Trekking in Himalayan....

This is about my trekking trip, which I have been in the month of May 2009. This is a first time when I have been to trekking and Himalayan of course. I was fortunate to have this wonderful journey because of two elements; one is Vikas uncle who has organized and lead the group. Thanks to recession, which has played role for another reason. The trek itself was decided three months ago and it is planned with subject to holidays and weather conditions, which are the primary factor. But weather and trek rout are the decisive elements.

The trek was scheduled to commence on the date of 25th of May and so everyone has to reach there at least a day before to get acclimatized with surrounding. I have booked my tickets from Himalayan tourism, which runs Volvo’s from Delhi to Manali on 22^nd as I was about to reach Delhi on the same day afternoon. I have got the list of all the needful to carry from Vikas uncle as this is a bit different list from which one carry for regular tours. Each and every item is meant for some purpose and even a gram is counted, as you have to take care of weight of the belongings. It has to be balanced between needful and wishful items, as there is hardly any source to get what you missed at the base. I started discovery of all the particulars required before 15 days. I say it discovery because getting things for trekking in a city like Nagpur is itself a discovery. All this was possible with the help of my friend Sonu bhaiya who has wide knowledge about the market as well as economical and worthiness of the things I wanted to buy. I can say my journey has started well before 15 days, as my mind was completely in planning and surfing over Internet about information related to trekking.

Finally everything has set to go and I closed my wishful list of things to carry. I was carrying a big suitcase with nearly weight of 30 kgs along with a back pack which is must while trekking to take care of your on journey requirements like water, snacks, napkin, poncho ad if possible then a pair of cloths. Sonu bhaiya along with his wife and kid came to see off me, as I would be going for good 18 days. It was difficult time as on the one hand I was leaving my comfort zone to explore new arena and on the other hand you have excitement to experience new world. The train was Kerla express which I boarded at 9.30 pm with full of passengers and settled there within minutes since hardly anyone was awake.

Next day I reached Delhi an hour late that I was scheduled to, so I gave a call to Abhijeet who was about to meet me at Delhi station to inform about my status. We both then traveled to Himachal tourism office and then followed to Manali. It was a semi sleeper comfortable bus carrying almost the entire tourist for Kullu and Manali. Early morning we reached 100 Kms nearby Manali. The day was cloudy and cold contrary to weather of Delhi, which was dry and hot. I could feel the change of mood within miles; the concrete was replaced with fine wooden structure with green backdrop of different shades. I reached Manali around 9 am in the morning and our tour organizer Kaushal received us at bus stop near Mall road. He is 5 feet and few inches in height with long hair with mountaineer attire. We have then reached to the home of Kaushal to get fresh as directed by him. It was a wooden dwelling, which was cast in mountains of Himalayan. We stayed there until evening as Vikas uncle with others were about to come. Then we have shifted to the cottage for a day where we prepared to start with the Trek.

At last the day has arrived and everyone was set to go. It was 25^th of May. The vehicles dropped us at the base where we started walking for the first day. It was a bright sunny day when we started with the trek. I was nervous by looking at the heights we were at and we wanted to climb. This was first time in my life where I have been so close to nature. I have seen the beauty of nature till time on television and in Schotland but this was somewhat different. Here, you won’t find buildings, roads, shops and none other than chirping of birds, free flowing water, trees, shrubs and few villagers till some point. First few steps were difficult to manage, as one doesn’t know how to retain your energy while trekking, so I followed every detailed instruction by Vikas uncle, which he kept giving on every important aspect. After a short distance we could see the birds, which are of extinct species. Everyone was lining up for binoculars carried by Vikas uncle for which he was very possessive. I could see that every grown up has a kid hiding inside who peeps out at several point and here I could see the evidence for the same. In fact, he is cautious about every tiny thing he carries and will dictate you about the usage, the standardized design and the quality about that, no mater you are convinced or not. But, that is how a perfectionist behavior is, knowing what one wants and then appreciating what one has. The days walk was came to an end after two hours climb as the first base camp was approached and was decided to at short distance only for getting acclimatized with the surrounding. As a matter of fact the first three days are planned in a way that you get used to of the climate and the altitude for avoiding high altitude sickness.

I was exhausted in a short walk; it may be because I am used of walking lateral than inclined climb. I learnt how tents are executed which is of vibrant colors. I could see the technical design of the tents consisting two layers where one is acting as walls of room and other to protect from snow and wind. I slide my body inside it to see my beautiful new habitat for another ten days. I was having two roomettes, Abhijeet and Ishan for the rest of the trek as each tent was meant to accommodate three people. I used to wonder that how you can live without TV, computer, Internet and mobiles which are lifeline for this generation. We are critically engaged in the wired atmosphere where hard disk of our mind has been attacked by the virus called virtual life style. I don’t say that one should not use technology or the luxuries available to us, but somewhere it should be balanced with the ascetic element of living stated in Kuran, gita or Bible. We often forget that these amenities are made for us and not we are meant for them. I found on the journey ahead that, it needs courage to break this fundamental thinking of living as we are born and brought up by these rigid thoughts. While trekking ahead we crossed two passes called The Chandrakhani pass and the Kalirani pass. The optimum height we reached was above fourteen thousand feet and was proud to have this accomplishment. We kept walking for another ten days on an average 7-8 hours daily. Each and every day brought new enthusiasm and the thirst to feel most of the nature and its scenic beauty. Now I wonder, why in religious books it is mentioned that God is living in Himalayan, as if even that almighty could’t resist the beauty of this crown of India.

The entire trek was a learning experience about trees, flowers, mountains, peaks, birds, stars and the geographical elements of the universe. It was the best time for personal introspection one can get with the perfect surrounding. I could feel the wind blowing, could hear the sound of flowing river water; can see the light reflecting on the peaks of Himalayan. My mind was re-energized and transformed by all this enlighten living in nature. I had a key learning about was we often forget to appreciate this beautiful world created by that almighty and keep seeking pleasure in the materials for what we struggle throughout our life. He has already availed it to us for free, but now we need to pay a lot to see even those free gifts given by god.