Gauri Dabholkar's reflectionsSearching for myself in the vastness of the Universe....

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

Pindari Glacier Trek

Many years ago when I was studying Sanskrit as a school girl; I wastouched by the metaphors in Kumarasambhava. Kumarsambhava is just amythological story of Shiva and Parvati’s first born child Kartikeya. This epicpoem of Sanskrit Shakespeare- Kalidasa begins with a description ofthe Himalayas.

God of the distant north, the Snowy Range O’er other mountains towers imperially;Earth's measuring-rod, being great and free from change, Sinks to the eastern and the western sea.

I am not sure if Kalidasa had really traveled from Ujjain(M.P.) to Himalayasin the 5th century A.D. However, it has been my childhood dream to visitvarious ranges of Himalayas. In the last few years, I have been trying tofulfill it by visiting several places in the mountains. This year I had the honorof organizing Pindari Glacier Trek for a batch of 23 teenagers and two fellowteachers.

Sparkling water of GlaciersI had seen many rivers however, had no clue about a glacier. Fresh water tome was available in Bisleri bottles. While preparing for the trek, i found outthat a glacier is large body of ice which starts flowing downwards at a slowpace. And that they are the largest reservoirs of fresh water. The freshnessof glacier water cannot be matched by manmade purifiers. I can now vouchfor it because throughout the trek we all kept filling up our bottles from localstreams and no one even once complained of stomach problems.

The beginningOur preparations lasted mainlyfor the last two months-phones and emails to anxiousparents, finding time formeeting the students in theirultra-busy schedules, trips toDecathlon and managing theirshopping etc. Finally, westarted on 16th April morningfrom school. We reached Delhiby flight that afternoon andstayed at Hotel Gautam Deluxtill the dinner. A number ofstudents had packed loads ofluggage as they were going togo home after the trek. All thathad to be kept in the hotel andonly bare necessities had to bepacked in smaller bags. Thiswas one of the toughest tasksas the children did not want topart with any of their belongings. Little did they know about the spacecrunch in the sleeper class train that they were to board that night? Wereached old Delhi railway station about an hour early and waited for thetrain. I have had several good and bad experiences of train journeys in Indiabut for some my students this was much different than their overseas flightjourneys and holidays in air-conditioned resorts of Goa or Hawai! It wasdifficult keeping them awake and smiling till 10:40 pm. At last, we boardedthe train and arranged their berths securely. Some berths were full of dustand few girls refused to even lie down. Soon their tired bodies just gaveaway and the whole compartment went into dream world.

I kept waking up at every hour to check on each one of them and thebaggage. Finally, at around 5:30 am(17th April) we reached Kathgodam. Atiny mini bus was waiting outside the station. We freshened up at theKumao Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) guesthouse and immediately left forBageshwar. The distance between Kathgodam and Bageshwar is just 150km. The winding roads soon churned our stomachs and the bus turned intoa vomit comet (training spaceship ). After a tough ride of 6-7 hours wereached the Bageshwar rest house for lunch. Luckily four jeeps werearranged during the return journey and it turned out to be much better while

coming back.

After lunch and another round of packing stuff into even smaller rucksacksprovided by KMVN we left for Loharkhet by jeeps. This was another 45 kmroller coaster ride which went through rough roads and smaller villages. Thistime we were lucky to get jeeps. That evening we concluded our journey bymotorized vehicles. From that evening onwards, there would be noTV/mobile connections and no vehicles. We were all set to begin our marchto Pindari Glacier with KMVN guide Mr. Bhuvan Pal and his assistants. Itwas a rainy night and everyone fell off to sleep within seconds.

The trek begins…..Next morning(18th April) afterbreakfast, Mr.Bhuvan gave us abrief idea aboutour 70 to 80 kmtrek. We had aminute of silentprayer. One ofmost importantlesson that Mr.Pal said was thatif you want tocomplete the treksuccessfully PaoGaram, PetNaram aur Dimag Thanda (i.e. keep your feet warm, stomachs light andthe most importantly keep your head cool!). For the agony aunt in me, thiswas the biggest message of my life and I really tried to keep it in my mind.As I was gasping for a breath, I saw a seventh grader girl barely draggingherself in very first hour of the trek and another hefty ninth grader boystopped several times due to diarrhea. My worries were haunting me and Ifelt I may have to stay at the next halt with at least 4-5 of them till the restreach the Zero Point and return. Our target for that day was 10 km climband another 9 km climb + descent after lunch. The trails are clearly laid outand these are paths full of rocks and stones. Both sides are lined up withtrees of all kinds. Some of wild varieties of flowers were in full blossom andleaves had all possible shades of green and yellow.

The views of the valleys were breathtaking and we got a first peak ofNandadevi range of snow capped mountains from Dhakudi. From Dhakudi toKhati was a relatively easy trek as it started with a downhill path. Here thechallenge was that some of the enthusiastic boys and girls just startedrunning down before we could gather the lazy and sick ones. My mind wasfull of worries….i kept shouting and blowing my whistle but they had gonemuch beyond. The other two teachers ran to catch them however, thechildren were too fast! When we reached Khati, we had an assembly and astrict warning was issued. The elder boys were warned that they have toremain within one km range. Next day, this message was taken well andeveryone remained in groups and Ms. Leena did a fantastic job of unitingthe strong ones with the weaker ones.

Food Glorious FoodThe trek would have been impossible without our local support. The luggagewas carried by mules and the cooks were amazing. They would carry theprovisions and reach just minutes before us. They used to prepare hotsoups, tea and savories within minutes. The food was cooked on wood fireand although our kids did not get their daily dose of pizzas and burgers,they all ate well almost till the last day. The daal-roti and rice they preparedmade a superb meal after all the walking.

Maggie noodles came to their rescue at several small Maggie shops. It is atone of those Noodlewalls hut I heard the whole story of an ascetic- PindariBaba who lives beyond the Zero Point. Pindari Baba meditates most of theevening and lives alone. He is a graduate and speaks English very well.Some people said that he has all the modern gadgets of communication.Along with spicy noodles, these talks kept me amused about that wholeplace.

Khati to Dwali (19th April)Khati to Dwali was another 10 km walkfull of ups and downs. We walkedalong Sunderdunga and Pindar Riverstreams. The music of sparklingwaters was constantly with us. Thistime students cooperated and helpedeach other. Even then, some were onthe verge of crying or sitting down.Earlier plan to was to climb up toPhurkia after lunch. That was going tobe a tough climb of another 5 km.Luckily, the weather turned bad and our guide gave us a choice of stayingback in Dwali. I promptly explained that to students and to my surprise theytoo felt relieved. They started wandering around and visited the Maggieshop, took out playing cards. It was rather cold and mercury must havedipped to zero. There was a hailstorm followed by a snowstorm for fewminutes.

In mountaineering, one should respect the nature. We may be mighty fit inour cities but in the mountains weather can change over minutes. Also, onecannot underestimate the effect of altitude on our bodies. One has to takethe challenge with patience. If one cannot reach the summit that trip, itdoes not matter. What matters most is your healthy return to the basecamp!

All these places do not have electricity supply. For the first time in Dwali,KMVN team connected a generator and managed to do electric fittings inour rooms. That night, we had lights in our room till 9 pm. The sky clearedup after dinner I managed to explain constellations to the students. I wasoverjoyed to see the Milky Way which is unseen in Bangalore!

Final Ascent(20th April)Though it was only 5 km to Phurkia, it was supposed to be the finalendurance test. The road was quite steep and we hit upon small glaciers atevery few hundred meters. I have experienced walking in snow. However,here we had to cross steep slopes fully covered with hard ice. We followedthe paths shown by the local guides and helped each other to cross. Myeyes were constantly over all the children. This was the toughest part of thetrek. It was sunny and chilly at the same time. We reached Phurkia ataround 10:30 am. The famous Zero Point was just 7 km ahead but it wasdefinitely not in our reach. On our mentor’s instruction we decided to take afew kids a little bit ahead to a spot that had even more snow. I would saythis itself was our Zero Point though it must have at some fraction between0 and 1!

About ten of them were mentally and physically ready to accept thechallenge. I decided to accompany them despite my painful ankles as I hadtaken their responsibility. Later on, at one of the glacier crossings I felt Icould not go ahead. I saw my son marching ahead with some of theyoungsters and I gathered enough courage to move on. My spirits weremotivated and pushed myself ahead with the help of Kumao helpers. Theirsmiling faces and sturdy hands gave me support and confidence.

The slopes beyond Phurkia were completely white. I had seen enoughsnow in the Rocky Mountain and in Buffalo(NY), and even in Ladakh .....butthis snow and views of the Pindari Glacier were breathtaking!

My camera just could not capture it and my vocabulary is too limited todescribe it. My whole body was extremely cold and sore but I was in theseventh heaven. My name- "Gauri" means Parvati-the daughter ofHimalayas! Though i am a non-believer- at that moment i felt that themountain itself -my Father made sure that i made it. Now, I can appreciatehow Pindari Baba is living at the top there for the past 25 years…..it mustbe worth it! I am convinced that Kalidasa must have been somewhere here.The mobile phone was useless but i looked at awhite cloud messenger (Meghdoot) and passed a message to my dearhusband and also to my own father!!