Trekking has become one of the sought-after activities in Pune and I am glad to notice that the young and old participate with equal zeal and enthusiasm. Thanks to my Mother, I was persuaded in accompanying her for the trek organized by Yuvashakti, to Har-ki-Dun. Har-ki-Dun is located in the Garhwal Himalayas at an altitude of 12000 feet, a lush, green valley which also has an important significance in Indian mythology. Most of the people in the valley are Duryodhan worshippers. On one side of the valley is the Swargarohini peak, which is believed to have been the ascent to heaven for the Pandavas.

Following is the account of our trek.

* Departed for Delhi by Jhelum express : The youngest kid in our batch was 12 years old and we had some participants (including my Mother) in their fifties. We decided to travel second class, with the trek group (remember, no "luxuries" in the trek) and were in for a nasty, 36-hour journey with passengers entering in and sharing our berths without permission. After spending the night in Delhi and visiting Palika Bazaar and the Delhi Metro, we departed for Dehradun by train. Dehradun was a bit cooler than Delhi and on seeing the lichee, mango, acacia and jacaranda trees and the hilly, misty road to Mussourie (which we would be seeing on our way back from the trek), I was reminded of the Ruskin Bond stories I had read.

* From D'dun, we took a bus to Sankri, which was to be the base camp for our trek. Our guide was a friendly fellow from the Garhwal Vikas (GVMN) organization, who looked as youthful as a fourteen-year old. Informal introductions followed after the bus started for Sankri. In the bus, the talents of the team members were revealed - we had people who could sing Hemant Kumar or Suraiya songs, the younger generation who preferred to hum a Bryan Adams or Dido tune and others who entertained by their witty talks and jokes. As the bus continued it's ascent to Sankri, the road became narrower and it was fun to look down the window to the steep valley with terraced farms, houses and the gushing river below. We saw pahadi people waving at us, wide smiles on their wrinkled faces. It was dark when we reached Sankri, and the air was cool and pleasant. The GVMN guesthouse was located on a small hill, with the village of Sankri at its base. Since electricity was to be used sparingly, the lights were not turned on in the guesthouse. Standing outside the bus, we seemed to be wrapped in a cloak of divine silence and all around us were silhouettes of the mighty, lofty mountain ranges we were to cross in the following days.
I was brought out of my reverie by a shout from a team member to no one in particular, "Hey, where is my bag?"

After a squabble (which some of the kids in our team video-recorded on their cell phones) with the guesthouse Manager, who was pathetically drunk and his accomplice in the same, a Rajesh-Khanna lookalike called K.S, we finally procured our rooms and retired for the night, with all girls crammed in one room and gents in another.

* We woke up to commence the first day of our actual "trek". We were to hike to Taluka, on a seemingly easy, jeepable road for a distance of 13 kms. After a breakfast of undercooked poha (damn the high altitude!) and hot tea (thank God!), we began our hike. K.S was to accompany us for some distance of the hike. We had light to medium-heavy sacks on our backs, with the rest of our belongings hauled onto the mules. I felt a bit sorry for them as they also had to carry the groceries for our meals and two cooking gas cylinders! The road ahead was beautiful, with lots of foliage and trees lining both sides with the valley on one side. We saw flowers of different hues and shapes, dotting the roadside. Some sections of the road had been destroyed in landslides and we either had to take a detour by ascending a strip of the mountain above the landslide and back down to the road, or cross the landslide - the former being strenuous and time-consuming and the latter option being scary. The landslide extended for quarter of a kilometer or so and the path was less than a foot wide, with the steep valley right below us!

Water was never an issue for us as we passed several mountain streams and springs were we could fill our water-bottles. The section of the road following the landslide was shaded by deodar and other pine trees on both sides and the air was also scented by wildflowers and pine. After a pleasant hike, free of any mishaps, we reached Taluka, where we were to stay at the local GVMN guesthouse again. Cute pahadi kids were playing outside their houses. We did not know the local dialect of this area, but they had gleaned some English words from visitors and were saying Hello, Goodbye, Ta-Ta to each of us. The GVMN guesthouse of Taluka is located at the base of the mountains, in lush greenery and step farms and the Supin river meandering a mile away. Hot tea and food was awaiting us, at the lodge. After a short hike to see the river (and icy-cold water baths that some of us took), we retired early for the night.

* Travel to Osla : Today's hike was to be the lengthiest in the entire trek. We were to walk to Osla, a distance of 18 kms. Breakfast was aloo parathas, meant to provide us with sustained energy for the 3000 ft "chest" climb and hike. We received a packed lunch of aloo parathas and departed a bit late (punctuality and time-planning was a bit of a problem, right from the beginning of the trek). The hike began on a narrow path, with the raging river directly below us. One wrong step would land us into the river. It was good that the senior members had walking sticks to help on the treacherous parts of the hike. After descending into the valley, we crossed a makeshift bridge across the river and a short distance up a hillock, to a green meadow at the top. We were to begin the chest climb of 3 kms to scale a height of 3000 ft now. Although stones were laid out to ease the climb, it was still very steep and the seniors made good use of their walking-sticks to help climb faster. There was very little shade up on the mountains, so taking a break did not help ease our fatigue. We were walking in a single profile, with some of the kids a bit ahead of us and some seniors and young members trailing behind. Our team leader and the GVMN guide coaxed us on, offering words of encouragement. I couldn't help think that had I chosen not to do this trek, I would have been working in my 10x10 ft cubicle instead of attempting this heinous climb. We were also gaining altitude (I write with the air of one who has climbed Everest!) and that contributed to our fatigue and shortness of breath.

Finally we reached the village of DatMheer and rested there for a while. Our adventures had not yet ended. We now reached a narrow bridge of two planks! Many of us staunchly refused to try our balancing skills and preferred to wade through the river instead. At the other side of the river was a tin-shack (a pahadi "restaurant" which even had some fancy name!), which offered Maggi noodles. I gave in to the temptation and ate a plate of the sticky, maida noodles, knowing well that I would feel heavy and lazy for the rest of the hike that day! We continued with the hike and reached two landslides in succession, which virtually had no room to place both feet together across the width of the path! The guide had to offer a helping hand to most of us. After crossing these, we were walking through a pine forest and the air was heavily scented and the route, shady and scenic. We saw many wildflowers including Himalayan orchids, rhododendrons and irises. Alas, my camera or my photography technique was not able to successfully capture the brilliant yellow, orange, red, pink, white, blue, purple and mauve colours of these pretty flowers! Even the various shades of green (my favourite colour) in the Himalaya foothills have not been captured by my camera, but later I heard this was the complaint of several people who had cameras.

After countless ascents and descents, we reached a village in the mountains, called Basanti Nagar. We took a stoned path went through the village, stepped farms or rice, leafy vegetables and poppy (opium) on our sides. The whole area was drenched with water from springs, gushing down the stepped paths, so the paths were slushy and muddy. Descending down was tricky. The houses were built on raised platforms, so that the streams of water did not affect the house foundation. We crossed Basanti Nagar and took a break at the top of the mountain. Ramu, a dog, had chosen to accompany us throughout the trek, in exchange for some loving words and food. Perhaps he had completed the trek to Har-ki-Dun more number of times than any human had! By now, several people were very tired and we were thinking that this hike seemed to have no end. It had also started to rain all of a sudden and we put on our barsatis. The path became muddy and slippery and we had to slow down, to walk carefully. Our adventures for the day were not over yet. We had to cross two more perilous landslides as a detour. The rain had washed away most of the "path" built on the landslides. The second landslide was being rebuilt by the pahadi workers. The brave people stood holding hands in a chain along the landslide path, with their backs to the roaring river down below so that we could walk across, with them serving as a barricade. They were all smiling and I guess some of them must be finding it funny that crossing a landslide was so difficult for us.

The rain had ceased and the air was fresh with a delicious mixed perfume of the wildflowers, wet soil and pines. Finally we saw the green roof of the GVMN guesthouse and that gave us a shot of energy to rush on to get the hot tea being served by the smiling cook there. The hike today had definitely been longer than 18 kms, because of the various detours. There had been a few mishaps today (nothing fatal) such as a team member slipping her footing and ready to fall into the river, but rescued in the nick of time. We were exhausted and retired early for the night. The friendly cook goaded us to eat plenty for dinner.

* Hike to our destination - Har ki Dun : After an unsatisfactory and odd breakfast of sooji and chana, we departed Osla. We crossed the Supin river and began a steep ascent of 1500 ft. After we reached the top, we continued walking along a very narrow ledge with the mountain slopes on one side and the valley on the other. The air was very fresh, but since we had started late, the sun was high up and since we had also gained altitude, we had to cover our faces to avoid getting sunburns. We crossed a few easy landslides and then reached a plateau region in the mountains, covered with grass and wildflowers. I was reminded of the opening scene in "The Sound of Music" and began humming "The Hills Are Alive....traa-la-la". After a tea and Maggi break, we headed for another steep climb up more mountains. Once again, time-planning fell short and we were going to be late in arriving at HKD. We did not have any packed lunch either, so relied on Maggi, biscuits and tea. Now the snow-capped mountains were visible on our right side. We met the cook, who had taken a shortcut and he remarked that we looked very tired. We asked him how long it would be until we reached HKD. He pointed to a smooth and bald green mountain far away in the distance and said that the valley was behind that mountain. Then, in a serious tone he told us that we needed to hurry, because distances were deceptive in the mountains. Indeed, the bald mountain seemed closer than it actually was and I lost count of the number of hills, valleys and mountains we crossed to reach the bald mountain. It started drizzling gently and we had to put on our barsatis. I had also started feeling cold.

After several hours of hiking, we reached a sign on a huge stone, indicating that HKD was 1 km away. We saw the meandering Supin river on our right. Cows were grazing on the meadows and the entire area was carpeted with wildflowers and the green vegetation. Majestic, snow-topped mountains surrounded the region. We crossed one final bridge and finally reached our destination. We were rewarded with a lovely scene of a double rainbow arching over the valley. We had our fill of gazing at the Swargarohini peak (the following day, we would get to see the Jaoundi glacier and Swargarohini more closely) and the bare, steep peak of Har-ki-Dun. With no electricity or power from Sankri onwards, it had become a routine to have a song session and card-games at the end of the day.

We would be spending one more day in the HKD valley and then begin our return back to Taluka, which would be a descent hike most of the way. The return was less strenuous and uneventful and I got more time to focus on the flora and fauna of the region. Deodar forests, Jasmine creepers, rhododendrons, edible ferns (of which the cook made a lip-smacking delicious curry!), landslides in plenty, campfires, white-water rafting and other adventures of crossing the river...the Garhwal region is a refreshing break from our normal 8-6 job routine and hours of typing away code at the computer. An added bonus is a chance to make new friends and explore the creative side of ourselves. Surprisingly, Har-ki-Dun is one of the easier treks and that makes me respect all sorts of mountaineers, especially those who have scaled any of the eight-thousanders even more.

Come next spring, I hope to go for another trek, perhaps in Darjeeling, NandaDevi or Manali. Let's see...Thanks again, Ma!