I relived my life for 8 days which I can never forget for my lifetime

When I got a mail from Sushma about Himalayan trek I was really excited and registered to the event. Then has the days came nearer was bit tensed and thought to drop off, but thanks to Sushma she inspired me and told me and supported me that will do it and then I thought yes will do it. So here I have pen down my experience with nature and people.

2 nd July flight to Delhi at 9.45. We all 12 people Me, Sush, Veera, Nivedita, Arpita, Anish, Shrish, Sudesh, Shwetha, Akash, Ramakrishna Sir and Jigisha boarded the flight and reached Delhi around 12.45 . Here starts our adventurous journey.

Day 1 (Delhi Airport se Delhi ki galli tak) :-
We got down at Delhi Airport and took metro bus to New Delhi Metro station. Except Arpita all had more than 8kgs of backpack with them. Here our adventure was carrying such large back pack in crowded metro Trains. We somehow managed and got into Metro. Dancing in the Metro train we reached “Connaught Place “. Our tummies were crying with hunger, we walked, walked and walked in search of hotel at last found a superb hotel Kake Da Hotel (Connaught Place, New Delhi) and had a delicious food. Shrish (Shring Rishi) was so hungry that he ate onion salad itself , he didn’t had the patience to wait for food such hungry we were. Then we had delicious food both veg and non veg, were good… After food we had kulfi ice cream. From there we walked some 2kms to reach “India Gate” and “Raj Bhavan” .Being a proud “INDIAN” was very happy to see that. There in the park we dropped our bags and just slept on the ground. Few were busy taking photos, chatting and few were calling to dear ones. We spent almost 30 to 40 mins there and then planned to see Chandini Chowk. So took metro again and reached chandini chowk station. OMG!!!Believe me it was so much crowded that there was no foot path nor no lane for vehicles. I was confused where to keep my steps. In that crowd itself by pushing and pulling we reached Red fort. Took some photos .Then Sush told we should see parathawala galli. Since sush had already seen she didn’t wanted to come. We dropped bags and went to parantha galli with Veera. Veera you know he is another name for speed. We just did running race and reached paratha galli… It was a perfect galli. Delhi galli  …Here there is no need to walk, people will push you and you reach your destination In such a busy road a dog was sleeping peacefully, surprisingly no one stamped on it . Weather was very hot so we started going inside shops to get A.C, not to shop anything. From here we took our dinner parcel, all different types of parathas, then we were back to railway station to start to Dehradun. Our train was at 11.45 PM. We still had time so got freshen up had our dinner, charged our mobiles and were all set to get into train.

This is how our 1^st day ended in Delhi Ki galli. Delhi to Dehradun AC train (Nanda Devi Express no. 12205) we reached Dehradun railway station at 6:00 AM

Day 2(Dehradun se sankri tak):-

Morning we got up at 5.30 am, got freshen up in train itself, because that day we had to travel 11 to 12 hours in jeep to reach Sankri.  As we reached Station Sush called up Kamal bhaiya who was ready with jeep waiting outside the station. We were 12 people so 2 jeeps. Both Pooran and Kamal bhaiya asked us to keep bags in one jeep +5 and reaming in another jeep. Since the route was like a snake walk few had vomiting sensation and puking session (1^st one was meJ). We reached Mussoorie and had nice breakfast. For chill weather we had hot soup, bread omelet, half boiled egg, and roti’s with yummy pickle. Took few photos and started the journey again. Thank you guys who adjusted and left seat for us, since we had vomiting sensation. In our jeep it was me, Niveditha, Arpita and Ramakrishna sir. Our driver was Pooran (Salman khanJ we named him). On the way we met a petty girl Prachi (localite, very cute and beautiful) got into our jeep. She was a big Salman khan fan. I and she had super conversation since we both were Salman fan.  On the way we stopped our jeep had some photo session had some bhajjis and reached Sankri at 6.

Route: Dehradun –> Mussoorie –> Nain Bhag –> Damta –> Nowgaon –> Purola –> Sunaali –> Jermola –> Harsaadi –> Mori –> Natwad –> Sankri.

Sankri is a beautiful place, surrounded by Green mountains, full of apple trees and cool breeze. A heavenly place where everyone loves to go or live. It’s the base camp for many treks, which is in a height of 1920 feet.

We stayed there in a hotel (Hotel wild Orchid Inn). We all got settled in our respective rooms. View was so good when we opened the window of the rooms we were able to see a beautiful mountains with full of green trees. 

Since there was heavy rain from past 2days there was no power.  Water was so cold, so we just got fresh up but guys took bath because of Delhi ki galli J  and then all had hot tea.  

Then we met our Trek lead from Renok Adventures our little hero of age 21 but very knowledgeable person “Neil Bhutha”. He explained everything about trek. What’s the trek plan? Which day where we will go, what time, everything he explained. He explained about AMS (Altitude Mountain Sickness). He explained Do’s and Don’ts in the trek.  We had some questions to him which he answered.

Later we played BTC ka National game UNO till 11.55. @12 we got cake for our organizer “SUSH” it was her birthday. We made her cut the cake and made a memorable birthday for her. Thanks for Neil and Veera for arranging cake (Homemade) for her and it was too yummy.  Had a peaceful sleep in sankri with beautiful weather outside. This is how we ended our 2^nd adventurous day.

Day3 (Sankri to Taluka):-

This is the day where actually we started our trekking. We started our trek from “Sankri” to “Taluka”. It’s around 7kms trek.

Morning at 6 we got knock on doors telling Tea. We got up had tea (No brush J ) because we wanted to have it hot. Then later we got fresh. Went out to see the nature. It was awesome. Such a refreshing place. Roamed around for some time did some shopping wanted to buy some necessary, then had breakfast at “Manisha Hotel”, we had Maggi, bread jam, bread butter, boiled egg and hot tea filled our tummies. We dropped few language in the hotel’s cloak room and carried only which is required. Still my bag weighed around 7kg.

Took some photos and started our trek at 8 A.M.  It was normal route no boulders or terrains .Just a normal road with streams in between.  We had a special guest with us for trek he is none other than “NIMBUS” (Lazy bum) but favorite dog for whole team. He had become hero for all of us and boyfriend for JIGI (Jigeesha).

After a few kilometers of walk we got our first stream to cross. We removed our shoes to cross it. When I kept my leg inside the water my fingers and feet went numb. Omg so cold, water was. We held each other hands and crossed the stream because force of water was bit high. After coming out of stream for almost 5 mins I was able to feel that numbness in legs. It was such an awesome experience. Such feelings can only be felt can’t be expressed in words. 

Then after few kilometers of walk we had to cross one more stream but in the middle we met some local village ladies who told water flow is heavy it will come to chest level we can’t cross it. So Neil thought it will be difficult so we asked a jeep on the way for drop. Few people sat on top of jeep and enjoyed the ride but few of us sat inside which was fully suffocated. But there was no such heavy water flow as they explained. After seeing it, we thought shit we missed it. We got down from the jeep after that stream and continued to walk.

On the way we took so many photos. We had so many dry fruits like almonds, dates, instant energy bars, chocolates to have on the way. Now also when I see them I remember the comment from Neil “ration Khula phir se “.

 Enjoyed our way and reached “Taluka” by 12 or 12.30 in the noon. Here also we stayed in one small home stay. Got freshen up again and had good lunch prepared by our kitchen crew “Rahul” (who is 17 or 18 years and cooks like an five star chef), ”Vasudeva bhaiya” (Bit elder person) and hamara chota champion “Joginder” prepared and served us hot food which included roti, dal, curry, chaval and a sweet. 

After lunch few people sat there in kitchen tent and continued chatting but me, Arpita and Nivedita went near a tea shop just behind our kitchen tent where there was a wood burning stove we sat in front of it and kept ourselves warm.

At 3 we thought we will explore Taluka. So we all started walking in and around taluka .Met few kids. Girls were so pretty. Such a cute face they had. Little nose pink lips very beautiful features they had.  We all sat at different places watching nature. Such a beautiful place, which makes your mind body both refreshed. We were lost in our own dreams and our own world.

At 5.30 we went back to our home stay had snacks and tea played our trek ka National game  “Mafia” for some time then again time for dinner (Trek se zyada humne bahuth kaya hey lagtha hain mujhe J). We had our dinner chapatti, curry, dhal chaval sweet omg (Annadatha sukhibava) . 

Then we met Vijay one more Trek expert. Very nice person who has positive vibes in his words, who accompanied me throughout the trek. He also gave us instructions what to do and what not. 

Here it was becoming dark only after 8. At 7pm we used feel like its 5 or 5.30 pm.  It’s time to say Good Night, we all went to our respective rooms and slept. This is how our Day 3 was spent ….  

Day 4 (Taluka to Osla) :-

Today our trek was almost 14 km. As usual we got knock at our door 5 for tea. It was our little champ “Joginder” chai lo chai J  bolke sabko utadiya

We all got ready by 8 with breakfast and got our lunch packed. We started to trek around 8.30. Luckily the weather was good all through, and that was a saving grace. If it was raining, we would have been in deep trouble!  I always like to walk alone or trek alone because, I have a feel that I can hear what nature talks to me.  This is what I feel personally  “The cool breeze will tell me come on will not make u tire am always with you throughout, birds chirping will sound me like come on follow me am ahead of you come on run, and here in Himalayan treks we can always hear the water gushing sound throughout the trek, which tells me we are gushing to reach our destination fast”. I really enjoy this type of walk or trek. 

About Osla:-

Osla Village is rich in cultural heritage and the houses here are also made of mud, rocks, and wood. Osla houses a temple dedicated to Duryodhana of Mahabharata. The people of this region do not disclose this fact and hide it by saying that the temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva in the avatar of Omkareshwar. The reason why the people of this region have created this story is because people believe Duryodhana to be a bad person, as shown in the Mahabharata. The truth is that Duryodhana was bad and cruel for Pandavas, but he did good deeds as well for people. He didn’t discriminate Karna and gave him importance. Long time back when Duryodhana was traveling through this region, he asked the king if this place to fetch him with some land. He was not only provided with land here but he also worked for the benefit of the local people. This is just a brief idea of what I heard from Vijay but the real story is still a mystery.”

Taluka to Osla is a total of 14 km. Because the route is through thick jungle, you don’t know what lies ahead. It is also difficult to gauge the distance covered. Only when we meet a local, we get to ask. But they always answer in riddles, like “another few hours.” When we saw the village of Gangar around 12.30 or 1pm we mistook it Osla. Sushma was jumping yes we reached .But later we came to know it was not OslaL . At Gangar we opened our packed lunch had it, took some rest had some photos and started our journey again. 

Now this journey from Gangar to Osla was breathtaking for meL. It was too steep. Carrying a 7kg backpack and climbing the steep was too tiring. Almost for every 20 to 25 steps I used to take a break. It was Anish who was telling me and Jigi we are almost there we are almost there and inspiring us to reach the top J . I also had Dinesh with me (Our handsome guideJ) and pushing me we are there almost, chalo chalo bolke we made to the top by 3.30 or 4.  Shrish almost cried when he reached top (actually he has some dust in his eyes). 

Once we reached Osla we got Homestay. It’s actually not homestay we stayed in one of the house in the village. All the houses there was built with “wood”. It such a nice experience to stay there. We all dropped bags and started taking rest. I was behind Shwetha asking her to give neck massageJ . I got a bad pain on my neck because of carrying the backpack. And sweet girl she gave such a nice massage. I felt relaxed.

At 5 we got snacks, hot bhajji’s and tea… Yummy it was so good we ate all and were asking for more. I had 2 cups of tea it was so refreshing.  Later we learnt how to pack our backpacks, Neil taught us. OMG!! It was so easy to carry bag after he teaching us how to pack. We had some chit chat then followed by dinner.

Then some of us went to sleep but few were still playing. But this night is most memorable night for us, it started raining so heavily that rain water dipped inside the room making all our sleeping bag wet. :) It was so crazy we girls were shouting hey water water J J . Then we went to guy’s room and we had to adjust there for the rest of the night. 

4^th Day of our trek was done. Time went so fast… 

Day 5 (Osla to Har Ki dun) :-

This is our final day trek to our destination “Har ki dun”. From Osla to “Har ki dun” it’s around 13 to 14 km. But this is bit easy route. Not as tiring as OslaJ . According to Neil we have to stay only one day in Har ki dun, due to Climatic conditions and people getting accommodate to Altitude. But Veera wanted to spend 2 days in Har ki dun. Based on the climatic condition Neil thought to decide. Our team was so enthu and strong that we reached Har Ki dun on same day and stayed there for 2 days. Started our trek at 8.30 bit late because it rained so heavily that kitchen tent got drenched so Kitchen staff was in bit difficult to cook. So we had to start late. Today for lunch it was pulav (yummy).

The lane from Osla to Har ki dun was beautiful. I felt like am walking on the green carpet. Land was covered with grass, plants, and flowers & on top of it Mist. Sorry I don’t know the names of the flowers but I saw flowers of different colors, Yellow, white, purple, red (too many colors).

God dam it, my eyes got tears seeing the beauty of nature, my heart was dancing with joy, my mind was fully distressed and I kept walking lost in the nature’s lap. We ate wild Strawberries which tasted so yummy on the way.

 We walked, walked and walked asking everyone whom we met on the way. Because we were so keen to see the place. Almost at 3.30 or 4 we reached Har ki dun.  Har ki dun means “Shivji ka valley” When we saw the place devudaaaaaaa :-0, I was lost. My jaws were open.  It was only in my dreams where I used to see such place. But now am there in such a place where I used to dream. We all jumped shouted. Neil told congrats you have done summit to Har ki dun. I submitted myself to “Nature”.

I stood there and just took a round what I saw was: - Water stream was gushing diving the path into two. Between there is a bridge to go the other way.  Both the side covered with green grass. Whole place is surrounded by “Gigantic Mountains”.  Couldn’t see mountains because of mist.  The enchanting Har ki Dun valley is a place where you can sit for hours doing nothing and trust me you won’t get bored. This was indeed one of the most delightful sights. Then what came to mind was: - “Am so lucky to be here. I should thank god for giving me such a beautiful time which I can never forget in my life time.”

We had some good photo session. Took lots of photos. Then had hot hot yummy Maggi with hot hot chai.  We went and sat in front of “Swargarohini- the beauty “which was snowcapped because of mist we were not able to see Whole Mountain. Mist was playing Hide and Seek with us. We asked so many questions to Neil about the mountain. As per him it was same path Pandavas took to reach heaven we all just sat quietly and peacefully as if we are doing meditation looking at the beauty of her. Then we came down.  We played for some time then had dinner, since we were tired we slept off at 9.

Day 6 (At Dreamland Har Ki dun):-

It was a beautiful morning at Har ki Dun. There were two options for us to explore. We could either go for Jamdhar Glacier or Maninda Tal. Jamdhar Glacier can be reached by traveling down the valley towards the foot of Swargarohini Peak. The original glacier is situated at a distance of 10kms, but the point from where you can see this glacier is situated at 4kms from Har ki Dun. But due to rainy weather the route was not good so we skipped the idea of trekking to Jamdhar Glacier, and started trekking to Maninda Tal instead.

Maninda Tal is situated 3kms from Har ki Dun. The path of initial 1.5kms towards Maninda Tal is very narrow, and one must walk cautiously at this place. After reaching up to a steep point there was an inclined rock. The fresh mountain air flowing at this place took away with it our exhaustion and drowsiness. After trekking another kilometer a place full of boulders appeared in front of us. The route to Maninda Tal goes straight from here. On the right side was a frozen glacier and while walking on it we could hear the stream flowing under it. At Maninda Tal, a massive rock has formed a small pond by stopping water. The aqua colored water of Maninda Tal looks like the purest form of water on earth. Maninda Tal is situated in a mystical valley covered by sloped mountains.

By visiting places like Har ki Dun will definitely make you believe that if heaven exists anywhere, then it will look somewhat like this.

We spent some time here. Did some photo session after that ate some ration food which we gotJ. After that some people did meditation some were sitting some were walking. All were lost in their own thoughts. Then we started back. Reached our tents. We went inside the kitchen tent .Had some chit chat with them. Helped them. People there, are really good. Very helpful. Believe me you don’t feel like coming back. Had nice lunch. Then we went up to see “Swargarohini” again.

“Swargarohini” has the name itself says it’s like Heaven only. Don’t know how we feel once we go there. But to see from it from a distant it’s overwhelmingly impressive. I again felt the same “I should have been a bird I would fly there and come back”.  Whole Mountain is snowcapped. This time we were able to see the whole mountain. Such a beauty she is.

Then Vijay and Neil taught us “Rock Climbing” which only veera did J and Shrish was trying to do. Me didn’t even try. Looking at it only felt like “I can’t do it”. I just stood there and saw people who were trying. It suddenly started raining so we came back to tents and started to play our National game of the trek J “Mafia”, “UNO” and also we played “Bluff”. We made our Trek lead Neil to dance. 

Later had our dinner and went to sleep. This is how we ended our day in a Beautiful heaven called “Har ki dun”. Lots of things are there to write where am not able to get words to express it. Few things cannot be expressed can only be felt. Happiest moments of my life came to end in this way by the end of the dayL, because next day morning we have to go back.

Day 7 (Har ki dun to Seema) :-

Next morning got up had tea. Got fresh up. We unpitched our own tents. All set to leave. Then we wanted to sing “Jana Gana Mana” our national Anthem. We all stood and sung our “National Anthem” and started our trek way back with a heavy heart.

We started our trek back in the same route. So now from Har ki dun we are heading back to Seema. This is on the other side of Osla. The water stream differentiates the two villages. Since while going we went to Osla. Return was planned to stay in Seema.  Walk back from Har ki dun to Seema was a rocky path. I got blisters on my heels J. It was bit hot too. I felt little tired. It was not a steep path so we were able to finish the trek fast.  We had too many wild strawberries on the way which was so yummy. 

Neil and Vijay taught us to pitch the tent. So we pitched our tent. Soon after we pitched it started raining heavily. So we all gathered in Kitchen tent and started to chit chat. We got so much information from Neil about trekking what place we can go, season to go, his experience in different treks.

We had snacks it was pasta, it was so good and yummy, I had never tasted such tasty pasta anywhere in Bangalore. It was so yummy and finger licking.  

We didn’t go anywhere since it was raining so we again played our National game “Mafia”. It was too fun. We didn’t even know the time until Neil told its dinner time. We had our dinner and went to our tents and slept nicely.  And our day 7 ended remembering tasty pasta J

Day 8:- (Our last day trek)

Same routine we had tea breakfast got set to leave. Since we requested them for Aloo paratha we got Aloo paratha for our lunch. We got our lunch packed and started our trek back to “Sankri”, the base where we started our trek.  It’s again 14km trek. We enjoyed the day. We did it slowly and aaramse.

We reached Osla around 3.30 pm. We sat for some time and then travelled back to Sankri in jeep which was around 7km. Jeep ride was one more amazing adventure. We sat on top of jeep. Once the jeep started it was like bullock cart ride. We were full shouting and dancing since the path was full of rocks and route was up and down. I still remember Sudesh was thinking why did I come in this jeep would have trekked backJJ. He was a silent guy but in this jeep ride he just kept talking JJ cursing the path.

We reached the same Hotel wild Orchid Inn around 4.30 pm. Then we all got fresh each of them spent hours in bathroom on that day J J and got freshen.  Then we all had hot tea and had some chit chat and did our feedback session with Neil about his guidance, food, about the trek and also about Renok.

Neil also gave us the feedback, about us, how good we are trekking where we should improve. Then we took some group photos. In these 6 to 7 days we all had become good friends. I personally didn’t feel like coming back from that heaven. Wanted to be there forever which was not possible.

We had dinner. For Non-veg people they had prepared some special at Manisha Hotel. Veg people had to eat same what to do no other choice left to us.

After dinner we went to walk and came back and slept in our respective rooms. After 4 days of sleep in tents today slept on a cushioned bed it was like heaven.  I remember going to bed that’s it when I opened my eyes it was 5 o clock in the morning. Since me and Arpita woke up early we went for a walk in sankri. Such a nice place we both really didn’t feel like coming back.

Day 9 :- (Back from Sankri to Dehradun)

Again we started in the morning around 7 and started our journey from sankri to Dehradun .We all were sad. We all were missing the place, Nimbus, Neil, Vijay, Dinesh, Vasudeva Bhaiya and Joginder.

But we had no choice left apart from coming back. Usually if we leave home and go, personally me, I feel like when will I be back home. But, this time I felt why should I go back home. Such a nice place and people were around me. 

Around 6.30 we reached Dehradun. We had our train at 11.45 pm. So we roamed around Dehradun had some chats followed by some shopping and reached the station. Got into train and all of us slept and our day 9 ended with all the memories of trek.

Day10 (Back to Namma Bangalore):-

We reached Delhi around 6 or 6.30 am. We got fresh up and got into flight back to Bangalore.

I thank each everyone who helped me in completing the trek. I am thankful to Bangalore Trekking club which made my dream come true. Should also thank Mother Nature who supported us throughout the trek. I should also thank to Sushma and Veera for organizing trek to such a beautiful place. Special thanks to “Akash” for clicking 2000+ photos. Thank you so much buddy, and not to forget Shrish for his gopro videos, thank you Shrish, and Ramakrishna Sir you are role model for us ,you proved it age is just a number, we can do anything if you have a strong mind and will power to do it.

These is how I spent my 8 days in a beautiful place with good people around me.

Written By       : Shilpa
Organized By   : Sushma, Veera & Jigeesha
Date of event  : 2nd - 11th July, 2016
Members Count: 12
Place              : Sankri
Pictures          : BTC FB Page