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There is something very special about the first time you do something…Remember your first kiss? The first time you fell in love, your first salary cheque, the first day in school… wait a second I remember nothing about that day!
First timers are truly special. Try remembering the second or the third time you did it, and you’ll never be able to remember the incident like the first time it ever happened to you.
My trip to Munsiyari was a big package of 1st timers. I caught myself using the phrase ‘That’s the first time I’m doing this’, a million of times. This road trip was the first time I took a trip with just 1 person. I was quite nervous about the whole thing. knowing my temperament some of my friends even advised me to not pick a fight with my trip buddy as I will be left with no one to speak to! Thankfully the trip was minus any fights…Ok! Ok! There were some arguments but I rather call them ‘Creative Disagreement’.
It’s not a secret that im a foodie, and I expected food to be, if not great then at least edible. To my surprise most of the places on the way looked like breeding ground for many diseases and believe me im not even that picky! I ate almost nothing in the 6 day long trip, which lead to the weight loss that happened in jus 6 days! A crash diet I never want to be on again! We drank straight from the millions of waterfalls which according to me was the coolest- as no filtration was required!
I saw millions of species’ of birds and bees! (Pun intended!) My favourite, being the drongo. That bird had something about it, looked really evil to me and to top it all she had a tail which resembled the tail of an arrow!(Check it out in the pic). One of the highlights of the trip was when we went skinny dippy in hot sulphur springs. It was undoubtedly the most amazing thing that I had ever done and it calls for a separate article about the experience!

Not only was this the first time I ever went on a trek but also the very first time when I camped overnight out in the mountains, left to the mercies of the nature gods! Read near death experience for the lowdown.
This was the very first time I went without alcohol for an entire vacation. We did carry a bottle of breezer but it found itself back to Delhi without being touched! No alcohol could give me the high I got from the sights I saw and the sounds I heard!

There are just so many things that I loved about the trip and the amazing feeling doesn’t seem to fade away…im guessing it’s the magic of the 1st timer!

Near death experience!

My friend called this trip a trip for self re-discovery! Wow that’s deep! Im guessing we all should take these trips for self re-discovery every now and then as we seem to be losing ourselves each day to this thing called life! I went on this journey for no such profound reason… My reasons were simple- Adventure! Adventure! Adventure!

Adventure…well I got lots more than that! Got a near death experience!
As this was the first REAL trekking trip I went on, I found it really hard to fathome the possibilities. After a good 8 hr sleep which was extremely rare on this trip, we started our trek. We got dropped to a place which, if it was commercialized would be called – BASE CAMP! The uphill climb was long and quite steep for my standards, and in no time I realised that the life I was leading back here in the city was not a healthy one. The spirits were now taking a toll on me! After the hundreds of butt pushes and millions of stops to catch my breath we finally made it to the top! Phew! The view from the top was unbelievable not only because of the amazing sights but also because I MADE IT! It seemed unreal.

We quickly pitched out tents and gathered wood for the fire. Our navigator prepared the most amazing tea which I savoured but not for long as I was informed that we needed to trek upto the sunset point. Okie I said with a smile…only if they knew that I was in no bloody mood to take a step after the long trek leave alone walking some 4 kms just to see the sun set! We walked slowly…but I knew I was ready to give up…and that’s exactly what I did somewhere in the middle. I insisted that my friends continue while I rest here in the middle of nowhere. Soon I realised that this was the best shot I would get at ‘self re-discovery’!

I sat there in the cold slightly uncomfortable thinking about how long I’ll have to be there all alone. After some time I contemplated going back to the camp but the thought of something happening to me and no one being able to find me was a thought scary enough to make me sit out in the freakin’ cold!

My eyes followed my friends as they made their climb uphill. I found some comfort looking at them coz now the feeling of loneliness was sinking in. They were slipping in and out of my line of sight. It was like a game of hide and seek. Every time they vanished my mind began to drift away but amazingly no thoughts came to my mind…I tried real hard to think about things in my life but nothing….absolutely nothing could take me away from the calm which I felt. Sitting out there in the middle of nowhere nothing mattered at all! The troubles of life could not touch me here. I felt strong and weak at the same time. Weak because I was escaping from life and strong because finally I had found an escape route!

The night was rather uncomfortable. My socks were wet and I didn't have the presence of mind to carry an extra pair! Before we went off to sleep we decided that we should be up by 5 to catch the sunrise. By 1 I realised that if I din’t do anything about the cold I would die of hypothermia!!! With a little help from my friend and thanks to the ancient ways of keeping warm I survived the night! The first thing I did in the morning was to thank God- my friend for saving my life!! Little that i knew that he would find other ways to kill me...