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| The Valley of Flowers |
Just came back from a successful trek to the Valley of Flowers. It is not only a National Park now, it's a UN declared world heritage site and part of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. The trek also involved a hike to the world's highest Gurdwara at Hemkund Sahib. That's above 14,000 feet.
If you want to know my reactions in short - it's a beautiful place and quite easy to reach even for novice trekkers. If you have never trekked in life but have reasonable fitness this is the trek you should start with. There are two challenges in this destination. A. Reaching the base can be really difficult as this trek is open during the monsoon months only and the bus route upto Govindghat is full of landslides. One left us stranded for about five and a half hours, the other forced us to detour for about 100 kms extra. If you love the mountains you should make every effort to see it. B. Dealing with the crowds of people going on a pilgrimage, mules, porters and not to speak of the rain can be annoying for many.
I had heard about this trek (and a few more like Sundar Dhunga or Har ki Doon) sometime in the mid 80s when I went trekking to Langtang in Nepal. This was from a group of other Bengali trekkers. Somehow over the next few decades when I travelled to different parts of the Himalayas, VoF didn't happen to me. The beaitiful valley remained elusive. A few years ago my good friend Ambarish Dutta went to the VoF with India Hikes, which rekindled the interest in me.
After my recent trek from Rovers Point to Lepchakha (an easy downhill hike of about 3 kms) at Buxa Forest in North Bengal where my right knee became very painful and wobbly (I literally had to hold someone's shoulders to come down) I got really worried about my fitness and felt very disheartened that my dreams of going to the mountains more frequently in retirement now perhaps stand shattered.
I exercised a lot upon return to Calcutta, reasoning in my mind that all my problems with pain are routed in lack of strength. Finally I decided to check the strength of the knees out through a Himalayan trek. As my friend and a doctor practicing in the UK Raja Biswas described it - I was doing a functional test of the knees while I should have got a medical test done first through an X-ray etc.
I chose VoF for this test, given that it's an easy trek. If necessary I can exit from the trek at any point of time without causing any trouble to anyone. I checked India Hikes first. In their typical style, they have a requirement that people above 55 years of age must submit a treadmill test report. I find these not only stupid show offs (as if they are the know-all of treks) but very restrictive. So I switched my attention to Trek the Himalaya (TTH) and booked my trek and tickets etc. If you are interested you can read about the pre-trek part here . It talks mostly about my preparations.
On the scheduled date, that is 18th of July, I boarded Upasana Express from Howrah Station. The trek would start from the TTH office in Rishikesh on 21st morning. I reached Haridwar on 19th around evening. I checked into the first hotel that I could see across the road outside the station. It was a dingy room in the basement that was mine for the night at Rs 500. It had no AC, no windows and no toilet seat also. But I didn't care. In fact I quite enjoyed the El Cheapo experience. I was kind of back to my college days when I would go for such cheap places. I started my first solo trip with stay in the dormitory of the Yout h Hostel of Darjeeling. That cost me Rs 10 per day.
The evening in Haridwar was spent walking towards Har Ki Paudi and coming back and reminiscing about the 1976 trip with my parents and sister. I felt very sad that both my parents were now gone. This was our first and only multi-day and multi-city trip with the whole family. I remember how happy my mother was to be able to bathe in the holy Ganga in the privilege of a private ghat of the Dharamasala we stayed in. In fact I wanted to stay in the same Jaipuria Dharamsala. But no one picked up their phone.
Haridwar is a very non-descript temple town. Unless you are very religiously inclined there is nothing here. For the record, Ganga hits the plains here and starts her journey through the plains of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal.
Of course, I was shocked by the grey water of the river. When we came here in 1976 the water was absolutely crystal clear. However, I was told once the monsoon gets over the water would clear up again.
Next afternoon I went to Rishikesh by a shared auto spending a princely sum of Rs 70 and checked into a hotel across the road from the TTH office which is located in the Tapovan area of the town, so that early morning the next day I wouldn't need to undertake any journey within Rishikesh.
That evening I met a few of the other fellow trekkers. There were a couple of men who were senior to me but mostly the others were way junior to me. That is how it should be actually. VoF is a beginner's trek. It might be steep but there is no technical climbing involved anywhere. There were several who were seeing Himalaya for the first time. I should actually have done this trek 30 years ago but then better late than never.
I also met Ajay in the afternoon, the TTH tour coordinator, at his office. On my walk down the main road in Tapovan I came across Adventure Axis, a shop selling outdoor gears. I had bought many trekking gear from the guy who runs the shop. He recognised me by name. It's a large shop but not very attractively arranged.
In case you want to know, I had lunch and dinner at a restaurant called Uttar Dakshin - Madras Cafe. They are very neat and clean well lit and well occupied by customers. They serve excellent South and North Indian food. I mostly had idly and vada and filter coffee in the typical Tamil style.
The Journey Towards the Mountains Starts
The next morning we started on the bus journey to Pipalkoti. It's a day long journey which was completed in bright sunlight. We were in two mini-buses. A group of 22 split into two buses. I got a single window side seat. On this route try to take the left hand side seat because that's where the river is. On the way came all the Prayags (meaning confluence), starting with Devaprayag where Bhagirathi and Alokananda meet to form Ganga - the lifeline of North India and a very prominent figure in Hindu mythology.
We followed the fiercely flowing Alokananda via Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag etc. What were once dots on the way to Kedar and Badri have now morphed into full fledged towns.We went towards Badrinath. In 1988 I came down this road from Ghat and saw the tree under which Corbett had killed the "man-eater of Rudraprayag". There was a large stone plaque by the side of the road under a tree. Apparently a fair is still held to commemorate the day. But this time I couldn't find any such thing in the busy town that Rudraprayag now is. I saw a largish building - Corbett Memorial though. This seemed new.
The skies were blue and the white fluffy clouds made you feel like it was autumn. At Pipalkoti we were put up in a hotel and were introduced to our trek leader. She is a young but competent girl from the mountains. Usha Shahi. Our documents were all collected and health check up done in the form of a pressure check. Mine was found to be normal. One of the elderly gentlemen was found to be suffering from high BP. He was given a polite warning of sorts that if it doesn't go down by the next morning he wouldn't go with us.
Pipalkoti is a wide open, green valley with a very small town. It's an important town on the way to Badrinath. I am sure it was a dot on the route to Badrinath in the earlier years. It has a few hotels now. I had some jilebis and samosas from the shop in the town. Wasn't anything great. Though the day was very bright it started raining very heavily from the night. I guess it had rained the whole night in Pipalkoti when we stayed there.
I shared the room with two other senior Bengali gentlemen. One from Tripura - Subrata Roy. A retired banker. The other is Joydeep Roy from Kharagpur. He has taken VRS from BPCL. Later I found them to be rabid Hindutva badi BJP supporters. These people regard us liberals as almost non-Hindus. However, the first night with them was not very unpleasant as I had no idea about their political inclinations then.
Next morning, that is 22nd July, we started for Govindghat in the same bus. We got a bit delayed as the elderly gentleman Venkat couldn't clear the repeat BP test in the morning also. It was apparently still showing 160/90. Unfortunately we had to leave him behind and proceed. He seemed like a reasonably fit person and he himself didn't feel anything. TTH told him that he could wait in Pipalkoti for a day. In case it comes down he could join the next batch of TTH on the following day, which ultimately didn't happen because his BP still didn't come down. I hope he gets a treatment for it when he goes back home.
Within a few hundred meters after starting from Pipalkoti our vehicle came to a stop behind a long queue of other vehicles. Apparently there were a number of landslips ahead that were being cleared.
From 7.30 we waited in the same spot past 8,9,10,11, 12 and then finally at 1 o' clock we could move forward. The slushy area was long and I could understand why it took so long even for two JCBs working in tandem to clear the mud. We crossed a few more rocky stretches on the road very carefully. There was one more hold up before Joshimath. It turned out to be a minor one with just a few boulders lying on the road. Two back-hoe excavators came and simply rolled the boulders down the mountain slope into the river. We saw a crushed vehicle way down the slope fallen on the river bank, perhaps many months ago. Its bright yellow paint was still making it easily visible. Evidently it had fallen in the past and no one bothered to pick up the wreckage. I hope the driver jumped out in time (usually they do) Alokananda here is really fearsome.
After this came Joshimath. A famous old mountain town before Badrinath and a base for many an expeditions and treks that has now become more famous due to its status as a sinking town. From the bus I saw many buildings that have cracked up. Some have crumbled down. These buildings didn't have any inhabitants. I was told that they have been given shelter elsewhere. I saw a few new buildings under construction as well. Joshimath town seemed more open and sparsely populated than my mental image of it. I had imagined it to be a small hilly town with dingy, narrow, dark and wet lanes. It was anything but that.
It was funny how the government propaganda against this disaster - the current government doesn't want us to think anything can go wrong in their sacred Devbhumi - has worked among the locals. I asked a person in Pipalkoti about Joshimath and he said it's all false narrative to discredit the government. Nothing has happened in Joshimath. I heard the same thing from another person in Govindghat - it's all bull shit. They have perhaps not seen those dangerously cracked buildings. Even if they have, to them what the government wants them to believe is more true than what they can see.
Finally we reached Govindghat. A very small hamlet on the bank of Alokananda. Here one has to cross the fiercely flowing and a much narrower river over a small and narrow military hanging bridge painted in British racing green. There is a Gurudwara by the side of the river and a small market - mostly selling Shikh religious stuff - with a few hotels.
It was already 3 pm. Our plan was to take a jeep from Govindghat to Pulna (the local drivers of Pulna don't allow any outside jeeps or buses to go to their town beyond Govindghat), a distance of only 4 km and then start walking. If we started the walk by 3.30 we would reach Ghangria by 9 ish. The skies stay bright till about 7.30 which means we would need to walk in the dark for about two hours.
However, the local police didn't allow us to proceed. As per a big signboard before the bridge, one cannot go towards Ghangria beyond 2 pm. It was already 3 pm. Our trek leader went to the police station to seek permission from the officer-in-charge but it was flatly denied. They said it was because the road has wildlife like bears and leopards and as such could be dangerous in the night.
So we decided to stay back for the night at Govindghat itself. We checked into a hotel next to the Gurdwara and had food at the langar inside the Shikh temple. Luckily I got an exclusive room to myself as a few fellow trekkers moved out into better hotels paying from their pocket and free rooms became available for those who stayed back.
Here I slept alone in a room that thus fell vacant and made myself endless cups of tea with my kettle and tea bags. I had a plate of momos in a shop outside the hotel.
We saw very few pilgrims here and the small market run by Sikhs was mostly empty with only shopkeepers keeping it alive. I asked them why it is so. They said it is because of floods in Punjab. Indeed most of the pilgrims here are from Punjab.
The Trek Starts - Day 1
Snapshot - Pulna to Ghangria is an 11 km walk over stone paved road with railing and garden benches. Takes about 5 hours. Nothing could be easier than this in the Himalayas. You get porters and mules etc at Pulna if you want. Plenty of water sources are available on the roadside.
Here is a link to the map of the walk recorded on Garmin.
One leaves Alokananda at Govindghat and from Pulna starts following the Laxman Ganga. The valley here is wide and the river looks beautiful. It's just somewhere betweeen a stream and a river here in terms of size. After registration at the Pulna check post we started our walk. There are a few homestays available in Pulna. There are many porters and mules available too. Our bigger loads were off-loaded to mules here. A few trekkers additionally hired a porter to carry their personal stuff. It's a novice's trek, please remember.
The trail is very well laid out. It's wide and paved with stones. One doesn't need to be careful with one's steps. It's not smooth but there is no challenge to walk here. There are garden benches on the side of the trail. There is even a railing on the side of the path and shades in various places to take rest in heavy rain. We were lucky that it wasn't raining. It was overcast throughout the four days of our trek but didn't rain very heavily except on the last day.
Our first stop was near a confluence. I was told the river coming from the left hand side was Laxman Ganga while the one on the right was Kaak Ganga. Our local trek leader - Deepak Singh Rawat - said only Bengali trekkers go in that direction to Kaak Bhusandi lake. As a Bengali I felt rather proud for a change after a long time. These days in such religious places where vegeterianism is worshipped and non-vegetarians are seen as criminals, Bengalis are almost hated. I had one such incident where someone shouted at me for being a "non-vegetarian Bengali".
Bengalis, once upon a time were respected across the country for being freedom fighters and intellectuals. In such violently vegeterian and religious places our only identity now is our non-vegeterianism. Personally I apprehend the current state-sponsored hatred that is going on against beef eating across the country will soon be converted into hatred against non-vegeterians. I hope to be proved wrong.
Coming back to the walk - we saw many pilgrims and so called trekkers overtaking us on mules. I think each mule costs Rs 1000. After a long walk of more than five hours through the forested path we reached what looked like Ghangria. There is a very large field that has a helipad run by GMVN and several neatly arranged tents. I have no idea how these tents are booked but they looked better than the hotels in the town.
Make no mistake. You haven't reached Ghangria yet. You have to walk for a kilometer or so more to enter the dingy town. The town is full of small hotels including a GMVN guest house. We were put up in a two storied hotel named Deepak with a dining hall in the ground floor. The room we got was really small with barely space for 3 beds and hardly anything else. Even finding space for our bags on the floor was a challenge. The bathroom wasn't dirty but could do with a competent plumber. In fact on the entire route starting from Haridwar plumbing seemed like a major issue.
In the evening we went to check the town out. Essentially a narrow and straight lane with hotels on either side. Each hotel has a restaurant in the ground floor. There is yet another Gurudwara in this town as well. I later learnt that they also rent out rooms. We watched a short documentary on the valley paying Rs 50 per head. Informative but expensive in today's world where everything is available for free on youtube.
I hardly had any sleep that night because of the loud snoring by my fellow trekkers. And next morning we were ready to move out at six or so.
Day 2 - Ghangria to Valley of Flowers and Back
Snapshot - Four kilometers of uphill walk to reach the valley. Took me 3.5 hours. After that you can walk upto 8 kilometers on flat trail in the valley. The trail to valley is very well laid out but narrower and steeper than Day 1.
Here is a Garmin map of the one-way journey
After Ghangria the path bifurcates into two. The right hand side one that is wider goes to Hemkund and the left hand side one goes to the Valley. There is a checkpost here that opens at 7 am. We were told that we must wait at the hotel to hear from an advance team whether the route to the Valley is open (on bad rainy days it remains closed). If not we would go to Hemkund. However, the route was open and we proceeded towards the valley. Just after the checkpost where the entry for us was paid by our agency we entered the sanctuary through a gate.
Before this we had to cross a disgusting mule stand where several mules and porters were trying to find customers. Disgusting because of all the poop all around and their stink. Mules are not allowed in the National Park but for going towards Hemkund or back to Ghangaria.
A young Nepali porter offered to carry my backpack. I answered him in Nepali and he was more than pleasantly surprised and wanted to know how I knew his language. I gave him a mysterious smile. He kept pestering for my business. I felt rather sad for him. They come as migrant workers from Nepal. Live in extremely unhygenic conditions and go back by October when everything gets covered under deep snow. It's a more than two day journey from here to their home. I wonder how much they make every season. The work is often back breakin as they carry human beings on their back in a basket. I saw two able bodied men using this service.
It might look obnoxious to us but it's livelihood for them. Daily work is not guaranteed at all but it pays well when they get it. Many in our group used porters to carry their personal stuff. I even saw one of them being carried on the back of the porter in the basket.
VoF is a UN World Heritage site now as it has been brought under the Nanda Devi National Park. It is my ambition to see all these natural World Heritage sites in India. So far I have seen Manas, Kaziranga, Sunderbans and Western Ghat. I am not sure about Kanchendzongha National Park (that is, whether I have been there officially but Sandakphu is good enough). The Great Himalayan National Park is as yet unseen.
The path to the VoF is narrower than the one we used on Day 1 but this is also paved with stones. Soon after the gate one starts to see wild flowers on the sides of the path. Different colours like red, purple, yellow and white. I have no idea what their names are. But they are beautiful. Small wild flowers of different hues. Gently blowing in the cool breeze.
We crossed the fiercely flowing Laxman Ganga over a small bridge and climbed up the mountain path. It's more back breaking than yesterday's walk but again nothing technical. It was overcast as usual but there wasn't any rain. We presently reached a mountain stream which had to be crossed over a small bridge and entered the flat valley. At the beginning there is a large overhanging boulder. After this the valley opens up very wide.
It's lush green all around and despite all the tourists it seemed so serene and beautiful. The valley is some eight kilometers long and there is a river that borders the valley. It's at a little distance. I ended the walk at exactly 5 kms from my hotel and 1 km from the overhanging boulder. I found a large boulder by the side of the path and sat on it, waiting for our team members to come back. Just looking at the valley and the mountain on the other side is so serene and peaceful.
Many from our group walked right upto the river. I didn't feel any special urge to see the river. I much prefered to just sit quietly and soak in the beauty of the place. There are a few snow capped peaks that are visible from here on a clear day. But I wonder if anyone gets a clear day here so late in the morning.
This boulder turned out to be a selfie corner for the trekkers. Some people are so obssessed with selfies. They were taking selfies virtually at every step. And in different poses. As an onlooker I found it rather amusing to see how instructions were being given for the perfect pose. Lift the hands a bit. Break a little at the elbow. Keep the head up. One wondered if a Bollywood film was being shot.
I felt like a complete outsider to this group. I had no one that I could relate to really. There was a German guy Dario. He was quiet like a mute person. He would answer if you asked him a question but he had nothing to offer on his own or any questions to ask. Conversation with such people is impossible. Socially inert, one could say.
There was another Venezuelan girl (who lives in Denmark), Andreina. She was decent and quite jovial had similar values but I couldn't see her during the trek. Normally they walk on their own. But apparently she later complained to the group leader that no one was there around her in the valley. I didn't think she wanted anyone around her.
After some time we turned back and traced our way back to Ghangria down the same trail.
On day 1 I had suffered a little pain in the knee. The pre-patellar bursa I have on the right knee became more prominent but it wasn't anything disabling. On the second day I took no chance and wore the knee cap. I was totally pain free and walked rather confidently. I was particularly happy with the confidence with which I was climbing down. In my earlier two treks of Roopkund and Stok Kangri my descent was rather slow.
But this time all the exercises for the hip flexors and glutes etc seemed to have paid off. I came down alone rather quickly and as I entered the town I saw a small hotel just opposite to the Gurudwara. Hotel Holiday Inn. I asked them if they had a room. They showed me a decent room at Rs 800. It was better lit and more spacious than the room I had at Deepak. It even had a thin green carpet on the floor. I immediately decided to take it. Spending two more sleepless nights in that cramped room with all that snoring right next to me was out of question.
I went to Deepak and brought my bigger rucksack to move into this hotel. There was no other guest in the hotel. They insisted on foot massage. I refused steadfastly. At Deepak someone was hawking hot water and foot massage down the corridor like one was in a suburban electric train. Once again I made myself endless cups of tea.
While I stayed at Holiday Inn I had my dinner at Deepak with the others. I was a lot more fresh the next morning when we started the slow climb to Hemkund.
Day 3 - Ghangria to Hemkund and Back
Snapshot - Total walk - 6.5 km either way. Five hours to go up. A very back breaking steep climb up well laid out, wide path with lots of tea stops. Full of wild flowers and even a glacier.
Here is a map of the one-way walk to Hemkund
The tenth Shikh guru, Guru Govind Singh had written about one of his previous incarnations when he spent his life meditating in the Himalayas. He described the place in detail and it is written down in the Granth Sahib. About 100 years ago a Sikh devotee went in search of the place and finally found this spot that he thought matched the description of Guru Govind Singh. A Gurudwara was built and it is now the famous Hemkund Sahib. The world's highest Gurudwara at more than 14000 feet.
The road is wide like on day 1 but a lot steeper. Mules are allowed on this pilgrimage trail. I saw many families including youngsters a third my age going on mules. I kept a slow but steady pace and kept walking. This side of the mountain also has lots of wild flowers. I was hoping that I would be able to see the Brahma Kamal and some Blue Poppies. Contrary to what I knew, Brahma Kamals are not found in the VoF because they don't bloom below 14000 feet or so. I was told it was too early to see Brahma Kamals. Mid August is the right time to see them, particularly around the lake.
And sure enough, we didn't get to see any Brahma Kamal. I guess I have to come here again. I did see some Blue Poppies on this trail. But the main highlight of this walk is the sight of a glacier by the side of the road from where a stream flows out. You can see the ice melting in droplets and becoming the fast flowing stream.
There are many tea stalls along the way. I drank some tea at Rs 30 for a cup and kept walking. I met an elederly gentleman. He is 71 he said. Radhe Shyam Soori from Dehradun. He had retired about 11 years ago from a PSU bank. He was walking in ordinary trousers and a shirt. Like a standard office wear in India. He had ordinary sneakers on. He said his companions including two in their twenties have gone ahead on mules. I soon realised that he knew Bengali. It was amazing, given that he has never lived in Bengal. He learnt it from his neighbour who he seemed to have a lot of respect for. One Dr Raha who was one of the directors at Anthropological Survey of India in Dehradun.
I told him that I knew lots of third generations non-Bengalis living in Calcutta who don't know a word of Bengali. He laughed at it.
The Gurudwara in Hemkund can look rather underwhelming. It looks like a lotus of sorts with tin roof. It's right on the bank of a small glacial lake - the Kund. I could see glacial ice all around the lake (in the plains we would call it a largish pond). It was quite cold though not freezing. I found two sardars taking a dip in that glacial water. One of our fellow trekkers, young Shubham Baroi from Andaman was very keen to take one too. But he had not brought any towel. So he went in upto the knees only and quickly came out.
It was raining most of the time during our hour-long stay there. I took a little khichdi from the langar. It was delicious. They also serve an extremely sweet tea. After spending about an hour or so I started my slow decent down the trail and reached Ghangria in decent time. There was no pain whatsoever in my knees.
The only negative thing about this walk was the use of microphone and loudspeakers at the Gurudwara. They were singing devotional songs that was audible throughout the walk. When one uses loudspeakers in such a serene surrounding devotional feeling is totally lost. But in India we love to make noise.
Day 4 - Ghangria to Pulna and Farther On
We started our final day's walk early. We were to start by 6. I could hardly sleep as they required us to come for breakfast at 5.30 am. This meant I would need to pack up and be ready by 5.15 am. This in turn meant I would need to start packing by 4.30. Packing the sleeping bag seemed like an intimidating thought. To make matters worse the power went off in the middle of the night to never come back.
My cycling torch came in handy here. It gave me a room full of light for half an hour without a blink. I think it goes on for 2 hours. I had bought a candle in Govindghat but that turned out to be useless, as the light was very little. These are prayer candles and not meant for any practical utility.
But I packed everything on time and reached Deepak. As usual, we never started at 6 but well after 6.40 or so. The trek down the valley was done in heavy rain. We stopped at a few places. Had tea twice. We reached Pulna and came to Govindghat by jeep.
From Govindghat we boarded the bus to go straight to Rishikesh. It was already well past 12 in the afternoon. Normally TTH takes its trekkers from here to Pipalkoti and then to Rishikesh the next day. As we lost a day in reaching Ghangria we decided to complete this two-day journey in one day.
However, we had a small problem. The road beyond Pipalkoti had a major lanslide zone and we would require to make a long detour of 100 km via Chopta as this section was going to take about a week to repair. This detour road is quite narrow but beautiful. Goes through lovely villages with terraced fields. They were looking beautiful with the soft light of the setting sun.
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| Taken off the moving bus |
Soon we drove into a massive traffic jam. Too many large buses with pilgrims on both sides caused the jam because it was really a narrow road that cannot accomodate such large buses. The administration was nowhere in sight in that forest. The drivers took turns to untangle the jam. It took about an hour and a half to clear that spot and come out into the empty road. It was already dark and we had 5/6 hours more of driving left to reach Rishikesh.
On the way two sets of drama happened. A few of our fellow trekkers got very scared by the fast driving of our drivers. They complained to the TTH head office. The drivers got rebuked by their bosses and started driving very very slowly.
I have ridden thousands of kilometers in the Himalayas including in Nepal and Bhutan. I have personally driven in the Himalayas too - in India and Bhutan. And I am a very cautious and careful driver. While I wouldn't drive like these boys were doing, I didn't think they were driving dangerously. Of course I also told the driver to take it easy but complaining straight to the bosses is a little unfair. It is also true that I have travelled for thousands of kilometers in different parts of the Himalayas by bus and am quite inert.
I think the drivers in the plains drive a lot more recklessly than the mountain drivers. But newbies to these roads wouldn't understand these nuances in driving.
The next set of drama happened when it started raining very heavily. This was around midnight. The two buses pulled up under the canopy of a closed petrol pump. Several fellow trekkers, I found were too scared to move forward in that inclement weather. The drivers also started saying there were a few landslide zones and were reluctant to drive in the darkness. I guess they wanted to take a nap, which is a reasonable need. In fact a sleepy driver is a very dangerous thing anywhere.
After much back and forth discussions and some frayed tempers it was decided that we would stop near a hotel and start early morning. All the passengers in our bus were willing to move forward. The other bus had everyone voting for a halt for the night.
A few went and checked into the hotel. I thought it would be stupid to rent a room for 3/4 hours only @ Rs 1200. I slept on the floor of the parking lot of the hotel. It seemed a perfectly nice and well paved place for me to sleep. I have absolutely no qualms about such improvisations.
I was a little upset with the timidity of some of my fellow trekkers. I later realised that they were mostly not only novices in terms of trekking, many were seeing Himalayas for the first time. They are from the drier regions of the country and have never even seen a proper rain. So naturally they got frightened. It is my mistake that I chose such a beginners' trek. Obviously my fellow trekkers in such a trek would be beginners.
Ironically enough the rains stopped when we decided to stop. And throughout the night we saw many vehicles plying in both directions. Going and coming to and from the so called landslide zone.
Next morning we started again at around five-ish. We reached Rishikesh at seven or so. I spent the day sleeping in a hotel next to the TTH office and came home the next day by plane. I was originally booked in a train after two days. I cancelled it and booked a flight to Calcutta via Delhi.
So there ends my story. Now is the time to plan for the next trek.
