Beautiful pictures and narration Nidhan Ji. Aarti On Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at 8:06:08 PM UTC+4, Nidhan Singh wrote: > > Dear All, > > 2015 was another year which gave me an opportunity to step into > wilderness of mighty Himalayas. The programme was finalized, the team > gathered at Panipat on May 22, 2015 to start a tour the next day. The > flower hunting team was led by Dr. and Mrs. Gurcharan Singh with Dr. & Mrs. > Gurdeep Singh Virdi from Delhi, Smita Raskar from Sawantwadi, myself and > Dr. Balkar Singh from Panipat, Dr. Sunoj Kumar, Calicut, Mr. Viplav Ganger, > Mumbai, Mr. Anurag Sharma, Ms. Medha Rao and Ms. Smitha Ramesh from > Bengaluru. We had a stay for one night at Renuka Ji, a beautiful place in > foothills. The next day tour ended up in a beautiful place amidst pines and > deodars, the Mata Bhangyani Temple in Haripurdhar. We had the midway plant > exploration and refreshment halts, all thoroughly enjoyable. > > At the next stay point, Nauradhar, which formed our base camp for > the next days, Dr. Anil Thakur joined the team. From here, the trekking > towards Choordhar peak started early morning. Our senior most members > joined us for initial few hours, and started back before noon. Out of nine > members, me and Smita Ji took different path, unaware of the fact that we > won't be able to converge before 7 km. We could get together only at > Jamnala (Doosri) in the afternoon, where 7 members were waiting with > refreshment, which was much needed. Smita Ji, Aunrag, Smitha and Medha > decided to stay there for one night (which was a very wise decision > indeed), to come back the next day. > > Five of us started up trekking after 2:00 pm. This was really > tough climb but we enjoyed it all and we reached Teesri at around 5:30 pm. > We were spellbound on seeing high altitude flora especially Rhododendrons > from the corner of a sharp cliff taking a semi-circular turn after Teesri. > That was a quite a different world there, alpine floral elements started > appearing. The path we took was a longer route, but supposed to have a > gradual climb, instead of sharp edges from the other way. The things were > not going to be as smooth as we assumed at first. > The problems started soon after we reached a point, lying ahead was > a vast glacier, which we had not expected. It was long and slippery, and > left us undecided for a while, what to do? The first glacier was crossed, > with fear and terror (thanks to bamboo sticks in hand), we had a sigh of > relief, but that was not the last hurdle. Many small glaciers came our > way, there was trouble in breathing, a really serious cause of concern. > Darkness aggravated, skidding could happen, glaciers started reappearing > more vigorously. > Air was getting diluted of oxygen, daylight was almost gone, > energy getting down, and still no sign of our destination anywhere around. > I was (may be all of us) repenting on the decision to complete the trek in > one day, we could have stayed at Teesri. To further worsen the things, rain > and snow started falling, thunder and lightening joined, it got absolutely > dark, still no sign of the place we were supposed to reach. We tried to > console each other regarding the distance remaining to be covered, though > no one was certain. We could not afford to loose hope and kept on leaping > through snow, mud, darkness and silence. Finally we saw a few people with > torches way up, assuring us that we have not lost our way. Ultimately, we > reached the place, shivering and wet, tired and trembling with hunger. We > got the meals as per tradition of the place, and a very good stay (for > which I am grateful to Sh. Babu Ram, Manager, Sewa Samiti, Choordhar). > > Now I come to my Flora Picture of the year-2015. In the morning, > when we started back trek, through the temple, I saw a strange yellow > coloured flower (as it appeared from distance). I got near and saw this in > curiosity. This took me quite a while, and observing few more individuals > in advanced stages, to understand that this is the "Ice Breaking Primrose" > which pierces through the snow. I thought this is apt picture for me to > share as FLORA PICTURE of 2015. > > > > -- > Regards, > > Dr. Nidhan Singh > Assistant Professor > Department of Botany > I.B. (PG) College > Panipat-132103 Haryana > Ph.: 09416371227 >
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