Freedom

Jim Corbett

May 27, 2022 by Carol Dsilva, posted in Uncategorized

JIM CORBETT TRIP

10/1/15 – 19/1/15

I started my morning with a long auto drive as I had to catch my train to Delhi at 8.30 from Kachiguda station. I reached the station by 8am, my friend was already there, and we decided to have a coffee at coffee day, so we went in. He suddenly realized that he had left his phone at the place where we were sitting, he quickly rushed out and luckily his phone was still there. Strange….

The train arrived and we went in as it was supposed to stop only for 10 minutes. We found our seats and everyone settled down, there was a group of college students also travelling in the same boogie, and so we exchanged our seats and had the top berths. I was really tired as I had been working late the previous night and had very less sleep. We rested for a while then chatted and caught up with news . The train stopped at Nagpur and a couple of the passengers got off as their meeting in Delhi was cancelled. But to our surprise two other people got in and claimed the same seats. It was confusing and amusing. We had chicken biryani for dinner which was nice but a bit spicy. We finally decided to sleep. It suddenly it got really cold in the night and even though I was wearing my jacket, cap and gloves I was not able to rest properly. We woke up very early and waited for Delhi, as we were chatting, he told me about Agra and the Taj, as I had not visited Agra he suddenly decided to get off at Agra itself instead of Delhi. We were not sure if the train would stop at Agra as it as an express with very few stops, so we waited at the door, to our luck the train stopped and we quickly got off, we walked to the taxi stand and were followed by taxi drivers and auto drivers, we finally decided to take a half day trip in the auto for Rs. 400/- . We got into the auto by now it was freezing.

We reached the Fort, it was captivating. The auto guy assured us that he would take care of our luggage and asked us to return in an hour. So we walked into the Fort and got our tickets and had guides following us with requests. As my friend had already been there I felt there was no need of a guide and so we went in, it was beautiful, we clicked some pictures as we went along, we enjoyed our time there.

We returned to our auto and started on the way to the Taj, on the way he wanted to stop for shopping as he would get a commission for whatever we purchased. But we were not interested in shopping as we wanted to go to the Taj as soon as possible as we had to go to Delhi.

We finally arrived at the Taj, got off and started walking to the entry, as we reached we realized were really hungry so we stopped at a stall and had puri bhaji and chole bhature. It was really amazing, I guess it tasted better than it really was because we were hungry. We got our tickets and cleared the security check and entered.

There it was, hidden behind the fog, a bit disappointing but still an amazing sight. We walked in past the Yammuna, the cold was killing but still worth it to see the Taj. We went around and took in every bit of the beautiful monument. We spent some time there then decided it was time to go back to the auto. It was already 12.30. We asked the auto guy to take us to the bus stop as we needed to get a bus to Delhi. He took us to a private bus agency, they told us that the bus was ready to leave and it would cost us Rs.300/- per head so we decided to take the bus as we were in a hurry. We paid the money and the auto guy took us to the bus. The bus was full and it was very obvious by the irritated people in the bus that there had been waiting for a long time for the bus to move. There was no place in the bus except for the last row that too just for one person, but we were made to adjust in that place, we had no other choice and tried to be as comfortable as possible. It immediately reminded my friend of his trip to Rishikesh. He had the same place and it had been a horrible journey, this one was a bit better as it was in the day, it was better but still a bad journey. We were tired and the driver was going into every ditch possible. Finally we stopped for a much needed break and had some chips, as we were not that hungry, back into the bus and we just could not wait for Delhi to arrive.

Finally we arrived at Delhi; we took an auto to the Indraprastha Metro station. It was a huge one. Finally I got the tickets and we moved towards the platform a train came almost immediately, we got in. We had to reach Sikanderpur. This happens to be on the yellow line. And we were on the blue line. So we had to get off at Rajiv Chowk. We got into the metro to Sikanderpur, we were getting quite comfortable enjoying the ride and watching the stations going back, and after crossing Saket we suddenly realized that after sultanpur we were again going back to Saket rather than going ahead. After asking around, we were told that this metro go up to Sikanderpur. So we got down at Saket and waited for the next metro and got in. the same thing happened. By now we were really tired and hungry we just wanted to reach our hotel and rest. We got into the next metro and luckily this one was to Sikanderpur. We reached there around 8pm. We called the hotel guy for directions, got into and auto reached OYO rooms within 10 mins. After a long process with the check in formalities we were finally given a room. The room was just ok. We took a shower and ordered dinner, chicken curry, roti’s and jeera rice. The food was really good. We were really tired, I went to bed but my friend was awake because he was not too sure about the route we needed to take the next day so he had to check the directions online. We woke up at 6 am and checked out. We had booked a car from Zoom cars for 7 days, for Rs. 12000/- it had 1700 kms free we had to pick up the car at exactly 7am and leave immediately to Ramnagar. As it was 267 kms away a long drive indeed.

We checked for the car, it was parked outside the hotel, we tried to use the password to unlock it but it was not working so we had to call the Zoom car guy in Bangalore (the person we was speaking to from Hyderabad) he gave us the Delhi number and we called them. A guy came immediately and the car was opened, we finished all the formalities and checked the car properly. We were ready to leave finally. It was 7am.

We activated Google maps on the tablet which was provided and set it to Moradabad. As we took the highway the roads were perfect and it was a nice cold morning. After about two hours we stopped for a while and had samosas, and started again. Thanks to Google we were out of Delhi and finally reached Moradabad. There we tried to set Google maps for Ramnagar but there was no signal. We had no option but to ask for directions, it was pretty easy once we got out of Moradabad city. After that it was the highway again. The road was bad for a while between Kashipur and Ramnagar. Otherwise all was fine. We finally reached Ramnagar. Our final destination was our hotel The Rangers Reserve which was 22 kms from Ramnagar. We had lunch in a vegetarian restaurant while we were waiting for the food my friend quickly stepped out and had a shave. After lunch we got back into the car and headed for the resort, we asked for directions, we asked the people around also so it would be clearer. We started, but then missed a lane; we thought it best to ask someone on the road again, we were right we had to turn back, but not much. Finally we got onto the right road. It was a road which led into the Sitabani forest. It was my friends first time driving in a forest.

It was so exciting it was a different feelingaltogether. We were looking all around us to spot a tiger or some animal. On the way we saw some locals looking closely at the road, I asked them what it was he said there were tiger footprints and a tiger had passed that way. This made us more excited. We drove for half an hour and then the road became really bad. We drove on, the phone signals were lost, and I was getting really panicking. We were following the signs which were painted on the rocks. Then after an hour we saw the resort sign we followed the road and saw another sign saying 2kms away we drove on. The jungle road turned to mountain terrains. I was frantic now and it was more than 5kms from the sign. We checked our phones and found there was a signal so we called the resort again, they told us we were supposed to turn at the last sign. S o we turned back and reached the sign. Yes there was an arrow to turn left into a tiny way. It was the most awesome 2kms drive down deep into the forest.

There was no road just a pathway no sign of any life at all, and no way to turn back too. We kept driving and finally there was the resort, so beautiful.

We were picked up at the gate in a buggy and taken to the reception. It was a beauty. We were welcomed with garlands and herbal tea which was so refreshing. I was really tired and finished the check in quickly. We had a booking of a suite but decided to go with a deluxe room as it had a balcony which overlooked the forest. It also had a tiny room overhead, a really nice concept. We loved the room we asked about the room service as we were hungry. We were told only snacks were served in the rooms other meals were at the restaurant. Rs.500/-per head for breakfast. Rs.750/- per head for lunch and dinner. So they could give it for Rs.2000/- per head for 3 meals. We told them we were not hungry and would order a snack later. We could not believe the rates and decided we would not eat at the resort. But today we had no option it was already late so we ordered a beer and a chicken dry which was Rs.600/-. We just could not stop complaining about how expensive it was. I don’t know when I finally fell asleep.

We woke up the next morning and got ready. We decided to go to Ramnagar for brunch. We came out of the room and clicked some nice pictures, as we were walking towards the reception we heard a man call out to us. We turned and he introduced himself to us as Devi Singh. He was only concerned about selling the food and other features of the resort to us. We saw the spa on the way so we decided to take a look. We went up. It was ok but not really inviting, so we headed towards the parking there was still no phone signals, I really wonder how we were able to connect to the resort the previous night.

We got into the car and prepared for the drive up to Ramnagar. It was different again. On the way we saw deer’s and monkeys, no tiger. In an hour we reached Ramnagar and drove around looking for a place to eat. We decided to fill fuel in the car so we stopped at a gas station and filled gas for Rs. 1000/- then we started again to look for a restaurant. We parked and walked around and saw a small restaurant. We went in and ordered butter chicken, Gobi masala, roti’s and jeera rice. We ate alot as we were hungry. The bill arrived. Just Rs 370/-. Wow we decided again firmly that we would not eat at the resort.

We drove around and saw the Garjiya Devi temple which was located in the Garjiya village near Ramnagar on the outskirts of Corbett National Park. It is a Shakti shrine where Garjiya Devi is the presiding deity. The temple is situated over a large rock in the Kosi River and is one of the most famous temples of the Nainital district, visited by thousands of devotees during Kartik Poornima. We decided to visit the temple, so we parked the car and we walked across the bridge and left our footwear in a small shop at the foot of the temple. We climbed up the steps, though there were not many it was very steep and high so a bit difficult to climb. We finally reached the top and paid a short visit, and clicked some pictures. We walked down to the water and spent some time there.

After that we went up to the bridge again and on the way to the parking we bought some ice-creams from a cart. Now what happened was a bit scary, my friend took a lick from my ice-cream and his lips got stuck he thought that his skin would come off, but thankfully I saw what happened and was able to remove the ice- cream. We did not have much to do so we drove on towards the Dhikala zone gate. (We had a booking for the safari the next morning). The gates were closed but we requested the security there if we could visit the museum which was situated at the entrance.

They allowed us after we bought a ticket of Rs.10/- per head. The museum near the gate is like an introduction to Jim Corbett National Park. It gives information about the vegetation and wildlife which inhabit the park. It also gives a peek into a bygone era when the infamous man eating tigers of Nainital terrorized inhabitants only to be finally rescued by Jim Corbett. One would also find carcasses of animals that died naturally or in a fight, like tiger, tusker, deer, leopard, crocodiles, etc.

At the exit of the museum there was a security guard seated, I started speaking to him about the safari and he gave us lots of honest information as to when was be the best time to visit and also that it was purely luck to see a tiger. We started back, on the way we stopped at souvenir shops to get key chains and caps. We picked up a few things and started back.

It was already getting dark and we wanted to reach the resort before nightfall as my friend was not sure about driving in the forest in the dark.

But as we were determined we would not eat at the resort so we had to either eat at Ramnagar or carry food secretly into the resort, which we decided to do as it was quite late. We looked for a restaurant and stopped at Foodies. We ordered chilly chicken, jeera rice, roti’s, a burger and coke. We paid Rs.600/- as we were waiting for the food the owner of the restaurant started a conversation with us. He was surprised that we were driving a figo in the jungle, and started boosting that he had one too. Finally after a long wait the food arrived and we started towards the car, As we entered the forest zone the darkness and silence became very obvious but my friend was very confident and drove on. I really enjoyed the drive we stopped a few times on the way to watch the deer’s pass by.

It was a truly beautiful experience, something which can be felt only. We drove in silence enjoying the beautiful experience and totally engrossed into looking out for tigers, finally we reached the 2km turn which was a bit scary. He managed well and we finally reached the resort now we had to hide the food we bought. We reached the room and had our dinner on the balcony in the cold. It was a really pleasant experience. The food was just ok. The burger was a really tiny and a horrible one. We decided to sleep early as we had to wake up at 4am because we had to leave the resort at 4.30 the next morning.

We woke up at 4am sharp with the alarm, got dressed and ready to face the cold. At exactly 4.30 we left the room and walked the 1km to the parking. It was freezing with a lot of fog. We reached the parking and quickly got in the car and turned the heater on. The fog was dense and I was a bit worried about the drive to Ramnagar. We drove on and saw deer’s though it was really early. We reach Ramnagar at 5.30 am and went to the enquiry center to wait for the canter. It was a no parking zone but we were not sure where to park the car so decided to park it there and go have tea. We walked down to a tea stall had a cup of tea and a bun it brought back memories of my college days. At 6am we went back to the enquiry center the canter had not yet come, so we waited there, finally it arrived we were told again about removing our car as it was a no parking zone. But we had no option so we took a chance and left the car there itself.

We got into the canter and quickly took the last seats as we were told that it would be better to sit there because it would be very cold in the forest. There was another family with us in the canter, two couples and 4 kids, we were abit worried that if the kids make too much noise the animals would not come out. Anyway we finally were on our way, we stopped at a place where binoculars were rented, there a person all covered up who suddenly came and said hi to us. We recognized him as the owner of Foodies the place where we had ordered our dinner from last night. The kids had all bought chips and snacks.

We were finally on the way, we reached the gate and got out for the checking of id. Dhikala is the biggest forest zone in the Corbett national park and you enter this zone via Dhangarhi gate. You have to show your permit at the entrance gate and once it is checked then only you are authorized to enter the park. Once you are through the Dhangarhi gate, your Corbett safari is on. All that done we were told by the guide to sit quietly or the animals around us would not come out. After a while we saw some deer’s and everyone got all excited and started clicking pictures including us. I was feeling really cold by this time everyone else looked pretty comfortable. The day was good we saw more deer’s, Sambhars and monkeys. Everyone was beginning to get restless because of no sight of elephants or tigers. The scenery at some spots was truly awesome we clicked some good pictures.

We passed many safari jeeps on the way, there were from the Dhikala resort. Only those who have permit to stay overnight in the park are allowed to take the safari. You can stay for night in the park from one to three nights. It takes about an hour to one and half hour to reach forest lodge inside the park. On the way you will encounter the dense Sal forests. We finally reached the Dhikala resort

We were warned by the guide about the monkeys. The canter stopped inside the gate of the resort and it was immediately surrounded by monkeys. The pulled away all the chips and snacks. We took our bag and got off carefully, we turned and looked at the canter it was totally taken over by the monkeys. It was really a sight.

We saw some elephants giving rides so got onto one. We went for a short ride and paid the guy Rs.100/- but be wanted another 100/- which we refused.

We then went into the cafeteria and ordered bread omelet and puri. After that we went around and took some amazing pictures. It was time to get back into the canter which was now free of monkeys. As soon as I sat down and kept the bag down a monkey suddenly appeared and snatched the bag and sat there itself and tried to open it, he could not, so he went on top of the canter, he dropped the bag there and ran away, and I quickly jumped up and got the bag.

We started back and on the way we saw some domestic elephants and wild hens. It was still really cold.

Finally the safari was over and everyone was disappointed because there was no sighting of the tiger, my friend started calling it a deer safari. We started back to the enquiry center to pick up the car. Thankfully it was ok. It was already 1pm. We got in and decided to eat something. We went to a restaurant and had chicken curry, onion rice and roti’s and French fries. We had parked the car on the road so we wanted to check if it would be ok there. There was this guy who passed us we assumed that he worked in the restaurant and so we asked him if the car would be ok on the road. He got very upset and asked us if we had gone mad and if it looked like he worked in the restaurant.

We decided to visit the Corbett falls even though we heard that it was closed. After reaching there we decided to carry on towards the Corbett museum. The museum is located in Kaladhungi.
The museum is actually a heritage bungalow of Jim Corbett. We bought the ticket of Rs.10/- per head and entered the museum. It had beautiful gardens and was very well maintained.

By visiting the heritage museum one can surely imagine how majestic these man-eaters are and the close encounter of such species is really worthwhile. Since the museum beholds many attractive belongings of Jim Corbett including personal articles, paintings, sketches, manuscripts and last hunt of its own. We clicked many pictures and visited the gift shop. The lady there showed no interest in selling anything. We started from there and headed back. On the way back we bought some ground nuts and jelabies. We reached our forest entrance it was around 5pm. We were not hungry and decided not to get anything for dinner as we were still quite full, so we headed for the resort.

We slept and woke up a bit late and watched a nice program on tigers which was featured on National geography channel. We got ready and decided to go to Ramnagar as we were quite hungry.

We went to a restaurant close to the one where we ate at the night before.We ordered roti’s, chicken, omelet, masala papad jeera rice and Gobi Manchuria. By the time the Gobi arrived we were already full so we decided to parcel it for dinner. We came out and since we had nothing to do we decided to go back to the resort. We bought some buns, jam and groundnuts and headed back to the resort.

On the way we say a group of Langurs. We stopped the car and we spent half an hour watching them, they were really fascinating and so well behaved compared to the local monkeys. We started from there and reached the resort.

We approached the Sitabani gate, since we had not been there we decided to go in. the guard charged us Rs. 200 for the car and Rs.100 for the two of us. We drove in and got out in the middle of the jungle and clicked some pictures. We drove on and came to the temple, there was some puja going on and it was a bit crowded.

We left from there and came to the stream, we stopped and took in the beauty of the place we then clicked pictures. We started back to the resort. We had the Gobi buns and jam for dinner. We slept early because we had to leave for Nainital in the morning.

We woke up at 6am and got ready as we wanted to leave for Nainital by 7am. We reached Kaladhungi by 9am and took the Nainital road. It turned onto the Ghats. This was another first for us. We did not really mind because the roads were really excellent. We kept driving, the view was awesome we stopped and clicked some pictures, as we neared Nainital we saw some white stuff on the roadside. We stopped the car and got out. It was snow. It was so fascinating I could not resist touching it. It was so cold. I played there for a while and got in the car and drove into the city, there was more snow in some places.

A car in front of us suddenly slowed down and I wondered why, my friend tried to apply brakes and found it difficult. I realized that the car had slowed down because of the snow on the road. We drove on and passed a tourist spot where there were many horses and people offering tours. We drove down to the city. There we met a guide who told us about the sightseeing package of Rs.700/- for 2 hours in they car. We thought it was ok because we did not know the city anyway, so we agreed, he asked us to park our car in the parking. His brother was our guide in his car a Maruti van.

We were hungry so we requested him to stop at a restaurant first so that we could eat. He stopped and we ordered Gobi parathas and bread omelet. It was 1030am, we quickly finished our breakfast and started on our way. The guide quickly explained about the places in Nainital. As he drove we realized that we had come into the city this same way. We suddenly reached a top of a mountain which was covered in snow. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I was fascinated with the little snow on the road, can you imagine how it was for me to see this beautiful sight. We clicked many pictures. I played in the snow, the road was very slippery and we had to be very careful to walk. But this is one sight I will never forget. We could see the Himalayan range from here. Not very clear because of the fog but it was there. I could spend my whole day there but we had to move on as the guide was calling out to us. We stopped a little ahead at a place where people had telescopes set up so we could see the Himalayan range (for a price)even through the fog we could see it. Amazing. We were very happy that we took the tour because we would have certainly missed this place.

We drove on to a peak from where we could see the Naini Lake. The fact that Nainital is named after the Naini Lake speaks highly of its significance. This beautiful, stagnant pool of water in the heart of the city, is surrounded by seven majestic mountains and is a popular tourist attraction. We clicked pictures and got into the car. We reached the place we had seen earlier the horse safari. It was Rs.600/- per head for an hour. I was not interested and my friend was not interested either, our guide and the horse person tried very hard to convince us but we refused. Our guide did not seem too happy about it maybe he would get a commission if we went, anyway we carried on, and we came to suicide point which we had passed also. We took pictures and moved to another point from where we could see a lake which turned colors according to the weather. There was a person who had a string of bottles hug up for shooting. I tried my luck and hit a few. We then reached Mall road and we were dropped of there.

I bought some groundnuts and enjoyed eating them. We decided to try the ropeway it was Rs.150/- per head. We bought the tickets and went into the ropeway. We went upwards we could see Nainital. It was a small place but beautiful. We reached the top and climbed up there was nothing much to see so we waited for the ropeway to take us back down.

We reached down and walked towards the lake for boating. A guy approached us and took us to the place for the tickets. There were two options Rs.100/- for 15 minutes and Rs.200/- for half an hour. We decided to take the 30 min ride. We got into the boat and put on our life jackets. It was so peaceful and the air was so pure, the guide pointed out the famous place from the boat, we basically just enjoyed the boat ride.

We got back and decided to check out some shops as I needed to do some shopping.

We bought some shawls and slippers which were really nice. We asked if there was a Kfc or any other fast food place around and the shop guy told us that they only had a Dominos in Nainital, it was 2kms away. Since we wanted to go to the zoo we thought we would pick up something from Dominos on the way back and eat it in the car. We would have to wait at the rickshaw stand for a rickshaw as we could not take the car as there was no parking in Nainital. We got into the Rickshaw to go to the zoo, got off at the place where the cabs to the zoo were waiting. Bought the ticket and waited, but as it was only the two of us he continued waiting for more passengers, it was getting late and we needed to leave Nainital by 3pm. We changed our minds about the zoo and took back our money from the cab guy, there was a church there so we walked in and spent some time.

We walked down to Dominos there was a 1+1 offer which we decided to take and since we did not go to the zoo we decided to eat there itself. The pizzas arrived it was really good but we could eat only one. We decided to eat the other one for dinner. We crossed the road and got a rickshaw back. He was an old man and we decided to give him more than the fare of Rs.10/- as we got off he demanded Rs.40/- I got irritated and gave him only Rs.30/- we walked towards the car and left the shopping and pizza there. There were some more shops around the parking so we decided to take a look at them, we could not get much as everything was really expensive and no one was willing to bargain. My friend got a jacket for his niece. We finally decided to start back to Ramnagar. It was already 4pm. We needed to fill gas in the car so stopped at the gas station but he had no diesel. we felt that we could reach Kaladhungi so we started from there, we passed all the local sights and reached the Ghat road, the fog was beginning to come in he had to be really careful by the time we reached half the way and looked down we could see only fog. We reached Kaladhungi safely we stopped at a gas station but they did not accept credit cards we felt that it would be best to go back to the resort and fill gas the next morning. We started for Ramnagar.

We reached the start of the forest and decided to fill the gas before going to the resort. We drove into the city and checked 3 gas station but diesel was not available, finally someone told us to drive a bit further to the next station we did and thankfully we got diesel but credit cards were not accepted there too so we paid Rs.1000/- and we drove back towards the resort.

We saw many deer’s on the way and they eyes were glowing in the darkness it was a very pretty sight.

We reached the resort and hide our dominos bag from Devi Singh who was standing at the gate. But since we had many shopping bags he missed it and he was more interested in where we had been. He took us down to our room. We freshened up and watched TV for a while. We decided to eat the pizza which had turned quite cold by now but it tasted good enough. We also had a Choco lava which was quite hard. Finally we slept.

We woke up at 6am as we wanted to leave for Ranikhet by 7am. We got ready and left the room, we stopped at the restaurant to pick up chips and soft drinks and started on the way it was a 90km drive. We connected to Google maps and we were on our way. We passed the Dhikala gate and went ahead. We expected the road to be similar to Nainital road, but it was not it was the Ghat road but in the jungle, another new experience for us. The road was endless, we stopped on the way and had some bhaji it was really nice. The road kept getting steeper. We drove up the mountain and as we drove on I don’t know how many mountains we climbed. Finally we suddenly saw it the Himalayan range. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. We stopped on the narrow road and admired the view and clicked pictures. We drove on and the range got clearer. It was an amazing sight. We were really excited and the drive up here was really worth it.

We reached Ranikhet, it was just a small town and there was no place to park and the Himalayan range was visible just as it was on the way up. We parked on the side of the road, clicked some pictures and walked down into the market place, there was nothing of interest so we decided to go back, we bought some sweet and some lemons which were so big. It was sold 3 for Rs.20/- we bought it because it was really amazing.

We got back into the car and drove back, the drive was easier because it was driving down. We admired the view again it was beautiful. We reached Ramnagar around 3pm. We needed to cancel our train ticket from Ramnagar to Delhi, so we parked the car and went inside the internet center, we canceled the tickets and then decided to do some shopping, we walked down the street and we saw a group of people (monkey catchers) who were trying to catch stray monkeys. There was a big crowd watching the scene. We walked on and entered a shop we bought whatever we wanted and walked back to the car. We kept the shopping inside and decided to eat something so we looked around for a place to eat, we found a person selling chicken and fish on the street, it looked good and clean enough so we decided to buy from there and some roti’s from the veg restaurant. We bought fish, chicken and egg. We got it packed to eat at the resort.

We drove into the forest and saw the beautiful deer’s. It had become really dark and the lights of the other cars were becoming a problem. Finally we reached the resort, we took our stuff in and had our dinner. It was really good and we were hungry. We watched TV for a while and slept.

We woke up a bit late as we planned not to do anything but rest. We watched TV then decided to go to Ramnagar for brunch. We looked around as we really wanted to see a tiger. We suddenly saw something walking in the middle of the road I thought it was a tiger but it was a Langur. We drove around and stopped at the green valley restaurant. We ordered tandoori chicken, roti’s, butter chicken and jeera rice, we paid Rs.600/-. After eating we walked around and bought some sweets and groundnuts. We wanted to go back to the resort as we had to pack our stuff. We decided to buy cup o noodles for dinner. We went into the store and bought the needful then walked back to the car and filled fuel for Rs.1500/-.

We started back to the resort and since it was early we did not expect to see any animals, we neared the resort and we spotted some peacocks, they were really beautiful, I got out of the car and clicked some pictures. There were four boys playing around so we called them and offered them the sweets and chatted with them for some time.

We carried on and came to a group of naughty monkeys. We stopped the car and threw the groundnuts at them, we were fascinated with them, and suddenly on the other side we saw another group of monkeys. They were so fascinating to watch, we spent half an hour there.

Finally we reached the resort, we decided to clear the bills as we would leave at 6am the next morning, we went into the reception and finished the formalities, and we had some herbal tea which was really refreshing. We got dropped at out room in the cart. We finished our packing and watched TV, we had our noodles even though we were not hungry as we would have time for breakfast. We slept around 11pm.

We woke up at 6am and got ready. We called for the cart at around 7am, and finally started on the way back. Our last drive on that road, I knew I would miss it. There was a lot of fog and the road was cloudy. We did not see any animals and we soon reached the end of the forest and set the Google maps on, it was already 8am and we had a long way to go, we drove on and according to Google we would be in Delhi by 1pm. We stopped on the way and bought samosas and jelabies. It was so hot and delicious. We had an uneventful drive. After Kashipur there was a lot of traffic as we drove on the traffic got worst. We finally reached Delhi. And I had set Google to take us to grand mall.

Here started our problem, Google was giving us accurate directions but as we were not familiar with the roads or the traffic in Delhi, we kept going around in circles. It was already 1.30pm we had to hand over the car at 4pm. Finally around 2pm we reached the grand mall and parked the car. We went up and it was such a boring place only expensive stores and spars, no food courts or anything, we came out and asked the security guard about any other malls, he directed us. So we walked down to the next mall, there was nothing interesting there also. We wanted a sweet shop so that we could buy sweets to take home, but no luck.

We came out of the mall and started walking back to the previous mall where we had parked the car. On the way we stopped at some food stalls on the road I was really hungry and had a biryani for Rs. 40/-. We finally got into the car and drove down to Oyo rooms since we had to hand over the car there.

The Zoom car people came and checked the car, everything was fine we handed over the petrol bills and finished the formalities; we were told that we would get back the advance and also the petrol money within the week.

We asked an auto to take us to the airport, it was only 4pm and out flight was at 8pm. We did not have anything else to do and also we did not want to get lost and be late for the flight. The auto guy said he would charge us Rs 150/- and leave us only up to a certain point. We needed to take some other transport from there. We decided it was not a good idea, the zoom car guy suggested we take a meeru cab since the office was just there. We thought it was best so we started walking towards the Meeru office. On the way we found a cab we asked him if we would take us to the airport, he said he would if we pay the toll amount we agreed and got in we reached the airport by 4.30. We checked in and got our boarding passes but we were asked to come back after 5pm to check in our baggage as the gate would open only 3 hours before take-off. We sat around the lobby and bought a sandwich and 2 cokes. It costed Rs. 400/- we ate and passed our time. At 5pm we checked in our bags and went into the waiting lounge. It was a really big airport. As we had not bought any sweets we looked around for a sweet shop. We found haldirams and picked up some sweet boxes, we paid and then we left the packet there and told them we would pick it up later. We went up to the food court and decided to have KFC as we missed it the whole week. We passed our time watching the people pass by, there was a person who looked like Harbajan Singh, not sure if it was. At 7pm we went down and picked up our bag from haldirams and then went inside to sit near our gate for departure, we saw Starbucks and were tempted to go in, but decided against it as we were already full. We found our gate No. 34 and sat relaxed there. At 8pm we entered the aircraft and the flight took off at 8.40. We arrived at Hyderabad at 11pm.

Mesmerizing Himalayas

March 27, 2019March 28, 2019 by Carol Dsilva, posted in Har Ki Dun, Trekking

Har Ki Dun

Who willingly gives up their time and precious energy to go climbing up a mountain’s incline, go un-showered for days and devoid of their precious mobile network all the while alongside strangers?

But then again, who would be crazy not to do just that if it puts a bigger smile on your face than anything else in the world?

So, for this love for the unpredictable mountains- I found myself in the back of a jeep, hurtling through the Himalayas to our trailhead for the Stunning Har Ki Dun Trek.

Our journey to Sankri finally started, our driver was good. We drove through the curvaceous roads of the Shivalik Himalayas. It was spectacular. We had a young group of 5 friends in our team along with Joshua. A nice pleasant group all together.

We reached Sankri and were taken to our rooms. It was pitch dark. Due to the rains there was no power and so no hot water to shower. It was very cold. We tried to freshen up as best as we could in the dark and with the ice water. We then had to walk down for a km in the rain to the cafeteria. We were served tea and biscuits, documents were collected and we were briefed about the Do’s and Don’ts. The dinner was awesome and hot. Everyone was happy but we were not looking forward to going back to our dark rooms.

Next morning we had breakfast of bread omelet, then got into the vans. We had a 12km drive from Sankri to Taluka. We noticed that the dog we befriended had started to run in front of the van and was leading the way to Taluka. Amazing.

The views were spectacular. We reached Taluka in an hour. There were other groups there ready to start the trek. Everyone was all energized and ready to go. Pictures, good lucks all done we finally opened our trekking poles and started down. Today we would be trekking for 14 kms from Taluka to Osla. Everything was going well everyone was being careful and fascinated by the views. We met a few trekkers who were returning. Our team stayed together and tried to stay away from the other group. One of the groups were of two girls, they were also from Hyderabad. The biggest coincidence was that. One on them was sitting beside me on the flight from Hyderabad to Delhi, and also they were on the same metro to Kashmiri gate. It’s a small world really. We chatted for a while then we started walking again. We were soon ahead of them. We walked over bridges and climbed over mountains.

We had two guides one in the front Sarabjeet and one behind Altaf. We stopped to wear our ponchos as it had started raining again. The weather kept changing and soon we stopped at a tea stall. We were given our packed lunches of roti’s and potato. It food was really cold. I ordered for a Maggie and we all had tea too.it suddenly started raining really heavy with hail. The moment it stopped, we all stared walking again

Finally we reached our campsite, we were hungry and tired. But we did have enough energy to end the night with Mafia.

Something mysterious and wonderful happens when you trek. Everything you eat tastes like it’s from heaven.

It’s true that the best dining room is outdoors alongside nature. A nice rock, a fabulous view and the sweat to prove that you have earned every delicious bite. Soon hot soup was served then dinner. Oh my it was really delicious. We had roti’s, dal, rice, veg curry, papad, pickle and sweet. We all ate well as everyone was hungry. We then all went to our tents to sleep as it was getting really cold. All four layers of clothing came on and deep inside the sleeping bag it was really cozy.

We woke up early as we were to start by 630 am. We freshened up and went for breakfast. Upma!! It never tasted so good at home. Finally we got ready to start. Our packed lunches were handed over to us. Today was going to be a higher altitude so we needed all the energy and we wanted to start before it became hot.

Today we trek for around 14 kms to Osla Village. There is a unique temple of Bheema of Mahabharata in Osla village situated at an altitude of 2650m. Along the trek route we cross bridges over Tons river, lush green valleys covered with wild orchids of the Himalayas and if we got lucky then we could probably encounter the rich wild life of Himalayas like barking deer, Blue Sheep, Bear or Leopard too. We had our fingers crossed and our eyes open. We all started off and the weather was fine also. We climbed up a steep mountain and walked with few stops along the way. We then stopped at a tea stall. Everyone caught up, our team as well as the others. We had something cold to drink. We just lay there on the grass. Our dog who we had named BOSS had also appeared out of nowhere. We started on our way again. It was pretty easy so far. We walked on over the bridges. Our mules passed us by. We climbed up, climbed down and finally we stopped at a quaint little tea stall on a mountain for lunch. Everyone sat down to eat our packed lunches. Aloo paratha!!!! It was cold and not at all appetizing.

As we were resting another group who were returning had stopped to rest. We chatted and asked them about the path ahead. The other group who had started with us had also caught up by this time. As the path was getting steep and narrow and it was getting really crowded, our team decided to start climbing

It had started to drizzle and was beginning to snow. We climbed up and by this time I was beginning to tire. I was getting really slow. We walked on chatting, stopping and catching our breath and trying to figure out how far more we had. Altaf kept saying we would reach our base camp by 3.30 so that kept us going. By now I was really exhausted. I told Altaf to walk ahead and we would catch up. We continued walking really slowly my friend kept encouraging me and stayed close. All the while I walked I told myself and my friend that I would join the gym. That was the one thing on my mind, The Gym 🙂 we walked on it was 4pm no sign of the base camp or anyone else. The other team had set up their base camp way below and we could only see that from up above. My friend was getting really nervous as it was beginning to snow again and we were alone up there, we kept walking. Suddenly our first guide appeared and we were really glad to see him. He told us that the rest of the group had already reached our base camp and that he had come back to pick us up. We were really happy because that meant we were near the camp, so we continued on with renewed strength. We kept walking but could not see any camp, I was really upset and kept checking with the guide. Finally we saw a tea stall and there was our team, but no sign of any base camp. Turns out that there was no water so they had to move the camp another 2kms from there. We sat there really tired, the others started walking on, finally we started, I was extremely slow and every step was difficult, we kept going finally up ahead we could see our base camp, everyone were so excited then one of the helpers who had also come back to check on us said, its looks close but it would take atleast half an hour to get there,

The others ran ahead we walked slowly and it took us atleast an hour to see the camp in front of us, at that moment nothing could probably have made us happier, it was already 5.30. We saw our tents, got in and just lay there. We could not even get up due to fatigue. After some time the helpers came to call us for snacks and tea. But we were just not able to move. We just lay in our bags so tired and exhausted, we were called again for dinner but we said we were not hungry. All we needed was sleep.

We woke up at 5 am totally refreshed. We looked around the base camp as we did not see anything the previous evening. It looked as if there had a camp fire. We freshened up and joined the team for tea. The conversation was only about the long trek. Everyone was annoyed because it was very long and tiring. We waited for our breakfast and it was Gobi paratha. Today we were to walk up to Har Ki Dun around 6 to 7kms and then relax for lunch and then our exploration day those who wanted to enjoy the most exotic book reading session could relax in the camp and the rest could trek up to Jaundhar Glacier which was around 4 Kms from there and takes around 3 Hrs. to reach but the view of the glacier is to die for. After that we were to return to the base camp. That was the plan.

We decided to start early, after the previous day we were sure we would need a head start. So we told our guides that we would be starting early and they agreed as it was a straight path and they were sure that they would catch up with us. Today we had no luggage to carry just water and our ponchos. We got out of the camp and suddenly one of the mule guys started walking up with us we were really fascinated because he was climbing up the mountain in rubber slippers.

We walked on it was so very pleasant. We chatted with this guy, and stopped to click pics in the snow,

the others caught up with us. At one point the cold got to me and I had severe cramps in my knees. Tears of pain just flowed down my cheeks and I gave up, I sat there and refused to go on up. I asked my friends to pick me up on the way down, they were trying hard to make me go with them when this old man carrying a heavy load passed by, he looked at us and checked what was up. He said it’s just there behind those trees, its 10 minutes away. You came this far how can you miss it. He said take my hand I’ll take you there. Well that did it. I got up and started walking not because of a miracle but just pure will power.

We followed the path and came to a fork in the road. We looked up we were about to start climbing the right side when we looked down and saw a X mark drawn in the sand. The other path Had Renoke and a tick sign. It was obvious our team had left this for us. We were so glad that someone had thought of doing this. We started climbing and after 15 minutes of climbing we saw Sarabjeet coming down he told us that this was not the path we had to climb but had to go down and go to the other mountain, he said that two members from our team had gone up this mountain and they were also returning. So we climbed down and climbed up the other path. At the top we did not find anyone from our team, we asked Sarabjeet but he told us to wait and take pictures and the others would join for lunch.

We clicked some pictures and waited. We saw the other two who went up coming back, we called out to them and they joined us, we waited for an hour it was already 1pm and no signs of the others.

The lunch had arrived and soon Altaf had also joined. It had started to get really cold and I looked around and saw a small kitchen type of place where there was a small fire burning, it was so warm there, I took a stool and sat in there, soon the other three also came in. at around 2.30 our lunch was served to us as we could not wait for the others. It turned out that the helper had guided the rest of the team up towards a lake. This was not even in the itinerary. We thought of starting back to the base camp. At around 4pm they finally returned very tired and hungry. They had exciting stories

It was an enjoyable walk down, no stress at all. We met a lot of people coming up. To our surprise we saw many elderly people also doing the trek. We finally reached base camp and freshened up it was around 5pm we had some snacks and chatted about the trek.

A campfire was setup outside so we went and sat around it. We had a lot of fun with the team and the helpers. The peak discussion was the helper who led the team. Yes everyone was happy and relaxed now that the trek was over, we were to start back early in the morning we stayed for a while then dinner was served. Everyone was looking forwarded to go back to Sankri.

We woke up around 5.30 am to a really pleasant day, We went for breakfast and were served paratha. We were given our packed lunch. We packed our bags and decided to leave and get a head start as we were slow walkers. We walked along, Joshua caught up with us, We enjoyed the view and took pictures we remembered the day we walked up and the difficult time we had climbing.

We kept walking then stopped at the tea stall and some of the others caught up my leg was beginning to ache again. We started walking again, as we were climbing down a mountain my leg started to pain again this time it looked more severe. And I was unable to walk at all. I just sat there while other trekkers were climbing up. Finally our team caught up with us. Altaf massaged the leg. It felt ok but it was difficult to walk I asked the team to walk on and I would walk down slowly so Altaf agreed. We climbed down for abit then the path was straight for a while. We walked slowly we could see the team ahead of us. Slowly they disappeared ahead as we were getting even slower.

It was getting really cloudy and we were not even ready to stop and have lunch as we wanted to reach base before it started raining. We walked slowly on. It was really painful for me but there was no other option but to walk on. As we were walking Sarabjeet suddenly appeared, seeing him we felt better. He stayed with us. As we walked we came to a small stream and noticed something which we had missed on the way up. A small flour mill functioning without electricity just by the force of the water.

It was really fascinating. I stopped and clicked some pictures. We continued walking through the stream, we remembered this way. From where we were above we could see our team on the bridge down below they looked so far away,

Finally we reached the top of the mountain where the bridge was. I remember it took us just 15 mins to climb up this mountain. Now it looked really scary for me because by now I was dragging my feet. We slowly climbed step by step the never ending mountain, the bridge not getting closer. Finally we reached the bridge, it had taken us nearly 45 mins to climb down, now we relaxed a bit because on the other side of the bridge was the Osla Village and the base camp would be a little ahead of that. So with a renewed strength we crossed the bridge, we saw a tea stall in the village and decided to finally stop for lunch it was already 3pm. We had Maggie as we did not feel like having the cold packed lunch, after that we walked on, Sarabjeet told us we would reach in half an hour. It had started to drizzle and we tried to rush. Finally we saw the base camp right in front of us, we rushed there and looked for our tent. The team came around happy that we made it back safely. We got into our tent and immediately as we closed the tent it started pouring.

We rested for a while, we could hear the others playing games in the other tent but I was feeling too lazy to join them, we rested for some time and around 5.30pm when the rain stopped we joined the others in the dinning tent, We all chatted and had fun, then the helpers set up a small fire so we went and stood around it. Dinner was ready by 7pm. We enjoyed the hot food, Prashanth was at his best, service with a smile. We stood by the fire again for some time and then went back to our tent. We wanted to leave early in the morning because of today’s slow trek. We fell asleep and suddenly we were woken up with a loud sound, it was thundering and lightning, it was very loud and bright we were afraid it would touch us. We could do nothing but lie there and hope it would stop soon. We soon fell asleep again.

We woke up early. We were determined to start early. We got out packed lunch it was veg palao we thought we would eat it later when we were hungry and have Maggie for lunch. We looked around for Sarabjeet and told him we were starting, the others were still getting. We took our bag and started down everything was pleasant but and nice just abit messy due to the rain. Joshua passed us on the way. We walked slowly as we had plenty of time to reach Taluka. We met other trekkers on the way, we walked ahead we took it slowly but tried to move ahead without breaks because we were not sure how fast I could walk. At around 10am we saw Sarabjeet running behind us he looked really worried, behind him came Sid. He was worried because he did not think we would have walked so far ahead. He thought we were probably lost. He was quite relieved to see us. We walked on. We were not hungry at all, the others slowly caught up and all stayed together. At around 1.30pm we came to a bridge and climbed down to the water side our team except for Joshua (who was nowhere to be seen) had gathered there for lunch.

We took out the packs and ate the palao it was still warm surprisingly. We then went down to the water and had a wash, another 3kms more to go we decided to start trekking again, everyone were together. As we got nearer to Taluka it started getting hot and everyone felt the change in weather, everyone was waiting to get to the hotel in Sankri We soon reached Taluka and waited for the luggage to be loaded in the van, we got in and finally started on the way to Sankri, it took us atleast an hour to get there, we were all praying for the current to be there so that we could have hot water for much needed showers. Our van reached first, we quickly collected our bags and headed for the rooms. We requested for hot water and after a long wait we finally got it. We showered. It never felt better. We were quite hungry it was already 5pm we looked for a place to have chicken. There was a very old lady sitting there, I asked her to come talk with us. Even though there was a communication gap we had a small conversation. We chatted about her family and her work and she was telling us that she climbs Har Ki Dun and back in few hours. She was laughing as it took us 5 days to do the same.

Finally the chicken arrived. It looked amazing and a big portion was served. The others had not yet come up for dinner so we decided to go back and pack our bags for the journey tomorrow. Altaf came and called us he said there was supposed to be a briefing and also our certificates would be given to us. We all walked back up to the dining room we waited for the others to catch up. We discussed the trip and gave our feedback. Then the certificates were handed over to us. Everyone was excited, pictures were clicked.

the support staff were thanked and now time for dinner. The much awaited chicken, it was good but not as good as the earlier one. Finally we were done and it was around 9pm we all decided to go to bed and get an early start in the morning. Everyone settled down and we fell asleep, suddenly we were woken up at around 1 in the morning. Someone was banging the washroom door, it seems like it was a common washroom, and we refused to open the door and settled down again only to be woken up again with dogs barking. It was quite a disturbing night and even though we were tired after the trek we could not get proper sleep.

We woke up early and got ready as we planned to leave for Dehra Dun. After eating we got into the van and soon we started on our way after many farewells to the support team. Everyone was getting restless and we wanted to leave as soon as possible.

You see, treks have a funny way of sneaking up on you like that. You go in ready to take on the mountain. But what you don’t realize until you’ve come back down and are enjoying the feeling of sitting still for the first time all week- is that actually you took on yourself. And you won.

And suddenly you’re sad it’s over. You can’t wait to do it again, because it was wonderful, painful and amazing experience.

An experience which no photograph could ever capture.

Amazing Chandrashila

March 25, 2019March 25, 2019 by Carol Dsilva, posted in Chandrashila, Trekking

Life changing trek

The mountain speaks its own language and we’ve got to give in to its methods to learn about life & find our true strengths. The silence of a mountain is a blissful disguise as they say, you can never conquer a mountain, and you can only conquer yourself. Apt!

It is a way of getting up close with Mother Nature while some of us just enjoy pushing our limit. For me this was my favorite trek. I found myself, the confidence which had faded was back, the only reason for that was the beauty and peace. I never felt something like this before.

My companion was my schoolmate, who wanted to do her first trek so we chose Chandrashila.

We started early for Delhi all excited, and took the bus to Haridwar. Haridwar is considered as one of the major religious landmarks in the Uttaranchal region. We stayed the night there and met the group at the railway station the next morning. We were a group of 20, we had a fun group in our car so we looked forward to a fun filled drive. A horrible traffic jam between Haridwar and Rishikesh was quite tiring.

After that the beautiful drive we finally reached Sari around 5pm and it was almost dark. It was really cold and every one was tired. We had a quick briefing and followed but hot dinner,

Sari acts as the picturesque base camp for the trek to Chandrashila, Ample options for accommodation and moderate eating joints. Sari is mostly used for overnight halts.

Soon after breakfast of delicious parathas, we started our trek towards the heavenly Deoria Tal.

On looking at the hill standing between the Sari village and the lake, we could tell that the trek would be steep. And sure enough it was. But what made matters worse was the sun. It got too hot within minutes of starting the trek. As soon as we started walking uphill, we could feel the scorching heat determined to test our limits. Throughout the 3kms trek, the Sari village was visible from every corner. We walked through the dense cover of Rhododendron trees the beautiful colour was a wonderful sight. It was challenging to climb in that climate but the beauty of the terrain was just too tempting. We reached the majestic lake. Since it was a steep walk, we almost gained an altitude of 1300 feet. And at the moment, it all looked worthy.

The sight of the clear green lake surrounded by the rough forest with the Himalayan peaks in the backdrop was jaw-dropping. It felt like the scenery had come to life out of a painting. The lake is surrounded by forests with the glistening waters reflecting the mighty Chaukhamba peak. They say camping at Deoria Tal is a lifetime experience. It was indeed so. I sat at the lake looking at the beauty around me, we could already see some trekkers setting up tents. Our trek leader showed us how to pitch our tents. My first one ever.

That was indeed fun. We wandered around the place and made new friends, Dogs,,, my companions for most of the trek..

We had a nice pleasant dinner and went back to our tents as it was really cold. The night shadowed upon the lake. As the moon appeared bright & promising, the Himalayas presented an unforgettable sight. The aura looked heavenly in the moon light; I wished I could just stay out & glare at what nature had in store for us. There was a serene silence in the air, when we decided to call it a day.

It was a bright morning the next day, we got ready as it was going to be a long trek, and breakfast was not really good so just filled up on glucose. We packed the tents and started on our way.

The path was feebly visible but involved a lot of ups & downs. And most of the turf was rocky. While moving downhill, my feet were having a tough time. We drank a lot of water at regular intervals. The sun was right above us & the valley opened up. It was too bright a day; sunscreens didn’t seem to work much

The trail was sprinkled with little shrines that stood out in the greenness by the red and yellow flags tied on them. After crossing a clearing in the forest lined with blossoms, we are directly ushered up an ascending path towards Rohgini Bugyal and Chopta. we decided to take a break & have lunch. We found a comfortable spot on the grass & lay back for a while waiting for everyone to catch up. The food was delicious, given the remote location, we were in good spirits.

Soon after lunch, we moved on. It was getting uncomfortably hot. We could hear the sound of the ravishing waters from a distance & couldn’t wait to reach there.

Finding a random stream of water was bliss. We entered the water barefoot to relax our feet. I drank plenty & topped up my water bottle. Soon when the rest of the group joined us there, we made our way towards our destination. It was an hour and a half long walk through the woods. We were all charged up after the much needed drinks, Suddenly it turned really dark and it started raining. Out came the ponchos, we thought it would stop so we tried walking but it just came down really heavy everyone ran for cover. The only thing I dint like was that it was getting really dark and scary. Nobody wanted to be in the forest. We prayed that it would stop and we could move on. In about 30 miniutes it finaly stopped. We moved at a really fast pace.Needless to say we didn’t even realize when we were down to the last mile. Within no time, we hit the road & could see Chopta from a distance.It was dark by now and raining again, our trek leader advised us to not wait for everyone and to start down to the campsite. We rushed hoping to get out of the rain and for something hot to eat as we were starving.

We reached the site the tents were up but due to the heavy rain the kitchen and dining tents were not up yet. I could not wait I was too exshusted, I just got inside my tent and into the bag, I was literally freezing, I finally fell asleep.

Woke up feeling very refreashed, we were to start at 6. But due to the cold rain we started at 7.

We started climbing the well-laid trail up till Tungnath Temple. We climbed silently, it was really warm. Today, the climb was steep with many challenges and sharp turns. There was a small temple on the way. We stopped to rest as it had turned really hot and there was no other place along the way to rest.

We started to climb again and saw Tungnath from a distance, it was a steep climb and it felt so soothing to have reached the temple. I sat outside and waited for the group to finish they prayers. It was really peaceful and I had my thoughts to keep me company. A lot of things made sense to me, I made peace with myself.

The others returned and we went ahead, the path ahead of Tungnath temple was really difficult to climb. The broken rocky patches of the trail gave us a tough time. We made our way through the desolate trails to reach the point from where the trail disappeared and it was just the road ahead of us. This is where we really split. We all tried to follow the easiest path to climb the weather had changed and the chilling breeze made matters worse. But the astonishing beauty of the place kept us going. We could see the temple at the Chandrashila peak far from our reach.

We were on a steep incline with nothing but grass under our feet and a terrifying valley staring at us. The terrain challenged our bodies I was really tempted to give up but kept climbing. I slipped several times, while the conditions tested our mettle, we defied all odds & made it to the peak after 3 hours of climbing we reached the summit. I was really tired and the beauty around me took the remaining breath away from me. I just stood there in awe.

Everyone soon gathered and we were really happy that our entire group had made it. We clicked pictures and sat around taking in the view when suddenly the heavens opened.

The sound of the thunder was deafening. Everyone was on they feet.
The memory of that instance is still fresh in my mind. We could see the Lighting fall and everyone was scrambling for shelter we rushed down the open valley.

We were all so busy rushing down when the hail started, it was so beautiful we just stood there feeling it hit us. But we had to continue down as it had started to rain. We passed the Temple then on the way down the clouds cleared and we saw the most fascinating views all the way down.

Finally we reached and had lunch at a restaurant, before continuing to the campsite. We had an enjoyable evening and enjoyed the dinner. But the rain started again and it was really cold so we all went back to our tents.

Next morning was a relaxed start. Sitting on the rock and looking at my beloved Himalayas the only thought on my mind was is this the end or will I ever be back.

We headed back to Haridwar. We had a bus that evening to Delhi and a flight the next afternoon.