred thousand rupees from the village group. “MP Binita Kathayat gave one hundred twenty-five thousand, and MP Devendra Shahi gave twenty thousand. Only then could we call a helicopter,” Aaitaram said.

On May 15, a helicopter from Annapurna Air went for Om Prakash’s rescue. But the sky of Dolpa was angry then. The helicopter returned because of the unbearable windstorm. “That night, we thought we had lost our son,” Aaitaram said, fear swimming in his eyes.

Om Prakash could only be rescued the next morning when the weather cleared. At that time, he was unconscious.

He was taken directly to the hospital in Jumla Bazaar and placed in the ICU. The family was not allowed to meet him for seven days. When he regained consciousness on the seventh day, his first question was, ‘Mom, am I alive?’

‘Yes, my son. The gods have not yet cut short your lifespan. Your saamal (provisions/destiny) had not run out,’ his mother Sashila said, with tears filling her eyes.

Saamal not running out means the time to eat (live) has been extended.He returned to the village on May 27th. Yellow tika on his forehead, sunpati (a type of garland) on his ears. Happiness spread throughout the village. Relatives came to ‘apply pitha’ (a tradition).

There is a village tradition: if someone’s son returns from abroad, is saved from war, gets a job, or passes an exam, neighbors come to visit and eat pitha (flour-based food). After Om Prakash returned alive, that tradition was repeated.

His mother says, “The son returned alive, and we got to share the happiness. Otherwise, there would have been wailing.”

There is joy in the house because the young son’s life was saved, but there is also sorrow. Because the burden of the nine hundred thousand rupees loan taken for his rescue has been added.

Aaitaram says, “Now we have to work to pay the interest. Our earnings are digging the earth (searching for herbs) and farming. We relied on Yarsa, but the debt has increased.”

Yarsagumba

Looking at his son, he adds, “He’s studying forestry. But he can’t climb trees, how will he get a job? I worry. He’s been debilitated by illness. He survived with difficulty, and that’s the happiness.”

For the village, Yarsagumba is a life-changing herb. It is both hope and grief. For some, it is as bright as gold, with earnings of millions in a single season. But for others, it becomes the cause that ends life itself. A record needs to be sought for how many have breathed their last in the pastures of the mountains.

There are examples in Jumla itself: three young men from Talphi village lost their lives in the Yarsa pastures. Another young man from Chaur village died due to altitude sickness.

“His saamal was long, that’s why he lived. But when the saamal is short, the whole village empties,” say the elders of the village.

Om Prakash currently lives in a rented room in Jumla Bazaar. He doesn’t want to quit his studies, but not being completely healthy makes him feel like his self-confidence might be lost. He said, “I survived, but my family is drowning in debt. Now only my education can repay that debt.”

Yarsagumba is the herb of life. But for the youth of the village, sometimes it becomes the cause of death and debt. Thank goodness Om Prakash survived!