| Route | Kathmandu – Naubise – Chumlingtar |
| Date | October 31st – September 1st, 2018 |
| Duration | 2 days |
| Team supervisors | Janardhan Lamichane, Prajwal Rajbhandari |
| Participants | Janardan Lamichhane, Prajwal Rajbhandari, Sanjeev Bartaula, Mitesh Shrestha, Annada Rajbhandary, Rojlina Manandhar, Suvechhya Bastola, Rukusha Maharjan, Rita Majhi, Jiten Shrestha, Prabhat KC, Rakshya Sharma, Adwait KC, Kalpana Lamichhane, Tosin Lamichhane, Trishna Lamichhane, Hemanta Chaudhary |
| Report by | Suvechhya Bastola |
| Photos by | Prabhat KC |
| Venue | Siddhartha Riverside Resort, Chumlingtar, Chitwan |
This year the Annual general meeting (AGM) of RIBB and HB was planned to be a formal meeting blended with more fun retreat, and it was decided that our work family meet with our real family. It was first time that family members were included in the retreat program and it did sure made us all even more closer and made the program more fun. For this year the event was organized from 31st August to 1st September at Siddhartha Riverside Resort, Chumlingtar, Chitwan.
We were total of 17 participants including our most senior member being Prof. Janardan Lamichhane and the youngest participant being 3yrs old Adwait KC. With this vast age range we were all planned to set out from Kathmandu around 6am in the morning targeting to reach the resort by 9AM.
However, the traffic in and around Kathmandu never fails to ruin any preplanned schedule, delaying programs and arrangements beyond the expected hours. And this time we were dealing with traffic of Kalanki which obviously pushed our delay even further. Nevertheless, everyone was very excited about going out of the valley and its hustle and bustle for a weekend.
With few stoppages on the way, finally the retreat group united around 12pm. After a quick brunch and little socializing, we finally settled down for the formal program. Welcome and opening words were given by myself on behalf of the institution, as a Lab coordinator. Then a round of introduction of all the participants was held as many of us were meeting with other family members for the first time. Mr. Prajwal Rajbhandari, President came forth with the institutes’ vision followed by experience sharing from the first executive of RIBB/HB, Prof. Janardan Lamichhane, Chief Strategic Advisor, RIBB
After the introductory session our family members had a choice to enjoy the stunning location and setup of the resort, as we staff members continued with our second session of lectures. We had three presentations in total where Dr. Annada Rajbhandary, I and Ms. Rukusha Maharjan & Ms. Rita Majhi all talked about our projects and role in the institute. After the presentations, we left our board members for their first set of meetings and went down to join our family members by the swimming pool. The weather there was quit hot (more than expected), therefore it really was fun to plunge ourselves in the water. Some of us including myself hadn’t brought our swim wears underestimating the weather but immediately regretted it. However the resort shop came to our rescue and in no time everyone of us were in our swimwear with few of us flaunting our new suits.
It was really very fun to be in the pool with everyone, where we indulged ourselves with our own little games, photo poses and demonstrations of swimming skills. It didn’t go unnoticed that the youngest member was the most fond of the water activities and did not want to come out of the pool even after hours of soaking.
Slowly as the evening came by we were served with varieties of snacks, starters, BBQ and drinks. The resort was looking its best with all the lights glowing bright, vivid view of the hills nearby and sound of river Trisuli flowing just across. It all created a perfect ambience and made us enjoy our drinks, snacks and company even more. The evening was already perfect and to top it up we had few games planned to include all the participants. The games included hitting the target blind fold, passing the rubber band with straw and few more. The enthusiastic participation, humorously competitive approach and excitement of the little wrapped presents made the games a huge success. Apart from the planned games we discovered that we had a very magical talent amongst us. Mr. Jiten Shrestha turned out to be very tricky with cards and had us all amused for a very long time, as we did make him show his tricks over and over and over again.
Finally when we all calmed down after the chaos of games one major part of this gathering was held. We had to bid farewell to our respected sir Prof. Janardan Lamichhane as the president of RIBB as he is going to continue as the chief strategic advisory of the institute. Likewise, we welcomed Mr. Prajwal Rajbhandari as the new president of the institution. Transition of this position was very heart touching as both were involved from the birth of this institution and have been working together for its betterment for the past 7 year. It was such an overwhelming opportunity to witness one generation paving the way and eventually letting the younger generation lead, as the time demands. With few moving speeches of gratitude, Token of Love was handed over to all the staff members. Thus finally after the farewell and welcome ceremony the cake was brought out. The cake read “RIBB is 7 years old!! Congratulations!!” And it truly was like celebrating the whole 7 years all at once as both our leaving and new President held hands together to cut the cake.
After some time of casual hanging out we all settled down for dinner and did really enjoy what was being served. Few goodnights and wishes and all the happy people parted for the day. Thus concluding a very well spent day.
The 2nd day only had the AGM with board members via Skype, therefore all of us enjoyed our morning around the resort with our morning tea and breakfast. And finally after the meeting was over we had a very delicious lunch to conclude our overnight retreat. A quick group photo and everyone started making plans for the day, as some of us were returning to Kathmandu soon after the lunch, while some had other extended plans. Either way each and every one of us returned with a very refreshed minds, loads of memories and cameras full of photos. I am sure everyone of us is very thankful for our institute for organizing such a refreshing getaway and giving us an opportunity to be able to share this beautiful experience with our family as well.