Day 3. To Baniya Kund! The secrets and the Trees!

Ever since I discovered the power of solo travel when I backpacked to Mcleod Ganj,  right after my bike ride with Vineeth to Almora and Nepal got cancelled midway (After riding 2700 kilometers from Kochi to Delhi), I always have a plan to do a Solo ready, one way or the other, but only a few of those plans actually pan out. Walking up a mountain has always been soulful and after every trek I struggle with withdrawal from the mountains. Im sure this must be the case with most of the people who trek often as they need their next fix of the mountain as soon as they possibly can. This must also be why I keep planning my next trip while im still enjoying the one i am currently on, like an addict, of the mountains.


Day 3 to Baniyakund

We were briefed about our trek to Baniyakund the day before and that gave us an impression that this day would be a peice of cake, a big piece of it but cake nonetheless😄.  Considering the ordeal  the group went through in day 2, day 3 sounded pleasant, mellow and soulful. We have a river crossing and then some forest and ofcourse Rhodos. After a sponataneous group workout session in the morning involving streching, pushups and Suryanamaskara, we were ready for the day. Everyone was up and about in good time, deposits were made to the biotoilet pile as people finished their morning business and the business was booming😂😂.

After the excellent breakfast, which was usually the case, we set off to Baniyakund. We were aware that we have to descent the valley first, reach the Akashkamini stream and then there is one good steep ascent after which the terrain levels out a bit and we were going to have a good day.  We started our day as we descented the slope from our camp at good pace. Even though technically descent is harder on our joints and toes, no one cared. Everyone was soaking in all the good vibes and  the mountain air and spirits were high, ofcourse. (Click for the view)

It was, however, nothing compared to how high we felt when we reached the Akashkamini stream. Sublime and Surreal. Akrosh ended up making a wonderful painting of the stream, expressing his bewilderment and magic, with little butterflies and a little girl sitting at the stream in wonder at the rays of sunshine coming through the trees. Reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, or may be Totto-Chan in Wonderland.... 

I have a vivid memory of walking up to the stream. When it came to view from behind the tall plants through which we were walking, I was in deep conversation with Anup Bhai and Akrosh at the back of the pack. Me and Akrosh kept moving up and down the pack depending upon how crowded the line is and this was one of the times we found the back of the line a bit better. So by the time we saw the stream everyone were already there and we could see their elation from the voices coming from them. I remember Akrosh asking me to hurry up and take shoes off and to get in the water. Honestly, I was reluctant to. In my defence I have been to many streams in the Western Ghats as I live so close to Wayanad and we keep popping up and down whenever possible and my main memory of all those streams were mostly of leaches, slippery rocks and general wet clothes after, of which I am not a fan of. Even if I can get over that, what played in my mind was how bad would wet feet be in trekking shoes and how uncomfortable it would make the rest of the trek. This was also one of the times I did not match Akrosh's energy throughout the trek. But it later dawned on me that this stream is nothing like the ones I have ever been to and that any chance to dip my feet in this cold cold water of the Himalayas is not to be missed. I realised I would deeply regret not paying my respects to Akashkamini, immaculate and pure, with a brook as beautiful as that. Off came the shoes and socks. Here we go! (Click for the view)


Some of us were singing songs, some were clicking pics (me, me) and some were just sitting half tired and half in awe of the view. But everyone were in their "Present", however different that may be. Like Master Oogwe rightly put, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift...that's why they call it Present".

After spending quality time at the stream, we started our ascent. We were walking through some slippery path and shrubs as high as atleast 5 feet. After a while the path cleared away a bit but some of us realised some others were not with us. First and only time the group got seperated unintentionally. All of us met a bit higher into the slope and all was well. After this slightly extreme ascent, we reached beautiful clearing with many different flowers, names of which I know not.

Anup and a few of us reached there first and waited for the rest of the gang. Anup anticipated some "Group Activity" there and boy were we in for an experience!


What we did next was beyond my wildest imaginations. Another thing that I have never done in my life. All of us were made to sit in a circle and Shachi started speaking. She told us the forrest and the trees are the greatest secret keepers ever. They were here for thousands of years and hopefully they will be here for thousands more. She asked us to pour our heart out to the trees. Every negative thing that has happened to us, every body who has looked down up on us, everything bad that has happened to us. Everything. We could tell it to the trees and that secret will remain with the trees and we will be better for it. We were asked to find a tree that resonates with us, hug it and unburdon ourselves of all the illwill and negativity that was holding us back.

I, and im sure most of the rest of the group, have never done anything like this. We started dispersing into the forest to find our trees. I remember thinking what I was sad about. I couldnt find anything. I was searching hard for some sort of negativity that I could leave with the forest. But all I could find was gratitude and positivity. I had no negarivity to get rid of. I was greatful for everything that got me to that point in life. I would change nothing about me or things around me. I found my tree, hugged it, and kept sending out positivity and goodness to the universe, in the hopes of lessening the burdon, even minutely, of the trees with the negativity they hold from millennias ago. I thanked everything. I thanked the universe. I thanked everyone and everything in my life. Sort of like an oscar award acceptance speech. And my eyes were swelling up with tears of joy. Deeply emotional moment for me. I am still hugging the tree. And thats when i noticed. The tree i was hugging had a shallow trunk. But its not dead. It survived. Still survives. I was so happy. Thats when I finally turned around and realised, I was the last one to get back from my tree and everyone else was back at the circle. We sat there reminiscing and people shared their dreaded memories and things that hurt them most. We all hugged each other. Theraputic experience. Nothing like anything. I felt a bit weird, feeling all gratefull and good when people were sharing their struggles and troubles, wondering whats wrong with me, something must be I thought. Later i realised there were others who felt the same and were also feeling weird about it.  I wont name them (Shruthi and Akrosh😂😂). But in a way that was the whole point of the exercise I thought. To introspect, accept and move on. Towards profound peace. Towards Gahan Arav (name of my baby boy, whose name is meant to mean profound peace!)

We walked on further with our hearts filled with peace after the session, thanking the trees and the universe. The day could not have been any better.(Click to View)

We found the road soon and few meters on we found the Baniyakund campsite.

The site itself was out of the world. The most beautiful camp of all the camps in my opinion. As we entered, just below the typical Indiahikes yellow poster that says Baniya Kund, we found Indiahikes logo made out of small stones and a slightly bigger mountain shaped stone representing the Chandrashila peak! Shachi later told us that it was made by fellow trekkers, showing their appreciation. (Click to view)

We were late as usual and I could see Shachi was worried about the next day. The summit day. If we're late the next day we would miss the sunrise. No doubt. So after multiple courses of food as lunch, snacks and just before dinner, she spoke to all of us again. She briefed us about our summit day, our hardest and longest day. We were to go upto Chopta from Baniyakund and then to Tunganath temple beyond which lies our prize. 1 KM away from Tunganath, the highest Shiva temple in the world, is Chandrashila summit and to reach there before sunrise is clearly a do or die scenario. We were to start latenight/early morning by 1 A M and we shud be ready by 12.30. She spoke with such passion and vigour that everyone was in sync with the emotion and millions of mental notes were made simultaneously to make one of the hardest things most of us have ever done in life, possible. We were buzzing inside and anxiety was creeping in. We got in our tents with a resolve to finish what we started 3 days ago. The 22° Halo of the Moon was taken as a good omen and in anticipation of the next day, we called it a day. A good day indeed.

Within hours, we move to the sunrise from on top of the Chandrashila Summit. THIS HAD TO BE DONE!