We are Sixteen Going on Seventeen? No Eighteen

Har ki Doon

Sixteen of us have known each other for several months now. Some of us may be for several years. Hence there is a natural flow of communication we have developed among us. It is 5.00 am. Chandan and I wake up to the chirping of birds. The morning sunlight is trying to enter through our tents. We have never been woken up by the morning Sun rays in the past two years. Yellow tube light had the sole privilege of dimming our eyes every morning. 

We have slept on the hard surface but not once have we missed our soft cozy beds.  We have no blankets but the sleeping bags are very warm. And more than anything, we have had a wonderful sleep in the lap of the Himalaya.

As we come out of the tent, Supin River is sparkling in front of us. Many of us go to the stream nearby. Our bathing prince Vishal is set to take a dip in spite of us warning him not to do so. We are ready with our backpacks at 7.30 am to head to our first day trekking. Our guide is Chacha and Arnab is going to back us up too. Arnab is a young engineer from NIT and has courageously quit his job to join Himalaya Shelter. He says he loves trekking and hence does not want to continue his mundane work at a reputed software company.  I am amused and really have developed lot of respect towards his courage by now. Mr. Rana gives us some routine instructions and sees us off. 

Bahttar singh chacha is our leader now. We say 'Ganpati Bappa Moraya' and proceed on our route. We are told that today is a long day. We would be walking and climbing a distance of around 16 kms.  The rough estimated arrival time is 3.00 pm.

All of us are very cheerful and are talking continuously. We walk through the beautiful forest. Most of the route today is going to have a green cover. It is amazingly beautiful. The climbs are gentle and fully protected by huge pines. The birds chirp and River Supin makes its presence felt all the time. It is continuously by our side.

Pranav and Kalyani

Most of us have handed over our bags to the porter. Kalyani and Pranav have refused to do so and hence they are carrying their heavy sacks on their backs. We walk and talk and talk and walk.  Chacha gives us some information in bits and pieces. He is a resident of Osala.  On knowing this we tell him that we would like to visit his place.

After a walk of about one hour we reach the place called Taluka. It is a tiny village however very important in the region since there are some satellite phones there. There is a school,  neatly constructed forest quarters and Garhwal Nigam Rest House as well. Some villagers have also constructed home stay facilities.  We pass though this village. It is a quite yet beautiful village. 

We have to cross a tiny bridge over the Supin River after which there is a slight climb.  At the end of the climb there is a small Maggie point.

 Himalaya has provided patronage to this mega brand “Maggie” for years together. I wonder if Maggie could realize it and give some royalty to Himalaya for its conservation.

The Goat Man

I suddenly see a man sitting along with his goat. I request him to pose for a photograph. He happily poses along with his goat. As I click the photo he asks me to show it to him. He nods in approval  and says, “Send a copy to me”. I ask him, “Where do I send it?” And he gives his postal address. As I note it down, I  promise him to send the photo copy.  His face glitters with joy. For the first time in my life I realise, happiness is so very inexpensive yet hard to find. Small things can give you greater joy and greater things draw  you away from it.

On the Supin Bridge

We proceed further in thick forest now. However the river is flowing beside us at a lower level now. I am able to notice the height we are gaining as I look down towards the river. After a while we notice a wooden bridge. Sushant and Suhani, the father and daughter duo are just ahead of us. They want to click the photographs on the bridge. The sweet sixteen nature erupts out of us and everyone is fighting to climb the bridge to click a snap. Chacha warns us that the bridge can take only 8 to 10  people at a time. So we contemplate and take turns to go on the bridge. Suhani is a sweet girl. She gives us way and all of us do the modelling. Anup and Arnab volunteer to click photographs. 

We keep walking for another two hours or so. Chacha tells us that there is nice place to sit where we can have our packed lunch. We reach a nice home stay cum restaurant. Sitting on a table to eat is a luxury. We grab our lunch consisting of sandwiches and juice.  Our stomach is not full but we anyway want it that way because we still have to walk for another hour or so.

Arnab And Sachin Sighting Crows

As we proceed further the nature shows us more of its beauty. We are surrounded by lush green mountains.  Supin river is always by our side and pines and oaks are overlooking us. It is getting more and more interesting and suddenly we see our tents by the side of the river. They are welcoming and we too are too eager to rest. As we occupy our tents we realise it is going to rain. We are captured inside our tents for a while. Chandan and I have nothing to do hence we make a list of places we want to visit all over the world. Human nature indeed. We are  not sure of what is going to happen in the next hour and we simply start planning for thousands of hours to come.

Mr. Click Anoop Keluskar

It stops raining and we come out to see the surroundings in the clear day light. Vishal goes for his n^th  bath of the day. Some of them are drying the clothes and others are watching the beautiful river flowing besides us. Anoop grabs his camera and Mayur his binoculars. We too get a chance to use his binoculars. It looks beautiful. I am unable to absorb everything and hence keep clicking the pictures of snow capped mountains. Anoop sights some birds and tells Arnab to capture them in the camera. Poor Arnab has to delight his customer and hence goes on shooting at the birds with his camera. According to Sachin they were all crows. 😃😃

We get back to the dining tent now since it is dark and it has started raining again. Hot Maggie, a bowl of soup and then dinner. The time simply passes by. As we start chattering in Marathi, Arnav looks at us and wonders what are we speaking.  But somehow he seems to enjoy the conversation. He mostly keeps shifting his gaze from one another. We take up the job of interpretation in rotation. He now feels one amongst us. Chacha also joins us on and off. We are gelling,  we are exploring and hence at the end of the day, we are sixteen going on eighteen. 

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