The next day dawned bright and early for me. I wanted to be up early so I could finish my business before there were too many people wandering about. Although the trek organizers had setup toilet tents, they were almost always occupied. Plus, the stink in those holes after a few people had visited it, was something else. Nature was calling and it was time to answer it! A quick, small trek uphill in the cold and I was in a secluded enough for doing what was necessary. Then, I was back down, changed into a fresh pair of clothes for the day’s trek, and ready for tea and breakfast. Trek The Himalayas (TTH), the company organizing the trek, were outstanding in the planning, organization and execution. The food that they cooked, setting up the tents, packing up and being ready for us when we got to the next campsite with hot tea, water and food – they were very,
Pangarchulla – Day 2
The day dawned bright and promising after the cold welcome the previous evening. I was up early and took the early bird advantage with use of the single bathroom shared by 4 of us roommates. It was to be the final bath for the next 3-4 days. We set off at approx. 9:00 a.m and after a stopover for 15 mins or so for shopping, we were dropped off a the point that we were to start the trek from. This starting point was about 15 – 20 kms from the hotel we were put up at. Those of us who had paid for the ponies, gave our luggage away to them and we started off, after a few pics for a before/ after shot later. It was sunny and the going was energetic to begin with. There was work in progress for a road being built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Soon, though, we were taken off
Pangarchulla – Day 1
Towards the end of April 2017, I set out on my first Himalayan trekking adventure – to a place that I had not heard of more than 2 months prior. Pangarchulla. Honestly, it took me about a month to get the name right without having to look back at the website or my email! To the uninitiated, Pangarchulla is a peak in the NandaDevi Natural Reserve, towards the north of Uttarakhand. It is approx. 5000m above the sea-level and is considered a moderate-difficult trek. The tour guide had it down for a 4 day trek with a couple of more days thrown in to travel between Haridwar and Joshimath. I started off with my backpack weighing in at about 10-12 kgs, from Bengaluru, on a flight to Delhi. An overnight train to Haridwar found me at the station at 4 a.m on the first day of the journey. I walked from the railway station to one of the hotels that
Intolerance
Off late, there have been so many instances of intolerance in our country that it has become a daily news item. There is anger at seemingly innocuous happenings such as a very normal tweet by a celebrity politician about how people in a neighboring country are “just like us”. It is another matter that that nation could take umbrage at this comment! In Bengaluru, we have the intolerance against the Supreme Court verdict of granting water from the Cauvery river to a neighboring state. The city has been witnessing strikes and shut downs intermittently for a few weeks now for a number of varying reasons. It is quite a fashion nowadays to seethe at injustice and display the anger at soft targets. Sonu Nigam was the victim of social media trolls for airing a Point of View on loudspeakers and their misuse in India. I am reading the book “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari. He makes such poignant remarks on
Power Intoxicating
Recent events that played out in Tamil Nadu following the demise of the erstwhile Chief Minister proves how power hungry people can be. To even suggest otherwise, to think that the only motivation that contenders for the Chief Minister’s post had the welfare of the state or the people in mind, would be to live in fool’s paradise. The assembling of the MLAs at a resort, cut off from the other faction, the drama surrounding each person worth his salt visiting the grave of the deceased CM, oh boy! If this wasn’t all played out for power, then I am the King of La La Land! The entire episode, which is still not done, lasted for a few days and shows, once again, the insatiable thirst for power in so many of us. And who can be blamed for wanting it? I am reminded of a story that I used to listen to as a kid, in Kannada. The narrator,
Mithun's Musings 