The Crazy Honeymoon ( Roopkund Trek . Uttrakhand. June 2014. 16500ft)

On our way to the Base camp ,Lohajung . 

Tea plantations.  

The route to Lohajung is all full of such scenic roads 

Almost at Lohajung ( a 12 hour drive from Kathgodam) 

The morning we were to leave @ Lohajung 

Our trek was full of such routes 

At Ali Bugyal 

At Ali Bugyal 

The Bedni Base 

The Bedni Base 

The army training for altitudes. They ran while we walked.  

In the morning of the Bedni to Pathar nauchni trek 

We decided to stay back thanks to my stomach and blisters 

The effort of the trek was worth it 

India is a land of people who love to know what is going on in others life more than their own. Wedding is a hot topic and post my wedding I realized that so was Honeymoon. Immediately after we were married we were asked this question not only by our friends but also by the elders in the family. To everyone’s disappointment we skipped the honeymoon part and directly jumped into the new life that awaited us and got caught up totally. Not because we were really a boring couple but we just wanted to make our first vacation (we treated it like a nice long vacation) well planned and also a little different.

So two months later after we had settled into the new way of life, in the month of February we began searching the internet for options and also to figure out our budgets. We thought of the luxury European trip and then we thought of backpacking to some exotic place. Nothing was matching up to what we thought should be a “landmark” holiday! After many fights and many more budget excels we decided to stick to India.

To our surprise, when we started the research on India and places to visit we had a five year plan ahead of us! Then we started to fight on if we should go to the hills or the sea. Yes we had too many fights and too many discussions before we concluded that both of us loved the North of India. We both wanted to visit the Mountains and live in the tranquility of the place.

We both wanted to go for a trek. We had never done a trek in our lives before so we decided to give it a shot. We chose a moderate / difficult trek as our first trek. We were confident that we would be able to pull this off since we had been hitting the gym since a while. However, there was a surprise in store. A few things to keep in mind for the first timers:

a)      Start making a list of the things that the websites say and the things that you gather from talking to friends

b)      Start preparing for the trek at least 3 months in advance and that includes both physical and mental preparations.

c)       For physical fitness the website for our trek said 4 kms run in 30 mins approx. However, what one needs to keep in mind is that this is ( these points will help you for the walk) :

a.       Not on a treadmill

b.      Should be at an elevation which is close to 60 degs

c.       Mentally one should be prepared for the fact that the roads will not be roads that you see in the cities (we had rocks, dried leaves and pebbles).

d.      It will be sunny and really sunny as the sun on the mountains will be strong and direct.

e.      Start training your mind to drink less water while walking as there will be no restrooms on your way. Also your body tends to become heavy as you drink water and that makes it lethargic

f.        Try to have a day pack with you with basic things like energy bars, towels, some juice or glucose mix, cap, sunglasses etc. This is so because in case you are not able to carry your backpack which will be at least 7 – 8 kgs you can give it to the mules and just carry the day pack

After all the preparation, we set off for our 10 day vacation. We reached Kathgodam on the 31^st of May and stayed at a Government guest house near the station. Next day early morning we started our cab ride of 12 hours approximately to Lohajung. This was the base camp. We reached and realized the temperature difference and also how we were so away from all the luxuries of life that included electricity. Even then it was divine. Peaceful and totally cut off from city life.

On 2^nd June at around 7 am we started the trek. Soon after we had started I realized the biggest mistake of my life that would cost a lot of trouble. My shoes had started to bite so badly I could hardly walk. So first timers please wear your shoes for at least a week before the trek and get used to them. Wear two socks to make them open up and also to make you feel comfortable. Trekking shoes are heavy, bulky and can be really uncomfortable. They are meant to be so as you will be walking on really bad roads and pebbles that need proper grip as you cannot afford to skid on the mountains. So please try and get as used to in them as possible as I had a tough time.

The first day was a mix of assents and descents. You will come to know how much you can push your body on this day as this is when you realize what have you go into. I found this day a tough one as I had no clue of what was ahead. I usually get very jittery if I do not know the end. I am impatient so naturally it added to the anxiety as well. Secondly with the bad shoe issue I had started to lag behind and go slow. Which started working on my mind. Although please note that a trek is a very personal thing so your pace should not be dependent on others. Try to keep a positive mind if you lag behind. Tell yourself that what you are doing is totally worth the effort and more than half the people back home won’t even want to try this – so you are setting an example. Keep yourself motivated and most importantly keep calm. Take the occasional breaks and look around. See where you are and what are doing and how beautiful the world is. You will meet fellow trekkers, talk to them. Basically after a point I realized it was all in my mind more than in my legs. I could hardly feel my legs after a point and trust me its all natural. Your body is not used to that kind of stress. You will have breathlessness and you will feel tired. Everyone feels tired. Don’t stress yourself about your fitness levels once you are at the mountains. Everybody is different and behaves differently at that condition. Even the fittest of the people face issues. So chill. I was about 1 hour delayed from the rest of the group. I had given up on my shoes and my bags and started walking in slippers which were more comfortable. But please do not do that. Once I reached Didina I was exhausted.  When my husband saw me he thought I would die any moment. But I did not. After a good afternoon meal at around 3 pm I slept and rested the rest of the day. Everyone in the group was a little concerned with my pace but I was fine.

We decided to start a little early from the rest of the group the next day. This day was a better trek day. There was a very complicated and long climb which took my energy away totally. With blisters on my feet things were not looking good. Though I enjoyed the trek as this day included walking through a mountain full of forests so the sun was not directly hitting me. I picked up my pace and started walking in that pace with a positive mind. The climb was about 5 hours long. And trust me it was very difficult for a first timer. This was the point when I thought that we should have done a simpler trek than this one. After all that 5 hour long climb, finally I reached Ali Bugyal. It was pretty. I would not have believed the place had I not seen it with my eyes. So green. By now we had covered an altitude of approx 3000 ft. Wow that was an achievement. The walk from Ali Bugyal to Bedni is simpler and nicer. I loved this walk the best. Also there was an assurance that the camp site will be soon near. I also could see my husband walk at a distance. He has been the best on this trek. He did far better than I did. I was hoping I could keep up with him throughout the trek but he was quite fast. J

Once I reached Bedni, I relaxed in our tents. This was the first time in my life I was living inside a tent. So far we had been doing home-stay on this trek, from here on we were to stay in tents. The weather started to get bad. There were very bad rains and oh my god the wind felt like we would be blown away with our tents. For a first timer this will be an experience that either you love or you do not. I loved. The restrooms were a make shift thing and it was so so difficult to even pee! The water was so cold that I felt my fingers will come off! We just stayed inside the tents and tried to stay warm. Me and my husband were just too amazed with the conditions. This was a day of achievement of sorts for me as at one point during the trek I had not thought of reaching Bedni. But please try and reach Bedni somehow. Its so totally worth it and its so beautiful. I was so thankful that I had the mental will and guts to carry on and reach this. We were barely a few kilometers away from Trishul. We were at a height of 12000 ft approx. This is where you realize the potential of your body and how you can push it. I respected my body and made a promise to myself to take care of it. It was just a brilliant moment for me.

Because of all my blisters and injuries, we decided to not continue further. This is because from here the trek gets really difficult with walking on snow etc at a higher altitude. Maybe if I had more guts or was a little bit stronger I would have pushed myself to complete the trek. This last leg somehow did not give me the guts. The only thing I regret is that my husband was also not able to do it as he refused to let go off me and carry on. He said we will come back and do it together. And for his sake maybe I will complete the whole thing one day. So we let the rest of the group carry on the next day while we started to descent. We took a call and climbed down the whole thing in one day which people take 2 days to climb down. We wanted to reach the city / town sooner and figure out if we could go and see some more places. So we climbed down the whole 4000 ft at one go and yes that too was difficult as it had no roads. But I am so glad we did it.

Once we reached the base camp we ate at a local restaurant. Has some awesome chicken curry and roti and felt so good to sleep on beds! Even though we did not complete the trek, there was a lot that we learnt and started to appreciate a lot of common things which we otherwise took for granted. It’s a moment for yourself which will be only for you… so try it out.

Marriage

A friend of mine inspired this!

He is getting hitched to his best friend and says that marriage is something that should be taken with a pinch of salt. He is the last person I thought who would marry not because he is not a good guy but it just seemed to me that he loves his independence more! He is someone who would live as he wants to. However, he is getting married. I ask him why?

He says – marriage is like going to school. You are reluctant initially and then you get used to it and finally they are the best years of your life! So marry someone who will understand you when you are having mood swings. Someone who will leave you alone when you want to as he will be confident that you will not go anywhere. Marry a person without expectations. Without any needs. Just get married to a person who will love (maybe like) you without a reason. When you have a bad hair day, he won’t even notice it. It’s amazing how true that it. A person who doesn’t want you to change for him or he doesn’t need to change for you. It’s like living with your best friend under the same roof.

I used to have a lot of fairytale like visions in my head about marriage. Off late especially after hearing my friend out, I am convinced that a reality check is better. Why dream when marriage is so real. Why not just get into it and see for yourself how it works for you! I am still not ready to marry someone, but when I am I will want to be with someone who is definitely not going to ask me to change or expect things from me!

Maybe this is a new age funda about marriage but I surely hope it works for him cause for once I see a reason to marry!

Not exactly a sabbatical i would like

Well not exactly how a sabbatical is planned but I am not complaining at all. A month back was diagnosed with Typhoid and so was given strict instructions by the docs to not step out of home. Initially the thought was itself so sad… imagine sticking to the bed and just not getting out at all… it was painful.

Gradually I got used to it. I caught up with all the serials on air… Dexter also comes in the morning was a revelation! Picked up lots of books and did some reading. Ate home cooked food. Did Nothing!

Did a lot of soul searching and introspection. Spoke to parents at length which I never get time to do. Spoke to friends. Caught up on life with sister. Made some arrangements to change life and the way I was living it.

In retrospect I feel that one needs these breaks. It was my body warning me to slow down. Sit back and just breathe. I have never felt so helpless as I felt when I was stuck to that bed. I made myself promise that I won’t stress and let my health hamper. However, I am not sure if I will ever be able to overcome a temptation of a meal at Moshe, or a drink at WTF or the mad dancing at Hawaiian shack! So yes sometimes it’s good to let go but only sometimes. Work is important but there is something far more important than work – me!

Am re- joining work soon, and I just hope I am able to keep to all the above promises. If not I will keep coming back to this piece to remind myself that a sabbatical would be great at the Himalayas vacationing with friends or roaming the world than being stuck to the bed!

LOST

As years have gone by, I have met people and interacted with them on different levels. I have always had lots of friends but very few close friends. By close I mean, with friends I can call at 3 in the morning and chat with them if I am bored. Friends who have just been around every time I have thought I wanted company or friends who have not felt bad in letting me know that I was dating a prick! So these are the friends that I do not need to constantly be in touch with and talk to them. I do not need to tell them I exist, they know it. I do not like to talk a lot. I do not like to be under any obligation to talk.

As a kid I was a very talkative and could go non- stop if I liked your company but more often than never I would take time to open up and chat up. This trait strangely carried on with me till date and I still take my sweet time to open up to people and if I don’t get the right kind of vibe from you, I may just keep quiet on you for the longest time or make pleasant conversations and fade out! But somehow I feel things are changing.

Over the years I have become aware of the sounds of silence than the cacophony of the voices around. I need my space and I need to be quiet. Sometimes people mistake this as being snobbish or being incapable of having a conversation, but the fact is that I do not feel the need to communicate to people all the time. I can be in the middle of a crowded room, and feel equally at peace with myself as I would in my bedroom. It’s not really about the fact that I dislike a person’s company; it might just be a small mood swing. It can be just that I want to shut away the world and sit with myself. The feeling of walking alone on wet sands is a feeling that no company can match for me.

Recently I was told that I am always LOST in my thoughts. I took it as a compliment and carried on with no reaction! For me to be able to get lost in ones thought in spite of all that chaos around is a big achievement. To detach when you need it the most. To walk away when you know you are his only company. The comforting part is when the other person understands that feeling of being lost and shares the same with you. To sit in a room with just person in it and enough to talk but making a choice to keep quiet is the most amazing thing in the world.

The reason I write this. I feel that somewhere I may have hurt people with my silence. Somewhere a person might get the feeling that I am weird and refusing to open up. But honestly, I have fallen in love with being lost and finding my way out of it. I rather have you share my calm and silence. I would really make a conversation if I feel you feel uneasy, but I would love it if you were just happy to have me around without an expectation!

want to

I have wanted to do some insane things lately. Some of which have already done. I don’t live in the Victorian age, so why should I live by the manners!

I am sure most you will relate to this:

Want to re live some moments….

Want to splash in a puddle of mud, run home to a clean carpet and leave my footprints!

Want to pick up the pup on my way back home, and get scolded by my mum,

Want to feel the rain in my eyes, nose and mouth!

Want to stretch my arms wide and embrace life,

Want to have sugar with everything possible, rice, roti, iddlis etc

Want to feel like a kid again and shout my name out from the top of the mountain,

Want to feel the wind race through my hair, when I stand up through the sun roof,

Want to make noise while drinking coke,

Want to lick my fingers and not wipe it neatly in the napkin,

Want to have a semi- melted chocolate and make a mess out of it.

Shoe fetish

Yeah you got it right. I am suffering from the guilt pangs of post shopping. I and why me everyone around me thinks I am a shopaholic and I am quite ok with the tag. But sometimes when you walk into the ATM and have a look at the mini statement and realise that you had spent a huge amount on something totally useless, you feel like burying yourself. This happens with me a lot!

I tell myself that I earn and so I spend. I cannot be categorised as being brand conscious either. You can leave me alone on a street with Rs. 200 and I would still find ways to spend it. I shop everywhere. The thing is with me is that I am not very focused with my choices. I love bags, clothes, jewellery, household items (since I stay away from home, I tend to collect a lot of junk...) and oh I love books and music.

But my weak point is shoes.
My other two roommates will throw me out of the house one day as I have taken over all the shoe cupboards in my house. I have spent money every month on different kinds and shapes of shoes. I think, it’s because I know that no matter what my body size would be I would still fit in a shoe, the reason for this fetish. It’s becoming slightly out of proportions these days. I look at people’s shoes when I meet them. For example, the other day I was sitting in a restaurant and I saw a lady wearing the same sandals as Shefali was wearing in Karthik calling Karthik. Now you know what I mean when I say I look at people’s shoes.

My colleagues in office know this so well that one of the girls happens to send me a link of a website which is dedicated to different designs of shoes. I religiously visit this website once a day. I even found out a place in my city where I can give these designs and get them made to order. Now you are interested aren’t you? I bet you are! Imagine getting your customised shoes. Those lovely red sued and those amazing stilettos and oh oh the best boots!!! Yeah all of them just for you. Sorry I just did a free advertising for them!

My mother is rather worried with this obsession of mine. She thinks that the guy who gets married to me (since I am in the marriageable age all conversations kinda lead to marriage!!) will be irritated with the shoe factory that I have collected. And considering I am in Mumbai where most of the times flats are really small, I wonder where my collection will go! So a guy who is ok with this obsession is added to the list of “what I want in a guy”!!!

I get this behaviour as a genetic quality more than anything so you cannot really blame me. My grandfather (who was very close to me) had this trait. He had collected shoes from all corners of the world and even till the end of his life; he had a fascination for buying shoes. I still remember when we were cleaning up all his stuff after his death, we had about 30 to 40 pairs of shoes and we did not know what to do with them! Each pair was his favourite. I still remember how I got my first pair of red belles. It was a gift from my grandfather and I think I still posses the pair! He was a man who loved his shoes. Every Sunday he would line up the army of shoes and polish them with his own hands. For hours he would sit in the balcony and polish them. Even if they were never to be worn again! All his shoes were well maintained and well kept. He never threw his shoes away. He was emotional about his shoes and somewhere I too am about mine.

Each pair has a memory attached to it. Each pair has story to tell. A shoe when I cried after my break up. That red sandal when I wanted to spend my own hard earned money on a big brand. And that amazing black stiletto that I got for my first dance! And yeah that beige when I felt happy about something. And so goes on my love for my shoes.

:)

The sun touches my face
The breeze takes me along
The song plays somewhere
I drift away with your thoughts

I look for you besides me
I want you to be here
Be here to love me
Be here to hold me
Be here to see me smile
Be here to see me cry

It’s just another day
Without you
Without your presence
Without your smell
I just hold on to your thought
And I live…