Abode of Gods...Bead Kund in Himalayas...

looks like we were in a bubble of beauty

Beas Kund is a place where river Beas originates. River Beas is named after Rishi Vyas, the author of Mahabharata and Kund is the Hindi word for a tiny Lake. I recently went on trek to this place and now I want to write about the wonderful journey I had.

Well in this blog I am not going to write about the program of the trek but about my journey. To find the details of the trek you can refer the link http://www.januarythefourteenth.com/beas-kund.html?

Well I came to know about this trek from a website called couchsurfing.org where a girl had posted about this and as I was getting bored in Delhi and was also free I thought of calling her and asking about the details and she told me about January the fourteenth which was arranging the trek. It looked attractive and the name Beas sounded good to me so I thought of giving it a try, but the only problem was that I was alone and I had never gone on trek which was for more than one night. I was a little apprehensive of going but then I made the decision to go thinking that anyways we came in this world alone so why think of somebody else for this (a little use of philosophy to make up my mind :)..) 

Ok so I booked the tickets to Manali and was ready for the trek but I never expected that the trek would be so wonderful. Ok so here goes the story...

Day1 - I reach Manali early in the morning and get down at the bus stand, we all were supposed to meet at a common point so I head to that point. Here I met an amazing group of people who were as enthusiastic for the trek as I was. I think because of such an amazing group of people my trek was so memorable. We had breakfast at a restaurant here and got to know each other before starting the trek. There were people from Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Delhi who had come for this trek. There were people, who were above 50, and I think the most enthusiastic of us all, in a sense they are an inspiration for me. I hope I am like that when I am that age :)

start of the trek

After having the breakfast we head to Solang Valley from where our trek would start. Solang valley was beautiful and from here we went to a Shiva temple before heading to Dhundi. Trek to Dhundi was beautiful where we stayed for the night.

It was first time I stayed in small tent and slept in a sleeping bag. Well first day I didn’t sleep much 'cause it took a whole night for me to figure out how to sleep in a sleeping bag :)... and I guess for everybody else also as in the morning everyone was asking each other how the night was :). It was very cold also at night anyways now it’s Day 2

Day 2 - We have our breakfast which was delicious and head for Bakri Taj a little higher altitude from Dhundi where we will stay for two nights and from where we will trek to Beas Kund. So we all head towards Bakarthach and here starts a beautiful journey. Here we cross beautiful river streams and adventurous pathways. It was so much fun. After coming at this height you realize how beautiful God has made this earth and Himalayas are the untouched beauty. It’s so pure, everything the water, the air, the sky, earth, everything. 

At some point along the trek we reached a peak of a mountain and it started snowing and it was my first snow fall, I was so excited and it was so beautiful. There were people who had seen snowfall before but they were also in awe of the beauty. The thing was that we were at the top of the mountain and the snow was coming on our face. It was falling sideways and not falling vertical so it was like the snow was coming to kiss you on the face :) (Imagination running wild :)...The view there was so beautiful. For half an hour I was just in awe, actually everybody was.

view from the peak after snow fall

Then we continue our trek to Bakarthach and we reach there by around 5. We had our tea and detailed intro session here :) while our tents were being put. Then we went for a short acclimatization walk to even higher altitude to adapt our body to higher altitudes. Then we come back to our camp, had dinner and Bone fire where there was music and where some people sang and then later few people stayed back to recall their super natural encounters :). The remembrance of all those encounters was fun till you had to go back to the tent alone or when you had to go into the wild to the washroom alone :). Anyways it was a peaceful night, and I had by now figured out my sleeping bag also and soon it was morning.

In the morning as I opened the tent the view from my tent was breath taking. It was so beautiful to get up and see the mountains shining with sunlight all golden. Here you feel like the whole world is yours and you get to wake up in the lap of beauty. Well living in beauty has its hardships like going a mile for washrooms and freezing cold water but it’s all worth it :). Now it’s day 3 and the most amazing :)

Day 3 - well this was the day we trek to Beas Kund. I had never imagined that it would be like the way it was. It was all rocky terrain where we had to jump over the boulders and you step on one loose rock and you could end up in a big hole or may be twist your ankle. Actually as you go up its all rocks and not much of greenery so as we went up the mountain we can only see rocks rocks and rocks. So we go up jumping rocks,crossing river streams.It was like we are continuously climbing. I was enthusiastic at first but as the day passed I was starting to feel tired but you need to continue so you keep moving. It was getting colder too and by this time my nose was running like a tap :). Anyways we keep moving. It’s like mind over matter situation. You have to think that you have to do it no matter what and you keep going and of course when you see other people moving you have to be like yes I can do this. Now after a long trek we reach Beas Kund. We can see the Beas Kund region and the water fall. We had to go down to reach the Beas Kund region. But by now for me stepping another step was a big chore :). Anyways somehow I reach down to the Beas Kund region. I must mention that one person helped me a lot in this trek, he was so patient with everybody that it was a pleasure doing trek with him. The most amazing part of this trek was that it was like a very friendly trek where nobody was pushing others. It was like we walk with the slowest person in the group. No pushing for speed, no cribbing when someone was walking slowly and that's what I liked the most about this trek. Well now I reach near the waterfall after enjoying some fun time near the river stream. Now here I was feeling so exhausted that I was a little sceptical how I will go back. I don't know maybe it was because of the cold or running nose or the fact that I had just had breakfast and nothing else. Actually we had planned that we will start by 8:30 AM and reach back by 2 PM and have our lunch at the camp after coming back but it was already lunch time :)

Anyways after reaching Beas Kund, I was like sitting on the flat rock and it felt divine, the sunlight and the feeling of sitting near the waterfall, snow filled mountains all around. It was beautiful. Anyways here we have energy drink (Glucon D) made with water right out of the waterfall to give everybody enough energy. :)

Ok here I think some goof up happened which made me sit alone at the Beas Kund for about half an hour. Well actually there was one more pond and a waterfall a little ahead of where we were sitting and where the actual prayer happens but only few were interested in going further as everybody was tired. So few decided to go back and few decided to go to the waterfall, I was also planning to go back but somehow I didn’t realize that the people who were supposed to go back have already left. So now I was left with the people who wanted to go to the pond but I was not in the position to go further. I was feeling like my legs were shivering and my eyes were also watering so I told them that I will wait for them here and they can go and while coming back I will go with them. Well it was good for first five minutes, sitting alone in a place where you can’t see anything but mountains and hear no sound but that of a waterfall but after a while you start thinking what if you are left alone. What if they forgot to pick you up etc etc :). Anyways I kept waiting and with thoughts like mine I guess half an hour felt like an hour. Anyways I kept seeing the place from where they were supposed to come back but I could see nobody. I was getting worried now and then I saw something pink shining far away and saw a person from our group and it was like thank god and I started shouting 'here I am' and running in that direction :) it seems so funny now :) but was not at that time.

Beas Kund Water fall

Ok so now we start our journey back to the camp and I think coming down is more difficult than going up but the only thing that kept me going was mind over matter but at some point the mind also start giving up then one person kept saying that you can do it and you think to yourself yes you have to make it. I remember by the end of the trek my knees had totally given up. I could feel each and every bone in my body. When we reached camp I was like just give me a bed :) but the sense of achievement always stays with you. I would really like to thank one person here without whom I guess I wouldn’t have been able to make it back. It was his patience and his "you can do it" which made all the difference :)

It was such an adventurous day, where we lost our way, I spent half an hour sitting alone at 11500 ft fretting :) and the journey back to the camp :). To count all the events on the trek is impossible in a short blog but in short it was in a sense a life altering day if I may say so. It made me realize that with patience you can climb any mountain :) and the most important thing is to not give up and sometimes encouragement from other people gives you confidence and sometimes you just need to tell yourself that yes you can do it. 

Ok so after reaching camp I was so tired that I went to sleep as soon I hit the bed or in this case sleeping bag, but there were some who stayed up for the bone fire session.

Day 4- Next day I woke up early at around 3 AM as I slept early. Now to wake up early there was like to wait for sun to come up as it was impossible to get out of the tent as it was freezing cold outside. I was also feeling hungry as I didn’t have anything the day before, luckily I had a chocolate in my bag :). I realized there that in mountains no rules of civilization apply :). Then my tent mate also woke up around 4 and we both were waiting for the sun to come up getting in and out of sleep. Ok finally the sun was out and we came out of the tent.To my amazement it snowed at night and on my way to the washroom I could see snow on the flowers and plants, it was so beautiful. There was a pond which had frozen and for the first time I saw a sheet of snow on the surface of water. It was amazing :)

Then we start our journey back to Solang Valley and Delhi. The fun continued in Delhi too through facebook when people started posting the pics :). It just made you live those moments again and I guess the hangover of mountains remained for 2 weeks at least, it’s still there but at that time I felt like I was living in different world altogether. Actually I think this kind of journey gives you a sense of achievement where you think you can do anything and which makes you feel happy and also I made so many good friends. God had always been kind to me and I think he is the only one who make every journey so memorable, I thank god for making me meet all the gr8 people I have met till now :) and for making me go to this trek :)