Food Delights

There have been times when I have had a chance to eat some awesome food. What makes it all the more interesting is that this has happened in the most unlikely of places. And may be because it happened when I least expected it, that the memories have stayed.

One time, my brother in law & I went riding to my aunts place in Tamil Nadu. We had stopped at a regular Highway restaurant for breakfast. However that happened to be pretty early in the morning & the restaurant only had pongal ready by then. So we ate a plate each & decided to stop by at another place after some more riding. The next stop was some shack in some unknown village. We had stopped to ask directions & saw the place & in unison both of us decided we had to finish the remainder of the breakfast there. A lady there served us idlis, vada, poori & chutney. I must say may be it was the incomplete feeling of having eaten little pongal earlier or the very rural setting or just that the plain good taste of the food we ate, I have recollected & shared this experience quite a few times.

The other thing I can recollect is eating at some dhaba somewhere in Madhya Pradesh. It was a lunch stop. This place was in the middle of somewhere & I remember eating rotis & daal. I liked this meal so much that I have fallen in love with the roti & daal combination since. The daal was cooked just a little spicy & I thought that made it wonderful. Ever since whenever I order rotis & daal I make it a point to tell the waiter that I would like the daal a little spicy. Of course nothing has ever matched that experience yet.

The other thing that comes to mind is a lunch stop on the way to Mandi from Chandigarh. We were traveling in a public bus & the bus had stopped at some dhaba along the way. Again may be it was the hunger or just that the food was great I don’t know, the food was one awesome experience. It consisted of rotis, kadi, papad, rice daal.

A lot of times during our treks we’ve had a chance to savor some amazing local food. I recollect this one time during our beach trek we were staying at a localites house. They had served us rice & fish curry for lunch. This after a good long trek. Could you ask for more? On another trek to Kudremukh, we were once again staying at a local residents house, we were served Akki (rice) rotis for breakfast. They were thick & served with some amazingly spicy chutney. I ate to my hearts content of course sipping water after every other bite of the roti.

There are quite a few like this involving the food. However now I just feel like talking about some liquids I have got to consume. The first that simply has to take the cake is the lassi that I had during our Sarpass Trek. Man, what a trek it was & what moments we had there. Drinking lassi being one of them. We were sitting somewhere near a flowing river & surrounded by snow clad mountains & we had reached this spot after a long trek & some rapelling and here was a lady serving desi lassi. Very tasty & very timely it was. It was pure heaven for sure.

I fell in love with Chaas (Butter Milk) during our Sarpass trek. We drank so much butter milk post the trek that now if it is on the menu I want to have it. Of course no butter milk here in South India can match to what we had there up North. In the South its very watery, whereas its thick in the north, spicy too & simply tasted amazing. However one butter milk experience from down south I would like to talk of. This was also during our beach trek. Our guide Krishna stopped at a small petty shop in a small village. There he bought curds. And requested for water, salt & vessel to mix it all in. We poured that in our water bottles & drank like we were drinking butter milk for the first time.

If you notice all these are very normal regular food. These are not your special food. It’s probably their every day ness & simple good taste that made them special. May be also the very ordinariness of the place we consumed them at. I enjoyed each of these experiences & so eagerly look forward to the next such experience. Hopefully there is more in store.

The old rickshaw puller in Delhi

I was very excited when I was in Delhi. I finally got to see the places I always wanted to see. I am not sure how many would fancy seeing the Parliament, the Rashtrapati Bhavan or the Red Fort, but I wanted to see it at least once in person and I got to do it when I was in Delhi a few months back. I have some very nice memories of Delhi & our stay there. The primary thing that comes to mind is the food we ate there & then the wide roads that we got to travel on & of course visiting old Delhi & the Chandni Chowk area was an experience.

The one thing I got thinking of suddenly & which eventually made me write this are the rickshaw pullers in Delhi. When we were there we had used their services in the Old Delhi area. I think they are largely found there. These are men of varying ages peddling away in the hot Delhi sun with two or three or sometimes as we actually saw 6 people on board their rickshaw. I like the idea of taking a different form of transport where available, mostly for the experience sake. And the idea of taking a cycle rickshaw ride was very exciting because that is long gone in Bangalore. The excitement lasted only until of course I was aboard one of them. Peddling the rickshaw is a tough task. Most times these guys are only constantly peddling never sitting down on their seat. And unlike your bike or car which u can accelerate again after you have slowed down, picking up speed on a cycle rickshaw after having slowed down is hard work & if the road is steep you can rest assured it will be doubly so.

We took a cycle rickshaw about three times we were there in Delhi. The first time was in the peak afternoon sun. The other two times were in the evening. The first time a young guy was riding it, the second time a middle aged man & finally the third time it was an old man. My first ride in the rickshaw was on a wooden plank kept behind the rickshaw & to sit there, one has to bend down & move himself up through an iron rod bent around the seat. The eventual seating position is such that you get to view all the traffic or people coming behind you, while the rickshaw guy & two other passengers get the front view.

The longest rickshaw ride was the last time we rode it in the evening & when an old man was peddling. The old man looked really old & I felt horrible about the thought that I was comfortably sitting behind when he was peddling away pulling three healthy young adults. He sweated profusely & not once sat down on his seat, this should basically give an idea as to how tough it must have been for him. Most of the other rickshaw guys were overtaking him comfortably. He only peddled on. Somewhere on the way the wheel on the left side got caught in a road crack & the rickshaw wouldn’t move forward. Only after I got off & pushed it a bit did it resume the journey again. A few times I considered getting off & walking but decided against it as it was his livelihood after all & I was glad that even at this old age he had chosen to earn his livelihood the hard way. After having negotiated some tight rickshaw traffic & other vehicles he took us to our destination, the Karims restaurant in Old Delhi. We gave him a bit more than what he had asked for. When we told him, he could keep the change, he smiled & mumbled a thanks. That is when I realized the amount of sweat on his face.

What an irony life is isn’t it? Here we are young, healthy individuals who can walk but wouldn’t because we are tired and there is this old man, old enough to be resting at home, ready to take you in his rickshaw. Some of us ride cycles as a health or environment friendly fad & some others ride it to earn their bread & butter.

An Invite

Come on let’s get up & go
Walk up to the shore
Hand in Hand relaxed & slow
Talk, Listen, may be more

Sun’s gone down
Sky’s turned yellow & red from blue
Sand’s still brown
I am not lying its all very true

Can you see the ship far away?
And see here, a little boy’s making a sand castle
Look at those palm trees sway
It’s so calm here away from all the hustle & bustle

I love it when I leave my foot prints behind
When I play with the wave & try not getting my feet wet
When some sea shells I find
And wondering if the sky & the water have really met

Come on let’s go let's go
Walk along some more
Hand in Hand relaxed & slow
Talk, Listen, may be more

The first night

He kick started his bike. The road was wet as it had rained a while back. The late hour also meant there were very few vehicles on the road. He rode the bike slowly. His jacket & gloves kept him warm in that chilly environment. He took a U Turn & approached the spot again.

There were a few people still there. Most of them were huddled together in groups of twos or threes. Drivers waited in their Hondas & Toyotas waiting for their owners to turn up so they could drop them home & retire for the night. Somewhere in this scene a girl sat on the step leading to the theatre. She had been there for a while. She was furiously typing a message on her mobile.

She wiped a tear & got up. She just walked. She seemed disturbed. She didn’t seem to bother about what was happening around her. Somebody had tried to approach her & say a hello may be but didn’t pursue it because she looked like she was in a foul mood. She walked in the front, would stop, then turn around & walk to the step she was sitting on. This she did a few times. Then she started to walk again, this time around though she kept walking. She walked & slowly but surely was getting away from the small crowd of theatre goers.

That is when he spotted her. He was on his bike when he noticed that a girl wearing a black skirt & a black jacket walking away from the theatre. He rode behind her. He had already slowed down a bit. In some time he crossed her. He turned a bit to look at her. She was wiping a tear with the back of her hand. However he felt he had seen her somewhere.

The girl continued to walk not aware at all of being watched. He had slowed down the bike to almost her walking pace, which by the way was a bit fast. He was surprised that she was managing that fast pace in a long heel & on a wet & uneven surface. He turned again to look at her. He had sure seen her somewhere her face looked very familiar. Could she be someone from TV? He had identified a few others from TV in the theatre a while back when he was there. But he couldn’t place her anywhere.

Just then the girl realized a guy on a bike was constantly staring at her. She looked up cautiously at him & started to walk faster. The guy on the bike didn’t catch up with her. But she couldn’t continue with her pace for long & when she had slowed down again he was able again riding the bike along side her.

“What do you want?” she asked him in a firm tone

It seemed to startle the guy a bit. He didn’t know what to say. But he stopped the bike. The girl stopped walking too.

“What do you want?” she repeated and continued “why are you following me?”

“I am not following you” he replied very calmly.

“What is this called then….YOU…..YOU…..what is this called following a girl on a bike… what do you call this…..”, she was losing it for sure.

He went on to reply, “I think I have seen you somewhere, I was just trying to figure out where I have seen you”

“what are you going to do if you figure it out” she queried

“Nothing I guess, but just felt I have seen you somewhere”

“God, I cant believe this is happening to me, first I get ditched then I get stalked”

“Ditched…..Stalked……what are you talking about….” Wondered the boy innocently.

“Look, just do me a favor OK….Stop this right now….alright….If you think you can get away with this, you are wrong…..You have no idea what this means to you…..I am going to walk again now and if I see you following me again, I’ll yell first & then call the police…..”

She didn’t wait for a response. He didn’t give any either. She began to walk. He just stood there & saw her walking away. After some distance she turned right on to a lane & went out of sight. The boy who had continued to sit on his bike, decided to start riding again. When he had gone some distance he noticed that the same girl running back on to the road from the small lane she had taken a while back. After a while he could see two dogs running behind her. He stopped the bike there.

She continued to run as fast as her heels could make her run. But she realized that it would be futile against the dogs. She stopped & noticed that the boy on the bike was still there. She resumed her run towards him. Once she reached him huffing & puffing she told him….

“Could you drop me at the circle further down, I’ll take an auto from there”

He nodded. She hopped on to the bike.

The boy rode away & not a word was spoken till they reached the circle. At the circle they both noticed that there was no auto available. He stopped in one corner. She got off from the bike.

“Thanks. I think I’ll wait & take an auto. You can carry on…” she said to him.

“Are you sure?” he asked her genuinely concerned.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. There are no dogs also here. You go please”

“Where do you have to go? I can drop you there. God knows when you will get an auto here”

“Look boss. Thanks OK. I am fine. I’ll go from here. You leave”

He rode off from there after saying an OK & again asking her to reconsider which was only received by a firm “No thanks” from the girl.

The girl stood there. There was no auto in sight. There were a few cars that went past. When ever it did she would turn away from the road & look somewhere else. After a few more minutes of waiting, an auto came into sight. She flagged it down. Told the auto driver where she wanted to go & got into it. The auto sped away.

When they went some distance the girl noticed that the bike boy had stopped at a corner and was talking on his mobile. She peeped out of the auto to see if it was the same guy. This act seemed to alert the boy too and he noticed the girl looking at him from the auto.

“I’ll call you back in a while” he said & cut the call. Hurriedly he put the phone in his pocket & started to follow the auto.

Paper less – The future

Recently I walked up to the front door on hearing the door bell. A courier guy handed over the Credit Card statement letter to me. But just before doing so he put in front of me a mobile type instrument he was holding. I ignored that & took the credit card statement instead thinking that he had in confusion put the instrument forward. But after I took the letter he again gave me the instrument & a stylus & said sign. I was surprised. Generally all these courier people take a couple of signatures on a sheet of paper, but this person was asking me to sign into a mobile type instrument. I went ahead & signed on the wide screen with the stylus. I thought the signature didn’t come the way it normally does. But the signature got registered none the less. The person then said thanks & left. I do remember asking him though “What is this” when he thrust the mobile type instrument.

This was a first time experience for me. I mean I remember signing on something similar for my driving license. As I signed on it, I could see the signature also appearing on the computer monitor. But this was the first time I signed on something that wasn’t paper for having collected by credit card statement letter. I think this is really a great way to cut out paper.

Contrast this with this incident. I had the auditor in office taking a look at previous years financial statements all on Tally of course. In the due course he wanted to take a look at some credit card statements as we had made some credit card purchases. I opened the soft copy of it on my computer. It was obvious that he wasn’t comfortable with the soft copy. He immediately told me that I should take a print out of every month’s statement for the last year. I was aghast. Three sheets per statement multiplied by 12 months of statements. All so that he could put one tick against one entry in red pen. I told him in a clear & nice manner that I wouldn’t be able to do it as it would consume a whole lot of cartridges. He went on to ask about the cartridges we use, how much it costs, how much ml of ink is there in it but eventually gave up.

Being a paper less organization is a dream for me. The fact is we hardly use paper in office. The only place we use it is for Invoices & Employee Letters. This too is something that I would like to cut out if possible, but the recipients prefer hard copies so there is no escaping this in the immediate future. Of course all the other paper we end up with is hard copies of job seekers resumes & bills.

Welcome

How do I describe this feeling? It is a mix of a whole lot of emotions. A sense of joy, a feeling of responsibility, a bit of anxiety…. There are also dreams, wishes, hopes from it, for it. I suddenly feel I need to behave grown up. But again do I really have to?

It’s a phase that I am very excited about. To know more. To do more. To be more. To be less. To pause. To stop. To drive. To let drive. To learn. To unlearn. To give. To do. To smile. To make smile. To be there.

Welcome. To a new phase of life. Welcome. To a new friend, Partner & Guide.

Sarpass – The Conclusion (Part 3)

Simply put Sarpass Trek was bigger & better than anything I have done before. It is only fitting that a Himalayan trek should take the cake so to speak. For I have absolutely completely fallen in love with that region.

This trek was also special for the company we had. I remember discussing with a gentleman who had done the Everest Base Camp trek & then with some of the camp leaders with respect to how YHAI goes about organizing an event of this type. Also very motivating was the fact that in our group SP4 there were first time trekkers, experienced trekkers & intermediate trekkers. And something that I found very nice was to see among women a college going student to a married woman. Also nice was a Father & daughter pair doing the trek together, a husband & wife doing it together & a couple who did it for the second time in celebration of their meeting a year ago on the very same trek. In our very group of friends were guys who were doing this sort of a trek for the first time.

The other significant part of this trek was that it was a true camping experience. Sleeping in tents, resting in tents, playing cards in tents & working on various improvisations to make the tents warmer, it had its moments. One must congratulate YHAI for making some amazing arrangements in the most difficult of places. For example the camp at Fual Paani. Also a big credit has to go to them for the food arrangements. The cooks apparently get up as early as 3 or 4 AM to ensure the morning tea (which is served to you in the tent & is like a wake up call at 5:30 AM every morning) to breakfast to packed lunch to dinner. Add to that welcome drinks, evening tea with some snacks. In Biskeri Thatch we were served hot pakodas with tea. This to me was five star treatment. I don’t think at those altitudes we could really ask for more.

All said & done it was a trek that had to be remembered for trekking. End of the day that is what we were all there for - some hardcore trekking. And we got our money’s worth. Actually more than our money’s worth. For a little less than Rs 3000 I think we got a steal.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) for Sarpass

What to expect during the trek? Food, Things to carry, Clothes, Toilets, facilities etc. There is a load of information out there however below is how we did it & what we experienced.

One has to really be prepared to extreme weather conditions. One definitely needs a good rain coat. Also the jacket that you buy for the cold should be rain proof. It helps big time. A good pair of shoes are really important. They are important because in snow & in slush it gets wet very badly. Our group used Woodlands & Lafuma shoes. The latter being the expensive option. We did most of our shopping in the Mayur Army and General Stores in Shivajinagar, Bangalore. We picked up Inners, Monkey Cap, Raincoat, Wollen Socks from there. We bought our gloves from The Brown Shop in Commercial Street. If you are investing in shoes especially Woodlands you can purchase it from a factory outlet it costs cheaper there. It is recommended that one either carries two pairs of wollen gloves or goes in for a pair of leather (basically rain proof) gloves.

We survived majority of the trek with one pair of clothes. With another pair being a back up. We were also advised to carry as less luggage as possible. This I think is very critical because it does help a lot in your pace & energy levels during the trek. We invested in Rucksacks in Bangalore. We bought them at Adventureworx in Jayanagar. However most of us didn’t use them during the trek because these rucksacks themselves weighed about 2 Kgs. The YHAI issued a simple bag that was very right & perfect for carrying just the required amount of luggage.

The food is basic & very good. Apart from lunch which is packed & hence cold, the rest of the meals are served hot. Dinner would mostly comprise of Rotis, Sabzi, Fried Papad, White rice, Daal & Pickle. For Breakfast we had broken wheat porridge, puris, Bread, Upma & so on. Also apart from the YHAI provided meals in a few camps the villagers also sell omlettes & maggi. At every Lunch point every day the lunch stop is where the villagers have set up shop selling omlettes, maggi, tea & coffee. Infact at our first camp Guna Paani we had the provision of charging our mobiles in these shops of course for a charge. The price of omlettes & maggi increased as we went to the higher camps. I also remember on our way to our last camp (Bhandak Thatch) savoring desi lassi sold by a villager at the lunch point. Yummy.

Although it is highly discouraged by YHAI, porters are available during the trek. Local villagers agree to carry your rucksacks up to the next camp for a charge. I think the charge was upwards of Rs 100 per day per bag. They of course come back next day to carry the bag again till the next camp. This is indeed a luxury thats available but at the risk of the bag owner. These porters don’t walk with you as they take shortcuts to the next camp.

There are toilet facilities at every camp. It’s basically a toilet tent. One each for men & women. Needless to say these are not clean & I also found these toilet tents very short in height & cramped for space. The YHAI is very strict about using only the allocated toilet sites. Any fooling around there could result in sending back the offenders to base camp. But of course apart from the toilet tent one was free to use the vast spaces in the allocated area. Which to me and quite a few of others was more convenient & some adventure in itself. Absolutely forget about bath during the trek. In the base camp there are bathroom facilities. The cold Parvati River water is supplied there. If anyone is game for a colder than a refrigerator water bath, could pursue it. Also at the base camp town Kasol, there are a few hotels that let you use their bathrooms for a charge. My suggestion would be to not bother and experience not taking bath for a good 11 days.

The tents provided are cosy. Some of them are not on flat ground so the sides or the corners could be open to the elements. We had some cases like that. We would either cover it up with our rucksacks or use our rain sheets (which we bought for 25 bucks in the base camp & please note this is more of a protection for the rucksack & not to be substituted for a raincoat). In all the higher camps , everybody was provided with a sleeping bag & a blanket each. These are very effective in keeping you warm at those altitudes. Also if you are forced to occupy more people in the tent suggest you don’t complain for you will realize it helps to warm up the tent in the higher camps. Our Tent strength was varying between 14 – 16 people.

Kasol, our base camp site is a small town. Largely inhabited by Israelis who have set up base there for what many say easy availability of pot/hash (Sorry I don’t know the exact term used). This trip taught me a lot, one among them was that Israeli women are very pretty, at least the ones we saw there were. There are some very nice restaurants, cafes, & bakeries in the town. After the trek got over we dined at an amazing restaurant. Our table was next to a window & through the window we could see snow capped mountains it was a very romantic place unfortunately ours was an all guys group. Kasol has many travel agents. We booked our Manali to Delhi bus tickets and Manali to Chandigarh bus tickets in an agency here. It is advised to think twice about booking anything with these guys unless of course you are in for more adventure apart from trekking like my friend had of sleeping in the drivers cabin from Manali to Chandigarh and three of us had in settling for the last row seats for our Manali to Delhi bus ride. This after paying up full amount & getting specific seat numbers on the bus.

Finally, I would like to end with the list of people who I did this trek with. Imran – the initiator, planner, executor who also became the Group Leader of the SP4 during the trek. Dilip – The main Entertainer of the trip. Deepak, Devaiah, Dinesh, Jayanth and Gyan.

Sarpass – As it happened (Part 2)

The below description is not a day by day account but covers the most memorable events during the trek.

Kasol Base Camp (6500ft) – Beautiful, Colorful & Small

After a flight, train, bus & taxi ride, we reached Kasol at 10.30 PM on a cold night. The camp was off to sleep. The only sound that dominated then was the sound of river Parvati flowing alongside the camp. We reported at the Reception & after producing our admit cards, were allowed into a tent. The camp easily had about 25 odd tents each having a capacity of about 15. On one side were the female tents and on the other side were the male tents comparatively more in number. There was one area in the middle that served as the dining area behind which was the kitchen tent. Considering that we had an early start the next day, we rushed to finish dinner. Dinner comprised of rotis, sabzi, rice, dhal, halwa & papad. This in addition to Kheer was pretty much our standard Dinner fare all through the trek.

After some discussion on how & where we should keep our bags & some confusion on the tent number allocated to us, the first night in the base camp was uneventful.

The Morning Exercise

The two days that we were stationed in Base Camp, we had a morning exercise. This was at 6:30 in the morning. After morning tea & counting, the group had to walk up to a ground about half a kilometer away from the camp. The exercise incharge was a localite by name Devraj, who also doubled up as the Sr. Rock Climbing instructor. Devraj looked a localite, spoke fluent Hindi & I remember the first day of morning exercise he saying to the group encircling him, “If anybody speaks during the exercise, I’ll make you run 20 rounds of this ground”. But as the exercise progressed & we got to see him more he didn’t seem much of a task master really. So I wondered why the tough talk. The exercise was amazing. He made us do some really basic stuff, which were more of warm up & loosening exercises. The sad part however was that even these basic exercises we were not very comfortable doing. But I enjoyed the activity.

Acclimatization Trek – Day 2

It took our group a while to come to terms with the YHAI speed. YHAI is a stickler for timings. In the process of Breakfast, putting on contact lenses & all that, our group got delayed big time for the Acclimatization trek. The rest of the group had started off long back & we were still trying to figure out what we should finish & where we should go. Finally after collecting the YHAI rucksack & dumping two blankets in it, we started off hoping to catch up with the rest of the group soon. The Acclimatization trek was a hike up a near by hill. We had to pass by a local school. The school building was in front of a snow clad mountain. Little girls dressed in salwar kameezes & guys in shorts sat in the corridor doing what their teacher was asking them to do. After a heavy breakfast it took a while to get up the hill. But as we climbed up, we realized how beautiful the route was. I have a fascination for the jungle terrain. Its my favorite among all terrains. Its probably because I love trees & walking under huge tall pine trees was an awesome experience. What we experienced that day was how the trek for the rest of the days going to be. Hiking & hiking all the way. It was challenging & tiring. However when we thought we still have a long way to go, we saw the group seated a few meters front of us overlooking a drop at the bottom of which was parvati flowing away with the snow clad mountains in the background.

When I took off my bag my T Shirt was all wet with sweat. The cool breeze under the trees helped regain some energy & sitting down was heaven. Most of us from the group felt the trek was too short & we were eager for more. We quickly got the guide to take us for an extended trek & announced it to the rest of the group. A lot others decided to join us. The trek that we did till that point had a clear walkable path. However the stretch that we pursued thereafter had no clear path. So that was a different experience. There were many plants with big thorns along that route. Slowly but surely we realized that this stretch would require some concentration & couldn’t be taken lightly. Especially the time when the group began to get down the hill it was all the more challenging. A couple of lose big stones were pushed off from the back & all of them had to alert the guys in the front about it. Some time later we were walking back to our previous halt position & rejoined the guys who had decided to rest there. A lime squash was mixed with all the water that each of us had in a plastic bucket. A bottle was cut to become a pouring mug & the juice was then distributed in the same water bottles to all. There was no need for ice or cold water. The water there is naturally so cold, one feels like drinking refrigerated water. After which we descended.

Orientation – Day 2

The next agenda for us on the first day was an orientation session scheduled at 3 PM. The orientation was important as our entire group was up North trekking for the first time & felt it necessary to get inputs from people who have been there done that. During the course of the orientation what we learnt were very basic things. One of the things that was communicated & which I too thought to be very correct was this statement – “Don’t be a porter, Be a trekker” meaning to say that most of us are so interested in finishing the trek that we hardly stop & pause to look at the sights around us. The next important message given was maintain distance between the person in front of you & behind you. The distance should ideally be such that the person in front you & behind you should be able to hear you if you call out. This also I thought was an important piece of advise. The other things communicated were not to break away from the YHAI route which was clearly marked with arrows all through the trekking path.

An experience of a life time
Day 5 - The trek between Guna Paani (8000ft) to Fual Paani (9500 ft)

The YHAI in all their communiqué describes this stretch to be of 5 kms in distance & 6 hours in duration. The previous day’s trek (Day 4 trekking between Unch Dhar to Guna Pani)) was very easy & we completed it by 2 PM or so. I remember a lot of people in our group suggesting to each other that the group should take it easy & not rush the completion of the days trek. At that time it made sense. One of the things that most of us did was to check with either the guides or the camp leaders how the next day’s route would be. And I remember very well that we were told that we will be able to complete the Guna Paani to Fual Paani stretch in 3 hours. In all fairness more or less that is what would have happened. But then one big lesson we all learnt was that there is one other important factor called the rain that had to be factored in. The day started off normally. Although we had to pass through a lot of slushy terrain initially as well, it didn’t matter much because we were more or less on flat ground. The fun started as we approached the lunch point. Just as we were about to reach the lunch point, it started to rain heavily. The lunch point was under a huge rock. Most of them had squeezed themselves under the rock which provided the cover from the rain. In this condition we finished lunch.

I have done one other trek in the rain. It was the Tadiyandemol trek in Coorg. On our way down from the peak it poured crazy & no raincoat or umbrella helped. This was very similar. Now, there are quite a few of them who love the rain. I think getting wet in the rain is one thing & trekking in the rain is another. The ground we would walk on was so slushy that every foot forward would slip. I wonder if there was any one from the group who did not slip & fall even once during this part of the trek. That was the only challenge but it made movement absolutely slow. Now add to the slippery ground the hiking part. This very same route on a dry day would have been a cakewalk. But that day it was like actually walking on a cake. You hike up & slide down, you hike up & slide down. Most of the time we were making movement on all fours. And here all cleanliness & hygiene had to be thrown out of the window. Irrespective of what color pant you wore it all looked brown end of the trek. I remember three instances which I encountered during this stretch. The first one was hiking up. Like I said the only way one could move up was to crawl. Hold a branch or a root or a rock & pull yourself up. This was the only way I was making progress. I was leading a group of 5 odd people. There wasn’t anyone immediately in front of me. After having gone fairly comfortably some distance I came to a point where there was absolutely nothing in front of me to grip & push myself up. I remember I was stuck there for may be a good 5 minutes. It was only when I put all my weight on one leg & pushed myself up with the help of the loose soil itself that I was able to move up. The second instance was of taking the wrong route. Somewhere on the route there was this huge rock which was like cutting in on the way. We had to maneuver ourselves around it. I observed very carefully how the guy in front of me did it and went for it immediately after he finished. It was a bit difficult, but I managed to cross over. And only after I crossed over did people realize that was not the path to take. Luckily I & the other person in front of me were able to rejoin the group after continuing on the same path further up. The third instance was the most mentionable of the lot. This time around again I was in the front. I just kept pursuing a path in front of me. I didn’t look left or right just kept going until I reached a point way above from the rest of the group only to realize that that wasn’t the way. I was really caught there. I didn’t know if I should go back down & rejoin the rest of them or pursue the same path up & try to rejoin them further up somewhere. But there was no clear path beyond the point I was standing and going back down didn’t look very easy. And nobody around there seemed to realize I had gone the wrong way. I was completely isolated at that spot. Then I noticed a fallen pine tree further up. This pine tree seemed to have been cut off its branches not fully up to the trunk but about two feet away from its trunk. It had fallen down on a proper slope. I pursued that path up with the support of the branches. It was difficult but I finally managed to go all the way up till the end of the fallen trunk. There another 2 meters of negotiation got me back on the route everyone else was following.

‘Sher ke Bacche’ reach Tila Lotni
Day 6 – From Zirmi (11000ft) to Tila Lotni (12500ft)

Being called ‘Sher ke Bacche’ is a very high feeling. I don’t know how the others felt about it, but it did lift the morale, confidence & gave a can do attitude. Of course this is probably what the guide said to all the trekkers. This was the day when we experienced our first snow on the trek. The initial snow patches were greeted with so much joy that when we reached the most stunning stretch of the day, we were wondering why we even thought of celebrating the initial patches. Simply put, this trek only got better as time progressed. We had in front of us a 2-3 km stretch & every inch of it was covered in snow. It was a breathtaking sight. And walking on it were trekkers one behind the other in a line carefully negotiating the path. It to me was like having got transplanted in to a National Geographic video. The only disappointment being that day we had a longer distance of trek to complete and hence couldn’t pause for a long time to savor the sights we got to witness.

‘Upar ja kar Pooja karna’ – Day 8 - The trek from Tila Lotni (12500 ft) to Biskeri Thatch (11000ft) via Sarpass (13800ft)


The D Day had arrived. We would have to get on top of Sarpass at a good 13800 ft. We had an early start that day not the normal 8:30 AM start. This was largely to make good use of good weather conditions. The task immediately was to hike up. The initial part was on a plain mountain. And this hike took a good bit of time as it came so early in the day & it was straight up. Once we got to the top the snow stretches began. That apparently was the peak of Sarpass. Sarpass peak we soon realized is very flat. It is not like a typical peak which tapers towards the top. This was flat & we didn’t even know we had reached the top. Only when the guides clarified that we were indeed on the peak did the celebrations begin. We had made our plans to celebrate on the peak by showing off our designed for the occasion T Shirts. But we had to do it in a rush as the guides first advised us against removing our jackets & then pushed us to get moving with the rest of the group. We got our jackets off just for the four or five pictures & put them back on & caught up with the rest of the group. It was only at Lunch Time that we learnt a pooja was done up there when we got the Prasad from a fellow group mate. And what a lunch point it was. It was right in the middle of nowhere. All around one could see snow. Nearby there was a little stream & there put on the snow was a plastic sheet. The group settled there & got busy eating lunch which was a little different from the routine. We got a tetrapak of mango juice, some chikkies and some other fried stuff. Of course we had Omlettes & maggi being prepared by the villagers near by even there.

“Waha tak chod do na yaar”- The latter half of Day 8

Post lunch for a long time we had long stretches of snow tracks to walk on. The only challenge that came on this stretch was a sharp right turn sort of bend which immediately after taking right went down. This spot slowed the group up. But after having negotiated this, we were in for the next challenge of the day. It didn’t come immediately & from where we saw it looked like it was going to be a nice hike up. And sitting on that peak were the porters who had carried some of our group mates luggage. It was an awesome sight. But of course as we approached it the challenge became clearer. Luckily standing mid way on that hike was a guide who was pulling us up when we got to him. And guess what happened there. Immediately after being pulled up the line stopped moving. It was an odd spot. It was not flat land. It was uneven terrain. Most of us were crawling up that stretch and some of us had our rucksacks on the back. No bit of yelling & pleading to the guys ahead to move helped. In odd positions like that your feet take a lot of strain. It finally cleared & we were on top. The relief was short lived. The weather had been deteriorating for a while. There were a lot of dark clouds up above. As we reached the top it started to snow. And a few meters ahead of us was the start point of our slide. Yes the famous Sarpass Slide. Basically we were standing on a 3 feet flat land & one side was a rocky uneven slope & on the other side was a snowy slide. And to add to all this it started to rain and the ground beneath our feet became slippery and the line was moving really slowly. Man, this moment is fresh in my mind.

To make matters worse all those porters sitting there announced that they had reached their last point. That put everybody who had given them their rucksacks to carry in a spot of bother. They had to pay off the porters & carry the rucksack for the rest of the day all by themselves.

Zoooom - The Slide - The finale of Day 8

I never thought I would ever do something like this in my life. Its one of those things that you read about, see from far and get really excited about but the true experience is in doing it. The first slide was about 200 meters. The guide gave me the instructions. He said the speed breakers are the elbows and said Go. I remember only one thing, when I started to slide I slid so fast that more than being exciting it was scary. It was like zoom. It also wasn’t very comfortable. We had our rucksacks on our back, our trekking stick & we were also very keen to not wet our clothes as much as possible. I also remember the burning feeling on the lower back when I was sliding. The T shirt was pulled up & the back was rubbing against the snow.

After having finally come to a halt and learning that I had torn my raincoat I turned around to see the three others behind me coming down. Two of them tumbled on the slide. One lost his sunglasses & rain sheet & the other lost his water bottle. The third managed it pretty much like mine. The look on everybody’s face was of pain & discomfort. Then it quickly changed. There were 3 more slides we had to do. Among them only another one was a major one. This turned out to be a lot more fun partly because we were now clear about what to expect & two also because it wasn’t a straight down slide. It was one with a bend. The bend made it all the more fun. It was like those slides in water parks. For the third slide we were all the more comfortable & started to enjoy it.

Bhandak Thatch – A beautiful campsite

This campsite was the most awaited of the trek for this is the campsite that has been described as Switzerland in India. And it did not disappoint. It was a green hill & there was greenery as far as you could see. The slopes were green with these little tiny yellow & white flowers growing on them here & there. And of course it was all surrounded by snow capped mountains. The sights around was very beautiful indeed. That being the last camp of the trek, made most of us very emotional.

This campsite also turned out to be very nice for other reasons. One for the game that the camp leader impromptu made us get involved in, two for the antakshari that followed the game & three for the closing get together in a tent for the camp fire. The antakshari was unbelievable what with kannada, marathi, hindi, tamil & telegu songs being sung. I found it fascinating that so many of them could sing old songs & that too completely.