Dalhousie YHAI winter trek...

Oct 2008....

Came across the YHAI winter trek to dalhousie... n started pooling up friends.... booking slots for the program.... scheduling.... travel bookings.... some friends droping out n some adding in... n the final list read it as: Satti, Gopal, Chandu n Sarath.... Satti n Gopal are friends from my btech, Chandu's a friend at Softjin...

The prep....

Shopping for a trip to Himalayas was in itself fun... starting from woolen inner-garments to gloves, jacket, rucksack, trekking shoes, first aid kit n toilet paper....

The next big thing was to get our leaves approved n make sure they remain approved... I moved into a new team/project at office n my earlier approved leave stood no longer... I had to convince my new manager n get it re-approved... i lost 2 days in the bargain n so had to book my return journey by flight @ 6500/-... costly deal but by then i was too excited to drop out...

Dec 26th, 2008....

Satti n some friends dropped-in at our house in BTM... had dinner n after the "happy journey" wishes from friends, we were off to yeshwantpur railway station where Chandu joined us... our compartment in the train was full of engineering students from army college.... we were curious abt their daily routines n they were interested in ours... the boys were in joyful mood, they were going home after a 6 months afterall... pulling each others legs, imitating their strict army instructors, whistling at girls... time passed by easily, it takes more than 36 hours from bangalore to delhi...

Dec 28th, 2008....

Due to the early morning fog, train was late n we reached delhi in the afternoon. Our train to pathankot was in the night. We got into the 2nd class waiting room, took bath in shivering cold water, took the delhi local to chk out "India Gate"... with fully-loaded rucksack on our back, it turned out to be a 'not-so-easy' outing... but the place was special, brought in a patriotic feeling... after a 'rang-de-basanti' salute at the india gate, we returned to the delhi main rly station...


Gopal n his brother joined us at the rly station... gopal took a flight from hyderabad.... so they we were at our full strength, took dinner n took the jammu mail to pathankot....

Dec 29th, 2008...

Again the early morning fog delayed the train.... we found other participants of the same trekking programme in the train, Mr Salim Mulla, his daughter Tanvi n Nilesh from mumbai...
together we went to the pathankot bus stand, took a bus to dalhousie, arnd 4 hrs from pathankot.... with pakistan border close-by, pathankot has a huge defense base (army, air-force)... had a yummy punjabi lunch on the way n passing thru the mountains up the hill reached dalhousie by afternoon.... met the camp organizer, pre-poned our program by a day n got tented accomodation... unpacked our luggage, took a hot water bath n strolled into dalhousie town in the evening...

After a briefing by the camp leader abt the program, the rules n the yhai rituals, we were allotted accomodation in the dormitory much to our relief as it was getting colder by the night.... had a voluminous dinner n retired for the day in gr8 anticipation abt the days ahead....

Dec 30th, 2008...

We got up at 4.30 in the morning... had hot bed-tea... n the group set off to an acclimatization walk... after the morning drill, a 4 km walk, an informal intro with the group members, we came back to the base camp tired n exhausted... in the evening, we packed our luggage n deposited in the counter... the food at YHAI calls for a special mention, hot healthy n very tasty.... there was a cultural nite organized in the night with performances from ppl of different states.... true cultural integration experience...


Dec 31st, 2008...

Woke up at 4.30 again... after the morning drill at the base camp, we had breakfast n collected our packed lunch boxes... took bath, our last for the next 2 days, n started off the trek... our destination for the day is 'Kalatop', arnd 8 kms from the base camp.... the energy in the camp was high, singing hindi songs on the way... we stopped by in between for breaks, had yummy maagie noodles, omlettes cooked by the locals of himachal pradesh... we reached kalatop by evening.... again tired n exhausted... kalatop is the highest point in himachal pradesh n to be spending the new-year eve there was a nice feeling... it was shivering bitter cold that night, no lights what so ever n fog surrounded... ahhh awesome sights... spent the night playing games with the camp leader's supervision... had spl dinner n off to bed after the 'happy new year' wishes all around...

Jan 1st, 2009...

We started after having breakfast n collecting our packed lunch boxes... took leave from the camp leader n set off to Khajjiar, arnd 11 kms from kalatop... it turned out to be a most difficult n f****** hard trek... we had to come down a hill, cross over to another hill n climb up the hill... very tiring indeed... reached Khajjiar, also called the mini-switzerland of india, by evening... tried out some kashmiri costumes for the pics... Satti, just bcoz of his lesser weight was eligible to try out the mini para-gliding stunt... n he pulled it off quite well... after a photo session n some fun rides on the lawns of Khajjiar, we reached the yhai camp n retired to bed...

Jan 2nd, 2009...

Took off to Mangla in Chamba valley... yes, the same valley shown in Taal movie... its a beautiful place.... reached by noon, went sight-seeing round the town... that being the last day together in the group, we had a cultural nite again... our camp leader then told us that any one coming to this place will get the "Call of the mountains" soon after going back... yeah, i did fall for himachal pradesh... shud go back some time soon...

Jan 3rd n 4th, 2009...

Reached the base camp at dalhousie, no signs of the much expected snow yet... took the bus to pathankot n then the train to delhi... been to a friend's (Nivas) place in delhi... went to akshardham n by evening i started off to Delhi airport... nnnnn that's it.... reached bangalore safely, vouching to go back to himachal pradesh (the land of gods)... THE END