It is indeed a marvelously sweet occupation to saunter up atop the famous pine-forested Srinagar hill, just above the medieval city of Tansen on a very early, misty morning, sit among the pines and with all senses alert, watch the world come to life. In fact it will be quite some time before the sun comes up. From the vantage point of light and shadow, the sight is both eerie and exotic, like a beautiful landscape painting brilliantly done in delicate watercolours. Except for the sound of dew dripping softly from the pines and the chirp of an early-awakened bird, the silence is absolute!

Slowly, very slowly, the surrounding hills and mountain landscape begin to assume shape and the Madi Valley, Tansen’s rice bowl down below, drowned in the early morning fog and mist soon dominates the landscape, a huge inland sea of sorts, as if the ancient Tethhys suddenly welled up overnight! Gradually, the billows of white foam from this vast whiteness begin to drift upwards like gigantic transparent curtains towards Tansen and then up the pine forest that clothes Srinagar hill.

Suddenly as if by magic, everything disappears from view and a moist whiteness erases whatever was dimly visible. Then unexpectedly, the mist does the disappearing act, disclosing in patches the ancient ribbed terracing of the rugged countryside. This game of hide-and-seek goes on for a while until the sun is finally visible and the remnants of the mist clinging to the pines, gradually begins to evaporate, draping the surroundings in a very fine veil.

Slowly, very slowly, the monochrome mountain canvas comes alive in a blaze of colors: emerald greens, topaz yellows, ruby reds and sapphire blues. The day has now begun and the world of Tansen down below begins to stir to life. To the north, almost the entire Himalayan mountain range looms in all its morning glory, at first pink, then gold then blue-white. To the south, it is a different scene, with the rugged purple mountains in the background and below it, the green hills dotted white with villages. At its base is visible in parts, the turning and twisting bus route to Tansen; and to the southwest is seen that stretching bowl of greenness, the Madi Valley which moments ago was overflowing with mist.

The city of Tansen has already begun another typical day. Clean and still unpolluted, one of the blissful advantages of being bypassed by "development" the people go about doing their daily chores. The sound of temple bells ring out as the locals do their early morning temple rounds, shopkeepers noisily open shops and display their wares, tea stalls start their morning business and vegetable vendors do their house-to-house rounds. Villagers from the surrounding countryside with milk, curd and other homemade produces are also seen doing brisk business – a typical characteristic of this cool cobbled settlement.

An adventurer, who once by sheer accident stumbled on its charms, appropriately labeled Tansen a City in the Mist. Nestled comfortably in the lap of Srinagar hill, the city has a distinct charm and character of its own. Geographically, Tansen lies in the Mahabharat Lekh region of Nepal and stands at an altitude of 4300 ft. – the highest peak of the range in the area being 5000ft.

Until 1968, the traveler had to do a one-day trek to reach Tansen from Butwal down in the plains, by way of the old trade route, which winds along the wall of the Siwalik Mountains. But today, one just hops onto a bus in Butwal or Bhairahawa, follows the course of the Tinau river with its picturesque gorges and waterfalls, ascends for a while through towering rock cuts till one is at level with the surrounding hills. A few loops and turns, another short climb and in about two hours, one is in Tansen.

Still relatively unruffled by the approach of the 21st century, Tansen continues to retain its timeless magic of the centuries. Surprisingly, the discovery of Tansen by tourists in the true sense has yet to take place. It is an irony of sorts, that by sheer default, the city continues to exude the feel and aura of a place where old Nepal is still alive. Needles to say, the few adventurous travelers that stumble right into it linger on and guard jealously the days lazed away in peace and quiet amidst the rugged landscape and matchless view of the world’s highest peaks.

As a Tansen afternoon passes into evening, the din and the noise of the city gradually decreases: the noisy schoolchildren and villagers having all gone home. The streets soon wear a deserted look, save for some women fetching water from nearby water taps. Before long, darkness soon falls over the city and as usual, the shops start closing early. The hills and valleys soon lose their shape and the main street of Tansen – except for the colourful language of a few local drunks – turns eerie and silent, a ghost town as the locals love to call it. The people here have an early night.

Up in Srinagar, it is a different scene. The mighty Himals to the north from bloody red have turned to sterling silver. The distant hills and the Madi Valley gradually melt into the blackness and the surrounding villages like tiny glow-worms now dot the near invisible landscape. Soon there is a chill in the air. A thin mist drifts through the pines and the traveler who has been lazing around the whole day must soon trudge downhill and heed the local warning "not to be atop Srinagar hill after dark." Some say wild animals prowl the pine forests at night and the elder locals still love to believe that ghosts, fairies and evil spirits roam Srinagar especially, the pretty, longhaired one with the inverted feet, the Kichkandi that is supposed to have lured many young locals to their deaths!

Tansen, the headquarters of the Palpa district in West Nepal, is one of the oldest Newar settlements outside Kathmandu with a rich history. But unlike most of the locals who have migrated elsewhere in search of greener pastures, those who have stayed on feel that Tansen has been unfairly sidelined in the country’s development plans. Even today, in spite of Tansen Maha Utsavs being held almost every year by the Tansen (Guthi) locals now residing in Kathmandu, the hill resort continues to be a mere shadow of the commercial nerve center of Nepal’s western hills it once was. It is a pity and an irony of sorts that a place like Tansen in spite of its infrastructure for tourism has yet to find its rightful place in the country’s travel brochures.

Though the coming Tansen Maha Utsav will be aggressively highlighting this fact, hopefully the concerned authorities will see sense this time round and realize the potential that Tansen as one of Nepal’s most beautiful hill resorts has for tourism in general and as a tourist destination within the country in particular. In fact, Tansen has something for everybody and to visitors/tourists of all age groups; whether it is the traveler in search of adventure, the poet in search of peace and quiet, mountain watchers and lovers of nature, students of flora and fauna, hardcore anthropologists and ornithologists etc etc. Besides, as an old Palpali folk song has it: There are fairies in the hills and folk music in the air."