Travelogue: A Peak to remember – Pangarchulla

It was the first of the years plan and I’m glad that everything went as per plan. Pangarchulla, for starters is a weird trek. Graded difficult, it’s a short trek of four days, of which three days are nothing but that one day, well, you got to have guts to do that. It’s great that most of us were able to complete but not without hassle. Thankfully all the stars got aligned and we were able have great weather and good views of the mountains nearby.

Before going into the details, let me introduce the trekking group through the way we got introduced to ourselves and was able to remember names. Guess this is the maximum I remembered in such a short span. The game is like, we add an adjective in front of the name. Here it goes

Vendetta Vikram – thought I’d make it easy by associating my name with a movie, but it backfired.

Super Selva – My friend who came to see snow.

Daring Dinesh – a Hyderabad guy who seemed to be a regular at mountains

Memorable Manjul – Senior most trekker with lot of guts

Active Archana – A quiet focused trekker.

Peaceful Priyanka – who has got a nice vibe about her.

Photographer Pooja – the name explains, I’ll borrow what Maneesh said for her, “kya chalti hae yeh ladki”

Adventurous Abhishek – the only thing I remember when I think of this guy is his introduction talk, “two hours of gym and an hour of running”. Looked like a fun fellow.

Victorious Vikas – The one who kept to himself, Abhishek’s buddy.

Dashing Deepak – another quiet trekker.

Adorable Aashita – Just like the adjective before her name J

Sweet Saanika – theater artist, singer, trekker and what not.

Mad Maneesh – Fun person and the entertainer of the gang.

Hungry Hemanth – Fellow mafia.

Visionary Vaibhav – whose visionary skills came to fore during post trek party.

Brilliant Biswa – another fun and energetic trekker.

Day 0 – Chennai Central

4/5/2023

After much deliberation, Selva agreed to come by train but he was hesitant and scared. I started from my home about 7.30 PM and boarded the MRTS from Thiruvanmiyur to Park Town. It was crowded with people leaving from office so I had to stand almost the entire duration with my backpack. I reached Park Town by half an hour and walked to Central, by then I was totally exhausted as it was super humid. Selva came around 9 PM, just like any first time trekker, had huge load of luggage on him. He got dinner and I got coffee from Madras Coffee House and we got on to TAMILNADU EXP (12621). Selva who was still scary about the train journey kept on lamenting about me and got me scared too by the time we slept.

Day 1 – Saul to the company

4/6/2023

I started with Better Call Saul post breakfast of homemade Podi Idly, which had already been on verge of getting spoilt, thanks to summer. Selva’s chapatti too had got hard, even with A2B’s Thakali Thokku, it was difficult to swallow.

Just like any sleeper class train, it was interesting to note various people. This time it was all Hindi speaking people but everyone were watching Varisu and Thunivu, got to know the impact of big stars only then. There was one young chap in the window opposite to me, whom I could immediately sympathize. He was from a far off place, working in interior of Tamil Nadu at a sofa factory. When compared to him, how blessed are we to have got a comfortable job and good living in our hometown so that we could go on trips like these on holidays instead of able to visit family only during these times.

For lunch we had our homemade Tamarind Rice and took a nap. Afternoon was the toughest with sweltering heat. Witnessed a great sunset that evening, which made me look up from my mobile. Better Call Saul was testing my patience.

We had an early dinner, my Tamarind Rice was spoilt, thankfully Selva’s was good, and so we were able to accomplish not eating out in the train during onwards journey. The evening got cooler than I expected and we couldn’t sleep without blankets.

Day 2 – Delhi to Dehradun

4/7/2023

Our train which was running very late, got almost on time and we reached New Delhi Railway Station by 7 AM. Wanted to try bus to Dehradun this time so that we could reach there by day time and take some rest, so as soon as we got down, with our fellow coupe companion, we got to ISBT by sharing Ola auto. It was my first time at Delhi ISBT, it was far neat than I thought. There was a bus readily waiting, in which we got the seats. The tickets were for Rs. 420. I quickly bought breakfast from nearby canteen for both of us.

The bus was reasonably comfortable and I got on to the vibe of it, while continuing to watch the series. We had a horrible coffee, the worst I’ve ever had at a road side dhaba. Don’t know why in the earth I wanted to have coffee there. I generally avoid anywhere outside South India. Thank god we already had breakfast, can’t imagine how the breakfast would’ve been there.

We proceeded with the dusty awful journey post that. The last stretch where a supposed highway was being laid tested our patience. Selva was getting increasingly restless, which made him think, train was far better than this. We finally reached Dehradun ISBT at 4 PM. Had sugarcane juice and skipped lunch.

After quick inquiry, we understood that there’s bus from there to Joshimath at 5.30 AM, so booked a room at a nearby hotel called Hotel Ibis, for Rs. 800. The accommodation was decent. We quickly freshened up and went out. Thought we’d explore the mall opposite to the hotel but the mall didn’t have anything interesting to see, it just took five minutes to go in and out of the mall.

We had a nice dinner at Gulab Restaurant and Sweet Shop. Fried rice, Roti, Mushroom and especially coffee tasted really well. While coming back, we got to know that we left our water bottle there. I understood that Selva too is absent minded like me and decided that going forward we shouldn’t carry anything on hand.

It was all going well till then and while I was packing my bag, I dashed to a setup box stand and hurt my head. Even though it stung, I noticed blood oozing out of it only after sometime. Selva seeing the wound suggested that we go to doctor immediately and get the wound dressed. There wasn’t any doctor available nearby but the medical shop guy dressed up the wound by pouring Sodium Peroxide and some other stinging solution and also gave some tablets. As per Selva’s advice I didn’t take tablets. An eventual day finally came to an end and I had a sound sleep.

Day 3 – Dehradun (430M) to Joshimath (1,890M)

4/8/2023

We woke up at 4 AM and came quite early to the bus stop, around 4.55 AM. Had a tea and were waiting for the bus. But it took a good one hour for the bus to come, which was already full mostly with all the window seats occupied. But we had two seats in first row behind driver available so we chose that. It was comfortable with good leg room, even though with all the twists and turns I was being pushed out of the seat.

The tickets were Rs. 660, which was a shocker to me. I’ve never bought any tickets above Rs. 500 in the hills, especially with that quality of bus. The bus went via Rishikesh. It was tempting to see so many rafting vehicles pass by. This is one of the treks where I could have set the base as Rishikesh rather than Dehradun. After crossing the traffic jam in Rishikesh, it was good roads mostly.

In a while, we stopped for the breakfast at Teen Dhara where we had the usual Aloo Paratha. The weather started becoming hot and the journey started becoming comfortable. It was a pain to watch the series with such bright sun as the screen was hardly visible. We had an immediate stop again at a depot where the bus had to do a mandatory entry. The lime juice was tempting but didn’t want to risk it during the onward journey.

Our fellow passenger told few stories about the route, temples and rivers. Between sleep and sweat, we managed to pass time looking around. The bus halted for a tea place near to Joshimath, where we had Thali in a restaurant called Vikranth. Food was decent. Roads around that area was somewhat bad, but the entire stretch was pretty decent when compared to Sankri/Gangotri routes. We reached Joshimath in about an hour.

It wasn’t difficult to locate our hotel, Jain Guest House. As soon as we got in, we saw couple of folks who were in our bus. We didn’t know that they would be our trek leaders. Apart from them two, there were a couple of other trek leaders and a batch mate too. We got a very comfortable room with hot water shower. Taking bath after three days felt like heaven.

As the others hadn’t come, we stepped out to explore the area. We were advised to go to Narsingh Devta Temple, en route, we stopped for a while for quick chai and snacks, which felt amazing. Thanks to the ambience and laid back atmosphere. We liked the temple too. It was surprising to see the name written in Tamil there. We understood that Kanchi Sankaracharya had been there and that’s why the Tamil affinity.

By the time we had come back, the rest of the group had come and we had a short briefing. Most of the people looked fun and everyone’s aim were to reach the summit. Overall it felt like a friendly group. One person who caught my attention was Saanika, her bio was exactly similar to that of one of my co trekkers, during Kedartal trek, with whom I had amazing rapport. Never had I connected so much with someone, especially a stranger during the trek. We were sitting and talking till 11 PM on the very first day we met. So I thought, what if it may be a repeat. Of course it was over expectation and we didn’t have that much of a connect.

Post briefing we had dinner in a small dhaba where we had Roti Thali. It’s a bummer that food was not arranged till lunch the next day. Every trek organization would start with food option right from the day we reach the base camp. So it was a surprise that it wasn’t handled that way. When you have food by the group, one would feel a lot more assured of the hygiene. It’s one thing that Bikat needs to take care in future.

Day 4 – Joshimath (1,890M) to Dhak (2,090M) to Guling (2,857M)

4/9/2023

We were woken up by the annoying room boy asking whether we’d like to have tea. We had one of the worst teas ever for Rs. 20, clearly overcharged, thanks to his wickedness. That person was annoying right from the word go. For anyone asking for source of water, he was recommending to buy Bisleri. Seriously, Bisleri in mountains? This tea didn’t feel like it was for any charge, I thought it was part of the event as generally tea would be given during any trek.

Anyways the bad mood didn’t last long as we went around Kalpavriksha (India’s oldest living tree) to explore the other parts of Joshimath. We had an amazing Aloo Paratha for breakfast, where we inquired about return bus.

We started off from there quite late, around 9 AM, by car to Dhak. From there we started to Guling. It was hot and we didn’t need any layering. To be honest, it was not at all a trek. Even though there was ascent, it was short and we took a lot of long breaks. Within no time we reached the camp site.

After quick cool down and lunch, we (Hemath, Nitin, Paras, Selva and I) played cricket for a while with a makeshift bat out of tree branches. Felt great as I was in good touch. When I last played for my office, on the very first ball I got caught at the boundary in first match and in second match I was given out by a ball which didn’t touch my bat. In the final, naturally, I was not given a chance to bat. If only the first ball went just a foot extra and had become a six, it would have been a totally different story. Anyways let bygone bygones.

Post breaking a couple of bats, we were taken out for an acclimatization walk. It was getting overcast and it drizzled for a few minutes but nothing major. The place where we walked to, was darn cold. After clicking few pictures we returned back and played Mafia till dinner. It was getting increasingly cold, plus, as we had the tent doors open during the game, and Selva and I were at the corners directly exposed to cold, we felt a lot colder. Selva was visibly suffering. The game went great though, it was the first time I was playing mafia.

After getting hot water, we finally settled in the tent. In some time, Selva complained about chest pain, which got me scared. I called up for Lama, who along with Nitin and Raunak came to our tent to check on him. Raunak told, the pain could have been due to bag strap. Selva slept without any complaints post that.

Day 5 – Guling (2857 M) to Khulara (3390 M)

4/10/2023

It was a relaxed routine on the second day of the trek too. But we were asked to vacate tents early so the porters could setup a good place for the day, as water source was far off. We had Bread and Egg Burji for breakfast and the walking routine was similar to the previous day. May be slightly harder, longer and with more long breaks, thanks to the groups’ new found craze for dumb charades. Another good thing was, we started witnessing patches of snow, right from the time we started the day’s trek, which got Selva excited.

We reached that day’s destination by lunch time and had a good lunch. The Khulara campsite was terrific with open field. There was already a cricket pitch setup and a group playing Frisbee. But the situation in the campsite was tense, owing to the next day’s summit push.

There were no games that day. Post tea we were given crampons, micro spikes and helmets. Everyone paid rapt attention to the instructions by trek leader. We were then taken to an acclimatization walk. We were given soup, along with instructions for the next day. In all honesty, it was scary as they were saying so much about the summit and how it was going to be difficult. We were told to get up at 12 AM and start by 2 AM, which meant little to no sleep. We had dinner at 7 PM and dozed off but we hardly had any sleep as the dogs were continuously barking very close to our tent.

Day 6 – Khulara (3,390M) to Pangarchulla (4,590M) and back to Khulara (3,390M)

4/11/2023

Even though I’ve trekked a few times in Himalayas, it’s only my second peak trek. My last trek, Kedarkantha, was my first summit trek and my first experience of waking up before sunrise for summit. It was 2’o clock last time but here it was 12 PM, so it was technically the next day just for namesake. But just like the previous summit, or may be any event for that matter, it’s the occasion leading to it which is tense than the actual occasion. So once I got up around 11.50 PM, things started to take shape on its own.

Freshening up was out of question, but the cold was not as horrible as I thought, plus it was the first trek post my debut trek in Dalhousie where I was wearing a thermal and trekking. Nitin gave a good idea to wear thermal on top of dry fit t-shirt. For people like me who profusely sweat, it’s a good option. I took Selva’s bag as I couldn’t keep camera inside mine. And it’s not a good idea to have sling bang I thought, rightly so. We wore the helmet and crampons and got ready for the trek.

After struggling to have channa for breakfast and stuffing our bag with chocolates, fruits and energy drinks, we started off for the summit at 2 AM. Selva and I were at the last. The first thing to do on a long day is to not hurry, the second is to take less breaks. We were able to do the first step automatically but for some reason, Selva started panting in a short while. I could sense that he was not comfortable. We tried to carry on for the next one hour in the same fashion but after a point he told that he’d give up. Thankfully he was with Nitin, who told he’d take him back. Priyanka and Vaibhav who were behind us also had taken the decision to return.

Now I had to catch up with the next person, who was Archana. She was walking along quietly just like the previous couple of days. She too was feeling short of breath but I was not sure whether it was just for the day or it was her nature. I tried to talk and walk with her but guess she was getting tired. She wanted to quit, I suggested having ORS and walking. Lama, who was there too tried to motivate her. He asked me to proceed in front. So I now had to touch my next target, Manjul mam. Seriously she was the most impressive trekker for me in the group, she walked at a brisk pace with such finesse. Dinesh too was there I guess. I believe Archana returned back at the stroke of sunrise, from Mini Pangarchulla.

With sunrise comes confidence and Pangarchulla peak too was visible, that added to the confidence. I was less energetic than I thought and started taking chocolates, energy drink etc. which I don’t take usually. It was zombie walk post then but at one specific point with snow around, it felt as if I was in different world, it felt like a scene from the movie Stalker. For me, easily that was the best scenery of the trek.

I met the rest of the group at the base of Pangarchulla, where we were asked to wear micro spikes. It was a grueling ascent for a couple of hours to the peak. Micro spikes worked like a charm. Felt very confident with it. After huffing and puffing I finally reached the peak. I was immensely satisfied. There was no elation but a mental first pump. Got a couple of good photos too, thanks to Lama and Pooja. The views were fantastic and it was three sixty degree. But the satisfaction is completion, not anything else.

It was a nice group, ours. Not over enthusiastic folks who would stay at the top for one hour. At most, everyone were there for few minutes and together we’d have stayed around half an hour at top and we came back. Thanks to the Haldiram’s Soan Papdi at the top by Debu, it felt heavenly.

It was a grueling decent post that. Generally I always buy shoes a size plus but this time I bought correct sized shoe. Not sure whether it was due to that or not but my toe fingers were bearing the brunt. Whenever I’m in any sort of pain during the trek, I remember an advice given to me by my fellow sami during Sabarimalai pilgrimage. I had run through a stone during then and I was trying how to remove it. He told not to look at that and scrutinize till going home. I took that advice to heart. Because trying to solve an unsolvable problem mid trek would only lead to more problems.

We took lot of breaks, I emptied every available food in the bag, along with horrible lunch and another round of Soan Papdi. There was a certain stretch I walked along with Aashita, easily my favorite trekker of the group, who was just like the adjective she added her name to, adorable. Best thing about her was she told she had pain in knees, her shoes were not comfortable, and headache etc. but her expressions was just plain. She had a poker face, but a nice one.

Finally around 2 PM we reached down. Saw Selva and Nitin first. It was good to see Selva in one piece and not depressed about not being able to do the summit. It takes a certain bit of courage to even accept that we couldn’t do something and be normal about it. I thought I’d right away go to the tent and crash but may be because of completion I felt good and was able to mingle with others.

We had tea and I crashed for some time, woke up with bad headache. I’d ideally have not slept in the afternoon. Short naps never work when you’re that tired. But I had to, as there was nothing else to do. People were playing dumb charades during soup, which I also joined for some time. In short time we got dinner, which was fantastic but everyone were tired and couldn’t relish as much as we thought we could. Post that, I had the best of the sleep of the trek, yet.

Day 7– Khulara (3,390M) to Dhak (2,090M) to Joshimath (1,890M)

4/12/2023

As the summit was over, everyone were in a relaxed mode that day. We had a lazy start around 9 AM and took to the descent. Nitin was playing great music throughout and we were having conversation about his south trip to Kodaikanal and what else he could’ve done further there. Also I was talking with Priyanka for a while.

We took less breaks that day but my fingers were hurting like hell. After the ‘Last Maggie Point’, when we thought that we had almost reached the end of trek, we walked a lot more, which was annoying. The weather was getting hot too so with sweat, the pain felt lot more difficult. But thankfully we reached the end of trek and got on the first car to our room.

The only thing running on my mind was taking bath but as we reached our room we got to know that there was no power. We had a short briefing before we dispersed to our rooms. Even though I waited for a while, the power didn’t come and I had to take a nap before bath. Once up, warm water felt like heaven. It always does, especially post trek.

I thought of having non veg on reaching Dehradun but Selva was hell bent on having it there. We first went to a tea shop, had amazing samosa and chai and then went to Bawarchi restaurant as per the advice of our guides. Food indeed was amazing. We had Roti, Egg Curry, Momo and Chicken Fried Rice. It felt as if our taste buds got the real sense of its pleasure there.

There was a huge party going on when we returned but thanks to bad cold, I couldn’t participate.
Visionary Vaibhav was in full flow there. As our room was just opposite to common area we could hear a lot while packing our bags. Guess it went for long. We slept by the time they went for dinner.

Day 8 – Joshimath (1,890M) to Dehradun (430M)

4/13/2023

Our day started early at 4 AM. We were told that buses start as early at 5 AM to Dehradun. When we came out of the stop, the local bus drivers told that there were no buses to Dehradun and we had to take Rishikesh bus starting at 4 AM. Take few steps, the same private bus guys had a bus which would go to Dehradun after some time but we reached a tea spot and got to our government bus. Private bus looked a lot tidier and Selva wanted to go by that, but with my past experience, I knew how late those private buses could take.

As it was bus coming from Auli, we again didn’t get window seats but the good thing about starting early is that, by the time sun rises we’d have covered a good amount of distance. We skipped breakfast that day and opted for just bun and lime juice in that depot we spotted during our onwards journey. The sweet and salt lime juice in fact was terrific.

We reached Dehradun by 2.30 PM, which was much early than what we thought. We got down at Prince Chowk and walked to Doon Darbar for lunch. The orders were obvious. Romali Roti, Roti, Chicken Biryani and Chicken Changezi. Generally I don’t visit same restaurant twice, even if I do I don’t repeat the same orders but the Chicken Changezi there was to die for. Last time I had with Romali Roti and this time with plain Roti. The roti was like Pakistan style, which complemented Changezi even better.

We checked in to our GMVN Hotel, Drona which reminded me of our Tirupati stays. Rs. 700 for the room was a good bet. The room was old but spacious with balcony and all. The hotel premises too was good with a great bar, even though we didn’t visit it.

Selva dozed off right away and I did after a good hot water bath. That was the best afternoon nap or may be the best sleep of the entire trip. I didn’t feel like going out at all. We were discussing our family issues and finally went out to Gulab Bar were we could have our drink in absolute peace. But maybe I was too tired that day, I absolutely couldn’t get high.

Due to heavy lunch I didn’t feel like having dinner, so didn’t have anything at the bar. We gobbled up an amazing Gulab Jamun, Beef Seekh Kebab, Beef Liver and Moradabadi Biryani en route to our home. Last time I wanted to try that biryani but we were short of time so couldn’t. The biryani was amazing. Went to sleep totally satisfied after tasting that.

Day 9 – Shopping in Sahastradhara

4/14/2023

Our plan for the day was to check out the room, keep the bag there and go to a place where we can spend the whole day. I had a list but chose only Sahastradhara out of it. We again had Moradabadi Biryani along with Hyderabadi Biryani. Hyderabadi Biryani was more masalified, I preferred Moradabadi to it, and our brunch was well done.

We walked from there to Parade Ground to take bus to Sahastradhara. Selva had a heavy Mango juice with ice cream and I had orange juice to quench our thirst. I also was able to put phone cover to my mobile after some adjustment. The bus was a crazy one, which itself was an experience. Say what may, taking flights and cabs to treks is not travel at all. That was! And it was a wholesome experience.

We took the ropeway to the park on top of Sahastradhara where we got some shade to rest. We killed some time there and came down and had Pani Puri. Selva spotted a superb gift shop where we spent a lot of time. It’s not easy to make me buy something, when even I bought a huge furniture to take back home, you should understand that the shop must be something.

The bathing area, even though shabby looked like fun. I forgot to take spare costume, otherwise I’d have loved to take a dip there. We again took the same bus to Parade Ground and went straight to Kumar Sweet Shop, another regular shop for me at Dehradun. This time it felt a little underwhelming for me as I was much hyped. But I got sweets to take back home, which they loved though.

I was not much hungry so we parceled quarter Muradabadi Biryani for Selva. We waited for some time at the hotel reception, got our bags and took an auto on compulsion to the railway station, thanks to our luggage. We settled quickly in the train, our regular MUSSORIE EXP (14042), it was a disturbed sleep for me because of an over enthusiastic mom and daughter but it was okay, it’s always a pleasure to see happy people.

Day 10 – A Day Out in Dilli

4/15/2023

We got down at Old Delhi Railway Station around 7.30 AM. It took a good one and a half hours to get to dormitory because the person in charge of allocating the room was not available. Even though we book in advance, it’s a pain to stand there and get a written chit from them. But this time the room was more spacious than the previous one and I was better prepared for storing the luggage as I had a lock with me. The wardrobe too was big enough to hold my rucksack so the experience was lot pleasant.

After freshening up we went to Giani’s Di Hatti for Chole Bhature and Falooda. We also had Chole Chawal there. Seriously Delhi’s Chole Bhature is to die for, plus we get amazing views there, if you know what I mean. We were not sure what to do next, Selva suggested to go back to dorm. It was indeed a good decision. He slept for a good four hours and me for an hour and got rich by a couple of episodes of Better Call Saul.

Around 4 PM we started off to Jama Masjid for our food tour. Selva was crazy excited with the rickshaw experience. As we got down near Chor Bazaar we had to wade our way past crazy sellers to the actual food street (the one opposite to Gate number 1). We first had our rose milk fix or in their words, Mohabat Sharbat in Sharbat E Mohabat, opposite to Aslam Chicken. We went to check out Jama Masjid, thanks to Ramzan eve, it was crazy crowded, not sure it’d be like that even otherwise, but the place had a nice vibe to it. Only problem was we couldn’t spend much time there. We came out by 5 PM and went to Haji Mohd. Hussain. My initial plan was to have butter chicken from Aslam Chicken but thanks to the grandpa out there, I decided to go with Haji Mohd. Hussain. We had Fried Chicken and Fish along with Romali Roti there. Fish was a surprise hit. But didn’t like chicken as much as I thought I’d.

Selva got a big bag to pack all his stuff and it fitted like a tee. During return I wanted to try the sharbat but it was crazy cold, which got me scary so I couldn’t have it fully. We took an e-rickshaw from there to Old Delhi station for Rs. 50.

Back in the dorm we quickly packed our bags and got on another rickshaw to New Delhi Station but thanks to our luggage we were charged Rs. 200 but it was one of the days where I felt we weren’t overcharged. It was a crazy experience to hold the luggage and go till there. The driver seemed to be nice guy who helped someone push the vehicle en route and even while asking money, he was humble.

To take the luggage from the gate to platform was a huge challenge. Thankfully TAMILNADU EXP (12622) was in a much closer platform. Even though we had to take the stairs, it was not a long walk as we opted to get down at Paharganj side instead of Ajmeri Gate side. Indeed, it was a good decision. The train was very comfortable. We settled our luggage and went to sleep immediately.

Day 11 – Saul to the company, again

4/16/2023

My only target for the day was to finish the third season of Better Call Saul, so I was totally glued to my mobile screen. We had a horrible Egg Biryani and Orange juice for breakfast from Nagpur. We ordered lunch from the pamphlet which was given during our onward journey. There was little chaos as he overcharged. Initially we asked him to take back the order and bought an Egg and Veg meal from outside. But another guy came back and apologized and gave us our order for right price. So we had too much stuff to eat, which we spread for dinner too and also donated to a fellow passenger. Still we couldn’t complete everything and had to throw off one meal.

That probably was the only event of the day, on an otherwise Mexican standoff for the middle birth, between me and next guy who didn’t want to keep his bag down. I had a good night’s sleep and reached home on time the next day.