This is a small write up about my solo tryst with Bagini glacier I did in June 2014 for a reputed hiking company who have supported my writings on different treks ; but in the meanwhile give tips as I always have for newbies and trekkers who wish to visit this area on their own steam. The first thing is that you must have at least a full day off at Joshimath to complete your shopping list ! 
Your tryst with the DFO I had to get permission to visit different inner line areas on reaching Joshimath for Upper Bagini glacier but I didn’t have much time in hand as I had kept my son behind who was visiting from Chennai to look after home and hearth plus the two lovely dogs that make up a big part of the little family.
So after a day and the night before of a grinding tortuous ride by bus from Delhi to Joshimath which is from 9 p.m. till the next evening 5 p.m. I contacted an agency man who had been messaging me and notifying me on Facebook for quite a while like all these agencies in Uttarakhand, Himachal and Ladhak always do showing how much they care ! 
Some Ladhak operators went to the extent of displaying bags of feaces to bring ill repute to one Bangalore trekking company such is the fierce competition up in the Chadar trek. Anyway business men, sharks, lawyers and doctors have to do their bit to prove to themselves that they are not working for a charitable institution. My loss wasn't much but that company's is as when and I am sure in 2015 my friend would bring in a group to show Americans the wonder land that is India. 
This company the manager fronts will not see the color of the greenbacks !! I will not name the company or the silly manager as I do not wish to bring disrepute to a company for the greed which I will call idiocy on the part of of one man !! Anyways the cost of hiring a HAP was Rs 400 to 450 but the guy they got me a scrawny man who I felt was inadequate to carry a 22 kg bag but I was reassured that he could do the same and on top of it an educated man who knew all the names of the peaks and cols. 
Then from Jumma he made a coolie outa me too till Ruing !! From 3 kms ahead in the village of Ruing I had to appoint the services of another porter for Rs 400 per day. Now lets get down to the nitty gritty of this business of outsourcing of labor to the high altitude porters and the complexities of arranging a permit for the trek. I had to take off early next morning for the trek and so the agency manager asked Rs 850 for the permit for me and my porter which has to be paid to an officer of the district forest office who they told me issues it from his bed, lol !! Anyway later I learned from reliable sources that the local porters being from the surrounding areas need no permit and it is only you and you alone plus your mates from the low lands if any need the permit which cost anything from Rs 100 to 200 depending if he issuing it from his bed !! 
And also make sure you know where you are going to like they had gotten me a permit for Upper Bagini glacier and not Kanari Khal, Garpak and Malari which they wished to take me off to without a permission to visit these places as they said later half way on my trek nobody would notice. There is another subsidiary trek from the second day of the trek called the Nandi Kund lake to the right of the valley or the true left which way you may look at it and my goon of a porter never informed me that proceeding ahead down the valley to Tolma Khal and exit by Lata village or Suraithota would be a violation of the inner line Nanda Devi sanctuary and sure prosecution like imprisonment if caught by forest authorities would henceforth follow !! 
The views of a lot of peaks like Nandaghunti etc come into play shrouded in clouds and when I told my porter the name he shut me up calling it Nandaghuguti just like he insisted calling the Oriental dove Ghuguti. Luckily incessant rains and snow on the mountain tops drove us back before harm could come to me but not before I photographed a group of wild yak that live there in those ranges and forests. Next thing is invest in a good alpine high altitude stove like my Primus as it saves a lot of weight compared to those heavy kerosene stoves available in our motherland. And never give custody of your sleeping bag to get carried and spoiled by high altitude porters as I hung on to mine. My primus stove came to naught as my porter carried it on the outside of his rucksack and must have banged it around for the bottle to spring a leak around the valve or Churi as he called it on reaching upper Bagini glacier So goodbye to tasty Himalayan kaddu and louki and snake gourds and pahari hill potatoes and welcome the flavoring of the stunted juniper which is a crime to this fragile environs ! 
You are lulled into acceptance due to wish for survival and all the Keera Jadi or Yarsa Gombu hunters are burning the same. Two liters of kerosene carried in plastic mineral water bottles taped around the cap with paper tape more than suffices for 5 days of trekking for two people. The same goes for carrying small Rs 5 coffee sachets instead of a small bottle of your favorite fix as bottled coffee congeals exposed to moisture over the days. My menu for 5 days was fixed. The only thing the porter objected to was the little amounts of sugar for my tea and coffee and my multi- fiber biscuits by Britannia as they contained whole wheat and cereals like oats as he liked the sweet sugar and cream puffs. I had to rudely tell him in the end to get his own when he dug them out finally after having finished with mine and even would gift away mine.
Carry some walnuts and raisins if you want to lose weight like me by skipping meals which obviously you will miss out on doing a 14 kms trek and so the night before make sure you or your leprechaun cooks a porridge of oats with a slightly expensive investment of pure milk powder from a foreign company such as a Danish one in Vasant Lok's Le Marche or Modern Bazaar as looking around for milk powder in Delhi's Vasant Kunj's Big Bazaar produced Cerelac or baby milk food and boiling porridge in dairy whitener isn't my idea of breakfast.
Plus please get a good water filter as you don't know who on earth is sitting taking a pot shot at yer on the upper stream as illness can follow drinking his gifts plus even if you miss out on him or his animals the silica in the water can cause havoc on your tum tums !!
A good down sleeping bag able to withstand snowy conditions and in good ones the temperature it can take up to is specified and oh yes a good light tent which can stand gusts of winds which can be pretty gusty. The most important thing is looking for a good contact like the one I got now called Prem Singh Rawat a young man who guided me through the raging Himalayan streams at Longatoli and can get a horse along which can carry two loads instead of one. My man Friday had outsourced the work of carrying my heavy bag and utensils like pressure cooker etc to poor Prem whose service for three days or three Paravs came to only Rs 1000 while our Lordship who called himself a guide and was introduced as such charged Rs 650 per day and knew no names of peaks and called Kanari Khal as Kalini Khal which like a duffer I mentioned from Joshimath only to be rapped on the palms by a Facebook pal. The HAPs who call themselves guides will point out the inadequacies of the other who will call Rishi Pahar as Dronagiri or Hardeol.
Enough advice and now a good pair of shoes unlike my Keen which has a tough front closed toe and strong rubber sole that were good for withstanding boulders but did not curl around to give a grip for climbing and boy am I lucky to tell the tale as keeping on my feet in slippery conditions, multiple glacial stream crossings hopping on rocks and keeping my balance on landslide zones was enough to keep my hair on to tell another tale of Himalayan pitfalls and misadventures lol !! 
People who suffer from high altitude sickness and frequent upheavals caused by the grind of bus or SUVs taking a rock and roller through Himalayan roads keep Avomine and those having to undertake a tough grind like me from months of inactivity keep Diclofenac lest you yourself have to be carried by your complaining porter other than your sack, har har !! And remember if you want your porter to play nurse maid as you do your balancing act on tough stretches see that he is not carrying a load as when he walks with a load he has to move fast or his shoulders ache doing the double act. Now boys and girls hope I kinda made it funny in the end and now go out there and shake a leg !
himalayandreamscape 