23 May, Sunday
I packed my rucksack, making sure that it was light because the children of class IX and above were expected to carry their own rucksacks. As my father drove me up to my school, I was thinking of the hardships and fun which was waiting for us. Two teachers were coming with us. The bus which would take us till Sankri left at 4:35 P.M.. All of us were full of energy just then. Today we just had to go to Ponta Sahib. It was only a four hour drive till Ponta Sahib. We were to spend the night in the Gurudwara.
All the time we were in the Gurudwara, we were feeling were happy and peaceful. The spirituality of the place was tremendous. We did sleep but for a couple of hours at the most. It was hot inside the room. Slowly, all of us moved out of the room and spread our sleeping mattresses out in the open. It was cool there but we still were not able to sleep a wink. A Sir soon woke up as well. He was surprised to find the room deserted. When we saw him coming we thought we were about to be scolded. But we were surprised when sir himself brought his sleeping mattresses and lay down. Soon the other sir came as well and said,"Why did not someone call me!".
24 May, Monday
Today we left for Sankri. The bus ride would stretch over 10 hours. We thought we would sleep throughout the journey because of our lack of sleep of the previous night. But we found out that it is very difficult to sleep in a clanky bus clanging around the rocky hills of Uttarkhand. Although rocky the mountains were beautiful. Occasionally a native could be seen with cattle. He would wave and show his dirty yellow teeth, as if to impress us upon them. Some children who had managed to sleep fell sideways onto one another. Miraculously, not even one child vomited during the entire journey. After five hours lush greenery started. Here was a forest fire, probably natural.
Were we bored! Take 21 restless children, pack them in a stuffy school bus for 10 hours without any particular source of entertainment, what have you got?Boredom!!!!!!
We got off the bus to eat and nearly all of us had cramps. The temperature started decreasing as the altitude increased. Now we were in a proper hilly area. We reached a national park known as the Krishna national wildlife park. This was a dead zone. No satellite signal reached here. Nor did any electricity. There were precious few settlements scattered throughout the forests.
It was getting late and we could not find a good place to set camp so we hired three rooms in a cottage and spread our ground sheets and slept on them. Finally, a good nights sleep.
25May, Tuesday
All of us woke up at six thirty. well, nearly all! Our teachers were still sleeping! So were a few children more. We lay in bed for some time, joking and laughing. We got up, brushed and got ready. Soon sir awoke and we had our breakfast. Today we had to trek 14 kilometers to Taluka. Taluka is a village with the biggest farms I had ever seen. There were not more than twenty houses and two shops, which is quite big for a village in a wildlife national park We left at 9:30. Today was not a difficult trek. Most of it did not have an sharp upward slope, though a little part was a bit steep. After four kilometers there came a little stream with cold, clear water which we all desperately needed. We waited for about twenty minutes over there, taking a break. We started moving again and now the hard part Begin. It is in the mountains we realise the importance of water, especially when we are climbing an upward slope. As we moved on the scenery became more beautiful and sometimes it looked as if an artist had painted it. After another four kilometers there came another stream. Here some women were washing their clothes. Here we just filled our water bottles and moved on. Next came a herd of cattle which blocked the path. We had to wait till they trudged slowly past us to move on. Next came 4 mules accompanied by young native girls giggling annoyingly when they saw us. The terrain was becoming rocky and now we all were starting to get tired. The group was now divided into four groups, one which was 3 hours faster than the last group, the other which was one hour behind the first group, the third group which was one hour faster than the last group which had one teacher and the last group which too had one teacher. The cooks were with the first and second groups. The last group reached at six in the evening. There was barely enough time to pitch tents before it was night. We had a hurried lunch before we fell into our beds and slept like logs.
26 May, Wednesday
Today no one wanted to go on the trek to Har-Ki-Doon because we were so tired and the trek to Har-Ki-Doon was even more difficult. As we were getting ready it started raining so hard that we needed to dig a small trench around the tents so that the water could not reach the tent. By the time we finished hail started battering the tents. We hurried inside our tents which mercifully remained dry. After a conference with the teachers we decided we would not go to Har-Ki-Doon because the path is full of rocks and the rocks were now slippery because of rain. So we would go tomorrow. Now we had the whole day free. In the morning we sat in our tents and played cards. After we had lunch we played kabbadi. Kabbadi is a rough game but we all are rough too. By the end of the game we had 7 torn shirts, four torn undershirts and a twisted ankle. We whiled away the evening by taking photos and talking. When night fell we ate our dinner while listing to the raging Yamuna which splashed just a few meters away from the tents. The night was very noisy. Somewhere in the night a dog howled and a mongoose shrieked. When everyone was sleeping and I was awake I heard rain hitting the rain cover. I went out in my water proof jacket to examine the state of the trench we had dig and found that it was almost filled with water. I woke everyone up and we dug a second trench enduring freezing cold, numbing rain and painful hail. When we were done we all went to sleep content but a bit wet.
27May, Thursday
It rained throughout the night, completely soaking our plans for Har-Ki-Doon. We further received news that there was snowfall in Har-Ki-Doon. So it was decided that we would not to go to Har-Ki-Doon but go to Shimla the day after tomorrow to have some fun on the mall road. After breakfast we all went to Seema to eat Maggie and buy some junk food. Seema was a hamlet with just 7 houses. There was only one shop, one guesthouse which was under construction and the only one in Krishna national park, one temple and one stream with clean cool water. We ate some Maggie and found it had very few eatables and drinks to sell. Everything was extra costly because there was no means of transport except mules to bring the stuff to such height. Some children went on to Osla to see if there was anything else to buy there or a phone. Osla was a village two kilometers farther from Seema. There were about 15 houses. But there was none there as well. They came back and we had lunch and after that another round of Kabbadi. This time there two torn shirts. We played for four hours. Thenwhen we were tired we had some soup and laid down to rest, talking. Suddenly hail struck again. When it stopped we all hurried to get our dinner and ate it back in the tent. It was to rain throughout the night.
28May, Friday
Today was pretty boring. After breakfast we all went to Ghangarh another village but huge compared to the other villages.It had about forty houses and 12 shops. There was a phone and we all called our homes but the phone failed after about 15 children had called. How disappointing! But there was plenty junk food to be sold. After we had bought what we needed we went back to our tents but no one wanted to play Kabbadi because tomorrow there would be a 24 kilometers trek. Now that there was nothing to do that we realized the beauty of the place. The Yamuna raging beside with its never ceasing noise, the view of the Swarg-Rohini Mountains, the lush greenery, the rocks glistening in the sunlight and the grey sky when it rained which it did most of the time and the pure innocence of the mountains. We whiled away most of the time by playing cards and talking. In the evening we had some coffee and an early dinner because it looked as if it was about to rain. We talked late into the night and finally fell asleep one by one.
29May, Saturday
Today would be a trek of 22 kilometers. We knew this but we also knew that it would be a downward slope to Taluka. We had a breakfast of paranthas, needing the strength to walk for so long. We took off at eight thirty and lo and behold it started to rain. I didn't get wet because I had my cap which defended my front of the body while the rainproof rucksack took all the rain for by back. Yes, I did get a bit wet but did not get soaked. We walked and walked. We again got divided to the same four groups. I was between the first and second group with two children for company and the teacher who was normally in the third group. I walked while viewing the breathtaking beauty of the mountains. They looked even more beautiful when it rained. The grey sky, slippery rocks, dark green vegetation. They looked so beautiful that you want t o keep on looking at them forever. After crossing innumerable bridges and streams and narrow paths, we finally got to Taluka. The rain stopped just as we entered Taluka. Now it was time to leave for Sankri. This terrain had a lot of upward slope. We walked and walked in the sunshine. We came by a stream crowded by cows and children washing themselves. They waved at us but we did not have the energy to raise our hands energetically so we waved feebly. After much walking we reached a rocky area and when we were walking just a few feet in front of us there was a landslide. It looks really scary to see such heavy rocks rolling downwards and dust flying about making it difficult to see. After it had stopped we all rushed past lest the would be another landslide. Around six thirty we reached Sankri. We had a hurried dinner and then we fell to sleep in rented cottages. We were so tired that we slept at eight.
31May, Sunday
Today we started our journey back to home in the bus. We were to go to Shimla through the mountains themselves. The bus left at nine. We went through terrain as I have never seen before. We went through narrow valleys, craggy mountains, rocky cliffs, tiny villages and countless bridges over dry riverbeds. As we progressed through the mountains we became more tired and hungry. We stopped at a village to stretch our lunch and have a brunch. We brought many drinks to keep us satisfied throughout the journey. Many of us fell asleep during the afternoon. I didn't. I was one of the few to experience the breathtaking view of the Himalayas which could be experienced at the road at the extreme edge of the mountain. The Himalayas spread out like some great ocean which was green dotted with a few streams running down slopes. Soon we stopped again where we could call home and tell them that we would we returning early. After stretching our legs there we took off again. At night the hills were very beautiful and quiet. The light bulbs and car lights and streetlights looked very beautiful. They looked like jewels. We reached Shimla at ten in the night. We all quickly walked to the mall road. We found that only food shops were open this late into the night. We all were to regroup at the ridge at midnight. I drank five coke cans, one coffee, one pizza and one final ice cream. It was only eleven so I and a bunch of my friends started walking around the ridge to digest our food. During our walks we found other children walking too and our teachers waving at us when we saw each other. Our teachers were in a party mood, waving a coke bottle in the air and very energetic. At eleven forty five we all were at the deserted ridge. There were only two-three people except us. We were in the bus by 12 and we started the final journey home.
31May, Monday
We all fell asleep in the bus. I couldn't sleep so only me, two more children and the bus driver and conductor were awake. The driver had a CD player and was playing some songs. I happily listened to them and thought of our trek. At around 3 in the morning some of the children were awake and the CD player was booming. Some children were smiling to themselves at no apparent reason. But I knew they were thinking about their families and thinking of meeting with them and smiling at that very thought because I was doing the same. Now that we were returning home we were missing our families the most because now we had all matured and did not have time to feel homesickness when we were at the trek. I whiled away the time by listening to the songs and thinking. At 5 in the morning we reached Chandigarh. Ah, the familiar smell! But I would be missing the pure pollution-free air of the mountains. My trek was fun but tiring, and I have learned a great deal from it.
I wish to go to the mountains again soon and will go in my holidays.
