Two weeks before the New Year, I called my friends Sahil, Sourabh, Prince, Ayush and Keshav saying “You guys are coming to Delhi. I have a great plan for you for 31st December & I don’t want to hear any excuses. Now pack your bags, we are going on the Kedarkantha trek, Uttarakhand."

So our journey started with us taking the bus from Delhi on 28th night. It dropped us at Dehradun next day early in the morning and from there we left for sankri via the cab we had hired. I remember sitting in the cab, excited to reach Sakri and planning how to spend the next few days, absolutely unaware of the fact that what was waiting for us, was going to be the best New Year of our lives.

Our first destination was the Juda ka talab. Whenever you doubt the presence of god, take a trip to the Himalayas!” Juda ka talab is one such site in the Himalayas which will surely make you believe in the magic that only god can do. It is a picturesque lake in the Supin range of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand. According to Mahabharata, Lord Shiva disguised as Nandi wandered to Kedarkantha in order to hide from the Pandavas. It is thought to be the first Kedarnath site chosen by Lord.

We decided to pack only the essentials with us & left the rest of our baggage in our room. We start the trek of 6km all charged and motivated & only after a couple of hours of trekking we took rest. My legs were jammed & I can’t stand up, my thigh muscles were stretched & we were supposed to leave in couple minutes. I buckled up & continued the journey anyway, by the time..my muscles got back up again! Finally we reached our first base camp at juda-ka-talab 9,500ft.

Along with my fellow adventurers, we were determined to reach the summit. We has to fight our way through gushes of wind, risk getting a frost bite, climb at a slope of 55° breathless and exhausted, but reaching the Kedarkantha basecamp Base 11,250ft., its all worth it. The jaw dropping view of the snow covered valleys and peaks in the surrounding area left me completely speechless.

We took rest for the night & started for the summit at 3:30 morning of 1st January.

I was carrying a bottle full of warm water with me and although we were drinking only a few sips from it, we were advised not to drink so much as it would make our body cold and cause issues. Hesitantly i agreed and continued scaling the mountain. When we reached near the summit, my throat was all dry and craving for a few drops of water, so i took out my bottle and started to drink from it only to realise that the whole water froze inside the bottle. The only alternative was to consume sweet toffies and continue with the trek.

Upon reaching the summit/top around 6:30 am, at a height of 12,500ft above ground level and temperature of -22 degree, I saw the first sunrise of 2018. I have made a point of always beginning my year with a new adventure, a new destination and a new experience, and this was by far the best. We stayed there for hardly 4-5 minutes, as it was freezing cold. But just those 5 minutes were enough to recharge me with the energy to step into the year with enthusiasm, strength and positivety. The sense of achievement of completing a summit we had very few expectations of finishing, pushing myself way above and beyond my limits, I got more in touch with my inner self.

In the end,

“He is not the light but the darkness. He is nothing and everything at the same time. He is the ‘destroyer’ of the universe. Only to recreate it.

He is Shiva.” Cause if it’s not us who looks after the nature, protect what’s left of the trees and vegetation, then our future generations would not have any trend left to embark upon. So let’s come together and make a pact not to cut trees and do our best to keep the Himalayas clean and green, so that our kids are not robbed of such enthrilling trek experiences.

"माटू हमरू, पाणी हमरू, हमरा ही छन यी बौण भी... पितरों न लगाई बौण, हमुनही त बचौण भी।

Soil ours, water ours, ours are these forests. Our forefathers raised them, it's we who must protect them.

-Chipko movement 1973"

This was an exhilarating experience & I’m so proud of ourselves Sahil, Ayush Gupta, Prince John, Keshav & Sourabh Maheshwari. I will never ever ever forget this adventure. I would not be able to reach there without Sahil & prince’s support.

I maybe did not have an answer why I did that trek but I do know now why I did it. It was for all of us. it was for our friendship & more than anything…for our brotherhood Sahil, special mention to you buddy. Cheers to us!