Pin Parbati Memories

28^th June

I left my home at around 8:20AM. On the way to J B Nagar bus stand, I picked up Charan also. We boarded the 9AM bus to BIAL. There was not much crowd in the bus and I and Charan talked a lot about the previous trek, this trek, the preparations etc. we reached the BIAL at around 10:30 AM and Sesha was already waiting for us at the airport. We got our boarding passes and then we proceeded toward the departure gate. We went through the security check at around 11 and had a cup of coffee (not me). We took couple of snaps and finally we boarded Kingfisher at 11:45AM. Sesha wanted isle seat so that he could have glimpses of sexy air hostesses. He was not disappointed as he got the isle seat. We had the lunch? Served and watched the movie “Bhoothnath”. A good time pass. We reached Delhi at around 2:45 and booked the pre-paid taxi to CP. Nobody knew where the Raj Travels office was but was knowing it is in CP. I called up the travel desk and asked for the directions. At last, we got down at Indira chowk in CP and had a good amount of walk before we reached the Raj Travels office. We were told that a single ticket can not be cancelled which was booked online. So we did not have any other way. We were hungry by that time. Even my health was getting deteriorated. I was recovering from the cold and cough but it was not complete recovery. So I had couple of medicines as a precaution. We went to Saravana Bhavan for having our late lunch. We had good lunch thinking for the next 10 days, we will not be having this kind of food. As my health was not good, I took some medicine and then we left to Chandralok building to board the bus to Manali. Vijay was supposed to join us at the Chandralok building. The bus was scheduled for 6:30 PM. We took an auto from Saravana Bhavan and reached Chandralok building at around 5 PM. Vijay reached the spot along with his in-laws at around 6PM. The bus came at around 6:40PM. We had our seats and started conversation. There was this one couple which had occupied the hot seat behind Vijay/Sesha’s seat. Interestingly they were also from Karnataka. Anyways, we were not interested in that. The bus left the CP at around 7PM, 0.5 hour late. All the way, the driver used to stop at places for no reason. Finally at one place, I think Panipat, he asked us whether we can move to the other Bus as there were only few passengers on both the buses. With initial hiccups, we moved to the other bus and occupied the seats which were far. The couple behind us was not so interested to change the bus as the guy was not willing to give up his hot seat. But finally they also settled but the guy was struggling to put off the night light above him. Jokes apart, Sesha got settled in the last seat as there were no people behind us.

At around 11:30PM, the bus stopped at Choupal for dinner. We got down and had dinner. Vijay had brought some Parathas from the home. We had parathas and some rice at Choupal. We got refreshed. Charan and Vijay shared some light moments with the local Rajastani folks and did some steps along with the kid. Finally we boarded the bus again at around 12:30AM in the morning and slept.

29^th June.

Moring I woke up to the rash driving of the driver. We were in the Himalayan Mountains and I saw the driver driving with only one hand and talking to somebody over the phone on the other hand. The bus was stopped at a place to have morning tea and coffee. Sachin’s hotel. My sour throat had worsened. I was thinking if this continues, I would not be able to do the trek. All three had tea and I had black tea to soften my throat. But it was not enough. We continued to Manali. At around 8AM, we were in Kulu. Mangat Ram called me up as I was trying to call him up. I was told that it will take another 1.5 hours to reach Manali. So, again, I was enjoying the beauty of Himalayas as I saw these three guys sleeping. At last at around 10AM we reached Manali. Mangat Ram was waiting for us in the bus stand. We got down and collected our back packs. We got introduced ourselves to Mangat. Mangat took us to the hotel he had booked. The Hotel Park View. What a name… the narrow building with 2 or 3 rooms in each floor. He had booked a room with two cots at 4^th floor. It was a five minute walk from the bus stand. We moved to our rooms and spread ourselves to take rest. Mangat had already some plans about the trek. He told us he will come back at noon. By the time, we took bath, got refreshed and set out for having lunch. A near by dhaba attracted us and went inside to have parathas soaked in oil. I was still having my problems with my throat and Sesha, being not exposed to this kind of heavy food, ate well. By the time we completed our lunch and went back to room, Mangat was waiting for us. He chalked out the plan. His plan was to start from Mudh gaon instead of Bursheni gaon as planned earlier. His claim was that if we start from Mudh, it would be easier for us to trek, climbing down the Pin-Parvati pass. If we start from Barsheni gaon, it would be a steep climb in the pass and he told it would be very difficult for us to climb. Finally we all agreed to start from Mudh gaon. Then we left with Mangat to purchase some trek items like socks, gloves, caps, scarfs etc. by this time, the heavy food was showing its effect on Sesha. Sesha started to feel head ache and after the purchase, he moved to room to take rest. Mangat moved back and told that the next day morning around 5AM we need to get ready.

I, Charan and Vijay were thinking of spending some time in sight seeing. So first we went to the nearest Buddhist monastry and have some snaps there. Later Charan and Vijay had famous chat there. Hahaha…. Never forgettable. Charan suggested that we see some rare temples in Manali. So we took auto and first went to Hidimba temple at around 6PM. This is the only temple for Rakshasi Hidimba in India. It was like a cave temple and has the foot impressions of Bhima, the second Pandava. We got the darshana and then we set out to see Hidimba’s son’s temple i.e Ghatotcacha’s temple. It was just a tree wrapped with some clothes and some stones and photos. Charan told we should not miss Manu temple which is again the only temple of this sort in India. So we set out for Manu temple. We decided to walk to the temple. We thought its not so far from Hidimba temple. Later we realized that it was really not far but breathtaking as we need to climb to the temple path. The road was narrow and it was gradual ascend. My health was still not good but I decided to go. After around half an hour walk (climb) we reached the Manu temple at around 7:30 and offered our prayers and got back to the place where we can get an auto to our room. Around 8 and 8:15PM, we reached the market and by this time we were hungry. We called Sesha who had gone to take rest to come to market. We went to Sher e Punjab to have the dinner. Again, Sesha was feeling the effects of heavy food. So he did not take much in the dinner. He went back to the room after having some rice. We had our food and came out. Charan and Vijay had kick starting badam milk. We went back to the room and started the preparation for the next big day. We all felt that the back packs were overweight and that we need to pass some of the weights to the porters else, we will not be able to do the trek. More over Mr. Charan had most of this overweight in the form of cells, torch, trekking gears, gps etc. we were all laughing at his condition. But anyways we had decided to pass all these weights to the porters.

We slept in the room waiting for that bid day to come.

30^th June

Mangat had told to get ready by 5AM. So we got up at around 4AM and got refreshed and ready by 5AM. But there was no news of Mangat. I called up Mangat on his mobile but his wife replied that he had already left. We waited for him. Vijay, Sesha were sleeping again. I was just hopping inside and outside waiting for Mangat. Finally at around 6:30AM, Mangat arrived along with his troop of porters and the trek materials. We loaded our back packs on to the top of the jeep. We met the porters Tashi, Sonam, Bansilal, Somnath. All these packed in the back of the jeep and we three i.e I , Charan, and Vijay sat in the middle seat and Sesha and Mangat in the front seat with the driver. Sesha was still not feeling well. I think he had the combined effect of high altitude and the heavy parathas. At around 7, we stopped for having tea. We had a group photo before we left for Mudh gaon. We did not have any ideas as to how much time it will take for us to reach Mudh. We left after having tea. It was already bright sunny outside and there was lot of traffic on the way. We were heading to Rohtang pass. I wanted to see that famous road between the glaciers of ice which is shown in “jab we met” movie song. To my disappointment, three was not much ice in Rohtang pass. We did not stop in the pass and we continued our journey. Now it was almost 10AM at Rohtang pass and we were feeling the punch inside our stomach. We asked Mangat to provide us the breakfast. He stopped at a dhaba where we had some rotis and parathas. Sesha was not able to have anything. Then at around 11:30 we continued our journey toward Mudh. It was a breathtaking journey with beautiful views of Himalayas. Meanwhile we came across a monastery in kumjum pass. The pass is at around 4500mts above the sea level. Vijay had some luck in sticking a coin which according to our porters means only with pure heart and intentions can have the coin stuck. Hmmm Vijay was really pure and had good intentions. I and Charan did not try also. I was busy in taking some snaps around the monastery. Sesha I think did not come out. It was very cold outside. We again set out and by this time it was well after noon. So we started to feel hungry again. We stopped at a place called Losser to have lunch. By this time everybody was wary of parathas. So Charan and Vijay ordered rice and dal while I still preferred the paratha. While Sesha was not out of heavy food hangover, he was not at all feeling good. He was advised to take some milk and rice. He ate some rice but could not drink milk infact, milk was accidentally dropped down. An oldman at that hotel offered some tablet for Sesha. I think Mangat took that and kept with him. We spent around one hour at this hotel and left for Mudh. As soon as we left, Sesha vomited what ever he had taken. He condition had deteriorated. He was very weak by this time as he was not able to take any food. We continued our journey through beautiful Himalayas. By around 6 we were in Kaza. We got down and made calls to home. Bought some water bottles and again started our journey to Mudh. We reached Mudh at around 8PM and the road was broken due to the stream of water. So we could not continue and Mangat booked two rooms one for us and for them. We settled in one of the rooms. Mangat had dinner cooked for us. We had our dinner and slept. I and Sesha slept on the cot while Charan and Vijay slept on the floor (obviously with sleeping bags).

1^st July

The conditions were no different since yesterday. Sesha was really in danger. He used to vomit anything he took. We left Sesha at room and went out to roam in Mudh. We ventured into the fields and went to near by mountain??, spent some time. Took snaps. It was very difficult time to pass. Later somebody in Mudh advised us to take Sesha to Kaza to get medical attention. But the problem was that we were not able to get any vehicle which was going to Kaza. We got hold of a foreign guy who returned from the trek. He had hired the sumo. We thought we could get this. But this guy came to our room and talked to Sesha and us and offered some tablets after his expert examination. But he never offered his vehicle. We left with no choice. Meanwhile Mangat gave the tablet which the old man had given in Losser. It did some effect on Sesha and his vomiting had stopped. Still we decided by tomorrow morning, we would take the bus to Kaza and visit the hospital. Meanwhile, my health also started showing some signs of illness. We had bondas in the evening. I was already having headache due to high altitude and over that I had bondas. Good combination and speeded the process of vomiting. I vomited all that I had. Then we had our dinner and slept.

2^nd July

We got up at early morning and got ready to go to Kaza. The bus was at around 7AM. We boarded the bus along with Mangat. It was around 3 hours journey from Mudh to Kaza in the bus. I tried to sleep in the bus. Vijay had good time and made one friend in the bus. He was talking all the way. At around 10AM we reached the community hospital and were told that the doctor would come at around 11AM. We sat outside and waited for the doctor. Since I was also not feeling good, I had vomited in the morning. So, I also thought of getting treated here. At last, around 11:45 the doctor came. It was a chaos inside the hospital. Everbody started approaching the doctor. There were some 30 to 40 people who were waiting for the doctor. No wonder. In that high altitude desert, there was only one hospital and only two doctors. There was another foreigner who was also waiting for the doctor. By seeing the rush and the attitude, he did not dare to go to the doctor and came back. We had the privilege to go to the doctor first as we had come first and assembled in the room. First Sesha was examined and he was prescribed some medicines. Later I was attended and was told that I had low BP. The doctor gave some medicines for headache, high altitude sickness and to prevent vomiting. All these medicines cost only Rs1 as it was a community hospital. Later we came out of the hospital and bought some cucumber for eating. Now there was no bus to Mudh in the noon. We had to wait till evening for the bus. We decided to take the taxi which cost Rs1500. there was no choice except to wait till evening. On the way, we ate the cucumber. It tasted very good as we were hungry and we bought some fruits also. We reached Mudh at around 4 or 5 PM. An interesting thing happened as we approached Mudh. There were some blasts which were carried out to break the rock. So we had stopped way before the blast site. A group of girls who were working at the road came near our taxi and started to look around us. One girl who happened to be quite beautiful stood near Sesha and was staring at him. We were quick to react. Vijay took snaps. Meanwhile, the girl was little bit shy and stood quite far from the taxi. I offered some chocolates to her and her mate. They took and by this time, the road was clear. We proceeded towards our settlements. All the way we were making fun of this incident and pulling leg. Now Sesha was almost recovered and he was talking of going back to Bangalore. He stuck a deal with the taxi guy to drop him to Manali in the next morning. We also agreed to send him back. By this time, we had some contentions about continuing our trek. By seeing all these events, most of us had lost interest in the trek. I was proposing to cancel the trek itself. But Charan and Vijay had the opinion that we had spent so much on this trek, at least we need to do this trek. Later since we had already lost 2 days, I was of the opinion that we would not be able to complete the trek in 8 days and I did not want to push for 25 or 30 kms a day to cover the loss. So I was strongly for the half trek i.e to climb the pass and come back. Later we all agreed to do the half trek and we talked to Mangat about our plans. He also agreed. Infact it would be more easy for him. Later in the evening, we all four went out to our usual place of worship?? Charan and Sesha were sitting there and I and Vijay went down the hill to have some walk. We wanted to cross the bridge but the stream was so wide and deep, we did not cross it and came back. We then went back to the room and had dinner. We had decided that the next morning we were going to start the trek and Sesha would return to Manali. So keeping these in mind, we slept.

3^rd July

As per the plan, Sesha got ready in the morning at around 6AM when the taxi arrived. By 6:30AM, Sesha left for Manali. We then got ourselves refreshed and got ready for the trek. By 7:30AM, we were ready with our back packs and started our trek. Vijay got a foreign lady to take a snap of ours before the start of the trek. Then there were these two dogs which started to follow us. We named them as Rama and Laxmana. The group of foreigners also started toward Baba base camp. We had already left for Baba base and these foreigners left after us but overtook us. We were walking slowly and talking. It was bright sunny day and we were feeling the heat. I started to walk quite fast and sooner I was alone walking on the trail. Charan and Vijay were walking slowly and Somnath was giving company to them. Mangat and porters except Somnath reached the campsite at around 1:15PM and started to raise the tents. I reached at around 1:30 and by this time I was exhausted. So sat there and took rest and by this time, Mangat and his team raised the kitchen tent and our tent. Around 2 or 2:15 PM, Charan and Vijay came. We all kept our back packs in the tent and took some rest. We got our lunch by this time and after having lunch, we went for small nap. By 5PM we got up and I went outside to have some glimpses of the beauty of the Himalayas. I took some snaps. There this foreign lady was doing her yoga at the banks of Pin river or facing Pin river. Later Vijay and Charan also came out and we did some exercise to warm up ourselves. Vijay was also got involved in taking some snaps. I then started to climb the near by hill and went up to have a good view of the surroundings. There was this Danny who had already there and climbed one single rock. She was sitting at the top of this rock. I went and had some macro snaps of the flowers and came back. We also got closeness with Rama and Laxmana. Rama used to sleep near our tents and Laxmana used to sleep near the foreigners’ tents. We then started talking about Swargarohana where the dog followed the Pandavas and how one by one dies on the way. We were talking about the same like who will fall first and who will fall at the end etc.. we were joking, made fun etc. By around 7PM, Mangat provided us the soup and the snacks. Later it was followed up with the dinner. We also had our chakkuli, kodbale etc for the snacks. We gave some to the porters. By around 8PM, we had finished our dinner and were ready to go for sleep. It was a hard first day trek and so we go good sleep.

4^th July

The second day of our trek. We got up early and got ready. Getting refreshed was a big problem in that cold weather. By 7AM, we got the tea and breakfast. At around 7:30 we started off to Camp1 which is before the Pin-Parvati pass. There were lots of water crossings on this trail. Also, the trail was very much narrower where as the trail we had on first day, it was almost road track. It was also much of ups and downs on this trail. The trail was all along the Pin river. We took many rests in between and crossed many waters. It was a great experience. The water was freezing cold and we were feeling that in our feet when we crossed the water. Sometimes we need to jump from one rock to another while crossing these waters. Rama and Laxmana dutifully followed our group. We came across couple of glaciers also in this path. Finally we arrived at our camp1 at around 1 PM. Today it was quite earlier to the camp. While Mangat and his company were busy in pitching the tents, we rested on the rocks nearby. Later we had good lunch and took some rest. Then we had good time with the dogs. Vijay started to feed biscuits. Both dogs were happy to have the cream biscuits. Later I and Vijay went for some photography. There were lots of flowers. I started to focus on flowers close up and got some beautiful shots. We spent the day talking, enjoying the Himalayas and the next big day plans. We had our dinner at around 7:30PM and then went inside the sleeping bag.

5^th July

The big day. We are about to climb the Pin-Parvati pass today. For this we got up little bit early and started our journey at around 6:30am so that we should be able to get back to the camp by 4PM. Mangat and Tashi were not feeling well and they stayed back in the camp. Sonam, Bansi and Somnath accompanied us. We left our back packs in the tents as we were returning to the camp in the evening. We took only the camera and water bottles. Porters packed the lunch and then we set out. The dogs followed us. It was all along the Pin river. We needed to get to the origin of the Pin river on the top of the mountain. It was early morning and we were feeling the cold. On top of this, we needed to cross the river also. the real test came here. The water was freezing cold and we did not have any chances of evading the water crossing. We took out our boots and pants and tied them around our necks. Then one by one we started to cross the river. Oh my god. We felt the freezing cold water under our feet. When we crossed the river, nobody was in a shape to walk further. I did not have any feelings in all the 10 fingers of my feet. I thought, that is it. I need get the fingers cut due to frost bite. I had already started imagining without fingers. It was scary and awful. We sat on the rock and started to rub our feet, fingers but there was no use of it. Still we were not feeling anything. We wore our shoes and then started climbing the mountain thinking that the heat generated while walking will eventually heal our feet. Finally after some half an hour, we got the relief. We were then fine and our feet too. Slowly we started to ascend the mountain. Charan was feeling the most pain in his back and the feet. I started to feel the pain in my eyes. I was not able to open the eyes. The snow was so white and glaring that even inspite of wearing the goggles, I was not able to open the eyes. Another problem which I started to feel. I was thinking I am going blind due to this snow and I might have snow blindness. I had seen many programmes on Discovery shows and also about the Himalayas and the snow blindness at high altitude. I was fearing for the worst. Vijay advised me to do one thing. He told me to take some cotton or tissue, blow hot air from the mouth and then clean the eyes. I think it did the trick. I did this and was quite relieved after this. Now it was very fun in climbing the mountain full of snow. It was slippery all along and breath taking. Sonam and Bansi had very nice time. They were playing, teasing each other. We followed them. We even took some snaps while climbing the mountain full of snow. There were couples of crevices on the way and there was fresh snow also. Our feet went deep knee depth in couple of places. At last we reached the top of the pass at around 12 or 12:30 PM. It was a great accomplishment for us. There were lots of stone structures on the top of the pass but no snow. But the beauty of the Himalayas was magnificent. I was waiting for seeing this beauty. Words are not enough to describe this beauty. The mountains surrounding were full of snow and it was like some white cloth is spread on these mountains. Parvati peak was somewhat visible from the top of the pass but could not see the whole mountain. In mythology, it is said that Goddess Parvati used to come to this place to worship Lord Shiva. Weather it was true or not, the beauty of this place is astonishing. We took some snaps. Sonam and Bansi even built one more stone structure here. Vijay also joined them. We had very good time at the top of the pass and spent around 30 to 45 minutes. Now it was time to go back. We started to descend on the same path. Getting down was quite easier when compared to climbing but most accidents happen while getting down. Sonam and Bansi had very good time. They were skiing, making snow balls and playing. We followed them but did not attempt to do like them. Finally we got down of the pass and got settled just below where the snow ended. We had our lunch here. With difficulty we ate the chapathis and then started to descend. It was already around 2PM and the level in the water had risen. We were to cross the water at couple of points. Somnath first crossed the water by lifting his pants up. But Sonam and Bansi, young blood people, started to jump and cross the waters. They made some way for us to jump too. Charan took the lead. But it was really scary. First we passed our back packs to the porters. On the other side, Sonam and Bansi were ready to catch us when we jump. Charan first jumped but while jumping, he left his other leg loose. For a moment, I was shocked. Sonam and Bansi caught Charan and else, I don’t know what would have happened to Charan. Later Vijay jumped to the other side easily. Being tall, he did not have problems in crossing or jumping the waters. At last I was reluctant to jump and somehow I also decided to jump. At one shot, I jumped and landed at the hands of Sonam and Bansi. Thank God. I was alive. Then we went to the other side of the waters and started to descend. Soon we were down the mountains and came to the big river. In the morning, the water level was up the thigh level. Now, due to snow melting, the water level was more and as usual, Somnath went first to try. He had crossed the half river and then later realized that it was not possible to cross the river with its force and level. He came back to the shore. I was of the opinion that we should cross the waters at any cost because we were so exhausted that we did not want to take longer route to cross the river. But at last, nature won. We decided to take the longer route by climbing the glacier from where the river was flowing. Slowly we climbed the glacier but I was completely exhausted by this time. I took help of Somnath and bagged his hand. He pulled me all along the way to cross the glacier. Finally we came to the other side of the river. It took almost 45 minutes to 1 hour to go to the other side of the river. If we had crossed the river, it would have taken only 10 minutes. Just a km from the campsite, Mangat and Tashi were waiting for us. We met them and it was around 4PM. We were completely exhausted and did not have any energy to continue. I wanted to take rest very badly. Somehow, we reached our campsite and spread ourselves. We were served good soup and some snacks. Finally we went inside the tent and have good rest. We got the dinner at around 7PM and we had our dinner and slept. God had been very kind to us. After we returned to our camp, the weather turned bad. It became very cloudy and at night it was heavily raining. At one point of time, I felt, it was going to blow out our tent. Luckily it did not happen.

6^th July

Morning, the weather was calm but it was cloudy. No sign of sun. Sometimes sun used to peep out of the dark cloud but for most of the day, it was cloudy and drizzling sometimes. I was praying so that it did not rain. We got up as usual at around 6AM and got refreshed. After having tea and breakfast, we started our journey back towards Mudh. Today we are going to Baba base camp. As we had known this route now, we were going taking our own time. The trail was full of ups and downs and it was very much tiresome trail. Charan and Vijay were leading. I was in the back. I was in no mood to take snaps. So Vijay was in full mood. He took some snaps while walking. We stopped at many places to take rest. There were also couples of water crossings. Again, we needed to jump across the waters to go to the other side. At one crossing, it was more like a long jump but we needed to land on the slippery rock. First Vijay jumped. Seeing him jumped, I got inspiration and wanted to jump second. I stood on the rock. Counted 1,2 myself. When I said 3, I was about to jump but I did not know what happened. I backed off. There was some kind of fear somewhere inside me which held me back from jumping. I came back. Charan jumped easily. Everybody was encouraging me to jump. Finally took the courage to jump. Counted 1, 2 and 3 and jumped. Luckily I stepped on the correct rock and crossed the waters. A big relief. I was happy. Finally we proceeded towards our Baba base camp and by around 1 or 2 PM we reached the camp site. Mangat and his company pitched in the tents for us. They also had kept some food materials between some rocks. Later Mangat told, it is normal for the trek groups to keep food items between rocks so that when they are returning, they could collect them back. This also reduced the amount of material the porters to carry while trekking. Hmm.. good thinking. We got our lunch and we went inside our tent to take rest. It was quite boring for all of us. Vijay wanted to play cards but Charan did not want to play as there were only two people to play. I was not playing the cards. Somehow, Vijay convinced Charan to play the cards. Both played for sometime. Outside weather was still cloudy and very cold. So we did not have any mood to venture out. Also, it was the same camp site. So we did not have much interest to go around the camp site. We settled inside the camp. At around 6:30PM, we got the soup. Later we went to the kitchen tent. By this time, the desire to have some south Indian food was growing. We had also bought the MTR puliyogare paste. So we asked Mangat to prepare some rice. We taught them to prepare puliyogare. I had chowmein and Charan and Vijay had puliyogare. Later I also tasted some of it. After having this, we came back to our tents and went inside the sleeping bag.

7^th July

Finally the day arrived. We were ready to go back to Mudh and end our trek. There was only one water crossing today. We got up at 6AM as usual and I think left at around 8AM after having tea and breakfast. Soon we came across the water crossing and this time, we did not have much difficulty in crossing the waters. We took our own time and today I was in a mood to take some snaps. So while going back, I took many snaps. The trail was a vehicular track and we did not have much difficulty in walking down. After around 3 hours or so, we finally saw the houses. We were happy that we are reaching the village but also quite sad as the trek had come to an end. We reached the Mudh village at around 12 PM. We had kept our extra luggage in one of the houses which Mangat was knowing. We collected our extra items and were waiting for Mangat to arrange the taxi to Kaza. Finally we got a taxi to Kaza. We all got to this sumo. Think it did not have carrier on the roof. So all the luggages were kept on the back and Somnath was made to sit along with the luggages. In the middle seat, we three plus Sonam. In the front seat, along with driver, Mangat, Tashi and Bansi were sitting. It was very tiresome 2 and a half hour journey. We reached Kaza. We did not have any food now. The first thing we did was to call our home. We took almost half an hour in this and then started to spend some time. Mangat arranged for a room which we found it was very bad. So we asked Mangat to arrange the taxi to Manali and we would share the cost. Mangat agreed and there was one taxi which was ready to go to Manali to our luck. So we loaded our luggage and then were waiting for the last couple of luggage which we were expecting from Mudh. Meantime, we had purchased cucumber and ate to keep our hungry at bay. Later in the evening at around 4PM, we started off to Manali. It was another horrible yet amazing journey. I took lot of snaps this time while going. The non stop journey was stopped when we stopped for dinner just before the Rohtang pass. We had our dinner at one of the dhabas and then proceeded further. It was around 12 midnight at the Rohtang pass and the visibility was zero. We were afraid of some mishaps. But our driver was very good and he technically managed the curves and bendings on Rohtang very well even in the zero visibility conditions. At last we reached Manali at around 1AM and went to the same hotel The Park View and slept.

Our great journey to Pin-Parvati pass came to end.

Journey to Kodachadri

This is taken from Shivaram's write up on Kodachadri.

Date: 18th May 2007

"Ganguly eyeing 100 on Bangladesh tour", as if that was the achievement he waited all his life. But who cares what our cricketers do.
But you might be wondering what is that quote had to do with our trek. Well it's nothing, just wanted to start off with a eye-catching phrase. Could have started with anything, something like "Mutual Funds and securities investments are subject to market risks. Please read the offer documents carefully before investing", wouldn't have made much of a difference.

Hopefully I would have caught some attention for people to read the second paragraph. It's the end of summer; the initial showers (Mungaaru Malhe) are just around the corner in the Western Ghats. So, the Western Ghats beckoned us. Initially I had decided to go all alone, but Deepak pitched in later as his other trip got cancelled. In the last moment Poovi got in as well for our sojourn to Western Ghats.

So, we started off on Friday 18th May 2007 from KSRTC bus stand towards Kollur via Shimoga. Had dinner in the bus stand before we boarded our bus. We had a talk with the driver to drop us at a place called Karekatte which is 20 kms before Kollur. In the morning we all got up early so that we do not miss the stop, otherwise would have to walk all the way to Karekatte gate or take a jeep or auto to it from Kollur.

As decided we got down at the stop at 6:10 & started our journey towards Kodachadri. What a change from the shrieking honks & the pollution of our Bengaluru to chirping of birds & cool early morning breeze. The path for the next 4-5 kms was a straight lift from a jungle portrait. My favourite painting during my primary school days was that of school with a big field, a mountain as the backdrop, river flowing, birds flying & fields all around. Saw the exact same setting when we came across a Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shala(Government Higher Primary School). This was the first stop as we came across a Malyali Hotel(You will find lots of Mallus here as Kodachadri & Kollur is a sacred place for them), had our breakfast here which was a simple Kerala dish called Puttu. Just before reaching the hotel, when we enquired the localite about the distance to Kodachadri, he wanting to impress us with his English said it was 1 & half years, not sure whether it was slip of the tongue or tongue in cheek looking at Deepak's huge ruck sack.

From here on our ascent started up hill towards Kodchadri with greenery all around inspite of it being a dry season. Forests shed their leaves in order to conserve water during summer season, but Western Ghats was beautiful in this season as well, can't wait to see her after the rains. The trek involved following a single track in the jungles, some times 45 degree or a 60 degree climb but always having the ghats as background & to relieve our tiredness. The walk till the temple was a 6-7 kms walk. Do not want to talk about the distance we covered, as I & Poovi would always get into fist fights for the distance we covered. He always doubled the distance which I claimed was right (If left Poovi would also add his walk to complete his morning ablutions as part of the trek).

From the temple after a short break in Bhattara Mane(Bhatta's house), we climbed to the tip where there is a Shankara Peeta, the place where Shankaracharya went to meditate(we atleast had Malyali hotel & Bhattara Mane for our stomach, do not know what this guy had during that time). The last part was mostly a walk through the clouds.
After lunch rest of the day was spent in various places around the peak like Chitramoola Caves, Ganesha Guhe including a bath in one of the small water falls called Agastya Theertha.
Rest of the day was spent in waiting for the show we were waiting for all day, our Hero of the show Sunny Boy(SUN, our shining star) making a grand exit. The wait also included watching the visitors come by to visit Shankara Peeta. It included a Mallu Girl who became Poovi's favorite muse for the next 2 days. Kodachadri is one of the places where we can see Sun rise & Sun set at the same place, Kanyakumari is another I remember. Clouds played villain for our Sunny Boy's show as they didn't seem to stop coming between him & us(there were greater villains, will talk about them later). We sat at a vantage point with the clouds hitting us on our faces, but that didn't stop us from clicking some snaps when the clouds relented. With dark skies looming large & our Hero Sunny Boy resting till the next show began it was time for us to have our dinner by the fire camp we had prepared.

Any bollywood formulla would not be complete without an Item number; we also had one with the cresent moon swinging in a suggestive manner with stars surrounding her completing the group. We retired at the feet of Shankaracharya in our sleeping bags, whenever we opened our eyes to the new surroundings we had mist flowing across us or the item dancers dancing sexually in the sky.

Morning we got up early to watch the second half of our Sunny Boy's performance. This time he didn't disappoint us & no villain to stop him now. The Sunset & Sunrise would be etched in our memories for some time to come. We started our descent after our breakfast towards Arishinagudi Falls which would be the main attraction on the second day. We reached the Malyali Hotel well ahead of the schedule; from there we hired a Local Guide who would lead us to the falls through the jungles with no proper track in place. It is advisable to take a local guide here as it is very easy to get lost in the jungle with no track to lead us to the destination. Also this place would be infested with leeches after the rains, so anyone wanting a treacherous trek could go there after the rains. So started our journey with a visit to Lord Krish in the ISKCON temple (these guys seems to be everywhere) in the village.

It took us almost 1 & half hours to reach the falls in the middle of the jungle. One thing to remember is never believe what the localites say, whenever we asked him how far is it? His answer would be "Innen banthu Saar, ondu kilometer idhe"(It's just nearby, just 1 km). When he finally told that it was just half a km, we knew that it was just gas, but there we were, to the virgin falls one could get. The falls was not spectacular as it was the dry season, but the surroundings & the forest made it a surreal experience. Just the sight of water made us get into one of the safest spots in the falls. For the next 2 hours we were in the water enjoying our experiences & Poovi still contemplating on his favorite muse. After finishing our left over snacks we had got from Bangalore we left the falls, our guide had left us now showing us the way which was a single track to go to Kollur town. Off we went for the next 3 hours chatting, resting, watching our final view of Kodachadri & Western Ghats.

We reached Kollur & gave a visit to Goddess Mookey(Mookambika), one of the things we did in this trek was to give pet names for various gods. You might have noticed a few pet names in this write up like Sunny Boy, Lord Krish, Goddess Mookey, along with it we talked about Lord Venky of Tirupathi, Lord Maddy(Malai Mahadeshwara), to name a few.

Talking about the villains I had mentioned earlier, there cannot be a bigger villain than Homo-Sapiens, given a chance they would destroy any place in no time, looking at the plastic engulfing the place it is very disheartening, if this goes on, in no time it would become another Nandi Hills. Also for few boys the very idea of coming to this place was to thow the waste around & throw around bottles emptied by them, if that is the idea of a nice weekend, Bangalore would have been a better place.
Do not want to sound preachy, but for the sake of our natural resources we need to stop this & next time we trek atleast can clear a few of this mess instead of waiting for authorities to do it.

So, off we left Kollur to return back to Bangalore to be back to our favorite shrieking honks, thankfully Ganguly scored a century, his fans can have a sigh of relief, still Mungaru Malhe songs played on all FM stations (I think they will play this for another 5 years), people still wanting to know whether Shivaji will be released in Bangalore or not & still getting some really ridiculous & interesting queries on Bangalore-misc.

Anyways nice to back.

Joureny to Parvati Pass

Sunday June 8th 2008

The plan for a trek in Himalaya started almost 6 months back. The old group of trekkers (I, charan and Pramod) started to discuss on this. Vijay was missing in this group and he was getting screwed in US after he moved to US. So we were missing him as he was the front runner in the last trek to Himalaya (Kalindi pass trek). First we decided to do a trek in Sikkim and I started to inquire about the possible trek trails and decided on going to Goecha La trek. I spoke to the guide in Sikkim about the trek and possible dates. The dates were decided as May. But Charan has reservations on this. During this period, we were told that there would not be much snow in the pass. So, we dropped this trek plan. Charan sent some trek links in Himachal. Then we selected Pin Parvati pass and contacted Mangat Ram who is the guide and regular to Parvati pass. Charan roped in 4 more people to the group. (Sesha, Ananth, Chetan, Vijay Jagan) Initially I decided the dates to be early June. But this time most of the people had reservations on this date as Pramod and Chetan were concerned about the snow in the Pass. Chetan mailed to some yahoo groups to get a second thought on the dates. The results were not encouraging to do the trek in June. Most people advised us to start the trek in July as the pass would not have been cleared during June and if we do this trek in June, it would be like doing an expedition. Finally we agreed to postpone the dates to end of June (June 28th). I communicated the same to Mangat Ram and finally we booked the tickets from Bangalore to Delhi by air and from Delhi to Manali by Bus. This we did in early May.
But we had our first jhatka from Chetan last week. Chetan's marriage was fixed and the dates were same as our trek plan dates and he asked the possibility of moving the dates to earlier dates in June. But as everybody had planned for the June end and tickets were booked, it was very difficult to move the dates again. Chetan decided to go out of the trek.