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It was well over two decades and we school friends always seemed to be recollecting the same old memories of those days when we used to trek the Himalayas or fondly remember the same incidents of our first rendezvous with independence and freedom in the small town of Ghatshila in Bihar.
And then in took us one fine afternoon to realise that it’s time to move on from the old recollections and create a fresh space. That was the afternoon when one of the school chums, a very regular of our earlier treks was undergoing a heart surgery and we were waiting outside for the operation to get over. The thought dawned to us that Life is short and unpredictable. And we still had time (theoretically at least) to make some new memories before getting declared unfit by life. The man lying inside the OT was the man we needed to be back in the thick and thin of the life that he had always lived earlier. Thus the decision to make a trip together again and make it as wild as possible like earlier times.
Of course it took us 6 more months to come to a final conclusion. Health of the friend and more importantly time constraints were the primary reason in pushing our plans back. But the genesis of it was that we needed to be in the mountains. And not just the typical hill stations but the quaint little villages, the home stay, the trek (however small it might be given our present levels of fitness rather lack of it) and of course all that was defined as adventure.
Starting from Kolkata with time constraints in hand due to professional pressures, the nearest that we could find of course was the majestic pull of the Kunchenjungha (the 3rd highest peak in the World and India’s highest). So be it as we decided on the lesser traveled route of West Sikkim and a fresh love affair with the Kunchenjungha.
The first halt point that we stayed for the night was Jorethang. This extremely small subdivisional town nestled in a valley on the banks of the Rangit and Little Rangit river is flanked by the Darjeeling hills on one side and the Pelling mountains on the other. Jorethang was part of one of our early days trek route and so held a strategic nostalgic chord in our mind and it was carefully chosen by us to do the night stay.
From here we went to Hilley (at almost 9,000 feet) where the motorable road ends.
A gradual trek of 4.5 km starts..
And culminates in our destination called Varsey (more than 10,000 ft high) which has only one cottage. However big it might look, it has only one room with attached bath and the rest are a huge dining space and a dormitory with bedding placed on the floor for anyone who wants to drop in for a stay.
On the return journey we halted in the quaintest of villages called Okhrey before heading back for Kolkata.
We had a big group of school friends who were still firmly connected together even after so many years, but the guys who were available were five of us. But the rest did travel with us with the promise of joining in the future trips. Here we are from extreme right the tallest of us is Partha, Subhomoy, Saibal, Raja and me.
A small debate as to how to travel was there. Flights would have been expensive, train the nearest to reliving our memories as we mostly used to travel that way in our original memories but reservation and availability an issue, bus from Kolkata to Siliguri would have been uncomfortable. The confusion was quickly doused and we all placed our faith in the good old XYLO and was clear on the fact that if it could have been bohemianism at its best, then the Xylo needed to fire. And it did over the long smooth straights or the rough patches, sailing through the heights and climbing the slope with effortless ease.
The detailed story follows as we named our drive as ZINDAGI na milegi DUBARA in keeping with the spirit of the trip..
And then in took us one fine afternoon to realise that it’s time to move on from the old recollections and create a fresh space. That was the afternoon when one of the school chums, a very regular of our earlier treks was undergoing a heart surgery and we were waiting outside for the operation to get over. The thought dawned to us that Life is short and unpredictable. And we still had time (theoretically at least) to make some new memories before getting declared unfit by life. The man lying inside the OT was the man we needed to be back in the thick and thin of the life that he had always lived earlier. Thus the decision to make a trip together again and make it as wild as possible like earlier times.
Of course it took us 6 more months to come to a final conclusion. Health of the friend and more importantly time constraints were the primary reason in pushing our plans back. But the genesis of it was that we needed to be in the mountains. And not just the typical hill stations but the quaint little villages, the home stay, the trek (however small it might be given our present levels of fitness rather lack of it) and of course all that was defined as adventure.
Starting from Kolkata with time constraints in hand due to professional pressures, the nearest that we could find of course was the majestic pull of the Kunchenjungha (the 3rd highest peak in the World and India’s highest). So be it as we decided on the lesser traveled route of West Sikkim and a fresh love affair with the Kunchenjungha.
The first halt point that we stayed for the night was Jorethang. This extremely small subdivisional town nestled in a valley on the banks of the Rangit and Little Rangit river is flanked by the Darjeeling hills on one side and the Pelling mountains on the other. Jorethang was part of one of our early days trek route and so held a strategic nostalgic chord in our mind and it was carefully chosen by us to do the night stay.
From here we went to Hilley (at almost 9,000 feet) where the motorable road ends.
A gradual trek of 4.5 km starts..
And culminates in our destination called Varsey (more than 10,000 ft high) which has only one cottage. However big it might look, it has only one room with attached bath and the rest are a huge dining space and a dormitory with bedding placed on the floor for anyone who wants to drop in for a stay.
On the return journey we halted in the quaintest of villages called Okhrey before heading back for Kolkata.
We had a big group of school friends who were still firmly connected together even after so many years, but the guys who were available were five of us. But the rest did travel with us with the promise of joining in the future trips. Here we are from extreme right the tallest of us is Partha, Subhomoy, Saibal, Raja and me.
A small debate as to how to travel was there. Flights would have been expensive, train the nearest to reliving our memories as we mostly used to travel that way in our original memories but reservation and availability an issue, bus from Kolkata to Siliguri would have been uncomfortable. The confusion was quickly doused and we all placed our faith in the good old XYLO and was clear on the fact that if it could have been bohemianism at its best, then the Xylo needed to fire. And it did over the long smooth straights or the rough patches, sailing through the heights and climbing the slope with effortless ease.
The detailed story follows as we named our drive as ZINDAGI na milegi DUBARA in keeping with the spirit of the trip..
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