That ‘Travel’ Thing – Chapter: VI

#MissionKheerGanga

To be honest, none of us had any prior experience of Trekking, except Rayh and Kreeti. They had gone for 3 days Camping Course during college days. Anyway, the idea of trekking itself was so thrilling, we all were ready to experience it, head on!

We got ready. Wrapped up all our belongings and had a pretty heavy breakfast. We were falling short of cash. It’s not that we didn’t have money, but where you barely get any signal (not even 2G); paying via online banking seemed like a joke.

 

Time for check-out.

Thanks to Rayh and Shubhayu; they were carrying some extra bucks and that really helped us to continue our journey. We were in Tosh and from there, we had to go down the hill, to Barshaini (another small village, one of the starting points of the trek).

From Tosh to Barshaini.

#LookWhoJoinedUs

From Tosh, it took around an hour to reach Barshaini. While on our way, we kept clicking a lot of pictures, trust me they worthed it.

…and the journey began.

We were about to reach Barshaini in some time.

While crossing through the village, there were a few small shops and we were lucky to find a medicine shop there. Kreeti and Tinni hopped in to grab some necessary items while we waited outside.

“Say Hi to Priyanka!”, Kreeti came out from the shop and surprised us. That’s how and where we met her. Life is strange, eh?

Meet Priyanka, this daringly beautiful Delhiite; was out for a solo-trip. She was also heading for the Kheer Ganga trek and Kreeti came across this lady in that med-shop. Somehow they bonded pretty well and she was all game to join us for the journey.

From the extreme left: Priyanka, Kreeti, Rayh, Tinni, Shubhayu, and San

I love this shot!

We didn’t mind, in fact, the more the merrier! We continued until we reached the point from where the main trek began.

There we found this tiny-lonely tea shop that was also selling these sticks. ₹30-50 for a single stick! I didn’t have any idea if they were needed at all. But we had Kreeti among us and she’s this typical woman who had to buy one. Yeah, she loves buying. Whatever it is, she just needs to BUY.

Nevermind, I’d never understood woman-psychology. Anyway! Tinni and Priyanka followed and they got those sticks for the rest of us, except me and Shubhayu. We didn’t want to waste that money. Later, we were proved wrong though.

Can’t remember what he was up to.

Yes, the starting point!

While they were busy buying the sticks. I call it, shopping binge!

#TheTrekBegan

From Barshaini, there were 2 different paths leading to KheerGanga. The longer one was comparatively more difficult but the chances of exploring the dense forest and some waterfalls couldn’t be ignored.

In fact, the fellow trekkers (who were coming down from the Trek), suggested us to take the longer path; it was around 13 km from Barshaini.

From the top of a bridge.

The trek was on…

A handful number of small bridges throughout the journey and the forest started getting denser. As we kept walking through the wonderful places, I realized that not buying a stick was a big mistake. In fact, 2 sticks would’ve helped more. Somehow, Rayh and Kreeti managed an abandoned spare stick for me.

Pretty narrow bridge, ain’t it?

#LostAreWe

While there were fellow trekkers all along the journey, most of the time only 7 of us were trekking. Other passerby trekkers were either way ahead or far behind.

There was no one around except us and we were getting confused at certain points of the trek. Luckily, we found arrow signs on some of the stones and those really helped us to keep up the pace.

Can you spot that big stone and what’s written on it?

While it was pretty hot during the day (around 25°C), we didn’t have any other option but to move on. We packed some dry foods (including biscuits) and 2 big bottles of  Glucose water to keep ourselves energized and strong. Apart from that we also took ample amount of rest while our journey was on.

This lazy arse! At times, San would just refuse to stand up and move. Grr!!

No, probably she didn’t notice that I was clicking her while she was clicking herself 😛

#ItWasChallanging

We walked, took rest, clicked, ate, slurped and again kept walking. This whole cycle was repeated again and again. Trust me, it was so damn wonderful around. Everything looked so amazingly beautiful. I had my phone ready to shoot whatever I noticed.

Much needed rest and time for snacks!

Watch out the steepness.

The wonder of wild. Just look at that, mate!

This was another dead-steep turn. Freak!

We knew the journey would be challenging since we were mostly first-time-trekkers. But some of the turnings were dangerously narrow and highly steep. One had to maintain full focus while crossing them. One small mistake could even cost a life because at the bottom of the hill there was this running river, seemed like flowing with a high current.

“Amihay Cohen” was here. But never returned.

If you ever come across this particular path, you’d remember this. Just right before one of the dangerous turnings, we found this. A few lines, dedicated to one of the trekkers, called “Amihay Cohen”. That was the exact spot where he fell from and died. It was there in his memory and also, to remind the trekkers to be more careful.

This really gave us chills. We were still talking and enjoying pranks while walking but this shut us up. We were more serious now. Concentrating more on the narrow-steep path.

#MoreBreaks

We needed more breaks. There were few mistakes, caused due to our lack of experience. First, we didn’t study enough about the place. Second, our haversacks had a couple of items which we could’ve had avoided bringing. Trust me, they just added more load and nothing else.

To our utter surprise, Rayh was also carrying his laptop (which was pretty heavy). When he was asked about it, he claimed he had to carry for office work. Okay. So, basically, he also had office works in his mind. Wow! Little did he know where we were heading to, didn’t even have electricity and mobile signal.

Anyway, we found this small cafe that was literally hanging by the side of the hill. Apparently, that’s how it looked like. We had to stop and eat something as we were out of food.

That cafe.

Hunger fighter..Maggi!

I love doodle art! “Mountain Alien” was here.

Yes, Maggi again, followed by some hot tea. There, we also met some other groups who had stopped there at the cafe. While Kreeti and Priyanka exchanged words, I was really drawn to those small doodles on the table. If I had a marker, I’d have had marked my presence on the table too!

Remember this moment from “The Shawshank Redemption”?

#UnendingPath

We kept on walking while some of us were pretty exhausted. At some point in time, they almost felt like giving up. LOL! But that wasn’t even an option. The only solution was to keep on walking because the daylight was fading now. Evening darkness was looming into the wilderness of the forest.

I’m so Vegan, I didn’t even say, “Cheese!” LOL!

Another steep route.

While she was mesmerized by the huge waterfall!

There was this massive waterfall! We had heard about that one from some fellow trekkers (who were coming down). They said it was closer to Kheer Ganga. So when we reached to the waterfall, we knew it was more 3-4km and we’ll reach the destination.

Trust me, the waterfall was h-u-g-e!! It was falling from such a high that we could feel the droplets all around. It was so cold near the waterfall but very refreshing! As we moved closer to the waterfall our clothes started getting wet; mainly because of the water droplets which were very much visible, even with the naked eyes.

Another Groupie!

The journey seemed unending at a point of time.

This one’s so candid. No, Kreeti didn’t know I was calling for this.

#ConfusedAgain

By now, we were pretty close to our destination. But right before, you reach that place, another puzzle will make you more confused.

The confusing turn. Left or Right?

There was this placard, placed by a small cafe on which they had written the cafe’s name and on that same placard, they also used an arrow sign to help the trekkers with the direction to Kheer Ganga.

Only to make this more confusing! How were we supposed to know if this wasn’t an ad-gimmick by that cafe-guys to draw more attention of the confused trekkers and mislead them to the cafe?

There was another group, who were as clueless as we were. After thinking a lot, we took the left route and there we met somebody who helped us with the direction. Meet her.

Say Hi to her!

Yes, she helped us and we fed her some biscuits which we bought from the cafe. She was friendly and silently guided us.

Do you see how h-u-g-e was this tree? This was just a part of the root. OMG!

I could sit there for all day long.

Another small stream of a waterfall.

Just another right-turn and we were ‘there’.

#OnTheSpot

It was at around 7:30 pm when we reached finally! The sense of achievement was inexplicable. We were so happy inside, but too tired to celebrate.

However, it didn’t feel like that we conquered something; as this wasn’t the pick. Although, there was a subtle sense of conformity that patted our back for the 8-hours-long journey.

I wish there were some clicks for the night, but I was simply too tired. Since we didn’t have enough cash along, we had to settle for a tent on the lower range of Kheer Ganga.

This was last shot for the day, while I was about to fall asleep. Inside the tent!

 

#RestForTheNight

The name Kheer Ganga came due to the milky waters of the river flowing in all its vastness and its streams flowing into Parvati valley from all sides of the mountain.

This place is considered special (apart from the awesome trek journey) because there’s a Natural Sulfur Hot water spring near an ancient Shiva Temple.

We had good food that night and fell asleep early as we were also planning to take a dip in that hot sulfur water spring the next morning.

 

 

 

Keep reading here: That ‘Travel’ Thing – Chapter: VII

 

 

(You can always click on That ‘Travel’ Thing – Chapter: V if you haven’t read the previous article yet. This was a continuation of the previous one.)

 

 

 

Love & Peace,

– veganpola

That ‘Travel’ Thing – Chapter: III

#VroomVroom

Our pre-booked cab was on time. So were we; ready with our loaded haversacks. It was almost midnight then. Our hearts were beating faster! We jumped inside and the car engine roared to life! Well, don’t forget the music player. For the next 16 hours it didn’t just play music, but an important role, too!

This guy, yes, the driver was a Jatt. At first, we weren’t really surprised when he started playing Bhangra tracks. I swear, we loved it! In fact, who hates Bhangra?

Brrruuuaahhhh!!

Forget about the nation, the whole world dances to its beats. It really gave an extra feel of North India. In between that l-o-n-g 16 hours road journey, we did have several breaks, too.

 

#EatSlurpFag

The first break was for the midnight dinner at one of the popular Dhabas (that’s what we call to the roadside restaurants of India). The food was good, as expected.

At the Dhaba. All 6 of us!

Do I need to say how much butter they use on every meal they serve? If you’re aware of the North Indian culture, you’d probably know.

Yes, butter all over!

To be honest, Vegans have this trust-issue on the ingredients of the food they eat. Especially, when they’re eating outside. I was no exception.

Being a Vegan, the buttery celebration made me panic inside. LOL! No, I didn’t take the risk of trying any of the local food. I presumed, they would invariably contain any of the dairy products.

Say Hi to Masala Dosa!

I prayed hard and then Masala Dosa appeared in front me. Yes, it came to my rescue! What a sharp contrast, eh? Eating a pure South Indian food, while sitting in the heart of North India. Haha! Well, rest of my friends tried the Punjabi cuisines. I swear, they loved it.

We were happy to wait for the food. Happiness was inside-out 🙂

 

The next big break was taken again in the morning; call it a brunch. By now, we already started spotting that the land of plains was gone.

From midnight to dusk to the daylight. I was too excited to sleep!

The distant horizons were accompanied by unknown mountains. Very far though. But, they were pretty much visible now.

Check out those huge mountains..far away somewhere.

 

#TheBhangraPhobia

You read that correctly. There are times when we love listening to the songs when somebody plays them for you. Wait. But. Not always.

Not at all, when the songs start sounding all same. Same language. Same beats. Same genre. Same driver, playing horribly similar kinds of songs. Resulting in the same pain in your eardrums.

The phases we went through…dafuq!! Why you no stop?

This guy literally made us believe that even Bhangra music could get on your nerves at times. He hardly let us take over control on the car’s music system.

Gosh! At times, it really felt like we’re the prisoner of war. Sixteen-f#cking-long-hours-of-Bhangra-music. Beat that. The torture ended because we reached our first destination, Bhuntar. Phew! Phew! Phew!

 

#OhShitWhatNow

We didn’t know, this was waiting for us at Bhuntar. It’s a small town (they also have an airport here!) with a bus-stop. You’d certainly get to see so many buses and cars from different places.

The mélange of people will also catch your attention. People from nearby villages (with their unique regional attires), from different states, different backgrounds, different parts of the country and the world, too. A pool of young crowd (mostly within an age bracket: 20 – 30) were noticeably large in number.

But hey, hold on! Let me tell you, what really went wrong. Well, it was June 24th, Saturday. Let me also remind you, 26th June (2017) was a National holiday in India because of Eid-ul-Fitr. Now you can possibly imagine how crowded it could have been! Naturally, there was an acute shortage of public transports.

Oops! What now??

We were supposed to visit Tosh, first. A village at the far end of the Parvati Valley in Himachal Pradesh; situated at a height of 7874 feet above sea-level. Anyway, visiting Tosh felt like a distant dream at that point of time. It was around 52 km from Bhuntar. The possibilities were getting more narrow as the dusk was drawing closer.

Every bus that was going either to Kasol or Tosh, were so heavily packed that we didn’t dare to board. Mind you, we also had backpacks which were weighing 15-22 pounds each! Now you can imagine how heavy they were.

 

#TheSuperWomen

Whoa!! Little did I know how strong these ladies were. Not so confident about the immediate future, we were ready to burn our pockets. We wanted to book another private car to take us to our destination. And when we turned to the other side of the bus stand, there was another shocker waiting for us. Boo!

To our utter surprise, there was a local strike by the Taxi Union. Naturally, there were hardly any cabs around. To top that, almost the entire pool of other travelers were rooting for the same idea as ours. Literally, there was no other option!

Here, Kreeti and Tinni showed up and unleashed their superpower. Oh, God! The way they tackled the whole situation! I really doubt if any of us could be this strong in persuading the Taxi Union Officials. They stood up in the long queue, talked to co-travellers to munch on any other alternative ideas. Finally, they managed to arrange a car for us.

 

#NoHeWasntJustADriver

A driver? An addict? A representative (of the Bom-Bhole-Baba Community)? If you know what I mean. 😉

This guy…ah I forgot his name! Nevermind, he should be crowned with a name. He earned it! How?

Well, it really felt like that we were being welcomed by an official representative of the Kasol community. He had all those aspects. We boarded the car and the next moment when Shubhayu lit up his smoke, the driver stopped him!!

 

#BohemianRhapsody

We’re shocked at first. It was presumed that smoking ‘stuff’ would be a normal thing there. Now he surprised us with a quirky smile and ‘some’ token of love.

Like a lucid dream, he welcomed us with some freshly-made sticky-herb. It smelled like real cream!

Holy S#it! Were we really dreaming?! I looked at Tinni and Shubhayu (yeah, they smoke some real stuff) and I could spot them grinning! Their eyes lit up! Big-blow of surprise! Cloud 9 seemed like touching our feets. Puff-puff-pass. No doubt, we were on it!

You know what? Not only that, he also let us play any music as per our choice. Got full control on the aux. Pink Floyd, followed by The Arcade Fire and Passenger started playing for us. The dream journey began.

 

 

Keep reading here: That ‘Travel’ Thing – Chapter: IV

 

 

 

(You can always click on That ‘Travel’ Thing – Chapter: II if you haven’t read the previous article yet. This was a continuation of the previous one.)

 

 

 

 

Love & Peace,

– veganpola

That ‘Travel’ Thing

#AirplaneModeOn

There are times when we all need some time of our own. Like many of you, even I get this strong urge to disconnect from the superficiality of the online social media.

Trust me, I was so tired of the digital world constantly trying to run over the real fabric of my life. Work, work, work, work, work, work!!

 

Was desperately looking for a way to peep out of the window to float in the endlessness of the blue of the sky.

The “9 to 5” fixed hours of job-life was almost strangling me to death. Trust me, I was burying the conscious self of mine, unconsciously.

I wanted to tap on the “airplane mode” and breathe some fresh air, at least for a couple of days. Oh..I wished so much!

#famWEily

Mostly an introvert, I always felt at home with these 8 friends of mine. Trust me, I always felt that I just had the right kind of people I needed most in my life. Best buddies. These were my college mates.

 

Back in 2014...while the other 3 were yet to join (;

 

Hailing from the same city, but now settled in different cities. Yes, job reasons. We call us, ‘famWEily’. That’s how we always spell the word when it’s about us. The fire of friendship still burns the same way like our college days.

#CollegeDays

Frequent adda sessions after the classes. Exploring the city and the famous food-joints across the length and breadth of the city was so regular then. Some of those mischievous acts of randomness. That ‘unfuckwithable‘ attitude in our veins.

Probably this was our very first trip..together!

You know how the college days usually are (until and unless you’re a geeky nerd who would rather choose to bury your head in books).

Short trips away from the city weren’t very rare. Those days were over and so was the dream phase of our lives.

#ThePlan

It’s been almost 2 and half years since life happened to us while we were busy, day dreaming. Since I went for my last trip. It’s exactly when ‘it’ happened. Yes, the plan was always there.

Plan to meet, at least once a year and go for a trip together. An easy plan, but really difficult when you try to execute.

A date was fixed and unlike every other time, this time every one of us seemed so serious about it. I felt, they badly wanted the plan to happen for real. The plan was bigger and better (than I really thought it would be).

It was decided that on June 2017 we will be going to Kasol (a village in the district Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, northern India).

 

Google Image. This was the exact screen that had appeared when  I put the keyword, ‘Kasol’. Amazing, ain’t it?

 

Whoa! That sounded like a dream, especially when you know the reasons why it is famous for.

No more excuses, no more delays or postponing. Procrastination seemed so feeble for the first time. Haha!

#TheBitterPill

When everything was planned and set, Ria and Jeet (yep, they are a couple) had to take a pause. Blame it on their luck. They are a newly wed couple and had recently moved to Bangalore.

Jeet’s parents were supposed to visit their place in Bangalore so they couldn’t say no to them.

We were ready to wait until they’re available again. But, Ria and Jeet wanted us to carry on with the plan as scheduled. They knew situations like this might crop up again. Postponing wouldn’t really help. We agreed, sadly though.

#ItWasJune

Finally! Something was brewing in the air. Trust me, I never felt this “excitement in the air” before. To be honest, not even during the “V-days”! (I know, Bae will be angry after reading this).

I was too excited to pack my bags even. Didn’t know where to start from. A trip to Kasol with my favorite people (who lives thousands of miles away from each other) seemed like a little too much to believe!

I had taken an extra day off, just before me and San (he’s the only one who’s still residing in the same city as I ) was ready to fly off to Delhi. Flight tickets were booked in advance.

 

To continue reading, click on this: That ‘Travel’ Thing – Chapter: II

 

 

 

 

Love & Peace,

– V e g a n   P o l a

Graphic Art Courtesy: Poolga™