Day 4 – Ali Bugyal to Pather Nachani 

(The EPIC day)

Trekkers' Huts at Ali Bugyal

The morning is cold, but I have an incredible warm feeling inside me. I can almost hear my eyes thanking me; they have been feasting on spectacular views, which is a welcome change for them from the ugly sights of concrete jungles. And they don’t have to focus on a tiny laptop screen for hours and hours, they can dance over displays of the green-blue mountains till horizon. My ears have not heard a screeching vehicle for days, instead they’ve heard the sound of mule bells, the pitter-patter of rain drops on the hut’s roof, and yeah… the beautiful melodies coming from Jagdish Sir’s flute.

The entire team is in high spirits as we start walking today. Imagine walking on a morning among the clouds, with a view of green slopes for miles and miles, pure crystal clear air to breathe, and you will know what I am talking about. When we started walking in the morning, Sandeep told me that I have good stamina and would be able to attempt Stok Kangri. This has made me swell with pride... :) Finally all the running in the mornings as prep for this trek is paying off.

The calm before the storm

The best morning walk ever

The warm feeling continues as we reach a vantage point, from where we can see Bedini Bugyal below us and a lot of other peaks in front of us – the mighty Trishul and Nandaghungti keeping the Nandadevi peak hidden from undeserving eyes can be seen towards the right; Neelkantha and Chaukhamba towards the left. The shutterbugs among us are full of ideas. Priyanka and Anjali are making everyone run and jump and pose and their cameras are working overtime. Cannot wait to see the results of these clicks.

Taking the advantage of our preoccupation, the sun has quietly gone out of sight. As we start walking further, the clouds have begun expressing themselves.We don’t take it seriously at first. It has rained every single day so far, but the rain has faded away eventually. I am sure it would stop raining soon. This, as I would realize later, is called denial - denial that we are in trouble. Bad weather has crept up on us with soft feet; the rain refuses to go away, and invites her friend, nasty wind, to give her company.

There is nothing that we can do but continue walking – because if we stop walking, the cold gets to us. The cold rain drops strike my face like bullets. The biting cold wind rushes into my ears and it feels as if it is straightaway hitting the brain. When I put up the hood of my windcheater and try to tie the lace, I find that my fingers won’t move. They are frozen like the claws of an old woman. I put my head down and keep walking. The ‘nova dry’ shoes, which have kept the water away from my feet so far, finally give up and I can feel my toes going numb too. This mountain face is absolutely bare – we have already left the trees behind, there are no big or small rocks under which we can take shelter.

As the clouds gather and disperse in the valley below, I get intermittent glimpses of stunning mountain sides. But now I am in no mood to appreciate them. All I can think of is somehow keeping one foot in front of the other. I can see Sardar bhai’s feet in front of me, and I open my mouth to ask him how much further we have to go before we reach the camp site. This is when it dawns on me that my face is frozen too. I frantically make faces at myself to get the circulation going. Finally my lips are able to form some words… they come out like kiddy talk. I say to Vineeta, ‘I am not able to talk.’ ‘Me too,’ she says. Thank God!! I thought I was getting paralyzed or something. But at least it’s not happening only to me.

My brain has stopped working now. My body works on auto-pilot and keeps moving ahead. I have stuffed my hands inside the pockets of my jacket and keep clenching and unclenching them to keep them from freezing. If only we could reach the camp site. This is when it hits me that the mules have not overtaken us. ‘We are doomed even if we reach the campsite,’ I say to Alhad who is just in front of me. ‘The tents are with the mules, and they are somewhere far behind us.’ The bloody raincloud has been examined under a microscope, and there is no silver lining in sight. The air is heavy with gloom.

Left, right, left right, we keep treading on in the rain and the wind. Suddenly Alhad turns to me and says, ‘I can see trekkers’ huts ahead.’ My heart leaps with joy. ‘God bless these little huts,’ I exclaim. I did not know that there were trekkers’ huts at Pather Nachani. Our pace increases. In a typical so-near-yet-so-far fashion, two extra strong gusts of wind hit us and almost blow us off the trail before we reach the huts. But we march on. And FINALLY we reach the huts. Ravi, Alhad, Vineeta and I are the first ones to reach the hut with Sardar bhai. 

Once inside the hut, even though we are out of the rain and wind, we start shivering uncontrollably. I am soaked down to the bone, and my hands and feet have gone scarlet and are painfully cold. I am sure they are about to fall off. All the warm fuzzy feeling from the morning has been washed away. So far I had only heard stories about how weather in the mountains can change in the blink of an eye. But now, I have lived through it. I try to think straight, and realize that I am the only one who has my backpack with me, and have an access to dry clothes. I ask everyone to turn the other way and change into dry clothes. I pull on my thermals, my fleece jacket, my scarf and my gloves. And still keep shivering like a twig in a storm. We are worried about all the others who have not yet reached.

After about half an hour, we see the mules appearing, and almost immediately Sandeep comes in with the rest of the group. I look at everybody’s faces. Everyone is baffled, shivering, doesn’t know what to do next. People are rubbing their hands together, trying the rub the cold out of them. There are about 20 people in that small hut, and wet shoes and windcheaters and rucksacks thrown around on the floor. It looks like a hopeless situation. Spirits are low, shoulders are down.

And then I see Sandeep quietly moving around, and rallying his support team into action. Sandeep, Mahesh bhai and Guddu bhaiya create a temporary partition by holding up the foam sheets. One by one everyone changes into dry clothes behind that partition. One half of the hut is cleared out, and a plastic sheet is spread out on the floor for us to sit on. When we are finding it difficult to even move a finger, Puna bhai and the others have rolled up their sleeves and are going out into the rain and unloading the kitchen equipment from the mules. Very soon the kerosene stove is fired up, and the tea kettle sits bubbling on top of it. Onions and potatoes are being sliced up, and soon enough, golden crisp pakodas are being fished out of a wok.

All huddled up

Pakodas in the making

It’s amazing how chai and pakodas can lift the mood. It has been wonderful to see Sandeep and his team keep their cool and bring things to order. The rain has reduced now, and we make a move into the next hut. We open our sleeping bags and snuggle inside. Finally the shivering has stopped. There are a lot of speculations about whether we would be able to carry on with the trek or not. Alhad and Ravi keep saying it’s gonna be bright and sunny tomorrow, as if leaving the forces of nature no other choice but to comply with their wish. Priyanka says she will not have tea for the rest of the trek if it is sunny. Everyone is making some or the other bargain with God, to make the sun smile at us the next day. As the kitchen crew continues sending out tea, soup and dinner, the warm feeling spreads from our tummies to our hearts.

Finally, as everyone gets ready to sleep, Ravi breaks out into a beautiful song, ‘Din dhal jaaye’, and all of us join in. This is followed by more songs, sung by yesteryears musical greats Kishore, Rafi and Mukesh. When there are songs around, nothing, not even the chill in the air, can keep Rutika down. She comes to life, rendering one song after another. As I lie there humming those evergreen tunes, I think over this rollercoaster of a day. From being in the greatest of moods, to being down in the dumps, to eventually emerging from the gloom and in the end singing songs – it’s been a hell of a day. Yesterday I could not even have guessed we would be going through all this. So I try not to think about the past or the future. After all, it’s all about living in the present, isn’t it? And I must say, at present, I am not in a bad place at all…. :)