An Article by Ashok Nair
I was missing the mountains.
Badly.
It was about seven years since my last trek into the mountains. Yes, I had gone whitewater rafting down the Brahmaputra but then other than it being an outdoor adventure, there was nothing in common with a trek.
A trek is different. Mountains have a different aura about them. There’s an aloofness, a solidity, a sense of permanence about them that nothing else in nature provides.
I wanted to see the mountains, walk up its steep inclines, breathe the clean fresh air, feel the snow, enjoy the solitude and love the physical challenge that they give you.
But, I think, most of all, I just wanted to recharge my batteries and nothing does that better than a trek in the mountains. Work was at its most chaotic state for the last couple of years and I really needed that recharge.
Work again dictated a very narrow time frame for me to plan my break. That tiny gap when one quarter’s business is done and the real action for the next starts ( ah, the life of a salesman ! ). If I stretch it a bit, I could squeeze in about two weeks.
There was one trek that fitted in to my narrow schedule perfectly. The Auden’s Col trek. And, of course, I went with Aquaterra.