"Jalori Pass Trek (May 2019)" by Juhi

Experience shared by our friend and participant, Juhi on how she learnt new things and discovered answers to her questions during the Himalayan trek to Jalori Pass with Parvat Buddies from 27^th to 31^st May 2019 

The 'Happydent' Smile

It’s surprising how often Indian people fantasize about exploring the world, whereas India in itself is one of the world’s most beautiful countries. India has tonnes of places to visit and to be mesmerized by. Luckily for me, I knew Parin and he informed me about the trek to Jalori pass. At the initial stage of me finalizing my plan, I was so excited, I bombarded Parin with some non-sense questions over the phone like, “Once we’re up there, will we able to look down and spot Nepal? Bhutan? India?” and I can describe his expression without even seeing it.


It was and is the best decision of 2019. For me, its important to touch my own roots instead of splurging in luxury across the world. I learnt who I am, who I want to be, what I’d like to do and a few other answers to questions that I didn’t know I had. It sounds absurd that within a week I leant so much about myself and nature; because I’m a flora-fauna lover, I thought I knew it all (“miss-know-it-all”), but I was happy to know that after being proved wrong, I learnt. More and more. I made new friends, not only humans but also animals. It’s been 2 weeks since my return and I miss drinking that natural water filled with minerals straight from the water fall. That naturally chilled temperature of the water that soothed my throat in the cold weathers of 5 degrees. Normally if I had cold water in Mumbai regardless of the weather, I’d fall sick. But it was like magic up there.


We had to follow rules; rules made by the wiser for us to keep ourselves safe. Yet, my friends and I managed a few ways to break them and enjoy whilst ensuring we do not harm the nature. We stayed up late (late means 10:30 pm up there) to star gaze after dinner. We stood by the fire long enough to burn our clothes. We swung and jumped and ran and rolled within the safe arms of the nature and mountains. They say that good things take time but really great things happen in a blink of an eye. And I can guarantee that this trip did go in a blink of an eye.


While packing, it was very necessary to eliminate unnecessary things to reduce the weight on the shoulders. Mumbai to Delhi, Delhi to Kullu and until the base camp, the excitement was at the peak. But when we started the trek, all our excitement drained down and we were left with only our will and the motivation of hot cooked meal to push ourselves forward. With all the equipment we had, the trekking pole, the head lamp, the bladder, shoes, socks, correct trekking gear, it helped us perform better with the guidance of our mentor Parin and his team mate, Bhavik along with the generous villagers of Sajwar who stood by us throughout the trek. That incredibly kind group of villagers cooked our food, set up our tents, trekked along with us (in floaters/slippers) and carried all of it. Just for us. They even offered to carry us if we needed that kind of assistance!


The management provided by Parvat Buddies was commendable, not a moment of criticization, no complaints, just pure fun and a memorable trek. We all had met for the first time and we gelled up so well, others had doubts that we met only at 5pm on the train from Mumbai to Delhi. The fun we had was only possible because we followed the rules laid out by PB. The trick is to first master the rules and then break them 😉


It would be unfair if I ratted out every moment of mine during my journey. Because if you read mine and decided to go for it, you’d be disappointed. Because each of us different enough to feel and experience different things. So, I’d suggest you to go for this and every other possible trek that you can go for and feel every emotion that I felt, maybe even more! The place, the people and yourself, really matter in making a trip successful. I thank the team of Parvat Buddies for organizing this trek and helping me in learning so much that I could not have learnt otherwise. All’s well that ends well! Cheers!

Smiling,
JJ :)

The ever Smiling Miss Juhi loves animals and nature