Sweet Sixteen

Awesome sixteen

After many Treks in Sahyadri, our trekking group was finally convinced that we are ready now for a Himalayan trek.  At the onset of new year we announced our very first Himalayan trek. After a lot of deliberations and exchange of ideas we finally decided to do a trek in Uttarakhand “Har Ki Doon". The Valley of God”.

Since we were a group of about sixteen people we decided to look for a trekking agency in Dehradun rather than joining a very large group. We wanted some peace, some freedom, a bit of flexibility and of course local flavor. After a thorough search Sachin and I bumped into Mr. Bachaan Rana from Himalaya Shelter almost at the same time. And slowly everything fell in place.

Next three months just passed by practicing, planning, emptying pockets in shopping and then discussing the entire plan again and again. The excitement was rising. 
The awesome sixteen headed to Delhi on 13^th May 2017, leaving our family members behind who surely heaved a sigh of relief. 

Ashok in Josh

 After spending a carefree day at Dehradun we headed to Sankri. Mr. Bachan Rana along with his team greeted us at the hotel and we stepped into the tempo traveler. As we left the boundary of Deharadun, the Mountains stood tall in front of us. We crossed Massouri, and many more villages and small towns and gigantic mountains in the company of countless turns.  The journey was tedious yet enjoyable.

As the anxiety to reach Sankri was at its peak we suddenly halted at a forest check post. Mr. Rana along with his colleague Arnab enters the check post. Each one of us without a word alight from the bus and suddenly enter the check post. There are some wildlife photographs displayed on the walls. So we decide to glance at them. Somehow Mr. Rana comes out instantaneously and is astonished to see all of us in there. He requests us to get into the bus and we obey him like school kids. We are sweet sixteen after all. 

Finally we reach Sankri and there ends the bus journey. We now search for a

Chandan on the top of a jeep

tea stall. As we are waiting, our bags are being transferred to the jeep. We see a very rudimentary road in front of us. We will now be transferred to our base camp at Gangad. It is almost 8-10  kms drive. I am seated next to the driver along with Sangita. As the jeep takes turn on the kachchaa road, Chandan calls out and says he wants the cap. I suddenly realise he is sitting on the roof top. I mutter to myself, who asked him to put himself to so much risk? What if he falls down? But he was bound to do it. We are sweet sixteen after all. 

Chandan, Siddharth, Aabha, Mr. Rana and Arnab

A bumpy ride of almost one hour comes to an end. And here we see the camping sight. Some of the tents are already erected and some are in progress. Aabha’s battery is fully charged now. She starts giving a helping hand to Mr. Rana so the others have to join. Some mature and most amateur effort brings one more tent to stand on the ground.  All of us now settle down in our tents.

Camp Fire

After a while we come out and gather near the camp fire. We are served delicious hot meal. Mr. Rana interacts with us and gives a short round of introduction of his team. We now gather lot of confidence in the team after this interaction. We keep talking in Marathi and broken hindi. Some times in Hirathi (Hindi+Marathi). The team is really polite and patient. I am sure they already know who they are dealing with. Come on we are sweet sixteen.

It is 10 pm and we slowly resign to our tents. The sleep takes our charge and we surrender to our dreams. Dreams of tomorrow, dreams of snow caped mountains, dreams of conquering the mountains and dreams of Har Ki Doon.

Don’t forget we are sweet sixteen after all.

To be continued ..........