Wednesday 6 August 2014

Gr8 Lakes of Kashmir----My encounter with Beauty Bliss and Nirvana----Day 1 Mumbai- Delhi- Srinagar and Arrival Base Camp

Agar Firdaus bar ru-e-zamin ast, Hami ast o- hami ast o- hami ast.

If there is heaven on earth, it is here, it is here it is here.






It actually started when we were doing Kedarkantha trek with Indiahikes. It was my second Himalayan Trek and first with  Indiahikes.Indiahikes founder Arjun Majumdar was with us on our return journey from Sankri to Nainital. One of the tyre of our bus got punctured and while the driver was busy changing it,Arjun suggested that we must do GR8 Lakes of Kashmir trek.
We were still on the high of conquering   11000 plus feet summit , so obviously thought of ourselves as seasoned Mountaineers and wanted to summit higher. Anyways so instead of GR8 Lakes , next year we went to Roopkund (15780 ft).Meanwhile I had been checking the Indiahikes site regularly and was fascinated by the picturess posted on GR8 lakes of Kashmir trek page.Being an avid photographer ( though amature) ,I knew  I had to do this trek.The problem was to convince my trek mates.It was difficult as the  trek did not involve great heights, there was no summit and it was a loooong range trek. After a lot of persuasion and much reluctance   Aashish  agreed for the trek. All our other trek mates from previous treks , with whom we had shared tent and some precious moments, were not available for some reason or the other. Meanwhile I had our school  re-union and met my schoolmate Santosh who also shared  similar enthusiasm for trekking. It did not take much to convince him and VOILA !!we had a team. We all completed the payment formalities quickly. There was a fair bit of discussion on which dates to choose as we wanted a perfect weather  something only the Almighty can ensure in Kashmir. Aashish n I checked lots of previous posts and somehow zeroed down on 19th July. I think some issues at Aashish’s end  also helped us eliminate other dates. To take advantage of check fares we booked air tickets quickly.Here all three of us had different agendas …Aashish was planning to be in Srinagar with Family  two days before trek, I had to redeem my Jet miles so constrained with booking a jet flight and Santosh ideally wanted the cheapest direct flight available. So all three were on different flights and we would be meeting at Srinagar airport only.All this happened good 5-6 months before the actual trek and one can imagine how difficult it can be to keep the momentum going for so long. We needed to prepare physically for the trek and I thought I was the weakest link and most lazy. Aashish was regularly going on treks, running n cycling so he was fighting fit. Even Santosh was very particular and consistent  in his routine. I was the odd man out. I had a job change in between so atleast my whirlwind travel and associated irregular routine was stopped.The fallout of Roopkund trek for me was that I had become extremely complacent. 15780 ft किया है , येह तो सिर्फ ६५ km  उपर नीचे चलना  है … आरामसे हो जायेगा was the thought. Meanwhile in summer two of my friends visited Kashmir and I was once again blown away by their narration and photographs. I was more than eager to witness the heaven on Earth first hand.

Actually when I was young n unaware of the conflict of KASHMIR, I rather naively use to think that if they want Independence, let them have it . We may need a visa to enter the Kashmir then but atleast we can peacefully explore this Paradise on Earth which hypnotized even  poets across the world………How wrong I was in my thinking is not the point here but the fact that I wanted so very desperately to land on this magical place n see n experience it first hand as soon as possible is the moot point.


The day was approaching fast  and even the extended summer was not motivating enough for me to be regular on walking or jogging exercise. My gut feeling was trying to warn me but body was not in mood to heed.Finally out of sheer scariness I suggested to Aashish n Santosh  that we atleast do one or two treks in Sahyadris as warm up. We  ended up doing one short and one moderate trek before the big one and that soothed the nerves a bit. It was a good reality check on body n mind.
As the day of trek drew close there was hectic planning about packing a rucksack. Its an exercise I find most difficult one before the trek. First of all, sitting in Mumbai Summer heat its very very difficult to imagine the cold you may encounter in Himalayas. There is every possibility that you may under or over prepare….both can be costly in terms of coping with cold or carrying the extra weight  on your back. Too add to our woes was extremely fragile weather in Kashmir on slopes with rain, snow n sunshine possible and to be accounted for. If this was not enough, just few days before ,Aashish forwarded fotos of people walking on snow from earlier batches. It meant more woolens , more space in rucksack and complete rethinking about this so called Summer Trek and complete re-alignment of Rucksack . My ABCDEF of Rucksack was on the verge of going for a toss already.The trek dates were so chosen by us that we would be working till Friday evening, catch an early morning flight  , come back next Sunday evening and join back office from Monday… Hardly any time/scope for things to go wrong at any stage. But what is an outing  if all the things go as per your plans? This time the otherwise trusted Jet Airways decided to put some excitement in my life by changing my flight schedule   in such a way that  at Delhi airport  Arrival of my Mumbai flight and departure of  flight to Srinagar was at same time ie 1010 hrs.  After frantic calls, talking with dumbest of call centre guys, threatening, shouting, abusing, I managed to restore the booking .Anyways, on the eve of my flight, learning from my previous Himalayan  trek experiences, I made sure that I had a good hot bath at 0330 hrs  knowing that  next such occasion may be good eight days away.



Mumbai Delhi n Delhi Srinagar flight was uneventful  but I managed to click some breathtaking pictures of Jammu n Srinagar from top. I was in love with Kashmir even before actually touching down. Totally prejudiced n biased about its beauty. Little did I know that what I saw was just a glimpse  and as SRK or Shreyas Talpade says in OSO “ पिक्चर तो अभी बाकी है  मेरे दोस्त ”…..


We were informed that only post paid connections work in J& K, thankfully I had one ,so calling Aashish was not an issue. But I lost internet connectivity immediately after landing which meant that my Whats App n FB sanyas was effective immediately…..not that I was complaining but  an update from Srinagar Airport would not have hurt either…
As expected Aashish was at airport waiting after saying Goodbyes to his Family. We had good two three hrs to kill before our transport to base camp would arrive.I don’t know wthat is it with me n Aashish that  even if we don’t meet or talk often, we seem to be able to chat away endlessly…I guess its more to do with Aashish ( He loves to talk)than me….So we whiled away our time at airport waiting for Santosh and others.




 There is absolutely nothing you can get outside Srinagar Airport apart from a tea or biscuits . Eggs if you are lucky. The airport was extremely crowded with Amarnath Yatris. Aashish broke the news that there was curfew in Srinagar the other day and some problem in  Gurudwara at Baltal which simply meant our journey to Sonmarg could be in jeopardy.
Anyways, one by one our trek mates started arriving from different flight and our transport vehicle also arrived. Since we were not having anything important to do we took it upon ourselves to ask n gather all trekkers near our vehicle. To save time and taking initiative we also climbed on top and arranged all our rucksacks. We had a little ice breaking session at parking lot itself and met Madhav-Vartika from Pune , Deep from Delhi, Anish, Juwal, Bala ,Parikshit, rajesh and chinmay from Banglore. And there was Ashwin joshi… poor chap  had to fill in for his Father at last minute.
















All of us were extremely hungry and though it was a bit unfare to ask our Driver who was observing Roza Fasts to stop at restaurant for a quick bite,but we had to . The popular eatery suggested by the driver was overcrowded so we settled for the one which did not have anyone


.I was probably so much ill informed about Srinagar that I was surprised to see many Vaishnav Dhabas serving hot veg food.












After a safe  n quick lunch  we started our journey through Srinagar to our base camp before Sonmarg. The Drivers all over are same  in nature. They conveniently forget the use of B(Brake) in ABC while driving. Ours was in so much hurry that he actually used to accelerate at speedbreakers. It was his driving skills and our prayers which saved us from any major occurrence.
Development Touching Base with Srinagar ---Adding to traffic Chaos
Srinagar is probably the worst city in terms of traffic discipline that I have encountered ….Its  BAD.
Once we left Srinagar, the remaining journey was completed in Oohs, Aahs and Wows with cameras clicking.





There was so much security that almost every kilometer or two there were CRPF/J&K Police or Army Jawans….It was unnerving to say the least.Enroute we made the tempo stop to click pictures and finally around 1800 we reached the diversion of kachcha road before Sonmarg. 

Again me n Aashish being "बिन पगारी काम भारी  "volunteers, took all rucksacks down . It’s a good 500-750 mtr walk to the base camp site  and we  were greeted by our ATL ( Assistant trek lead).
Finally we had reached the base camp and It was Simply Beautiful.



The mountain,




 the streams, 








the road and a village far away…Breathtaking…


Again little did I know that in coming days  I will be falling way short on adjectives to describe the beauty of this magical land with my extremely limited vocabulary…


We quickly put our sacks in the allocated Tents and just breathed in the beauty….Our other trek mates had reached good 30 min before us and we had a small introductory session with our Trek Lead Suman.This was the start of our assembly n headcount at mornings n evenings for next six days and believe me, it was only on the last assembly that we could manage to have all 32 accounted for in one go….
We had an extremely heterogeneous batch of 32 enthusiasts , many first timers while one had already done the Everest Base camp trek just to give the level of experience.
Our Trek Lead Suman was a tough Task master and very briskly and somewhat curtly he laid out do’s n don’t’s about trek, timings, food, AMS etc etc. It was getting dark n cold and we desperately wanted to unpack, rearrange our rucksacks. Suman successfully managed to put some fear in our minds about the days we shall be encountering and health dangers we may face. Some unpleasant occurance on Roopkund trek meant that Indiahikes was extremely cautious about AMS and we were warned urged in no uncertain terms to report any small illness or change in our fitness  condition.
With loads of instructions, apprehension and bustling with excitement we retired in our tents after a sumptuous hot dinner… It was probably all new experience for Santosh but being a Management Guy he never showed much of it…



To Be Continued......





























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