Trek Experience Part-4

Day4 (Har ki doon-Osla-Taluka)

It was freezing at Harkidoon in the morning which is located at around 3600 metres. So probably the temperature dipped to negative part of scale at night. I went out for my morning ritual as usual. By this time I was quite Ok with doing it outside( probably getting into my muscle memory!!!). But the water of the stream was so chilled that my hand and legs collapsed for some tym.  Anyways that stream was coming out of a glacier which was just a kilometre away!!!.

            It was a long trek that day. We were supposed to cover the entire return journey from Harkidoon to Taluka via Osla which we took 2 days to cover while going up. Around 30 kms had to be covered in a day’s time which consisted of descend of around 1000 metres.

            So we started early. Photography and loitering were almost banned inorder to save time. We had our breakfast at the forest guest house( guess the food!!!). Tiwari ji(Baibhav) was seen distributing sweets- it was his birthday!!!. He assured us a party( we went to Tavern at Mussorie after coming back, according to him that was the best B’day party ever). Sharing your birthday with Gandhiji and Shastriji is something very nice- you get an official holiday!!! But the problem is with the ‘dry day’ thing.

Anyways Tiwari ji is gandhian all the way- no meat , no alcohol( He was sipping some fancy flavoured tea at Tavern where almost everybody else was drowning in liquid which was coming out of coloured bottles).

            The first group started early( around 4 people who were by this time famous(??) for reaching first were in that group- They were given the responsibility to  make sure that we get food at right time at Osla). For the first time, the entire group was in mission mode- we were walking very fast, surpassing the khachhars on the way!!! We covered substantial amount of distance in initial 2 hrs of trek. But while descending it hurts at knees as the entire pressure of body comes to it. After a while I felt like my knees are getting stiffened. I used the stick to the best and tried  not to give pressure to my right knee as almost 20 kms of trek was still left. Some how we reached Osla at around 12.30 pm. We were welcome by a smiling Malik saab(our GL). I went straight to the guest house lobby and stretched for a while on the sofa. By this time we had started valuing the small small things in life that we take for granted otherwise in day to day life- sleeping on a sofa was never better. We had our lunch at the dhaba( aaloo rajma). Rakhee ji suggested me to take an MR(muscle relaxtant) from Shena. I did so and we started for Taluka.

            After a while that MR started working and I felt better. I would have taken a combiflam had Rakhee ji not told me about that MR thing. So it’s always advisable to consult a doctor than doing quackery!!!

 It was fourthday without mobile network and people were desparate to call their near and dear ones- in particular the married people!!!. We came to know that STD facilitiy is available at a village near the maggi point( this was the place where we had maggi on the way to Osla). Rakhee, Irina and Baibhav went to call and were seen coming happy. Rakhee was happy that she could talk to her 6 yr old daughter-( mother-child relation is special, no conditionalities atall).

We took break for some time at the maggi point, unfortunately that was closed that day. Our GL came up with an idea of going to Taluka from that place through a short cut. Some locals had told him that the short cut is straight and there is less ups and downs. The route was just along the river. We asked the khachhar walas but they declined by saying there are some blockades due to fall of tree which khachchars cant navigate. It was enough of a warning but we didn’t listen and started along the river- the short cut. For initial half hour or so it was too good- almost level path and was not rocky at all. We were happy that we took a nice decision. But after a while things strated changing.

We came across those points where the trees had fallen which had literally blocked the path. We had to crawl down the trees at several places to cross that. It was thick forest and as we were walking very close to the river, we could hear the roaring sound of the river. After few minutes we came to a point which was almost like ‘lands end’- there was no path beyond that point along the river and the river had narrowed down dangerously at that point and was making frightening sounds!!. Everybody was perplexed. The same people who were in awe for malik saab started cursing him for taking the short cut. I could recollect the warning given by Rawat ji(our PT faculty) “if you take a short cut, it will make you cut short”.

Sadanand(ITBP guy) looked here and there for some time and took a muddy path  upside. After deliberations among us we decided to climb up in that path. Few steps later we could here Sadanand saying that there is a way!!!! We came across few more points like that which we navigated the same way. By that time we had become apprehensive. Weather had started to become hostile as it became cloudy and soon rained. This was nothing but Murphy’s law working- when you fear that something will happen, it does happen. Fortunately it rained for brief period. It was almost sunset time. We had to anyways reach the guest house at Taluka before sunset.

We met some people working on the bank of river who told us the path which leads to the main path(which we left at maggi point). Finally we were back on track and almost sprinted towards Taluka. It was 6 pm by the time we reached. Directly We went to the dhaba( Thakur Dhaba) where we had maggi with moong dal toppings!!!

I took a bath after 4 days at the guest house. People started playing cards. After sometime, bonfire was lit and we assembled. We played Dumb-charades that day. People were distributed into 2 groups- those who drink and those who don’t. The teetotallers won with a margin as large as 6-3!!! Probably alcohol made those who drink, dumb enough to play the game. We had dinner and went to sleep. As next day was scheduled to be entire a bus travel, people were realaxed. The 1^st phase of trekking came to an end.