When it rained the other day, people suddenly had "hope". Hope that it will also rain tomorrow. Perhaps more heavily so much so that the looming trek on us may get cancelled. Some folks even backed their assertions with the help of the weather forecasts available online. I am sure the more than 300 strong OTs prayed for the rains with the same intensity as we do in the pre-monsoon months with a deficit monsoon forecast. And the God of Rain listened. But i think there was some mess up with conveying the time zone and the rains stopped just before the scheduled time. And good that it happened as on the cards was a beautiful, beautiful trek.
So, it was almost 0630 hrs, the designated trek kick off time, and people were still holding on to that "hope". But soon some started to rush towards the starting point and the rest unwillingly followed. It was still drizzling a bit. But no one actually cared as the view beyond the Karmshilla building was just breathtaking. The clouds were looking gorgeous. White, bright and so so near that you almost feel like extending your hand and grabbing them or even to run to embrace them. Totally lost in this amazingly serene view, we were brought back to our senses by this coarse voice at the peek of its pitch asking us to line up. Having been part of ITBP force, I can understand how difficult it is for the PTIs from ITBP to deal with civilians for whom it is alien to obey orders at once. And now being a part of the civilian cloud, I admire them more and more.
And there was it, the signal to march towards Cloud's end where we were to get our breakfast. The stretch was more or less plain the only catch being the Commando Race being conducted on the same route simultaneously by ITBP. Not a problem for us but they must have faced difficulties asking the crowd to stay left all the time. Anyway, it was great seeing the glimpse of my past and also to see some of my colleagues cheering for the commandos. Way to go guys. BTW that road was a beautiful stretch for morning runs with sheer greenery and nothing else. Looking forward for some runs along that boulevard.
After walking about 7 km, we reached Cloud's end which was not really a great spot or something but who really cares when you had just walked so long for your breakfast. We attacked the food counters with great tenacity and the simple bread jam had never tasted so so good, I tell you. With that someone told us it would be a good idea to sprinkle salt all over our socks so as to avoid the forced "blood donation" to the suckers errr i mean leeches. With our feet salted up, we were all set to take on the Binog Hill. Now the inner trek around the mountain was beautiful and balanced. Not so steep down and not so steep up. It was a wonderful uphill route to start with. Suddenly there were some weird voices. Tribal and raw. It was so real we almost fell for it. But then we realized there is a significant OT population which is ahead of us and apparently some of them have a great voice coupled with the art of imitation. Great folks!
Marching through the sublime greenery, we reached the temple where we were given some time to rest. Right in front of the temple, there were numerous cow dungs as if the religious ones come right up to the top of the hill to pay homage. After all cow dungs are considered sacred and a beacon of purity. Rather there was so much of cow shit all over the hills that you start to wonder whether the cows are also being sensitized with Swachcha Bharat Abhiyaan not to litter the city roads. Also the amount of cow shit up there seriously can double the share of non-conventional energy sources if used for Bio Gas production.
Now was the tricky part to climb down the hill at this very steep end where they had put some ropes as safety measures. Perhaps the most difficult part but most useful when it comes to getting prepared for the week long trek deep in the Himalayas. Great work by those who were standing there with the rope and great work by all the OTs making sure that the person behind and in front are both safe. We picked up some pace hereafter as the lunch was on the offing. While marching down groups were competing on how loud can they shout and the winning group was the one which went like "सुस्त रहो!", a troll of the morning PT rhetoric "स्वस्थ रहो!" Finally we reached the lunch place where we saw some of our friends taking out leeches and that very moment we all felt a tingling sensation in the feet. We all sat down there itself taking off our socks with the apprehensions of finding them red. But nothing for most of us. Just our loyal socks reflecting "सरदार, मैंने आपका नमक खाया है!"
Post lunch was entirely uphill. A slightly long return trek as compared to the previous one with no option of taking a cab or hitchhiking. You had to finish this one the right way. And that's the whole point of this exercise, ain't it? Anyway, this was overall a wonderful wonderful trek and it had everything we expected in Kempty trek. Hope this makes up for the the incomplete promises made for the first trek. Redemption accepted with pleasure.
स्वस्थ रहो!
To read LBS Diaries Part 4, Click here!
So, it was almost 0630 hrs, the designated trek kick off time, and people were still holding on to that "hope". But soon some started to rush towards the starting point and the rest unwillingly followed. It was still drizzling a bit. But no one actually cared as the view beyond the Karmshilla building was just breathtaking. The clouds were looking gorgeous. White, bright and so so near that you almost feel like extending your hand and grabbing them or even to run to embrace them. Totally lost in this amazingly serene view, we were brought back to our senses by this coarse voice at the peek of its pitch asking us to line up. Having been part of ITBP force, I can understand how difficult it is for the PTIs from ITBP to deal with civilians for whom it is alien to obey orders at once. And now being a part of the civilian cloud, I admire them more and more.
And there was it, the signal to march towards Cloud's end where we were to get our breakfast. The stretch was more or less plain the only catch being the Commando Race being conducted on the same route simultaneously by ITBP. Not a problem for us but they must have faced difficulties asking the crowd to stay left all the time. Anyway, it was great seeing the glimpse of my past and also to see some of my colleagues cheering for the commandos. Way to go guys. BTW that road was a beautiful stretch for morning runs with sheer greenery and nothing else. Looking forward for some runs along that boulevard.
After walking about 7 km, we reached Cloud's end which was not really a great spot or something but who really cares when you had just walked so long for your breakfast. We attacked the food counters with great tenacity and the simple bread jam had never tasted so so good, I tell you. With that someone told us it would be a good idea to sprinkle salt all over our socks so as to avoid the forced "blood donation" to the suckers errr i mean leeches. With our feet salted up, we were all set to take on the Binog Hill. Now the inner trek around the mountain was beautiful and balanced. Not so steep down and not so steep up. It was a wonderful uphill route to start with. Suddenly there were some weird voices. Tribal and raw. It was so real we almost fell for it. But then we realized there is a significant OT population which is ahead of us and apparently some of them have a great voice coupled with the art of imitation. Great folks!
Marching through the sublime greenery, we reached the temple where we were given some time to rest. Right in front of the temple, there were numerous cow dungs as if the religious ones come right up to the top of the hill to pay homage. After all cow dungs are considered sacred and a beacon of purity. Rather there was so much of cow shit all over the hills that you start to wonder whether the cows are also being sensitized with Swachcha Bharat Abhiyaan not to litter the city roads. Also the amount of cow shit up there seriously can double the share of non-conventional energy sources if used for Bio Gas production.
Now was the tricky part to climb down the hill at this very steep end where they had put some ropes as safety measures. Perhaps the most difficult part but most useful when it comes to getting prepared for the week long trek deep in the Himalayas. Great work by those who were standing there with the rope and great work by all the OTs making sure that the person behind and in front are both safe. We picked up some pace hereafter as the lunch was on the offing. While marching down groups were competing on how loud can they shout and the winning group was the one which went like "सुस्त रहो!", a troll of the morning PT rhetoric "स्वस्थ रहो!" Finally we reached the lunch place where we saw some of our friends taking out leeches and that very moment we all felt a tingling sensation in the feet. We all sat down there itself taking off our socks with the apprehensions of finding them red. But nothing for most of us. Just our loyal socks reflecting "सरदार, मैंने आपका नमक खाया है!"
Post lunch was entirely uphill. A slightly long return trek as compared to the previous one with no option of taking a cab or hitchhiking. You had to finish this one the right way. And that's the whole point of this exercise, ain't it? Anyway, this was overall a wonderful wonderful trek and it had everything we expected in Kempty trek. Hope this makes up for the the incomplete promises made for the first trek. Redemption accepted with pleasure.
स्वस्थ रहो!
To read LBS Diaries Part 4, Click here!
1 comment:
The last photo looks like the Great Wall of China's stretch! You guys have proper coordination, Swapnil. The first snap, of course, needless to mention, is simply scenic!!!
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