Date: 27 March 2018

I woke up at 3am in the morning even though we were to leave at 6.30am. First of all, I did not want to leave the place and return back to the over populated city. So I came out of the tent, roamed around a bit in the moonlight and noticed that the cooking staff were up as there was our next batch was getting ready to summit that day. We had a heartfelt chat as they were preparing breakfast and tea for them. The other batch left for their summit around 4am and seeing them trek away it made me nostalgic and refreshed all our previous day memories.

Here are some of the selfies which I tried to take with almost all my trek mates that day and the previous day.

Then I sat in the kitchen tent for a while seeing them work and talk about general things about their life and stuff. Then one by one, our batch trekkers started waking up and then we all had our breakfast. With a heavy heart I then packed all my stuff and headed away from the campsite. We assembled near our vehicles and were bidding goodbye to our trek leader and other fellow trekkers.

Watch this fun video here where our trek leader Bhupender made us repeat his unique chant. This is the one thing we were made to shout during the entire trek when we stopped at our regular breaks which used to uplift our energies quite instantly! We had it byheart and used to sing it on competition by the end of the trek :P.

Another happy video from the summit here.

We then boarded our vehicles and started our journey towards Haridwar. This journey back was so even more heavier. Then it was just a blur of events as I again took back train from Haridwar to Delhi and after spending half a day shopping alone in Delhi at the famouse Sarojini market, I reached back home.

I have to mention one incident where I was standing alone on the Haridwar railway station platform a little skeptical as my train was very late at around 10pm. Till 7pm or so I was accompanied by Nishant whose train left at that time and later I waited in Ladies waiting room. It was a bit difficult to figure out where to stand and where my coach would be. But there were police patrolling every few minutes there which did make me feel safe and they helped me guide on which proper side to stand too.

I would like to include all the amazing people I met during this trip:

1. Nishant- A Keralite who had come from Mumbai who was my constant companion throughout the trek and helped me a lot.
2. Manali- Another fellow solo trekker who accompanied me since even before the trek started from Delhi and also was my constant companion during the entire trek and also my tent-mate. Got a lot of confidence from her.
3. Apoorv- Also a solo trekker who was taking shortcuts the entire trek and a good friend now.
4. Anju- A solo trekker who came alone leaving her husband to look after her kid :P. Also my tent-mate.
5. Paresh, Sagar, Parth and Tej- The epic Gujrati gang who are a group of cousins and his friend. Their energy kept us entertained throughout and not to mention them handing us khakras at the summit. The group who offloaded their clothes backpack and carried bags full of food the entire trek 😀
6. Rosanna and Kates- A couple of foreigners (I forgot which country they came from) who gelled really well with all of us.
7. Renu and Sulochana- Two strong minded women in their 40’s and best friends since long who are also super fit.
8. Ambika and Narasimha- A fellow Konkani husband and wife who were super fit and always at the front of the team while trekking.
9. Mohit- Also a solo trekker in his 30’s from Punjab and such a chilled out person.
10. Manoj chacha- Our guide who was leading us the entire trek with such a good sense of humour who kept us entertained throughout so much that we forgot our tiredness.
11. Rahul- Our guide who is almost the same age as me and who actively was a sweeper for the group making sure no one was left behind and motivated slow trekkers to give their best, also an awesome cook and a good Pahadi friend now too!
12. Chintamani, Prachi, Vikrant, Shreeni, Supriya- The Mumbaikar Marathi gang! Full of energy, vlogging the entire trek who are also multi-talented guys. They are bikers, marathon runners and one is also a zumba instructor who also made us dance to her wonderful dance steps before the summit night.

I had to name and cover all of these people who made my first solo experience such a rich one and filled with wonderful memories with nothing much to regret to except for my fitness at that time. But still, each and every one of us used to motivate whenever one would cross another or was feeling tired. We all gelled up very quickly thanks to the efforts of the IH team. This trek gave me confidence to take more solo trips further and widened my perspective after meeting such variety of people from all over. This brings an end to the series of my first high-altitude trek.

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So from here I had decided I would travel as much as possible whenever I got the opportunity and continued to do so after coming back. I can officially say that starting from March 2018 I started exploring new places, people and looking forward to many more…

Ending this with a quote I found most relatable to:

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Thank you all for reading it till here, do like and share if you find it worth.