Sunday, June 24, 2012

A Trek to Brahmital – Part IV


What does one feel about a trek that did not succeed in reaching where it was intended to reach? Disappointment, of course, but does it leave you with a feeling akin to what you would feel if you made a tourist trip to Agra and failed to see the Taj?
Much depends on what you intended to experience on a trek. A few days away from the mundane, good company, great views and being close to nature are all take-aways from a trek no matter what the destination. The view of glorious starry skies; the gentle susurrus of a river by the campsite; majestic icy peaks; the glory of a sunset over tree-clad mountains; the shy smiles of unassuming little flowers dotting the landscape and the ineffable peace of your surroundings are all a great balm to the soul and it would be a pity to let a minor disappointment ruin the experience for you.
The problem for me was that the fourth day did not allow me to dwell on all the beauties that I had experienced. Amongst the various other infirmities of the body that I live with is this tendency for my belly to fill up with gas given minimal provocation. Friends have been known to comment that Mukesh Ambani could eke out the production of his gas wells by putting a pipe down my gullet. The fourth day was one such day and I descended back to civilization very apprehensive about the hour and a half journey to Gangnani by road.
We hit Gangnani with no mishap. Hari, who shares my aversion to road journeys and had vehemently displayed it on the way up, was as quiescent as I was and we booked into the hotel with relief. My problems started at the hotel when I started spewing from both ends leading to more apprehension about the next day’s journey back to Rishikesh.
Things had settled down by next morning and a dip in the hot water springs of Gangnani provided much needed relief to sore muscles. The pleasure of soaking the body in hot water after a tiring trek can only be fully experienced by trekkers. Thus, by the time we took the road to Gangnani, I was feeling more sanguine about the journey and perked up enough to take interest in the world around me. I have always been able to keep my spirits up despite aches and pains but the digestive system can bring me to cry, “Death! Where is thy sting?” Strange that buoyant gas can drag my spirits down like lead!
Luckily the trip down to Rishikesh was uneventful and we hit the hotel with the prospect of river-rafting on the morrow to buoy up our spirits. An evening of bridge ensued but, at the back of my mind, there was the regret that yet another trek was over!

10 comments:

  1. Part 1 ..... Fast bowling is often as demanding as it is unenchanting ... Ask Dale Styen! How was I to know that a certain AB DeViiliers had turned up disguised as a Purali village boy?

    Part 3 ... The Fall ... This one had all that the ThumsUp and MountainDew ads have put together ...

    The call to abandon the last leg towards Brahmi Tal had been taken and I started to long descent back, leaving Sriram, Suresh, Sekar and Dinesh with four of the guides (It was Sriram and not Hari who made it to the top). The terrain could be described as dashed slippery (by the English!).. The soil was clay, which had tons of ice melt on it for millions of years, making it a potters dream. A few steps and the soles of our shoes were filled with this muck. What can you say, clay feet on clay... Can someone come up with the coefficient of friction ..... A smallish rock caused me to skip a step and I promptly went down on my back.. I now had clay on the soles of my feet, clay under me and clay all over my back. I gingerly got back to my feet only to discover that I was now going to topple forwards... Letting the momentum take over, I took a few small steps forward and it was here that nature took over... The gradient was good enough to cause an accelaration of 9.8 mts/sec sqd and very soon, I was descending the hill at the rate of knots .. .. Usain Bolt would have been jealous .. The legs (of mine, of course) started protesting and when the mind refused to listen, they simply stopped! The momentum had been built and I launched into orbit. It was indeed a bumpy take off (as against a bumpy landing)and I was plunging back towards the clay seemingly with the sole intention of getting clay plastered on the parts of my body which had not been covered so far ... The ring finger of my right hand was the first point of contact and surprisingly, that was good enough to bounce me off into orbit again... As Samuel Johnson famously said, "Words are so inadequate'...... Just imagine a tennis ball being bounced downhill ... In this case it was a simple 80 kgs behaving like a tennis ball ............. My only regret is that this episode was not captured on video ... It would have made spectacular viewing indeed ............

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Chandru! I know - a fast bowler is more to be pitied than to be censured:):) And, I did say that it was Sriram - I had already mentioned that Hari had left half-way.

      Good to hear the tale of the fall from - errr - the horse's mouth:)

      Delete
  2. I believe your simile is a misfit here. Unlike missing the Taj while visiting Agra, which is largely a stinking city -Agarites may kindly forgive me and focus on the amelioration of that place they call city -, the joy and beauty of trekking lie more in the journey than the destination. To that extent, I'd say it was a sojourn worth having, not to mention the gem of a fast bowler you met.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi USP! That Agra thingy was not a simile but a question and I thought that I had answered that question with a resounding 'NO' in the subsequent paragraphs!

      Delete
  3. Read all the 4 parts and loved them all! The Himalayas are always something which has to be experienced, its just out of this world. And what fabulous pics your fellow trekkers have taken and coupled with your crisp commentary it was almost as if I was on those trails myself!!! Would love to play a cricket match up in the Himalayas sometime during my lifetime...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks DS! I think that the photographs showcased the trek far better than my feeble commentary.

      Delete
  4. What a mighty trek it was,but i am so sorry that your tummy played the spoiler.But i enjoyed the whole narration immensely-----you have some style!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank Indu! The tummy issues were only the final punctuation to the trek. Did not spoil the trek in any way.

      Delete
  5. why people trek? it will always remain a mystery to me. i tried once, walked for 30 seconds and decided not to proceed further. so, i would rather enjoy hearing about these experiences than actually experiencing them. btw, how did you remember so much?

    loved Chandru's comment :D. sadly, he doesn't blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Debajyoti! Now you know why I was unable to go around other blogs:)

      Delete