Guru De Fundae...: June 2013

It was my first ever month in Belgium and serendipitously, it had snowed the whole night. As I was peeping out of the window, all I could witness was white carpet worn Leuven and an unstoppable snowfall adorning the morning. There was no time for coffee, after all, it was my first time watching, feeling, breathing the snow and I was very eager to taste it without any further delay. In an excited state, I marched around the white town on a long stroll. I was not the only one as there were many snow enthusiasts already shaping up the snow men, a few busy in snowball warfare and many letting shutterbugs do what they do the best…

After about lunch time, I reached IMEC and informed my colleague, Isabelle, sitting across the table, “You know what Isabelle, I saw the snow for the first time in my life.” Isabelle, as witty as ever, quipped, “You know what Guru, my baby is watching it for the first time too.” Isabelle’s had four months old baby then and needless to say I was/am only eighteen then and now…

View of Peak Parvati (6127m) from the base camp in Kasol-Himachal-India

Special Chabbis (SP-26)

I was recounting the incident as finally for the first time in my life, I was witnessing an Indian Himalayan snow clad peak Parvati (20096ft/6127m) sitting in the YHAI base camp in the Parvati valley, Kasol-Himanchal-India. Soon, we, the 42 participants composing the 26^th batch (SP-26) of the season 2013 baptized ourselves as Special Chabbis and were set to depart on delightful SARPASS Himalayan trekking expedition. Itinerary was to scale SARPASS (13800 ft/4200m) starting & ending in Kasol (6500 ft/2000m) in 7 days. Bus rides at the start and the end of the trek would consume about 1800ft/2500m and the intermediate base camps at many insightfully planned picturesque locations (Kasol-Galgi thatch-Khora thach-Zirmi-Tila Lotni-Biskeri thach-Bhandak thatch-Kasol) would provide much needed rest to the legs while rejuvenating the souls.

Picturesque Biskeri thach camp

Picturesque Bhandak thach camp

View from Bhandak thach camp: After all the hardwork of going up and coming down, we relaxed playing cricket at this Lords!!!

For an almost-all-affordable cost (3655 INR/65 USD) YHAI not only provides an excellent platform for interaction within the participants from disparate states, it does an outstanding job in planning and streamlining all the routes-stay-and-food for all the batches. In the remote part of north India, I was amazed to have mouthwatering soft and fluffy idlies for breakfast. Food at the higher camps was not only nutritious but was delicious as well. During the course of the hike, one has to live pretty much like an herbivorous mammal. Camping in the tents all throughout without baths (unless u bear guts to take cold water baths in near 0 degC) and using nature for daily rituals, one certainly has an abundance of mesmerizing views and unforgettable banters with co-hikers to keep going...

Walk on a misty morning...

Need to walk high, higher and higher...

Jai Maharashtra - Jai Hind!!! Not sure if this was the highest point in the hike. Nevertheless after all the climb a deserving laugh...

Better late than never, we walk on the snow...

SP-26 on a roll on the snow...

Time for a quick pose...

Ahh....I have my jacket here :-)

And, here it goes off...

One step at a time and all mountains are scalable...

One just can't stop clicking only one...

This pass was tricky. Soft ice and a lot of sliding opportunities...

Landscape you do not want to take your eyes off...

After sliding: an event (small sister of skii) I will always remember...

Young hearts from all over India join the hike and you meet lots of interesting characters around. In special chabbis (SP-26), we were led by a commendable Indian ex-International Hockey player in the 80s (when the Indian team must have been a lot better than it is now) Mr. Bhandari. Rizwan – an International Taekwondo player and Bronze medalist in Nepal World cup, PK from Indian air force along with a lot of adept shayars/singers from Lucknow lit up the campfires every evening. The common de-numerator across all the participants was the love for nature, endless enthusiasm for singing and preparedness to take the pain to achieve an optimal altitude gain. My to-do-travel-list (deserves another post on this) has grown at least a mile due to tips from all these well-traveled travel enthusiasts. Many of the items in the list fall from YHAI itself and time permitting; I am a hundred percent candidate on many more YHAI hikes year, after year, after years…

In fact, whenever I visit India, I would like YHAI hikes to be the re-union points where we all friends and co-hikers would keep on singing:

Yeh to bas angdai hein!

asli chadhai abhi aani hein!!!

Engligh Translation:

This is only a trailer (i.e. small hike)!

The movie (i.e. major hike) is yet to come!!!