The Once In a Life Time Journey!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” – Edward Abbey

 “The mountains will fall to dust before I will ever give up on my daughter.” – Connilyn Cossette

 

For a delightful and fun read of our Everest Base Camp Trek, click here http://rahul-saraf.blogspot.com/2024/05/whats-your-everest.html (Paid Promotion)

 

When I start to think of the journey I had taken to complete the Everest Base Camp Trek and partial completion of the Kaala Patthar Trek, it still feels quite surreal. If someone had asked me even a year back that if I could do something so adventurous, I would have laughed at them. But I really think the mountains were calling, and eventually I couldn’t resist. From November 2023 to May 2024, things pretty much went like law (taking its own course!) Though we worked out decently to get ourselves prepared for the arduous journey, the reality hit us on that glorious Saturday night. Quoting Rahul, “May the 4^th be with us!”

The one with the well-wishers :P

Pic credit : Sonu who isn't in the frame

The entire travelling from Guwahati to Lukla was quite unreal. (New Jalpaiguri to Bhadrapur in Nepal in a car, Bhadrapur to Kathmandu in a flight which is so flexible that it flew us 3 hours earlier than what we intended!, Kathmandu to Ramechhap in a 12 seater starting at 2 a.m. at night, and then after a complete day’s delay (due to strong winds on a sunny day!) from Ramechhap to Lukla in what is believed to be one of world’s scariest flights and of this, Aashish would concur!)

And as soon as we reached Lukla the Trek began!

Lukla to Phakding, Phakding to Naamche Bazaar, Naamche Bazar to Tengboche after one day acclimatization, Tengboche to Dingboche, Dingboche to Lobuche after one day acclimatization, Lobuche to Gorakshep to Everest Base Camp and back to Gorakshep, Gorakshep to Kaala Patthar to Pangboche, Pangboche to Naamche Bazaar, Naamche Bazaar to Lukla!

 The trip ready-reckoner

 

Quite simple, isn’t it? Only it wasn’t!

 

Every day brought new challenges, but with more breathtaking scenery. The oxygen levels kept dipping as we kept ascending, but our energy levels did not! The terrain kept on becoming more and more difficult. But we also had our sights completely fixed on our goal. And with the able help of our guides Sukhram and Lakhpa, we kept on inching towards that day after day. Also the Nepali Daal Bhaat kept us going. (Daal Bhaat Power 24 hour!)

 

Before I move towards the final feelings of reaching our designated place, a lot of thank yous are in order. Because I might have taken the journey with 7 others, but it feels like 70 more were part of it. So here goes! My mother and father definitely because not once did they discourage or even gave me the slightest hint that how worried they would be during the entire trek (sending 3 sons together on such a journey is quite crazy!); then my sisters who are a source of constant support, my entire extended Damani family who proudly tell others of my achievements, my friends from the Guth, special mention to Gunjan who kept on pushing us to get fitter for this trek, Ankur Bhaiya for kindly lending his trekking gear, Dr. Rahul Damani for clearing our medical tests, Ponchi for arranging Diamox at a moment's notice, Aarti for constantly sending good wishes, and anyone else who had prayed for and supported us J. Also, the entire Trek the Himalayas team for a seamless experience, including Nethra Ji, Roshan and Rakesh. We cannot forget to thank Megha enough for arranging what seemed like the best meal ever for some really hungry people :P  And semi finally, I thank any higher power that exists, that even is such a tough and completely raw terrain, not one of us was injured during the entire period. And finally, my love Minakshi! Whatever I do, there is not one day when her unconditional love and support doesn’t walk with me. This was an extra trekking pole that helped me reach my final target!

 

And now coming to the team that helped in getting where we wanted!

THE GANG!

 

The TREKFUL Eight:

Abhishek the Amrikan: If you guys have a memory of Dr Octopus from Spiderman movies, you could picturise Abhishek in the same way! With his 2 trekking poles and incredible speed, it was a sight to watch him go about the Trek in a super efficient manner. He definitely created the fitness standards that the group looked up to. His reaching the Kaala Patthar Top without so much as breaking a sweat was exemplary. And the most endearing part was even when he had slow trekkers along with him, he made sure that he was alongside. Overall the Amrikan rocked!

 

Aashish the Warrior: That someone would be crazy enough to think of going to Everest Base Camp with 2 weeks of practice is itself going to make you go bonkers. But Aashish didn’t think it that way! He was the shining Warrior Knight on his hot mule horse! In spite of the searing pain in his knees, the fact that he completed the entire circuit is a testament to his sheer willpower. Every member of the team clapped for him when he returned victorious after completing his trek! It was definitely one of the moments of this Trip!

Aditya the Photographed: If the quote “Bhaiyaji Smile!” ever needed a brand ambassador, Aditya would be the perfect choice for that. The rest of us went for the Trek; Aditya went to Trek by capturing the Trek with himself with what seemed like a million pics. Truth Jokes apart, he was what Ravi Shastri would call as the exuberance of youth for our group. Also, he made our life easier there by buying a channel called Lukla Live as soon we reached there. (I can neither confirm nor deny this!) The happiness on each of our faces when our assigned flight of Summit Air landed in Lukla was another high moment of the trip. We waited; only Aditya believed!

 

Nikhil the Thanda Paani: If there was some precision metric for perfectly mixing the hot and cold water to make it 100% perfect to drink at the given temperature Nikhil would surely have attained it. I will come to his partner-in-crime Sumit later. With a childlike glee to learn and also to teach, he was one of the central figures of this trek! If anyone believes in the manifestation thing that people talk about a lot these days, he definitely made it work. Even though he was not as his 100%, it was his commitment and mental strength that made him reach the Base Camp and later the Kaala Patthar Top! Also, along with Aditya he was the reason for pushing the average of per person photographs to quite a high number.

 

Sumit the Garam Paani: The garam paani to Nikhil’s thanda paani! The rest of the gang could never get that how the mixing of hot and cold water could take scientific proportions: but Sumit & Nikhil managed to do that. Sumit was the person my father was most worried about before the Trek began as he managed to make an illusion of not practicing sufficiently for such a difficult trek. But after successfully completing the Trek to Base Camp as well as Kaala Patthar Top, he could smugly and rightly say the following dialogue, “I don’t believe in showing off. I believe in having my say through performance!”  His reels have captured the essence of our Trek quite beautifully! https://www.instagram.com/cheerstwotravel/

 

Vishal the Dost: If there was one person who would support you for any decision taken, it would have to be Vishal. If you would have asked Vishal, “Bhai chal chopper le ke chalte hain!”, he would say “haan chalo!”. After 5 minutes if you have said, “Bhai paidal hi chalte hain”, he would say “haan chalo!”. He was a bundle of energy for the group to follow! And his dance that followed the party at Naamche Bazaar was a complete highlights package! Though it wasn’t very “street-smart” of him, Nikhil and Sumit to go for the after party :P (I promise next time gaana gaake sula dega)

P.S.: He missed his babies a lot during the entire trip!

 

Rahul the Professor: If our Trek was the EBC Heist, Rahul surely played the part of the Professor! From casually bringing this idea in the midst of everyone involved (I am still not sure whether he was serious or joking!), to motivating all to work towards this goal, to planning the entire thing with Trek The Himalayas, the credit for the success of this glorious Trek should definitely go to him! As for me it was quite clear when he asked me for the first time. “Bhai ne bola karne ka to karne ka!” Furthermore, he had to take on the difficult duty of being the Munim of the group. He came out with flying colours in that too, earning an additional brownie point from him CA wife!

 

Overall, it was the group that made each other push their limits, physically as well as mentally. I would quote one of my favourite writers JK Rowling from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, “There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.”

 

“There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a Seventeen Thousand Six Hundred foot high Trek is one of them!”

 

 

And now my final thoughts on reaching the Everest Base Camp and the Kaala Patthar Point.

 

It is a tale of 2 pictures:

 

THE EVEREST BASE CAMP reaching GLORY MOMENT

 

The first one is unbridled joy, beaming with excitement on the first target that was set when we began this journey. It is almost 1 in the afternoon. Everyone has reached this target. Absolute exhilaration! And what seems like a half an hour celebration of this success with hundreds of photographs in every permutation and combination possible.

The moment of bliss!

 

The second picture is of peace. This trek started at 3:30 a.m. in pitch dark conditions. But the result is pure magic, as if someone just said, “Let there be light!”. This picture was taken at approximately 5 a.m. I had given it all to reach the highest place that I reached. And the 15 minutes here were about just pure magic. Every frame looked like some higher power had drawn it. The clouds were much much below our levels. And sitting that on that frosty bench, I wanted to capture this in my mind forever. Watching the highest peak of the world from what looked like a touching distance! https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7irKJGp1H5/?igsh=bndhYjhma25pYnVn There are no words to explain it. If I would have been a person who would have been able to cry, then I probably would have. Just like Hrithik did in the movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara after his first dive!

  

And now to answer that question that I probably am not sure about! Why take such a difficult trek? What is the point of it?

Souvenirs 

 

Probably because of my daughters! (Everything I do I do it for you!) Just a lesson for them that if decided with conviction, nothing is impossible. And probably when they grow up a little and understand the magnitude of this Trek, they would be proud of their father J

The Naughtier Second One

“To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter.” – Euripides

“Balt Van Tassel was an easy indulgent soul; he loved his daughter better even than his pipe, and, like a reasonable man and an excellent father,

Let her have her way in everything.” – Washington Irving, The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

I last used these quotes in the post of my blog when my elder daughter Jhalak turned one! However much I tried searching, I couldn’t find better words to explain my relationship with my daughters. So that’s that!

2^nd July, 2017- around 1:30 a.m.

Minakshi was talking to me over the phone telling me how she had completed a handcrafted picture. (She was in Surat and I was in Vrindavan to attend her cousin’s marriage on her insistence! Vachan Paalan you see!) She was a little annoyed to as I had not sent her the pictures of Sangeet Sandhya of Aashish & Purnima, wherein I had done the anchoring. Luckily enough, no new rishtas had come for me in the event as I had already been declared Dulhe ka Jijaji on loudspeakers!  That was some solace. All in all, she was quite comfortable as even after being 4 days overdue, there wasn’t much sign that the little one was coming today!

2^nd July, 2017- around 3:30 p.m.

I saw the number of Mummy flashing on my phone. As soon as, I picked the phone, she sounded quite frenetic. I asked her to calm down and to tell me what was happening. She told me that Minakshi had been brought to the hospital today morning and even after lot of attempts, it seemed like the baby wasn’t keen on coming out naturally that day. To cut to the chase, a C-Sec was planned. So after back and forth calls to Surat and Guwahati, the wait began.

2^nd July, 2017 – 4:44 p.m.

Minakshi’s Aunt was on the phone. She told me in a sort of not too keen way, “Lakshmi Ji aa gaya!” (God, i hate this terminology!) But for the 2^nd time in my life, I was on the top of the world! Ever since I had planned on having babies, I always wanted 2 girls. And it couldn’t have been more perfect. THE FAMILY IS COMPLETE!

THE FIRST PICTURE!

I will always have a little regret that I could not be there when she was born but again, I will always use that to win points when I argue with Minkashi as she insisted I go to Vrindavan ;)

I finally got to see her on 3^rd July, 2017. My wedding Anniversary. It was the perfect gift ;)

Her name starting letter was given ‘Ra’ by Dad. After loads of deliberation and vetoes, and with help from ma’am Nistula Hebbar (one of the most wonderful unique name by herself!), her name was kept Ragvi!

As Ragvi turns one, it is a little too evident that she is going to be naughtier than Jhalak! With her own set of nicknames from everyone ranging from Orange to Raado to Raago to Raagu to Raavi Beto to Bhim, she is loved and adored by all!

She doesn’t like that much to sleep with her head on my chest as Jhalku did. But when she does! IT IS BLISS! The death wish remains the same. Both my daughters sleeping peacefully with their heads on my chest J

WITH MY MAA & DADA!

DADA KI RAAVI BETO!

CHHOTA DAADU KI BHIM!

MAA KI RAAGO!

WITH CHHOTU MAA

NAANI KE SAATH MASTI

WITH CHHOTI BHUA MAA

WITH BADI BHUA! (Fufu ko bolo is baar aake pic khinchaye acche se!)

With Jayanti Bhua and Raghav Fufu (Bade Fufu in sidescreen!)

 With Mamu! (Mami ko bolo photo khinchaye!)

With the Craziest Rajju Bhua!

Pulling Mustache of those in power! With Munna Chachu!

With Khushi Bhua!

With the Youngest, Sonu Chachu!

MAATA KA PYAAR!

MOMMA’S GIRL!

FIRST PIC WITH JIJI!

Orange, Chilly, Apple (Lto R)

Orange with Watermelon

Papa’s Daughter!

Music Is In The Blood!

The Daughters!

My Favourite!!

Bohot ho gyo! Ab mhaane laaj aawe hai!