Page 67 - Digital Cornice Grade 9

HMI
HMI

HMI - A Journey Of A Lifetime

By: Smaranika Shakya

We’ve always heard the thrilling stories of the The next day we carried our irritatingly heavy
one trip all RBS students look forward to - A 10 rucksacks and started trekking towards Jaubari.
day trip for the ninth graders to The Himalayan During the first few hours, we cheerfully sang
Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. The and willed ourselves to walk. But after some
stories we’d heard made us conjure wild fantasies time, we started getting weary. We ran out of
about this trip. So when it was time for us to songs to sing and our shoulders ached. The
journey to HMI we were more than excited. fierce glare of the sun directly above us was an
added burden. After walking for what felt like
After eagerly packing our bags and waving an eternity, we reached Jaubari. God knows the
goodbyes, we left Kathmandu on 3rd January immense relief we felt at that moment.
2023. Singing and dancing throughout the
13-hour-long bus drive made it tolerable. In Early, next day, we walked to a viewpoint to
all honesty, sleeping on the bus was rather watch the beautiful sunrise. The view from the
uncomfortable but we pulled through anyway. top was breathtaking and it surely made up for
the previous day’s long trek. The sky went from
Next morning, we reached Pashupati Nagar from shades of blues and grays to a blend of orange
where we took a van to Darjeeling. In 2 hours, and red. We all looked at the sky in awe as the
we reached HMI. Although we were bone-tired, sun’s first morning rays burst in streaks of gold
we didn’t get any rest. That day we were briefed and glazed the Himalayas.
about HMI, equipment, the instructors and rope The same day, we left for Kalpokhari. As we
knots; which was not too exciting. walked through the wilderness I couldn’t help
but admire the scenic beauty. We reached
The rooms that were provided were well Kalpokhari, left our rucksacks there (with
facilitated and the food was fairly good. much joy) and walked to Sandakphu. Night had
Waking up at 4:30 in the cold morning air was already fallen when we made our way back. The
something we weren’t quite fond of doing. But city looked alive with the lights and walking in
our annoyingly loud alarms rang and we knew that everlit serenity felt surreal.
we had to get ready for the day.
We woke up bright and eager for camping
That morning we had P.T. and our first task was the following day and started trekking from
rock-climbing at Tenzing Rock. As we reached Kalpokhari to Banglatar. We eventually
the rock, my excitement turned into fear. When reached the place and set up tents. Here, we
I looked at the steep, menacing rock, all I could adapted ourselves completely to the wilderness
think was “What if I fall and make an absolute fool in terms of answering nature’s call, drinking
out of myself?” Thankfully, nothing happened spring water, and sleeping in tents. I think we
and I successfully climbed the rock thrice. all missed home at some point. We also learnt
the hammock setting here.