28th 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
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.
29th June.
Moring I woke up to the rash driving of the driver. We were in the
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
We slept in the room waiting for that bid day to come.
30th 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
1st 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.
2nd 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
3rd 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
4th 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
5th 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
6th 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.
7th 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.
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