The following is my account of a trek in the summer of 2001. Written almost three years after it happened, I might have missed out some things. However, it is accurate as far as I remember.


March 2001 - IIT Kanpur

A bright orange poster on the crumbling, overflowing notice board seemed to screaming out its message.
Adventure Club Summer Trek to the Himalayas - Dodi Tal - for amateurs
As was customary, we were lingering about near the notice board, after yet another unmentionable lunch at Hall 2 mess.
"...hmm that seems interesting"
...compulsory conditioning camp for a month
"aww man, now why did they have to do that? what with the end sems around the corner and all."
"koi nahi yaar....chalenge." That was Sethi, my roommate -- one of the last persons you could imagine waking up early in the morning for exercises.

Waking up with a swift kick on the butt is not the most pleasant of experiences, believe me. That was the routine for the next few days. Sethi used to promptly kick me as soon as the alarm rang.
"chal be, uth ja. time for torture!"
Its all a blur. Pulling myself out of the bed, putting on the shoes, sleepwalking to the grounds, the warm-up exercises, the three rounds, the tougher exercises (sit-ups and pushups - gaaah), the walk back to the hostel, and again crashing into bed.
Where we got the enthusiasm to keep up this routine, I will never know. And thanks to Sethi, I was pretty regular at the camp. He really didn't give me much choice in the matter!

After three weeks of conditioning, we were pretty confident. Sure, the number of members had dwindled, but those left behind were as enthusiastic as ever.
Sethi had to drop out in the last minute.
We were now ready for the real thing. There were seven of us.
Amit Sinha aka guruji the leader of the pack, Harsh, Meena (a guy), Pahwa, Napoleon (some parents have a weird sense of humour!), one more guy, whose name I forget, and myself.

It feels tingly when one sets off on such an adventure.
Not nervous, but tingly. The kind of feeling you get when you await the result of an exam where you know that you have done well. Not that I have had many of those, though.
We boarded the train from Kanpur for Dehradun.
Dodi Tal, here we come!!

Day 1 - the start
We got hold of a guide. A local guy of about our age.
The trek started with the group walking single file amidst the most beautiful scenery that you will ever see. We were making fun of the whistles that we had around our necks...
"What the hell is this for?"
"Whenever anything happens, you whistle. If you are lost, you whistle. If you see a wild animal, you whistle. If you see a hot chick, you whistle!!"
"what do we do if we come across a bear?" That’s the only animal to fear in the mountains, there being no wolves or wildcats.
"tumhein kuch nahi karna hoga -- jo karna hoga, wohi karega!!"
("you wont have to do anything. it will do what has to be done!!")

The trek was quite easy. Not much slope, and it was a cakewalk, even with the 16kg backpack that carried all our provisions neatly packed in plastic bags.

By late afternoon, we reached a small village where we pitched tents and set up for the night.
No amount of practice with the tents is sufficient. You HAVE to do the real thing to see what it is like. Finally, it turned out that we used more rocks than pegs, as the ground was as hard as ever!

We made some food (anything hot is welcome!) ate ravenously, and then stretched out in our regulation sleeping bags.

Wow! our first night in the mountains.

Day 2 - success!
We started off again early in the morning, raring to get to the lake "Dodi Tal" which was to be our final destination. After that, it was a trek back the same way we had come.

As fit as we were after all that conditioning, we made it to the lake by ten.
It was beautiful.
You can never imagine how beautiful the mountains look when you see them with their reflection in a lake. Crystal clear water. Clear blue sky. Crisp cool breeze. Ahh…..heaven.

The guide was of the opinion that we should push ahead further, and instead of turning back, we should try and reach another town across the mountains. From there, we could catch a bus back to the station.
He promised that the trek would be much more difficult than what we had come across till now, and that we should be prepared for that.
On a high from finishing the trek in "record time", we all agreed.
So we set off for Hanuman Chatti.

Now the climb became steeper and rockier than before. We started to feel our backpacks tugging fiercely at the shoulders, and it took quite some effort just to stand straight.
We were now above the "tree level". No more chirping birds or shade from the sun. The peaks looked closer than ever before, with their slopes covered in green grass, with the occasional shrub here and there.

Taking long swigs from our bottles and the intermittent doses of glucose, we trudged on.

The first sight of snow was amazing. It was really just a small patch, but nevertheless, we couldnt stop ourselves from a snowball fight! Not that it lasted very long, though, as we realised that it is not as much fun as they say it is!!

After much huffing and puffing, we reached the highest "walk able" point on the mountain, and started our descent on the other side.
For some part, the slope was completely covered in snow. Man, this looked like a skiiers paradise! We got out our plastic raincoats, and started sliding down, sitting on them – a desi form of tobogganing. Snow is fun!

Half an hour later, we were still not in sight of our proposed camping area. The terrain was such, that we could not camp just anywhere..
Now there was snow all around us in patches. With plastic bags on our feet over the socks(the jungle boots were not snow proof) we carried on.

Finally we got to the clearing which was supposed to be our second halt.
We had just made it. In the mountains, it gets dark pretty fast. Just a few mins ago, it seemed that we had a lot of time left, but now we had to hurry to get the tents up before it got too dark.
We have done the most difficult part of the trek!

That evening we had a nice campfire. Everyone was tired to the bone, and it was good fun listening to the roaring, howling wind. Not to mention that is was really really cold.
Some of the group members were not feeling too well -- the height does that to you. (we were close to 4500m)

Day 3 - Things go wrong!
Instead of the usual 5’o clock, we got up at around 7. The little stream that was close to the tents was frozen solid. We had to melt ice for water.

We were not prepared for trekking in such conditions. This was surely a mistake!

We started off at nine, with the aim of making as much ground as possible.
There was more snow on the way.
And more. And still more. It was never-ending. No matter how many patches of snow we covered, there were still more in front of us.
Snow was not fun anymore.

The worst possible feeling was when you stepped on snow and it gave away - you felt the sudden sting of the cold water underneath.
It’s not easy walking with your feet cold and wet.
To add to this, was the slope. We were walking across the slope so we had to dig our feet in, with one hand on the snow for support.
On one such slope, my footing gave away. For a sickening ten seconds, I kept sliding. When I finally came to a stop, I was some hundred feet below the others. Shit. This could have so easily been a disaster. I clawed my way back up.
“..didn’t you get enough of sliding yesterday?” Nervous laughter
“How much longer?”
“We have to get on the other side" the guide said, pointing in the distance. All we could see was a thin trail all along one side of the mountain facing us.
“That’s the route we have to take?”
“Can’t be”.
“That path looks too narrow. And the slope…”
Lets hurry.

There was not much climbing now. Just distance. The thought of falling off never left my mind. It is so easy to slide off! And nothing in the way to break your fall…

Somehow...somehow we managed to reach our third campsite.
We made it!
With the wind blowing hard, we struggled to put up the tent.
Once we were satisfied that it would not collapse on us at night, we hurried in and changed into dry clothes.
That, was luxury. Never before had I known how good a pair of warm dry cotton socks can feel!

And thats when it hit us.
The guide came running into the tent screaming "aren’t you all worried about your friends?"
"wha..."
"they have not come as yet." Harsh, Amit and Pahwa had not reached.
"..."
"..shit"
"but I thought they were there…just behind us.."
"we need to look for them"
"get the torch"
"where is it??"
"...it should be in one of the bags.."
"...shit.."
"its getting dark...we must not lose time. They will not survive the night in the open. I need two of you to come along". Meena and I volunteered.
"they have one tent"
"...I hope someone didn’t..."
"...shut up."
hurry.

Having forgotten all about the dry socks and clothes that I had just put on, once again, I tied up the plastic bag “socks”, ready for the cold, wet shoes.

The second pair of pegs and tent rods was lying close to my shoes. I had been carrying it.
My heart sank. shit.

It was dark. And cold.
"why dont they blow their whistles?"
We were blowing ours full blast, hoping for a reply.
Nothing.

“We can’t go on like this. I don’t want you guys to hurt yourselves. Wait here. I'll go ahead.”
So saying, the guide went ahead, while we waited.
Snow looks bluish white in the moonlight. Eerie.
He was back after sometime, with tears in his eyes.
No luck. We will have to wait out the night.

They say that you get to know the true meaning of God in the mountains. When you are so far removed from all civilization, faith is the only thing that comes to your help.

Day 4
At the crack of dawn, we were up. The guide had already left to look for them. We got dressed, and hurried out.

I could see some figures in the distance. They were there! All three of them!
Screams... Shouts of joy.
"abe saale kaha the? hamaari jaan hi nikal gayi thi"

They had spent the night huddled together, covering themselves with the tent.

We quickly fixed a light breakfast, ate, and set off again. Making sure that we all were together this time.
But now, it had become much easier, and was downhill for most part.

We crossed a couple of villages and grasslands – all picture book pretty. Short stone walls, horses with long flowing hair, tiny butterflies over the grass, neat, terraced farms….
Small children were running behind us crying out "toffee, toffee", "thank you, thank you" and different combinations of the two!! (maybe many foreigners take this route)

You can hear the Yamuna from far. The ferocity with which it crashes against the mountains is awesome. White foam all around and a tremendous roar, which somehow doesn’t hurt the ears.

We had reached Hanuman Chatti.

It really is amazing how we take so many things for granted. Society keeps us “safe and secure” – free from the worry that tomorrow may not be “just another day”. We need to break away for some time to realize that.