Day 2, Acclimitisation Hike and Day 3: Rock climbing

Day 2

Two 'major' things on the agenda today: an acclimatisation hike, which was just a 20 minute hike; and prep for our camp-fire rendition. Not that I was excited about the camp-fire or anything; I wanted to have as little to do with it as possible.

For the hike, we went across to a nearby hill for a gentle climb. We eventually reached a temple, which also had a freshwater source. We cooled our heels and went through the obligatory 'introduction session'. There were about 12 of us; a number really small by YHAI trekking-group sizes. There was some talk of few more members joining in, which led to a bit of consternation from some of the participants, especially the older folks. "We have already gelled with each other.. newer people won't fit in with us.. we should complain to the camp field director", they protested. Interestingly, it was the older group members only who voiced this kind of concern, that too in spite of having known the rest of us for only 1 day!

That was the only amusing period of the day. We had a discussion on how to handle the camp fire.

Much to my feeble protests, I was made to play the role of a doctor in a small play, and sing a few lines in Malayalam to one song, which, incidentally has lyrics in all major Indian languages. I would have never done it, but it was one way to get the whole group off my back to partake in this program.

I had a lot of trouble with my lines for the play. I'm not stage-friendly, that's for sure. Anyways, I didn't screw up, the play was fun, my lines for the song were okay. No one understood me anyway. That done, the day was over.

Day 3
Rock Climbing, Rappelling

Early morning, which was always a pain for me because of the cold, I awoke early and took a few rounds around the camp. Met up with the new recruits to our team: Vihang and Anuj. They were part of a 15 member team from Gujrat, who, other than Anuj, were comprised of a father-son duo each. I was amused to think of the oldies' reaction to this.. addition. Hehe..

Long story short, we did some rappelling in the morning, and went for a rock climbing session in the afternoon. Total timepass, both were some easy stretches and we were back by 3, of course, having had lunch in between. Indeed, we hopped to Pritam's dabha (it was called 'Beas Bhojanalaya', by the way), ate our chicken-and-roti meal and came back just in time for rock climbing. "Where were you?" asked a concerned Sanju Baba, "You missed lunch!" We gave some excuses of having gone to Kullu to buy sunglasses for KC. Incidentally he DID buy sunglasses, for 15 Rs./-.

After coming back, we packed our rucksacks for the trek and had them weighed by Swami, our field director. Naveen and KC were unable to take their tripods, which affected KC the photographer quite a bit. Myself, I had lost all interest in photos ever since I forgot to get my camera from Mumbai. I simply can't use any camera other than my tried and trusted Sony DSC-P8.

There was a campfire by the group after us (SK-13). It was a relief to be a part of the audience this time. Lights out at about 9.30. Having gotten used to the hard ground and blankets, I drifted away.

First Sight of Himalayas and Babeli Base camp

The life I've had, everyday, has been as if it were to bring to me somethin new. The night after we flew in the Millenium falcon I saw the most stunning an commanding form of nature, the mountains of the Himalayas. Waking up to a scenery like that can make that mornin a memory for the rest of your life.

I woke up neither to the noise inside the bus nor the cool change in weather. It was the swing. we were swinging accordingly to the curves of the snaking mountain inclines of the road in Himachal.

The routes were playfully beautiful wid an occasional peek at the snow covered Himalayas, everytime we were hurled to the outer roads. Flanked by the river waters which seemed to have reached their calm. the cool breezes got cooler and we decide to jacket ourself some warmth. we realise we were gettin into wut will be our skin fer the entire trek.

We traveled over Kullu and watched the place. Mongers and keepers startin up their day settin up their shops. Their everyday welcomes our first day in Himachal.

We got offboard the falcon a furlong before the base camp and took steps ahead.we walk the roads feeling the breeze so cold.the running waters of river Beas beside us.

The base camp of Babeli was set bang in the middle of the most amazing of the locale.A humble place wid hospitable team and tents fer accomodation. We were welcomed by Lathika ma'm who took us in an got our registration done. Ben and I, we took an instant liking to her. A smile so warm an sweet. Ma'm added care to the camp. somethin that made us very comfortable to the 'adventure camp'.Babeli Camp had adequate facilities of Chilled water fer wash and whatsoever, the tents givin us the Camping feel and people from various parts of India sprawled in unision.

The best of the friends are made in an instance of introduction. And so it hapnd, we met Karthik Chandra whom i affectionately decide to call KC. He added the eastern dimension to Fellowship. Hailing from Puri, working at Delhi, he had remarkable skills in Photography. He was Adventure chaser, lone trekker, a runaway from the mundane and we knew he'd stand by us. We found our homey. little did we know our bonding wud last not just throughout the trek, but forever.

We dock. and let our baggage sleep its tire, for they'd been on our backs so heavy an so long. The Team added up wid us.Meeting Mr.Agarkar whose Deep motivation to achieve the summit along with Mr.Sanjay 'sanju baba' aggarwal.

We needed more paraphernalia than we thot we must, so we head out to Kullu. The town itself was humble and the little bauble of an offering from the towners was their buisiness. We explore the town carefully treading our way thru really huge cows, their unavoidable dung patches and petty bridges. our walk through the market was uphill and enlivened the adaptive life of the locals to the altitude. Me an Ben we scoped out the area in search of the restaurants. the locals are really friendly loving and offer affection first and then their sale. certainly a pleasant deal.

We enjoy the bus ride to and back from Kullu thoroughly enjoyin both. We reach the Camp to be late for the lunch. A Very disappointing lesson learnt. Though we were given some grub in our plates to hog, it was horrifically indistinguishable as to What it was ?. Ben and I jest as to wut cud it be. potatoes. dal. rice. sweetdish. porridge. take a 3 course meal with salad and works,blend and serve. Taste wuz luxury. Its not our metro food habits. its was jus bad. but it WAS food. so we beg our tongues an apology and feed our stomachs. We were so Numb after that. i guess we forgot to complain anymore. if I Do complain later. it was really, really BAD food.

The evening was pleasant. We learn to value sunlight. and our warm wear. The tea added to the get togethers. the company of people and team mates was sweet enuf for us to gulp the hot-water-wid-sugar. the fade-in of the night was fast an dark. a Brightly lit Camp proudly presented us wid the Custom of "Camp Fire". A Long lost ritual of entertainment by the team which was a day old at the camp. frankly it was Quite entertaining. the welcome was warm and appreciable along with a heartful Cheer to the team that was to start their endeavour. Dinner was painfully palatable. but we got to drown that with some warm Bourn (?!!@#$). we head back to our tents warm our blankets and rest.

First base camp.Check.

Day 1, Part 2. Exploring.

Pritam da Dabha

So time passed till about 4pm, when our hunger for a satisfying meal couldn't be kept any more at bay. We decided against going to Kullu again, after so many bus rides; instead, we'd walk along the road towards Manali and surely we'd come across a cafe of some sort.

We walked.

We walked and walked and walked. We came across a juice bar, a handloom house and a strange mystic selling grotesque figurines carved out of 'driftwood' - but no chicken. It was hot, pretty soon there was nothing in sight except for a winding road. We decided to ask some locals, finally. The only catch was, that because there was such a dearth of non-veg cafes, it was possible that most locals are vegetarian, and strictly so at that. With this in mind, we approached this oldish gentleman.

After listening to our query, he said he'll actually take us to one such place. Puzzled, we followed him. Turned out, he owned such a dabha. His name was Pritam Singh.

Having a chicken meal at such a dabha is different from others. Firstly you pay the cook to actually cut a fresh chicken. You pay per kg, of course. Then you give an additional amount for the meal to be cooked.

We had to wait for about an hour. No problem, it was a cafe, Naveen KC and I wiled away the time chit chatting.

The meal. It was fantastic.
We had found our food source. Satiated, and that too for only about 60 rupees per person. Chicken and 6 rotis each.

Once back, we hung around, had tea, and did general timepass till dinner, which, while it was nothing by Pritam's standard, it had to do. I ate a sweetdish called 'boondi', which looked like the small sweet-balls which ladoos are made of, with a few rotis. Of course I ignored their rice, vegetables and dal.

There was this thing called 'Camp-fire'. Camp Fire is an activity unique to YHAI in principle. Every group has to contribute some sort of cultural programme for the assumed entertainment/benefit of the whole gang. Every day a new group reports at the base camp, and at any given moment there are three groups present at the camp. Our group, was SK-12, and this was our first day. So we were spectators, and we were supposed to 'perform' the next day.

The camp-fire was total timpass, and I remember drifting off to sleep pretty easily.
End of day 1.

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.

The days draw near

Yes friends, the time for adventure is nearing. Blood shall be spilt, Legolas.

I have a few concerns about our trip, mainly dealing with the Rohtang Pass - ChandraTal leg. Firstly, we are renting bikes. Nothing wrong with that, however these bikes are going to be in a pathetic condition. A puncture on the way, or worse, a breakdown.. We will be in the middle of nowhere in sub zero temperatures.. I don't know if we will be carrying tents with us, either. Hmm.

Second problem is finding a place to stay near ChandraTal for a night. I suppose food can be managed but scouting out for rent-tents seems like a vague and expensive proposition.

That aside, the only other problems are gear-related, which I hope we can get sorted out. As far as I am concerned, my GMAT exam prep is coming in the way of everything. The prep is not too bad, thanks for asking. :)

More next time.