Trek Experience Part-3

Day3( 1^st October) (Osla to Harki Dun)

It was chillingly cold morning at Osla which is located at around 2700 metres. We cancelled the plan of going outside for our morning rituals. It was second day at a strech that I didn’t take a bath. The trek was to Har ki Dun which was 13 kms away and at 3600 metres. So it was a uphill trek. Locals told it would take us 5 hrs to reach there.

            We started at around 8 am after having our breakfast(again roti and aaloo ki sabji!!!). There was a bad news, our GL, Malik saab fell ill after taking a bath. I don’t know who gave him suggestion to take a bath at that altitude at that time of day. Later we came to know that He is married!!!. We found him ‘bheegi billi’ type inside his sleeping bag in his room. He decided to stay there. One of the OTs who is a doctor(Prabeen) also stayed with him.

            We started our trek under the leadership of our AGL- Irina. She is from Himachal, lahaul Spiti district. So she was used to this kind of terrain and situations. Snow cap mountain which was our destination was visible from that place.

            We crossed the river Suben which originates from the glaciers( Jaundhar and Swargarohini) which we were heading towards. The bridge that we crossed was hanging and also swinging with the wind. As soon as we crossed the bridge, we started ascending steeply. We had to remove all our winter garments immediately. Sun was bright. At higher altitudes, UV rays are quite harmful. We applied our sunscreen creams.

            Songs, jokes, merry making continued through out. We clicked several pics on the way which made us slow. But we didn’t bother about that. There was no faculty around to say anything!!!. We navigated various tricky landslide points. Group dynamism and espirit de corps were at their best. One local boy was accompanying us to Har ki Dun.

            We came across several beautiful places from where the valleys were looking green and awesome. Some valleys were resembling Jurassic Park movie where one can recollect the helicopter descending scene.

            Himalayas is magnanimous. One feels like an insignificant creature in front of the mighty Himalayas. I can recollect the same feeling when I saw the sea for the 1^st time. But look at the human spirit, a 5 feet 6 inches tall guy with a stick in his hand has thought of conquering the mountains!!!. Kudos to academy for making me do so. We used to feel this trekking is meant to harrass and rag us but I think we are more confident and have developed sufficient endurance post trekking.

            Osla( the place from which we strated that day) is the last village in Indian territory in that route. So, we didn’t come across any civilisation on our way. We had to drink water from streams and had to pull our limited resourses. Annapurna devi( Asha)  kept distributing food stuff from her bag like madam santa clause. By that time Rakhee had twisted her ankle. But she kept walking. In hills there is no alternative- if u have started a trek u have some how reach your destination. Irina gave her the company. During rest of the trek, they were always seen together( Seeta- Geeta type).

            We were almost drained by 12 pm. We asked the local boy who was accompanying us about how much distance is left. Every time we asked this question, He told 10 mins. I don’t know why people have to lie regarding this. In our short treks in Mussorie, our PT faculty members used to do this trick with us.

            In between, the 1^st group( having capacity of walking fast!!!) had already reached the place. We got a call from them. Some how, we reached by 2 pm. The place – Harki Dun was simply awesome. The forest guest house was located inbetween the glaciers. The ‘swargarohini glacier’ is significant from mythological point of view. It is through this route, the pandavas travelled to heaven!!! We had lunch there( again rajma and aaloo ki sabji!!!). aaloo ki sabji never tased better. Actually these pahadi aaloo has an inherent saltieness which makes it tastier.

            Initially I thought of Har ki Dun to be a tourist place but we found it  completely lonely, inhabited by only 2 people( forest guard and GMVN choukidar). The GMVN guest house had 2 dormitories with 16 beds(exactly the number of male OTs!!!) at the rate of Rs200 per bed. Nothing better could happen. The ladies OT stayed at the Forest guest house.

            After our evening naps we gathered around the bonfire. It was very cold outside. Night descended, tea came along with other drinks too. We decided to play truth and dare- basically it was truth and truth. Credit should be given to Upadhyaya ji( Gaurav) for conceptualising and coordinating the game. He is from Lucknow and has all the ‘tehzib’ to make everybody comfortable in a gathering.

            Truth and truth game was a complete hit. We came to know many bare facts about fellow OTs- particularly the love stories, crushes, break ups. Story of Ragul was the most touchy one. Upadhaya ji’s love story was most filmy, I would like to share something here. He was supposedly a freesoul, I-give-damn kind of personality after 3 failed attempts at IITJEE and had to join another college. He fell for a girl. That girl told him that if He tops the semester exam, then she may consider for his proposal. Upadhaya ji topped the exam for 6 consecutive times!!! He cleared IIFT after graduations and now Civils!!!. This is what u say power of love. I thought, woman quota should be introduced at IITs and NITs(these colleges have the skewest sex ratio) so that people’s performance at exam can be increased and better engineers can be produced!!!.

            After truth and truth session we went to sleep. By this time we had developed concern for everybody. Trekking was doing its job- we started gelling with each other.