Travelogue: Everyone’s favorite – Kedarkantha

Finally the trek which every Tom, Dick and Harry would’ve had done. It was not really in my list but as a quick fix plan, to go to some trek within a week, in short notice and in minimum budget, this seemed to be perfect. As I’m not a big fan of snow and chose to trek during November, it was offseason and peaceful. But what should have been a piece of cake, I myself put me in a woeful position and made it tougher.

Day -2 – Mighty Rains and soulful Central

11/3/2022

While I recommend my whole family to take bus to the railway station whenever they travel alone, I end up going by auto to Central most of the time. This time the culprit was rains. It was pouring and I had no chance to even go to bus stand as someone had to drop me. Instead of paying close to Rs. 100 for bus stand I thought I’d better pay Rs. 300 and go to railway station. I luckily got an auto for Rs. 270 but as expected he didn’t give me the change. But with the rains I expected it and didn’t really feel bad.

I reached station very well in advance. Even on normal days I reach early but as it was raining I reached a good two to three hours early. For me railway stations and airports (especially duty free liquor shops) are most tempting. Airports at least I can put some sanity to my thought owing to the prices but railway stations really tempt me. I could never avoid ID in Central station, even though it used to be atrociously expensive. Now it was removed and Madras Coffee House had come in that spot, which was equally bright and tempting but I didn’t have anything. I would have yielded to the temptation if I had not been alone. Last time during our family trip to Ooty, we had KFC chicken with Tamarind Rice, OMFG, what an experience it was. KFC chicken never tasted that good.

TAMILNADU EXP (12621) is quite a comfortable train. Starting at 22:00 from Chennai Central and reaching New Delhi railway station at 06:30 after a day. It doesn’t make difference to travel by flight. All it takes is one extra day. Plus the stoppings are less. It was the train I took for my first ever Himalayan trek. In fact the whole trek had a feel of my first trek.

I settled in my coach, the floor was watery, thanks to rain and a huge Nepali crowd got on the train, thankfully with confirmed tickets but had a hell lot of luggage. As I had reached early I could at least put my luggage in proper place and as I had got upper birth, I put my remaining stuff up there. There was also a Sowcarpet Saet ji, who was trying to converse with everyone. The two seater next to me was occupied by a bodybuilder and TTE, so our coupe was kind of breathable.

I settled in my birth and started watching the first of my list of movies, Robot & Frank. I chose it owing to the short runtime but was surprised by it. It got over by midnight and I slept peacefully post that, with thorough satisfaction.

Day -1 – A relexing train journey

11/4/2022

I spent all the time upstairs. Woke up quite late, had homemade Podi Idly, my constant when it comes train journey. Caught up with the next movie, The Internship and slept again, only to get up at Nagpur for my usual Orange juice. I had one box of homemade Tamarind Rice for lunch, watched a horrible Namak Haraam and then had another box of Tamarind Rice.

As trains nowadays are equipped with charging points and most of them not really using it, I took full advantage of it and watched all the movies without losing charge. I intentionally avoid watching movies and rather take a novel with me because, in addition to the stress of writing travelogue, I had to write reviews too. I can’t help but think, if at all I had not been writing, how many more movies I could have watched, it could be easily double the quantity but yea, writing is what differentiates me between the rest, so let’s be it that way. This time I didn’t take book because I brought the wrong book from library, The Financial Expert, which I had already read. No complaints though, I got my fix through movies this time. I anyhow have to empty by HDD sooner or later.

As I had my earphones constantly plugged in, in fact pressed it deep inside as I wasn’t able to hear the voice clearly due to train sound, I couldn’t concentrate on what was happening around. I could only see the body builder eating only chicken and protein powder throughout his journey. What a sad life. With respect to food I had planned perfectly this time by bringing the right food but also the train timings helped.

Day 0 – Delhi oh Delhi! A day of many things

11/5/2022

I reached Delhi on time. I was wishing I’d reach late so that I don’t get bored but I reached on time. I took out my camera and put the remaining luggage in Cloak Room in Platform 1. It was Rs. 35 per bag but he charged Rs. 70 for me. I only saw it later but he mazupified saying that for big bag they charge that amount. Liars!

My first place was Sita Ram Diwan Chand for breakfast. It was my long term wish to have Chole Bhature, which I had missed, even though I had been to Delhi on numerous occasions. I finally had it and how! There was some drama before that, the Google maps took deep into the gullies which got me scared and I had to come out to the main road and follow the round around path.

From there I took off to Birla Mandir, where cameras were not allowed. As I had got early, it was not crowded and I was able to spend some peaceful time there. I took a walk to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib next. It was my first visit to a Gurudwara. I ideally wanted my first Gurudwara visit to be of that of Amristar Golden Temple but as it looked like it was not going to happen in near future, I went to this Gurudwara. Absolutely loved the experience. Thanks to the heavy breakfast, I couldn’t have food in langar. Also I was so tempted to take bath but couldn’t as I was alone. May be next time or may be in Amristar.

My next stop of the day was Metro Museum which no one seemed to be aware of. It was not really a museum but a part of Patel Chowk Metro Station so I didn’t go inside. I thought I’d go there sometime in future when I’m travelling through metro. But outside Patel Chowk Metro Station there was a huge space where few students were playing guitar. It felt cinematic and I loved the sight of it. May be there are universities or tuition centers nearby, I could see a lot of young hip youngsters. Delhi girls needless to say, were chic. I was imagining how if my regular trek mates Raja and Andal had been there. Andal would have encouraged Raja to sing and I could have played guitar. I would’ve been heroic. Who knows, as a mark of friendship, the college kids would’ve even shared a joint.

My final stop of the day was Jantar Mantar, an absolutely useless place if you don’t know its significance. Plus the funny thing there was, they were not accepting cash payments. Wonder how people get so intelligent. There are so many things to change in the county and they choose change the mode of payment of a tourist spot, seriously! Anways Jantar Mantar was a good spot to shoot some pictures. As I had lot of time and I didn’t have any plan after that and the place wasn’t much crowded, I too got some good clicks. As expected, there were horny couples around the periphery but that wasn’t much of a party spoiler. I got a seat in shadows to spend some along time.

From there I took a walk to railway station through Connaught Place, again a first time in that area. What a lovely little locality with plush restaurants, great bars etc. I’ve to visit it next time I go to Delhi. Delhi has too many options for food. That’s the problem and I want to try everything, the street food as well as plush food. That only accentuates the problem.

Even after going to all the above places, I still had a lot of time to kill in the railway station. Muthu arrived around an hour before departure of train. He was a friend of Andal and toured with me to Agumbe. So it was second meet. He is a no nonsense guy and joined the trek without much drama. We had a horrible lunch at railway station and got on the train.

Our train, DDN JANSHTBDI (12055), was surprisingly immaculate. The seats were spacious and the caterer served Pizza and Burger and on top it was polite with the customers. I was amazed by it. Unfortunately we didn’t get the seats together so couldn’t have much of a chatter. I had a deep sleep for an hour and watched an average film, The Conspirator to pass my time. Here too there was a big group, may be family or extended family and an overenthusiastic aunty (who again reminded us of Andal) who was singing religious songs.

Almost the entire train got empty at Haridwar and the weather got colder. By the time we got down at Dehradun, we could feel the chill. We came out and had dinner at Sethi’s Food Corner & Caterer. The Kadai Paneer was a joke, quantity too was very less.

The receptionist at the hotel, Mohan Vilas Residency, where we had booked room, coolly said that he can’t afford room for that price. If you book at this hotel, better be aware of the scam. So we came out in search of some other economical place to spend the night and chose Hotel Standard, an absolutely abysmal hotel. The place was very scary. But somehow, we were able to have a good night’s sleep, may be due to travel tiredness.

Day 1 – Dehradun to Sankri (1920 m)

11/6/2022

We woke up at 4 AM and came out by 4.30 AM by making the waiters raise the shutter of the hotel. It was cold alright but not unbearable. On the first attempt when we tried to check for bus to Sankri near railway station we were told that bus would start at 8 AM and it was the only bus. So we came out to check for other options because we had read that there were buses starting from 5.30 AM.

On the main road we saw a couple of buses standing and got to know they were bound to Sankri and we quickly hopped on to it. As we still had half an hour time we had tea and got water bottle from the nearby store, which in fact had even started selling Aloo Paratha by that time.

Surprisingly the bus started by 5.30 AM sharp. The ticket cost us Rs.400. Guess in government bus its cheaper and the bus goes nonstop. Here there were lot of stops. The first of which was near Vikas Nagar to load vegetables and other items. As there was no breakfast shop open, I couldn’t have breakfast. My stomach was grumbling. The next stop happened only around Damta which I knew was a lunch place. I wanted to have Paratha but had to compulsively have Thali. Even though unlimited I couldn’t have much as I was travelling and it was pre trek. But something to fill my hungry tummy. The journey was never ending and the last few kilometers was horrible because of bad roads. The bus took a different route due to that. In addition to it we had to search the hotel and our base camp. Luckily Muthu saw a van with the trekking organizations name, Himalaya Shelter, but he was not swift in stopping the bus. But eventually as the driver had to take a break for natures call, we got time to think about it and walk backwards. Muthu in fact seemed to have spotted the place correctly. Unfortunately for us, only these guys had not put on a board in front of the hotel. Many others had put it. So, good that Muthu spotted, otherwise we’d have had to walk a long way back.

The check in was seamless and the room was brilliant. It felt like a star hotel, especially after staying in a shitty room the previous day. We got introduced to our first roommate, whose name I forgot, a guy from Delhi University (whom I’d refer as DU guy, henceforth). I’m generally bad at names but this was the first time that not even a single name got registered. Also as we had booked through BanBanjara and most of the others through Thrillophilia, there was even no WhatsApp group to keep in touch post trek.

The DU guy who was rolling, asked us if we’d join him, for which we said, “no” but luckily he was our roommate. The others who came by the Himalaya Trekkers van reached in sometime. We had amazing Chai and Pakora. We were informed about dinner time and we assembled on time for it. Dinner with Rice, Roti, Mushroom Palak, Daal and Fruit Custard was amazing. We were also briefed about the trek. There were people from all parts of India and for the first time, there were no Tamilians apart from us. We filled up our water bottles with warm water and went to sleep.

Day 2 – Sankri to Juda ka Talab (2774 m)

11/7/2022

Post breakfast we started with the trek. It was annoying to wait for so much time to get our IDs photocopied as they had not told about it beforehand. Plus the greedy shop owner played a clever trick of getting five rupees from each person no matter they took photocopy separately or in the same page. The shop and the place got me reminded of my Har Ki Doon trek. We took the jeep path for few meters and started out trek through forest, through a deviation.

It was constant ascent from there. It was cold and the ascent was there throughout. It took a while for the body to warm up but with every waiting time it was getting cold. We took a long break at a Chai Point in the middle and then started walking towards our first camp. One of the guys got his shoe torn, it reminded me of my Kedartal trek where I lost the sole of the shoe on the penultimate day. But luckily the shoe was strong enough to trek even without it. But if had been slippery it would have become disaster.

This trek reminded me of my first trek. There were many people who were not really trekkers and had come for the first time. They didn’t have proper trekking gear, shoes especially. But none were worried. Of course there was rentals for it but the unpreparedness didn’t deter them, thanks to their unawareness. There was a gang of five boys from IIT-Guwahati who reminded of our gang during our first trek to Dalhousie.

As we took our own sweet time to walk, we reached Juda Ka Talab by around 2 PM and had our lunch. I hogged as I was extremely hungry. We were not allowed to sleep. We were to walk around the place. Thanks to lot of free time, Muthu and I shot few portraits of each other. As others suggested that the lake was a joke and we’d be passing around that route the next day, we didn’t go to see it.

As the sun was setting, it started getting cold. The Lucknow gang of three boys requested for camp fire I think. I was not keen on it as it would get extremely cold at night and the impromptu annual day function would be weird. Muthu too was of the same opinion. Thankfully nothing like that happened and it was just small talks around. But that too was annoying as the major talkers were getting on the nerves. I guess by that night everyone had got an opinion about each other and started sticking to their favorite people or rather, out of the people they don’t like.

We had dinner with hot Gulab Jamuns but as I had heavy lunch and had it late, I couldn’t eat much. The night was as usual a gassy affair.

Day 3 – Juda ka Talab to Kedarkantha Base Camp (3429 m)

11/8/2022

It was supposedly the easiest day of the trek but I was struggling as I had stomach upset. I felt totally dehydrated. But as it was just only few hours trek, I somehow managed. I was scared that I would not be able to complete the trek. I didn’t want to take chance by giving some time. I immediately took Norflox post lunch, tried to rest in the tent but all my thoughts were running around dysentery. I had to visit the toilet quite a few times till evening.

Luckily there was a doctor amongst us who told me that Norflox is the best tablet. His words gave me the confidence. I didn’t go to the toilet any further. But I didn’t eat any further too. Only drank the soup which they gave pre dinner. And fed on Electrol, which I hate. But with cold water it felt the tastiest drink ever. As it was really a long day, I got introduced to few others in the camp. The Doctor – son duo, the family from Bangalore, the two ladies etc. Muthu was in his elements and he was going around the camp and having fun. Thanks to my condition I wasn’t even able take out my camera.

I was really scared about the next day as I had to get up at 2 AM for trek to the summit. If I had dysentery on the way, it would be killing. With mixed thoughts I went for sleep.

Day 4 – Kedarkantha Base Camp to Kedarkatha Summit (3810 m) and back to Sankri through Hargaon (2713 m)

11/9/2022

I got up at 2 AM after sound sleep. I was already feeling better and confident. We got chai and rusks in the morning. I was insanely hungry. I ate quite a few and gulped on the chai. We also got a Sandwich on the go. With our headlamps on, we started the trek. It was cold alright but nothing unbearable, at least when we were walking.

Muthu unfortunately had stomach pain or some other discomfort and had to step aside a couple of times. I know how hard it would be, especially for introverts. So we pretty much were at the last and walked slow. Near the peak when the sun was already out, it got biting cold due the winds. There were also drizzles along the route. We were asked to carry our Poncho. Thankfully it didn’t rain. If it had, then it’d have been a real struggle.

There was a small section where ice was formed. I had a slip there. Otherwise it was a straightforward trek with gradual ascents. Even though I wasn’t at the fullest of my fitness, it was okay to cover the trek. If not for the dysentery, I think we both could have enjoyed the trek better. Also Muthu constantly was telling how it was wise to not have trekked in snow because it was difficult to trek even in that small juncture with ice. Generally I don’t like to trek in the snow but may be this one I would have preferred. Guess I’ll finally do one trek for the snow in the coming years. Let’s see.

Even though we couldn’t see the classic sunrise. The view from the top was phenomenal. May be because Sandakphu was my last trek, it wasn’t overwhelming but felt good. Muthu was happy, constantly asking me to take photographs of him and others. I too got few clicks. Even though it was biting cold, we spent close to one hour. I shot few portraits of people, wonder when they’re going to reach me out for it.

The descent was fun. Every one of us were in happy mood. We had minute snow fall but it didn’t develop into a full-fledged one. As per my plan we reached Juda ka Talab by 11 AM. We had lunch but I didn’t feast. I thought I’ll eat well only after reaching Dehradun.

Few of us had plans to reach Sankri the same day so we took off immediately post lunch. I was in a dilemma whether to spend the night in Juda Ka Talab. I was also thinking, why not spend at extra night in Sankri as the rooms were amazing but the organizers told it was not possible. By making a four day trek to three day trek they were saving on the rations, with which they could have at provided us rooms but cleverly they didn’t. Anyways Muthu wasn’t feeling good and wanted to go to Dehradun as soon as possible.

The walk was nice but the guide wasted so much time at a forceful tea spot, where even a quarrel happened between Lucknow gang and IIT gang. If not for that we would have wasted even more time there. Eventually he got us drenched en route to our room. Muthu hurried past everyone with guide to reach the base camp. I got to know that the guide stopped in a while to have a joint so he had to go alone. I along with a guy who was travelling around for a while where at last amongst our group. He was struggling to walk so I had to keep him company. Thanks to the tough situation, I got the satisfaction for the trek. Muthu was already sleeping in the same room which we had to share with the Doctor – Son duo. I had chai and feasted on the rusks. Got to know that Pakistan won the semifinal match against New Zealand. The IIT guys reached last along with the Seniors I guess.

As it was already late, I couldn’t sleep. Thankfully got warm water to wash myself. That felt liberating. The rains got heavy and we thanked our stars that we took the right decision. Dinner was amazing with Noodles and Shahi Tukda in addition to regular Roti and Daal. Thanks to the DU guy, the night got tripsy.

Day 5 – Sankri to Dehradun

11/10/2022

DU guy, Muthu and I took the first bus to Sankri. It was cold alright but was enjoyable. As my shoes was completely torn, I had to wear slippers. But I managed with it, thanks to higher level of coldness at the top. It was drizzling slightly when we started but nothing post that.

The bus stopped at Purola for breakfast. I finally had Paratha with Aloo Gobi stuffing. It was amazing. Rs. 40 for it felt slightly steep but it reignited the senses in my taste buds so no complaints. I washed it down with a sugary tea. When I asked the DU guy, whether that’s how they make tea in mountains. He said yes, Cheeni Taez. He in fact put a lot of sugar in the tea. Even in the next stop when I asked for strong tea, it was made strong but still it had high sugar content.

Muthu gave a shock at breakfast point that he wanted to leave as soon as he reached Dehradun. He asked why both of us couldn’t leave. But I didn’t want to deviate from the plan and asked him to proceed with it. As the train tickets had dynamic fairing I asked him to take flights directly from Dehradun instead but he took bus to Delhi and flight from there. Some people want to go back home immediately once the trek gets complete. Not sure whether he was of the same category but he had some physical discomfort. Not sure what exactly was that but I didn’t want to prod him more. But if it had really been his plan all the while getting down, at least I could have thought of something else or made up my mind. Anyways no worries as it was all sorted out there.

I watched an amazing, Kingsman: The Secret Service, which changed my mood. For lunch, we had at the same thali place where stopped during onward journey. I wanted to have their Fish Thali but I was full so didn’t have anything. Muthu for the first time felt comfortable I think, he had a satisfying lunch there.

I was wishing the bus would reach late so I could easily talk for a 24 hours room but it reached before 4 PM. We got down, took 5 number Vikram to Railway station. After a lot of hassle got a bad room for Rs. 1200 which didn’t even have a lock or TV. We didn’t want to go for a horrible room like day one but Hotel Krishna Palace too was not worth money.

After quickly freshening up, we took a Vikram to Ghanta Ghar and got down at Kumar Sweet Shop. I remember, how even the previous time, I had snacks at Kumar Sweet Shop and how amazing it was. Muthu bought a lot of sweets. I too felt like buying but as it was mentioned that it wouldn’t last for more than two days, I couldn’t. Everything was tempting there. We had Kesar Rasamalai and Chaat, which was out of the world. Especially I love their ambience. I’d surely have chat there whenever I visit Dehradun, after all there are many treks to go.

We went to Black Pepper Restaurant for mandatory drinks. It was a decent experience but I’d have liked to go all out and sloshed myself out but as he was to take bus the same night and I had to return home, I had to be on my senses. He took an auto to his pickup point and I walked home to room. As I was mighty tired, I dozed off immediately.

Day 6 – A day out in Dehradun

11/11/2022

Unfortunately I got up quite early and couldn’t sleep further. I went and had a chai and a super oily Bread Pakoda. Initially I thought we both would roam around Delhi by keeping our bags in the Cloak Room but I was alone and the price of Cloak Room was equivalent to dormitory, I booked a bed in Delhi Dormitory. After freshening up, I wanted to visit Khalanga War Memorial. I took a Vikram to a Chowk for Rs. 10 and E Rickshaw to Nala Pani for Rs. 20. From there I took an Uber Bike to War Memorial, only to see there was nothing there. I guess if I had walked few steps further, I could have seen the memorial but I was too scared to see such a deserted place so I took the same bike and got down. I tried to visit another temple there but there was nothing.

On return, I took E Rickshaw from there to Kali Mata and then to Ghata ghar, each Rs.10. In the second E Rickshaw he had forgotten that I was there at the back and started waiting for someone. So I had to walk few extra steps to Doon Darbar. Not that I complain, I had to kill some time. I had an average sugarcane juice en route to Doon Darbar and had amazing Romali Roti and Changezi Chicken there. That one food was worth the entire trip.

I went back to room, took a nap, watched 3:10 to Yuma, packed swiftly and went to Uss Da Dhaba for amazing dinner. I thought of eating light but had a hefty dinner, thanks to the pricing. The train arrived well before time and I settled in it. Thankfully everyone slept as soon as the train started. So it was a smooth experience.

Day 7 – The last few hours in Delhi

11/12/2022

The train again reached on time. Thanks to the heavy dinner I was in urgent need to use restroom but I didn’t know the procedure to get to the dorm. Somehow I managed and got my room on time and could use the restroom. Dorm even though was not great was spacious at least. Bathroom could have been better. Plus there was no hot water. Anyways I took bath as it was not very cold.

I wanted to take a bus to Jama Masjid but couldn’t, as it was very confusing. I rather took a rickshaw for Rs. 50 to Al-Jawahar Restaurant. If you’re planning to go there for lunch, better go after 1 PM because they have only breakfast options prior to that. I had a good brunch there, parceled a biryani for night and took another E Rickshaw to Delhi station for Rs. 50. It was my first time in GRAND TRUNK EXP (12616). It started on time at 16.10. I had got a lower birth this time but slept in the upper birth as there were a couple of old ladies in my coupe. I watched a Mustang had a horrible biryani which I had packed earlier, which I couldn’t even finish and slept peacefully.

Day 8 – An irritating day in the train

11/13/2022

By morning, most of the restrooms had clogged. Though my coupe mates got down, the next set of people were with unreserved tickets made the coupe their own. I was happy that at least they had to pay fine. Post breakfast, I watched Escape from Planet Earth which only spoilt my mood further. I took a nap once in a while, couldn’t get juice in Nagpur, settled for horrible Egg Biryani in the afternoon and passed my time. Unfortunately the last of the movie which I had didn’t have subtitle so I couldn’t even watch a movie in the evening. For dinner I got Idly and Vada so I was happy at least in that aspect. I thought I would book some nice online food while returning but as I was alone the day before, I didn’t feel like it.

Day 9 – Return

11/14/2022

There was storm warning and it had rain incessantly the previous week. But thankfully the rain had stopped since the previous day so I didn’t have any problem in commuting back to home. I should have taken the train but I got in the bus. It was crowded alright but to pay for luggage was irritating. Anways, I reached bus stop, had a mandatory Chennai Tea on the way home and thus my trip ended.