Some Travel Companions Can Be Literally... Blood Suckers

Article By : Minal Mathur

September is indeed the most favorable month to travel. The summer becomes little kind while the winters continue to stay at the bay. As it isn’t the holiday season, most of the places, public transports, eateries, and roads remain uncrowded. However, September is also the month when monsoon ends leaving behind a fresh growth of lush green grass, new leaves, tiny saplings, and tons of insects that breed and double their numbers in these grasslands.

Me and my girl gang was once again ready for yet another summit and had begin our journey to Kotdwar from our respective cities.  On the decided day, we began our quest in the mountains of Lansdowne. We, seven females along with our organizers, boarded a tempo traveler to reach to the point where from the trek had to start. I, because of the mountain sickness, decided to sit beside the driver. It had rained the previous night. Roads were still wet. As we proceeded, the view became even more scenic. There were white clouds down the valley, behind the trees, amidst the houses, over the mountains and on the road!

For a fraction of second, I was numb and for sure skipped a heartbeat when I saw the road because it had disappeared in clouds! There were only clouds and mist. And I was sitting beside the driver who was seeing exactly what I was! And I was seeing nothing. However, as I always say, the best and worst part of the journey is, you must finish what you have started. And so, I gave a nice “I Trust You” smile to the driver and dozed off. I think, that was the best I could do in that situation.

After a forty minutes adventurous ride, we reached the starting point. It was pleasant and we were equipped. Confidant because of the month-long conditioning routine we had religiously followed, we all started completely unaware of what was waiting for us. The path was narrow and completely covered with long grass growing up till our knees which is why we had to walk slowly. It was taking more time than usual. We were talking less because all our focus was upon locating the narrow path which was hidden and unseen. After an hour and a half of continuous walking, we found an open space and decided to take rest. The resting points are my favorites during the treks. The tiredness, the excitement, the apprehensions, the nervousness, and a lot more is said during these breaks, without uttering a word. We all were sitting quietly when one of us screamed loudly pointing at the blood drops dripping down from her leg! She did not fall, didn’t get any hurt, no itching, no pain but still it was bleeding!

It was the time for our organizers to intervene. “It must be a leech, don’t worry, it sucks out the bad blood!” He said calmly and asked all of us to check our shoes, socks, feet. And as we did so, we found these black, slimy, ugly, alien like creatures hanging on to our skins.  They were everywhere, in front of our legs and behind too, on feet, under feet. Some of them were squished to death while more of them were very much alive! They were “the blood sucking leech”!

“How to remove them?” One of us exclaimed jumping and trying to shrug them at the same time! All the tiredness had gone and the group was exhibiting new levels of energy! “Just pull them off!”, a voice said.

It was not easy to get rid of the leeches. They were slimy and even more slippery. Despite of several attempts, they slipped and continued to cling upon our skin. They looked like protruding out from my skin.  

One of the local escorts took out a salt packet from his bag pack and sprinkled it on these creatures. It worked. The leeches finally left us, horrified, petrified, shocked and amazed. We completed rest of the trek checking ourselves and others for leeches.

It was a memorable leech encounter. We indeed got horrified at that time, but ever since then whenever I meet my girl gang, we recall this incident and laugh it out loud. On one of my recent treks, when one of the naive trekker got confused to see blood drops on her arms, I told her “It must be a leech, don’t worry, it sucks out the bad blood! If you see it clinging to your skin, just put salt over it!”