6 + 15 + 2 + 5 + 14 + 7

The treks usually start with a talk... and the they graduate to phone calls and emails and more phone calls and a lot of driving before the real thing gets tasted...

What started between me and Deepak as a casual conversation thinking of a long weekend turned out to be a bliss for a gang of 10 people.. no, I am not trying to take the credit for anything, but still am happy to be one of the people who can initiate this kinda spirit in people... the rest is done by the ones who want to...

So we talked to Aseem, Priyanka, Ankur, Tushar, Subbu amongst some others... some dropped out and some could not go.. and some were ready...

I started from Chandigarh @ 1820 hrs in the Shatabdi on Thursday, 5th April... Reached Delhi @ 2140 hrs... met Subbu after a loooooooong time at the station and waiting for Deepak before he arrived with the 6 seater deluxe qualis... a good car to look at and pretty comfortable as well.. but wat i realized later is that you rather have a 8/9 seater Qualis to travel, coz it gives you more space and options to sleep... Well i could sleep like a log at the back of the other qualis which was a 9 seater...

Anyway... we picked up Aseem's friends from CP and Pandara Road before we reached home.. I charged my cell and the camera battery... packed my stuff in a bag... forgot the jacket, picked up a few VCDs and MP3s.. and started on a looong journey to Chopta...

We were hoping to reach Chopta in about 14 hours, however a few issues one of the cabs ate up some of our time... also helped us experience a small water fountain, an almost careless accident, one of the most stupid drivers etc etc...

We finally reached Chopta ~ 1530 hrs on Saturday... and decided to walk up without wasting much time... what we did not forget was get some biscuits and give them to a dog around, who walked with us the entire way... Those 1.5 odd kms of trek made me realize what sad state I was in... while coming back the feet were paining like hell, the knees were trembling... somehow reached chopta back, and then got down to eating...



Slept like a log in the night and go up around 0430 only to sleep back again and wake up around 0515 hrs... we had planned to move out by 0500 hrs but that had already went for a toss, and we finally managed to leave around 0630 hrs...

This is when I changed the way i walk... Small but steady steps with proper breathing... and it worked... I was not tired even after trekking for about 4.5 kms to Tungnath... did deviate from the well laid trek to walk on the steep slopes as well... and it was fun...

After you have walked for about 2 kms, you reach the top of a hill, and then you have to take right to start moving towards the temple and that is where the view changes completely... All I could see what huge mountains, and snow, and realised that i had taken a very very good decision by buying this new pair of shoes... they were keeping me real safe, and i was kinda sure that the snow is not going to be a problem till i reached about 300 mtrs away from Tungnath, where it was only snow and nothing else...



We were told that Tungnath has a good 3-4 feet of snow, and I was not sure how that is going to look like till i actually saw it... had to walk the last 300-350 mtrs in snow only, and use the marks left by the people who had walked in front of me... could take any direction, coz it was only snow all around... managed to get some snow inside my shoes too... which dried quickly thankfully... This is where I experienced the best snowfall that I have ever seen so far too... no words in my vocabulary can do justice to the beauty of that place... 4-5 ft of snow... white...peace...



by the time we were leaving, there were many people who had started walking towards the peak... school kids, office people, some smart looking dumb chicks who were planning to trek with sleeveless t-shirts to a snow covered mountain along with some guys who did not bother to carry water/food for a 5 hrs trek... the world is full of strange people... and stranger we were... but the smarter strange guys who reached their first and came back in good time...

Took a break of about an hour on our way back and enjoyed the peace there... talked, had food, had juice, chocolates, before starting back towards Chopta again... We were kinda late, and one of the cabs was not in the best shape, so we decided to start our drive back to Delhi around 1630 hrs.. this is Saturday now...

With a couple of breaks in between @ DeoPrayag and Rishikesh, we reached Delhi # 0330 hrs on Sunday... went back home.. slept darn well... and could only miss that snow in the heat of Delhi...

Took a bus back to Chandigarh on Sunday after meeting Priyanka for a Chai Margarita @ the Oxford... oh.. and did i mention that i saw Kuch Kuch hota hai for the second time in that bus...

Over all a very very moving weekend this was... from Thursday to Sunday these are the vehicles I was in, in no specific order...

1) Autos in Chandigarh and Delhi
2) Metro in Delhi
3) Cabs in Delhi and to Uttaranchal
4) Bus from Delhi to Chandigarh
5) Train from Chandigarh to delhi
6) On my feet...(from Chopta to Tungnath)

And the travel times
Train : 3.5 hours
Cabs : 1 + 14 + 14 hours = 29 hours
Bus : 7 hours
Auto : 1.5 hours
Metro : 30 minutes
On my feet : 7 hours

What a trip... what a weekend... waiting for the next one already....

You can see some of the pictures HERE