THE SCARS OF ADI KAILASH

Scars of Defeat!

It was time to introspect what went wrong in not reaching our destiny Adi Kailash says D S D Solanki.

It was since February 2010 when we were eagerly looking to for the trek to Adi Kailash with a Delhi Based organisation. We had dreamt very big about this expedition and had lot of aspiration to do this expedition but the experience was short lived says Miss Ananya Balasubramanya N of NIE College.

We were a bunch of eight trekkers from Mysore city left for New Delhi by Aug 14 to visualize our dreams of Adi Kailash and took a early morning flight to New Delhi and we were welcomed at New Delhi airport by incessant rain and traffic havoc en-route to Lodhi colony with rain playing hide and seek during the day, we just enjoyed the yummy lunch, and packed the utensils and accessories for the camping and got ready to boarded a train to Kathgodam from Old Delhi Railway Station.

At Lodhi colony which is the official residence of KL Sharma, who was the team leader, Adi Kailash expedition and Vice President of Society for trekking and Environmental preservation (STEP) had invited Mr.Kaushik of Delhi to flag of the expedition, Mr.K.L.Sharma blew the conch shell and sought the blessings of Lord Shiva and rather we were blessed with showers of rain again, despite rain or shine we left for the railways station with hush bush with many trekkers had to squeeze themselves in the cars which was rather unorganised transport that I can say!

We reached railway station and offloaded the luggage, despite huge cache of camping material the team leader had no vision to hire a porter(coolie) to shift the luggage to the coach rather he treated the trekkers as porters and asked them to shift the luggage. Despite hush bush we shifted the luggage to the coach and the wheels rolled on with inkling that things will improve but the organisers’ were rather ill equipped to handle the expedition itself. The Dinner was just like poori and aloo on the cart sold at the railway station; they could have organised better by ordering meals on the train or from the platform restaurant. Around 23.30 hrs we reached Kathgodam again the hamali job started and we shifted the luggage to exit gate and were welcomed by Mr.UC Pandey another fellow trekker who joined form Kathgodam, followed by same loads being shifted by ITBP personnel and we drove to ITBP transit camp and had cosy hot water bath and nicely arranged bed to make our sleep cosy.

On Aug 15 Independence day was celebrated with Indo-Tibet border Police personnel with KL Sharma hoisting the tri-colour and national salute being presented followed by sweets and snacks were shared among the men and other trekkers. we all embarked the bus which pretty good one to reach the destination 7th Battalion of Indo Tibet Border Police at Merthi, D D Hut, en-route on the request of Miss Anjali the organisers were gracious enough to linger our taste buds with Bal mithai sweet at Almora, we moved little and at 3.15pm we had lunch in a Dhabha and moved further only to be encountered with the puncture that too front wheel on the right side and had it being little on the valley side it would had being OM Namah Shivaiah there itself! With little time left to sun to set and the spare tyre too was punctured then the driver removed the inner back tyre and changed it to front and some how he made us reach ITBP camp Merthi around 11pm where in we were welcomed by Commandant APS Nimbadiya with his warmness shown by his men we forget the tiredness of the journey we were accommodated in cosy rooms with heaters so we had nice bath and mouth lingering dinner it was just reminiscence of my good old days I enjoyed at Air force station Pune, hospitality was the best, we played little table tennis and retired to bed.

On Aug 16 we were welcomed by light drizzling in the morning and we had yummy aloo parotha, curd and green chatni and further we moved to Administrative block for briefing which was again like a ground prepared for the battle field. We were shown the glimpse of topo map of the region in which we are going trek with the slide show and the briefing ended with the promise to we will come back with the success story of Adi Kailash.

We again boarded the ITBP bus and proceeded to Ghoti, where we had early lunch and picked up our ration for the camping and went straight to Dharchula to purchase vegetables and some necessities.
Again we were on the way to Tawa Ghat we encountered the landslide and which was very huge and road traffic had come to halt and despite the best efforts of Border Road Organisation still the road was yet to be cleared and had to abandon the bus and walk down a distance of 3 kms to Tava Ghat. On reaching Tava Ghat the agent of STEP was busy bargaining for the drop to Narayan Ashram and in the mela he could get only three jeeps and luggage was loaded in jeeps and the trekkers moved to Narayan Ashram. Mean while after wait for more than 2 hours we got the jeep and reached the camp around 8pm with the stretch of road being so dangerous even a small mistake of driver can be disastrous says Mr.Shreyas K of SJCE who was sitting on the valley side. By the time we reached some khichadi was cooked and it was yummy with the pickle brought by Shreyas K and meanwhile we supplemented with theplas, tomato chatani and Coconut barfi brought by Tiger and Ananya I think all of us were full and retired to tent for a sleep and suddenly the down pour started and water started to ooze inside the tent from the top and the nightmare started for the girls and we four just sneaked inside our sleeping bags and just forgot about the rains and snored.

We got up around 5am to embark for the trek but we over heard that the organisers were just looking for the morning tea groceries and I said how sad had they done their home work properly this wouldn’t being the case and they tried to lit a choola and they didn’t succeed and had to cook food on the kerosene stove and they served the poori and aloo around 8am and packed lunch being the same, some participants were hesitant to pack but Mr.Rakesh Jain’s and Miss Anjali Jhaveri’s sarcastic words made us to pack the pack lunch in a polyethylene cover.

We loaded the luggage to the jeep instead of the mule again thanks to the team leader for his poor ability to organise the things who was overconfident about the services of ITBP contractor in providing things, but the people moved for the trek in the able leadership of Mr.UC pandey and many of us cursing the organisers for their poor ability to organise the show where as some were trekking with luggage as light as just Rain sheet and water bottle and pack lunch and were burdened with ruck sack and sleeping bags and this shows the step motherly attitude of leadership towards the trekkers form the south. But still our trekkers were tough to take the challenges we crossed many hamlets amidst hospitality by villagers in offering apples as a gesture of our expedition in their region and suddenly one lady Mrs Apparna Vakil had to take a mule to reach ringla rinlga top. At one time of point one of our trekkers were feeling the heaps of load on the back but none was there to express it, and we ascended the ringla ringla top at 4.25pm and had hogged little bit of potato and puri and just trekked down with Ananya and Shreyas and Pankaj, Naren, Seema and Aparnna were just bargaining to shift their luggage. With interference from Anjali and Rakesh jain the scene was little daisy to hang out there as both of them were interfering too much. So we descended and till we reached a water point the sun had set and little light left out to go further so we were stranded near the water falls and just wondered here and there I just located a shelter might be some 400mts away and we all the five stranded there for some time to find out the means to reach Gala camp but it was pitch dark and the things were not in our favour and had to convince the other four that no worry we have shelter and we can reach gala tomorrow also, then we trekked to the shelter and as we were above to sneak into the house Mr. Shreyas saw the sleepers and said there is some body and we knocked at the door and there comes a unmatched host in the mountains Mr.Hoshiyar Singh Bhandari and Mrs Rashmi who gave the shelter, tea and cosy woollen blanket what a hospitality which will remembered for ever. Mean while swapnil and nitin joshi had gone back to bring the rest of them by the time they reached the spot Mr.Rakesh jain had created lot of unsavoury incidents by bit batting, when asked by swapnil to wait for the other two trekkers who were pinging the torch he said I am sure other two trekkers have already gone and he challenged the team and he said for the sake of two trekkers I can’t put the life of 12 people into risk by the time Mr.KL Sharma and Mr.Yadav arrived and Mr.Rakesh Jain just went and hugged Mr.KL Sharma and he said I have being waiting for you and he just minced his words. Mr.Sharma was over whelmed with his words and just gave him an extra ordinary powers and he led the team to the place we were staying in the small pucka house.

They came there with huge bang as though they have reached the destinations despite Mr.KL sharma done the route 2 times he claimed he got lost in the track and had to trek 10kms more to reach the destination that was the level of overconfidence he was having he just eked out his frustration of 10kms on the group by speaking nonsense and manhandling trekkers and using the words danda be mara saktha hu and later saying sorry in person was the time to react many trekkers objected to his way of handling the group and the group was still incomplete and Mr.Rakesh Jain and Mr Uday singh went down to gala only to complete the formality of head count and rather he spoke to the participant sarcastically and de motivated them.

Mean while the host gave puri and sabji it was yummy hot and our belly was empty we just lingered the taste and slept filling our belly with water.

With Mr.Kshetrapal saying thoda garam poori milega kya what a PJ it was at that time.

It was on Aug 18 we just trekked down despite heavy showers and our shoes wet and stocks stinking we crossed the small tributary river to Kali and reached gala only to be treated with remains of some poory and jam to fill our belly, what a sad state of affairs, having trekked so much if you are not competent to give proper food then why the hell you organise a trek, but still the Mysoreans didn’t let any body down and shared their theplas, chatani, Avalaki, kuttavalaki, sweets with every one and eked out a living temporarily .

In the afternoon some ration arrived and again kichadi was served and a fresh plan was made that who will go and not to go and later Mr.Rakesh Jain and Mr.KL sharma cancelled the whole pgm and said the whole team is going back and sold all the ration to local grocery shop fellow, without even bothering what will the trekkers will have next day morning or for the pack lunch, sumptuous food was made for the evening.

On Aug 19 corn and milk was being served, despite heavy showers and bad weather, and Mr.KL sharma shouting at the participants and the team started to trek by 6.30am the team to trek back to Narayan Ashrama empty belly, we crossed the gushing rivers which could had being disaster had there being no helping hand by the co-trekker and we reached ringla ringla top by 10.30am and reached the next nearest village samari by 3pm sipped some tea, snacks and apple Hu! It was real feast to our bellys and stopped had the village (sirdongh) by 3pm and the whole group reassembled and we moved to reach Narayan ashram by 6.30pm almost a trek of 12 hours had wash and moved to the dinning hall to sip tea and followed by some prayers to appease lord Narayana to help us to finish our next days trek peacefully.

On Aug 20 we got up and sipped tea and trekked by road to see many places being uprooted and land slide on the road blocked the vehicular moment and had to trek to the Tava Ghat another 18kms and first 10kms was by road till Pong and later descended by 80degree to reach Tava Ghat by 3pm and last man descended by 6pm and we further moved by jeep to landslide point and walked in the slush to reach the otherside of the land slide and board the jeep for another 2 kms to reach bus parked by ITBP to take us to Gothi and we were excited to reach as we thought we would bite some thing and move to Merthi but our aspirations were short lived and again the things were ill planned so we had to accommodate our self in filthy stinking rooms with stinking toilets and mosquitoes wondering around was the site in the room, but the dinner was very yummy and we retired to bed.

There was one more major incident, which went unnoticed by many, that took place in Gothi, which was, is and will be totally unacceptable. A baggage had to be given to the lady trekkers of the group, but when Shreyas went to see them, he was literally shocked to see the state of those girls. When asked why, they let out everything that had happened only a few minutes before. Mr. K L Sharma, being the leader of the group had kind of blasted these poor chaps, saying that the whole group from Mysore is both physically and mentally unfit to do this trek and let out all his frustration on them and even went to the extent of abusing one of the founder members of the organizers. Only a few days before, he had heaps of praise for Mysoreans saying that it’s a bunch of cheerful youngsters, perhaps he had forgotten his own words, may be he had lost himself too. A good leader is one who motivates and inspires his fellow mates and should always try to push others forward but here it was completely different, opposite rather! But whatever it was, it was really disheartening to see the girls break down. When Mr. Deepak Solanki got to know about this, he immediately spoke with Mr. Vinodpriya and Mr. Yogiji who apologized right away for no mistake of theirs. That shows the right attitude of an organizer but unfortunately it was missing in our team leader!! We all dint make it a big scene out of this and just moved on quietly but I guess this is the time that everyone should come to know about it.

Aug 21 we started towards merthi camp and had a round of breakfast and despite heavy down pour and land slide, cloudbursting the yatra of Kailash manasarovar was also aborted. SO it was blessing disguise that we aborted our expedition and started back by bus to Kathgodam, but enroute many slide slowed down the pace and at many places we had to get down from the bus and walked down to allow the bus to come from behind so that in case the bus slips the human lives are saved. But the destiny was some thing in store and near Almora the checkpost barrier chap didn’t allow and had to settle down near KMVN guesthouse. It was cosy accommodation and food was filling with aloo and chappatis and we retired to bed.

On Aug 22 we again left the Almora by bus to reach bowli by 10.30am and the bus fellow refusing to go further because of nature’s fury and two bridges being in dangerous so we had to off load our luggage and wait for the organisers to react to the situation meanwhile we were having our bread and butter and there comes the villain Mr.K L Sharma to abuse us and says don’t move till such time we tell you. Then again he comes with the bus fellow to take us to the chowk from where again we had to carry the luggage like porters and load them into the standing taveras and the fleet moved atlast by 12.40pm and reached nainital amidst heavy showers shot some pics and left and caught up with Some restaurant filled our bellies with some south Indian food which we all were waiting to have and moved further to be encountered with Sahara TV interviewing Mr Shreyas K about the nature and water falls of Nanital and we drove straight to Moradabad amidst water clogging the roads and some places no difference between water flowing near danger mark near channels and just feet above the road was a rare sight in our lives.

We just touched Gajarolla and had reached New Delhi by 10.30pm and just checked out of Taveras and boarded the taxis to reach Mr. B D Sharma’s house and eked out our anger at Somnath Pal, BD Sharma and Tyagi for the poor management of the expedition. Amidst all this reporting of the happenings of the expedition, we were given Bisi Bele bath. The faces of the trio- Pankaj, Naren and Shreyas- lit up seeing Bisi bele bath. It was a perfect treat for us after having had a weird week. We all filled our bellies, thanked the chef of the night, Ms. Nirija, for taking so much pain to prepare a south Indian dish exclusively for the Mysore team, and boarded the taxis to the airport. We reached the airport around 1 am and just roamed around the deserted airport for a while, then all of us dozed off on the uncomfortable chairs, not as uncomfortable as our tents though, only to get up around 445 am. Despite our disturbed sleep, we went around the airport which had become quite lively then, and then with full cheerfulness we boarded the plane to Bangalore. We enjoyed the travel watching movies The Illusionist, Chance pe Dance and some tv shows as well and lets not forget the cartoons too!! We landed in Bangalore around 9 am and our taxi was waiting for us. We happily started from there and passed the busy traffic of Bangalore in an hour or so. And then our driver speeded up and made us reach our home sweet home safely and securely around 2 pm.

The program could had being much better had Mr.Rakesh Jain behaved like a other participant and Mr.Vinod Priya could had been consulted and Mr.Yogi could had interfered.

The program was organised by Society for the trekking and Environmental preservation and was led by Mr.KL Sharma, who is working as Under Secretary, in the ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India, new Delhi.

The names of the participant are Mrs.Aparnna Muthanna, Mr.Pankaj Mallick, Mr.Shryeas K, Miss.Seema Gorur, Miss.Ananya Balasubramanaya, Mr.Raghav Anil Kumar, Mr.Naren MH and Mr.D.S.D.Solanki

Expert comment: The Expedition would had being succesful had the team leader had the self confidence in himself in organising the program rather being totally dependant on ITBP. Leaders are to co-ordinate and get the things done, Should remain cool and show sign of maturity in handling the crisis.

By D S D Solanki An Ardent Adventure Enthusiast