Kanica Soni

Friday, March 29, 2013

Fun Times are back again

The thrill of being on a horse never fades.

Sunday, March 03, 2013

Moments that Touch!

Can never decide which it is!

And no children's game will solve the dilemma!

Rambo's Congratulations Neelam now Nilooney

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Whoa !!!

Finally application sent, medicals done I was all ready to go to Siachen......shortly after my brother's wedding.

I had every doubt regarding my ability to cope with the altitude and terrain but that little uncertainty drove me to face the challenge. It was not just any trek it was an expedition with the Army Adventure Wing to the Siachen Glacier which is the longest non-polar glacier in the world!!!

I would go where our soldiers go, I would be on terrain that not many have been on. I was inspired by the mere thought of that.

The beginning seemed rather smooth, I reached Leh and on the same flight were those who would be on the expedition with me. Nayan and Darshil. I was also aware of a rather strange character whose name was Vaibhav, I knew he was already in Leh and was for some reason paranoid about meeting up as soon as we landed as he felt that if he did not get his booty into army protection he would miss the expedition !

Other than being paranoid about getting into the companyhe turned out just fine and normal !! :D

The first week at Leh was meant for acclimatization and we had our routine medicals at the beginning of each day after which we began our journey from Leh to Base Camp which was a 200 km journey though Nubra Valley. The journey itself was mesmerizing and who was to know that those same peaks and the rocks we were driving past would be snow clad when we done with our expedition.

(Before I move ahead, Leh, these guys watched Kung Fu Panda, and the next thing I knew what that we were being named, and it caught on pretty fast, because no one knew Po's real name :D
Darshil became Po, Vaibhav Master Shifu, Badri Master Monkey, Nayan Master Snake, and me Master Tigress and we called ourselves the Famous Five.

The Famous Five hung out at the Leh market everyday, Po how to ride a bike as he was the only Five who did not know how to ride one, and how he learnt....... he got to learn to ride a bike at 12000ft feet on a suset road - lucky boy!!!! All the guys esp. Badri - the guy with the camera around his neck and Nayan - the tallest one on the right was made to buy presents for the ladies back home.)

Ahem... back to Base camp.............

There, we spent an entire week acclimatising further and also training / hiking / doing ice-craft and attending lectures and presentations about life and survival on the glacier, Operation Meghdoot, the history of Siachen and its explorers, etc.

Siachen Base Camp was all about: Hepters flying over us all the time, the worlds highest battle school (Siachen Battle School), the worlds highest ATC (forgot what that stands for - air traffic control may be), a whole load of stallion trucks as friend put it - it was straight out of a war scene from a movie!

Of course there was good stuff at the Base Camp, tucked away in one corner is a small cafe that runs like the most popular restaurant in town,they open by 5 pm and closes by 6 pm because they all out of Momo's n Jalebi's ! Up you read that right...... and the Famous Five.

The Training

The battalion of 16 Rajput hosted us, under the guidance of the Ustaad's from the Army Mountaineering Institute at Siachen we learned about all the mountaineering equipment used to tackle the glacier, 10-point, 2-point and 3-point climbing techniques used to negotiate ice walls with the help of crampons and ice-axes. Scaling a 45-60 degree ice wall on your toes was surely a task!!!

After the training we began out journey to Kumar Post that was to be a 120km trek that have to be done in 8 days. We hiked from an altitude of 12000ft to 15600ft approx in 4 days, and then headed back to base camp in another 4 days.

The ultimate sight throughout the trek post camp 2 was the Majestic Karakoram on the right and the awe-inspiring Saltoro on the left, with each successive mountain having a smaller glacier flow between it and the next mountain. The sight was unforgettable !

Behind the Karakoram lay China 30 km away and behind the Saltoro lay Pakistan (about 10km at places).

At certain points we could spot our soldiers on the peaks of the mountains of the Saltoro.

The strategically placed glacier is certainly a crown fit for a country like ours and I now know that our soldiers defend it as a mother/father would protect a new born.

We traversed through moraine, ice, snow, rocks and crossed crevasses to reach the first major post after four days of walking and passing four camps.

Walking up the valley knowing that the Indian Army has been defending this area under the most extreme and oppressive inhumane conditions 12 months in the year, year after year for 2 decades before the ceasefire in 2003 - really makes you wander into a higher state of consciousness...(Vaibhav)

As we climbed and climbed, we passed three camps to finally get to the Kumar Post - the view from there was mesmerizing.........

Kumar Post

Though getting there was a task so much so that we hardly got a chance to look beyond the terrain for fear of tripping and falling. Further the crevasses were a hazard as well.The area is hard to traverse through, but I would give anything to walk on it again!

We reached safe n sound and soon we head back to where we came from.

This is a video put up by a friend and it is one heck of an awesome one - I wonder why I did not do the same!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Rzyls2Tes&feature=share

More soon

Sunday, October 07, 2012

Unexpected

Man has the innate tendency to plan, although he doesn't always realize it. I am someone who loves to do things spontaneously, and yet I made a bucket-list when I was 20. I was inspired by the movie 'The Bucket-List' :)

Anyway so at 20, I thought of some things I wanted to do. I started small, I began with horse riding to some thrills on the jet ski, to slightly more ambitious desires like gaining and education enough to give me financial independence, buy an SLR, and then came the one's I thought were hard to achieve. A bag packing trip to a new place/country/city and an Everest Base Camp Expedition.

In fact, I did not really think the last two would actually happen...... But they did..... makes me think about the saying in one of the hindi movies - Agar app dil se kisi cheez ko chahate hai, to poori kayenath apko wahi cheez dilane mein lag jati hai....... Not always true..... But not always untrue as well !

I managed to become a good horse rider, we (Marshall and I) rode almost every day, the hack rides were something I wont forget. I could sense the work of a team in completing a hack ride. The were super fun and we rode till we were walking with bow legs!

The other sports I indulged in were sailing, jet-skiing, kayaking, etc

After I had one tick on my bucket list, I began trying to figure out how I could go on my bag-packing trip. And the next thing I know is that my brother decided to be the wish granter in this case and I explored Hong Kong thanks to him..... That was truly a memorable incident. I left early morning each day and explored the city on foot and in metro using maps - the one's on paper and my dolphin card!!!

The Wish Granter

The ten day vacation was super awesome and I survived an unknown city by myself - believe you me - I got a kick!!!

Well so things seemed to be going damn well, I got a job with Vasant Valley where I my sorta my soul mates - wackos that equaled me!!!!

The cocktail of awesome colleagues and kids was intoxicating !

Rambos

And we called ourselves Rambo's !!!!
And as colourful is the snap - they added that much and more colour in my life!!!!
Thank God for creating wackos!!! :D

And then was the turn of the SLR, I gathered the required funds, but landed up saving that bit...... So I am using my Wish Granter's SLR :D

Now I had to figure out how to get to Everest Base Camp........
But it wasn't just a matter of Everest, but also about the fitness. And Along came Polly! Ahem I mean Siachen......

It sounded way more challenging and was indeed a once in a lifetime opportunity that is rare for any citizen!

And so it was.........