That Fifth Day :Part 1

I was sitting in my bed for the last 15 minutes and that photo was still in my hand. That photo is holding many memories and an accident inside it.

This memory was from 2 years ago..............

February 2016

I and Yatra were married for 4 months. We both met in our MNC company only. We were both software engineers. We had fallen in love. And we got married.

One day I was scrolling the internet on my computer. Only then did I see something about Chadar Trek there. Then I thought that Yatra and I could go on this trek and I could give it a surprise to Yatra. I had booked all the tickets and had also hired Chandan who was a local and helper cum guide there.

On the evening of Valentine's Day, I told this planning to Yatra, which was like a gift. After hearing this, Yatra Sharma was somewhat happy and was also in some shock.

After some time Yatra said:" This was a wonderful gift Anubhav. I am very happy and thank you so much"

Anubhav replied:" it's my pleasure dear"

Our trek was to start on the 16th! 

We had to go from Airplane to Leh from Delhi. Ladakh's streets are flickering in cold. 

On 16 February 2016...

The packing of the journey was not done till 5 pm. And our flight was at 8 pm. Yatra was already tired of keeping her clothes.

Finally, by 6:30, our packing was done. And the cab also arrived on time. Now till 7:30, we were inside the plane after all the security checks. And waiting for the flight. 

Air India flight was taken 1 hour to reach Rimpochi airport from Indira Gandhi International Airport!

And in these half and hours, the entire plan of the yatra was going to my ears, she was just saying. I was tired of listening to her. But his curiosity was very much for Chadar Trek.

At 9:30 we were standing in the streets of Leh city. and headed towards the hotel.

Because the hotel was very far, I slept as soon as I reached it.

Next Morning

It was 8 o'clock in the morning. I could also feel extremely cold inside my blanket. It was probably as low as minus 2 degrees Celsius.

After some time someone jumped on me. As I opened my eyes, there was a cute little smiling face of Yatra in front of me.

She was dressed like a child. Fully packed with a white velvet cap and pink jacket.

She said: Let's get up now, it is snowing outside, how much do you sleep yrr anubhav.

I replied: one minute na yatra!! I am coming in a moment.

I too got ready, put on warm clothes, and had come out...

And the view outside was worth seeing, the mountains all around which were covered with a white sheet of snow. All the green trees had turned white. There were 4– 5 houses at some distance from the hotel. I saw Yatra playing with some local children over there.

I was playing the same game. We both played a lot with the kids. Then in the afternoon, it was a bit cold. So both of us went out for a walk in the market of Leh city.

Now we were on Leh Main Bazar Road. Which is famous for handicraft and pashmina swal.

We met chandan while shopping in the market. Who was going to help us in this chadar trek? He told that "you guys take a rest today, we will leave tomorrow".

In the evening we came back to the hotel. A Rajasthani group was about to perform in the hotel. Which was near Bonfire. It was a wonderful evening.

The group sang many Rajasthani folk songs! Yatra was sitting next to me. His smiling face was gorgeous with the light of the flames. I just kept looking at her.

It was too cold. we went to bed.

18 February 2016

Today our trekking was about to start. Chandan was standing outside the hotel with full preparation.

there were 4 more people in our group with us. We were all packed while the vehicles were loaded with all the ration and equipment needed. After some photo sessions and briefing, we departed from Leh around 09:20 hrs.

The start point of the trek…..65 kms from Leh began.

Finally, we reached Chilling….takes around 4 hours to reach. Due to a landslide, we had to stop much before the usual start point of the trek….. and finally, our long awaited Chadar trek began….

We must have walked around 6 kms to finally reach the first campsite Tilat Do…. the walk was quite a comfortable one, thanks to the powdery layer of snow that carpeted the Chadar which made it less slippery.

The campsite was beautiful by the gently flowing river, surrounded by steep mountains. This is one place where you have a small tent which is referred to as “Restaurant”.they serve tea, maggi and eggs.

By this time yatra had developed severe loss of appetite and couldn’t even finish half a bowl of maggi. Although the loss of appetite is one of the symptoms of *Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) everyone around was having a loss of appetite.

By evening it got much colder and our team and guide cooked up a nice meal of khichadi as requested by us. Sitting in their tent where the stove would burn was very comforting as that was the warmest that we could be on the trek! 

The next 4 days were going to be very terrible. And maybe the last meeting to yatra...

Will continue ...... In Part 2