Soliloquy of a Wandering Pilgrim

Blanks on the map 2011 has been a special year for me. The year was special because it had given me opportunities to focus on a few blanks on the map around great mountains such as Nanda Devi and Kangchenjunga. It had given me opportunities to concentrate on solving exploratory problems that existed in the mountains near me. My first objective was to force a route through the Rukel- Rongyoung gorge systems of North Sikkim (March 2011).  J Claude White, the first British political officer to Sikkim had pioneered this route back in 1890. After White, the same route was repeated by Harold Raeburn (1920) and Bill Tilman(1936). In March 2011, we wanted to do their route in reverse and thus rediscovering (and taking first ever photographs) the Rukel- Rongyoung river and valley systems. It was a great success and a stepping stone for our successive expeditions later that year (November and December) to the elusive Zemu Gap (a long standing problem on the great east spur of...

Rebirth in the hills: From the heartland of Garhwal to Unknown Spiti Kuari Pass trek and the Singekang Expedition Dunagiri and Nandadevi from Gorson top The Kuari pass is a wonderful trail offering a grand panoramic view of many of the famous Himalayan summits like Chaukhamba 7138m, Nilkantha 6596m, Dunagiri 7066m, Kamet 7756m, Mana 7272m, Trishul 7120m and Nandaghunti 6309m and of course Nanda Devi (7816m) and yet just the trek one would like to take if he/she is taking their first steps in this “devabhumi”-the land of Gods, Garhwal. Ronti, Trisul and Nandaghunti By mid October, 2010, after overcoming massive landslides en route our team was in Auli, the starting point of our trek. The sight of Dunagiri and Nanda Devi was simply out of this world. For me it was like a rebirth in the hills. With every bout of violent cough I had, I knew I have come so far and there was no stopping. The mountains at night and at dawn were silent witness of my struggle (it was aroun...

Back on feet 22 days (18th July to 8th  August 2010) in a hospital bed felt endless! My friends (including my school mates) and family members visited me almost every day. While it was nice to see that I was not alone it was hard to keep the sense of humor breathing in harmony. Future looked uncertain and I was getting restless deep inside.   My wife ‘Sangita’ and son ‘Ananda’ were my motivation in that nadir of my days and I focused myself in getting better. Cartoon drawn by artist Sri Debasis Deb, who came to visit me quite a few times in the hospital As soon as I was out of that hospital bed my hopes for getting back to the mountains began to intensify. I was able to walk longer and everyday felt a bit stronger and therefore a bit more confident. Another month passed and the drainage tube attached to my chest was finally removed around the beginning of September. It was around then I realized that if I can be fit by end September 2010, I ...

Escape to Gangotri: the long six days In June 2010 I was supposed to be dead. I was deep inside the upper reaches of the Gangotri glacier when that incident took place. It so happens that I had two cysts in my right lung. They grew inside me without my knowledge of course, over the years, to the size and shape of tennis balls. They are called hydatid cysts, kind of a tapeworm ( echynococcus granulosus ) infection one can get either from dogs or from sheep. I may have got them from eating ( or should I say ‘tasting’ because I only had a tiny bit out of sheer curiosity) raw sheep liver in the base camp of Mount Kamet back in 2005. It amazes me to this day that with these growing cysts in my lung I had participated in many high altitude mountaineering expeditions over 6000m to major summits and even raced on Mt Elbrus (20 trips between 2005 June and 2010 June to be precise)! Should this incident have happened in one of those extreme conditions I sure stood less chance of survival! G...