Adventures of Raghu - the trek with Uncle Seher (Part 2)

Uncle Seher put his sleeping bag next to Raghu and lay down to join him in gazing at the stars. Just as he lay down, Raghu jumped up pointing towards the sky – “Uncle look, a shooting star!! Did you see it??” Uncle Seher smiled – “Yes I did Raghu. It was absolutely fantastic! The wonders of nature!” Raghu lay back down. “We never get to see all these stars in the city uncle Seher. I guess we’re higher up in the mountains now, so maybe that’s why they’re more visible here” said Raghu thoughtfully. Uncle Seher laughed, “No Raghu that’s not the reason. It has to do with the Light pollution and smog in the city.

Here the air is clear and there are no street lights. That’s the reason we’re being able to view the fantastic spectrum of the night sky.” Raghu kept looking up.

“I had read about so many constellations before I came here uncle. But I find it hard to find them in the midst of these millions of stars” said Raghu. “Okay, let’s start with the big dipper,” started Uncle Seher. “Look for seven major stars: four in the bowl and three in the handle. The two stars on the outside of the bowl are called the pointer stars. They point to Polaris, a bright star that is also called the North Star because with it you can figure out which way is north.” Raghu looked hard, as his fingers started to outline the big dipper in the sky. “I found it Uncle! I found the big dipper and the north star” cried out Raghu in excitement. “Great, now you can use this to also find Ursa Minor or the little dipper.

You know Raghu, these star patterns called constellations helped people navigate on land and by sea as well as tell time, since they appear in different parts of the sky depending on the day and year.  You see this is because the stars don't move only the earth moves.”

Uncle quickly got up. “Raghu let’s have our meal now, it’s getting late.”  Raghu sat near the campfire chopping vegetables, while Uncle Seher took out the pots he had brought along with him and started boiling some rice. Within a little over half an hour, rice and vegetable dal soup was ready.

Uncle poured some in a bowl for Leela to eat and sat down with Raghu to enjoy the meal they all so well deserved.

After the meal, once all the food items had been cleaned away, Uncle, Raghu and Leela sat near the campfire as Uncle Seher started narrating a story. “Raghu do you know the legend of the Sarolsar lake?” “No uncle” said Raghu, his eyes lighting up with both fear and excitement. “So Raghu, this lake is many thousands of years old. It was actually much bigger then, and had many types of fish and plant life in it at that time. It was a thriving place back then…” Uncle Seher started narrating the story of how a being from deep in the forests had found its way here and had slowly taken over the entire lake.

He had shrunk the size of the lake, killed most of the animals and plants in the lake and had buried itself deep in the waters where it could not be seen. “That is why no one dare ventures into the lake.”

“And even today he comes out some nights and his wild call can be heard.” Raghu looked around rather cautiously, fear lurking in his eyes. He loved spooky stories, but this was a little too close to home to laugh about. He moved closer to Leela, at which point he didn’t realize Uncle Seher jump on him from the back. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” screamed Raghu as he ran as far as he could without looking back, Leela running and barking right behind him. Uncle Seher started laughing and screamed out -  “Boy you’re so gullible! Come back here! It’s time we get to bed….a long day of rock climbing awaits us tomorrow. I hope you’ve done your homework for it!”

Adventures of Raghu - the trek with Uncle Seher (Part 1)

“Wow!” shrieked Raghu as the low lying hills of the Himalayan range started giving way to the upper snow covered ranges. Raghu sat staring outside the window of the car as though lightening had struck him.

It was his first time ever in the Himalayas. His mouth wide open, Uncle Seher looked at the astounded Raghu and smiled. “So boy, welcome to the mighty Himalayas. Nowhere in the world would you have seen such majestic ranges. We’re now moving towards the Kullu district in Himachal where we’ll trek to Jalori pass and Sarolsar lake.” Leela barked in approval while Raghu’s eyes remained glued to the view outside.

It was the second week of May and Raghu was on his way to Jalori pass and Sarolsar Lake with Uncle Seher and his dog Leela, in the Himalayas as had been planned. (9th April 2014, Adventures of Raghu - Camping with Uncle Seher)

Raghu didn’t speak much until Uncle Seher stopped the car and prompted everyone to pick up their bags and move out of the car. “We’ll begin our trek on foot from here. There’s a small guest house just up the hill there Raghu. You have two hours to take a short rest, get ready, eat something and then we’re off.” Raghu stepped out of the car with his bag, took a deep breath as though trying to take in as much oxygen as his lungs would allow and began running, calling Leela to follow him. Leela was jumping in excitement as Raghu was dodging her. “You both need some rest now, you can play later!” called out Uncle Seher as he went to check into the guest house.

Two hours later Raghu was standing at the steps of the guest house with his rucksack. Uncle Seher had a much bigger rucksack as he was also carrying the tent. Leela had a small waist pack tied around her waist with dog biscuits. “Water bottle, food supplies, sweater, extra pair of socks and unders, sleeping bag, ropes? All set?” asked Uncle Seher. Raghu responded as he put his feet together in attention position and hand to his forehead “Yes Sir!” “Lovely, then let’s begin!!!” called back Uncle Seher.

So they set off for trekking towards Jalori pass.

Sarolsar lake was further about a 2 hour walk from there where they would spend the night camping. They passed steep mountains with narrow snow covered paths. Leela trudged along carefully as Raghu followed. There were snow covered peaks, cattle grazing on the sides, all varieties of flowers growing on the ground. They took their time to view the beauty around, had fun sliding down snow covered mountains as they walked along.

After a trek of 5 hours, around 4pm they reached the magical Sarolsar lake.

The water was crystal clear and the bright blue sky above was reflecting itself in the lake later. Raghu and Leela started running around to investigate the place and touch the lake water. Uncle Seher in the mean time started looking for an appropriate place to put up the tent. “Raghu get the pins to tie the tent ropes to.  Let’s also start collecting wooden sticks to make a campfire.” They got down to work and had a fire rolling by about 6pm. As darkness started setting in, Raghu put out his sleeping bag and lay down on it with Leela at his feet to view the night sky. Slowly millions of stars became visible in the sky above. “Could heaven really be anywhere else but here Leela?” said Raghu softly.

Adventures of Raghu - a glass of lemonade?

“Hey Meera, are you okay?” called out Raghu to Meera from the branch of the banyan tree. Raghu and Meera had decided to put a swing up on the banyan tree and had been working on it for about an hour outside.

Raghu was climbing the tree with the rope in his hand when he saw Meera sitting on the ground beside the tree looking tired and holding her head. “I don’t know Raghu. I feel dizzy and sort of sick in the stomach. I was fine just a while ago, not sure what happened.” Raghu jumped down from the branch to move closer to Meera. He touched Meera’s forehead – “I think you’re dehydrated. Come on let’s go inside and get you something cold to drink.” Both went inside the house where Raghu’s mother made both the children two glasses of cold lemonade. “It’s so hot outside and both of you decide to go out and put up a swing at this time! Really what should I do with both of you I wonder sometimes” cried out Raghu’s mother, worried at seeing Meera sick.

After they drank the lemonade and had rested for sometime, Meera got up and went running to Raghu – “I’m much better now Raghu. We can start putting up the swing again!” “If you both are planning to go outside again I want you both to take a big jar of lemonade with you and keep drinking it regularly to keep yourselves from dehydrating” called out Raghu’s mother.

Meera looked at Raghu - “I got dehydrated within just an hour of being outside Raghu, sometimes I wonder about those people that work outside and have to be outdoors the whole day. There’s not even clean hygienic water for them to drink sometimes.” “Yeah Meera. That’s true. Maybe we can give them our jug of lemonade!” joked Raghu to Meera.

Meera looked at Raghu seriously for a while and then answered back – “That’s a great idea Raghu!” “What idea?” said Raghu a little confused at missing his own discovery. “The idea of making lemonade for people who are outdoors. Why don’t we set up a lemonade stand near the colony park. There are many people that work outside and come there to rest. They can get a nice cool drink when they sit. They would feel refreshed and it would also ensure they’re adequately hydrated in this heat.” Raghu thought for a moment. “That is a good idea Meera, but how should we do it?”

“Let’s first go to the market and buy the items we need to make lemonade” said Meera as she rushed out the door. They bought 60 lemons, a big container of mineral water, ice cubes,sugar and 5 packets of paper cups “Mother has a water cooler at home that we can use to keep the lemonade cool. We also have pens and cardboard at home to make the sign for our stand. Let’s go!” said Raghu. Back home they prepared the lemonade, made the cardboard sign so that people would know they are selling lemonade. Within an hour, the table was set up in the shade just outside the park and they both sat waiting for their first customer.

People passing by started looking at this new arrangement, until a man that had been digging a tank in the colony nearby came upto Meera – “Can I please have one glass of lemonade?” Meera sprang up from her chair, absolutely excited to serve their first customer. “Yes sure” she said as she poured the cool lemonade into a paper cup. The man gulped it down thanked them and walked off. Two men were watching the scene on a nearby bench and also asked came to the stand to ask for the same. They smiled after the drink and thanked the kids. Slowly children, women, men were all coming over for the refreshing drink. It was so fulfilling to see each face light up after a glass of lemonade. Meera turned to Raghu at the end of the day – “This was the best thing I’ve ever done Raghu. Let’s do it regularly this summer.” “I’m in Meera, I’m totally in” called out Raghu happily.

Keep cool this summer!