i. How this started .....

 

It was sheer chance that I got to participate in this trek.

A WhatsApp group (of which I had not yet become a part) video call was scheduled to be held on 2 Feb 2022 at 10 PM, the existing members in the group were (1) Vaidy - my brother, (2) Ramesh - my brother in law, (3) Sridhar - old schoool friend, (4) Dr Narayanaswamy - a good friend of Vaidy, Ramesh & Sridhar and (5) Aditya - my nephew. All 5 were trekkers with previous experience of having trekked the Himalayan ranges. 

 

 

Vaidy added me (with my trekking experience limited to a couple of overnight Sahyadri treks) to the group with an explanation to the other group members that I was also interested in attending the meeting! The agenda of the meeting was to identify a good Himalayan trek within the next 3 or 4 months with duration of about 6 to 8 days. The meeting started at 10 PM with all others participating and suggesting possible himalayan treks, period when this could be done, level of fitness required, budget outlay for the same, etc. This was a new one for me, and I could not contribute much to this discussion, except enthusiastically trying to follow what the others were discussing.

After this meeting and after several coordination through the WA group, on 8th February Sridhar identified the Marka Valley Trek through Trek The Himalayas (TTH) during the period 21 - 28 May 2022 & conveyed the same in the group. Personally, for me the period seemed ok as I did not expect much work pressure in the office & I could safely leave the office care of staff during this period and hence confirmed my participation. As Aditya could not get leave during this period, he expressed his inability to join the trek, excused himself and left the group. The other members - Vaidy, Dr Swamy & Ramesh confirmed their availability during this period and their participation in the trek. Resourceful person that he was, Sridhar also took up the responsibility of arranging the logistics - booking tickets, booking rooms, coordinating with TTH, etc.


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