Madness at Chakrata - part 1

There are times when the most level-headed of us (didn't exactly say that I am one of them) take decisions bordering on pure insanity. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time can explain this discrepancy partly, the remainder of which has to be attributed to the quirk of the human mind. It appears as if putting many minds together can help to overcome a momentary lapse of reason on an individual's part. That's where we blunder as this episode illustrates. It was collective craziness.

This story goes back by a decade and a half.. infact more. I have to sift through these mental records which are of course stored in black and white; dust them and present them in colour for a different audience.
We were a group of five, (Anand, BAK, Sheru, Vijay and I) who landed up at the small hill-town called Chakrata in Uttarakhand. Chakrata is nestled amongst the Himalayan peaks. It boasts of a Botanical laboratory and little else. There was one tiny street with shops on either side and a few ramshackle huts hanging precariously on the mountain slope.

Our objective was simple but strange. There was a belief that beyond Chakrata, a trail took one to a cottage which was completely uninhabited. It was left open for travellers of our ilk who could rest the night there. As per this version, the cottage was stocked with firewood to keep the cold away and basic provisions as well- a picture straight out of a Grimm's Fairy Tale. Only Goldilock's three bears were missing. Not really!

There was a slight drizzle as we made our way through the shops and hit the trail. One of the villagers was vocal that it was not a good day to make this trip since the weather can turn ugly rather quickly in these parts. His warning was forgotten in the bit of humour that he indulged in next- should we encounter a bear, which is not uncommon, we should remove our jacket and hand it over. While it tries to make some sense of the jacket, probably, checking which way it should be worn, we would have time to run for our lives!

Like most mountain trails, it was gentle in the beginning. As we trudged, we took in the views of the valley and indulged in the banter that keeps college students busy. There were few forks or deviations in the trail as it gained in ascent and we appeared on track. It was about three in the afternoon when we felt the first few snowflakes on our jackets. Snow has a magic of its own- it transforms the landscape.
Soon, the trail had a bit of snow as well and some more... and very soon we were caught in a big, bad snow storm. We were ill-equipped to deal with this weather- our shoes were ordinary and jackets flimsy.

In an hour, the snow was close to the knees and it was getting difficult to walk. For a comparison, it was like ploughing through sand at the beach. Breathing was heavy and the altitude made the head cloudy as well. We took turns to lead the pack- to create the footmarks which would be used by the rest to plant their feet, so that their effort would be minimal.
We did contemplate turning back, but for some reason, it appeared squeamish. We just had to reach our destination. It was only when the snow got to our thighs that we realized that something was terribly wrong. We had somehow drifted well away from the trail. Trees, shrubs, stones, the path- everything was covered in a full cloak of white. Visibility was poor and the snow came down thick and fast.
May be, we could go back to the fork where we bungled. How far was that point from where we were ? Backtracking was not trivial since our footprints had got erased with fresh snow. We were lost in completely unchartered territory.....

- to be continued.