How can we spurn the Call of Peaks?

We can burn and fall to make Tiranga stand tall

once again on heaven-kissing mighty Peaks.

It was 26 Jan, a day which evokes pride in Indians. My promise to hoist Tiranga (Indian Flag) on a new peak every year led me to the Nag Tibba trek this year. This trip was certain to be frolic journey with Inderjeet being tantamount to Fun. #RBI again started in their same Signature style but this time situation turned out different. Our Backs’ were loaded with Sleeping Bags and Tent. We decided to take a direct vehicle for Dehradun. After little hustle-bustle on the ISBT New Delhi we got a bus at 10 on Friday night which dropped us at 5 in morning in Dehradun. It’s always been an ecstatic experience with these guys (RBI) as

they didn’t let you sleep the entire journey.

Wondering about Food availability, Bonfire & Tent arrangement brought an anxious thrill in our trip. We were afraid of the uncertainty that await us yet thrilled enough to relish the Unknown. Sounds Ironic? But that’s how emotions work.

When we reached Dehradun, we rushed towards the railway station to catch another bus for Pantwari. We erred few Kilometres before we arrived at Pantwari, 90 KMS from Dehradun.

By that time, we had witnessed 2 gruesome road accidents that frightened us not to take any Vehicle.

We decided to trek from that Pantwari Village itself. We satiated our hunger at a local restaurant before heading upwards. As we were racing against the time, we set a target to complete 13 Kilometres trek in next 6 hrs. Visibility was abysmally low after 6 PM so we turned on Speakers and overtook other Trekkers one by one (We were humming LinkinPark’s Song- “One by one by one…”). They say Music is Magic and it indeed connected us with other Trekkers and rejuvenated all of us from exhaustion. We took our first halt after 3 KMS beside a rock as it was shining day and there were no cafes on the way.

Few chocolates and little water strengthened our will not to stop before the first base camp. We kept on encouraging our fellow travellers all the while before we reached the base camp in cold. But 4 KMS were still left to be treaded upon to reach the destination. As we thinking of making some arrangements for the food, “Law of Attraction” set in. The result was an attractive girl handed us 3 Maggie packets. We thanked her and moved forward. The clock read 6:30 when we touched our destination.

It was blistering cold when we reached and our knees also gave in. But we had to pitch our tent and collect some wood for bonfire. After some strength, Rohit & Inder went for bonfire arrangements and I started installing the tent.

It was all cold & pitch-black outside and we decided to relish the bonfire heat. A little heat kindled our festive spirit and we pumped up the music volume. Our fellow travellers who initially were in mood to catch sleep came out of their ‘Comfort Zone’ (read ‘Tent’) and started Singing and Dancing. The experience of seeing a huge gathering singing & dancing around the bonfire was sheer bliss.

Between all this funs we came across two crazy girls from New Delhi accompanied by a veteran Guide. They were amazing so we planned to descend and enjoy Mussorie together next day.

After Breakfast at 10, we descended but we lost the way. We got back on track only after we met Guide. We cooked Pullao for Lunch and by 2:30 we were in Auntar Village where our cab was waiting for us to drop us in Mussoorie.

We set out for Musssorie after sipping some tea and picked up the first hotel we checked out. Got ready in a jiffy & left the hotel for the Mall Road Safari at 8. Our first reaction was to feed our hungry tummy with delicious Street food like Bhutta (Maize), Cold Coffee + Ice Cream and then a sumptuous dinner in a Café. As usual, Inderjeet demanded some real Fun so we gate-crashed into a Marriage Function, Danced a bit on the Mall Road and gossiped till 11 pm before we zoned out to sleep.

Woke up at 5 in the excitement of another exciting destination LAL TIBBA that we were set to go that day. Took light breakfast in the hotel and started towards the new adventure. It was about 4 kilometre road but we covered it on foot talking and listening music. We reached the Top and found the sight from there quite amazing. It had a telescope through which you could see Gangotri peak clearly, it appeared that we could capture any human being also if anybody was there. Had some cold Coffee at the cafe and we knocked around for 2 hours in the cold breeze of a sunny day. We were startled by

the seamless network coverage which helped us to share live videos with our families.

The girls were wonderful and made our trip more memorable. Thanks for getting along with us and I really hope to meet you soon on our next trip.

We checked out from the hotel and moved to Dehradun. Boarded a bus for Delhi and started the back-to-home journey. How could I forget the fun we had while creating videos peppered with Inderjeet’s commentary.

Thanks for reading the blog and thank you guys for being a part of this adventure.

With Love

Indiantraveller , RBI , Lalit Kumar , Rohit , Inderjeet

There exists a story behind every scene.