Little Ivan and the rest of the trek

So we came down the mountain. Ivan doing it with two crutches, a feat which seemed incredible when we later came to know he's fractured his leg in three places.

I also became friends with porter RumSingh when he pulled my suitcase for me after I was calling home and telling Mom that I'm gonna throw it into the Beas and she can fish it out of the Ganga in Kolkata. We made RumSingh sing in his language. Kulvi I think he said it was. RumSingh made me sing in my language.

We reached Kullu pretty late. The first thing we did was run around the room screaming in joy at the sight of the beautiful bed and bathroom. Literally. Then we changed out of our trekking clothes. Muddy, dirty and in my case torn. My windcheater had torn after I tried to jump into it in world record time after spending two hours sitting right beside a fire with the porters and guides. Chhotu and Gopal. Apparently the rest of the team couldnt take the heat. I spent my time peacefully drying everyone's wet clothes. I remember somebody's sock drying on a branch fell into the fire. The Somebody coolly threw the other sock in too.

Anyway, then we ate tandoori rotis with meat and fell asleep. Federer won the French open.

Next day was spent eating plums, apricots, peaches and hanging around Ivan's room. By evening I had become fast friends with the kid. Little Ivan has a very enchanting something. R crushed on him and Nepu (short for nekapusu or silly pussy) actually replied when he called her Nepu. Upon which he turned and winked at me fully aware of his achievement.

Next day we went to Manali. Manali has these temples. For Hidimba and her son Ghatotkach. Both portrayed as rakshases in Aryan literature ie the Mahabharata. So the G I have mentioned before is called Ghotu, short for Ghatotkach. This gave rise to a lot of merriment and the kids enjoyed Manali. We took loads of pictures for Ivan. I ate a 4-in-1 softy icecream in Manali. Choco-vanilla-strawberry-black currant. Slurrrp! mmm... I also found a Tibetan jewellery store which everybody loved. Thanks to that I had to sprint down the mainroad of Manali with an uncle coz he wanted to buy some for his kid and there was 5 minutes left to reach the busstop. We finished the world record sprint and jewellery buying but then I sprinted off again when another guy offered to treat the kids to momos. We ate like 4 momos each then packed the rest and ran back coz the leader of the expedition was calling us up and yelling through the cellphone. Special mention must go to S (kid who stranded me in frozen water). He ate 8 momos in under a minute without choking.

The next day was the bus journey to Chandigarh. Train at midnight. The train journey consisted of singing our lungs out and exchanging phone numbers. Me and Little Ivan also discussed injuries and football and lots of things. We also ate all the remaining supplies which included a box of chocolates.

Ivan told me a great story. When he was sitting with his plastered leg at Manikaran a Punjabi came up to him and asked about his leg. Then he said,"That's a nice shirt." "thanks" "But weren't you wearing a different one yesterday?" "Uhhh....yeah...." "Hm.""Why? When did you put on the shirt you're wearing now?" "I dont remember."

Then we reached good old Howrah station and I squeezed the breath out of my Dad and went home and ate breakfast and lunch consecutively. Not brunch ok? Both.

And that, is the end of my trek chronicles.