The Snowfall at Sankri & the surreal serenity
A day after Christmas, we had our evening flight to Delhi. I bid adieus to Mumbai at 5 pm on the 26th of December. After doing check-in, as I proceeded to board the flight, I got the first shock of the trip- I had been allotted the middle seat in a 3-hour flight to Delhi. The new normal in the pandemic times meant that I had to wear a PPE kit as per the SOPs for the flight's middle seat. After the lockdown ended, my first flight started with a PPE kit,face-shield & mask- three-tier protection against the virus. I was thrilled to travel wearing the PPE kit.
The flight got delayed a bit due to the cancellation of another Mumbai-Amritsar flight of which some passengers were accommodated in our flight. A frustrating 30-minute wait in-flight finally ended when the flight finally took off. I had a heavy sigh of relief. As the plane took off, I bid a final goodbye to Mumbai for the one last time in 2020 excited for a memorable last week of the year ahead. After reaching Delhi at 10 pm and having taken the luggage, an 8-hour long layover awaited us before the next morning flight to Dehradun.
I got a first-hand experience of Delhi’s worsening air quality in the 1-minute exit and re-entry we had to do for domestic transfers at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. A stark contrast in the air quality could easily be felt as the body literally started to choke in India’s national capital's severe air quality. Winter is probably the worst time to visit Delhi with a triple headache of deteriorating air quality, highest COVID cases in the country at that moment and the political drama that had been creating tremors across Delhi’s political spectrums.
After finishing dinner, it was time for sleep. Sleep deserted me when I was in utter need of it. Due to lack of proper sleeping arrangements and a flight to board in 5 hours with check-in formalities to be completed after 3 hours, I thought there was no point in sleeping. After binge-watching for an hour and Day 1 highlights of the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne, a yawn indicated that the deserted sleep started to show some signs of return. Eventually, it did return for a miserly couple of hours. A 4 am check-in for Dehradun was ticked off, and we boarded the flight just before dawn at 5:40 am. It was just a matter of 50 min before we stepped our feet in the Land of Gods-Devbhoomi Uttarakhand. Having landed at 7 am in Dehradun, we were greeted by the early morning chilling winter wind. All of a sudden, the sweaters and the hoodies were on the body. The number of clothes on the body tripled on the body in a matter of just 12 hours.
8 AM Jollygrant Airport Delhi- Dehradun City, is located 25 km away from the airport, we had to travel to our pickup point where we were supposed to meet rest of the group who were coming via a bus journey from Jaipur. Having reached our pick-up point early, an initial wait of 30 min got added up to another 90 minutes because of the delay faced by the rest of the group due to the ongoing farmer protests at Delhi borders. Meanwhile, we had met our driver, Arjun, who would take us to Sankri- a 9-hour road trip from Dehradun.
Probably due to the cold, our bellies were not making noises to have some food intake. I, being inquisitive about local Pahadi culture, geography, demographics, history etc. of Uttarakhand, discussed the same with Arjun while sipping hot tea on the streets of Dehradun. Uttarakhand was carved out of India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh in 2000. Dehradun became its capital. I was blown away by the mesmerizing Pahadi culture listening to different local stories in the chilly morning having being joined by another group of 4–5 locals. The greatest success of any storyteller is measured by the time he managed to have his audience involved in his story and full marks for narrating some beautiful Uttarakhand stories. As the tales came to an end, the rest of the group had finally arrived from the Land of the Maharajas-Rajasthan.
As they settled in, our road trip began at 10:30 am to Sankri. As the trip began, we got introduced to our fellow trekkers whose number was equivalent to Sachin Tendulkar’s jersey number- 10. Radhe, Parth, Surbhi S, Aman, Neha, Nikhil, Priya, Saurabh, Arpit and Surbhi A formed this group of 10. 9 of them were from Bhilwara, the textile city of Rajasthan and one Surbhi from Jaipur.
Initially, I had a perception of them being a single group with all knowing each other. But well to my surprise, there was one man who had brought all of them together. Some were his office mates, some of them were Adv ITT friends, and some being his friends. He was the glue which held the entire group together- our group leader, Radhe, the leader who led the ship from the front, who built consensus among everyone and took everyone along. He had this huge responsibility on his young shoulders of managing 11 different people with 11 different mindsets with different thinking styles, personalities and likings. He did his job brilliantly as a result of which we had a fantastic trip.
A cricket team could have easily be formed with such a high number of individuals. In cricket, every decision of the captain is not always liked by the teammates. A bowler is bound to get upset by the decision if the captain decides to rotate his bowlers and give another bowler a chance to go for the kill and decides to take him off the spell. In such a situation, he would most likely ask the captain for a couple of overs. Even in such high pressure & high profile games, it is difficult to build consensus among the players and to bring the entire team on the same page. Issues and dislikes are bound to arise. Consensus building is an art, and there are only a few artists who can master this. Radhe, along with Parth, was terrific at this. They both did a fine job of not upsetting anyone with the decisions that they took along at various points in the trek.
The road trip to Sankri was an exciting one. With the entire journey full of ghats, the road was amazing and the journey — an absolute thriller with the tempo traveller moving us left and right every time there was a sharp turn. There were countless blind spots on the way and full credit to Arjun for the way he drove, which made the journey awesome. We had our lunch at Mussorie, one of the great hill-stations in Uttarakhand. An aloo paratha was enough for me as I was not hungry enough probably because of the topsy turvy zigzag roads which made us turn left and rights on our seats.
Because of the lack of sleep the previous night, most of the journey was compensating for the previous night’s sleep. Just before the tea break at 5 pm, I managed to spot a Himalayan Fox who managed to sneak in through the pine trees. It was far too late before I could take its picture, but this was the second time a fox had eluded me. The first time, it happened during my previous visit to Uttarakhand in Nainital in 2012.
By the time it was 5 pm, we were 40 km away from Sankri. A hot cup of tea managed to shrug off the sleep that had taken over my body, similar to the way the rain clouds manage to cover the Sun before rainfall- with absolute ease. The forest covered with pine trees with dawn just minutes away had begun to radiate and show its magnificent display of beauty in abundance.
As soon as the last leg of the journey started, I dozed off to complete my final leg of the sleep. By the time I woke up, it had gone completely dark. The Sun had made its way for the Moon shining in its full glory with moonlight being the only source of light at that moment. We finally reached Sankri at 7 pm. It was icy cold, and even the triple-tier protection wasn’t enough to ooze some warmth. It was time for the hand gloves to come out in the middle to protect the hands. The mobile networks had gone, and there was no range available on any sim except BSNL, which was playing hide and seek with the mobile phone.
A high voltage drama unfolded thereafter. Kishor, the person who was supposed to guide us through in Sankri suddenly became missing. A manhunt was launched with Radhe and Aman searching for them in the cold streets of Sankri. A man even managed to fool Aman by making him believe that he was Kishore. Luckily, we found the real Kishor just at the right moment. Finally, this 15-minute scare ended, and we were off in our rooms. After settling in the hotel, we had our all aloo dinner- a combination of Aloo Paratha with Aloo Sabzi with the amazing rajma rice. The food was delicious, and I ate it with my belly full. It was the largest meal I had in the day. After dinner, it was time to unwrap the luggage to be kept in Sankri. I removed all the unnecessary luggage required for the trek and was all set for tomorrow’s climb to Juda ka Talab- our first stop of the trek. After having ended the day having played 2–3 games of UNO, it was time to sleep. The clock was ticking at 2.00 am. The morning alarm was set for 6 am. An exciting day awaited us. I slept with no idea that the next day would turn out to be the most amazing day of the trip and one of the most surreal days of my life.
The next morning we woke up, we got the biggest surprise of our trek. All hell broke loose when we saw snowflakes greeting us in the morning. It was one of the most beautiful mornings that I had seen in my life. It was a dream come true for most of us. Nobody had anticipated in their wildest dreams and imaginations that on the first day of our trek we would be greeted by live snowfall. It was in New York City where I was a 2-year-old baby who didn’t even know to utter a single word the last time I had seen live snowfall in my life. So I am discounting that completely. This was the first live snowfall to my memory dated goes back. Nothing comes close to beating this white heaven magic of witnessing live snowfall in the Healing Himalayas.
Before the trek started, I was under the impression that I would see snow at the Kedarkantha base camp. Never in my wildest dreams, I had thought that I would be able to witness live snowfall right in front of my eyes. It was a pure dream come true. I had met my expectations for which I had come so far- to witness live snowfall. This view had every trait that one associates with great poetry and literature. This view had so much serenity that probably I could write another separate blog on the same. This view was pure heavenly magic for which probably even the Gods would have to descend on Earth to witness it. That is why Uttarakhand is called as the Land of the Gods- Devbhoomi. This view was purely for ages. I finally experienced the true magic of winter- the real winter vibes. I was delighted with what I had just seen. It took a little while for me for this magical feeling to sink in. I had pinched myself twice literally to check whether what I was witnessing was a reality happening in front of my eyes or just another good dream that I had of snowfall in the Healing Himalayas.
As the snowfall started from the morning, we started enjoying the snowfall, clicking pictures, snow fights, throwing snowballs, making boomerangs, making a snowman and enjoying the surreal beauty at display in full glory.
After doing this for a couple of hours in the morning, we got the news that the day's trek was cancelled. Some were left sad by this. We had to stay back in Sankri for that day due to improper weather for trekking. I was making the most of this lovely weather, clicking pictures and creating memories. The picture depicts moment and moments create life. So it is necessary to capture it as we create memories which are long-lasting stored in some corner of our heart.
After completing breakfast, it was time for some more fun as we explored Sankri and soak in the beauty of the surreal snowfall which was making landfall. There is no other beautiful season than winter and no more beautiful thing than experiencing live snowfall: every snow pellet behaving as if it were to be the bridge between heaven and Earth.
Often in winter, if you go up in the North, you can experience snow, but lucky are those who can witness live snowfall because I can definitely tell that it is one of the most majestic displays of nature to be experienced in its most raw form. The surreal snowfall and the serenity showed by the scenic spots in Sankri was truly spellbinding.
It snowed till lunchtime. Till then, we continued to enjoy the beauty. After lunch, the snowfall came to an end, and there was first ray of sunlight that pierced in through the thick white layer of cloud formation that had rocked in since the start of the day. As the Sun expanded its horizons, it was time for the birds to start chirping again. The Sun was now in its full glory. Suddenly after the snowfall ended, it became more chilling. As a result, some decided to stay back in the room while some decided to explore Sankri and go for a small exploration nearby. In the afternoon that 4 of us- Aman, Tanvi, me and Arpit decided to explore nearby.
The view was extremely amazing after the snowfall and situation so dynamic that the cloud formation changed every second. Every few minutes, it felt as if there was the scenic change in any number of days due to the mountains' constantly evolving dynamics.
There was also a cute silent dog that followed us wherever we went in this small little trek. He stopped whenever we stopped. He moved whenever we moved. And there lies my dog story.
If there is one thing that suddenly causes tremors while walking on any street of the world, it’s a pack of stray dogs literally stalking & following me for whatsoever reason probably they only know the best. I wish that had all doggies been calm, cool, barked less, less aggressive & composed creatures, walking on any street would have been absolutely fearless. But Alas, that’s a Utopian dream.
Before this trip, I had a perception of mountain dogs being mini wolves just because of their demeanour & huge size. I was happy that my perception turned out to be another fallacy. Although bulky& heavyweights, they turned out to be very similar to my above mentioned Utopian dream, whereas the usual street dogs, thin & skinny are the exact opposite of their personality.
If there were one relationship which was into social distancing even before the pandemic struck and made social distancing mandatory, that would be of dogs and Me. Have been relatively maintaining social distancing with dogs since childhood. However, the one in this pic was among the finest- coolest dogs I have seen in my lifetime ticking all the boxes of my Utopian dream. Clicked a pic as a lifetime memory — proving that such amazing creatures do exist. I am not a dog hater. I have always been pretty comfortable with pet dog breeds of Labrador & Golden Retriever who are usually extremely calm, not aggressive and don’t show their teeth every time you look in their eyes. This was one dog I could not ignore and take an eye off.
After having completed this trek, we returned to our rooms. As there was a sudden change of plan due to snowfall, we had to check out of our hotel rooms as others had been allotted rooms as per their bookings. So we had to move into a house of a local for one night. It was a classic wooden structure with the wooden structure making the rooms warmer from inside and thereby nullifying the severe cold outside in the night as the temperatures dropped. One of the most striking features that I noticed in this trek was the local community's remarkable hospitality. They were extremely warm, fun-loving, and proud Pahadis, most of whom depended on tourism for their bread and butter source. They served me black tea, a sweet & hot beverage pleasing to the throat to drink. They were also kind to accommodate me in the bonfire that they had put into beating the chill of the night. The temperatures had dropped down to -3 degree Celcius that night.
Everyone had an anxious sleep that night. Had it snowed the following day, our trek would have got cancelled, and we would have to retreat to Dehradun forcefully. In my heart secretly, I had hoped to repeat the magic of that day the following day because my main purpose of the trek was to witness live snowfall—the more, the merrier. It was not that I would have wanted the trek to be cancelled, but the sheer suddenness of the snowfall that had taken everyone by surprise was too big a temptation to not hope for a repeat.
The next morning, there was not a single cloud in the sky with the Sun glowing radiantly, meaning that the trek was back on track. The only amendment was that we had to climb to Kedarkantha base camp in one single day without resting at Juda ka Talab for the night. Basically, a compensation for the loss of one day had to be covered the next day along with the original climb of that day. A long climb awaited us all. We were ready for the ascend. With the Sun shining in its full might and clear forecast for the rest of the day, all the hurdles had been cleared off before we had to make a move for the climb. We were ready to take on the ascend
