Breathe in a bit of Brahmatal - I

When an amateur like me goes on a winter trek, he wishes to see some snow.

Well, snow, as it is with all good things, is not able to keep up with the expectation of first timers. I and a few others were starting to feel a bit disappointed at the apparent lack of snow. The experienced guy, traveling with us from Rishikesh to Lohajung(the starting point of our trek), with many treks under his belt was sleeping as if there was no tomorrow. After we had given up all hope of snow and had finished gloating about the broken promises the recent updates from the organizers had indicated, there was pin-drop silence. Silence, then some more, then some dozing off for and maybe snoring, and then a shrill shriek of excitement at the first sight of snow. It felt as we had reached the promised land. This is how the Brahmatal trek started for me.

Note: This is going to be a long post. Check your bladder, get your coffee, and get cozy.

A Bit of Background

The Rookie

When I came to Bangalore in 2013, I instantly fell in love with the weather. Bangalore felt like relief from the hot and humid climate of West Bengal, my native. After almost 7 years, the weather is not what it used to be back when I came to the city, but I still love it. On the other side, I had started missing the variety that the rest of India experiences. Winters in Bangalore are pretty lame by North Indian standards. In Bangalore, the mercury sometimes dips as low as 18°C during winter. Well, I clearly had no idea what it meant to be at -10°C(predicted temperature on the trek) or less.

The Urge

I had already tasted blood when I had done my first high altitude trek, the Dayara Bugyal Trek. It was clear from then on that trekking was going to be a big thing in my life. What was not clear was when I would go next? Crazy things happening in my personal life did not make things easy. But the heart does not understand logic. It is like a baby that just wants, no matter how unreasonable the demand is.

The Trek

Before starting the trek we flew to New Delhi, took a train to Haridwar, and then an auto to Rishikesh. Nothing worth mentioning here. We did mediocre touristy things. I will let the pictures do the talking till we reach Rishikesh.

Bangalore

Mandatory Napping Session in the cab	Tour Announcement Status Pic

New Delhi

Kulhar Wali Chai; Got new camera, hence made sure the branding was visible	Connaught Place

Haridwar

Haridwar; After 24 years	Tika Wala Selfie

We reached Rishikesh at around 6 in the evening. We had booked a room in Zostel as IndiaHikes had designated this hotel as the pickup point for our 10-hour ride to Lohajung early the next morning. I had never been at a Zostel before and liked the vibe very much. After a quick shower and early dinner, we went to sleep early.

Delhi was cold but Rishikesh had taken it to that level where you start feeling that you are on a winter trip. This was my first winter trek and my excitement was through the roof. Had no problem falling asleep that night with the knowledge that I was no longer in the plains and things were about to get much more interesting from the next day onwards.

Day 1 - Rishikesh to Lohajung [Anticipation]

I am not a morning person. On the rare occasion, I do have to wake up early, I feel groggy and irritated at the state of the world and my life for no apparent reason. But not when I travel. When I travel I wake up with a foolish grin, ready to accept whatever the day has in store for me. This is a wonderful feeling.

At Rishikesh, we woke at 5 in the morning and quickly put on our layers and got ready for the ride to Lohajung, where our trek would start the next morning. We met all our trek mates who were staying in other hotels in Rishikesh or had just arrived and then at around 6:30 we started the ride. It was still dark outside.

Within 5 minutes of the car starting, I, for no reason at all started anticipating snow. I did not disclose this to anyone though for the fear of being ridiculed. The day turned out to be sunny and beautiful. We passed Devprayag on the way. For those who don’t know, Devprayag(meaning Godly Confluence) is the meeting point of the rivers Alakananda and Bhagirathi. It is believed that a third river Saraswati meets the other two at this point but is not visible as it is underground.

Devprayag posing with	my much better half

We were traveling with 3 other guys(not mentioning names or posting pics for privacy). We had some wonderful conversations and also enjoyed the view along the way but when the sun started to set it became quiet inside the car. After 1 hour of deafening silence and dozing on and off, I started to feel a little restless and at last confessed to everyone my disappointment about the lack of snow. The veteran of many previous treks traveling with us that day decided to keep silent instead of assuring us. I imagine he silently chuckled and thought “Kids!!!”

When I finally did see some snow I absolutely lost it and started shouting in excitement but to my utter surprise, Sagnika and the others in the car were shouting too. I found peace in the fact that there were some other impulsive people like me on this trek.

When we reached our stay for the night, we were briefed by our trek leader on basic rules to follow in a winter trek and went through some basic health checks, and were allotted our gloves for the trek. We had a simple, yet tasty dinner and went to bed early in our allotted dormitory.

I had thought that the day had ended with me going to sleep but God had other ideas.

I woke up to the sound of teeth chattering loudly. It took me a second to realize that it was my own. You see my short stature and my timid face do a good job of hiding it but in my head, I am a bit of a macho. So just before sleeping it was an easy choice for my "I have seen it all" attitude to decide that I did not need to wear the thicker woolen socks or the second layer of jackets as prescribed. I did not know it then but the temperature that night was -2°C. I was clearly out of my depth.

I mustered enough courage to come out of the thick blanket to look for the required clothing in the dark. As soon as I opened my bag, a loud sound startled me and for one moment I felt like a thief even though I was looking through my own bag. After I came back to my senses I realized that someone in our room had chosen that exact moment to start snoring loudly like a helicopter. Fortunately, I found my clothes quickly enough and became warm in less than 5 minutes and fell asleep dreaming of what breathtaking views I would witness the next morning.

Day 2 - Lohajung to Bekaltal [First Blood]

Since we had reached a little late the previous night we were not able to see the surroundings. The next day I did some walking near the lodge before breakfast and took in the views of the surroundings of Lohajung.

Lohajung Base Camp

After we had our breakfast, we were allotted our microspikes, to help us walk on slippery ice. I feel a little foolish saying this but I did not know that there was a difference between ice and snow before I came to this trek.

For me, the 30 minutes of the first day of the trek is the hardest. It is not because the terrain is tough or the fact that we have not reached high enough to see the surroundings properly but because of my untrained mind. My mind at this point is riddled with a thousand doubts. Will I be able to finish the trek? Will I like it? Will Sagnika like it? Nobody else is carrying a camera, will the added weight become too much? What if I incur some leg injury or breathing problems? What if I am not able to sleep properly in my tent? What was the need for all this trouble? We could have easily gone on some other popular trip, have a cozy hotel room with 24 hours room service.

All these vanish after the first 30 minutes once you breathe in enough of the clean mountain air, get high on the grand views of the mighty mountains, the snow-covered ground and the beautiful mixture of the white and green treetops.

Surreal

My camera does not do justice to the moment. The sounds, the smell, the excitement, the weather can only be enjoyed by being present

After sometime when the initial panting gave way to awe, Sagnika for no reason at all turned around and gave me a smile and I knew that she was enjoying it.

My Girl; After numerous quarrels on why a winter trek, with this smile I knew, that she had realized now why exactly.

At one point of the trek, we passed through some forest where I was silently enjoying the occasional bird call or the soft sound of small chunks of snow falling from leaves due to the wind. It was magical.

After had lunch, we stopped at the only shack on the way to have some coffee and wear our gaiters

Within the next few minutes, the scene changed completely and we had to walk through some deep snow. It seemed we were in the sets of Frozen or in someplace on the other side of the wall in GOT.

Just before reaching Bekaltal Campsite.

We reached the Bekaltal campsite at around 3 in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day at the campsite and the surroundings. Though we had reached the campsite we were yet to see Bekal”tal”(Tal means lake). We were told that we would visit the lake first thing in the morning tomorrow.

Bekaltal Campsite

Day 3 - Bekaltal to Telandi [Blown Away]

Our trek started with us visiting the frozen Bekaltal. We gathered and took some pictures and listened to some stories about the lake from the local guide.

Frozen Bekaltal

The days leading up to the trek were not the smoothest. I was having problems at work and in my personal life. Generally, I escape these problems by having unhealthy amounts of junk food. This was not an option this time as I had to get fit for the trek. Another thing that I do when I am depressed is spending a little longer in bed every morning. This also was not possible as I had to wake up every morning to run in the nearby park. Indiahikes, the startup that arranged this trek had a prerequisite that one had to be able to run 5 kilometers in 40 minutes. This might be a piece of cake for some of you but it was not for me. Moreover, I also had to motivate Sagnika to run with me and counter all her innovative excuses to not go on a run on any given day. The Bangalore traffic did not help either. Especially while coming back from the office, there were times when it used to take 90 minutes for me to return home. Sometimes while stuck in traffic I used to question my life decisions and feel generally pissed off at life. But at night when it was time to fall asleep but I was unable to do so with all the troublesome thoughts in my head I used to close my eyes and try to imagine what the surroundings would look like on the upcoming trek. I used to imagine knee-deep snow, forests with snow-covered trees, snowfall, and so much more. This was my daily lullaby of sorts in those days.

The scenery on this day of the trek closely resembled what I had imagined in the days before the trek. Hence I made it a point to not take many pictures and just be present at the moment. Though I was yet to see the best views of this trek it was this part of the trek that made all my troubles go away.

I also did not talk a lot during this part of the trek. Trekking has a meditative effect on me. During the trek, I am either thinking of how tired I am or I am trying to absorb as much of the scenery as I can. All the junk in my mind, the ones I had carried with me from the city had faded away and did not return till I came back to Bangalore.

This is why I prefer a trek over other forms of travel. It physically tires your the body, fills the mind and heart with one breathtaking view after another and doesn’t leave any bandwidth to think about city life problems.

Moving on.

At about 1 PM we reached the Telandi campsite. Telandi is a piece of flat land the size of a medium-sized football field in the middle of nowhere. It was white as far I could see. To say I was blown away would not be exact. I was almost blown away by the crazy amount of wind blowing at the campsite. Generally, by the time we reach a campsite all the tents are already set up but not today. The guides and kitchen staff accompanying us were having a hard time stopping the tents from blowing away.

It was windy and we were having a hard time keeping the tents from flying

Did I already mention that I met a wonderful man on this trek? This man was jovial all the time and did not worry at all about the future and it seemed he had it all figured out. I instantly had this urge to try to be like this man from now on.

Found him on the trek. Not mentioning his name here for privacy reasons.

That is too much to digest in one article. For those thinking of pressing the back button or going to a different tab in your browser, hold on for a little longer.

Since there is a lot more to write and a lot more crazy moments yet to happen on this trek, I would like to end it here today and continue this in the next part of the story which will be published exactly one week from now. Hang on till then and let me know what you think of this article. Love it, hate it but please do comment below.

Bye. Have a great weekend ahead.