The hotel which we were staying in also hosted a large group of tourists somewhere from southern India. And at 0400 hrs the Carnatic noise that they made, woke all of us up. They were possibly getting ready to restart their journey but the decibels at which they communicated equaled or surpassed the noisy horns on Indian streets. They were possibly fighting over the bathrooms or merely gossiping. Who would know?
I could not sleep amidst that noise pollution and possibly my friends share this grudge. We were to have breakfast there only and also needed packed lunches for all as today was the dreaded day of 22 kms of uphill trek to Panwali which no one had heard about. We also needed to get a guide and provisions for cooking our dinner up there in the lonely meadows. As we waited alongside the bus, some of us got hold of a Baba who had this shady appearance and seemed more like a supplier. There was quite a discussion between few OTs and him while he finally agreed to pass on some babaji ki butti. Perhaps that would have been a better option than the ubiquitous Aloo parathas that we have been surviving upon.
We finally reached Triguninarayan where the trek was to start. The first stretch itself gave us the idea of what the day was going to be like. As we passed through a school, the kids came out and waived at us shouting "Namaste" at the top of their voices. Possibly the teacher was missing as is the case in most of the government schools. It was touching to see my friends distributing the chocolates they had bought for the trek among the children. Those happy faces of those cute little kids meant much more obviously. And then after saying our goodbyes, we marched up through the woods.
The trek was mostly through the forest and the rocky path was surely making it more difficult. Not to mention the killing beams of sunlight making you sweat like a pig. We were glad to find a beautiful stream of water passing by where we stopped to quench our thirst. Some of us also decided to eat the packed lunch we brought with us. But in such difficult treks it is better to stretch out your meals as you have no idea when you would be reaching your destination. Easier said than done. Post that we faced a severe challenge of a landslide. It had entirely destroyed the trek path and the only option was to go down along that landslide and to climb up again after crossing it. That was the moment which called for courage, coordination and esprit de corps. We all helped each other and the synergy took us all through that impediment.
Once we pierced through the forests, we reached the zone which had no vegetation. Lush yellow mountains and their never ending trail overlooking the upper Himalayas. That was simply and simply the most beautiful view we would see in the whole trek. But in that beauty was hidden a great deception. With every turn you would feel as if the destination was near. Mountain after mountain, we kept on going but only in vain. The sun was soon going to take away its grace and we were a little apprehensive on that front. We were moving in small groups at various distances. But as the dark cover took us by surprise, the group in front decided to stop for everyone as the destination was still nowhere near. That was a great call taken by the front runners.
The groups that were lagging slowly moved forward keeping in view the delicate nature of the curves. Now was the time when we could not afford even a single wrong step. With almighty's grace, we all got to the point where others were waiting and signalling using their torches. I have to confess that was a great relief. When in a group, the problem at hand suddenly reduces many fractions. Once all had arrived, we moved forward and reached the village quite late in the night. There was no light there but only prominence of the stars. We settled in the couple of huts which were made available and desperately waited for the preparation of food. It was as if we had transcended in the 1960s when most of the rural India was devoid of electricity. It was a rare and quintessential experience to have. The stubborn cold made us run to our sleeping bags and retire for the night.
But the demon of snores came to haunt us again. One of my fellow OTs got so frustrated that he took advantage of that pitch dark hut and kicked the snoring fellow multiple times. There was silence thereafter. I was awake that time and it was so hard to control the laughter. The one snoring had no idea who kicked him. The silence gave us opportunity to sleep before the snores return again.
When I closed my eyes, I could see nothing but the panoramic views we had witnessed that day. Pristine nature at it's best.
1 comment:
Nice snap :)
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