Setting Up Camp

The camping site had been used numerous times. It was on high ground and at a short distance from the stream. The cliff was on one side and the guest house on the adjacent side. There were two washrooms made of wood which had been cleaned up. Probably, the cleaners working at the guest house were doing the cleaning work here too. There was a bathing area too but it was not possible to bathe at all as the weather was a bit chilly. The winds were blowing down directly from the snowy mountains. They could maximum do a sponge bath.

"Zia, if you don't mind, I'd like to help the students pitch their tents," Luke said.

"Sure Luke, even I do not know how to go about it. Even if I do, it will take me a long time to teach myself and then guide the students to help themselves." She added.

Luke came over and told the children, "First we must view the area to ensure that the door of the tents do not face the cliff and the snow covered peeks directly. Otherwise, the biting cold winds would be blowing down from the mountains straight into our tents."

He continued, "We need to make an arc which will be the demarcation of our 6 tents and would be equidistant from each other."

He further added, "All of you now carefully look around the area where the tent is to be fixed. Spot and remove all tiny rocks and pebbles before we start to assemble the tents."

He continued, "The reason to remove these rocks and pebbles is so that these do not pierce the tent floor and hurt our back while we are asleep or make us toss and turn throughout the night due to pain."

"Please also survey the area for tiny anthills as you would not want an anthill under your tent. Also, look for holes made by animals which would indicate the presence of some sorts of animal life. We do not want any reptiles landing up in the tent, do we?" He asked.

Luke called the school Peon, no one remembered his name but everyone called him Sherpa and that name had stuck.

"Sherpa, please give me one of the carry bags containing the ready-made tent, pole pieces, and rainfly." He asked.

These ready-made tents were quite light, easy to carry within their carry bags. Each carry back had 2-3 poles in pieces to be assembled.

Luke first laid the ready-made tent on the ground that had been scanned for rocks and pebbles. He ensured that the door area faced upwards i.e. towards the sky and away from the wind direction.

Then he assembled the pole by inserting the small pieces, one after another in a chain like manner to make a long pole. He took the first pole and threaded it through the fabric sleeve on the tent which fanned across in a diagonal manner. He then fixed the edges of the pole into the diagonally opposite grommets (eyelets). He then assembled the other pole in the same manner and threaded it through the other diagonal sleeve and attached it into the respective grommets.

The tent thus got raised and was now almost ready having a square base and also a tent floor. He then attached the numerous clasps available on the sleeve to the poles. He then took 4 pegs from the peon to ground the tent and hammered the pegs through the 4 hooks of the tent to the ground.

The grommets (eyelets) or hooks create tension that bends the poles into arcs and provides the structure for your tent. Now the tent body had been assembled.

Next, he assembled the waterproof called rainfly which covers the tent completely in order to keep the water out.

The rainfly encloses the tent body and also has grommets through which the ends of the tent poles are attached. The rainfly also has hooks or loop straps on the underside which help hold it in place. The flap of the fly acts as an additional cover and there is normally another pole to assemble. The nylon straps at the corners of the fly make it taut. So you end up with a small forward enclosure and the bigger inner enclosure. A taunt rainfly is better able to shed water, and it won't flap in the wind.

"Which of you will be occupying this first tent?" Luke asked.

Zen replied. "Chris and I will be in this tent."

Luke asked them to put all their stuff inside like their sleeping bags, sleeping pad, clothes, pillow, etc inside. He also told them to ensure nothing touched the sides of the tent as moisture would condense on the tent walls, and anything which comes in contact will the moisture got wet.

One by one all the 6 tents were pitched. The boys would take both the sides of the tents and the tents of the girls would be in the middle.

Luke advised them that at night not to leave any food inside the tent. It can attract wild animals and these animals can hurt you. Wild animals do not attack unless provoked. It is better to be safe. Furthermore, rodents may be attracted to the smell emitted by food, smells or even sweat soaked into your clothing, backpack or boots can attract them. They can cut through the tent with their sharp teeth to reach whatever they are after.

The first tent was Zen and Chris, the Second tent was occupied by Tina and Nanu, the third was occupied by Cathy and Shana and the fourth was occupied by Zia and Zoya, the fifth tent was occupied by Danny and Ben the sixth and last one was occupied by Sunny and Sherpa( the peon).

"Luke Sir, what about you? Will you be lodging at the guest house?" asked Nanu.

"Why should I stay in the Guesthouse when you all are camping in the open?" He added, "I am not sick or something and I will get bored there." He smiled looking at Zia. "Besides I have a tent in my backpack. I am always prepared for any eventuality."

He then scanned the ground behind the other tents and chose an area which he found suitable. He then took out a smaller backpack from the outer bigger one and placed it on the side. He then pressed a few buttons on the side of the bigger backpack which then magically opened up into a tent fully made without poles and there was nothing to assemble. All that was needed was to just hammer in 4 pegs in the 4 corners of the tent. The zip of the bigger backpack had a rainfly with a flap to cover the top of the tent like that available with the ready-made tents. He quickly fastened to the 4 pegs to the rainfly and pulled out the flap. His tent got assembled within minutes. After watching him the students could not believe what they were seeing. It seemed as if Luke sir was a regular trekker and went camping a lot. He had made a tent for himself.

We need to build our fire and start cooking early so that we can eat and do a bit of stargazing afterward. We need to sleep early tonight.

The children then made a round circle with rocks inside which they would light a fire. The fire would be needed to not only keep them warm but also to protect against any wild animals that would come by sniffing and looking for food.

The twigs and needle-leaves that the children had picked up would be very helpful. Soon the twigs and dried needles of the pine tree were put together between adjacent rocks in such a manner that they could boil water by putting a big pan full of water balanced between these two rocks and under it would be the lit twigs etc. The fire was lit with the matches that Zia had brought. Water was brought from the stream in a few pots by Cathy and Danny and put to boil. Nanu and Tina washed all the utensils. They felt the utensils needed to be cleaned as they might be dirty.

After the water boiled the ready-made food packets were dropped in for a minute and the food was extracted from the packets and placed on plates.

There was rice, dry vegetables, vegetables with gravy as well as lentils.

Only two children were non-vegetarians and for them, Chicken was extracted from the packet and they were asked to help themselves.

Food was distributed to all. Luke also had a few packed which were duly immersed in boiling water. There was bread too for those who wanted to eat bread with vegetables etc

After dinner, the dishes were washed near the stream with the tepid water that remained after the food packets were taken out. An environmental friendly detergent was provided by Zia. The dinner area was cleaned up thereafter.

They had torches to light up their tents for a short while but they were to sleep under the natural light of the stars and the moon. By 9 p.m. all were free and strolled around for some time.

They then gazed at the stars. Luke pointed out a few constellations which could be seen with the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere, like the Ursa Major (Great Bear), Ursa Minor( Little Bear), Orion (the hunter), Taurus(the bull) and Gemini(the twins). He then asked the kids if they wanted to have a closer look.

He was carrying the telescope that he had extracted from his magical backpack which was inside his magical tent when he had gone to his tent after dinner. Zia had thought that he had perhaps wanted to smoke and he had gone as he did not want to smoke in front of the children.

Yes, of course, the children wanted to have a closer look at the stars. He even pointed out to them that the reddish star and the bluish star which were not twinkling were actually nearby planets and inquired if they could guess. The students could not guess and he informed them that these were Mars and Venus respectively. Venus is the most prominent planet, often called the "morning star" or "evening star" because it is brighter than the stars and often the only "star" visible near sunrise or sunset, depending on its location in its orbit. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are also visible to the naked eye. .He also pointed to the kids the Stars twinkle but planets do not.

The North Star or Pole Star also called Polaris. It is famous for holding almost still in our sky while the entire northern sky moves around it. That is because it is located nearly at the north celestial pole. It is the point around which the entire northern sky turns. Polaris marks the way due north. As you face Polaris and stretch your arms sideways, your right-hand points due east, and your left-hand points due west. Polaris steers you due south which would be behind your head. Polaris is not the brightest star in the nighttime sky. It is only about 50th brightest. But you can find it easily, and, once you do, you will see it shining in the northern sky every night, from Northern Hemisphere locations.

The sky was so clear here. You could see countless stars. In big cities, due to pollution, only the main stars could be seen. They all saw clearly the huge milky way running across the sky.

"If you all want to know more about stars, then the school could arrange a trip to the planetarium next month," he said.

"Yes, we all would want to know more about stars." Said Zoya.

"I think it is time we all bid goodnight," Zia said suppressing a yawn.

"Just a minute Ma'am, Is this stream water ok to drink or we need to boil it and then cool it for drinking?" Asked Sunny.

Zia looked at Luke and Luke looked back at Zia, who would answer this question.

Zia replied, "You can drink it, no need to boil it as it is coming from the mountains and has in it many dissolved minerals which you will not find in the so-called mineral water sold in cities." She continued, "I suggest that the water from the stream will be very cold at this time so use your water bottles or take some water from Sherpa. You can try drinking stream water tomorrow."

Please close the opening/door of your tents. If you want to use the washrooms, go in twos with your torches.

Good night all, sleep well.