In October 2020, when we resumed trips after the first Covid wave, Nero was leading an adventurous trip in the jungles of Wayanad. Out of the many trippers, came along a Hyderabadi boy - Anupam.
Even during their first conversation, Nero muses that Anupam was witty and cheeky. Over the next six days, he noticed how sensitive and helpful Anupam was to everyone. He had the most pure, decent soul, and spoke glowingly of love. We at OHOT, being the Bollywood kids that we are, immediately warmed up to such a boy.
Anupam returned to do the new years Kashmir trip and one of the fondest memories from the trip is how Anupam helped a random car driver. The vehicle was stuck in the snow, and shockingly none of the passengers (random tourists, not our trippers) came out to help the poor driver. Anupam ran ahead and pushed the car in the cold winter night for a solid ten minutes till it could finally move.
What we also noticed was how safe women felt around Anupam, how comfortable he made them feel.
Right then Neeraj knew he wanted Anupam to be on the team. The duo enjoyed helping people on treks, had a heightened (false?) belief in their strength to be able to help anyone cross a river or a mountain, and sought such opportunities.
In July, Anupam assisted Nero on the Tarsar Marsar trek, pushed and motivated all the trippers, sat up with someone when she was ill, and wandered off at night to take some breathtaking photographs of the night sky.
A month later, he officially lead his first group trip as trip leader in Coonoor and received rave reviews. Trippers, he is an excellent photographer so you know whom to go to for your snaps.
When he is not on trips, Anupam loves playing cricket, tasting food (strictly non veg) and chilling with his friends.
