This is a sequel.
We took off from Bhuntar in a taxi to Barshaini.
We started our 13km long trek quite late in the day. It was almost 3pm.
The trek was long.
Difficult.
And.
Solitary.
Yes, solitude was necessary.
So that you don't fall??
No.
So that you get to meet you.
It was well after dark that we reached Kheerganga.
But the uphill journey was the most difficult journey I have ever made.
Meeting self is the most difficult meeting indeed.
The dark forest. The wet soil. The damp air.
The body was exhausted.
Yet the mind liberated.
The soul reborn,
The travel quote had come true for me, already.
The next day we went for the Holy Dip in the Hot Spring.
It was my first hot spring experience.
Something I hope to remember for a long time to come.
Post lunch we began our downward climb.
It was difficult.
I met my latent fear.
The fear of falling.
It was hard.
I bought wrong sized trekking shoes, the downward climb killed my two feet.
I met my strength.
Endurance.
It was lonesome.
I rediscovered my friend.
The long standing friendship I share with him became all the more strong because even in that difficulty and pain, my friend never left my side, even though I was slowing him down.
Despite all our efforts we couldn't complete our return trek to Barshaini on that very day,
Rains.
Dark heavy clouds insisted that we stop our climb with still an hour's trek left to go,
We stopped at a very small village in the Kullu Distt of Himachal Pradesh.
Nakthan,
What a quaint little village that was.
What a damp cold evening it was.
We stayed the night in a room for which we paid on INR 200.
5 people. INR 200 for 1 night.
It was my first such stay.
I spent the evening at the humble eating joint. listening to songs and enjoying the rains.
I am not a loner. I thought.
But while my other travel mates were busy catching up on fun and games I was busy catching up with self.
I am not a loner; I thought.
The cool damp evening eventually gave way to a very windy cold night,
The wind blew away the clouds.
The sky managed to clear up.
Have you ever seen the core of our galaxy?
It truly is a Milky Way; very aptly named,
Whoever in Delhi can imagine the number of stars that the smog hides?
It was a revelation.
A view, I hope, I will always remember.
My first meeting with the Milky Way.
I couldn't capture it on my camera.
The next day morning, Sunday 17th I was up early,
We were to take our bus from Bhuntar again.
We traced our way back to Barshaini and then to Kasol and eventually to Bhuntar.
Return journeys are always disheartening,
We were tired, the bus was delayed and the we made our journey back to the capital with a heavy heart.
But our souls were reborn.
Just as at Barshaini the Tosh found the Parvati, on this journey that 5 very different people took, all of us found something that would stand the test of time.
Some found new love.
Some found a renewed sense of purpose.
I found myself.
I met my fears and discovered my strength.
And rediscovered my friend.
As I proudly carry around my scarred toe-nails even 4 months after the trip, I am happy.
All in all.
This was a trip that I can again take and not regret
because this was a trip that I will cherish always.
A sequel to where I had left off as I had taken off from the city.
The Humbling Himalayas.
This was my first visit to the mountains during the monsoon.
"Summer is the ideal season."
"This can be dangerous."
"You will get stuck in the landslides."
Parents were pretty paranoid.
But so was I. To run away.
It was a compulsion to forsake the big city life. Albeit, for only a few days.
It was a necessity.
As I have mentioned earlier also, life has been pretty kind to me. Not too rushed, in the name of career or otherwise. I get time to mull over; chew over, both food and thought. I get the much sought after "me"-time.
But even then I was restless. Last I had gone out of the capital was in March this year for a day trip to Agra.
Hardly counts as taking off from the city life, but even that was 6 months back!
And hence when my long standing dear friend proposed a mountain getaway in the month of August, I readily agreed to venture into the laps of the rain washed Himalayas, despite being perpetually broke.
We were an odd group of people.
5 in number.
Some known. Some unknown. Some semi-known.
I was the outsider in the group.
I didn't mind.
Stringlessness was the order of the day, or rather the trip, for me.
I had read a travel quote on the internet that said, "To travel is to take a journey into yourself"
I exactly had that plans.
As we set off on our journey, we were high on energy, even after a long work day.
Bus from Kashmere Gate to Manali and we are to get down some 2 hours before Manali at a place named Bhuntar.
We are to reach Bhuntar in about 12 hours, that is at 10am IST the next day, August 14.
August.
Monsoon.
Heavy rainfall.
Landslide.
Broken bridge near Mandi.
We took exactly 24 hours to reach Bhuntar, that is, at 10pm IST, August 14.
This was a crazy bus journey.
You would expect us to have gone nuts.
However, this journey was a revelation.
Of the pristine greenery of the Himalayas.
If you have been to the mountains in the monsoon, you would know that everything looks so young and alive that you wonder if you too are growing young with the mountains or not.
The first peek. The 24 hour long journey was all about anticipating the eternal youth of the youngest fold mountains of the world.
The next morning was misty and moist.
Independence day of India. Aug 15.
We took off from Bhuntar in a taxi to Barshaini.
We started our 13km long trek quite late in the day. It was almost 3pm.
The trek was long.
Difficult.
And.
Solitary.
Yes, solitude was necessary.
So that you don't fall??
No.
So that you get to meet you.
It was well after dark that we reached Kheerganga.
But the uphill journey was the most difficult journey I have ever made.
Meeting self is the most difficult meeting indeed.
The dark forest. The wet soil. The damp air.
The body was exhausted.
Yet the mind liberated.
The soul reborn,
The travel quote had come true for me, already.
The next day we went for the Holy Dip in the Hot Spring.
It was my first hot spring experience.
Something I hope to remember for a long time to come.
Post lunch we began our downward climb.
It was difficult.
I met my latent fear.
The fear of falling.
It was hard.
I bought wrong sized trekking shoes, the downward climb killed my two feet.
I met my strength.
Endurance.
It was lonesome.
I rediscovered my friend.
The long standing friendship I share with him became all the more strong because even in that difficulty and pain, my friend never left my side, even though I was slowing him down.
Despite all our efforts we couldn't complete our return trek to Barshaini on that very day,
Rains.
Dark heavy clouds insisted that we stop our climb with still an hour's trek left to go,
We stopped at a very small village in the Kullu Distt of Himachal Pradesh.
Nakthan,
What a quaint little village that was.
What a damp cold evening it was.
We stayed the night in a room for which we paid on INR 200.
5 people. INR 200 for 1 night.
It was my first such stay.
I spent the evening at the humble eating joint. listening to songs and enjoying the rains.
I am not a loner. I thought.
But while my other travel mates were busy catching up on fun and games I was busy catching up with self.
I am not a loner; I thought.
The cool damp evening eventually gave way to a very windy cold night,
The wind blew away the clouds.
The sky managed to clear up.
Have you ever seen the core of our galaxy?
It truly is a Milky Way; very aptly named,
Whoever in Delhi can imagine the number of stars that the smog hides?
It was a revelation.
A view, I hope, I will always remember.
My first meeting with the Milky Way.
I couldn't capture it on my camera.
The next day morning, Sunday 17th I was up early,
We were to take our bus from Bhuntar again.
We traced our way back to Barshaini and then to Kasol and eventually to Bhuntar.
Return journeys are always disheartening,
We were tired, the bus was delayed and the we made our journey back to the capital with a heavy heart.
But our souls were reborn.
Just as at Barshaini the Tosh found the Parvati, on this journey that 5 very different people took, all of us found something that would stand the test of time.
Some found new love.
Some found a renewed sense of purpose.
I found myself.
I met my fears and discovered my strength.
And rediscovered my friend.
As I proudly carry around my scarred toe-nails even 4 months after the trip, I am happy.
All in all.
because this was a trip that I will cherish always.
