girishprb

[girishprb]

Montana 9: Oro y Plata

It was pure bliss to gid rid of the backpack, shoes and just chill by the Old Man lake after that strenuous hike with limited drinking water. We probably would have lazed around for much longer if not for the fact that it was already around 7 pm and we still had to cook dinner before it was too dark. I and Shruti stayed back to collect filtered water through the pump while Manasi unpacked and got ready to cook dinner. We met a pretty lady by the lake who was from California and had a chat about the crazy rents there. She told us that she was about to get an RV for about 50k and she was planning to live in that! The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of a modern nomadic life!

By the time we reached the cooking area, Manasi was already best friends with a tiny woman, thanks to their mutual hatred of high altitudes combined with powerful gusts! The poor female apparently almost flew away while hiking through the passes! The guy from that group asked me if I'd met the extremely casual trio and when I said Yes, I met them at 5.30 pm, he started praying that they were fine! He later revealed that the trio were chilling at the Old Man Lake till late afternoon and were not serious about the next part of the hike even though everybody warned and begged them to leave because others were more concerned about their safety than themselves!

All though we didn't plan for the trail and where to sleep, we did plan in extreme details about each and every meal! For that dinner, we had specifically bought more expensive, dehydrated packed meals. Manasi and Shruti had chosen the safe, tasty 'Himalayan Lentils & Rice' whereas I went for the more adventurous 'Vegetarian Burrito Bowl'. After the first bite, I realized how much experienced Shruti is, how awesome her choices were! Thankfully all were hungry and taste was the least of my concerns and at the end, I did get to finish Manasi's share as well :)

While we were heating water, it already got dark. Our headbands with lights came out and this time we had two guys for company! Apparently, one of the guys, Andrew from whitefish, used to work in the Grand Teton National Park for a while and has also worked in the Glacier national park. He gave us good advice on things to do in Montana, routes to take on return and where to go next if we ever go back to the GNP. We spoke about India and it's geographic diversity. Pretty sure we convinced him to visit India :)

After a good heavy meal, we dragged our tired legs to the campsite and started settling in. Manasi got back to Time travelers Wife book while I and Shruti started reading Harry Potter together. Usually, it's a pain when two people try to read a single book together unless you both have a really good understanding and both read at the same rate. But it’s amazing when both have the same speed, both react with the same expressions or laugh together at the same time! Those moments are special :)

For our last day, we had to walk back 4-5 miles on a pretty flat track. Shruti and I woke up early, Manasi said she wanted to sleep more. So, we made some hot tea, went off to the lake and sipped it while enjoying the magnificent views before us! I don't remember for how long we just sat there, but I do remember the mountain peak that looked like as if it was lit on fire, the chirping of birds, the gentle ripples created by winds in the lake. We could see the trail that we hiked the previous day and it was pretty scary. If we had done the loop the other way around, we would have been pretty intimidated by it for sure :)

For breakfast, we got rid of all the oats, trail mix, and remaining instant tea powder. We met Andrew and his friend again, and he even liked our instant masala chai! We packed up in less than 15 mins and started hiking for the last part of the loop. After more songs and pictures with scenic backdrops, we huffed and puffed to the parking lot! But alas, it was the wrong parking lot! By now, we were stinky, dirty and sweaty without a shower for last 3 days?

Manasi waited for us with our backpacks while I and Shruti went to get the car which was luckily only half a mile away. We then went to Two Medicine visitor center that was buzzing with people, but for some reason, I was still in that solitude bliss and felt strangely disconnected to the current reality! That did not stop me from drinking a terrible blueberry juice (they were out of huckleberry juice). We got chicken nuggets, some nice hot soup, a bowl of instant ramen that was later mixed with Soup! Manasi bought us 3 cute key chains as a remembral of good times and Shruti got a shirt with nice Grizzly quotes on it :)

Once our tummy was happy, we asked for the nearest shower facility, drove an hour to get there and then spent another hour cleaning ourselves! This was followed by another round of hogging where we ate huckleberry pie, some cheese pizza, and Shruti liked the pie so much that we ended up ordering some more! Shruti drove the first stretch to the South entrance to GNP where we had to return the rental bear sprays. We got some more coffee and then set off to Missoula where I showcased my rash driving skills since we wanted to keep the tradition alive by eating at an Indian restaurant that was closing at 9 pm!

We made it by 8.45pm and ordered a bunch of stuff to our eager server. The chefs in the kitchen were probably not so eager as it was so close to the closing time. He had to listen to plenty of swear words coz he made a mistake in the number of nans ordered. The server even followed us to the opposite motel to return us the money for a tea that was billed but wasn't delivered! Manasi and Shruti had flights to catch at 5am and 6am, but we still stayed awake till 11, finishing up the Kaluha (coffee liquor) and played a simple card game called 'SHOW'!

We were up by 4.30 am, we went to the rustic Missoula airport that was a 15 min drive and Manasi was super anxious until we reached! That's her usual thing. She is always paranoid about missing a flight :P After we reached the airport, Shruti realized that she was missing one of her Sparx sandals and we searched around the parking lot and in the car but without any success. I did later find it outside our motel. I had to fly to L.A the following month to return it! That's another awesome story of how we surprised Shruti :)

Saying goodbyes are always hard. Especially if you know you're the last one who has to return the unused propane cylinders to REI, return the rental car after filling it up and make that long journey back to reality all alone :P I did stop by the burger place near REI for breakfast, worked from the airport for a while and finally did eat in that Mexican restaurant in Denver airport that was closed while travelling to Missoula.

"Oro y Plata" is the state motto of Montana that means "Gold and Silver". We didn't find any precious metals, but we did make a ton of precious memories, we did meet some amazing people, we three did become solid friends (more solid than before!) and I did get to eat a LOT of food, especially Huckleberries which is more precious than gold and silver to me!

Happy birthday Manasi!

[girishprb]

Montana 8: A walk to remember

Early next morning, I woke up to sounds of footsteps and rustling of leaves nearby. I was curious as to who might it be but was lazy to check it out. Only later, we got to know that our big friend - Moose was in the area! We freshened up, packed the tents (we were pros at it by now) and headed to the food area around 8 am. On the way, we realized that most of the campers had already left and we were one of the last ones left! At the cooking site, there were two awesome guys who worked at Facebook but were on a sabbatical. They were doing a 5-day backpacking and had lost track of dates and days of the week! Both were from New York and Manasi was excited for a brief while before they revealed that they were happily married(separately) :P

Have you ever heard of the story of 'Akash Nanda'? Well, according to my dad, there was this mythological character who always used to gaze at the sky (Akash) and walk. He always dropped stuff because he kept stumbling on things on the ground! That was my nickname during my childhood because I kept dropping things once in a while :) It's been years since I dropped something precious until that ill-fated morning. When Shruti asked me to pour water out of my Osprey 2.5-liter bladder into the saucepan, I lost control of the lid and splashed water all around the stove. I blame the Osprey design, and one of the Facebook guys agreed with me too :P

For breakfast, we made Quaker oats with a bunch of dry fruits and nuts, and of course Girnar Tea! While I got busy finishing everything, Shruti and Manasi packed rest of the stuff, refilled my water bladder and got ready for an 11-mile hike with 3700 ft elevation gain and loss (with a heavy backpack)! Our first target was to reach Dawson Pass, the second part was pretty flat along the Continental divide and last was descent on the Pitamakan pass to read old Man's lake where we planned to camp for the night.

During the first part, we were all pumped up, I and Shruti sang Bollywood classics to our heart's content. Manasi has a ‘no talking while hiking’ policy and kept some distance behind us - I am sure she could not tolerate our crappy voices! While writing this, I think I now know why we didn't see any grizzly bears during the whole trip either! At first, the songs were situational, later we started choosing a random word and sang songs about it! I still can't believe that somewhere in my mind, I had stored the lyrics of soo many songs! For parts where neither of us knew the lyrics, we just hummed along until we got to the part where we knew it again!

We came across twin waterfalls and no name lake along the way that were hardly 0.5 miles from the actual trail. I and Shruti went exploring while Manasi happily took these breaks to catch her breath and relax while guarding our bags. After a couple of miles, the elevation gain was steeper and we started slowing down considerably. At one point Manasi almost lost it and actually was thinking of going back but then she convinced herself that this is what she came for and continued climbing. We met several day hikers who probably started very early in the morning, everyone was courteous as one might expect, and everyone greeted "good morning/Hi/Hey/How's it going?". Some were just going to Dawson pass and going back whereas some did the entire loop in a day! One old man stood out because we met him the following day at the other side of the trail and Manasi actually remembered this old dude!

After 3 or 4 miles, the next mile and a half was at it's steepest, and we took plenty of breaks to stabilize our heart rate and sipped water once in a while. The tree covers were gone and although it wasn't a hot day, Sun still sapped our energy nonetheless. Some day hikers on their way back were very encouraging and they said the views were amazing, the wind was terrible and that we were very close! This really helps because similar to a marathon running, in hiking, it's all about the mind. If we think that we can do it, the body follows. The moment we lose faith or confidence and give up, the body gives up too!

We knew we are near the top when the winds picked up and I had to store my Cricket hat (White, round umpire's hat) because it did not have a strap and I was afraid it would fly away. Shruti was prepared for this as well - she had what looked like a fishing cap with straps. Manasi probably doesn't believe in caps or hats, I have never seen her wear one :) At around 1 pm, we made it to the top of Dawson pass and indeed the views would have been spectacular, if not for the cursed smoke! Winds were definitely above 40 miles an hour and for the first time, I was glad that my backpack was heavy! Else, I probably would have been blown away! We stopped here for a while, ate granola bars(pseudo lunch), and Manasi to her dismay realized that she had finished all of her 3-liter water!!!!  I had around 1.5 liters still left, so I transferred 1 liter to Manasi's bladder for time being.

Next 3 odd miles were along the backbone of the mountain ranges that followed the continental divide. It was pretty flat but the drop on our left was significant and each glace reminded us of the elevation we were in, the winds luckily were pushing us towards the mountain and not away from it. At that moment, I was glad Shruti and Manasi pushed me to buy walking poles in Missoula. They were indeed a life-saver. There were some patches where we were exposed on either side and we literally had to dig the walking poles to support ourselves from the ‘@%$#$#@#$” high-speed winds. Manasi was unusually quiet in this stretch and when asked something, she was using sign language to respond. Only later she told us that she has fear of heights and that this was possibly her toughest test ever!

I was the first to reach the turnaround after which it was all downhill and was waiting for Manasi and Shruti when 2 Indian origin dudes and a girl of some other ethnicity came from the other side and asked how far were the upper two Medicine campsites and how was the trek. I gave them info, but was really surprised at their casualness of this whole situation. It was 5.30 pm, they had to cover at least 7-8 miles, there was no source of water anywhere, they did not have walking poles, the route was windy and pretty dangerous after dark. I really hope they had torch lights and they made it safely!

The descent was pretty steep and had plenty of switch-backs, but the good thing was that we could see the destination (Old man lake) all along. After some time, both me and Manasi were out of water and a big shout out to Shruti - she had anticipated that this would happen after realizing Manasi was out of water about halfway. She hardly drank water after that and conserved as much as she could. At the end, she had a mild headache due to dehydration! I went ahead for the last 2 miles stretch because it was getting dark and I had to pump water and get things ready when there was some light left. Shruti came with Manasi not too far behind as we finally reached our destination for the day - Old Man Lake!

[girishprb]

Montana 7: Upper Two Med

This time I drove from Lake Bowman to Two Medicines trailhead. I’d like to believe that I was more cautious and considerate while driving compared to Manasi :P When we were passing through a pub and a bakery, instantly Shruti's caffeine addiction kicked in and we stopped by. Although bakery would be the right place to grab a cup of coffee, Shruti insisted on going to the pub at 10 am in the morning! Her cravings were making her go cuckoo I guess!  The pub had ample seating outside and was rather small and cozy on the inside. The owners themselves were surprised when we entered and asked for a cup of coffee! They just had regular coffee and Shruti settled for it for the time being. Just for curiosity's sake, we then entered the bakery and Shruti sadly realized that there were a ton of coffee options. I offered to drink the rest of the pub coffee and she happily placed an order for cafe latte! I had to add more sugar and creamer to make Shruti's coffee drinkable :P (She thinks I put too much milk and sugar and that I absolutely ruin the core essence of coffee)

This place was not just a bakery like we initially assumed but also a grocery shop, a gift shop and a bookshop put together. While Manasi disappeared for a brief period to freshen up, I and Shruti spent time exploring the second-hand book collection, a variety of gifts that ranged from huckleberry earrings, rings, t-shirts and camping supplies. Shruti truly believes in supporting such local stores and she almost bought a book on snow hiking and camping and some jewelry! On our way out, we met this friendly old lady who wished us good morning and I think we saw a pretty little bird perched on a pole that nobody else remembers :)

When we passed Apgar village, we had a choice. Either get out of the park and reach Two Medicines an hour early or go through the only road in the national park - 'Going to the sun road' and get possible delayed by the long weekend crowd. Shruti wanted to stick with sensible option - get to Two Medicines early, start the hike early and reach the campsite well before sunset. I wanted to go through the glorified 'Going to the sun road' since I wasn't sure if we would have ample time on our last day to drive through it. As I was driving, I took the liberty of choosing the slower route much to Shruti's annoyance. I had high hopes since this was supposed to be one of the most scenic drives in the country but was later disappointed because the visibility was terrible due to nearby forest fires. Still, the drive was decent, through the mountains, through a pass and then descended towards St.Marys lake.

It was a warm, windy day and the smoke made it even worse. By 1.30 pm we were hungry, thirsty and feeling slightly gloomy, hence we decided to lift our spirits by a quick stop for lunch by Lake St. Marys.  The lake itself was gigantic, and on any other day, I am sure it would have been very beautiful. There was a scenic boat tour center and a ramp which should have been thriving with visitors from all our the country at that moment if not for the ill-timed forest fire. We chose a secluded spot to cook pesto pasta between the rocks, very close to the lake itself. Shruti made a windshield for the propane-based stove from the little rocks and I sat in front of it providing extra protection. To fasten the cooking process, Shruti placed a lid on the container and tiny stones on top of it so that the lid wouldn't blow away. One of the stones fell into the pasta to give the pasta an earthy flavor! Due to high flames, the pasta at the bottom got stuck to the container but on the whole, it tasted great and was filling :)

The drive from St.Marys to Two medicines was through state highways and we finally reached the park's south-east entrance (Two medicines) around 3 pm. Shruti did not have the national park permit handy and didn't really know where she'd placed it, so we honestly told the ranger that we have it but not really sure where we've kept it and the old man completely trusted us and let us through. I know this is a long shot, but if you're reading this post, we three are really grateful and wholeheartedly thank you for that generous deed! In my last trip to Grand Teton, a similar thing happened where the permit card fell through a crack near the cup holder slot when we were in the queue near park entrance! We still hate that Dodge Grand Caravan, I wonder who designed its interiors! The ranger was bewildered to listen to the 'just-lost' story, but trusted us and let us through! (Yes, we got that card back. The rental place staff helped us recover it).

Backpack weight plays a very crucial role in the entire backpacking experience. In our Grand Teton trip, for 4 people we carried a 15 pound 6-person tent much to the surprise and amusement of other fellow backpackers! This time, the only thing that I carried but did not use was a pair of chopsticks :P (Why did I ever carry chopsticks? Well you need to wait for a blog on my Olympic National park backpacking adventures!) Shruti had a checklist and we packed meticulously to ensure we had all the essentials covered, rest of the stuff was thrown in the trunk. Our walking sticks were extended, the caps and sunglasses came out and we were finally off on this 22-mile loop hike for the next two days! 

At the start of the trip, how does one lift the spirits of the group and get the conversation going? Well, I think non-veg jokes are the way to go! I started with the one with the king with his babe queen that he didn’t trust, the war, the blade, and his trusted minister eventually losing his tongue :) That was followed by some silly old-school jokes and then I narrated of famous Karadi audio (originally in Kannada) in English that surprisingly both Manasi and Shruti didn't know about! Next, we personalized our signaling mechanism - mine was a standard high pitched 'koooo-koooi'. Shruti and Manasi took time to think and ended up copying mine more or less :P

The first part was a 5 odd mile hike with gentle elevation gain, through meadows, an adventurous rope bridge and around the Two Medicines lake to reach our campsite at Upper Two Medicine. Luckily, at this time, most of the day hikers were done for the day and backpackers had probably already setup up tents. We were the only ones for the most part of the hike and that gave us the chance to truly appreciate the wide variety of flowers, trees, and birds. As time went on, the topics that we talked about changed too and as we were deep in conversation as we approached the upper two medicine lake and suddenly saw a movement on the right side behind a tree. Instantly all of us froze up, with our hands going to the bear spray and then cautiously moved forward to find out that it was a huge Moose that was peacefully grazing! This was our first wildlife sighting and we initially didn't know how to react because nothing about Moose encounter was ever mentioned in that survival video! After few seconds we realized that the Moose did not care about us whatsoever and we moved on without bothering it as well. #LiveAndLetLive

The last stretch had decent elevation gain and we slowly huffed and puffed our way to the campsite. At around 6.30 pm we reached the camping area and at the entrance, there was a signboard that mapped out parts of the campground. We directly headed to the cooking area to store food in the food bins. Keeping food or anything that smelt near the campsite is a STRICT NO-NO Policy since the wildlife should never learn that food is available near the tents. Most of the campers were near the cooking area and were almost done with their meal by the time we reached there. One guy asked us if we saw where our campsite was and then revealed that there was only one empty campsite left, at the very end. Just beyond the cooking area was yet another beautiful lake where we cooled off, pumped fresh water for cooking and drinking and relaxed for a few minutes.

Usually last available campsite meant a really shitty one and I had very low expectations. We were surprised to find that it was actually a good campsite with trees around for shelter. After quickly setting up the tent, we headed back to the cooking area which was empty now and Shruti starting making Khichdi with rice, lentils, salt, pepper and hint of curry powder. While the pot was boiling, we resorted to our novels for a while and stopped once the friendly stars appeared one after the other to cheerfully greet us Hi. By the time we started eating Khichdi it was probably around 7.45 pm and we had to switch on headlamps. While eating, Manasi detected a huge black moving shape between the trees, her reaction startled us and we all flashed the torch to find out that our peaceful Moose was thirsty and was heading towards the lake. Three guys from neighboring campsites shortly followed and asked if we saw anything, there was faint panic in their voices. Apparently, this Moose went between their tents, scaring everyone on its way to the lake!

We made a quick pit stop by the pit toilet before calling it a night. Probably the tree shelter was a little too much as there was no wind at all throughout the night. Manasi could not sleep that night and I offered her my pillow hoping that would help. I started feeling hot under the sleeping bag and ended sleeping on the sleeping bag until early morning, switched directions in the middle of the night as I wanted to keep my socks on but also didn't want to knock Shruti out cold with stinky feet :) 

Any guesses on who woke us up the following morning? I'm sure you guessed it right - The Moose!

[girishprb]

Montana 6: Lake Bowman

Lake Bowman was a 90-minute drive from Apgar village. We left around 1.30 pm after confirming that campsites were still available. Manasi drove this stretch and turned a dull scenic drive into an unforgettable, exhilarating experience! For reasons unknown, she decided to test the max angular velocity of the car at the curves and there were many. After a point, the road quality deteriorated and we hoped that will diminish her spirits, how wrong we were! Manasi just went into her "Challenge accepted" mode and pressed the accelerator harder :P Me and Shruti had seat-belts on and were holding on for our dear life! After a couple of narrow misses and some scratches on our poor now-dusty Malibu, we reached the campground by 3 pm. There were plenty of campsites available and we chose a decent one close to the exit loop.

Getting to know fellow campers might be an overwhelming experience where you just don't know how to begin talking to random strangers. Luckily we had Manasi on this trip. Within minutes of reaching the campsite, she went around and spoke to everybody! How to do that? Simply follow these 6 easy steps :) Step 1: Buy an expensive phone Step 2: If it's an iPhone, turn off 'find my iPhone feature' Step 3: Absentmindedly keep it somewhere Step 4: Go to the washroom and then immediately realize your phone is missing. Step 5: Go to every campsite and say "hello, sorry to disturb you but have you seen an iPhone in the washroom?" Step 6: Later find out that it was still in the front zipper of your bag :P

Everyone will surely remember you, now that you have created a certain mystery around you and your phone. Everyone will have these thoughts running in the background - what happened to the phone? Did someone steal it? Did someone find and actually return it? Next time you come face to face with anyone, you don't have to do a thing. They will strike up a conversation starting with "What happened to your phone? Did you find it?"! :)

After finding Manasi's phone in the front zipper of her backpack, we set up the tent quickly and then decided not to go to Lake Kinta but to chill around the lake. There were three trees close to the lake, perfect for Shruti and Manasi's hammocks with the best view possible. I neither owned a hammock nor really believed that they are worth having until I actually tried Manasi's and they were amazing! There were already a few groups around the lake - closest to us was a couple with months old baby and a 2-3-year-old boy (Manasi became their family photographer later that evening), an Indian couple were playing with this 2-3-year-old kid for a brief period, on our left were a group of friends with a dog who were throwing stones and playing fetch (poor thing - I was praying it wouldn't choke on some stone. What a stupid game!!), a tattooed hot couple were swimming in icy cold water and at far right there were 2-3 folks peacefully fishing.

I and Shruti made our first Girnar's masala chai (I almost missed my flight for this!!) and for snacks, we opened up Udupi banana chips. After reading novels for a while, Manasi decided to practice her culinary skills by preparing early dinner with jasmine brown rice, Chole, and banana chips! How to make Chole on a camping trip? All you really need is a can of soaked chickpeas, tin of tomato puree, some organic curry powder, some salt and pepper borrowed from Quizno's-Missoula and obviously the secret ingredient - lots of love! :P We started playing music softly in the background while having this awesome dinner and by the time I finished eating, we were the only ones left and it was starting to get dark. Shruti chose this auspicious moment to reveal a scary fact - Bears sense of smell is 100 times that of a dog!! Knowing that our dinner smelt really good, we began to make loud noises while cleaning the utensils in record time and then headed back to the campsite with nervous glances around us every few seconds :)

After setting up the sleeping pads and bags, we went back to the bench and started sipping Baileys from the fancy flask, with Bollywood classics playing softly on my roommate’s tiny Sony speaker. Although moonlight was adequate, to better the ambiance further we turned on a soft red glow from our tiny camping lantern! It was almost a picture-perfect setting (we missed campfire!) and we ended up talking for hours together about anything and everything. This time, Shruti slept in the middle facing other direction because I wanted to wake up before dawn, go out and gaze at the night sky. Shruti who hikes every weekend and to whom star-studded nights are no big deal was confused by my enthusiasm for the night sky. Only once I mentioned to her that unlike her, I play Cricket every weekend and have very few chances of watching the milky way galaxy, she probably realized how lucky she was! Also, I knew Shruti is a good soccer player, so I slept as far away as possible facing the other direction!

The hot tattooed couple turned out to be our neighbors having a palace like enormous multi-tiered tent hooked on to their jeep. They had a proper stove and were making full-fledged breakfast early in the morning when we woke up around 8 am. No, they didn't invite us but I was wishing that they did :) I and Manasi even kept staring at them continuously for some time but that didn’t work either! We finished up our bread, hummus, jam with masala chai for a quick breakfast, packed up everything, filled up our bottles with water and finally said goodbye to Lake Bowman as we finally headed off to our backpacking adventure that we actually came for!

[girishprb]

Montana 5: Goodbye Apgar

Although Shruti is a professional backpacker who has walked hundreds of miles in different parts of the world, she just cannot get up early in the morning! We knew her problem but were still optimistic when we asked her to wake us up at 5.30 am (Actually we didn’t have any other option - Manasi is even worse than Shruti and nobody trusts my Nexus 5). We woke up reluctantly at around 6 am after multiple snoozes only in fear of not getting desired backcountry campsites. We left the sleeping bags and other stuff in the tent and drove to the permit center which was hardly a mile away. As expected, there were  4 groups already queued up before the entrance. We stood in line as well and then started looking at the map and talked about our options and backup plans again. Slowly more people joined the queue and we were happy that we weren’t too late.

It was slightly chilly that morning and I was glad to have my U.S.A bandana whereas Shruti had her dark blue bandana and Manasi had bought a winter cap at REI-Missoula specifically for situations like these. Around 6.45 am, one forest ranger came towards the building and made multiple announcements - 1. to have multiple plans, 2. to have details such as car license plate number and 3. be ready with emergency contact details. Now, if you ever rent a car, making a note of its license number would ideally be the first and most sensible thing to do but which is ignored by almost everyone. This was proved when at least one person from each group went back to the parking lot, grinning sheepishly for not having that info! Manasi went from our group and took a picture of it!

It was pandemonium inside the backcountry permit center! The whole situation strongly reminded me of an Indian railway station where people were reserving tatkal tickets. There were multiple displays that dynamically showed campsite availability for the next 5 days. We had to drop our first plan of doing a loop in many glaciers area since it was taken for days we were interested in. Luckily, our second option was still available when our turn came and we quickly reserved two campsites in the Two Medicines area. After giving required details, we were asked to watch wilderness survival video which gave info on campsite structure, food area, what to do when approached by a Grizzly bear and mountain lion. The actors were pretty impressive and the video was amusing on the whole!

While we were watching the video, our permits were getting ready. Once outside in the main lobby, an old lady gave us the permits and also gave us very clear instructions on what to expect in the two campgrounds, how to use the food area, how much distance was it and what we should look out for. She even recommended getting ropes and food bags if we didn’t have them. Shruti already had a cute little bear canister that was sufficient for one person but we decided to buy a couple of food bags and some ropes. Usually, in other national parks, they hand out gigantic bear canisters. We were expecting the same, but maybe the bears in this national park are smarter :)

It was 7.30 am and we had the entire day to ourselves with nothing planned whatsoever! Most often, when one goes on a vacation to a remote place where one might not ever go again, covering as many places as possible is the most important thing. Nope, not us. This was probably one of those rare days where all three chilled to maximum! First, we went to the restrooms nearby and freshened up. Then we headed to Eddie’s cafe for humongous breakfast where I went with a classic English breakfast with sausages, scrambled eggs, sourdough toast, and coffee. Shruti ordered standard omelet and Manasi went with safe oatmeal with generous sides of nuts and HUCKLEBERRIES!!  This was the first time I got to taste this fabled berry that existed only in fictional books and my imagination. Its taste was a little tangy and not at all what I expected. But I relished it nonetheless :) Me being a slow eater, we were there for a good one hour slowly munching through good food. There were many old couples around us, and all three of us thought that they were so lucky, spending time with loved ones at such a beautiful location. Yup, that’s the dream!

Manasi wanted to do kayaking post breakfast whereas I always prefer canoeing over kayaking. Maybe because of the history surrounding it, the fact that native Americans used it to commute through centuries or maybe because I had taken a course at NC State during my 3rd semester in tandem canoeing and I was pretty good at it :) Problem with tandem canoeing is I needed a partner - SHRUTI! She initially wanted to just read by the lake or do solo kayaking. It took a good 30 minutes to convince her to try canoeing with me. She probably was enjoying making me beg but accepted it at the end before I actually started crying about it :P

We went back to the Apgar campsite, packed everything and then came back to Apgar village to rent bear-sprays, a canoe, and a kayak.  The sun was bright and shining by now, the mountains stood still, albeit a little smoky in the northeast region and the water was clear blue, shimmering with sunlight. At the rental place, we were told that if we kept to the west side, we might see an Eagle’s nest and we readily believed them! Nope, didn’t see a thing. Shruti was a natural at canoeing and I just had to say once before she mastered all the different strokes that I learned over a semester. Manasi was in her happy place as she kayaked peacefully behind us.

It was such a scenic spot that I wanted to take a couple of pictures, but only Manasi had her phone with her. She initially hesitated when I asked her to pass her phone to me. This meant we had to get close to each other and she had to hand it over with a good chance of me dropping it to the bottom of the 300 feet lake! It’s iPhone 7s Plus that costs $800+ and I don’t blame her. At that instant, I made a note never to buy an expensive phone. This thought was cemented by an incident that happened later in the day! Manasi chewed on the idea, finally agreed and that picture is her current Facebook and Instagram profile picture :)

Shruti loves water! I am sure she takes her swimsuit to every trip. Her excitement levels are also directly proportional to drop in water temperature - colder the water, more excited she becomes. She wanted to take a dip in Lake McDonalds - Manasi didn’t even consider it, she said she would happily read by the lake. I wanted to try and test my limits. Water was cold but not really bad. After each step into the water, I had to wait a minute for the newly submerged body part to get accustomed to the lower temperature. Once the water was at the waist level, I took a deep breath and dived head first - reminding me the 2nd task in Harry Potter’s 4th book! We swam merrily for some time and then sunbathed while munching on bourbon biscuits. Soon after, for lunch, we ate organic, gluten-free, multi-grain whole-wheat bread (Shruti’s choice) with fresh hummus and huckleberry jam. 

After a brief chat with a Canadian lady and her handsome "city" dog who barked only at Manasi, after scoops of huckleberry ice cream and more coffee, with heavy hearts, we said goodbye to Apgar and proceeded onto our next adventure - Lake Bowman!

[girishprb]

Montana 4: At Apgar

Apgar village, Lake McDonalds and Apgar visitor center were a minute’s drive from the southern park entrance. Also, near the park entrance, there was a fuel station, a lodge, a gift shop,  a restaurant and a marketplace that looked friendly and enticing. But we headed directly to the visitor center to book our campsite for the night and also to plan for the next few days along with the Park Rangers before it closed. I’ve never had a bad experience till date at a visitor center in any of the national parks. In my opinion, park rangers are the epitome of hard work, dedication and customer service! All the park rangers I’ve met (I have met quite a few) were most welcoming, were really dedicated and helped us in every possible way! With the help of a park ranger, we shortlisted three possible campgrounds for that night - Kintla, Bowman, and Apgar.

All three campsites were first-come first-serve basis. We also got to know that reservations for backcountry campsites started at 7 am and because of multiple backcountry permit centers, we had to have multiple plans ready since each spot only had 2-4 campsites and everything got taken within few minutes. For that night Apgar campground was the nearest, Bowman was a 90 minutes drive from the visitor center and Kintla was another 30 minutes from Bowman. We also knew that Apgar campground would be the first one to fill up due to its close proximity and better accessibility. It was 5 pm and we decided to give Apgar a shot first and then drive to north-western part (Bowman/Kinta) if we were out of luck. There were three loops A, B, C in Apgar campground. We skipped A with the assumption that everyone would go there first :P In B-loop, we found a campsite - instantly we dropped Shruti’s bag there to pseudo reserve it and moved on with our search for a better campsite. On getting a better spot, we dropped Manasi and moved on to see if anything else was available. Finally, in C loop, we found a perfect spot which had a wooden square boundary and the ground was absolutely flat for pitching our tent. I went back to pick up Shruti’s bag and Manasi, but I’d forgotten where we dropped Manasi! I missed her in the first round and went back thinking the worst - that Manasi ran away :P  

At our new home, I peacefully ate my Quiznos whole veggie sandwich with rosemary parmesan bread that was a little soggy now, but tasty nonetheless. Manasi and Shruti unloaded the car and then together we set up my new REI Co-op 3 person tent. This weighed hardly over 4 lbs and I highly recommend it to all the backpackers out there. If you wait for Labor Day/Thanksgiving/Christmas sales - you’ll get it for 300$! Since this tent had a different structure, we took few minutes to figure out what to do. Thanks to our professional backpacker Shruti, we finally got it up within 15-20 minutes. Next, we went back to the park entrance to fuel up, Shruti quickly hopped into the marketplace to buy her nth coffee, HUCKLEBERRY jam, and fresh hummus for future breakfasts. On our way back, we decided to drop by at Lake McDonalds for a quick stop, but ended up staying lot longer than anticipated. Until we reached the lake, we were amongst trees and we hadn’t actually seen anything out of ordinary yet. We had no reason to believe something would change!

View from Lake Mc Donalds was truly spectacular and breathtaking and we weren’t prepared for it! This view is something I won’t forget for a long long time, and every time I remember it - I get goosebumps and I often get lost in thoughts! The lake itself was enormous, with crystal clear water and banks filled with pebbles. On the east side, we could see vehicles once in a while on the road along its banks - this was the famed ‘Going to the sun road’ that we realized later on. There was a boat on which two people were fishing without life jackets. In Montana, if you are above 18, you’re required to have a life jacket but not necessarily wear them while boating/fishing. On all sides, there were mountains, the sun was just about to set on the west side and along the north-east corner, we could actually see loads of smoke and intermittent fires! We later realized that around this time, the park just lost one of its famous park structures to wildfire - Sprague chapel, even after having sprinklers, helicopters ready to douse the fire and all other precautions in place to save it. Because of the best view of wildfire, there were a couple of park rangers with binoculars who gave updates on their walkie-talkie and a constant stream of visitors - all of them asking the same set of questions! ‘how bad is it? Are any sections of the park closed? Was it this bad yesterday?’. I asked them too, and the ranger patiently answered them all. It was pretty bad because of winds, no new areas have been closed yet - they needed to take a stock of the situation and updates would be given next day morning, and it was a lot better on previous days!

All three of us just soaked in this tragic, yet soul-stirring and beautiful view for quite a while then returned to reading with jalapeno chips. I started reading Harry Potter 7, Shruti started with 'To Kill a Mocking Bird’ and Manasi continued on with 'Time travelers wife’ (Hollywood version of Ekta Kapoor romantic drama)! After 15-20 minutes, Manasi and Shruti were hungry again because they just had half a sandwich each for lunch during our drive to the park. I was still digesting my sandwich but agreed as it was about to get dark soon. We had already planned and bought stuff for dinner every night. For this night, we decided to cook flavored Quinoa along with canned black beans heated with loads of curry powder and chips on the sides. We also filled up our fancy flasks with Baileys and relished this creative dinner with sips of creamy Irish coffee liquor. As it got darker, the fires were more easily visible, there were collective gasps now and then as we all spotted a huge burst of flames together - it was as if all were watching some remarkable fireworks in its full glory.

After dinner and washing the vessels with lake water, we headed back to our campsite and discussed multiple backcountry camping options as we had to get up early around 5.30 am and stand in line for permits that opens at 7 am. When asked who would like to set alarm for the next morning, Shruti’s eyes lit up as if someone was offering her a fully paid trip to Europe :P. Later, we opened up our sleeping pads, sleeping bags and I got out my cute little sleeping pillow :) Manasi and Shruti had this identical lightweight, all-weather, expensive sleeping bags from REI whereas I had 22$ sleeping bag from jet.com which has served me well till date! In Colorado trip, we 3 had slept in a two-person tent. (Why? well, that’s another great story that you’ll have to wait until it’s penned down). This time there was relatively lot more space and hence more comfortable. I was made to sleep in the middle facing the other direction to make it even more comfortable - but I think the plan backfired as I most definitely kicked someone in the face in the middle of the night :P

[girishprb]

Montana 3: En route to GNP!

Since mid-August of 2017, Montana was going through one of its worst wildfires. Towns 20-30 miles from the Missoula airport were evacuated due to hazardous air quality. Average temperatures were up by 10 degrees as well. As we stepped out of the airport, we could feel the warmth and a faint burning smell in the air. The street lights were casting a halo brighter but hazier than usual. The scene vividly reminded me of a horror movie where the silence was eerie, the night was foggy and the sky was pitch black! If only there was a streetlight that kept flickering! Probably I could have scared the shit out of Manasi :)

We had 3 big backpacks, one big check-in bag, two carry-ons and my laptop bag. Shruti had called the UBER and lo behold, a mid-sized SUV came to pick us up with decent boot space within 5 minutes. Manasi had to hold my backpack on her lap, but apart from that, we had a comfortable ride to Econo Lodge that Manasi booked on the same day morning! The UBER guy was chill, he gave us good pointers on things he liked to do in Montana. We learned that flathead lake was one of the biggest freshwater lakes in mainland US, that Missoula had a couple good brewery pubs and that it was a decent college town!

It was around 1 am as we checked into Econo Lodge, went to our room and crashed soon after. Shruti was the last one to sleep because she adamantly wanted to keep the table lamp on and finish her book - WILD by Cheryl Strayed. At 6.15 am, I grudgingly woke up to an annoying alarm tone. At that moment, I didn’t realize that it wasn’t my usual tone and desperately started hunting for the source of it so that I didn’t wake others. In the next few seconds, Shruti calmly woke up, went to her phone, elegantly switched off the alarm and gracefully went back to sleep. I am sure she doesn’t even remember doing this consciously!

I almost went back to sleep, but then I suddenly remembered that the breakfast had already started at 6 am. Knowing that good food would be sparse and that I’d have to resort to energy bars in the near future, I went downstairs and ate with an appetite I am really proud of! For the next hour and a half, I was oblivious to everything else as I ate toasts with generous amounts of butter n jam, boiled eggs with salt and pepper, apple juice, raisin bagel with cream cheese oozing out of it, bananas and multiple boxes of flavored yogurt!

By the time they finally woke up, around 8.45 am, I had taken a shower, had packed up and had started reading the seventh book of harry potter for the nth time! Thanks to Manasi’s excellent relationship with Hertz, they directly dropped our rental car at the lodge. We got a shining, gray Chevy Malibu with negligible scratches that had huge boot space, comfortable leg room, and great mileage. It was around 10 am when we checked out and I was ready for another round of breakfast! :P

We first went to Paul’s pancake place which had good reviews on Yelp. It was a famous, family-owned restaurant known for their sourdough pancakes. Apparently, the recipe was Paul’s great-grandmothers, that has been preserved since past 95 years! We obviously ordered the pancakes, ‘grits n gravy’ and an omelet. Shruti also ordered her daily morning dosage of caffeine through regular coffee and Manasi went for the usual lemonade. After eating good food and random gossip chats for another hour, I was motivated to learn playing drums!

Shruti wanted a new book since she was done with WILD. Luckily, right next door was a book exchange place that Manasi thought people actually met to exchange books! All three of us loved reading and we gloriously wasted another hour drifting between the sections, picking random books and just enjoying the moment. Shruti finally decided to buy the American classic ���To Kill a Mockingbird’ on my recommendation and also ‘the girl with the dragon tattoo’ as a backup as she probably didn’t trust me enough :P

Even at this time, we still didn’t have a real plan other than going to Glacier National Park and hoping to get camping permits for next 4 days! We were sure of one thing though - Booze :P All three of us misread 'liquid store’ as 'liquor store’ outside the bookstore and got really excited! The spirit of buying booze caught hold of us and we spotted an actual liquor sign inside a casino across the street. I was expecting roulette, poker tables, and a loud atmosphere but was disappointed to see that there were just a bunch of slot machines, half of them being occupied. I honestly do not understand the enjoyment in playing this lame game. It is totally random, you just press a button and get disappointed every time! Anyway, we eventually bought Bailey’s and Kaluha along with three amazing drinking flasks.

We wanted to do all our shopping for next 5 days in Missoula as that was the closest city to GNP. We first went to Walmart where we bought water, breakfast items, creative dinner combination items, camping essentials, toiletries and ton of other stuff. Next was an obligatory stop at REI, the Mecca for quality outdoor gear stuff where we bought bear spray, electrolytes, propane cylinders and other stuff. It was around 2 pm when we got out and we suddenly started getting slightly anxious because we wanted to reach Glacier National park before the visitor center closed. We still had to drive 140 miles (around 2 hours 30 minutes) and to save time, we packed Quiznos subs for late lunch. Finally, for real, we were off to our dream destination!

All three of us are crazy Harry Potter fans. Naturally, Shruti downloaded a couple of 'Swish and a flick’ podcast episodes and we listened to it as we drove through scenic farmlands, meadows with haystacks, along the banks of never-ending flathead lake and past temporary signboards that flashed “STATE LAW - CAMPFIRE IS FORBIDDEN IN THE STATE OF MONTANA” every few miles. Shruti and Manasi also had a good collection of offline songs. I am sure they specifically loaded their phones as they could not sustain another trip with non-stop Indian Ocean songs on loop :) The first episode was just introductions where the hosts spoke about their introduction to harry potter series, their Pottermore profile and then they discussed on different Patronuses and wand types. The second episode was more interesting where the discussion started with the first few chapters of the book but eventually, key facts and the whole plot was revealed. Spoiler alert - do not listen to it if you’re yet to read the books! Shruti was a brilliant navigator, we did not miss a single turn, and at 4.40 pm, we saw those 3 words we always dreamt of - a huge signboard that welcomed us to the majestic “Glacier National Park”!

[girishprb]

Montana 2: and then there were three

Newark airport and its fancy restaurants looked even more enticing as I made way to a Burger place where I was supposed to meet Manasi. My mouth was literally drooling for some solid food when I saw a huge green backpack standing in line near the burger place. Yes, that was Manase Gagore, who always likes to reach airport 3 hours before the departure even for a domestic flight :P I am probably the only person who almost made her miss a flight to Denver in our previous 2016 trip. I am sure she gets nightmares about it even to this day! This trip, she did have second thoughts of coming due to personal reasons, but thanks to my trip convincing skills, she made it! Yes, that’s a real thing!! Go read my other blog for more details (The unsung tale of the trip convincers) :) 

 I chose fried chicken burger whereas Manasi had something that was definitely gluten free, vegan, organic, bionic burger. This was lunch for me and dinner for her. We had 10 minutes to gulp down a burger and buttload of fries without ketchup or a napkin in the to-go boxes.  I usually like to take my time and enjoy my meals, but this was one off time where I just gobbled up a perfectly fried Chicken. After an uneventful flight to Denver, I suggested that we have some time to eat. The look she gave was epic. It was as if I suggested that Harry Potter dreamt the whole damn thing inside the cupboard. (Yes, that’s a sad conspiracy theory!)  She was like ‘we just ate at Newark!!!’. I may not look like I can eat a lot, but yes, I can. Ask Manasi or Shruti :)

It was past 9 pm and most the restaurants in Denver airport were closed. There was a Mexican grill where menu looked good. I wanted to eat a burrito there but they just said that kitchen is closed and that we try someplace else. What a bummer! I made a mental note to make sure I eat it on my way back. (Yes, I ate that burrito and that was a good decision). After going in circles, we finally decided to get a yogurt shake at TCBY first. Mango yogurt shake with large size was so huge, I could probably swim in it. Then I set to eat oily vegetable lo-mein at City Wok. The mango shake lasted till I reached Missoula :) All the food was sponsored by Manasi’s dinner budget. Thanks Manasi for being so generous :P

When we reached the gate to catch our flight to Missoula, there was just one agent and no one else. Assuming that the flight was empty, Manasi eagerly asked if she (not we) could get an upgrade. The agent dutifully checked and said the upgrade was possible for 70$ or something. Now, on a more than half an empty flight, why don’t airlines give free upgrades and gain more loyalty and positive media attention, especially United which has recently made headlines for the wrong reasons, I don’t understand. I’m sure they didn’t know who is Manasi or how many followers she has on Instagram. Anyways, we did not get the upgrade, we didn’t even get to change our seats, We just slept all the way to Missoula.

Missoula airport was unlike any airport I ever saw and I probably will ever see! It was like time had stopped since 1980’s. There were animal busts on the walls, gigantic grizzly bear statues, the carpets were old and murky, walls were made of polished wood. The baggage counter itself was one of its kind. One foot tall, no railing, just a belt that had both ends beyond the wall where probably people were manually unloaded one bag at a time. We knew Shruti has already reached and expected to see her any minute on our way to the baggage collection as the airport was tiny. But, surprisingly, she was nowhere to be found. Only after calling her phone and telling that we are at the baggage center, I saw her peeking from behind a large pillar with an almost finished book in her hand. The only change since I last saw her in May was that her hair was colored with shades of blonde, brown and black! From her backpack and the way she had attached her Sparx chappals, one could easily make out that she’s a seasoned, professional backpacker! 

And that’s the story of how we all got together. Again. :)

[girishprb]

Montana 1: Adventure begins

A memorable trip in Colorado back in 2016 Labor day weekend ensured that we do something similar or even better in 2017. A separate blog post will be dedicated to that trip! Patience please :) There was a lot of back and forth while deciding the location, which started with Alaska and eventually settled down to Montana and its crown of the continent - the majestic Glacier National Park. To get a head start over the regular long weekend crowd, we planned to reach a couple of days early with no specific plan in mind. Wildfires and frequent updates ensured that we plan nothing whatsoever and do everything in the moment, which I think was a blessing in disguise. Saved on a bunch of planning, we did not really have any timelines or expectations and the randomness made it much more beautiful and satisfying.

The only planning we did do was a couple of days before to make sure we carried all the important stuff and that we did not duplicate key items. For future camping trips, and for all who do read my blogs, hope this helps :)

[x] Brush [x] Toothpaste [x] Hand sanitizer [x] Toilet paper [x] Facial wipes [x] mug(steel preferred) [x] Vessel/saucepan to cook (3 ppl) [x] Milk powder [x] Tea, coffee, chocolate powders [x] First aid kit [x] Water purifier tablets [x] Spoons n forks [x] Knife [x] Fire starter kit [x] Lighter, matches [x] Propane cylinders, stove [x] National park permit [x] Offline maps [x] Ponchos [x] Hydration bladder [x] Sleeping mat [x] Dry fruits [x] Pasta, Maggi, Spanish rice packs [x] Thermals? [x] towel [x] Energy bars [x] Power bank [x] torches, lanterns [x] chappal [x] mouthwash [x] bear spray [x] Garbage covers [x] Batteries [x] Tent

On the day of the departure, I had an adventure of my own. To start off with, I had 3 flights in total - RDU -> Newark -> Denver -> Missoula. God knows why I booked a flight with that route (probably has something to do with money). Also, gate closing time at RDU was 3.45 pm! That meant I had to leave office post lunch and be at the airport by 3. To add on to this, I was just back from a trip to Seattle for a week and my feature had a major release in the coming week. Somehow working late nights, I and my colleagues made sure we were in good shape just before I went off on this vacation. I left the office at 2.10 pm, had to still buy a tent from REI (12 mins drive from the office in the opposite direction). And possibly go to Indian stores to buy instant tea powder because I knew there were no Indian stores in Missoula or en route to GNP. At 2.45 pm, I was at the crossroads, I had to decide whether I go to Indian stores which will delay me by at-least 15 minutes or go home, pack, call UBER and hope to make it to airport by 3.15 pm. The logical and sane option was to do the latter, but, what’s the point of camping and backpacking when there’s no Girnar’s masala chai early in the morning :P I chose Indian stores, but to save on precious 10 minutes wait for UBER, I called my roommate to come home and drop me to airport. Thankfully he did this great favor and took me through a new and arguably faster route to the Airport( He is amazing!). I reached the airport at 3.20 pm with tea and bunch of snacks other than Maggi since I was assuming that Manasi was getting it. In our previous group chats, she gave us the impression that she was the one and only wholesale distributor of Maggi to the North Americas. In all this hurry I missed out on a text message from Manasi asking me to get Maggi and she used this a response to everything I said later! (You did not get Maggi!!!)

At the airport, I directly wanted to go to the United counter and check-in my backpack (Osprey Aether 60 L) as I was already late, but one smart-ass agent asked me to first go to the kiosk and enter my details. Reluctantly, with an exasperated expression, I did that as arguing would delay me further. To nobody’s surprise, it displayed a warning message stating that I cannot check-in my baggage since it was less than 45 minutes to departure. I called the same guy again and triumphantly asked him what should I do now. It was his turn to give me the exasperated look as he requested me to talk to an agent at the counter. She was partly annoyed as well and I don’t blame her. The fault was entirely mine. After glancing at the system and her watch multiple times, she finally decided to let me check in and try my luck catching the flight. She literally said, “Good luck, hope you can make it”!

Usually at RDU, one can breeze through the security lines within 5-10 minutes. My personal best was probably a minute or less than that when I caught a flight to SFO, the last flight for the day. They had to start the scanner machine just for me! This day wasn’t a usual day! there were quite a few people, already in the holiday mood. The time now was 3.32 pm. with 13 minutes to board my flight, I actually started thinking if the tea packet was really worth it :P (it was) I cleared the security at 3.41 pm. Ideally, in this situation, it would have helped if my boarding gate was as close as possible to the security checkpoint. But when the universe conspires to make your life miserable, it always does a pretty darn good job. My boarding gate was the furthest possible from the security checkpoint. My half marathon training finally paid off as I sprinted across the terminal amidst the amused glances from random strangers. Thankfully, RDU is one of the smaller airports where I can do all this bullshit and still get away with it. I made it to the gate at 3.43 pm, but without a proper breakfast, without lunch and with 10% charge on my totally unreliable Nexus 5. Why do I still own it? excellent question. I shall write a blog about that as well :P

As luck would have it, in the flight, the 2017 August edition of United airlines magazine was about Montana. The editor wrote about his 3-day experience in Montana. This is where I first got to know that huckleberries are found there in abundance. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry fin were some of my earliest novels that I had read in my school days. I mentally made a note to make sure I try the famous huckleberry pie no matter what! And I did try most of the huckleberry delicacies, more on that later. In this process, I probably did annoy Shruti and Manasi because they could not understand my obsession with huckleberries. I am not really sure either, but, with the hunger pangs and given the fact that these berries are not found everywhere and their delicacies are part of ‘the’ Montana experience, I wanted every bit of it :)

[girishprb]

The ultimate minion quest

Fairs are fun. Why would anyone NOT like it? A heaven for unhealthy yet delicious food items such as deep fried X (X=anything and everything edible), funnel cakes, cotton candy, apple candy, turkey legs, burgers, corn dogs, hot dogs, cheese corns, super huge lemonade cups, … ( I could go on and on and on). Apart from food, there are out-of-the world places like the scary house, zombie apocalypse, mirror maze, terror house, snake woman, three headed giant, … The whole festive atmosphere itself is such a stark contrast to monotonous everyday routine that makes the visit most alluring.

Every trip to a fair is filled with surprises! Every path has some secrets associated with it. Every game has a mystery surrounding it. Trying out a new delicacy, winning a humongous toy, going on insanely topsy-turvy rides, watching daredevils do amazing stunts, there are so many things that goes on simultaneously, so many things you can do that makes you totally forget about exams, assignments and deadlines. (Please note that these happy, wonderful feelings are just temporary/momentary! Once back home, the thoughts about daunting deadlines, incomplete assignments and upcoming exams, coupled with the guilt of gloriously wasted time burst back with exponentially elevated severity making you super tensed, depressed and frustrated!! :P )

The games range from amusing to anybody can do this! Deep down, you know that you are never going to win. Well, if everyone could, isn’t it a loss to run such a business? On the contrary, if every game appeared to be tough, not many would test their skills or luck. Even without the help of super computers, big-data or machine learning, they have mastered the art and science behind designing games that have subtle balance between making profits while tempting everyone to give one shot, to give an illusion of apparent victory (that is ‘the’ trap.. that eventually leads to multiple failed attempts!).

Every game looks easy. Every time you play gives you a feeling ‘Golly! that was so close.. I can definitely win this next time!’. You never lose hope, you keep trying again and again until you run out of cash! If you have a specific prize(the minion) in mind, god help you. They control the game, either by placing glasses in a particular position that has special anti-gravitational property, by placing buckets at an angle such that the balls have maximum probability of bouncing outside or by some other clever tricks that are not obvious (obviously!!)! Once in a while, they ensure someone indeed won, just to boost the morale of everyone around. They even offer best deals to extract the maximum amount they can, like ‘5$ for two rounds, but for 10$ you can have 5 rounds.. just to increase your chances!”. The thrill and enthusiasm blinds us and we readily fall into their trap. Do not get me wrong, it may appear that I am complaining, in reality, I am praising their efficacy in exploiting the enthusiasm of the crowd and make profits :p

Ultimately, it does not matter who won the biggest or the cutest or the smart looking minion. What matters most are the memories you create, the amusing stories that you can now talk about when you meet your pals in yonder years! Every fair is the same, yet every experience is unique.

[girishprb]

Unsung tale of the trip-convincers

Think about all the great trips you have been a part of. Can you remember ‘the’ person who listened to all your problems? who sorted out the dates that were convenient to the whole group? who spoke to your parents and convinced them to allow you? who resolved all the dependencies (person A will come only if B comes and so on and so forth)? Who would go to any lengths to get you on-board? Who came up with these crazy, funny reasons as to why you MUST go to that trip? 

Did you ever thank this person for turning the mere idea of a trip into a cherished, memorable reality? for putting in hours and hours of efforts into problem-solving, convincing, listening and patience?

We, the ‘trip-convincers’, are a rare breed among the masses. Our super power is patience, sadly, a trait long forgotten. While the planners plan and the shoppers shop, we work silently in the background to ensure that the whole gang goes. Unlike others, we do not seek credits nor wish to be in the lime-light, we just do not want our buddies to repent later on that they missed out on this fabulous trip for a silly reason!

Every group has this special person , just like every group has a leader, a photographer, a drunkard, a drama-queen and a noob driver. Although we hit some road-blocks once in a while (people who are stubborn, who simply refuse to listen to reason), we feel proud and happy when at least most of them are on-board due to our super-power!

Cheers to all the trip-convincers out there!!

// <![CDATA[ (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-55956706-1', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview'); // ]]>

[girishprb]

What would you do if you were in my shoe(s)?

Right from our childhood we are taught to make the right choice, right decisions, stick to it and take responsibility. We must always weigh both pros and cons of all available options and then, finalize on that one single decision that will change everything. Sometimes, it is okay if the decision taken is wrong and we ourselves have to deal with the consequences. But what if this decision impacts other people as well and we have to live with it forever? What if you do not want to, or rather, you are not able to take a decision because all options look equally enticing or all are equally dissuading? 

Here is just one instance of such seemingly simple but troubling dilemmas, where the more you think about it, the more helpless you become.

Tomorrow is the semi-finals of our local-cricket league tournament. Both teams are extremely competent and are going to give their everything. Our team has a better bowling unit while the opponents have a better batting squad. (For people who have no clue what cricket is about, just relate it to football, either American or not, with one team having better defense whereas the other has better offense. If you do not know football and cricket, god help you!!).

The problem statement has just started! The game starts at 9.30 am and definitely, there will be dew. The grass in the outfield is taller than usual and hence, the ball will not travel far for ground shots. Due to the wet outfield, the shine of the cricket ball will wear off faster (yes, it matters a lot!!) As the day goes on, outfield will only get better and the condition of the ball in the second innings will be better than the first innings.

By deciding to bat first, we will have to deal with the slow, wet out-field and bad ball condition. By deciding to bat second, all though conditions will be better, due to the importance of the game and the omnipresent required run rate, a huge load will lie on our shoulders and on our thoughts (a hammer on the head!) when we play and we are known to struggle when it comes to chasing big targets.

Sometimes, the right decision is not to take any decisions at all! Just let the fate carry on it’s will and we float along with it. Hope we lose the toss tomorrow but win the game!

Go pack!

// <![CDATA[ (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-55956706-1', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview'); // ]]>