Sometimes the journey is indeed more fascinating than the destination. Rarely though the journey is as fascinating as the destination. I recollect the journey and the peak of Chandrashila equally exhilarating. Here I shall endeavor to trace our short trip on the cold winter of 2009.
This short trip took place around 25th December 2009 over a weekend. The trip was planned on a Thursday afternoon and Friday night we were at the Delhi ISBT (bus station) to catch the 11 pm bus to Haridwar, with no prior reservations or planning. On a cold wintery night, we started our journey to a place we had only heard of a couple of days back.
Our destination was reached by hopping on and off four state buses and one jeep ride.
Our first state bus took us from Delhi (216 m) to Haridwar (314 m) covering a distance of 220 km. We reached by daybreak and were lucky to get the connecting bus to our next destination Srinagar (the one in Uttarakhand). We reached Srinagar (560 m) by afternoon after covering a distance of 130 km, snaking its way through the hills, parallel to the Alaknanda river, and rising with the drop of temperature at every hour. From Srinagar, our third bus ride was to Rudraprayag (895 m). We reached Rudraprayag late in the afternoon and after discussing with locals the best way to reach our destination took our fourth state bus to Ukhimath. We reached Ukhimath (1311 m) by evening after covering 44 km. After negotiating with local drivers we boarded a Jeep to complete the last phase of our destination. An hour later, covering 23 km we finally reached Dugalbitta Chopta (2608 m) at the foot of the Himalayas. It was 7 pm, almost 20 hours since we started from Delhi.
On this journey, we stopped at all destinations sipped hot tea, ate hot pakoras, spoke to locals, saw the scenery change from the din of densely populated towns to the calm of villages to landscape with an eerie silence, from green vegetation of flowing fields to rocky river banks to mountain ranges all around. There was already a lot to take in.
On reaching Dugalbitta we came to know the only private place to stay was closed for renovation. So we requested the local Dhaba owner to help us. He managed to put us up in a state government cottage and told us he will help us with the trek to Chandrashila. After a simple meal of hot dal, vegetables and roti we slid into the cottage to retire for the night.
Sunday morning when we stepped out of the cottage at -5 deg C temperature we were just astounded by the view that greeted us. The night before when we had reached Dugalbitta we had no clue how close we were to the Himalayas. The sight of snow-capped mountains behind conifers was breathtaking.
A breakfast of piping hot maggie and tea, we were off to the Chandrashila. While I cannot remember how much time it took to reach the top, I assume we left at 7 am and climbed to the top by 1 pm.
We glimpsed the peaks rising along with us as we climbed but when we reached the top the view was ethereal. Almost impossible to describe in words. The snow-capped mountains to Nanda Devi peak to the rolling hills in hues of blue, it was a humbling experience. We sat there in amazement for hours and after having our lunch of parathas and pickle slept of the peak bathing in the afternoon sunlight.
We started to climb down by 4 pm and saw the pristine orange sky as the sun started to set. And within minutes it was dark. I remember the fear and silence that accompanied us while we climbed down in the dark with flashlights and our guide’s encouragement.
The next morning we were back on the road to Delhi and the return journey felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. Probably tired from the trek and awed by the beauty of nature and enormity of the mountains, the return journey seemed to be just lost in emotions.
Life is really fast and thus short. Just realized while writing this, that more than a decade has passed since this journey, but it remains close to me as an experience of a lifetime.
Architecture, Art & Beyond 
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