Manafossen Falls

Hiking with my students

Being a faculty, whenever I go out on conferences, I try to see if there are any alumni in that city with whom I could catch up. Stavanger being the oil capital of Norway, I was sure I would get to meet a few. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were two of my students whom I had taught/supervised, who were at the University of Stavanger!

So, when I reached out to them to meet up on any day that’s convenient for them, they selected a day before I was supposed to fly out. Deepak had rented a car to take me on a hike near Stavanger. When I asked him which hike, and he replied - Preikestolen, I immediately told him that a hike there is being planned by the conference organizers after the conference gets over. So, it was nice of him to have planned another hike nearby, where very few people go. 

Manafossen falls is a small hike up to a waterfall where you have a viewpoint, followed by another trail that goes up to the river upstream. The falls were about 200-300 ft of depth, with water gushing down the face. There were a couple of families that had come to see the falls. It was a bit scary as the kids were running around everywhere, and safety should be taken so that nobody slips and falls. 

The trail upstream from the falls was a well laid out one with a couple of rock patches which were secured using chains in tricky sections. Also, there was a door for dogs and sheep to pass through at a point where humans go up and down a small set of wooden stairs. 

We went past the gate and within a few minutes approached a camp, which was in the form of cabins, with a fenced perimeter, maybe for protecting the inhabitants from wild animals, if any. There was a map outside the set of cabins, and a river flowed right next to it. With a mountain behind the cabin, having water sprinkling down in the form of a small waterfall, the location was perfect for staying the weekend. Beyond the perimeter, I asked if we could go any further, to which Deepak replied - It is up to us. There is wilderness beyond this point, and people can venture as deep as they want. 

We decided to return as nobody knew what lay beyond, plus I had to get back and do my packing for catching the morning flight to India the next day. The hike down was nice with a few people coming up, as we descended. Hunger was satisfied by having a pizza at the local PizzaBakeren outlet on the way back to the hotel. 

Overall it was a great hike where Deepak mainly explained how the mindset of the Norwegian people is, what they are passionate about, and how they take things seriously. They work hard and play hard, and you would not see any Norwegian working on a weekend, as it is known to be strictly family-time. 

A reference to the latest movie Mrs. Chatterjee vs. Norway found its way in our talks, and I expressed my opinion to both my students (based on my readings on the web) of some horrible incidents which speak of hand in glove of the government with the welfare department in taking away children whom they feel are threatened by their parents at home. A mere act (which is quite common in India) of feeding your kid can be complained about to the authorities, and they have full rights to take away your kid saying that you are force-feeding your children. It was really surprising to see that common customs/traditions/practices in a country get completely disregarded by another country. I had also read of a blog where it was mentioned that it is a business in Norway to take away kids of families from Asian origin, as they get paid for raising these children. There are foster homes where these kids are kept and the government gives out a good amount of money for raising them. So, people there have opened up these homes as businesses. It was indeed scary, which I had never imagined would happen in such a prosperous country.