Note: And we’re back! I know you must’ve missed this newsletter terribly these past three weeks and are desperate to sink your teeth into the latest issue. So I will not detain you for too long, except to say: I got featured in the ‘Heritage in our Homes’ series run by the wonderful people at Live History India. (Yay!) You can read my piece (#3 on the list) here. Happy reading!
There are moments, in all our lives, when we question the choices we’ve made. Moments when we rage against our past selves and wonder in genuine disbelief, “Why on earth did I decide to do this?” For me, being zipped up in a sleeping bag inside a flimsy tent at -6°C at night while outside, the rain frosted on all available surfaces and a dog decided to have a howling match with his echo, was just such a moment.
At such times, people are inclined to curse their circumstances and their fortune. But deep down, they know they’re the ones at fault. As my teeth chattered and I struggled to move my arm inside the sleeping bag designed by Egyptian mummifiers, I knew it was futile to blame anyone but myself.
Intense suffering tends to make me stoic, I suppose. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let's back up a bit and begin from the beginning.
I have come to believe that your life is shaped by the company you keep. If you have a few friends you meet (occasionally) for a meal and some chitchat, you are more likely to lead a sedentary and peaceful life. Fall in with the wrong crowd and you’ll end up finding new ways to physically and mentally torment yourself. Take me, for example. I’d always valued inaction and lethargy as crucial elements to attain the ideal state of existence. For nearly 25 years, I had diligently adhered to this way of life. An active interest in playing football was the only vice I had allowed myself. Football, it turns out, was the gateway drug that brought about my ruin.
After I moved to Bombay in 2010, it was through football, specifically our amateur football club Lex United FC1, that I made new friends in a new city. Over the past decade, the Lex United community has grown manyfold but unfortunately, so has its pernicious influence on my life2. Friendships forged through Lex slowly turned my head towards running, then duathlons, then adventure races, and before I knew it (I am ashamed to admit this), I had become one of those people who wake up early to go for training runs. I have not been keeping meticulous records but I can claim with some degree of certainty that during this corresponding timeframe, instances when I find myself thinking I’d be better off dead, have also increased exponentially. So, when the plan for a trek in Uttarakhand was first mooted by these friends I knew I would regret being a part of it.
You see, there are two types of treks, broadly speaking. The first (and popular) variety entails hiking through woodlands and rolling hills, camping in meadows and lakesides, and generally relaxing in the lap of nature. A moderately active holiday, all things considered. The second type of trek, is something you do to punish yourself - perhaps to atone for your sins. Such a trek is not enjoyed; it is endured. And when it is over, you get to show the most remarkable pictures to people and smugly remark, “Oh, yes, the pictures are gorgeous but not the same as actually being there, you know ”, while carefully avoiding any mention of how when you were there, you were wishing you’d never been born.
There are no prizes for guessing the type of trek we chose.
The trek party comprised of four individuals: SS, Licks3, Appu and me. Avid readers of this newsletter will recall I had participated in the SRT Trail Run in December 2021 - my companions then had been these very same individuals. Misery loves company.
Day 1 of our trek (which was on Holi) was a 9 hour long car-ride from Dehradun to Joshimath, in Uttarakhand. Joshimath was to be the base for our trek (a homestay halfway between Joshimath and Auli, to be precise). The drive was largely uneventful, though I did learn a couple of Holi customs: (1) it is perfectly acceptable to smear someone’s face with ash as long as you make a quick getaway, and (b) stopping cars on the highway and demanding money for no apparent reason is a legitimate way to earn money. It is always good to know how to earn an extra buck.
Over dinner that evening, we met the trekking company folks (PAC Auli) who’d agreed to take us on at the last minute.
We had chosen a trek where we’d be climbing a mountain: Pangarchulla Peak; a summit at roughly 15,000 feet, at a time when few (if any) others would have attempted the route4. Less than a week before our trek was to start, the original trekking outfit we had signed up with had informed us that the route to Pangarchulla was inaccessible due to heavy snowfall. They had assumed we’d defer our trek or choose an alternate trek, which would’ve been the rational and sensible thing to do. Nobody who has met us can accuse us of being rational or sensible.
Obviously, we became even more determined to make it to Pangarchulla and frantically hunted for a trekking company which could help us get there. PAC Auli was our knight in shining armour. In just a couple of days they planned an itinerary and made all the necessary arrangements to get us to Joshimath. The trek route was still not open, but the trek leader they had assigned to us was an experienced mountaineer and was confident he could chart a path to the summit.
Day 1 had ended with optimism, and in a bed with blankets and mattresses - things which would be in short supply for the next few days.
On Day 2, we would start making our away towards Pangarchulla.
Click here to read the next chapter of this story!
Guests at my wedding still recall (with horror) the raucous chants of “Lex is a sex”. We are a boisterous bunch, particularly in the presence of alcohol.
And I am not even getting into the social commitments its engendered.
Yes, there is a story behind the nickname. No, we will not get into it now.
I cannot, in good conscience, explain or justify these decisions. Let’s just accept these facts and move on.
WOAH:) GOOD TO PART OF THIS AMAZING TREKKING TALE . WANT THE NEXT PART ASAP.
REGARDS
TEAM PAC
Exciting stuff. Cant wait to read the next episodes.