May 2005
A group of 30 people trekked in the Dhauladhar mountain range, the foothills of Himalaya to raise money for the Childline UK and Childline India. The group efforts resulted in over £60k raised for the Childline UK.
There were lots of highlights through out the trek, this includes people in our group, fairly diverse but a good blend, beautiful snow mountains, colourful fields, visit to the Dalai Lama’s temple and his summer palace, captivating villagers and school visits during the trek.
When I signed up for the Childline India Trek I knew it was going to be challenging for both fund raising target and fitness level required. I thought steep climbs, steep descend, altitudes, heights, strong sun at the top would be kind of issues we would come across but these seemed like nothing compared to the weather that we had to cope with, worst in last 30 years in Himachal. It would generally be warm in the morning, heavy hailstones for few hours during the afternoon (especially at lunchtime everyday), and then freezing cold from early evening. So we found ourselves geared up with various layers to cope with the changing weather, but only after getting completely soaked on day 2. All our belongings, which included clothes, sleeping bags and sleeping mat arrived wet everyday on day 2, 3 and 4.
On day 2 climbing up the steep mountains with hail so heavy that made the narrow path disappear faster then we could walk was not only hard but scary too.
On day 3 when we reached the top of the mountain in Triund, the picture perfect views of Snow mountains on one side, deep valley on the other side at sun set was simply stunning, and it made all the hard work of the day well worth it.
On day 4 sitting in my tent on my own, on top of a mountain with a full blown storm raging was the scariest experience of my life and the low light of the trek.
Our visit to Prayas (Childline India) was the highlight of the trek for me. It was an eye opener for me as until then I hadn't truly appreciated the size and depth of issues that they deal with at Childline India. One inspirational woman that we had the pleasure of meeting is Gargi who works for Prayas. Her strength, passion to help and commitment to the cause is simply admirable. It was really nice to talk to some of the volunteers and children at the centre, and to see the big smiles despite of difficult circumstances they live in.
This was one of most amazing experience of my life, and I met some of the ordinary people making an extra ordinary difference in the lives of those less fortunate in the society. I also met some of the funniest characters on the trek, who provided bundles of laughs during the times when there was very little or nothing to laugh about. This is a brief summary however on request of some of my esp. sponsors I have also shared my daily diary.
A group of 30 people trekked in the Dhauladhar mountain range, the foothills of Himalaya to raise money for the Childline UK and Childline India. The group efforts resulted in over £60k raised for the Childline UK.
There were lots of highlights through out the trek, this includes people in our group, fairly diverse but a good blend, beautiful snow mountains, colourful fields, visit to the Dalai Lama’s temple and his summer palace, captivating villagers and school visits during the trek.
When I signed up for the Childline India Trek I knew it was going to be challenging for both fund raising target and fitness level required. I thought steep climbs, steep descend, altitudes, heights, strong sun at the top would be kind of issues we would come across but these seemed like nothing compared to the weather that we had to cope with, worst in last 30 years in Himachal. It would generally be warm in the morning, heavy hailstones for few hours during the afternoon (especially at lunchtime everyday), and then freezing cold from early evening. So we found ourselves geared up with various layers to cope with the changing weather, but only after getting completely soaked on day 2. All our belongings, which included clothes, sleeping bags and sleeping mat arrived wet everyday on day 2, 3 and 4.
On day 2 climbing up the steep mountains with hail so heavy that made the narrow path disappear faster then we could walk was not only hard but scary too.
On day 3 when we reached the top of the mountain in Triund, the picture perfect views of Snow mountains on one side, deep valley on the other side at sun set was simply stunning, and it made all the hard work of the day well worth it.
On day 4 sitting in my tent on my own, on top of a mountain with a full blown storm raging was the scariest experience of my life and the low light of the trek.
Our visit to Prayas (Childline India) was the highlight of the trek for me. It was an eye opener for me as until then I hadn't truly appreciated the size and depth of issues that they deal with at Childline India. One inspirational woman that we had the pleasure of meeting is Gargi who works for Prayas. Her strength, passion to help and commitment to the cause is simply admirable. It was really nice to talk to some of the volunteers and children at the centre, and to see the big smiles despite of difficult circumstances they live in.
This was one of most amazing experience of my life, and I met some of the ordinary people making an extra ordinary difference in the lives of those less fortunate in the society. I also met some of the funniest characters on the trek, who provided bundles of laughs during the times when there was very little or nothing to laugh about. This is a brief summary however on request of some of my esp. sponsors I have also shared my daily diary.
This trek challenge was an opportunity which I am glad I took it on and I will cherish this experience and the memories for the rest of my life.
