“Hurried Trip To Avoid A Bad Star” was jointly written by two American geographers, M.Lilla and C. Bishop Barry. Based on the writer’s first-hand experience of traveling on the hills of Western Nepal, this essay depicts the social and economic life of Karnali region.

The writers started their trekking from Jumla to Nepalgunj after Christmas. The writers were accompanied by a group of local travelers who were carrying some local products like hashish, medicinal herbs, hand-knit sweaters, and blankets to trade them in the market of Nepalgunj. While climbing a 11350 feet high mountain, Hari Lekh, the writers meet a handsome woman of about 30. She asked them the usual questions they had been asked on the way. She also requested them to send her husband back home if he had moved to their village. The way, the woman talked and behaved with the writers revealed that the people of the Karnali region were imprisoned in the narrow universe of their own. While climbing up another mountain, the writer met a group of 8 or 9 people who were processing Silajit on the way. When asked why they have not processed it before they left their homes, they replied to the writer that they have to start their journey in order to avoid the influence of the bad star.

After descending to a lower elevation, the writer passed through the forest of skeletal-looking sal trees. They could hear the local people cutting down the branches of trees to feed their cattle. When the writer pointed out the possibility of deforestation due to ruthless exploitation of nature, they replied to the writer that they could do nothing as they have to feed their cattle at any cost.

Spending a night in a tent, the writers arrived at the market of Nepalgunj. The fellow travelers sold the goods, they have brought and bought daily needs like cotton cloth, aluminum, Iron wares, spice, jewelry, and even distillery equipment. The writers return to the Jumla to complete their project. During their 15 months of wandering through Western Nepal, they learned, that the people of this region are devoted to farming, but farming alone doesn’t sustain them all the year round. So, they have to look for alternative means of earning besides agriculture.