My Himalayan Trek - Part I

'My Himalayan Trek' has been written in 2 Parts.

I was in XI grade when our ex-guides teacher called a meeting of all the President awardee scouts and guides ( something you become after 5 years of guides classes and 13 camps later, at which point you are capable of living under a single tent with centipedes, termites, pregnant dogs and other guides, amid heavy downpour). We were all surprised, "wasn't all the scouts and guides stuff over in X grade??" Apparently not. We had the opportunity ( 'incredible blessing' according to my guides teacher) of going trekking to the Himalayas with a group of kids from another state. We were given the details and were asked to tell her if we were interested.

As we all walked out of the room, amid all the "wows", "incredibles", "ultimates" and "too goods", there was only one sarcastic voice that went "what bull, its never gonna happen!!!" That was ME.

Only the guys were considering it as a serious option, the girls were just oohing in their imagination. ( you know the same reasons, mummy wont allow, or Daddy said no). But nobody's plans materialized. But all of a sudden my friend Priyanka (or her mom. I'm not sure who) took some initiative and goaded ( please give some leeway for lil over as well as under exaggeration) me into agreeing. We'll collect more people she said. In the end, it was just the 2 of us, and our guides mam. My mom was dead against it. But my dad wanted me to go, he said its good exposure. Priyanka's mom was all for it too.

There were many discouraging signs. For instance, we werent getting any tickets at such a short notice. Then my principal tells us that the school will not take responsibility!!! (That scares my mom even more). Then my mam's purse gets stolen. Oh ya, The Purse which had all the money we had contributed for the program. It was damning really. Then everything sorted out. Our NCC sir's family cancelled out on him, so we had 3 tickets!!! ( and him too :-( ) Then the school board offered to pay the amount that was stolen. So my mom's prayers were'nt answered and her youngest daughter finally set out for the himalayas (with an upset stomach and too much luggage).

We reached delhi after a 2 day journey. I wouldn't say the journey was uneventful, but lets leave that out. We stayed there at Priyanka's uncle's place. We spent the next two days shopping (my favourite hobby) for back packs, gloves, rugged jeans and other trekking stuff. And then it was time for us to leave for Manali.

We boarded the bus and said our good byes. It was an overnight journey, which took more time than expected. Now, did I tell you that I sufffer from motion sickness. Oh ya. As we wound around the hills and headed for Manali, I started throwing up. My Mam then very happily gave up the window seat. All the alu parathas, oranges, etc., all of it was scattered all throught the route to Manali.

Some time late at night we were passing through Shimla, Priyanka woke me up to show me the beautifully lighted Shimla town. I promptly woke and threw up. She never asked for my opinion about Shimla after that.

We reached manali in mid morning. Our base camp was actually a dharmshala kind of place. You know, the big coutyard in the centre with a water pump. Some restaurants on the ground floor and rooms and dormitories in the floors above. I must confess, when i was told base camp, I was expecting something like a tent. Anyway we walked into the fresh and very frozen air of Manali (to my relief. Anything was a welcome change compared to that bus) and headed straight for the water pump. We just washed our hands and face. The water was so cold, that when I finished, my palms were blue. (THIS is not exaggeration).

We were shown to our room by this guard who I later learnt was to accompany us every where. We were given a single room with three beds. The other girls were 3-4 years younger to us and were all from the same school and were staying together in a dormitory a floor below ours. We were asked to get ready, as just the three of us and the guard had to take a walk around Manali and over a hill, that had a temple of sorts. Just to get used to the weather they said, but at the end of the walk we understood it was more helpful in getting used to our beloved Mam's intricacies (read as wierdness). SO we set out, jeans, sweaters and scarves in place. But our Mam dressed a lil specially. She found it necessary to wear a salwar (an indian dress) and a sweater on top of that. But she topped it all with track pants and jacket. So she stuffed herself and the salwar into the track suit which was grey by the way. So she actually looked like a lil grey baby elephant slowly rolling up the hill with the guard. We used to walk a lil faster (maybe cuz we were lighter), and whenever we looked back at her, it was hard to supress a smile. But she was one enthusiastic lady, and you couldn't beat her at that.

Contd...