Day 2 Part 1 -reaching Maneybhaijan

With a whole night’s fitful slumber (punctuated by heavy snoring, some what-can-qualify-as-slightly-scary grunting and also a few other bizarre sounds last heard on national geographic) behind them, our team woke up refreshed, rejuvenated and raring to go....well, most of us did atleast... Irene was still hugging her berth like a long-lost sibling and absolutely refused to wake up until the exact moment when her not waking up would mean we had to leave her behind....

a few minutes of coffee, crosswords and chitchat had passed when, to our delight, behind an ethereal veil of the early mist, our destination slowly came into view.... the morning fog adding to its appeal, the deserted NJP railway station looked beautiful and welcoming, a harbinger, probably, of the days to come...

As soon as we had set foot on the platform, Kris had gone into high energy mode, his head visibly whizzing with road maps, taxi charges, travel timings and god knows what else.... but, the considerate commander that he is, he had allocated some time for fulfilling the natural necessities of other normal a.k.a un-Kris-sy human beings....with everything timed to the millisecond, we lived up to the daunting task of accomplishing the requisite rituals to our contentment, all the while policed by Kris’s ticking clock.... They say excitement intensifies hunger and for six famished to-be-mountain-climbers, the burnt dosa and glue-like chutney at the railway canteen, that too after a long wait, were a huge let down (poor Kris’s plight at such unforeseen and unavoidable damage to the atomic precision of his schedule is left to the reader’s imagination).... but fuelled more by enthusiasm than the gourmet breakfast, we marched ahead to the next task on Kris’s roster, taxi bargaining... the ranks were divided into two armies one manned by the commander-in-chief himself and the other containing Stuart and, probably for comic relief, Rob.... with a resigned sigh from the taxi driver and a victorious grin from our soldiers, we were on our way to the starting point of our walk among the mighty mountains , the sleepy village of Maneybhaijan...

At our first pitstop along the way, a tiny road-side tea stall, Mike got down to buy some mineral water when Kris, doing a Scrooge a la Dickens said, “Mineral Water?? Bah! Humbug!”... a dramatic pause ensued and then “Behold the miracle water purifier!!” he said, holding up a rather unremarkable little blue bottle with the pomp and haughty splendour of a showman exhibiting freakish prudence and the ever expanding horizons of his expertise... It stands as lasting testimony to the importance of humility as a virtue that Mike spat out his generous first gulp of ‘purified’ water with disgust saying it made him feel like he was drowning in a seldom-cleaned swimming pool.... as the water was passed around (with muted grumbling from Kris that we had to get used to what he chose to call the ‘slightly unconventional’ taste of the purifier) we suddenly realised that Stuart was missing.... as we waited for him, assuming that the cold had made his body phobic to previously consumed water molecules and that he’d gone to relieve himself, we witnessed the first occurrence of what was soon to become a normal happening....the infamous cluck-click phenomenon....a group of hens were hurrying our way with indignant and slightly frightened clucks.... closely followed by their camera wielding predator, Stuart... after some not-so-veiled threats from a frustrated Kris and fuming Irene, we were back on the road singing at the top of our voices and enjoying the rolling hills and roadside springs....