A Ride on the Falcon, and Welcome to Base Camp

5th May 2008
Delhi.
Pune-Mumbai by road, Mumbai - Delhi flight, took a rick to Munirka. After a brief halt with my friend Vinayak who studies there, I made by way to Central Secretariat from where I took the Metro to Connaught Place. I was to rendezvous with Naveen there, before we head off to the Bus Terminus (Inter-State Bus Terminus, ISBT).

I wasn't familiar with which ISBT to take the bus from. Apparently there are three of them in Delhi, and I didn't know where either of them were. The auto driver who took me to CSec told me something about it being near the Red Fort. That meant I had to get down at Kashmere Gate. With that vague notion I put forward the idea of taking the Metro from CP to Kashmere Gate.

Imagine my compete surprise when the Metro announcement came : Next Stop: ISBT, Kashmere Gate. Brilliant.

We walked around for quite a while searching for the bus terminal for Kullu Manali buses. The usual touts and agents were of little help. At the ticket stand, one fellow from Haryana Transport took us under his wing. The wing of the 'Millenium Falcon', as you can see in V the Saadhu's post. Fuck man. There are buses, and then there are buses driven by Haryana Transport folks. They don't just drive their buses, they race them.

We reached Babeli at about 9.30 am on 6th May. After a brief walk we came across the Base Camp.

6th May, 2008
Base Camp. Babeli (4000ft). (Part 1)
We were assigned Tent Number 7, where we met this guy called Kartik Chandra, originally from Puri. There were also two fine gentlemen, Mr. Agarkar and Mr. Sanjay 'Sanju baba' Aggarwal, both from Indore.

We were given permission to go to Kullu, and we did so to gather some supplies. We got to chit chat with each other over a spot of tea. Kullu market as such was a pretty boring experience. It was pretty hot and the uphill climb through the market didn't really make matters pleasant. I took note of some Tibetian (veg, non-veg)restaurants.

Now as you must be knowing, YHAI serves vegetarian fare on their treks. That's fine, but it is the same at every meal - potato and/or cauliflower, dal, rice, rotis. V and I instinctively kept our eyes and ears open for any non-veg eateries.

After an uncomfortable and sleepy bus ride back to the base camp, we took our plates to the lunch area. People were getting done with their meals as we reached, and I looked at my food. I sincerely do not know what it was. Certainly not potato or cauliflower, but koftas in a strange yellow curry which tasted of besan. I looked at Naveen. He was as aghast as I was. The rest of the lot didn't find any trouble gobbling up their meal.

(To be continued)

The Millenium Falcon, the Wookie and Han.

Ponder a while about how Luke an Obiwan had to get dem selves a ride to their destination.I bet you got nuthin close to experiencing wut we did. we experienced the Haryana Transport.

Between all the chaos at ISBT, we meet the Wookie,a conduction machine, who vocally dominated the lot to gain our trust. Forced to buy the tickets to the bus ride at 365 rupees, initial look of the Millenium Falcon was quite disappointing.A rabid bus. Barely any room fer a person. we had to tuck our lug under the seats. Half an hour in time passed wid people swarming the seats an taking every nook of breathing space left in the bus. though tired we were kept awake by the Wookie's war cries. damn dat guy can scream.

The Bus ride was giving us a certain enthusiam which lasted till the city outskirts. we were lost in our conversartions wen we realised how the vehicles on the road were whooshing behind. OK.??!??!!! so the millenium falcon had some power. an then we heard the silence inside the bus. we were goin fast, really really fast. the point came when a Volvo Bus we saw ahead, joined the particles of dust behind us. we needed seat belts. but all we got was to see that one moment. Drivin the bus was han an Wookie both on either front corners of the bus an the empty road between. this was gonna be a joy ride till the morning. every objected that moved on the road wud be fried in the trails left .. In Warp Speed. !!

In between all this i realise this night i'd sleep to wake up an see somethin i've never seen in ma life. Snow covered peaks Of the Himalayas :)

Rendezvouz In Delhi

The time that followed i meet Ben Aka Caesar. respect and the times we shared stand strong, i realise, even after a year. we took a moment to pay mutual honor and shoot adrenaline.I still have no freakin Idea how we got past the security wid a coupla swiss army knives and pair o nun-chaks in our baggage. so, we enter the metro.

Its a Program. I was hoping to fight Agent smith der. no such luck tho. :P

Highly Organised an Very facilitationg. the Del Metro is one o the fastest an easiest means of transtport i've ever been thru. We ride to Kashmiere gate and take steps to ISBT. Felt like we were hurled between a pack o wild hungry wolves on leashes. each state had a base station of operation where they'd convince you to oblige. the mess was more evident than the noise around.

We went thru an episode which i claim,is not for the weak of heart or the metally challenged abt star wars.