Trekking through the Himalayas – Story IV
We woke up to the 6th day of our Himalayan expedition. Lazily we got up, finished our morning chores, packed up and moved for tea. The steamy tea was buoyant and we commenced the journey, singing patriotic songs. The camp leader was a nice person and in a day’s acquaintance a good rapprochement developed between us.
Unlike our expectation, the journey started from a precipice afar the camp-shed. After a few minutes of climbing , my body started to resist. I couldn’t exactly make out the reason, but palpitation and stifling hindered my footsteps. The high altitude hit others too, I could read out from their dispirited faces. We at last got to the grass crowned crest and fell flat. Our breath slowed down after a few minutes and started to settle down. Meanwhile, our fellow persons got charged and they captured couple of pictures.
The cool fresh air filled around us was bracing to head on. We saw sheep’s and it’s master on the narrow walkway. An old man sitting besides his tent was fuming out his ‘hookah’ and our fellow men unhesitatingly took two-three heavy puffs. The narrow path headed to a dense green forest where huge trees played the role of an umbrella shading from the sun light. Decayed leaf litters dampened the soil and made our walk troublesome. It was a cranky path and we were exhausted. The path opened to a clearing with grass grounds, ‘ouch!!!’ I rushed upon the green and laid over it falling into a nap thereby.
Even Though worn out, we were highly contented to surmount such a woody ascend at a stroke. The deed imparted a feeling as we were universal winners and appreciated each other’s efforts. It empowered us to head on with great vigor and conquer further heights.
After taking repose, our guide blew his whistle to start over. We were all set, to continue our journey, with zealous minds and bodies. Though acres of woody land lay ahead, regions far away were seen so vivid. There were not much fluctuations on the surface of the plane and we were able to walk through, effortlessly.
As we walked a little length forward, we found that the path ahead was dreadful and hard to cross. We understood that we were on a narrow, ridge of the mountain with one side abysmally deep. Our eye could not reach the bottom. We had to be very alert while walking, that a single careless step could tumble us to depth. For the same reason, each one of us walked according to their convenient speed, and so many of us were separated from the group for. At that very moment, I recalled the advice given from the base camp. They insisted each camper to carry only what one needs on the way and any extra luggage would be backbreaking. Unlike us, our guide was carrying a few bags on his shoulders. We were told that he was paid for carrying the bags on a scale of ₹1000/- to ₹1500/- per day depending on the weight. Some of our fellow travelers were enjoying the service.
On the path through the narrow alley, pine trees that had fallen down obstructed our way on and off. Even small foot slips may drop us down. The abysmal side of the alley was craggy and thickly covered with huge trees, mocking the real depth from our eyes. This made us intrepid to walk through the slender path which twined the mountain. It took almost one hour for us to cross this deadly path. The directions given by the guide helped while moving. We reached a sward where I saw numerous toppled pine trees. We understood that we have reached our lunch place. Sitting on the logs, we had our lunch.
Our mobile tea shop was actively working. After lunch, we spent there for over one and a half hours, regaling our trekking experiences throughout and playing penalty shoots with pine cones. By that time an amity developed between the ‘Chaiwalas’ and us. Some gals of our group took photos holding the sacks worn on their back. Our canine friends were accompanying us all the way. We started from there. We could see broken pine trunks criss-crossed all through the way .
The trekking was not so strenuous, for, we did not have much steep climb ups or downs. We were all exhuberated , howling screaming and chit-chatting as we had an effortless walk. We surmised that we are approaching our next halt station. Suddenly, our rejoices were washed off by a drizzle because the path was too narrow and rocky. Mud and water settled over the rocks making it slippery. Each of us rushed under the pine trees, busy searching for our raincoats, lying beneath all goods inside our bag.We were provided with plastic overalls too. We got scattered so that it was hard to find each other in that vast woody land. Most of us became isolated. But the sign boards helped us to move on safely, alleviating our panic. Almost after half a kilometres’ climbing, I saw a written board; “ Obla Tach”- our next campsite!!!
Continued in “Trekking through the Himalayas – Story VI”