Couple Compatibility Check :) via Tungnath- Chandrashila 

So basically, this is our 2nd trek together before we head towards our lifetime achievement (getting hitched) and planned a trek to Tungnath – Chandrashila Summit and moreover I too had a surgery planned on 26th Dec 2017.

It was 21st Dec 2017 and we were waiting for our train which was scheduled in midnight at 11.50 pm with Nanda Devi Express. As the ticket was booked on tatkal for 2 people it costed us Rs. 1200 (without tatkal its Rs. 540/person) which was OK for us and we had a good sleep in the train because we were travelling after completing our office hours and had an upcoming tiring day the next day. As the clock strike 3.30 am in the morning on 22nd Dec I was awake with all the chaos in some station and just after half an hour we reached Haridwar Station. The reason we selected Haridwar is that from there we have lot of options for Chopta. Yes, you won’t get direct ride to Chopta from Haridwar or Dehradun or Rishikesh. You will have to interchange your ride. So before planning to do this trek I researched a lot in google off course and spoke to many local people out there in chopta over phone (contact numbers where googled). My fiancé Hrishikesh Baruah just joined me and didn’t help me out in doing the research, you know (busy corporate bug).

It was 3.30 pm in the afternoon and we reached Chopta after travelling for the whole day. I already spoke with the owner of the Café Moksh and pre-booked a room for us before 2 weeks and as it was freezing and I didn’t opt for camp. The room costed us Rs. 1000 for 2 including breakfast and dinner. After refreshing myself with the freezing water I could hardly feel my hands and face and Hrishi didn’t have any idea how cold the water is, so I could hear him shouting in the bathroom while I was taking a stroll just outside the room.

To put an end to our craving of having some hot food we ordered some hot soup and Maggi to fill our little tummy after which we both were charged up and took some winsome pictures from the café itself.

We didn’t want to sit and waste the beautiful evening in Chopta so both of us went hopping to take the delight of the period at the end of the day with all the gadgets we had. And trust me never ever ever saw such a breathtaking evening in my entire life.Night was freezing, and the temperature has dropped to -4 degrees. Still we had such craze that the only body part could be seen is our eyes and we were out for night photography.

Around 8.30 pm we had our dinner and went for a good sleep as we had to wake up early morning at 2.30 am and get ready with the nature’s call and other stuffs.

Slowly and steadily taking pictures of the dawn around 7 am we reached the Tungnath Temple. The four people that we met on the start of the trek moved ahead as we kept our pace slow and had been clicking pictures all the way. It might be strange for everyone but me and my fiancé were clicking pictures inside the temple area though the temple was closed and suddenly I hear a voice of moaning. And was so angry on Hrishi and asked him to stop doing those air passing (fart) because you are in a Temple. To my wonder he said why would I do that Suju. So, after that we both looked at each other and ran from there thinking there might be animals hiding in the dense snow. Yes, it was funny but for a moment my heart literary skipped a beat.

So, after the temple it was the summit “Chandrashila” which was 13,000 ft above sea level which provides the views of the Himalayas, including Nandadevi, Trisul, Kedar Peak, Bandarpunch and Chaukhamba peaks. We just started climbing and saw most of the trekkers coming back. The 4 guys who accompanied us returned saying its very slippery and no space to place your feet and on the other side is a deep mountain ditch. I was scared and thought of dropping the plan. And then Hrishi asked me if you find it difficult just drop the plan, do not do it just because of me. So now it’s the tough steep slippery walk from Tungnath towards Chandrashila and its just 3 kms away. I read it somewhere that before hitching just do 2 or 3 treks with your partner you will discover how both of you will react on the ups and downs in the journey of the trek or in your personal life. And off course you never say no before even trying it. So, I told him the moment I feel scared and think I can’t do it I will abort the trek. With that note by kissing and wishing luck to both of us we moved ahead. After few climb it was really slippery and tricky. But we kept on going slowly keeping our grip on the snowy ground. Yes, you won’t see green ground it was all snow covered till thighs, the road was steep, and the snow was too white to make us blind so we both wore our glasses and kept the swag look on. And finally, we reached our summit around 9 am with some bewildering views surrounding us. We sat there for more than an hour took lot of pictures as no one climbed the summit, so it was like I owned the entire mountain without humans (hehe).

It was 11 am and we started descending because we had some other trek plan to Deoriatal if we had enough time and energy on reaching Chopta. While descending that was the moment I went inside the snow bed thinking to be a way to keep my feet. And wallah I opened my 1st fall on this trek. And it was so much fun jumping on those snow bed that we both started to jump purposely. No humans I could see except us laughing and giggling on PJ’s. I wish I could stay there for longer hours and halt for a night, but we didn’t have that provision and had to return taking back memories in our eyes, mind and camera. On reaching Chopta I was tired so dropped the plan to trek to Deoriatal. And now the problem was we had booked only for 1 night in Moksh café as we planned for Dayara Bugyal. But then Tarun the owner of Moksh was too sweet to provide us camp and we rested for that night.

The next morning, we started early for Dehradun, we took direct jeep from Chopta to Ukhimath costing Rs. 800 and from Ukhimath we took bus to Rishikesh which costed Rs. 700 for 2 people and then from Rishikesh to Dehradun it costed Rs.120 for 2 people. We reached around 7.30 pm in the evening.