A Chance To Share Your Happiest Trek Moment

I am looking for your happiest trek moment and the story behind it. Along with it I want a photo that captures the location of the moment or even manages to capture the moment. 

There’s a reason why I’m doing this. 

Frankly, I’m tired of all the negative news around us. I think we all are. 

We are cooped up at home, not meeting people dear to us. All we get is bad news about Coronavirus spreading its devilish arms. Almost any conversation becomes about Coronavirus. It’s become quite frustrating. 

So I wanted to create a space that takes us as far away from Coronavirus as possible — to the trekking world where we all yearn to be. 

As a trekker, I’m sure you relive moments from your trek every now and then — it could be that euphoric moment when you finally reached the summit! It could be that moment you were moved to tears by a beautiful sunrise. It could be the reflective time you spent by yourself at a campsite.  

I would like you to pick just one of these moments that had a deep impact on you and share it with us. 

│How do we go about it?

￫ Your first task is to pick a photo that takes you back to the happiest moment from your trek.

Pick a photo from a moment that made your heart soar. Think about any of those moments that made you laugh or cry (out of joy). It could be a photo of the location where you had your happiest moment. If you’re lucky, you might even have a photo capturing the moment. 

￫ Next, tell me the story of that moment.

Write it down in a paragraph or two. I would love to experience what you experienced. So tell me what went on before that photograph was taken. What was the story behind the laughter / tears? Can you go back to how you felt during that moment? What is it about that moment that stands out for you? 

￫ Once you have your photo and the story with it, send it in an email to us on tws@indiahikes.com

Use this subject line: My happiest trek moment 

│Here’s what I’m going to do

With the help of my team, I’m going to be selecting the best of these stories and featuring them on our website. I’m going to ensure we share it as far and wide as possible, to take people’s minds off the Coronavirus news that’s around us.

Here’s an example. Our founder, Arjun Majumdar, wrote about one of his happiest trek moments. This is how your story could look.

“Sandhya and I were on the last day of the Warwan Valley trek exploration. We were camped on an open grassland at the heart of the Warwan valley.

We had done the tough part — we had seen something that our minds still couldn’t fathom — a part of Kashmir that was so stunning that even most Kashmiri’s hadn’t seen it — but everyone said was the closest to heaven we could get.

We were just 4 close team members on this trek. Sandhya decided to celebrate the finale of the trek with whatever we had left.

All of us quickly grated a few carrots that were left. Sandhya, who is a superb cook, brought out her magic skills. In the only functional pressure cooker we had, over a fire of dried cow dung and twigs, Sandhya with great dexterity added oil, some spices, a full tin of condensed milk, and a lot of love.

Soon, the smell of freshly cooked gajar ka halwa weaved through the valley.

That evening we had the best gajar ka halwa of our lives. It has been 5 years now and every time I have a gajar ka halwa anywhere, I tell this to everyone who cares to listen. It doesn’t come close to what Sandhya made that day!” – Arjun Majumdar

The Top 10 stories will also get a special feature on our Instagram account. So if you have an Instagram account, please mention your handle in your email. 

I’m going to be selecting stories in the order that I receive them in. So send me your photos soon. I’m hoping to have our first set of stories out by tomorrow. 

I really hope you can help us spread some happy stories during these grim days. I can see that Coronavirus has locked all of us down physically. But let’s allow our minds to wander and feel the joys of trekking. 

I’m looking forward to reading your story. 🙂