My Journey from lost to found.

Day 1. = Woke up in the morning with the call of the tour leader "when will you reach madam? Almost everyone has reached." our bus was running late. As soon as the brakes

were pulled, I jumped out of the bus and ran towards the meeting point across the SBI ATM, Mall Road, Manali. I joined the group while they were moving towards the cars that were supposed to take us to the briefing place and subsequently to Jobra, the starting point of the trek.

We reached Chika in about 3-4 hours where our camps were set for the evening. It was a good arrangement of camps, common dining is and restrooms which were to be there in all

the camps that we go.

We spend so much of our time working or in the digital plane, browsing the internet, chatting, watching clips, movies that we even forget about peace of mind. By this time, I had no

networks on my phone. the white noise of water rippling against the stones washed over me, my mind let go of the stresses and my body got into an ultimate state of relaxation. I took a deep breath, grabbed a cup of hot tea, and spent the evening with my soul.

Day 2 = the trek this day was towards Baluka Gera, which was another 5-6 hours of

descent, but this time I decided to give my rucksack to the pitthu because it had got

very difficult yesterday, only after a few km

mountains had started to leave

behind the lush and unleashing its

fierce edges. It was like they

wanted to scare me away or maybe it was my 70 feeling that I was carrying. But somewhere I

knew that failure will never over

take me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.

As we reached the camping site, the staff was waiting for us with a game for us, it was the tug of war, we were divided into groups and had a great time together. At far we could see a stunning peak covered in snow. It was beautiful to see the sun going down and the clouds taking over, changing everything.

Day 3 = The peak we saw last evening was where we had to reach, which seemed completely impossible. we stopped midway for lunch, "I am not a professional trekker," I wondered to myself, but the other option was to go back down three days and face yourself accepting the defeat. Wiping the thought from my head, I started moving.as the altitude was getting higher I was starting to slow down, stop, and wonder again if I could do this. "chalo chalo let's go" said Kini who I had met on the trek, and without thinking twice I started to

walk again. I heard a loud rumbling sound from the peaks on the left. It was a landslide that scared the most of us, it was as if nature was teasing us. The path today has a lot of water streams, some of them were easy but some of them were tough to cross. For a few,

I event had to take off my shoes and cross through the bone-chilling water. It used to take us

minutes to come back to our original hiking speed. After a few hours, we were at Balu ka Gera.

Day 4 = It was piercing cold in the morning. "Guys get up and have tea," said our leader. My

shoes were covered with a layer of frost, not only my shoes the grass, small flowers, and even the stream of fresh water was frozen. Shuddered by the wave of chilling wind, I managed to reach the herb and spice tea station which helped our body start functioning.

This was the day when we had to reach to the Hampta Paas, which as at an altitude of 14,000ft and a trek of about 10-11 hours. The trek was getting tougher and the nature becoming fierce. the peaks and the slopes were covered with snow and the green was completely gone. This was the toughest day of the trek. we reached the pass around 2 pm, the entire group was exhilarated by the feeling of accomplishment. We had managed to reach the destination, but the happiness didn't last for very long as it was not the end of the trek. I still had to trek down for 2 more days through the Spiti valley to catch the bus back home. We gathered the happiness together and started walking down to Siagoru. The sunset on the peaks bought peace to the valley, the silence was setting in and we were hiking down into the last spectacular play of colors, the chilling wind was gusting through the glacier into the valley where our camps were set up for the night. With a thud, I landed in my tent with no intention of having dinner and slept on the spot.

Day 5

I didn't want to go any further, my bag was filled with mixed feelings. That morning I was pulled

out of my campy by Kini and Abhijeet. it was unbelievable where I was, I was in the glacier bed!

Like a swing, my mood changed completely on the other side! We were dancing and running

around, we had not seen anything so serene! the sunlight felt warm on my face, I had started

to enjoy the breeze now. after eating hot daal and rice we started walking towards chatru and

after 4 hours we reached the spot where cars

were waiting to take us to Chandratal Lake. By this time my body was completely drained out, but as we reached the lake parking I could not help but reach the place that I had only seen in pictures. breathtaking view and beauty are completely true to its name. Chandratal

which means a moon-shaped lake which is situated at a height of 4270 meters in Spiti & Lahaul district of Himachal Pradesh. The Lake

was enigmatic, surreal, and truly a magical Himalayan jewel with its crystal clear water.

Day 6 = It was time for the dream to end now, the last sunrise we saw on the trip.We packed our bags, bid adieu to the mountains, and drove to Manali. We stopped at Rohtang paas, everyone was getting pictures clicked at the entry stone but all I could see was a stall of momos and got clicked with that only. I was also craving to take a shower and it was the first thing I did as soon as I reached old Manali. Explored the markets and sat down in the calm restaurant on the riverside for the last peaceful meal before getting on to the bus for Delhi.

Aastha Sharma https://www.instagram.com/aastha.selenophile/