day1 : 20.5.99.

Nothing much about it . only reporting and resting and getting used to the creatures (who are your tentmates and will be your buddies for 10 more days). All designer ducks. I think they also have the same kind of feeling and opinion.
Base Camp[BC] Kasol is 30km from Bhuntar which is 10km away from kullu. and BC is 5km away from Manikaran (the hot springs town).

Temp is quite low and water temp is at about 7-8 degrees. The place is a beautiful one.
All along the trek trail my vocabulary comes to it's dead end. The sheer magic of Himalayas got me stunned and clean bowled out. I could not help remembering my inability for the words to describe the Himalaya.

appendix : taking a bath in that chilled water is an experience. especially when the time is of nature call.

day 2 : 21.5.99

Time table goes like this.

0530 bed tea. (for the warming up !! hell it's so chilled outside , you won't bother for the hot tea)
0600 morning walk and exercises. (hell raising, this will really wake anybody up)
0700 breakfast. ( food served is delicious and solid all through the 11 days)
0800 acclimatization walk with two blankets and water bottle. (a little climbing 600-700ft, nice time meant for intro
and etc ,you know)
1300 lunch
1400 orientation ( this is hell at it's rising best, 2.5 hours of hardcore nailing about the do's and don'ts. worst part is you can't sleep either)
1630 tea break. (now you can take some breath)
1930 dinner.
2030 campfire ( fire! fire! lampfire, no burning of woods no smell of smoke, all kinds of impressionism goes to it's raging high
(you have impress your so many new found one's; you see) man o man this really something to test your stamina for patience.)
2200 lights off.

day 4 : 23.5.1999.

At last you are free from a sort of a disciplinary camp. it feels good but it feels better when you finish the trek that how correct they were disciplining you.

You start at 5200ft height ie from base camp Kasol to a height of 7000ft approx. All the heights are approx only. The track is along a stream which later joins River Parbati which in turn joins Bias.

From Kasol to Grahan the next camp is near a Village .This is one of the two villages you come across.Village is dirty and people just getting in touch with urbanization.

It's only about 10-12km or so.Nice track . solid forest.and Iris gardens. beautiful.

We reached Grahan by 1530h and the menu for the day and rest of the camps is like this .You get welcome drink when you reach then tea with snacks the soup then dinner the bournvita .(they will spoil you.yeah food is good)

That evening and that night it rained heavily and first experience of Himalayan rain is a wonderful experience. No campfire. It's only tentfire now. Nothing much to tell about the inside world of men's tent. same old jokes and solid laughter. with a hope that the rain would stop next morning everybody slept. who knew it was just a hope.

Appendix : the boy has made a few friends who are inspectors in customs and central excise from Indore

day 5 : 24.06.1999.

I am atheist and still I am and my experience says if there is a thing like god then it must be Sun.

yes, As I said only hope was left with us and of course heavy rain too. Its time to take your rainsheets out and start walking,slipping,sliding etc.The best suited song is "slipping sliding away. 'cos its okay".

the real fun begins now.

I woke up in the morning and had solid attack of nausea and my eyes blackened out,I could'nt see a ... hell.
you have to cross two rivers n' thanks to the rain one river is uncrossable( that's what a localite told us okay)and with the help of a guide one group(including me) took another route which added 3-4 scenic kms to our 10km std route.And the route we took just took us into the dense Himachal forest.

Try to imagine the scene. You are inside a dense cloud it's raining heavily at it's wish,and you have a hazy picture of a beautiful waterfall before you and in another corner of the frame a few mountain tops,and some treetops in another corner and you are slipping down in an iris garden where a wrong slip could send you to the river straight.
You must experience it. My poor language is nowhere near a fair description.

Another group took the risk of crossing the river water forcing down the stream at waist level. They made a chain and splendid teamwork and they did it.

Everybody is having a great time.

In the second crossing I found out how it is to step into a Himalayan stream Unforgettable experience. Water is so chilled that you feel needles and pins in side your shoes, and my copilots crossed a river at waist level water. ;) good god.

Mr Joshi the camp leader at Bada Thatch or Bharath Thatch was nice and warm.we really had a splendid time only to know next morning that Joshi was under inspection and we made a good example of him. Many tears to fall, but its all in the game.
Tech Details: Grahan(7500ft) (last camp ) 10km Bharath Thatch(9000ft)

appendix : the whole day I couldn't take a single picture.Only in the evening I could manage some.
Best part of the trek is that you get tea stalls at nice places (courtesy localites) of course the taxes are high but splendid eat out.