So have u been to a place where you could really relax?....or have u been to a place....where your "innerself" felt very peaceful?....Well, fortunately i've discovered such a place...which gave me the happiness, i found nowhere else...it's the Himalayas! :)
HoW It StArTed??
Well talking about my roots....they go down deep to the Pauri-Garhwal parts of Uttrakhand...so maybe this is where this fascination for the mountains and hilly areas came from :P!
Apart from that, thanks to my parents for they have always encouraged me to indulge in various outdoor activities :).
Here now, i would be sharing my hiking, nature walks and trekking experiences:-
1.) Exploring my Grandfather's amazing Orchard! ;)
Well my both grandparents had settled in a sub-urb adjacent to the Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand, presently known as "Kotdwara". They had shifted there in late 1950's with their family.Initially, they bought a small house in the area known as "Kashirampur", and later bought a huge chunk of land, which u can see in this satellite image on the left. Amazing part is how this piece of land was converted into a beautiful Orchard slowly with time?. The entire family use to work very hard to maintain this huge piece of land, they developed the boundary by compiling huge riverbed rocks throughout the perimeter of this land. They created a small gully for diverting the water from the main source, so that it could be used for basic household activities.
All the wild grasses and weeds were rooted out,a new house for the family was built.Slowly slowly things got in shape. My Grandfather planted many varieties of fruit-trees like the Guava,Mango,Jamun,Amla,Peach,Jackfruit,Custard apple, Tamarind, Lime(man they r king size :D) and even some medicinal plants like the Basil and the Neem . Other great trees which were evenly distributed all over the land included the Peepal,Buransh, Arjun,Amaltas,Teak etc.
In short, he and his family converted this huge barren piece of land into a green,clean and a fertile land, which was not just beneficial for the mankind, but also for many endangered plants and animal species.
2.) TREK FROM GANGOTRI TO BHOJWASA
Aaahhh... :D...the most memorable trip this would be. I had gone for this 14kms trek with my family when i was around 8yrs old. The trek was little strenuous but the beauty of Himalayas relaxed us all :).
The trekking path was pretty narrow and one could see Ganga flowing continuously on one side. I use to wonder how did the localites manage to trek with extra heavy luggage on their back? :P. And what use to suprise me even more was...how did the poor mules carry those fat pilgrims on their backs??? :P
It was a great experience to be with the Himalayas, the environment there was pretty clean and the air was so fresh. As i grew up i learnt more about what importance these Glaciers hold, and how well we are protecting them.
Few years back, this issue of " Retreat of Gangotri" caught my eyes.I felt really sad that how deeply we were disturbing the environment and it was affecting those heavenly glaciers a lot.
According to various surveys done by glaciologist and other experts, Gangotri has been receding by more and more meters every year. Currently it's receding by 23-25mtrs every year!! How sad this can get in the future man! :/.
Basic cause for this recession is the warming of Earth's atmosphere beyond a limit.
Presently we people do not really understand the importance of these natural gifts. A very few from our race ,our generation would actually contribute for the protection of these glaciers.
3.) TIRTHAN VALLEY , HIMACHAL PRADESH
I was in 8th standard and the best part of school life was going to begin... " Summer Holidays". We were loaded with holiday homework as usual and we all knew we would be touching that in the last week of holiday :D. So, i was thinking what would i do for the rest of the time? And then the unexpected happened! A school friend called up and told me about a summer trek program by Idiscoveri Group.
I checked their website immediately.After having lot of discussion we four friends had agreed to go for this Camp.
They were charging a bomb for this 12day camp. But my great parents agreed :).
So we booked our seats and received a post by the group within a week. We packed all the important things that were on the list. Took a 8hrs train from New Delhi to Kiratpur station. The took a 5hrs cab from there and reached out destination :)) "Tirthan Valley".
Tirthan was the name of a river, and we had our base camp along it's bank.
Many people of my age group joined us at the camp. There were various courses apart from Trekking like Mountain Biking, Rock climbing, Out Door Skills and many more.
There were instructors for each group. Our trekking group had 12members and i think 4-5instructors. I won't elaborate much on the fine details of the camp much...i know it's gonna get borringg :P...i'll start with the real thing!
Next morning we had went for a small trek of 3-4kms around the valley. We enjoyed a lot at the nearby waterfall. We returned back at the base camp for lunch and other activities.
Next day, we went for a longer trek...we went through thick jungles and crossed many villages. As i went up the hills , aroma of the pines filled up my nose, Himalayas blessed me i thought! :D. It was really a beautiful trek, and on the way i met few villagers. They all were so fair and pink :P, there was a small kid who smiled at me and said " Aiwa". I was puzzled. I said back to him " Aiwa" LOl. He ran back in his hut....his entire family came out and they all greeted me with an " Aiwa " ..hahahaha. Later i learned that Aiwa meant " hello" :)).
