Management Musings

The new day dawned with the sun out in all its glory. Life seemed to be so much happier and I thought we had all recovered very well after the arduous trek the previous day. I had been through the final night of sleeping in a bag and in a tent. 3 nights in that cold is enough. I couldn't wait to get back to sleeping on a bed and being spoilt with the comforts of a modern day city life. We were asked to clean up any and all debris lying on the ground after we had finished rolling up the tents and sleeping bags one final time. We started on the descent at 9:00 a.m. The first 5-6 kms of the descent was fun as everyone was in good spirits and a round of Antakshari duly followed. Post lunch, the group split up into smaller chunks as those that were energetic sped down quickly and reached the point where we had started. I was much slower. I had my knees constantly in my mind and ensured that I walked much slower than the rest. Climbing down is hard on the toes too. I was ensuring ...

A poor night's sleep for all those going on the trek. We were up at 3:00 a.m for some hot breakfast and tea. We set off at 4 a.m, in the dark. It was quite an experience, walking uphill in the cold and the dark as we made our way through on some stones and a meadow to reach our first halt at about 5:30 a.m. At this point, 8 of the 20 in the group decided to take up an offer to go and visit Kuari Pass, which was a much easier trek compared to scaling Pangarchulla. At this point, I decided to leave my head torch (a bulky and powerful one) underneath some stones, to be picked up on the way back. Then, we set off onwards towards Pangarchulla. Walking in those mountains is quite an experience. Yes, it is tiring and you do wonder why even bother with all this torture to the body. But then, you look around, there is not a soul in sight apart from your companions, no phone signals, no civilization. The sights are unbelievably beautiful and the thought of "what if I were to live h...

The next day dawned bright and early for me. I wanted to be up early so I could finish my business before there were too many people wandering about. Although the trek organizers had setup toilet tents, they were almost always occupied. Plus, the stink in those holes after a few people had visited it, was something else. Nature was calling and it was time to answer it! A quick, small trek uphill in the cold and I was in a secluded enough for doing what was necessary. Then, I was back down, changed into a fresh pair of clothes for the day's trek, and ready for tea and breakfast. Trek The Himalayas (TTH), the company organizing the trek, were outstanding in the planning, organization and execution. The food that they cooked, setting up the tents, packing up and being ready for us when we got to the next campsite with hot tea, water and food - they were very, very good with everything. So it was with the variety of the food - we had everything ranging from Maggi noodles, Paranthas,...

The day dawned bright and promising after the cold welcome the previous evening. I was up early and took the early bird advantage with use of the single bathroom shared by 4 of us roommates. It was to be the final bath for the next 3-4 days. We set off at approx. 9:00 a.m and after a stopover for 15 mins or so for shopping, we were dropped off a the point that we were to start the trek from. This starting point was about 15 - 20 kms from the hotel we were put up at. Those of us who had paid for the ponies, gave our luggage away to them and we started off, after a few pics for a before/ after shot later. It was sunny and the going was energetic to begin with. There was work in progress for a road being built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Soon, though, we were taken off the road and on to a narrower pathway with stone stairs. Our trek leader and the tour guide ensured that we were walking in single file as much as we could. The going was slow for some of the group. The t...

Towards the end of April 2017, I set out on my first Himalayan trekking adventure - to a place that I had not heard of more than 2 months prior. Pangarchulla. Honestly, it took me about a month to get the name right without having to look back at the website or my email! To the uninitiated, Pangarchulla is a peak in the NandaDevi Natural Reserve, towards the north of Uttarakhand. It is approx. 5000m above the sea-level and is considered a moderate-difficult trek. The tour guide had it down for a 4 day trek with a couple of more days thrown in to travel between Haridwar and Joshimath. I started off with my backpack weighing in at about 10-12 kgs, from Bengaluru, on a flight to Delhi. An overnight train to Haridwar found me at the station at 4 a.m on the first day of the journey. I walked from the railway station to one of the hotels that I had booked online, not more than half a kilometer away. It was dark and deserted. A few guys were hanging about on their two-wheelers, looking sus...