20 June 2010:Layout 1 6/18/2010 6:53 PM Page 1
SUNDAY, 20th JUNE 2010
A Stormy Beginning - Arvind Pinto..............................................Pg 18 Remembering Victor - Nadia Rangel Pinto....................................Pg 19 Safe Cure with Homeopathy - Dr Dorland Martins......................Pg 20 Change your Eating Habits - Maneka Gandhi...............................Pg 21 The Silence of the Lambs - Svatantra Sarjano.............................Pg 22 Atish Vaikunth: Like Father, Like Son - Bharati Pawaskar............Pg 22
Living a Himalayan dream This summer AMIT SOYRU visited Manali, the most favourite mountain destination for tourists from all across India, at the northern end of the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh. Caught in his camera are some magical moments…
T
he beauty of the Himalayas fascinated me right from a very young age. I always wanted to live this big dream of living big; a dream as big as Himalaya – of conquering this toughest white top one day. Sir Edmond Hillary, one of the first persons to step on Everest writes, “You never conquer a mountain; the most you can ever hope to do is to try and conquer yourself…!” Ah, very true. I never imagined that some day luck would really favour me and take me atop the most beautiful but difficult mountain, in the world. Yes, when I saw myself stepping this attractive snow laden carpet, with eye catching colourful designs that nature weaved with its wildest dream flowers how I wished the world would stop for a moment, just to salute Mother Nature. Man
bows before the nature and he is too small to ever conquer her; I realised at that moment. It was sheer beauty around me and I could feel a sense of nothingness spreading across miles and miles where eyes could reach. The golden sky seemed to bend over the horizons to kiss the silvery white earth… Oh, Himalaya, you made my day! The Himalaya Range is a massive mountain range in Asia. In Tibet, Nepal, and India, trekkers flock into the Himalayas each year to experience the beauty and grandeur of a range that holds some of the highest mountains in the world. Himalayan trekking is physically and mentally challenging, but offers rewards that far outweigh the difficulties. To have a deeper understanding of traditional cultures and the rhythms of village life you need to trek. Trekking is as much about adjusting your own attitudes and behaviours to a simpler life as it is about observing the lives of others. If you are fit enough and have the time to do so, you should trek really to enjoy the wonders of the Himalayas. It just happened this May. My luck was truly on my side this summer, when I happen to join Eco Treks – an active group of nature loving souls of all ages. It paved our difficult way through rough terrains, snowy mountains taking us all into freezing temperatures that chilled our bones, only to reach us where most of us dream to be – The Himalaya. Thanks to the Eco Treks, with its able organisers, who keep genuine interest in nature, wild life and photography! Eco Treks loves to encourage enthusiastic people to participate in various ‘go green’ campaigns that bring them closer to the
nature! There are many regulars in their list… “If we wish preserve nature, we have to fall in love with it first,” Says Durgadas Parab who organised the trek for my group after receiving the IMF (Indian Mountaineering Federation) nod to allow a batch to be taken for a Himalayan trek. Let me tell you, IMF monitors and approves such treks, whosoever arranges them. I am thankful to Durgadas and Olympio Almeida, the co-founder of Eco Treks, who arranged this dangerous (sorry, adventurous) tour, and entrusted me the responsibility to act as one of the leaders for the Himalayan trek. Lucky me, was given free hand to implement my wild ideas... while the others followed blindly (Yes, the snow makes one blind, temporarily!). The 13 day trek was scheduled to leave from Goa on 12 May to return only on the 25th. We held camps at Manali before marching towards the frozen lake of Saur Taal. It was late evening on 14 May when we reached Manali after a long drive
from Delhi, travelling nearly for 15 hours by bus. The climate there was so refreshing that it made all of us feel fresh and cool even after a tedious journey. Well, Manali is called the ‘Switzerland of India’ capped with breath taking snow peaks and wooded with pine trees, fruit orchards, oak and conifer trees and tiny fields, wow! It seemed that I was in heaven. Our real trek started on the 15th and it was our first day at the base camp. The camp was fully equipped with tents, luggage rooms and electricity, and we were told, it was the last day where we could charge our cell phones and (camera) batteries. There would be no electricity, a day after, as we would start climbing the terrain. Let there be light, my soul kept urging. The great Himalayas truly lead to Moksha, if one wishes for it. We had a practice trail in one of the villages in Peer Panjal, located at a great height and spread until the Arjun Gufa. It was a part of our acclimatisation exercise. We were given some information from the IMF organisers and the local guides, here. Next morning, on 17 May, after the delicious breakfast and an energy pack, we kicked off towards our first camp. We were feeling great, as we crossed the famous Beas River (also known as a ‘bed of rocks’), that flows through all over Manali and Kulu. Everything was so beautiful! There are lot of white water rafting camps on the way, the river with ice cold water. We reached our camps after some 45 hours walk daily. All together there were 6 camps. The final was going to touch a height of 13,500 ft above the
tree line, and of course sea level, where we could see only mountains covered with white snow. We stood at par with the peaks. It took us 4 days to reach our 4th camp where the temperature was approx – 6 to – 8 degrees. It was really thrilling but chilling, too! To add to it, we witnessed a fresh snow fall and a hail storm too; and the chill was unbearable. Rushing to our tents we pushed ourselves in our sleeping bags. We were served welcome soft drinks as a part of gesture, on each camp. Each camp was equipped with all the required things, even at such incredible heights and our luggage were carried by the porters from one camp to another, so we had to carry only few necessary things. The IMF had provided us their special jackets and heaver sacks for carrying our stuff. Each camp was equipped with a unique activity like the River Crossing, Appling, Rock Climbing, Fox Climbing etc. All the participants were encouraged to experience it, forgetting their age or sex. The oldest trekker with us was 67- years-young and the youngest was 10-years-old. And man, they did it will great courage and enthusiasm; suc-
cessfully completing the adventurous trek. The Sour Taal frozen lake was amazingly beautiful. No tourist has an easy access there, as it is located on a maximum height of 13,000 ft. The scene here was awesome, as the snow melts to transform into a lake that is frozen. The beauty was unimaginable. Getting to this lake was a bit difficult task. Everyone had to slide down the snow path because walking on the snow is quite tricky and slippery. Trek to Sour Tal (3700m) Lake (A Group of Frozen Mountain Tarns) is one of the few unexplored, less known and most spectacular and impressive treks of the Kullu valley. This is a very challenging and scenic, summer high-altitude trek. It was, indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us and every one of you should live it some day or the other. Thanks, Eco Treks, for making this happen to me, in this life itself and let me tell you, I would love to relive those unforgotten magical moments over and over, again and again! (For feedback: amitdegoa@gmail.com)