The folklore has it that Seti the white river,
and Kali the black river, that flow from Jomsom are
sisters born to the same Himalaya. Once they had a bet as
to which of them would make it first to the ocean. In their
wild, adventurous jour- ney to the big sea, they ran an
amazing race. Their shooting down from the
Himalaya, their falling from the cliffs as
waterfalls, the breaking down of rocks, the
knocking off of mountains, hills and highlands that stood
in their way, was an incredible sight to behold. Upon reaching
Pokhara Seti saw an old woman plough- ing her field
and another working on the slanting roof of a
village house. She felt sorry for these women and
went under- ground to avoid any such encounters.
Kali, on the other hand, came across
a different situation in the course of the
journey. There were male porters in bare feet
carrying heavy loads on their backs on narrow
mountain trails, to support their wives and children at home.
Kali too after Jomsom decided to hide her- self by digging
the deepest gorge on earth.
Then both Seti and Kali during their
fur- ther journey to the ocean joined a number of
big rivers. By the time they reached their
destination they had learnt a lot more about human
suffering on this planet. That was when they
decided to visit their parental home, the Himalayas,
in the form of rains, but maintained the usual course of their
river without complaint.
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