Run to the hills !!

Boredom can take a heavy toll on one. After my not so exciting last semester of college, checking mail and ‘facebook-ing’ had become my primary activities during the day, while sitting, or more specifically rotting at home. Lethargy had sunk right deep inside my unused brain; saving grace being I WASN’T ALONE!!
So we trio (me, Amod & Para) decided to do something. Original plan included many more; but due to some other ‘prior’ commitments of others, the group narrowed down to just the three of us. At the beginning, everyone (I, atleast) was gung-ho about going to a place called The Valley of Flowers, frozen lakes of Hemkunthsahib and the river rafting experience. This was according to our plan (which later on was destined to fail miserably).Our rail booking was Tatkal truly portraying our last minute attitude towards things in life. Fortunate for us, we got it confirmed; albeit a last minute rush from my dear friend Amod made him learn a valuable experience of not trusting GIFT bags received as rewards from credit card companies as they show their ‘bursting open’ point truly at the eleventh hour.
Our (me & Amod) Delhi to Haridwar bus journey was the onset of our unfortunate set of events. We had an unwise altercation with a not so “traveler friendly” bus conductor who argued with me over a Rs. 500 note that didn’t belong to me. When the matter was taken to the cops after halting at a local police station, the conductor seemed gentle when compared to the belligerent inspector. After the whole drama, we concluded that we were pure victims of bad luck. Moral of the story: Always carry enough change; coz you never know when you’re traveling with hostile conductors.
We three met at Haridwar at a local restaurant with AC facility (as it was horrid hot) for cold drinks. Soon we caught a bus to Rishikesh and thereafter stayed in a hotel with an unnecessary huge room for 3 people, as we didn’t have any option because the room seemed nice and we were freaking exhausted. Next day was one of the marvelous experiences of my life. We were ready for river rafting on the Ganges, which meant taking us to the upper section of the river enabling a flow downhill. The 40 minute travel to the starting point of rafting would have made chickens being sent to meat-shops laugh at our misery. We were 10 (I guess) packed inside a back of an open SUV in a space meant for keeping goods. The pain was aggravated by the rough & bumpy road, which was literally injuring us. Finally we reached the starting point. After a quick briefing on instructions to be followed during rafting by the experts, we began our thrilling endeavor. There came several capsizing moments, read ‘rapids’ of different grades depending on the intensity to topple our raft. Then, there was this 22 ft jump from a cliff which was must say pure adrenaline rush. One could also swim across the journey a couple of times. An upstream swim against the river would utterly exhaust you; so one should be careful to swim close to the raft.
From here on, came the unplanned part. Further trip was on sole recommendation by a tour operator to go to a place called Chopta, some 8-9 hours away. Distances in hilly areas are always given (or to be asked) in hours rather than kms as a 25 km journey could easily take around 1.5 hrs. The humble guy just forgot to give us some “VERY IMPORTANT” disclaimers which made us have a tough time. Disclaimer 1: Availability of vehicles is subjected to time, which is to say they are only available in the morning. Translation: It isn’t possible to cover the entire journey in one go, which was certainly (at first) unacceptable!! Disclaimer 2: As you go interior inside Uttarakhand, the quality of rooms exponentially becomes more pathetic.
We started early morning the next day to Rudraprayag, a town connecting many important pilgrimage sites. Rudraprayag is where we reconfirmed our belief in having fun in Chopta. Till now we were really uncertain on whether the risk of going to Chopta was worth it. A pleasant hotel owner assured us that we will receive “Aanand” after reaching Chopta. Our overcrowded Sumo got punctured along the way, which when discovered by the driver, drove for another 2 kms till he found one garage. I guess this act of imposing risk of accident on the passengers is everyday business. Nevertheless we reached a place called Ukhimath and the “risk” of an unplanned journey caught us. As mentioned earlier there were no vehicles in the afternoon. The only option was to book a Sumo privately by paying 600 (completely non-negotiable) bucks for a 15 km stretch. Needless to say, we refused and hence had to spend a night in this tiny village. A hotel owner eventually convinced us to stay in his “lodge” which charged extra for attached restroom. So we took the room without one and headed in search of a much needed liquor bottle. Our 5 km search yielded a splendid and deserving euphoria in the 10 degree Celsius environment at night. We realized that going to restroom for the bigger nature call is extremely painful for obvious reasons during such a chilly weather and freezing water.
We went early morning next day to our final destination in the tour – Chopta. Chopta is a hilly village with a tourist attraction of Tungnath temple situated 3.5 kms atop a mountain. The catchy part is that these 3.5 kms are along a route which is 3500 ft high. Also there is a point further above it, named Chandrashila which gives a fantastic view of the Himalayas but on that day unfortunately marred by heavy clouds blocking the view. Rooms in Chopta are 600 bucks with attached restroom facility. If you just want a shed to cover your head at night, its 200 bucks. After a much troubled bath, we headed to hike. One could notice beautiful landscapes along the way with cattle grazing. After 3 kms, the air being dense gave us a heavy fatigue every 15 steps we trod. Finally we reached the top. The panoramic view was undoubtedly breath-taking. Snow capped mountains, defining landscape and the sheer mammoth attitude left us fully satiated. And then came the second wonder; a fierce hailstorm which almost covered the hill left us seeking shelter in a small room nearby. Hot tea couldn’t beat the chilling winds outside as it was raining ‘hailstones’ cats and dogs. After a while, we gorged ourselves on Maggi noodles. The rate of disappearance of Maggi from our plates was unbelievable. We ate like 3 famine-struck people with no shame whatsoever. And it costs us only 25 per Maggi plate; making my college canteen look devilish for charging us 20 bucks vis-à-vis this one serving at 3500 m above sea level. We wore these 15 bucks raincoats while trailing down defending ourselves from rain, but in vain. Clouds settling along made it look more like taking a walk in heaven.
We never realized how an unplanned trip like this across the mountains of Uttarakhand can make one feel ecstatic. The ideal no. of people should have been more to avoid mainly transportation problems (8 atleast), but nonetheless we trio deeply believe the enjoyment and fun was genuine and heartfelt.