In my recent trip, I felt a shortage of gears. I have to buy the necessary gears before leaving for the next trip, so as soon as I returned from Tungnath, I parked my scooter and the very next day I went to an #adventure store named decathlon. This store is very famous in India because gears related to almost every sport are available here, that too at affordable prices.
I take my scooter and leave from Dehradun for decathlon, this store is 30 km away from my house. Wearing a helmet, I leave in the cool of the evening. Actually, it has been raining since morning and there is snowfall on the high mountains, the coolness of which can be felt here in the valley. While driving the scooter, my face and hands are getting numb, I am thinking in my mind that I should reach the store quickly so that I can escape from this needle-like cold.
It takes one and a quarter hour to reach the store because the road was jammed due to rain and at some places the road was broken, making it very difficult for the scooter to pass through. After entering the store, I go straight to the hiking and mountaineering section where I buy things of my choice. Actually, I also need good gloves for my hands, which I could not find here because gloves were out of stock.
I put a thermal set of marino wool in the cart, this time I felt that if a good inner layer is added for -10 degrees, then one can protect oneself from the cold, after which the winter adventure can be enjoyed with gusto. The Christmas sale in the store is over, in which I could get all the gears at a 25% discount, but I was roaming in the mountains, so I could not avail this benefit here.
My hair has grown long, so now my old warm top is of no use, it does not cover my long hair and head properly, so I also buy a warm hat. To dry my long hair quickly, I buy a towel which is specifically meant for drying long hair. The kids in my neighbourhood asked me to buy a shuttle so I keep 2 shuttles for them in the cart.
My friend wants a cycle so I go to the cycle section and talk to her and finalize a cycle for her and make the payment for it which will reach home in 3 days. I get this cycle for INR 13000 with accessories worth INR 3000. From the cycle section, I go to the shoes section where I buy a pair of trail running shoes for my friend.
I also want to buy a bandana for myself but since I don't find one that is good enough for me, I drop the plan of buying a bandana. While passing by the swimming section, my eyes fall on the swimming shorts kept there which are available at 50% discount. It is a bit strange to do summer shopping in such cold weather but I buy a pair of shorts for summer as I don't want to spend extra.
To keep my hand muscles active, I buy a rubber ring, pressing which strengthens the muscles of the hand. I also look at 2 dumbbells of 5 kg each but do not buy them because the rates were very high and I did not have that much money. I buy a hiking pant for my friend who had recently gone with me on a trek. So after so much shopping, when I come back to the parking, it is raining outside, seeing which I wear the rain coat I had brought with me.
After leaving the Decathlon, I get stuck in a 30-minute long traffic jam, after which it is 7 in the evening by the time I reach home. So this was my #winters #shopping. By the way, let me remind you that #winterchallenge organized by 
I had to spend INR 25000 on the cycle and all the gears for which I had to take the help of a credit card. After spending so much, I am just telling myself that this is all an investment and I will benefit from it in the future and all my winter trips will go great.
Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from One Plus smartphone and edited in lightroom, post thumbnail created in online app canva.
