Tehzeeb-E-Kashmiri – trekking through the valley of Warwan, life along the waterfalls

'''On earth, there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it, and Kashmir is one of them. "– Unknown

There are things in life you hope one must never experience. Heartbreak is one of them. Javed Akhtar in his last speech as Rajya Sabha M.P. said, intelligent people learn from the experiences of their own, but knowledgeable ones learns the same from others. I could never demand to be called as intelligent, but I do read and listen a lot. I guess that makes me opportunistically knowledgeable. There are aspects of life I have no clue about, but I am disinterested in them as I have seen others suffer in it or, for it. Mostly that ‘others’ is one person, i.e. Arnab.

Anyhow, lets come back to the main topic, Arnab had a heartbreak and therapy didn’t work. He tried medical professionals, spiritual guidance (in form of Vipassana), but all worked only partially. So, we decided to visit the greatest medical expert for a solution – the mountains. As fortune will have it, we choose Kashmir. This was my second Kashmir visit post Great Lakes trek and Arnab’s third one. I decided on Warwan Valley, the rest was planned by him. I did reach out to a few friends to ask them to join, only Sankha agreed. It was my second trek with both Arnab and Sankha, with Arnab after 2 years and with Sankha after almost 6.5 years.

Warwan Valley came into my radar back in 2022, during my Kang Yatse 2 trek in Ladakh. I am yet to write on that experience, it may take a few more years. One of my trek mates in KY2 Anjali, had just completed Warwan with India hikes, she gave rave reviews of it. I don’t travel with nature-dacoits. Hence, I waited for one more year till Bikat Adventures started arranging treks to Warwan. It was July 2023, just as it was with KGL in July 2021. After two years I was planning another trek in Kashmir. Samit called me a lunatic, he feels I am not in love with Kashmir, I am its stalker. I rebutted saying this is only the second time, I may be an incompetent stalker then that makes Arnab a predatory one. I guess he is plain jealous.

Travelling with Sankha and Arnab is a crazy cocktail. Both has such different amusing and frustrating personalities; you add me to this mix – and what we get is pure disasters. I will mention a few of these disasters as I write along. But, before diving into all of these, I want to mention a song first introduced to our group by Arnab -

 “Sahibooo…

Ba-ha chaani maayey. Emi taap-a kraayey. Zaayyi kornas hooo.

Sahibo."

Kashmir tourism in this song gives us an idea about the Tehzeeb (culture) of this place. The picturization of this song elaborates how guests are treated here, even by people to whom they are not financially transacting. Which makes the visitor sing, ‘Your (Kashmir’s) love is like the strong sunshine. (It) has wasted me.’ I didn’t witness much of this Tehzeeb in Srinagar though. I guess progress kills the soul of a society everywhere and Kashmir is no exception to this. But what we call progress is only in terms of concrete evolution and transport benefits. Real progress of human hearts lies in simplicity. Which we felt in the villages of Sukhnai and Gumri and during our walking days from our local guide Saddam bhai. The Tehzeeb there was in ample display, and it fascinated me beyond my imagination. I started wondering was this what all of humanity was – before we became progressive? If that is the case did, did we (actually) progress as a society?

With Bikat Adventures this time, we were a group of 12 individuals. We once again had Vijay Bisht as our trek leader. This was my third trek with him (after KGL and Goechala). Other members were – <Anupama, Shruti, Rashmi, Rajesh, TK Jayakumar, Hari> from Bangalore, <Arka, Deboday> natives of West Bengal working in Bangalore, <Chetan> working in Bangalore, probably from somewhere in central India (he really didn’t interact much) and us three friends. This was my ninth trek, the most all-encompassing one till date.

IMPORTANT: Most of the pictures added here are clicked by Arnab Dutta and are copyright protected. Don't reuse them without proper permission.

THE JOURNEY

DAY -1: [KOLKATA - NEW DELHI – SRINAGAR (5,200 ft.)] – 28th July 2023(Friday)

Post KGL experience with Air Asia, I have stuck to Indigo/Air India religiously while flight booking. This time around we got an Air India flight from Kolkata to Srinagar with only having an hour of layover in New Delhi, I was delighted.

It was an early morning flight from Kolkata at around 6 AM, Arnab and I were at the Airport by midnight almost, as getting a cab at early morning in Kolkata can become a nightmare sometimes and, on that night, it was slightly raining which made things even trickier. Sankha was coming from Bangalore. He reached Srinagar some 1.5 hrs. before us. At Srinagar Airport we were joined by Anupama and Shruti. Arnab’s ability to make friends on the fly is truly amazing.

At about 2 PM we were at Srinagar Airport. None of the girls had any postpaid mobile connections. Hence finding them at the Airport took some effort. Arnab almost sniffed them out of the crowd; heartbreak seemed to have mended, however it only ‘seemed’ so. The true mend comes much later in this story, with a lot of added masalas. By 2:30 PM we boarded a bus from Srinagar to Dal Lake. Let’s not go into the details of how we were seated during the journey, it was not satisfying to our legs that’s all I would say. From Dal Lake we had find some mode of transport till Nishat Bagh, close to which our stay Zostel is located. I got an auto driver down to Rs 250/- meanwhile Sankha managed to convince another on Rs 400/-. The auto-drivers conversed among themselves and settled on Rs 500/- for both, given we were five people with rucksacks. As things happens when Sankha is involved, we had to let them both down. Sankha became furious with me, as he went ahead and arranged something when told not to do so. Obviously, it was my fault.

We got a shared car which charged us Rs 30/- each to drop us near Nishat Bagh. This was the first time for Arnab and Sankha in Zostel and my second time. Both were pleased with the ambience and food. So later part of the day went well.

The four of them - my friends and the girls went to the Nishat Bagh on the evening for an evening stroll. I vehemently objected to this idea as I wanted to sleep in. Hence, I was left behind. Nishat Bagh is the 2nd largest Mughal Garden in the Kashmir, on the eastern side of the Dal Lake. It means the "Garden of Delight" and was built in 1633 by Asif Khan (father-in-law of Shah Jahan), elder brother of Nur Jahan. Its backdrop hosts the marvelous Zabarwan Mountains. I would have written more about it if I visited it myself. Which I doubt will be the case even the next time.

‘Tomorrow’ was supposed to be easy, but as luck would have it, we had the ‘Sankha syndrome’ to consider. Let’s talk about that tomorrow.

DAY - 2: [SRINAGAR - PANIKHAR (10,700 ft.)] – 29th July 2023(Saturday) ~265KMs

Our pick-up for today from Srinagar to Panikhar was arranged by Bikat Adventures, with additional pay, off course. The pickup location was near Dal Lake. Nearby which all other participants stayed, we five being the exception. When I woke up it was 7.30 AM, the pick was at 8 AM. Arnab decided 8:10 is a good time to have breakfast which we must have. 8:20 AM is an even better time for his second bathroom visit. Sankha at 7:45 thought breakfast was unnecessary, at 8:15 he made it mandatory. I have to say here I was cursing myself, we three seemed like the trio of George, Harris, and Jerome – I like to think myself as Jerome, with Sankha switching between George and Montmorency. Our George was trying to repeatedly convince the Bikat organizers that we are late due to life threatening situations, but voice was giving him up. They were unconvinced. So, Sankha did what Sankha could, he turned into Montmorency and started shouting at me. I was feeling sleepy again. The

intelligent girls were already gone, in a very timely manner. I said earlier I am not intelligent. When we finally reached our Kingston (Dal Lake stand) it was 9:15 AM. The new faces we saw were silent, observant, and darkened. Just like the weather before the storm. Montmorency said, Jerome was reaaaally sick. Hence him and Harris had to take care of him/me, which made us late. I do look sickly. Hence the lie was convincing enough. The travelers’ cars were there, we started immediately for Oxford (bull, Panikhar). And for the first time, George entered the state of ‘Sankha syndrome’.

It takes around 3 hours of drive to reach Sonmarg from Srinagar. In the drive the most picturesque section comes in between Ganderbal to Sindh River, with paddy fields decorating on the either side of road, willow and poplar trees lining up. The whole journey should have been 9-10 hrs. long covering almost 265 KM. That was not the case for us though.

At Sonmarg, Vijay boarded the car, he was directly joining us after completing another trek (most probably KGL). It was confusing to see a ‘Vijay without his long curls’. I only thing that came out of my mouth seeing him was ‘Yeh kya hua/Kaise hua/Kab hua’. We came to know the reason was long duration treks in Nepal, which caused him going bathless for almost 3 weeks at a time, which makes maintaining hair difficult. From Sonmarg to Zogila, we drove through multiple switchbacks, an entire valley and pass. Finally, we were at Kargil, after crossing Dras. Here the ‘fun’ began.

Right at the Kargil entrance, Arko and Chetan boarded our car, they were coming directly from Ladakh after completing their Markha Valley trek. They informed us, all the remaining route has a majority Shia Muslim population. Today being Muharram, be ready for a crowd filled route.

We had to drive via alternative paths, stop at police nakas, take U-turns, and find more trickier, emptier, lengthier roads to march ahead. Till the daylight was there, the crowd was all male. Once light got out, now it was the females’ turn to shout ‘Hai Hasan, Hai Hossein’ and beat their chest with hands. In front of the female crowd, the local custom is – the car must be stopped, engine killed, front and rear lights switched off and just wait silently till the marching possession leaves out walking slow, and the distance is at least about 300-400 meters. We had to go through about 5-6 such marching possessions.

Post entering Kargil, on our right-hand side was the flowing Suru nallah indicating Suru Valley is not far along. Due to the day’s events, it did feel far though. I seemed to think Suru nallah is dispersing into smaller streams, post almost 2hrs. from entering Kargil. Right then Vijay said, we have reached Suru valley. He pointed at the Mt Nun (7,135M) & Mt Kun (7,077M) welcoming us with their white caps soon. Arnab may have taken some pictures; I was really not interested trying to find beauty in this dark. Mount Nun is the highest peak in the Zanskar Valley though.

We were late, but still at the homestay in Panikhar at around 9:30 PM. It felt to be a secluded one. The homestay owners and staffs were super nice and friendly, we had the whole next day to explore the village. Hence it felt judicious to just take dinner and go to sleep. Bikat gave us a triple sharing room, after promising in their website to have the whole stay in twin sharing basis. But I expected as much from them, so was not surprised. The only catch was – Sankha was not talking at all. When Arnab asked, I just said let him be, one should not poke a bear in search of a flashlight. Especially when the bear is from north pole. That was the day for us.

Before I move towards the tale for our next days. Let’s have a brief idea about what our route was: Panikhar – Denora – Kalapari – Lomvilad Pass/Ghansla Pass – Kaintal – Humpet – Sukhnai – Gumri.

DAY - 3: [Acclimatization Day in PANIKHAR (10,700 ft.)] – 30th July 2023(Sunday) ~0 KMs

As a village Panikhar is very small in size. It is basically a collection of a few houses in Zanskari tradition, i.e. each house is usually double-storeyed with large windows and small balconies. There are barns below the sloping roofs of each house. The homestay – Hotel Khayoul, where we were staying had a great caretaker. He told us, all the houses here, have their own farming field where the folks grow their produce. Hence, none of the houses we saw were clustered with each other.

Due to harsh weather conditions during winter, the locals have no vegetables growing from December to May. They mostly depend on meat during this time. During summer, they harvest crops of Aloo, Peas, and Wheat. The barn of each house is usually the space kept for storing hay and there is also a bunker system for storing vegetables for winter.

By 10 AM, the team was out and about on the village trail. We were enjoying exploring the village with Vijay as our guide. Acclimatization walks are something Bikat is very serious about. Vijay made us walk about 6 KMs that day. We went towards the Suru nallah, where a steel bridge with wooden base connects the village to the land outside, crossing over the water flow. We hiked some 100 meters over a narrow trail and came back for lunch. Post lunch and some rest we started again, this time towards the side of village which was crowded with shrubs and is actually a large section of burial grounds.

I was surprised to know that these burial ground host very old tombs of foreigners who died as long ago as 1896. My understanding of Kashmir was, it being governed by Rajas and Sultans during the British occupation of India – post Mughal period, it was only post Indian Independence any non-local roamed around these places. Especially to somewhere as secluded as Panikhar. I was wrong obviously; these tombs are proof of the very fact that British India had cordial relations with the in-charges of Kashmir. Hence, even then British youth had a reason to come down and die out here.

At the space around Khayoul’s stay - kids were playing cricket, losing the ball in the nearby bushes and trying to find it like a needle in the haystack.

There was a very small kid who had yet no taken his first steps – he was the ever enthusiastic participant in throwing a ball while latching from his mother’s chest.

 “Sahibo

kyah kar cze ros ba. Yath lola naaye. Zaayyi kornas hooo.

Sahibo...”

(What do I do, without you. With this boat of love. (It) has wasted me.)

Not sure if Kashmir is really heaven, but the kids here is surely godly. Another fact I gathered while talking to our caretaker is that people in Panikhar consider themselves Ladakhi, and they despise Kashmiri folks. Strange thing this, most hatred in humanity is generally stored for the people who live nearby to us. Where, love would have been the most welcoming gesture. The caretaker informed us they are happy now due to the renewed enthusiasm of tourists for Kashmir. It means more earning opportunities for the local and less troubles from the authorities. I understood where the conversation was going. Hence, didn’t linger much there. Anyhow it was slowing becoming very dark outside, time was to go for evening snacks and have an ice breaking session with the group.

The next day was supposed to be the first challenging day of this trek. Sankha was still in his muted avatar. Arnab kept video recording every part of the village, as if he was planning to launch a military offensive here soon. The day was done for all count.

DAY - 4: [PANIKHAR – DENORA (12,375 ft.)] – 31st July 2023(Monday) ~7 KMs

I am a weird animal. Physically ambiguous and lethargic creature. I say this observing that my energy levels are usually high when I am tired. So, as fate would have it, on the first few days of any trek, I am really slow. Overall, I am a slow trekker, but it escalates during the first couple of days even more. That is where Arnab comes in. He is a suicidal trekker, which means he practices like two pennies and performs like a thousand Takas. He treks like a seasoned professional during the initial days. But as the trek goes along – he get to submerged within the route and capturing the pics and videos, that even life risk seems smaller to him. During all this time Sankha decided to enter his fortress of solitude, he will not talk.

Bible says, life is three and a half score, that roughly translates to 70 years. That means we are entering the very middle portion of our life. It suffices to say all there are suffering from mid-life crisis. Sankha may be more than others. His mood changes are difficult to predict, even tougher to bear. So, I leave him alone, during this time to sort himself out. Arnab is new to this; he is trained in the way of thinking about other’s feeling and all those craps. So, it took time for him to understand or, at least adapt. In the meantime, his mobile was always on, recording whatever.

At 8 AM we were almost ready to begin. Vijay started a group session for warm up and stretching. He must be the best trek leader I will ever encounter. Irrespective of the trek, the number of first time trekker and whatever anyone claims – he will always repeat the basic instructions – everyone should carry 1 liter of water – keep drinking and fill wherever we find a clean stream, walk slow but steady, leave to trace, always let the mules cross first, rest on the mountain side of the trail, inform others if mule are coming, how to hold the trekking pole correctly and most importantly never cross the local guide who will be walking in front of everyone.

Now the discussion began on what we should fix as our war cry for this trek and the responses were colorful enough. Sankha broke his silence for 10 seconds and said – ‘I have never been to a war’. But I thought he does cry a lot, so he has about 50% of this covered. Arko wanted – ‘Jay Bhavani jay Shivani’. Vijay thought he was missing some Shivani, but apparently this is what Arko was taught during his schooling in Maharashtra. I am pretty sure now that he made a mistake while saying it, and didn’t want to accept it, so made up this story. But, at the time I was still getting to know our trek mates. So, I was rather worried about Maharashtra’s education system, given Sivaji did hail from there. Arnab only watches movies for which reels are famous (pun intended). So, he went with ‘how’s the josh’. Seemed political may be as people didn’t really respond to it. We had a few fellow Hollywood fans (read Deboday) who wanted ‘This is Warwan’ (copying this is Sparta). Then ‘last mein jo ata he wohi aya’ (according to Vijay, every group picks this same shout eventually) – as we agreed with Shruti to say ‘Har-Har Mahadev’.

The first four hours of trek today was through the Ladakh setting at our backdrop. The trails were narrow, filled with boulders and some occasional stream crossings. At the beginning we walked along the pitch road of Panikhar to the market, then continued past the sub-post office on our left. The last part of the village was filled with sheep husbandries.

We crossed the Panikhar Nala (or, Chalong Nala) once again. We came here yesterday too for acclimatization walk. Post crossing the Nala we continued left following the river upstream. This is when gradually the dirt trek with four-wheelers vanishes as we encounter the local authorities’ check post.

What follows today is, a gradual climb through the layers of barren mountains, remember I said Ladakh settings. As we navigate our path silently as we were still new to each other, it is important to mention here that we three friends were at the very back. Sankha and I due to our speed and Arnab due to a global phenomenon that is witnessed in the majority of teenagers in today’s world – described in one word as ‘Purki’. All along the way till now on our right was the milky white river - Chalong Nar/Nala gradually going towards its confluence with Suru. Today this river accompanied us for the whole day.

Around 2.5 hrs. into our trek we came across the first group of Bakarwal settlements. Bakarwals are a nomadic ethnic group of people in these regions. An older gentlemen there asked Anupama for some spare medicines. She was willing to give some, but Vijay prohibited her. He later explained they store these medicines for years and may take these once they expire. This may be harmful for them. Govt. arranges mobile medical camps for them, or they can travel to the nearest fixed settlements for medicine is they issue is not too severe. Hence, the travelling people are discouraged by the authorities from sharing their medicine with them. To keep them safe and developing a habit of visiting the nearest village.

Locally the meadow are called Doksa. These Doksas are lush green with streams and brooks running across it. We took rest for about 30 minutes in one such places. Once the narrow trail enters a wide clearing, they path gets filled with wide curves. Continuing some 1.5 hrs. in such place we glimpsed the two intersecting valleys up ahead. At clock it was showed 1:15 PM and it was time for our lunch break.

Post lunch we walked some 30 minutes to enter the delta region of Denora. But the trek was still not over. There was a sudden climb to the top and cross over a speedy stream. It was a little too much for the first day. I jumped over the boulder a couple of times to cross the stream; Arnab was recording hence slow and took many steps within the colder ice like water to cross it. He got really annoyed suddenly stating nobody cares enough to take his videos while he does interesting things. This felt time left over feelings from the – ‘heart mend conundrum’. Hence, post this day I had to take special notice. Sankha was lost.

Another 20 minutes of walk took us near to a gushing river which beckoned a wide river basin over a flat plain. Here in lies a mystery of nature.

The river here splits, distributes, forks, rejoins, and does this multiple times over the basin. And in between these splits and forks are grassy meadows. Vijay said this is Denora – the confluence of two rivers. Up ahead, the confluence was clearly visible. Everyone was there except Sankha it was 3:15 PM.

By the time we set up camp in the grassy knolls (small hill) of Denora (or, locally called Sumdo) Saddam bhai was coming back with Sankha. Everything was alright. He was just wishfully tiptoeing. Hence late. At least that was the official version. I knew to original one. As I know Sankha for about 15 years now. But this was still not the time to spill facts. And not that he will agree to what I had to say, so I stayed quiet.

Following cool down exercise, it was time for UNO. It is a useless game which they make you play during trek. I hate it, but to keep up the ‘Jazba’ of the worthless society I keep my acting hat on.

Tomorrow was supposed to be an easier day – more distance, lesser time. Today was done almost. At night I heard some strange sounds. On enquiry Vijay said they are Marmots. I was excited for tomorrow to visit the Marmot kingdom.

DAY - 5: [DENORA – KALAPARI (12,850 ft.)] – 1st August 2023(Tuesday) ~8 KMs

Let’s talk about three generic people today. Let’s assume they are male. These are hypothetical characters with no relation to any actual once. For ease of reference let’s call them - Tizio, Caio and Sempronio. Tizio is an ordinary man of simple taste. He likes Joseline.

Jose likes to be adored or, at least Caio thinks so. Caio does have to tools to impress. Though he invests himself on the surface level only. Then there is Sempronio, the mechanic, the one with actual tools. But those tools are lost, along with some scarcely thrown out nuts and bolts. He has occasional separatism. Then occasional joyfulness. Or, both at the same time.

Ditching Tizio, Jose daydreams of Caio, and then of Sempronio sometimes. All are immediately smitten by her. Caio loses his current girlfriend in this quarrel of attention clashes. Jose keeps switching. Finally fixing on Sempronio. The story ends happily. But nobody cares what happens to Tizio in all this time. That bums me out.

Back to reality our Ginger Rogers, shoo Denora was shining bright today. We had time on our hands. It was 8 KM of trek today through really plain trail (as plain as possible in mountains). So, we were in no hurry to start early. Vijay asked the trek members to propose the morning exercise schedule today. At 7:45 AM, Hari started guiding us through some modified versions of Pranayama, followed by an elongated session of Yoga lead by Anupama. I failed miserably on both. Arnab opined – fitness be dammed, videography is more important. Sankha was slowly coming back to his best. So, he didn’t do shit all, but people around did have a great laugh. 

The word ‘Denora’ comes from Denoda or, Do Nala. It means the delta formed by the confluence of two rivers (here Chalong Nala with Suru River). The delta looks like a jigsaw puzzle if you have the eye for imagination. I believe I can stay there for eternity, given somebody brings me meals cooked by my mother at least twice a month. You see I am not really a too much greedy person. 

We started from our campsite by 9:45 AM today. It was a day filled with stream crossings. We crossed the first one within 20 minutes of start. Frequent occurrences of taking off shoes, hoping over ice cold streams and again tying shoe knots was not really pleasing. Especially, if you are friends with morons, they make you take their videos while crossing stream before you can put on your shoes, all the time with muddy and cold legs. Some say friends are the family we choose – it seems like a lot of things; I am not good at choosing too.

For the first three kilometers, we walked through the right side of the Nala. One useful difference from tomorrow evening was, now the flow of water was lesser compared to previous evening. At about an hour and a half we were at the bottom of the valley. But not before crossing another long icy basin.

On the other side of the valley, the trail leads to some Bakarwal huts. It was second rest point for the day. We kept climbing some more around a mound to the right and behind the huts. Then climb flattens out to large grassy meadows with flowers everywhere, now the entire basin of Denora comes into view and my heart sings-

“Sahibo-sahibo, ha zaai kornas ho

Sahibo-sahibo, ba-ha chani maaye zaai kornas ho”

(You have wasted ne. Your love has wasted me)

If beauty can be encompassed within a boundary, then this basin is it. I was in the mood off some A.R. Rahaman music from my playlist – ‘Adi Mana Dhagam Vizhil Theriyadho, Yelo Yel Yelo’ - Will the eyes not reveal the yearning of the heart? My trek mates were not pleased with me disturbing the natural sound. I wonder aren’t humans’ part of nature too!!!

The next 2 KMs is more climb to get into another flower-decked clearing.  This beauty has no end it seemed. In this July-August session, this region is usually carpeted with wild pink flowers. What we saw were Himalayan Bistort. It is a Eurasian herbaceous plant with a spike of flesh-colored flowers and a twisted root. In full bloom it is prettier than roses in my eyes.

30 mins later, the trail climbs out of the mound, and we got our first views of Kalapari meadows. Here large glaciers dominate the junction of the valley to the right. Hanging Ice walls hang almost to the bottom of the mountain. The setting is mammoth and large scale. Waterfalls are on the other side of the river that falls thousands of feet making the setting complete. The view here is of the Kalapari top and glacier in front when we stand from the rock of the meadows. Behind the rock at the towering, there are glacier-topped mountains that overlook the setting. To reach the Kalapari top and our campsite for the day took us an hour more.

Near the campsite, the trail from the rock evens out. It was 12:30 noon on my clock when we saw our tents. The trekking for the day was done. But not the day itself. Early completion meant some rest post cooling down exercise and the lunch. Some 2.5 hrs. later, Vijay said – Okay enough rest. It is time for another acclimatization walk. I like these walks, as mostly everyone walk together. Not like during trekking when the team gets broken into various group due to speed differences.

There was moraines up ahead, here the trail snakes through moraines to take us finally at an old quaint cave, called Na-Mithung. We will traverse the same path tomorrow also, but won’t get this opportunity to spend any time of this cave then. Hence, this visit was precious.

In ancient days, there used to be a cave where the shepherds would camp out. It was so deep that even the sky wouldn’t be visible. ‘Na’ means no and ‘Mithung’ means the sky. Our caves may be ancient but not really sky vanishing. Still the name persisted it seems. We found rubbles and wastes inside. Seems earlier groups were not taught – leave no trace.

Coming back from such trail walks is always a hassle for me. Due to my semi apparent acrophobia, while coming down a trail I walk very slow. Presence of Arnab in such cases is a blessing. His ability to constantly talk rubish is a cure all to my mental haphazardness. Our campsite today was less beautiful than yesterday’s one. Still it was pleasing. A good rest was required tonight as tomorrow is going to be the toughest day in this trek, it did have some surprises in store for us.

DAY - 6: [KALAPARI – LOMVILAD/GHANSLA PASS (14,495 ft.) – KAINTAL (11,550 ft.)] – 2nd August 2023(Wednesday) ~22 KMs

The good thing about trekking with Arnab is his cleanliness. And that he packs things I don’t even existed. Like a thing called wet wipes to make your face clean during these unruly, bathless trekking days. I said this to my sister once. She said, I am an idiot. So, that conversation ended there. Another thing is Arnab’s willingness to pack sleeping bags in early morning. Vijay taught us in KGL trek – this is a good early morning exercise. I am not even great in packing my underwear. Hence, packing a sleeping bag seems like breaking a mountain with a hammer to me, and I am no Nawazuddin. So, I generally hand over my sleeping bag to Arnab for packing.

We woke up at 5.15 AM today, it was going to be a long day. By 5.45 AM we were having our warn up exercises to start our trek by 6.15 AM. Before starting our walk, we usually had our war cry – ‘Har-Har Mahadev’. But today we had two cries rather than one. Before coming to the second one, I have to go back to yesterday evening. To set some context here.

1st August 2023, Kalapari, Evening, Inside Kitchen Tent

I have said this before and let me say this again – UNO is a shit game. And I hate dumb charades too. If you have to sit together and and play a game, I like chess or, people cursing each other brains out. Once these god forsaken games were over, people were sitting idle and talking in their native tongues. According to the 8th schedule of Indian Constitution we have 22 official languages. I love this diversity when in I am in a shouting match with imbeciles trying to convince them the greatness of my nation. But, in close quarters – when a group is divided into many due to these language differences, I myself feel like an imbecile. I give people enough reasons to curse me. If they are doing it in a language I don’t understand, how will I keep the argument going? Isn’t that the only reason we are alive? To keep arguing!!!

The majority group among us were Kannada speaking. My reach of Kannada is only till – Swalpo Swalpo. Arnab asked Rashmi –

- how do you say a person is very lazy in Kannada?

- we call them ‘somberi’.

- what blueberry or, cadbury?

- somberi, nenu somberi.

- Ninaberi.

Sankha heard someone was distributing Jaljira. So, he extended his hand forward. The only word which stuck in our head is ‘berry’ whatever be the prefix. We had our second war cry for tomorrow ‘Nuvvu, nenu somberi’.

Now that we are back home, I seached google and it tells me somberi is a telegu word. Hence, proved the world is going into utter shit – I will write again – utterly disgusting shit.

While leaving the campsite I observed there are black rocks towering around it, at night everything looks black. But in morning glory it stuck my head, now I knew why this campsite is Kalapari. Till Na-Mithung it was the same route as we traversed yesterday evening. 30 mins of trek post this took us to a large rock, below which was a voluminous clear stream flow. 10 mins more – we saw a large green lake dotted with chunks of snow and ice. In front to the right was a large blackish glacier feeding the lake. It was about 7.15 AM.

We stayed there for about 30 minutes. It was a wonderful place to be. Trail around that lake was a large snow patch, filled with moraines and loose rocks – this is a deadly combo. Such sections of a trek and majorly landslide-prone. Once we descended through this moraine patch, we reached a blackish glacier. The glacier is hard ice with enough debris and fortunately for us – having firm footing. For the first next 30 minutes, this glacier trail is long, about a kilometer wide. But towards end, there are numerous crevasses. We had to walk around these crevasses to climb moraines on our right.

Vijay advised not to stand on the glacier, keep walking but slow – fast walk means quicker melting of the ice which can be dangerous as the ice itself is our road now. As far and wide we can see – it is only ice.

The trail through the moraines goes towards the open end of a valley. But to reach there we walked for another ~forty minutes. This small valley takes us to another icy glacier. This time, we were descending from the mountain, and the mountain face was on our right. Here is when I heard the sound first.

Death comes in many forms, and so does bemusement. It came to us in form of an avalanche. Three biggest avalanches have each killed over 2000 people. I know these idiotic facts as I am the guy who was taught by his elder cousin to watch movies like Wrong Turn, Final Destination and Saw to increase own apatite for thrill. I am not proud of this.

Anyhow back to 2000 people, we were merely a bunch of 15, it needn’t be the largest avalanche to had us all wiped out from the very face of the earth. I have heard in desert people loose the sense of distance when there are sands everywhere. It happened to us over a glacier due to ice. Some started running like crazy (some being Debodoy). Some cursed others as they walk slow. Hence we are lagging behind (once again, some being Debodoy and others being Sankha). I was standing dumb. Seems within 100 paces from us a great flow of snow fall is coming towards us, making huge sound on its path – it is all encompassing, all white. And for the first time, I saw a really angry Vijay.

A leader is compassionate. A leader is empathetic. But when required a leader is authoritative. Vijay is all these things. He nipped the cross talk in its bud.

- Where will you run Debo? Do we know the path? I am the leader everyone will follow me, you are my responsibility.

- Arko, Chetan if you talk once more that Debo is correct and slow members are causing risk. You will not be in my team anymore. It is written in the contract you signed, on the trek you follow my orders, if not, you are not my responsibility.

- Sankha, Nitish, Anu, Rashmi, Sruti – you will walk on the front, keep walking. The Avalanche is more than 2 KMs away, if it was nearby the glacier would have started breaking. Keep walking, where is Arnab?

Remember I said, suicidal trekker, remember I said – heart only seemed to be mended. During all these arguments Arnab was oblivious to the danger. He was on our right side, more towards the avalanche – making sure he is taking high quality video recording of it. When Vijay made him, he had to leave all that to carry walking forward. But, his frustration of leaving the recording mid-way didn’t fully subside. Mostly the brunt of our illogical anger falls on the people who are closes to us. My mother and sister are two of the greatest women in planet earth. As they handle my worthlessness and still keep on forgiving my shitty attitude. In Arnab’s case I had to play the role my mother plays for me daily - the wall towards which an angry person shouts. I was bemused by his bravery or, carelessness some 20 minutes ago. Now I was plain bewildered.

At 9.25 AM we witnessed the avalanche, now it was almost 10 AM. Arnab kept jumping over tricky patches to show he is not bothered about dangers. It was like each bolder he jumps over he was achieving something. Mother nature will not be another woman who will deny him. And apparently, everything is my fault. It was not great being on the other side of the table. But, it was eye opening. I believe it made 0.05% better human being today. It was a great personal accomplishment. Given I was at (-ve)15% before. This was only phase 1, phase 2 and 3 was coming tonight and two nights later. Phase 3 was really something. More on this later.

Walking on the moraines go us directly below the Kalapari peak. One of the path exiting from the glacier had broken down due to natural caused. We could have jumped about 3.5 foot to get to the other side. Vijay was not sure of this. Hence, he asked us to wait here and took Saddam bhai forward to find an alternate and less wide jumping point. By the time they came back 45 minutes had passed. We were getting antsy. Sankha was feeling great here, he started having some weird ass conversations with Hari:-

Hari: Sanku tuje pata he maine kitna pani pia he aj.

Sanku (Sankha): Breakfast mein to ami Bread our omlet prefer karta he.

Our agar ektu mayonesse mil jaye bread ke jaga, to toufa toufa.

Hari: Matlab 2 liter to piya hoga, sahi bolta he tu.

-For readers benefit, Hari is a regular consumer of Ganja and Sankha has a PhD in Computer Science. I was very happy that they were tent mates for this trek.

Vijay asked us to leave this jump, we walked straight over some tricky patches for 15 mins more, now the jump was even bigger about 6 ft. But, in between was a large boulder about 5 ft. high and 4 ft. wide. So, two small jumps took us over. Vijay and Saddam bhai was standing of sides of this boulder to give support.

Once we cross the glacier, we veered slightly to the right. Here the trail climbs to a narrow opening in the valley that leads to a pass. We climbed this small section of a snow patch and got onto the ridge. On the ridge, was a view of streams that run down to our right and of lakes that form below. The streams were coming down from the flanks of Kalapari. In about 20 minutes, we reached the top of Ghansla Pass. The pass is marked by cairns, stones painted in red with Urdu letters and a few pieces of cloth tied around these cairns. We were at 14,495 feet.

You should not sit on a pass for more than 15 minutes. Mountain passes are considered spiritual in Himachal Pradesh. In Kashmir I found no such inclinations. But Vijay said there is a health concern. The flow of air is colder and faster here. Spending more time means body will get really cold and we still have a lot of ground to cover till we reach campsite. We delayed for 30 minutes then started our climb down.

There are large snowfields leading out from the pass, there are gentle sloping and easy to walk on. We walked in this setting for about 30 minutes. Then on our right was a large lake, almost frozen. From here we can see thousands of feet below. There is a greyish moraine-filled glacier. We were asked to stick to the leftmost flank of the valley and begin our descent.

Descending is not easy to me, but it is faster. 45 minutes in, we were near the bottom, in a greyish, crevasse-filled mass. From this ledge, the trail descends even more steeply to the glacier in a series of switchbacks in 15 minutes.  We then stepped onto the icy glacier and avoided the crevasse in front by walking around it to the left. This was the magnificent Bracken glacier, locally known as the Kaintal glacier.

The shape of this glacier is fern like. Hence it is called ‘bracken.’ There are not many bracken glaciers in the world. Hence, this is a truly special place. So, is spite of being tired we were feeling get positive vibes.

The glacier has a small clearing with a grass bed. This was our lunch point for today, it was almost 2.15 PM. Vijay asked us to fill our bottles before leaving this place with the melting waters of the glacier. As there is no clean water source until we reach our campsite.

Post a 45-minute lunch session we kept descending through the almost flat Bracken glacier from there, while occasionally navigating through very loose moraine and rocks. I assume we continued to walk on the glacier for a kilometer or, so more - downstream until the boulder-moraine land starts.

From the boulder section we deviate to the left flank and continued to descend through the rock. At this stage, Kaintal valley appeared in front of us, right below. But in actuality the valley was still far. The forward trail was steeply descending. Hence, more than 100 meters was barely perceptible. Plus, we had to keep hopping between crevasses and jump on a few boulders to cross this section. It is important to choose proper boulders to jump one. If their base is weak, chances are we will sleep. So, we were carefully following Saddam bhai’s steps.

The day was getting long and tiring. Vijay said there is still over 3 hours to go with our speed to reach campsite. He asked me to walk ahead with my natural pace. Arnab has good speed, but he is moody. So, he will keep pushing him. He asked me not to worry about my two friends. As if I try to walk slower than I already am, he will have to manage three people rather than two. I will always follow my leader on principle during the act. This situation for me was not different. So, I walked ahead of my friends.

Over two hours, we kept descending through the moraines to get to the edge of the glacier and a faint upper grassy area. I took a break here. Arnab and Sankha were nowhere to be seen, so was Vijay. Only Arko, Chetan and Deboday was ahead of me. I could see a few trek-mates some 200 meters behind me. Saddam bhai called me from the front to not stop for more than a minute. So, I kept walking again. Here the path becomes monotonous, and the only aim is to finish as quickly as possible.

Another hour of descent through very rough moraines took us to the basin of a river that emerges from the bottom of the glacier. I asked Saddam bhai, do you know its name? He said it has no name, just some local river. Not sure there can be any local river without name. But who knows! We name something we use. Here where there is no locality who will name a river. So, we marched ahead. We passed a couple of bluish-green lakes and then there was the surprise the fiercest stream crossing.

It was fractionally dark, but crossing the stream holding Saddam bhai’s hand one by one took us about 40 minutes, and by then it was getting darker. He said to us keep walking straight, no diversion. He will wait there for others and Vijay. There were four of us me, Arko, Chetan and Deboday – we started walking fast, really fast. More actually I was jogging to keep up with them. I may be an ordinary trekker, but I am a constant long-distance runner. I am not great in that either, but I have a lot of practice. So, for the coming hour I kept jogging without any issue, and we reached the flat grassy meadows of the initial Kaintal grasslands.

The grasslands come in large patches. The trail is now more regular.  As we continued walking on the trail, keeping the river always to our right we eventually reached our campsite in some 30 minutes more. From far it seemed a kerfuffle is going on. It was a verbal duel between local support staffs on Bikat Adventured with one of India hikes one.

I mentioned earlier to, that I consider India Hikes as an organization to be nature-dacoits. They have set camps even of the trekking trails where it is prohibited by law. Normally, under the table payment of plain oversight of the authority is there to aid them in their worthless atrocities. Warwan trek was no different. India Hikes guy was unhappy that our tents were being set up so close to his. As he has a group coming some 7 days later. He wants to keep the surrounding clean. Hey, I am not claiming to be brave, but trust me you hit my principles and on top of that become illogical and selfish - I will lose my temper and try doing something which may cause me more harm than you. I am trying to work of my anger issues for the past 15 years, it has improved but nowhere near perfect yet.

I took a few steps towards him and felt a hand on my shoulders, it was Saddam bhai, pulling me back. Somehow, he understood my intent and said, rukh ja bhai hamere log samhal leke, tent pe ja tu. I tried protesting, he won’t have it, so I went towards the opposite side. Ten minutes later one of support staff brother came towards me and said – usko bol dia, ek aur bar cheekha to fir awaaz nehi nikalega. In short everything got sorted, I shouldn’t worry more on this. There will be one more such incident tomorrow. That time too Arnab and Vijay will force me to step aside. I have to try meditation to see it that helps. Anyhow, we were at campsite, and it was 5.30 PM.

Arnab reached at about 6.15 PM, tired but not really calm and happy. Sankha came at 6.45 PM even 10 minutes after Vijay. That night Arnab raised concern about Sankha’s speed – he was worried he may be seeing less in dark settings. I said it is true for everyone, but may be even more for Sankha. I won’t go into details here. But, I felt he is correct. So we notified Vijay that. He said he will take more notice on it tomorrow onwards. Arnab was angry two more times that day, but nothing major as compared to earlier. We were really clocked out. No one was mood for any game today. We took and early dinner and went for sleep. Tomorrow was another long day, fortunately not more than today though.

DAY - 7: [KAINTAL – HUMPET (11,120 ft.)] – 3rd August 2023(Thursday) ~16 KMs

The wake-up time today was set as 6 AM, only Arnab may have been up by that. Rest all were late. We were tired from last day. After multiple loud shouts from Vijay and Saddam bhai, we were up by, 7 AM. After a very brief warm up session and breakfast we started walking by 8:15 AM.

From our Kaintal campsite, we continued along the side of river. Within 15 minutes we walked past a few Gujjar huts on our left and hopped over a few clear streams. Beyond the stream, the trail opens to a wide river basin, lush, green meadows. Approximately 2 km long, it takes about a half-hour to cover the distance end to end. Post this beckons a grassland, a small stream needs to be hopped over to enter this section.

As I keep on mentioning streams every day, it is my wish to give the readers a view of exactly how they are. When Arnab start posting the videos in the summer of 2025 (assuming he takes three years every time), all of this will make better sense. Still, I could try describing them in letters here.

In Warwan what they call as stream, we normal people see them as waterfalls. Imaging you are walking on a 15-degree left leaning slope. The track in filled with small stones. On your rights is a side of a mountain, whose slope is around 75-degree. On your left is freefall and certain death. Now what is already an exciting journey, gets more worthy when you are faced with crossing a ‘stream’. In the earlier described path, we were crossing such streams, falling from the mountain side towards the freefall over our 15-degree sloped path. The water flow is so fast that near it, you could hardly hear you own voice. You have to judge on which stones to trust to put you one foot after another. Constant flow of water means no moss over the stone, but a thin layer still to make it slippery. Though Vijay kept on asking to take off our shoes before passing such streams and walk more towards the valley side – being scared of height and due to the ice-cold water, I kept on walking with shoes on, towards the mountain side. More than half of my pants and my shoes and socks were filled with water. But I kept walking as on stopping, the feeling of cold just increases.

During our crossing of one such vicious steam, Saddam bhai asked us to be quick as locals are coming, and they don’t stand aside for anyone. I was amused, locals, here? From where?

The nearest habitat of humans is still two days of walking for us. I know locals are fast, but how fast? What transpired after this was breathtaking.  

A few women on horses, some having children wrapped around their bosom were crossing the stream on full speed. They were at a higher vantage point than us, where the flow of water is even stronger. The land seemed more slippery, and the width of stream is more, with more left leaning slope. If you ask me to walk there, I will rather jump on the left valley freefall. But running a horse through that, is nothing short of a miracle. What was more astonishing was that one of them stopped midway through the stream and offered a ride to Rashmi who politely declined. But the amount of control over horse, self believe and nonchalance one needs to do this was something to be marveled at. That too during such high-speed horse run. They were weaning traditional Kashmiri clothing’s, faced covered, but from the children faces one can imaging – every one of them were a potential candidate in being Ms. Universe if they wanted. And taking their picture was strictly prohibited. I can only use the song here: -

“Sahibooo…

Ba-ha chaani maayey. Emi taap-a kraayey. Zaayyi kornas hooo.

Sahibo.”

(Your love is like the strong sunshine. (It) has wasted me.)

It was around 10.30 AM, by now we have covered approximately 6 km. Here the trail again drags down to another lovely grassy river basin. This one is especially marked by square rocks that lie on its grassy surface. Almost every large boulder is chiseled like a square. This is the square rocks meadows; it was our first breakpoint for today.

The landscape is unusually plain here, plainer than anything I encountered even during our KGL trek, it was quite surprising to find such a trail in a Himalayan trek. Vijay asked us to walk together here in small distance. He said there are Gujjar huts nearby and they train their dogs to chase away thieves to keep their cattle safe. So, we should walk carefully and close to each other in case some dog chases due to misunderstanding.  

After walking through this section for about 30 minutes, we climbed another hump, even here there are a set of Gujjar huts on top. On the other side of the mountain, there is a pass opening for the Bobban Gully trail. This is the alternate, direct trail from Denora. The route is shorter but more strenuous. Horses, too, can’t take this trail. Vijay informed me, we could have taken that route, which would have saved us 3 days. But then we needed human porters – they charge more. So, cost would have been same, but we would have missed the bracken glacier – and that is a big ‘No-No’.

We got down from the hump, to enter the large Sar grasslands. It is a campsite from people trekking via Bobban Gully route. For us it was our second rest point for the day.

As we kept walking through this grassland, we have to cross around 7-8 streams. This time they were really streams and not the deadly ones I described earlier. By the end of this grassland, the streams were easy to hop over. But the last two, required us (even me) to take off our shoes and wade across. The good thing was - the water is never more than knee-deep, usually lower.

The Sar grassland trail towards its end takes a wide curve to the right in a northerly direction. Here, the bracken glacier finally went out of our view completely. The basins now are gradually becoming shorter & gravellier. For the coming two hours we crossed three other basins, all while skirting around the edge of humps to finally round the last edge to get our first view of Humpet. It was 2:05 PM on my watch, we were there but not quite there yet.

I mentioned marmot kingdom a few days earlier. But this was actually the first time we were really entering it. Humpet is famous for marmot spotting. Himalayan marmots, the large ground squirrels, are herbivores who are active in groups during summer, and true hibernators during winter. They are the heaviest members of the squirrel family. They are highly social and use loud whistles to communicate with one another, especially when alarmed. And they 'were alarmed' due to my presence.

I have a habit of trying to copy animal sounds. I am no good at it, but I do try. The only fan of this peculiar trait in my niece. I believe she will remain a fan for a few years more. Anyhow, near to Humpet marmots were slow peaking from their hideout and making noises. The word marmot comes from Gallo-Romance prefix marm-, meaning to mumble or murmur. So, they had to make noise to keep their name. I tried copying, what came out of my mouth was more like a sickly cat than a marmot sound. Marmots were not happy. They are rodents after all, cats are their enemy. So, one by one more Marmots came out of hiding and they started shouting their lunges out. Seeing all this Arnab was really please. He felt a rodent orchestra was going on and he has to record it. Vijay was nearby, watching all this he said, -

-        Yeh log gussa ho ke attack karein to meri jimmedari nehi he. (if they get angry and attack, I am not taking responsibility)

The orchestra was broken, both me and Arnab started walking faster to avoid a potential attack. Later I discovered that many historians and paleo-geneticists have postulated that the Yersinia pestis variant that caused the Black Death pandemic that struck Eurasia in the 14th century originated from a variant for which marmots in China were the natural reservoir species. I was playing with potential death, that also black. In Bengali there is a saying ‘Pipilikar dana hoy, moribar tore’ (ants get wings to chase death). 

At Humpet, we camped on the opposite bank of the river Thangkam, nearby was a small Bakarwal settlement. At evening women from the camp came to visit the female members of our group, they don’t get many chances to interact with people from outside world. It was about 3:45 PM.

The last hike to reach this campsite, was a 30 minute long ascend. No of us expected the last stretch to be ascend. Hence, out legs had given up. But as I said earlier, Vijay is strict on rules. He made us do cool down and stretching exercises. Before asking us to venture around this campsite but not to far to get more acclimatized.

Humpet is a many-layered grassland. There are mounds to be climbed, just above the campsite. From there we saw the sight of Marmots running around and going inside the burrows.

Tomorrow we will be very close to the civilization again. We will get network coverage. I am not really thrilled about the last part. Arnab will switch on and let his family know we are alright. That is enough. Mother knows I am going to call her Sunday. So, till then I am not switching my mobile on. Let this blissfulness last a bit longer. We had rasgulla(s) during our dinner that day. The dreams were going to be sweeter.

DAY - 8: [HUMPET – SUKHNAI (9,320 ft.)] – 4th August 2023(Friday) ~18Kms

After two long days, today was going to be a bit easier. Distance wise it was more than yesterday. But we were going near civilization so, the trail was becoming plainer. Hence, the time required to cover it was less. Our path was along the trail that heads out of Humpet towards the end of the valley in a westerly direction. The initially climb was across the mounds behind Humpet, before topping at a ridge. Here onwards we got down as the trail leads to the first tree line of silver birch trees. The trail rounds a curve to hang precariously over a very steep edge of the valley that heads to the bottom directly.

Here things get confusing. There are multiple trails. We were advised in this trek, when faced with such scenario - take the topmost trail, which is relatively safer.

It was an 8:15 AM start today. The group was at its chirpier best. 6 and a half days together, people have opened up. Personal traits aside it was a good enough group. People of various age groups with polar opposite personalities. I like such mix. The Sankha syndrome was over. He was mingling with everyone. Arnab was being very much like Arnab. Which is to say I am not going to spend the next 10 lines describing what an oxymoron his personality is.

We kept descending till the next small waterfall on our left. It was our water break point and a good spot to re-fill. This descent down the valley is rapid. We took about an hour and a half to get to the end of the valley.

There is a small clearing at the end of the valley. Saddam bhai said, an army outpost used to be here. But all I saw was an overgrown clearing. He said it is Police kotha. He asked me to look up to the other side of the valley to spot a trail. When I said yes, I see, he informed us that it leads to Sheshnag and the Amarnath yatra. Arnab’s plan is to do Amarnath Yatra next year. So, he will have to come here again it seems.

At this junction, we actually entered the true Warwan valley. This is for the first time, in this trek that the trail gets into the South direction (towards Inshan), the true direction of Warwan valley. We kept continuing this trail as it begins its descent down the valley. The valley was still very narrow, with only occasional small clearings. These clearings were really photogenic.

We were two hours into our descent, the clock was saying it was 10.30 AM almost. When I first spotted a wooden bridge over the river that crosses over to the Sheshnag trail. Here Saddam bhai asked us to stop at once, till everyone is together. Then only we will cross this bridge. It took almost 20 more minutes for all of the others to reach here. During which, Saddam bhai was explaining the bridge-weather dynamics to me.

Early in the season, this is a snow bridge. During summer the snow melts so the shepherds put up this wooden bridge. If there is a landslide nearby and the bridge is broken or moved out of place, then the trekking group is really lucky. It seems in absence of the bridge we have to climb a few more hillocks to reach Sukhnai village where a more permanent bridge present to cross over. But all this adds another day in our itinerary. This was a fantastic advertisement of mountain life. Fortunately, the mountain people have an additional day always – as they are not as much sold out like us.

Anyhow, we crossed the bridge and turned left heading downstream. Not before almost every one of the group made me record their bridge cross as I was the first one to cross it. Now the trail is more distinguished and broader, an indication that it is more frequently used and that a village is near enough.

Within ten minutes of the bridge, the trail runs into a larger stream from a waterfall that needs to be crossed. I thought the risk was over yesterday. But, this one was one of the biggest streams in this trek. It came as a complete shock to me. It took other 30 seconds and Arnab 90 seconds to cross. As even while being submerged into ice cold water – his video should be of high quality.

The trail rises and falls after the stream. In about half an hour, the trail again gets into a zone of overhangs that leads directly into the river. This is a rockfall zone and needs to be crossed swiftly. Once we were beyond the overhangs, I saw the first views of the mound of Sukhnai in quite a distance. Then in another half hour, the trail dropped down to the river suddenly. At the bottom was a small grassy clearing right beside the river. Vijay said we stop here for lunch break. I looked like we are in an ideal picnic spot.

After lunch, our descend continued towards the mound of Sukhnai. The trail was gradually opening into a wider valley with lovely grasslands to view on the other side. I mistook earlier when I said, a village seems nearby. As all we found was a few picture-perfect Gujjar huts along the way. It took us another two hours to finally get to the mound of Sukhnai. Where the grassy mound is extremely pretty with horses grazing peacefully on it. Still no sight of the actual village.

We kept on this easy trail and veered to the right of the mound, sticking to the bottom, and finally emerging at the farmlands of Sukhnai twenty minutes later. This part of the trek was startlingly beautiful, with fences on the border of the trail, with neat farmlands below. Also, Himalayan flora is always beautiful, and flowers grow abundantly on either side of this trail. Once, I saw something which looks like a cricket pitch, Arnab informed me that mobile connections are back on. Our campsite was right beside this pitch in some 200 meters distance parallel to it. There were plenty of spaces to camp. Saddam bhai said, the village is 15 minutes’ walk for them from here and 45 minutes for us. It was 2.45 PM almost, so it is better if we explore the village tomorrow. The local assisting guides will not be with us today as post prepping our meal for the night, they are going to their homes in the Sukhnai village. They will be back tomorrow.

Back at home, if I search Sukhnai in google map, the picture that comes up associated with it, is that cricket pitch. Arnab was asked to play cricket with the local kids, he politely declined due to his earlier injurious experience in KGL. Sankha somehow got hold of a few cigarettes. Probably one of the horse-dwellers managed them for him from the village. Hence, he started polluting the wonderful surroundings. I could hear the song again -

“Sahiboo

kyah kar cze ros ba. Yath lola naaye. Zaayyi kornas hooo.

Sahibo”

(What do I do, without you. With this boat of love. (It) has wasted me.)

Vijay said enjoy the last day before we see a lot of people. Tomorrow there is a surprise for you all. So, we played some interesting UNO. As I said earlier, I hate the game, but today it led to full emotional fights. I do enjoy a good fight and if someone throws tantrum at the end that is the best. If I write about that in details that can be a novel so, lets leave it at that. And wait for the fascination called ‘tehzeeb-e-kashmiri’, that was in store for us tomorrow.

DAY - 9: [SUKHNAI – GUMRI (6,890 ft.)] – 5th August 2023(Saturday) ~8 Kms

In my childhood I used to read old torn out Anandamela magazines in my neighbor’s home before they use it for other purposes. It was not that new one were unattainable. But till I entered my late teens, buying books not for school education was not a concept known to me. Anandamela introduced me to Asterix and obelisk and the village of Armonica. I used to have this dream that I got the magical mixture and now leaving in the village having almighty powers to beat anyone up. Never did I hoped that one day I will be able to visit that village.

Sukhnai village is a closely packed one, settled in such a picturesque setting which almost looks right out of the pages of Asterix comics. Only that you have to change the triangle shaped domes with double or triple stored rectangular home mostly made up with woods and some stones. From our last days campsite, the village is about 40 minutes of walk for us. There were many lanes to take us deep inside the village.

Though as per Bikat’s itinerary we were supposed to walk 8 KM today till Gumri. But we didn’t. Road conditions here have improved dramatically over the last 4 years or so. Just after one gets out of Sukhnai as walk for some 2 KMs, the road though not concretized as of yet is motorable. 1 KM more and we can see road construction ongoing by cutting though mounds. So, our trek ended today some 4 KM from Sukhnai just 20 minutes walking distance from a military camp. But more on that later.

We were in no hurry today; it was the last day of trek. So, the start was delayed till 9:15 AM. At 10 AM when everyone had reached the village we were standing beside a home – two storeyed and still some construction left. Saddam bhai explained, this is going to be his second home. He will move is post his marriage in about a year or so. But before we can more forward to have to visit his old home first. What we thought is going to be a 5-minute stopover, turned out to be a 40-minute-long, exquisite stay. There is where we witnessed :-

Tehzeeb-E-Kashmiri

A wooden home that conjures some paradisiacal images, every corner can be clicked into a perfect postcard picture and people whose hospitality feels like being served in the heavenly abode by gods themselves. The food was filled with high valued items. But kishmish, biscuits, almonds, nut and different mouth fresheners were coming in beautiful Chinese clay cups or, silver/copper utensils. They were decorated in the finest drawn curves and in the lap of such bountiful beauty, we were blown away by the simplicity of our hosts. Following the local customs, no women from the house were serving us, it was all male. But, from the windows one could see glimpses of curious faces covered in the religious clothing watch us from afar like some newly seen creatures.

This valley like other places in Kashmir has a history of being stuck in an internal strife for ever now. Life here reminds us of a bygone era. Stories of struggle and loss in the midst of what feels like heaven is a paradox too difficult to digest. And yet, the people’s hospitality far surpassed anything we had ever imagined. The kids with their rosy cheeks, kohl-lined eyes were portraits of an adorable yet innocent smile. The young boys wearing their traditional coats (firan) play with a metal ring in the open grounds surrounded by pine trees were nothing short of royal princes. Old men with their Kangri sharing sheesha is as idyllic as it gets. We didn’t see a lot of women though. As Saddam bhai explained, they are hiding away due to our presence here.  On the face of it, everything about life here was different than life as we know it. But a little conversation and the simple similarities were evident. I will never forget these 30 minutes in Sukhnai.

“Yemi chaani shahrek, Lukh cze wopran

chashma wathrawan.

Heraan kornas chani jaaye Zaayi kornus ba.

(I have heard people of your city. Spread their eyes for strangers. But your city has surprised me. (It) has wasted me.)

We had to be forced by Vijay to leave Saddam bhai’s home. We circled the village once again to get back on to the trekking route. The trail beyond Sukhnai gets formed when the Marwah River slices the valley on the left as it meanders its way towards the Chenab. Here this valley is populated by villages every 5-6 km. The next village post Sukhnai was Rekenwas and then Gumri. We stayed somewhere before Gumri, from our vantage point both Marwah and Rekenwas were visible.

As we walked ahead our exit from Sukhnai was marked by a very small wooden bridge over the Marwah River in about an hour, on whose other side is the Rekenwas village, perched on top of a hillside. But we didn’t enter this village. From Rekenwas, the trail enters a section of ferns and pastures open in grand colors all around. The trail gently descends. Ten minutes outside the village, two barn houses close to Gumbar/Gumri village come into view. We stopped there on the left and camped on a right leaning green pasture on the left side of the trail. It was 12:45 PM.

At 3:30 PM Vijay assembled all the horse-dwellers, cooking staffs, porters, local guide, and us to say our final goodbyes. They were going back home. Till the next batch arrives. We thanked them for this wonderful journey and wished them all the best for the futures. They were brave but shy people. Most of them hardly spoke but their eyes gave away their happiness.

At night that day most of the trek members were trying their hands in astro-photography. I know nothing about this, nor does Sankha. But he hardly accepts that he doesn’t know something about something. It was time for the third emotional attack of Arnab. Thankfully for me this time Sankha had to bear the brunt. I was inside the tent during this episode after being prohibited to enter the tent for about 2 hours by Arnab as he didn’t want to lose the perfect spot for photography, for which he apparently needed the tent to be open. The end was beautiful though, Mr. Brainless PhD couldn’t fathom why the rudderless voyager is shouting at him as he is just trying to point various constellations to other photographic geniuses which he himself, obviously doesn’t properly identify.

There are two things I choose not to elaborate more about here – why and how Arnab got calmer and became friends with Sankha again. Two, the issue with the military camp just 20 minutes from our campsite. Not everything is for blogging you see. We were coming towards the end of this trek.

DAY – 10&11: [GUMRI – SRINAGAR - KOLKATA)] – 6th-7th August 2023(Sun-Monday)

From Gumri, Bikat had our pickup arranged till Srinagar. There were two cars. Arnab made us take the longer route, having stopover in the Martand Sun Temple and one other place I fail to recollect now.

My eyes were burning from last night’s lesser rest and as in all these stopovers the sun was really bright. The temperature also we rapidly increasing as we were coming down. This was the last part of Arnab’s therapy, and others were also suffering but not saying anything. So, I too marched ahead. Arnab had hotel booked for us in Srinagar. Post lunch we checked in at about 3:30 PM.

The group was spread out now in different hotels near Dal Lake. But we did meet for one last time during dinner that day to say our final goodbyes.

Next day again, we woke up by 4 AM for early Shikara ride and a visit to the Shankaracharya Temple. I love visiting temples, but I absolutely hate doing small visits post a trek is over. Don’t say, I am not social. I am at least 15% social. Otherwise, I would have angry-jumped in Dal Lake itself. Somehow, I managed to get by, and handled the turbulent weather in Sankha’s head too. Next time my friend please don’t make me suicidal by asking me to do this again.

We had flights scheduled at noon that day, Air India back to Kolkata. By 9:30 PM, we were at Kolkata Airport and by 10:45 PM I was back home with memories of a lifetime in store. Last time in 2021 during KGL – I said I am coming back next year again in Tarsar Marsar. That never happened. This time I am sure that as the Kissa and Tehzeeb is over – Toufa will not be left unwritten for long. Till then signing off.

References:

1. Google Maps

2. Kashmir Tourism.

3. Wikipedia.

4. Milestone Himalayan Series: The Essential Guide, Partha S Chatterjee.