Itchy feet: very strong or irresistible impulse to travel (Source: The Oxford English dictionary)
That's what all of us have. Plus the need to meet up occasionally and relive the memories and camaraderie from college. This is a great thing in itself, but take a random sample of 7 of your batchmates from college; chances are they will be separated by a few thousand kilometers of ocean (and timezones, and job descriptions, and such). So if these random 7 are in the habit of taking a holiday together every year (or sometimes every 6 months), that is a pretty significant logistical effort. But that is the kind of friendships that come out of college ... the effort will be made.
Last year we hired motorcycles and rode up from Manali to Leh and then some around there. Bettering that is not easy, but you got to try! So that's how we wound up meeting at Rati's place in Delhi on a wet, crazy-traffic-day. Abby and Rashmi from London, Kavi from Chennai, Manoj on a flight from Mumbai, and Mithun, Umesh, Abhijit Chavan, and me, on a train also from Mumbai - the same train Manoj was also supposed to be on, but missed because he underestimated the on time performance of Indian Railways! For the record, he tried really hard to miss the flight on our last trip, but just wasn't good enough then :)
The Nandadevi East base camp trek in Uttarakhand starts from the town of Munsiyari in Uttarakhand. The rail head is Kathgodam, and the same night, we were on the 5013 Ranikhet Express headed there. The excitement and the filth in our compartment kept some of us awake for a while, but not for long. A day in Delhi can be tiring even for the sprightliest teenager!
We woke up to a chill in the air, eyefuls of green landscape, and a mild early morning mist ... only a sneak preview to what we were going to see over the next couple of weeks. Our 2 jeeps were loaded up with supplies and waiting to take us to Munsiyari. The welcome party included our guide Laxman, his partner and younger brother in law Ganga, his older brother in law Deepak (the business savvy end of the trio), and the 2 drivers! There is something about these pahadi folks. They're simple, straightforward, almost naive people who seem to believe that everything about them is better than the rest of the planet (But wait a minute, that last part is true of everyone else as well ... so scratch it). And they do have at least one smart-ass songwriter in their ilk. Sample the one track that translated "Neither my younger bhabhi, nor my older bhabhi. The generation is corrupted by Kareena (Kapoor?) bhabhi." The music is nice and folksy, but would be much better without the tacky mixing most likely done on the producer's nephew's home computer. In the end, the day long ride turned out to be a lot of fun with the music, the fun people, the surreal landscapes, and the anticipation of things to come.
Laxman had us put up for the night in extremely cozy rooms in Munsiyari that had a balcony with a view to die for! You could see the Panchachuli peaks reaching up for the sky and Munsiyari town down below, while everything in between was covered by a thick fog! He also got us our first bottle of 'dado' - the local brew distilled from rice and jaggery. Takes a while to adapt to the taste (or the lack of it?), but it sure is potent. Unsure of what physical torment awaited us the next day, we decided against any drunken revelry. The anticipation though, was something else ...
Day 1 of the trek - Munsiyari to Lillam
In the mountains, you have to respect nature. Your plans mean little if she decides otherwise. Landslides along our planned route meant that there was no way mules could go. Plan B was to to have have more men to do the heavy carrying, which meant more provisions to feed them, and more weight in turn. That was how we ended up having 14 men to accompany 8 of us! Like a friend told me later, we could have invaded Nepal with that army ... sure their army would have given us a heck of a fight, but me thinks we would have prevailed!
The physical demand of the trek did not take long to hit us. The first 2 hours were an unrelenting steep climb that felt like it would never end. Earlier in the morning, us silly plainsfolk, having no idea what we were up against, had covered up in multiple layers of clothing. Half an hour of trudging up the slope, and people were starting to peel off all those extra layers ... it was sunny, and terribly hot! It's well worth the effort though, if only for the beautiful sights on offer. The valley is thickly wooded for the most part; with villages and cropland interspersed. There is also the occasional bald patch caused by landslides. In fact, we could hear a persistant rumble from the many big and small landslides that covered the slopes. The climb is followed by a gentle down slope through a thickly wooded forest. It's dark and damp and there's a mist hanging, which makes it look very much like a tropical rainforest. And where there's a wet forest, there's leeches. It is not easy to fall in love with these critters. Even veterans have to try super hard to ignore the omnipresent suspicion that there could be a dozen of them in your shoe sucking you dry of blood (Not really though ... It would take an outrageously large colony of them to do that!), so it's easy to forgive the first timers who scream their lungs out!
Useful tip - In weather that is not cold, ponchos good (Roomy, easy to take on and off, fold and carry, covers backpack too), windcheaters/jackets bad (Hot, sweaty, and a complete pain in the ass when not in use). Bright sunshine passed into heavy rain as we got out of the forest, and by the time we stopped for lunch at Yedthi, we were wet and miserable. It required a steaming hot meal, with fresh-from-the-field vegetables, to lift our spirits - as it would continue to do for the next few days. The weather cleared out by the time lunch was done, and we had a comfortable trek to Lillam, a small village of about 10 houses, one chai shop, and an ITBP camp - our abode for the night.
Day 2/3 - Lillam to Bugdiyar to Railkot
From Lillam on, the path is a mild climb that follows the Gori Ganga upstream along the left bank. "Gori" because all the silt that the river drags along makes the water white in color. The weather was good to us here and there was no rain. The path is mostly a gentle slope up with short steep sections at times. To add excitement, every now and then there's a portion of track washed away by a landslide. The only way here - depending on the size of the fallen rocks - is to run across, or scramble up and over ... all the while hoping that the next falling rock does not catch you! There was also the one section where you have to walk right through an industrial strength, freezing waterfall. You can see this in pictures on the internet, but these can hardly prepare you for the actual experience!
Another interesting chai stop en route is Railgadi, so called because of the series of shacks built under the shelter of one gigantic overhang of rock. This is about where the aches started to show up. When Manoj complained, Laxman massaged his knees and gave him a little "herbal" cigarette to kill the pain. That cigarette was so good, pretty soon everyone's knees were complaining!
Useful tip - Carry photo ID. Bugdiyar (night 2) and Railkot (night 3) are both essentially ITBP camps where every tourist has to register on the way up, and sign out on the way down. This is because the Chinese and Nepalese borders are not more than 3/4 days trek away. The restriction does not apply to locals though, who apparently do end up wandering into the other country every now and then! Our accommodation in both places wass the local government rest house.
Day 4 - Railkot to Gannaghar
By Railkot, the weather starts to get chilly, and the landscape begins to change. The trees give way to grassy meadows and flowers of different hues! All through, the calm of the mountains continues. Occassionally, you bump into a shepherd watching over his grazing flock. Friendly locals pass you, and they always have the time if you wish to stop and chat a moment. Every now and then, there's a mountain torrent blocking your path with only precariously perched log bridges to cross over.
Gannaghar, our stop for the night was a village typical for the parts. Small, cozy stone houses with slate roofs, raised living quarters, and a store in the basement; a whole bunch of abandoned and broken down houses; tiny fields growing veggies; and the odd goat. The sarpanch is the most educated man in the village and has the best house, let out to us for the night. He also happens to be the operator for the village sattelite phone - a sure sign that technology has begun to make a difference in the remotest corners of the country. Who needs an erratic postman when you can call anyone in the country at Rs.2 a minute (Rs.5 for tourists)! Mobile phones are useless after the first morning of the trek, and this is the only way you can communicate with the outside world.
The sarpanch is also your entertainment for the evening. He loves talking and telling stories, so while we rested in the evening, he sat with us and told us stories about the village; about the legends of the Goddess Nandadevi; and about the festival every year dedicated to the Goddess when thousands from the surrounding villages and towns gather there.
Evening gave us the first glimpse of what we had come this far for. At 7816 meters, the western peak of Nandadevi is the 2nd highest peak in India; the 23rd highest in the world; and another 3500+ meters higher than where we were. One of the most interesting stories associated with the mountain is about the CIA trying to plant a nuclear powered device on top to spy on Chinese nuclear tests in Tibet; only to lose it in a major storm. The device is rumored to still be hanging around missing somewhere, "radioactive poisoning" anyone who inadvertantly gets close to it!
But we were at a safe enough distance, and when the clouds cleared out momentarily to show the mountain in the evening light, it was impossible to not be awed by the sight! Even from the distance we were - about 10 kms as the crow flies - we could see why Nandadevi was the Goddess in these parts.
Day 5 - Gannaghar to "Base camp"
"Base camp" is the point where the real climbing starts. For Mt. Everest, base camp to the peak is only 5 days of climbing (although it takes about 3/4 weeks with the acclimatization, and waiting for the right weather). So when the guides promise to take you to base camp or camp 1 (which is further), take that with a pinch of salt. Additionally, given the exalted status of the mountain, the locals have beliefs about not taking women there (Yes, the prejudices still exist!). So although they tell you that you are standing at base camp, some close questioning will reveal that the real base camp is still some way off.
So although some of us wanted to see the real base camp, that did not seem practical considering the guides' reluctance and the time constraints. It also does not help that Nandadevi is a highly restricted zone since it was found that tourism was causing the fragile ecosystem some serious damage (Conspiracy theorists also refer to the missing nuclear device as a reason for the restrictions). Getting into the inner perimeter of Nandadevi requires special authorizations, and these are not easily available. We took the compromise - an additional day to go up closer to the glacier and camp there - and the reward was even more breathtaking views of the mountain from closer up. Even though it meant sleeping in tents on a rainy and bitterly cold evening, it was completely worth the effort.
Day 6 - Martoli
We saw a lot of beautiful places on the trek, but Martoli is out of this world! First glimpse reminded me of pictures I had seen of Machu Pichu in Peru. Being situated strategically on the traditional overland trade routes between India, Nepal, and Tibet, Martoli has had a long history; but after India and China decided to go to war in '62, the trade routes died. And with each passing day, there is lesser hope of a revival. The once bustling village is now down to a last few people. Most make their living harvesting herbs that grow all over the place; keeda-ghaas being the most fascinating of the lot - it starts life as a worm, but a fungus infects the worm, kills and mummifies it, and grows out of the worm as a blade of grass. The herbs are used in traditional medicine in China and India and go for high prices. Goat breeding is another venture. The pashmina goats make for excellent and expensive wool, and the other mountain goats are prized for their meat. The more successful goat owners have flocks numbering in thousands!
Martoli was also the set location for our party - to celebrate the successful trip - and our hosts sure knew how to throw a good one! The dado and chang (rice beer) flowed unlimited, and a goat had been slaughtered and cooked. There was song and dance around a fire, and we partied late into the night and got completely wasted!
Day 7/8/9 - Martoli - Bugdiyar - Yedthi - Munsiyari
From Martoli, the return trip to Munsiyari was two and a half days with stops at Bugdiyar and Yedthi. Good knees had gotten bad and bad knees had gotten worse with the downhill work, but the thought of the celebratory single malt kept everyone going. Actually, the whole return trek went past like a blur. All we seemed to do was walk, eat, walk some more, stop and check for leeches, and sleep at night - a little tedious if you look at that description. It was all mixed feelings - disappointment of the trek coming to an end, anticipation of hot water in a bath, and even plain physical tiredness. But when we finally got off the trail, I almost turned around and went back!
That is the thing about the mountains - one time up there, and you are hooked! Hide all you want, but sooner or later you will go back. And if you have your college buddies to go with, it cannot get better! The only probem at the end of this trip is having to better it next year! But that's a problem we like to have!
