Dally in Delhi

On the way to my trekking destination this year to Uttarakhand, I had the opportunity to spend some time in the capital. And I made sure to visit those places which I had missed during my previous visit many years ago.

India Gate was the first in the list. I got down at the Central secretariat metro station and was told by a passerby on inquiry that I have to walk through couple of gardens to reach the India Gate. And I did just what was told. After walking some distance through the lawns crossing the Janpath and Man Singh roads, I was in front of the war memorial to the soldiers who died during First World War. Below words are inscribed on the monument:

TO THE DEAD OF THE INDIAN ARMIES WHO FELL HONOURED IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS MESOPOTAMIA AND PERSIA EAST AFRICA GALLIPOLI AND ELSEWHERE IN THE NEAR AND THE FAR-EAST AND IN SACRED MEMORY ALSO OF THOSE WHOSE NAMES ARE RECORDED AND WHO FELL IN INDIA OR THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER AND DURING THE THIRD AFGHAN WAR

Spent sometime around the memorial and then proceeded towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the same route I had come but further ahead after crossing the Central secretariat station. The Parliment house, North and South Block on the way made the walk interesting as if I'm watching any news channel on TV. In fact, met many reporters and news crew in front of the Parliment house. Of course, the innumerable vehicles with red beacons, Govt. number plates made quite an impression.

Later, I proceeded towards Red Fort. I noticed it was the right time for the 'Light and Sound' show. I took the ticket and started walking towards the show area through the security check. What I witnessed next left me flabbergasted. All the visitors were welcomed with mosquito repellent, Odomos. I mean it! Though I noticed the entrance was full of mosquitoes in the evening, I was taken aback by the sight of officials distributing the repellent. Instead of finding a solution for the problem, management here has decided to ask visitors to apply repellent. I reached the main seating area of the show, and one more official standing there with Odomos. This was certainly an indication of how serious the mosquito problem was. Honestly, I had never seen before those many mosquitoes  interested in the 'Light and Sound' show!
Anyways, despite covering myself with a cap and pull-over, I couldn't let myself take the punishment of sitting there for more than 10 minutes after the show began. I walked out.

 
Disappointed by the state of matters at the historical place of India, I decided to visit the Jain temple situated opposite to the Red Fort. Seeing so many Jains praying, singing and chanting with diyas in hand was quite a scene.
The plan was to have dinner at nearby Parathe Wali Gali and proceed towards the Delhi railway station. Had sumptuous dinner at the Parathe Wala with those interesting and tasty variety of Paranthas.

Well, all this was during my onward journey and while finally returning from my trek, I got another half a day at Delhi. I decided to visit the famous Akshardham. The temple with it's architectural work, the sandstone and marble carved pillars and everything else at the venue left me spellbound. One great move by the management there was to ban taking of mobile devices and cameras inside the temple. This leaves the place serene with no disturbances from those who go crazy taking snaps around ;-)
Befriended an Ukranian, Alex while standing in the queue. Enjoyed the mandir view and had fun chatting on many topics as well which included war, country traditions, food habits, job, interests and marriage.

I have to finish off saying that I indeed had a nice time roaming around Delhi lanes.

Khaliya Top, Himalayan Expedition 2016

It seemed a very long time since my previous Himalayan trek to Sarpaas so I decided to plan for my next one. As April-May is the time when Youth Hostels Association of India gets ready for expeditions, I checked out various treks offered and finalized on the Khaliya Top in Uttarakhand, India, mainly for two reasons: a. 7 days trek suits my available leaves ;-) b. This is in a state which I've not visited before.
I registered for this trek in the month of March with May 7th as the reporting date keeping in mind a Sunday for rest after my return. And that gave me enough time to plan and book the tickets to the base camp, Munsiyari in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. Flight from Bengaluru to Delhi, followed by an overnight train from Delhi to nearest railway station, Kathgodam. And finally a 12 hour bus journey to Munsiyari. Well, this bus journey turned out to be a tedious and frustrating part of the whole trip. Matter of 275 kms and takes ~12 hours due to the mountain ghat sections. 

Day 1: After the overnight train journey, the complimentary tempo ride was ready just outside the station. In no time all of us heading towards Munsiyari gathered at the tempo as per the instructions and started the journey towards the base camp. Little did we know that we will be forced to listen to some local songs being played in the tempo which made the journey more torturous :) Finally reached the base camp with couple of pit stops in the middle for breakfast and lunch. I was surprised to see a makeshift hotel to be our base camp (7200 ft) instead of typical YHAI camp with tents. Nonetheless a good surprise ;-)

Day 2: This was a acclimatization day and a morning walk to nearby mountain was scheduled. Basic exercises and couple of yoga aasanas were performed. Nice serene place to start off frankly.

After the breakfast, we were taken to a nearby uphill to tune us for coming days. At the top, beautifully constructed Gayatri temple awaited us. We all were invited inside the temple as it started raining where the camp leader decided to provide the whole expedition orientation and also select the group leader and environment leader. I nominated myself for the group leader position and was accepted due to my previous YHAI trek experience to Sarpaas. The group of 32 introduced themselves and it was really nice to meet people from different regions of India who are into different domains of occupation. We had among us a professional guide, doctor, bank official, professional photographer, sound engineer, NGO member, YHAI regional representatives, professors, advocates and many others including a 12 years old boy with his family.
The evening was well spent playing card games on the terrace in the cold weather.

Day 3: This was the day when we started to higher camps. We set out with our packed lunch boxes towards higher altitudes. After few hours of steep walk in the wood, we reached a pleasant place and decided to have our lunch enjoying the scene.

We had a tough 12 kms trek before we reached our first higher camp, Martholi Thatch at a height of 8500 ft, welcomed by camp leader, Manoj Kumar Sahu. 

 Everyone enjoyed the remaining of the day with a game of Frisbee until rain God entered the scene. It rained heavily in the late evening and to add to the excitement, water started entering our tents. Initially it was little scary but later we decided to just ignore the rain, the water, the tent and start the game of playing cards :) 10 of us in our tent played for more than an hour when eventually rain stopped. We stepped out to make a note of the damage. It was very cold and completely dark with no signs of electricity anywhere close to us. We called it a day to have the much needed sleep. Woke up early at 5am to enjoy the sunrise and the beautiful mountains.

Day 4: Again, we packed our lunch boxes and headed towards our next camp. We walked a good stretch in the mountains with quite a few water streams on the way. We had to increase our pace thanks to the drizzle. We reached the next camp, Roodkhan (9000 ft) greeted by camp leader, Rajiv Narvekar. The day followed again with a game of Frisbee, singing and a game of Mafia. Forgot to mention that we had a Radio(Doordarshan?) artist amongst us. A singer and a dancer who entertained us with nice classical songs. Others too accompanied with Hindi/Marathi songs.
It rained again for sometime and fortunately no leaks in tents this time. Hailstones actually which made the atmosphere more exciting.

Day 5: The next days trek was again quite steep with beautiful valleys with mist and clouds. Few of the members spotted rabbits and rare birds before reaching the next camp, Tanti (~12000 ft). On our way we had reached the maximum height of the trek of ~13000 ft. This camp was surrounded by rocky mountains and a small pond next to it. It was quite chilly and intense so we remained inside the tents playing cards and mafia until our camp leader reminded us of time and asked us to sleep.

Day 6: This was the day when we started towards the Khaliya Top. After few hours of ups and downs we reached a beautiful lush green plain with sheep around. The sky was not clear most of the time but provided us clear picture in between and that's when the whole group enjoyed photo shooting and other fun activities. One of the elite member came up with a crazy idea of taking off the shirts for the photo shoot. Most of the boys were hesitant initially but immediately went with the wind and enjoyed the act ;-) Frankly, it came out real good and everybody had a good laugh.

We continued further down for another 8 kms towards the base camp. The stone pathway created more problem as it was harder on our knees. Nonetheless a wonderful trek coming to an end. At the base camp the Field leader Vivek Kholey greeted us inside. 

I had this wonderful opportunity to visit a nice place and in the process met some fine people who were simply a great company. These new friends made the trek more enjoyable and something special to remember for many years to come.