The Mountains Are Calling
“Look Maa!, The mountains are colored in white!”
Ever since I was a child, I always marveled at the grandeur of the mountains. They stood so peacefully, yet they looked scary. So colossal, yet tiny when looked at from a distance. I always fascinated walking on one, someday. It seemed so easy — just like those cricket replays that showed bowler bowling at 145kmph, in slow motion and it made you think, “I could hit that for a huge six, and this fellow was bowled!” Yes, we are all heroes in our stories.
I still faintly remember my first encounter with these gigantic mountains. I was about 6 years old when my family decided to go visit Darjeeling. Apparently, I was a kid with many tantrums. Since I grew up near the coastal regions, I was fond of the beaches and wanted to play with the sands of the Puri beach. But, you don’t listen to 6-year-olds. They are fucking stupid.
And soon we were in Darjeeling, relieved from the summer sun. We checked into the lodge, and that was when for the first time I saw the magnificent Kanchenjunga mountain range. It looked so beautiful. And yes, it was snow-capped at that time of the year and looked like black currant ice-cream with vanilla toppings!
Why The Mountains?
There’s something so special and peculiar about them, I don't know what, that draws me towards them. Maybe it’s their massive size, their lack of shape, the sacred stories that they so beautifully hide, the natives that live around them, or those scary adventurous misadventures. But, whatever the reason may be, I fell in love with them. So much that I decided to go, for my first college trip, to Shillong — The Scotland of the East.
Luckily, the idea of the trip did not translate into one of the unfulfilled “Goa Trip” ideas that we planned, so meticulously, in our inebriated state of mind. And it turned out to be one of the best trips that I had taken, so far, in my life. I was accompanied by a few friends from college and my childhood friend. We planned the trip in such a way that not only we would be amidst the mountains, but also get to attend the Bacardi NH7 weekender. And to listen to Steven Wilson and Prateek Kuhad, live, on a cold winter night, surrounded by the hills — what else could we ask for!
In the mornings, we were tourists amidst the clouds, in the evenings, we buried ourselves in the festival lights and music, and ended our nights light-headed and sotally tober! And it was when I first fell in love with the mountains.
With the Shillong trip gone so good, I went on to visit Gangtok, Cherrapunji, and Aizwal visiting quite a lot of places in the north-east, Vishakapatnam, almost any place where I’d be surrounded by the hills. But I never had visited the north, and that was where I wanted to go next.
And Thus, It began…
I had heard a lot of stories from my friends and colleagues about their trekking experience in the foothills of the Himalayas and beyond. Their stories always fascinated me and I gradually started having this urge to go on a trek myself. But I was a sucker on fitness. And when they said they trekked above 12,000 feet, I was sure that it was something that I could not achieve, at least with the level of fitness I had back then. But I really wanted to have this experience, to own it and have my own stories to share. So I decided to get fit and began planning for the trek.
It was then, I decided, to undertake the 2 challenges —the 30-day running challenge and 30 Day No Sugar Challenge. After much googling, I zeroed in on the Bhramatal trek for the month of January, which is supposed to be the best time to the year for the trek. It is a 6 day, easy to moderate level trek with a max altitude of 12,250 feet. And the best part of the trek is that it’s one of the few winter treks in India — so we were to trek across Oak and Rhododendron forests and then on snow. The trail is almost like a stage with a grand view. On the left, there are layers and layers of mountain ranges. And to the right is the Roopkund trek. Overall, it has makings of a classic winter trek— with two frozen lakes to enjoy!
I began buying the things I’d need for the trek, a few things at a time, in a month. This kept me motivated and excited for the trek, although January seems far. As adviced by my colleagues, I decided to trek with the IndiaHikes team. Since it was my first trek, it was a better option, provided my relative inexperience. And as the team suggested, began preparing for the trek, quite a while in advance. Although you could complete the trek with only a little fitness, I wanted to go all-in because I do not want anything to go wrong with the trek and not compromise on the experience. The challenges helped a lot in achieving my fitness needs and hopefully, I’d reach the state I wish to be in.
I’m really excited about the trek, and so are my friends. I wish January to come sooner! My parents are dead against this adventure thought of mine, but hopefully, I will be able to persuade them so that they let me go! But until then, I’ll be counting the days to the trek!
