The decision to cover Rahul Gandhi's trek to Kedarnath temple was a last-minute one. I barely had 12 hours to plan everything before Rahul started his 17-km trek from Gaurikund - the last motorable point - to the Kedar Valley. I had to reach Gaurikund - a distance of nearly 450 kms from Delhi - by 11:30 am next morning. It was already 10 pm (Wednesday) and my chances of making it to Gaurikund before Rahul were remote.
I realized that even if we used a helicopter, Rahul's entourage would have moved far ahead of us by the time we could land in Gaurikund. As a back-up plan, I decided to take the helicopter to the point where Rahul would spend the night - Lincholi, the newly-developed base camp, about five kilometres from the Kedarnath temple.
We reached Lincholi by around 2:40 pm on Thursday -Day 1 of Rahul's two-day trek. Our phones were not working and even though, I had the numbers of journalists accompanying Rahul, there was no way of getting in touch with them.
"Have you seen Rahul Gandhi walking up?" I asked other trekkers making the same journey. "No," said a couple from Karnataka. They said they weren't aware that the politician was headed to the famous shrine.
"May be Rahul hasn't covered much distance," I said to myself. After all, it was only two hours since he had started trekking towards the shrine.
And then Rahul Gandhi appeared before us in the next 30 minutes.
"Would you like to speak on camera?" I asked Rahul. He gave half a smile and kept walking. Apart from a handful of SPG personnel, Rahul was accompanied by his younger colleague Jitin Prasad. But it was absolutely clear to us that neither Jitin nor any of the journalists trekking with Rahul could keep up with his pace. Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who had decided to give company to Rahul, was far behind and eventually had to ride a pony to keep pace with the Congress Vice President.
"The way Rahul has walked all the way through just shows his determination and his dynamism," Mr Rawat said. "I can say that the future of our party is in safe hands".
It's true that Rahul had clearly left behind everyone and all his colleagues were seen huffing and puffing to catch up with the 44-year-old who has been charged with failing to make any headway for his party in successive elections.
"In politics as in life, there are always ups and down... I feel 2009 was Rahul's victory and even though we didn't do well in 2014, I am confident that RG will be victorious in 2019," the Chief Minister said, amplifying the perception that the Congress squanders no opportunity to shower its leader with exuberant praise.
(Sandeep Phukan is Deputy National Editor with NDTV)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.