A group of second-year students from Acharya School of Management recently got a great opportunity — the college organised a trip for them to Uttarkashi, which would include many adventure activities like mountaineering, rock-climbing and river-crossing.
A total of 16 students opted to go for the trip and for them, their brief stint in the mountains was an experience they will never forget. It was great, they say, to get away from the confines of the classroom and have a nice time in the great outdoors.
Soumyashree Pani, one of the students, was delighted by the change.
"I never thought I would ever experience the height of the Himalayas. It's a beautiful view of spiky mountain tops, covered with puffs of white snow," recalls Soumyashree.
During the trip, the students took part in a variety of adventure activities. Their mentors also includes fun games like treasure hunts for them.
While in the mountains, they lived like experienced campers, pitching tents to spend the night in and cooking their own meals over an open fire.
The part of their trek through a place called Morsona was particularly rememberable, since it was a highly-forested area and they had to cross over landslides.
Sayak, another one of the students who went on the trip, says, "It was a great experience. Frankly speaking, I have a great fear of heights and water. Since we were told the trip would have adventure activities like rock-climbing and river-rafting, I was pretty nervous — but to my surprise, I actually overcame my fear of heights."
He adds, "But on the other hand, I didn't enjoy the river-rafting experience at all. I don't think that area is suitable for rafting."
While trekking through the Morsona forests, the students were cut off from civilisation for quite a while.
They came to the locally-famous 'Maggie Point', where they took a break to have something to eat. They had to handle fairly tough conditions and several of the students feel that this offered them a chance to learn about teamwork, leadership and motivation.
Their last stop was Agora and here, the students were in for a pleasant surprise — the local villagers entertained them with a charming display of folk dances and songs. Sayak reminisces, "I'm from West Bengal. So, it was quite interesting to see the cultural art forms of these people. Altogether, we all had quite a great time."