Trek To Valley of Flowers-1

 After a memorable and eventful trip to Gokarna with batchmates from IAF, when the next trip location was finalized as the Valley of Flowers, there were no second thoughts for me. A trek to the foothills of the Himalayas was something I was looking forward to. After some googling on the net and a couple of rounds of shopping at Decathlon, it was good to go for the trek. And yes, some good wordly advice from Sattu sir too, a veteran of many treks and adventure expert who, besides briefing on the dos and don'ts of the trek, gladly lends me his “Chandrayan Raincoat,"  which I will come to later.

After an uneventful Indigo flight to Delhi from Bangalore, I hopped into Sainik Araamghar at the Old Delhi railway station for rest before the onward journey to Haridwar by train. The Sainik Aramghar is named after Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, a former Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army. Jawan at the reception told me that my accommodation was in the Officers Dormitory on the second floor. I thought I should check my fitness levels for the forthcoming trek by climbing up the stairs with my backpack rather than putting them in the locker room. A decision I soon realized was an actual fitness check for me, as the mentioned second floor was the  fourth floor of the building. By the time I got into the officers dormitory, I was fully drenched in sweat, with the sultry weather in Delhi further adding to the discomfort. Later on, I came to know that it was a common grouse of all visitors to the Sainik Aramghar—the steep steps one had to climb—but presumably nothing could be done as the building was declared a heritage building, hence it couldn’t be modified to have lifts installed in the building.

After a couple of hours of rest, in the evening I decided to walk down to the old city market and finish off my last-minute shopping for the trek. Walking through the narrow lanes of the Old City market is an adventure by itself, with lanes full of parked vehicles through which luggage-laden hand-pulled rickshaws were moving zig-zag, leaving little or no space to walk. I wanted to purchase a memory card for my camera, which made me travel across the whole  market and finally to Shop No. 66, the only shop in the entire market where it was available. The shopkeeper, though, gave me a slight discount after seeing the IAF emblem on my T-shirt, a small consolation for the effort to search and reach out to his shop.

As I walked back to the Sainik Aramgarh after finishing my purchases, it was already late in the in the evening. Old Delhi railway station was lit up with lights, its silhouette standing out majestically against the evening sky and the Indian tricolor swaying in the wind—a sight to behold. After taking some rest, I went to the dining hall to have dinner. I ordered a north Indian thali, which had chappati rice and a couple of subjis, and it tasted awesome, probably due to my days of exertion. The only other people in the dining hall besides me were a couple, of which the gentleman I guessed was a senior officer from the Armed Forces. But both of them were quite engrossed in finishing off their dinner.

As I walked into the railway station, it dawned on me that it was a long Independence Day holiday weekend, and there was a huge crowd waiting to board the Mussorie Express, the train that I was to board, taking me from Delhi to Haridwar. I had opted for an overnight train rather than a four-hour drive by road to reach Haridwar in order to get some sleep, as the next day, twelve hours of travel by road from Haridwar to Govindghat was planned.

Mussorie Express usually takes approx. eight hours to reach Haridwar, a distance of 283 km, starting from Delhi Railway Station at 1030 p.m. A good night's sleep was broken by the tea vendors. The time was now 0630 am, and the train had reached Laskar Railway Station only, a good one hour from its scheduled arrival time of 0530 am. Laskar railway station was 27 km away from Haridwar, a one-hour journey by train at average speed. I got down from the train to have a cup of tea and inquired from TTE about the approximate time it would reach Haridwar. He mentioned that if the train starts now, it will take only half an hour to reach Haridwar; if it doesn’t start now, it will get late further.

Meanwhile, the rest of the trekking group had reached Gayatri Parivar Complex, Gate No. 2, at Haridwar, our starting point for the road trip, except for my batchmate Gururaj, who was waiting for me at Haridwar Railway Station. His train had started from New Delhi railway station after my train and had already reached Haridwar. The road trip by bus was planned to start at 0730 hrs, as it would take approx. 12 hours to reach Govindghat, our first stop. It was also preferable to travel by daylight in the hills, especially in the rainy season, where land slides and falling rocks were common.

The clock kept ticking away, and it was 7:30 a.m., and there were no signs of a train departing from Laksar. A few trains coming from the opposite side gave hope that our train would depart shortly, but to no avail. Phone calls from Rakesh, our trip leader, were beginning to get frantic as the time passed, as the start of the bus journey was getting delayed due to my non-arrival. And all I could do was have my breakfast, for which I ordered a plate of Aloo Bondas from a hawker at the railway station. The Aloo Bondas on the surface appeared to be quite okay, but as soon as I had a bite, my entire mouth almost got burned. They were double or even triple fried, leading to their outer crust becoming thicker and their inner core remaining hot even after they were removed from the pan.

The train eventually started at 9:30 a.m., a good three hours after it had arrived at Laskar. However, the joy was short-lived as the train, after traveling for some time, again halted at Jwalapur railway station, which was four kilometers away from Haridwar. I was about to get out of the train and wanted to take a taxi to reach Haridwar by the time the train started again. The train eventually reached Haridwar Railway Station by 1000 a.m., four hours late from its scheduled arrival time. At Haridwar railway station, Gururaj was waiting, and both of us jumped into an autorickshaw, asking him to get us to Gayatri Parivar Complex gate no. 2 at Haridwar as soon as possible. The auto driver made his way through the busy morning traffic effortlessly till we reached the main highway. There was a huge traffic jam, but somehow the auto driver was maneuvering his vehicle and was moving forward until his vehicle suddenly stopped. With the vehicle, my heart almost came to a stop when I saw the auto driver take out his toolbox from his cabin. It reminded me of a sortie I had taken in a service transport aircraft where, after getting airborne for some time, I saw a technician taking out his tools and entering the cockpit to carry out some repairs.

Later on, I came to know that every stop and start of the Mussorie Express was being monitored by my fellow trekkers, with every start greeted with a cheer and every stop with a frown. I don’t know what would have happened to them if I had told them about the number of breakdowns our autorickshaw encountered while getting to Gayatri Parivar Complex gate no. 2, the starting point, from Haridwar Railway station.

Nevertheless, at about 1100 am, we began our trip on a tempo traveler to Govindghat, our first stop for the night. After crossing the plains, vehicle speed decreased on account of the uphill roads as well as frequent road repair work that was encountered at various places. The only person among us confident of reaching Govindghat before midnight was driver Umesh. He had reason to do so, for he had to return and pick up another group the next day. The route followed included crossing all seven Prayags with the river Alaknanda, giving us company for the majority of our trip.

As day turned into night, along with accompanying rain, it became clear to us that we were the only group traveling so late on this hilly route. A late, sumptuous lunch had ensured that everyone had had a nap, and now everyone was looking for a cup of tea. On reaching 10–15 km short of Joshimath, we came across our first land slide. Loose soil had moved across the road, causing the road traffic to stop. While waiting for the road to open, we all went to the nearest restaurant. And to our surprise and amazement, though, there was not a single soul in the restaurant. Apparently, the caretaker/owner of the restaurant, on seeing such a large gang of tourists, thought it was better to run away rather than greet them with an empty store.!!