“How will I do Bara Bhangal?” I wailed, as my stomach kicked like a mule.

“You won’t.” My husband did not lift his eyes from his book.

“But I must!” I cried, through another brutal spasm.

A month ago, my friend Ebenezer suggested that I join his group on the Bara Bhangal trek. “Ten days, 170 kms, two high altitude passes, eight hours a day. You should come,” he’d said. Like it was a walk in the park.

I had been contemplating an upgrade to my trekking, but was this it? Ebenezer was a seasoned mountaineer; I was neither—mountaineer, or seasoned.

The internet was not been encouraging. Bara Bhangal is a central Himalayan village of 800 inhabitants in the Kangra region of Himachal Pradesh. Forty kms from the nearest roadhead; accessible only on foot during the warmer six months of the year. Then, heavy snowfall blocks the passes and the village is completely isolated. However, it wasn’t always like that. In the 13th century, it was the largest village in the prosperous Hindu kingdom of Bhangal. A bustling layover on the trade routes to Central Asia, across the Dhauladhar range. Today, it still does not feature on the electricity grid or the cellular phone networks that crisscross the country.

Comfort is relative. No toilets, that’s a given, but what if I broke a bone or – based on past experience – lost my mind at high altitude? Most trekking outfits claim to carry a satellite phone but, I know enough of these promises in the mountains. The deeper you venture, the bigger the pinches of salt you need.

“Don’t go then,” my husband played along.

Now, this bout of food poisoning, accompanied by a new set of questions. Would I be able to get on a bus in two days? What if the dubious food led to a relapse? Or, I became dehydrated and died? 

Fortunately, my breakfast stayed put. By the afternoon, I was shuffling around, packing in misgivings and apprehensions along with socksand trekking pants. On the evening of the next day, Ebenezer, his friends Amitabh and Sharad, and I, were on that bus to Manali.

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