A tryst with mightiness: the planning and the beginning.

 Dreams to visit the wonderful mighty Himalayas were carved in my heart since a long time now. Stories of my friends added more colours to my dream. I wondered if I would ever have a story to tell about these mighty mountains. 

   

!!Snowy dreams 

One fine day dreams came true. Posts about Chanderkhani trek 2014, YHAI kept coming on groups of whatsapp. Many of my friends were planning to go. I first looked at it with a wishful sigh, knowing it wouldn't be possible for me. But when the mountains call they make sure you come and this time I literally felt the call of the mountains. I knew deep down this would somehow work for me. Two close friends of mine agreed to join me. One doubtful and other confirmed I ended up booking two seats for the trek. But Alas! both friends couldn't make it. In fact the friend who confirmed with me actually got engaged on the next day we left for the trek.

       Then came the turn of train and bus bookings. That was another remarkable feat in itself. A friend who booked the seats on IRCTC was happy to see 16 seats empty at sharp 8.00am on the first day of booking as he paid for them. Alas! to add to our surprise we had one confirmed and 4RACs. Gosh!! now the wait of confirmation and the fear of separation. I remember checking my PNR status every morning as if it were my morning prayers. The tickets did get confirmed soon, but where will we all be seated??????? 

    The preparations started almost 2 months in advance. We had a BBM group formed that actually played a very important role to help me prepare for the trek. 73 trek essential stuffs were listed (this better not cross 5kgs) and we started collecting them accordingly. The lengthiest discussion we had was about a food item Kurmura, which was to be our train companion and we spent a lot of time hunting for it.

!! the famous wheat kurmura, our topic for phd in trek essentials :D 

For the real trek stuffs we hunted all possible outdoor gear outlets we knew and also purchased a few things online. i got my stuffs mainly from 

1) AVI Industries 

13, Shriji Sadan, Plot No. 352, Chandawarkar Marg, Matunga East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400019
022 6577 9787

2) Mountain Sports Academy,

B/22, Shubham, Plot No.151, Gorai Part II, Gorai., 4000 091.          Phone 9892042704 / 9029042704 / 02265642704  Email nandu@mtsportsacademy.com             Website http://www.mtsportsacademy.co

3)Decathlon Thane, Big Shopping Center,
Ghodbunder Road, Kasarvadawali Gaon,
Thane West - Thane 400615
(Landmark: Hypercity)

Mobile: +91 096 1929 7688
Email: crm.thane@decathlon.in

!! trek essentials< the list does not end 

Till the last moment, our shopping continued. In fact the shopping extended till the day before we left for the higher camps.

       After a long wait and daily countdowns, finally the day to board the train arrived. On 10th may 2014 we all boarded the train Pascim Express for chandigarh from Bandra. As Luck would have it, all we friends had our seats in the same compartment. So the journey began with chit chats, teases, ghost stories and food after food. One fun thing that we tried to do was to read the names of the river that passes by. I was slow at it, but it was something that was fun. Some of these rivers were just too big and beautiful  with their banks inviting you to just rest for a while by its side. It was on this train journey that I met Reem, who then appeared quiet and reserved. I realized only later how chirpy, happy, innocent 16 yr old kid she was and she had expected to see someone like Ranbeer Kapoor on the trip. 

     !! The first selfie of the trip before the train starts  (pic courtesy: Nanabhai Sir)

!! All in one (compartment) (pic courtesy: Ajay Pradhan)

  The next day we reached Chandigarh. We had a friend, Jeewan who came specially to meet us there and show us around chandigarh. He traveled 200km on his scooty just to come and meet us. We had a good time in Chandigarh, we visited the rock garden and the sukhna Lake. our day ended with a yummy pizza and soon we boarded our bus for kullu. Here we met Manjusha Ma'am and the rest of the CMPiets 

!! enjoying yummy mango shake. we had cherries on top of it, thanks to Jeewan who saved us from coconut shavings as garnish. That is used most of the times (pic courtesy: Jeewan Singh)

!!rock stars of rock garden (pic courtesy: Jeewan Singh)

       After a sleepless bus ride from Chandigarh to kullu with only an halt at a beautiful Hotel and cold chocolate drink at CCD we reached seobagh base camp by a local bus from kullu. The cold had set in, we had finally left the mumbai heat behind now for 10-12 days.

Our entry into the camp was marked by applause, only catch was that it was for the batch all set to start their trek to chanderkhani. We joined in, cheering up the enthusiastic trekkers.

      Soon after all the formalities we got our tents. Mine was tent no 17. and our group was CP-17 . But before entering the tent I had an embarrassing moment lying in wait for me. In my hurry to go to the washroom, I rushed into the gents washroom with Ojasvi, (who I didn't know then) screaming "Aunty wait! Aunty wait!" from behind. I obviously paid no heed to the word aunty and rushed in only to rush out like daffy duck of looney tunes. Ojasvi chose not to forget this and reminded me time and again about this episode. Ojasvi, this is for you. never call me aunty again :P:P 

(by the end of the trip we saw a huge SHE and HE board pasted outside respective loos)

    Soon we began settling in the tent, only to rush out for the first breakfast.

CP-17 were now headed together for a journey of their life time...........