Team Raita

“Why did I do this to myself!”, I sighed as I rubbed my eyes sweeping away the last traces of sleep from my eyes. I mused how well I was settled like a sack of potatoes in my home at the hot and sweltering Patna with the mercury climbing in excess of 40 degrees. While in Patna, I begged God for some respite and here in the hills as I pulled over the sweatshirt over my head, suddenly those 40-odd degrees felt like the sweet warmth one feels in the embrace of one’s beloved. I sighed again and made my way out of the atariya in which I was sleeping. The view from the Atariya I stretched my arms to push away the last remnants of sleep and was mesmerized by the beauty around me. The sun rays sprinkling over the hills painting them in hues of greens that even the best artists would envy; towering above them were the snow capped peaks guarding us like sentinels from everything beyond them; the sweet scent of the apple orchard, where our base camp has been made filled my nostrils, al...

I held half-read The Immortals of Meluha in my hand as I was flying over the majestic Himalayas on my flight to Kathmandu, mouth gaping at the beauty bestowed upon the peaks and valleys all painted in 50 shades of Gray, as alluring as the protagonist from the said book itself. Laden with ample dose of snow, the peaks jutted out well above the clouds, soaking in the vitalising rays of sun, totally disinterested with the foggy conditions on the ground. I thought about the mystical abode of Shiva just beyond those mountains and said a silent prayer in my mind to the soft-hearted, dancer incomparable, god of destruction, while I looked on. My thoughts wandered to Tintin in Tibet and a tiny hope simmered in my heart to meet the Bigfoot, although I knew I was going to trek well below the boundaries of the mysterious Yeti. As I stepped out of the airport, the chill of a January evening was instantly replaced by the warmth of the Nepali people. The traditional greeting of putting a marig...