The Award in Action: Jindal Vidya Mandir Sholtu

 

Jindal Vidya Mandir Sholtu is a YES Centre of The International Award for Young People, India and the participants are actively preparing for their qualifying journey for Bronze level. Under the able guidance of Program Officer - Ms. Ankita Gera and Award Leaders - Ms. Madhu Bhardwaj & Mr. Vikas Chander, all aspirants were briefed, guided and encouraged to achieve the desired target.
Award participants started their journey from the base camp i.e. Jindal Vidya Mandir Sholtu Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh towards the destination at around 0800 hrs in the morning. The final destination point selected for the expedition was Chansu Kanda which is at the altitude of 11715 feet above sea level. Hilly terrain along with the perennial River Satluj & River Baspa made the route even more challenging to reach the destination.
Together they boarded the bus and covered a distance of about 23km by road transportation to reach the beautiful tribal village Kuppa near the bank of river Baspa. All participants were now ready to track the route to reach Chansu Kanda. Lush green forest, steep slope, uneven terrain, and icy winds greeted the team. At Ruturang - a place towards the final destination, the team decided to take a break and energise themselves by taking much needed calories to generate energy.
Team continued their journey towards the final destination and reached Chansu Kanda - a place which was planned for the night stay. Village Pradhan, Mr. Birbal Negi had made the provision for our stay at Village Panchayat Bhavan as prevailing cold conditions during night time is not conducive for the team members besides the threats related to wild animals.
Participants prepared their food and enjoyed it under the lap of nature. Night time at Panchayat Bhavan ended with fun games. Next day, after having a healthy breakfast, the whole area around Chansu Kanda was explored by the team members. Snow covered mountains, green meadows, thick forest, aerial view of village Kuppa & Baspa river, V-shaped valleys gave a feeling of perfect creation of nature. After scanning & exploring the whole area, all members took much needed rest in the tents, which they had installed with great efforts earlier.
Team members experienced nature differently from the tents. During this journey, we didn’t realise any problem & wanted to enjoy and remain there but time did not permit us. The Award Leader gave a command to pack up and dismantle the tents. We cleaned up the area & started trekking down towards village Kuppa. At around 5:30 p.m. all members reached Kuppa and boarded the bus towards base camp i.e. JVM Sholtu.