At 16000
feet plus (Maktoli – the glacier edge is 6803 m), Sunder Dhunga (the
land of beautiful stones0 is a serious trek by all standards. In about 7
days of walk ( from 8 to 26 kms a day – 6 hrs to 12 hrs a day) – we
faced rains all day, fog and wind on crevice like grassland tops,
slippery rocks on cliff sides with razor thin edges), and the scary walk
on the snow glaciers. At times, this gets real tough and you long for
burger and milk shakes back home (or the smell of garlic spiced hot daal
and aloo ki takki – the foodie that I am). But, I will tell you what –
the path grazing through the villages (where poorly clad grandmothers
bundle up with even more poorly clad grandchildren) is scenic and very,
very pristine in its hardship, greenery, and innocence. It’s a path
devoid of any pretensions of swiss mountain-yashraj movie type romance.
The mountain paths are narrow, the rock boulders block the way, and when
it rains and snows, and you are huddled together at the top of a
glacier in a Gaddi’s hut (with fire, 6 people cuddled to a poly sheet
slant tied to the edge of an oblong rock head serving as the wall- and
hand picked-rocks stewn in as other faces of the wall), you feel how
will you go back to your base camp hut. The weather turns gloomy and you
must go down that slippery glacier all the way back home, when you
could have been watching your favorite movie in PVR at home on weekends
couching on the sofa – sipping -eating and blurping on that popcorn and
Coke.. what fun that would have been..(Oh! The jumbled thoughts we weave
– being X at Y and being Y at X)
But I will add something – The
scenery and the tiring walks through villages (dogs following you
through the trek , lured by your presence – caring for you like a
friends – tempted to one biscuit or hug; old people joining you on the
way and talking of the good old days when Curd was made with wooden
vessels and cows grazed back home by eve all by themselves – the sheep
dog following carelessly eyes all sleepy)) is among the most scenic. I
was walking with friends closest to me – people I have known for 23
years. Other things I noticed – how mind tunes in so sharp to an image –
the poverty of villagers, the guides and porters risking their lives
for all); the way your parents put you together for this breath – this
image that eyes see – this breath that swings out of control and in sync
with birds and chirping sparraows); the brevity of life; the chill wind
of the mountain tops that lifts your ponchos to the raining sky; water
from a primal world as though droughts no longer exist or the Ansel
adams image of the world that np one visist;
Take this trip if you can –
It is a great hard trip – but you will be so glad for the high intox
for the next 10 years on this. Not that you “won” over the mountain –
but glad in fear and comfort that there are things beyond you so
mesmerizingly beautiful – goats that run on meadows, the beautiful mud
houses of villages with log wood at the top and the zen mattressed
floors with nothing else to have a go at. The scary stories of
mountaineers who did not listen to locals and paid the price scares you,
and the dark gaddi hut at Katlia where the rooms and kitchens are all
dark all day with no windows leaves you tired. But, there are no roads
– the water cannot be filtered but drank “deep” for tired souls. Right
now, I am overwhelmed by images and memories and am unable to write
linearly or rationally ), but I believe that I am so glad to be able to
afford (physically and mentally) this trip with people I love the most –
is this all that we posses in life or leave behind)?
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