Major cities in Nepal went into lockdown last Thursday after the new strain of covid cases started to rise in Nepal too along with India. The two countries share an open border and Nepal is also recording all-time high cases each day.
Being bored at home, I alone decided to go to the nearby village called Tarakeshwar that is situated on the outskirt of Kathmandu valley surrounded by Shivapuri National Park. It is just a one-hour walk from my home. Once you reached there, it will make you feel like you are not in the city anymore and the taste of village life flows through your nerves and blood. As soon as I reached there, I enjoyed the cool breeze of air as it had just stopped raining. Furthermore, I stopped to see the scenic beauty of the forest and the chirping sound of the bird. One can see Kathmandu valley from here but it was covered with fog.
While walking, I saw these huge bushes of Himalayan Golden Raspberry (Rubus ellipticus). This fruit in our language is called Ainselu(ऐंसेलु ). It doesn't matter if you eat this from others people's fields because they don't seem to care about it. This is not cultivated by people and the fruit is grown through seed propagation by birds or through asexual reproduction methods like cutting. They grow well in the forest which is very moist and wet as you can see in the picture. There was no sign of sun and it was raining in the nearby forest. The bushes are thorny and you will get scratches over your hand and clothes if you didn't pick them up with care.
The taste of this fruit is a mix of both sweet and sour. So it is very delicious and packed with nutrition like Vitamin C and K, Iron, Phosphorous, Manganese, Zinc, Calcium and so on that is beneficial for your body. It has been used since ancient times for treating fever and diarrhea. The paste of roots is used for treating external wounds. Also, the juice of this plant is used as a cure for sore throat and cough. Overall the different vegetative parts of this plant-like leaves, fruit, stem, root are used for different medicinal purposes.