This 2016 indeed have taught me few best lessons of my life time. One after the other, shocks were coming from all ends.

When you are frustrated with your own life and don’t know where life will take you and don’t know what God has planned for you, all you will be wanting, will be a place where you can just vanish.

That’s when I booked Chandrakhani pass trek- 10 days off the grid, 10 days of being in the lap of nature, 10 days of strenuous trek, 10 days of meeting new people and last but not the least 10 days of seeing the good side of life.Finally I have a story to tell my kith and kin.And most importantly Himalayan trekking is one of those things which I want to strike off my bucket list before getting married.

In the misty shades of blue, in the majestic view of mountains, in the never ending sea of green, I found myself profoundly. This is a story of a mid-twenties woman who lost hope in life and went in search of it to Himalayas. (PS – Finally she found it too)

Yo! Flight from Bangalore to Chandigarh.

As we had a day in hand before boarding bus to manali, we decided to explore Chandigarh. Read about my love for this city .

Off to Manali
After grabbing a quick dinner in one of the fine restaurants in chandigarh, we left to  bus stand to board our bus to Manali. Bus reached 15 miles base camp around 10 am in the morning. We registered at the YHAI registration desk, collected our admit cards and went to our tents where our fellow CP-6 trekkers were there already. (CP-6 – As we reported on 6th of may).

When I was introducing myself to her, my friend who accompanied me till now was screaming in joy outside. I went out to check what made her so excited. A gang of 4 people were standing outside and talking to her and to my surprise they were speaking in Tamil. They introduced themselves as Ramana, Susan, Bangu, Akash. (Least I knew that they would be a bigger part of my trek memories).As soon as I entered the tent, I saw a young lady(Amita Ji) unpacking her stuff. I had no idea that she would be a mother of 12th standard guy. (I got to know later that day when we were travelling together to Manikaran).

As they along with other fellow trekkers were about to leave to Manikaran hot springs, we joined them too.We crossed the base camp for SAR PASS TREK. My friends in the cab who had already done Sar pass trek two years before were sharing their adventurous story. One of the stories about the village named Grahan urged me to make a visit to the small hamlet.  Another friend from Mumbai was sharing about his trip to Sikkim. I added my story of getting stuck at 7000 feet in Sikkim two years before. It was one of the best journey sharing interesting anecdotes about each other’s past travelling experiences.

Kasol
En route Manikaran, nestled in the sylvan hills is the charming village of Kasol known as the Hippies’ paradise. I heard that many Israeli tourists used to fall back here every year to enjoy it’s hippie culture. Israeli restaurants with lots of Islraeli tourists had made me forget that I am still in India.

“Having like minded people around will make your journey all worth it.”

Manikaran
The high point of Manikaran sahib is the hot spring located within the premise of the gurudwara.

The springs at Manikaran come out to surface with pressure and are very hot. The hot spring’s water is so hot that rice can be boiled in it. The water is said to have some healing properties. After taking bath in hot springs, we made a visit to the nearby temple.

We reached back our basecamp by 7:30. I have heard from few friends that the best part about YHAI is their food. It was certainly a scrumptious dinner. Followed by dinner were the cultural performances of CP-4 who would be starting their trek next day morning.

Acclimatization Day 1
Wake up call was given by 5 am in the morning. It reminded me of my NCC days. After freshen up, we went for the warm up session, where we went on a morning jog followed by the stretching exercises. When we reached base camp after our exercise session, we could see the batch CP-4 ready to set out.

We lined up there for the customary sending off of CP-4. That was the time I made conversations with those four musketeers(Prem, KK, Anantu, Vaibhav), without whom the trek wouldn’t  have been an exciting one.

After our breakfast, we headed for our acclimatization trek of 6 kms. That was the time I got to know many in my trek group. As next day evening would be our cultural performance, we enrolled our names for the so called group dance.

By noon, there was briefing on medical grounds. It was bit scary I would say that to know anything might happen in Himalayan trek if we take things lightly.

Evening was at leisure. So we took long walks along Beas river to discover the pretty delights of Himachal.

Acclimatization Day 2
After the warm up session and sending off of CP-5, we started our trek crossing a rickety old river bridge. The Day 2 trek was more like a cake walk. But the beauty of the place can never be put in words.

The streams of sunlight fell through the thick wall of trees. I stood there lost in deep thought.
The place by itself gave me so much solace. My fellow trekkers were already loafing in the place. I also took an isolated place to lie around and dream the endless end.

Though the schedule of river rafting and cultural performance was neck to neck, we finally made it to both. It was a funny night to sneak in the cultural crowd without being noticed by the officials.

Final group dance performance was ours(Lungi Dance from Chennai Express). We danced to our heart content.

Next day morning, we were ready to hit the road from the base camp. CP-7 and CP-8 batch mates had gathered to send us off. Vehicles were waiting outside base camp to take us to the trek starting point. As our CP-6 batch made our way out, CP-7 and CP-8 bid bye to us by their claps and cheers.

Malana
After travelling for about 2 hours, we started our trek from Malana dam. We trekked for 5 kms before reaching Malana village.

To reach our first camp Yosgo, we need to cross a small village named Malana. As soon as we entered Malana village, we were informed not to touch anyone or anything in Malana village. We took a break to have our lunch in the lunch point. The mountains in the distance stood like a tall fortresses against the cloudy sky. As soon as we started from the lunch point, the sky started to pour out making the air carry the smell of damp loam. We took our ponchos to cover us from the drizzle.

The village Malana is famous for its distinct culture. We heard that the people of this quiet settlement live in self imposed isolation. They believe themselves to be the descendants of Greeks and the purity of their race would be compromised by outlanders. Visitors are not allowed to touch anyone or anything. You will be welcomed by a yellow board saying “A FINE OF RS.2500 FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AND TOUCHING OF JAMD-AGNI RISHI” Shocking right?

People say that they have their own government and don’t consider themselves under the jurisdiction of Indian Government. They speak a language which has a blend of Greek and Sanskrit. This quiet hamlet is often referred to as “Little Greece”

Camp 1 Yosgo (9000 FT)
After crossing the Malana village, we reached our very first camp Yosgo. How bolstering was the moisture in the air so pure and serene as we breathed in; How welcoming was the tweeting of birds as we advanced in; This campsite next to Malana school was with some breathtaking views.

During dinner, we interacted with Ramesh sir and Chandrasekar sir who had come from Karwar Nuclear power plant. From the road trip to Bhutan, Ramesh sir had taken to family trekking they both had gone, all the adventurous stories were really inspiring. After playing antakshari for sometime, we decided to doze off.

Next day morning I got up early to witness the sunrise in Yosgo camp. The view of Sun slowly peeping out of two mountains was exceedingly splendid. We started our trek from Yosgo camp around 9 am in the morning.

Camp 2 Behali (8900 FT)
After the strenuous trek of 8 kms, what awaited us in the camp was the best. Yeyyy. Behali – The most beautiful camp I ever stayed. Campsite with churning river on one side, lush green grass on the other, with the majestic backdrop of snow clad mountains. Each and every camp we stayed was picturesque in one or the other way. But Behali was the most beautiful of all.Birds sang of magnificent number; The symphony of gushing of water had added feather to its crown. No music could be finer than this. Stretching out on one of the smooth boulders facing the river could be an eternity I would wish for in this life.

Camp 3 Dadru (9800 FT)
We started to trek from Behali around 9 am. En route next camp site Dadru, we crossed few river streams, grasslands, highlands.

Dadru – Slippery campsite with the mind-blowing views of  Snow clad mountains.

The best part was the “Food”. Especially aloo bonda served hot at such a high altitude was bliss. I took it in two hands as each hand will be given two aloo bonda only.

This camp had indeed offered us the incredible sunset. Hues of last sun rays falling on the snow capped mountains made it even more appealing.

Camp 4 Nagroni(10,000 ft)
As I earlier said, every camp offered us charming view of its own. The best part about this camp is the view from tent- The most fascinating I would say.

As soon as we reached the campsite, we were advised not to trespass in the nearby forest(if you don’t want to end up a prey to the wild beer) and not to go beyond a certain point in the nearby cliff. I and one more friend had decided to go on a small trek to the nearby cliff to see the view. After reaching a certain point, we decided to sit and talk for sometime. Two more friends joined us soon.Unlike other camps, the trek lead in this campsite was young. And he looked handsome too. Jokes apart. Let me directly come to the adventurous evening in Camp Nagroni.

We had a mini selfie session and headed back to camp as it was getting dark.

Dinner call was given. While we were having our dinner, it started to drizzle. Soon after, it turned out to be a hailstorm. It was freaky cold outside. We were not able to bear it. We went inside the tent and felt a chaos in the tent.When I enquired, I got to know that two of the fellow trek mates were missing. Those were panic stricken moment. We were wondering where on earth they might have gone. Hailstorm had added fire to the horror. Ten guys along with the trek lead had gone in search of them. Finally after it seemed an hour or so, they came back to the campsite fully drenched. Guys had gone up the cliff nearby and was having an adventurous evening out there enjoying the hailstorm.(While here in tents, we were worried about their safety)

Next day morning, we had to get up by 2 am in the morning to start our trek by 3 am. 14 kms awaited us- the lengthiest of all. We would be crossing the Chandrakhani pass. The best part was that we would be trekking in snow. Yeyyy!!

Chandrakhani Pass (12190 FT)

We got up by 2 am to freshen up. Water was terribly cold. I felt numbness in my fingers after touching it. Even in such terrible cold, few of my trek friends had not failed to capture the picture of galaxy. We started our trek at around 3:30 am with torch lights in hand.

Because of the hailstorm, the path was very greasy. We climbed the slippery path for about 1 hour. We halted at two to three places. We were lucky enough to witness the extraordinary sunrise at one such halt.

The trickiest part was crossing the chandrakhani pass. Snow had made the path very slippery. We were advised to watch our steps. Four guides were there to help us in crossing the pass.

Aaawww.. The breath taking panoramic view of snow clad mountains had made the arduous trek, all worth it.That moment of standing atop 12190 FT after crossing the chandrakhani pass, I was feeling as if the joy of life within me couldn’t be curbed.

Followed by crazy posing for the photo were those snow slides. To reach our lunch point, we had to do a small snow slide. Least I knew that two bigger slides were ahead of us.

There were few moments to remember in Chandrakhani pass. 40 years old Rajastani aunty posed like a bollywood heroine all of a sudden and dumbfounded those mid-forties trekkers(LOL). Our attempts to make snow man and snow castle bringing out the child in us. Thanks to the one who had brought our National Flag to the peak for all the patriotric photo sessions.

Camp 5 Nauvya Tapru (9000 FT)
We were the last to reach this campsite. French fries were awaiting us. As it is going to be the last day of our trek, we spent our time chatting with fellow trekkers. Few had decided to leave early next day morning (6 am) as they had booked the bus the same day. We decided to leisurely start by 8 am in the morning.

We cozily woke up to the most charming view of parvati valley. After having our yummy pasta breakfast, we set off to trek down the valley to reach 15 miles base camp.

Nature’s grandeur is the only thing we crave for in a trek. And overall, Chandrakhani pass trek had not failed to allure us with its magnificence and glory.

Even though you will experience a feeling of haziness after an exhausting trek, its nothing compared to the sense of accomplishment when u reach the top.

In the end, it’s always worth it – Chandrakhani Pass – A trek to remember.

Maggie Point
How did I forget to mention about the maggie point!! It was a lifesaver for many of us. 10 rupees price hike for every thousand feet. Nothing could stop us from savoring the appetizing maggie.

We had 10 rupees maggie for about 70 rupees at higher altitudes and 40 rupees at lower altitudes. It was a scrummy delight.

For all the people in trek who etched a deep memory in my heart
Besides wonderful landscapes, there were many people who had etched a deep memory in my heart. Here are the few. Bangu for her incessant innocence, Nithya for her crazy poses, Ramana na for his well timed jokes, Susan for his palmistry, Akash for his unrestrained enthusiastic talks, Dhvani for her sincerity in studies(LOL), Anantu for his “Never hurting” attitude, Vaibhav for the way he talks, KK for his easy going nature, Prem for his mischievous smile and his photographic thirst, Mehsab for his big heartedness, Amita ji for her mature way of conveying things, Ramesh sir for all his adventurous ventures, two young gujjus for their energy and enthusiasm and the list goes on and on.

Like all things, a trek will end but the excitement will remain forever. 10 days indeed had passed like a wink of an eye. Thanks to the summer heat which hammered me enough to seek solace in Himalayas.

“So let the fear of unknown grip you and see the drama slowly unfold.”

Eventhough airtel 4G was available all along, I made it a point not to switch on net for those 10 days. After all, detaching myself from the virtual world was what I wanted. I feel the best part of travelling is interacting with people from different walks of life. This trek had undeniably engraved a long lasting memory in my heart.

A part of my soul is still in Chandrakhani pass between those snow clad mountains, calling me to come back again.

The chronic problems of everyday life still exist, but complaining has reduced. After all, it’s the journey that matters.

Month of Trip        – May’16
No of days of trip – 12 days
Overall Cost           – INR 21000