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 13th May 2017, leaving our family members behind who surely heaved a sigh of relief.
The awesome sixteen headed to Delhi on 13th May 2017, leaving our family members behind who surely heaved a sigh of relief.
Ashok in Josh |
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
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 on the top of a jeep |
Chandan, Siddharth, Aabha, Mr. Rana and Arnab |
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 ..........
Superb.... Waiting for next part
ReplyDeleteThanks Ajit. You will get it soon.
DeleteNicely written Ashwini.👏👏
ReplyDelete