The fall in chadar was scary and the story doesn’t end there. Chadar was actually broken a few mtrs ahead of my fall. And it wasn’t possible for anyone to cross the 0 degrees chest deep waters. Few trekkers had planned a buffer day while booking their return tickets, so they had the luxury to try their luck and stay back for 1 day and hope for the chadar to form, the others, because of all the corporate pressures had to return right away. I feel sorry for all those who couldn’t live their life even for 1 extra day! So we all waited at the previous campsite, praying for the chadar to form and all the local helpers gave us hopes by giving examples of chadar being formed in maximum of 8 hours. But I know, the global warming was playing its own part too, with greater intensity every year. The next morning again, with great enthusiasm and hopes we started hiking again, and stopped at the same point. The chadar was too stubborn to form this time even in 24 hours. And I had to return back to Leh with everyone else. Leaving the Chadar Trek incomplete and going back to Leh was the most disappointing thing for everyone. It’s not definitely easy to manage leaves for the same trek again and the chadar is frozen hardly for a month in winters.
My crazy and greedy soul just didn’t let me settle with this fate. I just couldn’t go back home! My calculations told me that chadar would form in next 3 days for sure! And now the question is, pay 10k extra and reschedule my tickets, fight with my manager, talk to parents about this crazy decision of staying back or just go back. If only I could settle with easier approach. No, that’s definitely not me! I cannot give up. I can put everything on stake to satisfy my soul, which is definitely not asking for promotions in office.
I talked to my dad and he was cool about it as always. If I had a boyfriend, all he could have done is to sit back and think “What a crazy Girlfriend I have”. I asked one of the guys I met there to call up my manager and tell him that I’m stuck as the chadar is broken and I can’t come back from the other end till the chadar is formed. My manager just wanted to talk to me once may be just to submit my timesheet for that week, but I made sure I had no connectivity there.
Yes, I left for the trek again. Few people did try to demotivate me by making me think of possibility of the chadar being broken this time too. But I fear not trying, more than the failure. This time all the helpers and the locals on the trek knew me and I felt I’d become a celebrity there. And I tell you, these locals are so cheerful and hopeful about everything, they change your thoughts to positivity so effortlessly that you tend to love them more!
If my manager is reading this post, I wanna confess this to him: “I’m really sorry to have done this, inspite of you being so supportive and encouraging to me for everything. But I won’t lie, if at that time I could have talked to you and you had given me an option to either come back or quit the job and go ahead, I would have still selected this undoubtedly”
Because this time, the chadar was as cheerful as I am and I could actually make it up to the most glamorous sight of the world – The huge magnificent frozen waterfall, the phenomenon of which still is a mystery. The patch of chadar that was broken last time was still weak. While I was carefully walking through the patch, one (over) smart guy with a wide smile on his face hurried to match up to my speed and asked "So, how was your experience of falling into chadar?" I don't know what made me irritated at him, I said "You need to be there and experience it to understand" and while taking the next step ahead, I turned back to see his expressions on my reply and I just couldn't stop laughing when I saw his legs actually sunk into the chadar at the very same place. He kept complaining that instead of helping him, I was laughing out loud. Can anyone blame me for this.
My crazy and greedy soul just didn’t let me settle with this fate. I just couldn’t go back home! My calculations told me that chadar would form in next 3 days for sure! And now the question is, pay 10k extra and reschedule my tickets, fight with my manager, talk to parents about this crazy decision of staying back or just go back. If only I could settle with easier approach. No, that’s definitely not me! I cannot give up. I can put everything on stake to satisfy my soul, which is definitely not asking for promotions in office.
I talked to my dad and he was cool about it as always. If I had a boyfriend, all he could have done is to sit back and think “What a crazy Girlfriend I have”. I asked one of the guys I met there to call up my manager and tell him that I’m stuck as the chadar is broken and I can’t come back from the other end till the chadar is formed. My manager just wanted to talk to me once may be just to submit my timesheet for that week, but I made sure I had no connectivity there.
Yes, I left for the trek again. Few people did try to demotivate me by making me think of possibility of the chadar being broken this time too. But I fear not trying, more than the failure. This time all the helpers and the locals on the trek knew me and I felt I’d become a celebrity there. And I tell you, these locals are so cheerful and hopeful about everything, they change your thoughts to positivity so effortlessly that you tend to love them more!
If my manager is reading this post, I wanna confess this to him: “I’m really sorry to have done this, inspite of you being so supportive and encouraging to me for everything. But I won’t lie, if at that time I could have talked to you and you had given me an option to either come back or quit the job and go ahead, I would have still selected this undoubtedly”
Because this time, the chadar was as cheerful as I am and I could actually make it up to the most glamorous sight of the world – The huge magnificent frozen waterfall, the phenomenon of which still is a mystery. The patch of chadar that was broken last time was still weak. While I was carefully walking through the patch, one (over) smart guy with a wide smile on his face hurried to match up to my speed and asked "So, how was your experience of falling into chadar?" I don't know what made me irritated at him, I said "You need to be there and experience it to understand" and while taking the next step ahead, I turned back to see his expressions on my reply and I just couldn't stop laughing when I saw his legs actually sunk into the chadar at the very same place. He kept complaining that instead of helping him, I was laughing out loud. Can anyone blame me for this.
I was one of the lucky trekkers who could hike to the Nerak village 2000ft above chadar. This narrow trail has caused lot of injuries and few deaths because of its slippery route.
Chadar trek was an exceptional experience. The days were spent on blanket of ice and the nights under the blanket of stars. The stars were so close, so bright and so many. If only I could stay there forever..
I went back to my office, all the clients in US knew that I was stuck in bad weather (though they had to clarify with me once I got back, as they had no clue what bad weather meant). After knowing my adventure stories they were only insisting me on sharing my snaps with them. I can’t thank my manager enough!
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Update on this post:
2 years later, after I had resigned from my job in IBM, I sent this post to my Manager as a confession.
My manager's response: You think I didn't know about it? Why didn't you directly write my name in the post, instead of using the word 'manager'? Proud of you! Keep your passions alive.
He has always motivated me for my passions and I'm always thankful to him.
Related Posts:
2 years later, after I had resigned from my job in IBM, I sent this post to my Manager as a confession.
My manager's response: You think I didn't know about it? Why didn't you directly write my name in the post, instead of using the word 'manager'? Proud of you! Keep your passions alive.
He has always motivated me for my passions and I'm always thankful to him.
Related Posts:
