MOHAN MAINALI LINING UP: A journalist from Ilam takes pictures of the morning assembly at a community-run madrasa in Siraha.

To bridge the gulf between the plains and hills of Nepal, the first step would be to familiarise Madhesi journalists about the Pahad, and Pahadi journalists about the Madhes. And that is exactly what 20 journalists have been doing for the past month.

Ten journalists from Saptari, Sunsari and Siraha have been touring Ilam, Sankhuwasabha and Terathum and vice versa in a unique journalist exchange that participants say have revealed things they never knew about each other's regions.

Mechi police superindendent, Bigyan Sharma, recognised Rajbiraj journalist Jitendra Kharga whom he knew from a former posting, and called out to him: "Oh-ho, Jitendraji, when did you get there?" Before he could answer, ten other Madhesi journalists came out of a tea shop. The superindentent was so shocked he was speechless for a while.

The Madhesi journalists were full of admiration for the famed industriousness of the people of Ilam. Not an inch of land lies fallow, there is paddy, cardamom on landslide prone areas, tea bushes everywhere.

When he found out one couple in Jil village makes Rs 200,000 a year just selling coriander leaves,one Madhesi reporter marveled: "Money just grows out of the ground here."

Other journalists from the plains were so impressed with Ilam's cool climate that they saw its great potential as a hill station. "In one hour, you can get from the heat of the Madhes to an air-conditioned Ilam," said another reporter from Lahan, "if there were better lodgings, many Madhesis would come here just to cool off."

Then it was off to the rhododendron wonderland of Tinjure and Milke. Suryanarayan Yadav from Sunsari is more used to walking on flat land, and was having trouble with the climb. But even he was amazed by the scenery when the group got to the ridge. "It was hard, but it was worth it, I can't imagine there are places like this so close to the Tarai," he said.

BRIDGING THE GAP: Ilam reporter Roshan Sawa (above) interviews villagers from the Mushahar community in Lahan while Saptari reporter Hem Shanker Singh (below)interviews herb traders in Khandhari.

In Terathum, Madhesi journalists visited the District Development Council which has decreed that priority must be given to helping the poorest of the poor. The neediest in the community don't have to pay for health care, education, or even pay tax while buying land or getting a passport.

Madhesi journalists also experienced the difficulty of getting around the mountains and how inaccessibility makes everything expensive. There is no road linking Terathum to Sankhuwasabha so the group had to drive back down to Biratnagar from where they had to fly to Tumlingtar.

Then it was the turn of the Pahadi journalists to visit the Madhes, and to shed their own misconceptions and stereotypes about the plains. The journalists visited madrasas in Sunsari and saw how everybody, rich or poor, donated a proportion of their income for community schools. The money pays for the education of underprivileged children.

Siraha's Lahan is a town that most journalists have only passed through at night while traveling in long-distance buses. They are surprised to visit Lahan's Sagarmatha Chaudhary Eye Hospital that performs 55,000 eye surgeries a year, more than any other hospital in the world. Eighty percent of the patients are from India, and they help subsidise the operations of Nepali patients.

However, the reporters learn that the hospital has seen a drop in patients since the Madhes Uprising last year. "The hospital was forced to close 136 days last year because strikes blocked highways, and this reduced the number of surgeries by 17,000," the hospital's Sudhir Thakur told reporters who scribbled the statistics in their notebooks.

The violence has not only affected the hospital but all aspects of life in Siraha, especially business. And crime is a sensitive subject. "We can't tell you what is going on here, and you can't report it," CDO Bal Krishna Panthi told startled reporters. Siraha journalist Rajesh Verma nodded his head silently.

Names created confusion. Many thought reporter Jitendra Kharga from Rajbiraj was actually a Khadka from the hills. Both Madhesi and Pahadi had difficulty pronouncing Ramala Singak's last name. Madhesis had trouble with Terathum's Aoyakjung and Khamlalung.

"The aim of this program was to promote tolerance and understanding between the two geographic regions of the country to promote better understanding," explained Hasta Gurung of the Nepal Press Institute which organised the program.

At least for two Madhesi journalists, the trip was an inspiration for further travel. Said Saptari journalist Rajesh Jha: "Jitendra and I were really excited to get to places we had heard about but never seen, we are going back to Terathum the first chance we get for some reporting."