Day 3: 24 December 2015 - Deoriya Tal
The next morning Raghuvirji called up and
suggested we better take the longer route as the other route might be closed at
this time. We thanked him for his timely assistance. From the terrace of the
lodge, we could see the Alaknanda river at the bottom of the hills following a
flexuous path. While the laziest amongst us, Utkarsh was in the bathroom;
Dinesh, Gaurav and I, went to see the river closer. Enroute, I also bought
another head cap and gloves which I had lost in Auli (courtesy Utkarsh). We
left at around 10 am after breakfast for Rudraprayag.
From
Chamoli, we took a bus to Rudraprayag from where we sat in another bus till
Ukhimath. From Ukhimath, we got into an amusing Tata Sumo taxi. It was crowded
with 12 people and two of them were drunk. One of them sat beside us and kept
mumbling nonsense and tried to make small talks. We also got involved and had
fun talking to the guy. Gaurav was sitting closest to him and kept getting
infuriated with every word he was muttering. He got angry at us as well for
poking both him and the drunk guy further. But it was all fun in hindsight.
We
had lunch at Ukhimath from where we caught another Tata Sumo taxi which took us
till Sari village. By the time we reached there, it was around 4 pm and soon it
was going to be dark. We called Raghuvirji
and asked about the arrangements. He said that we can keep our luggage in
a guest house (Devbhoomi)
in Sari village, which we obliged, and started the serpentine never-ending 2.3
km trek. It
should've been a piece of cake for the students of forest management who have
walked amidst several forests across India during their two years of
post-graduation course. But Gaurav started to fumble, he was started having
back pain. Effect of heavy smoking was showing on Dinesh as well. Utkarsh and I
somehow kept motivating the two. The trek never seemed to get over. We kept
walking and talking and by the time we reached the top it was already dark. It
must have taken us an hour and a half taking several mini halts on the ascend.
A
canteen operated by the locals stand atop the hill. It was to serve us dinner
that night and any other food items that we might need. We crossed the canteen,
walked some 100 meter further to find several tents in an open area. We had
reached Deoriyataal. The lake stands on one side while tents are grounded
beside it. Forests encircle the whole area. Certain parts were covered with
snow on the hill but since it was dark we could not see much except flashes of
cameras and the lanterns Raghuvirji had given us and hear much except a few
boisterous groups. We recceed the area in the dark as much as we could and went
to the canteen to sit near the fire to avoid getting frozen.
We
talked turkey near the fire pondering over business ideas and hoping some day,
we all would tag up together to start our own venture. We schmoozed about our
lives till the food was served inside the canteen hut. The food was heavenly.
Even while writing this blog, it brings water to my mouth. The plain jeera aloo
with hot chapatis and yellow daal was as delicious as it could get. We got up
to give way to another party who had come there to eat and went to our tents. We munched on to namkeen and other snacks we possessed.
With a sleeping bag and a blanket for everyone to manage the night, it
seemed as if it was going to be a long one. We relied on our closeness to each
other in the tent for more warmth but it was going to be a tough night and the
thing that woke us early in the morning was an evidence of that.
