A Trip to Himachal (Part -2)
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. ~Into the Wild
Day 2: The Triund Trek
As romantic as the above quote sounds, when you really start the trek, within few hours you realise what the unhealthy lifestyle has done to you. Sigh!
We started as a group of twelve people and within one hour, three guys decided to turn back.
After few hours the fatigue kicked in and I didn’t even appreciate the landscape anymore. I was like ‘Pahad hi toh hai bc..’
After 4 hours, we had climed 3 hills and we had just one more to go. All of us were so fatigued that it was becoming difficult to move. I was trying not to topple off the hill and we were taking breaks every 50 meters or so. We only had breakfast in the morning and it was almost evening time and there was no energy left in us. We borrowed few broken biscuits from fellow group mates and kept moving. I felt like I need some time to recover before I can move further.
And then we saw it.
The mountains were so close that it pumped up some energy in us and we gathered our strengths to continue.
Finally we reached the top, the first thing we did was to have some food and tea. There is no appreciating beauty with empty stomach, I can assure you that.
Was it all worth it?? Hell yes!
I would have cried if I was feeling like it. But I was just feeling free. I forgot everything. No worries at all. Not at the moment at least.
Quoting Into the wild again:
“I don’t want to know what time it is. I don’t want to know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters.”
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
Remember about the moment of peace I talked about earlier.
So, this is another moment of peace. The beauty of dusk.
Triund was one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to. I was mesmerized by the beauty and the experience was just incredible.
Now, the sun has gone down and it was time for bonfire. Trekking is incomplete without the bonfire. Right?
This is the first time I realised that creating bonfire is an art. It demands your constant attention if you want to continuously receive its warmth. You have to be involved all the time or the fire will stop. You have to keep rearranging the wood, keep igniting the fire again and again. Sounds a bit like relationship?, anyways.
I don’t know why I find this (city lights) very comforting. Looking at the lights from top of the hill top. It feels like you are not the part of crowd anymore, but you are still connected to them somehow. Travelling brings out a lil bit of philosopher in me. ;)
Day 3: Back to Mcleodganj
So, tomorrow is another day (quoting Gone with the wind) , a beautiful day and a beautiful sunrise.
Although we got up a bit late then what would have been ideal for sunrise but we didn’t go there to follow deadlines anyways. We clicked a few photos had some breakfast and tea. Stared at the mountains for a while. Then prepared to leave.
We left without the guide, since we had planned to do parasailing at Birbilling. (sounds like a tragedy is going to unfold. Isn't it? )
The dog in the above picture followed us from Truind till the end of the trek. He would run for a while and then we would catch up with him and then he would run again. We wanted to be believe that he was showing us the path but actually he was following his own pack I guess.
I like the below picture a lot. I am not sure if the dog is looking at the view or calculating its path down but it’s just beautiful.
After a while we lost track and we were too tired to move. The first thing that popped up in my mind was that this is going to be interesting. So I took the below picture.
But after one hour of searching we finally found our way back. Since we descended so fast, my legs were just giving up on me. But thinking about parasailing, I kept moving.
Finally the trek ended with a chai on peace cafe. I just love tea!
The the trek in all was really satisfying. And I would like to do this again sometime. And in order to make an impactful ending, I would have to quote Into the Wild again.
“You are wrong if you think joy emanates only or principally from human relationships.”
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
