The driver picked us up from the old manali bridge and we were off on a whirlwind trip through the mountains, starting from old manali, the view throughout was breathtaking, after you cross old manali there are a number of small villages with apple orchards and a clean riverside, I am sure each one in the group was at that point tempted to stop and enjoy that pristine river side, however rohtang was the agenda. The driver was taking a different route from the general one to beat the traffic and the drive through the small,quaint villages was something which reminded of the Italian country side shown in the movie 'Godfather'.
We crossed the villages amongst the hills and entered the steeper mountain roads, the road quality had started deteriorating and greenery around intensifying. Punter was multitasking non-stop between his phone and camera, definitely not one of his more peaceful talks I would say. Our usual banter was on non-stop as well when the driver came to halt in front of a store on a desolate curve. I contemplated whether we will be robbed naked or the driver will stop at money and valuables, the driver told us to get fur coats and gum boots for the snow at rohtang adding that the weather is turning bad at the top. The store owner (his brother most probably) also suggested the same, "Customer ko galat thodi na batayenge", the cheesy driver added in the most professional tone possible. Paying no heed to the warning of the two great all knowing weather experts we decided against getting anything here and moved on.
After an hour of swinging through the mountain roads we came to a valley full of make shift stores renting out fur coats, gum boots etc. and a couple of places to eat. We went through our breakfast of omelette and parantha cracking jokes about the restaurant owner,he was a funny fellow who took orders in a military fashion and charged like a three star hotel with a swagger of a five star owner.
I rented gum boots to go along with my own alpine jacket, Avnish and Verma got furr coats to go with their gum boots, Punter skipped it all since he was busy taking photos and talking on the phone while taking a breath or two of air in between. Tummys full and shoulders fashionably decked with genuine fur we moved on to the final stretch going through lengths of roads with frozen ice similar to a popular 'Jab We Met' song.
After another 45 minutes, Our sumo came to a halt face to face with a traffic conundrum. A guy who seemed to know the driver walked up to his side, a pahadi exchange followed with the guy flashing two fingers at our Mr.professional in the end. Apparently a couple of cars had plunged from these heights and so all the vehicles had been stopped.
We hopped out of the sumo and were bombarded with a barrage of people screaming "danda le lo","tattu karlo","chai". Rohtang Pass a.k.a Zero Point was 7.5 kilometers by road, the other choice we had was verticle trek through a mixture of mud, snow and irritating tourists(the average indian middle class family). Punter traded in his costly shoes for gum boots before starting and we purchased a few walking sticks to make the trek easier.
We took our first few steps to stop after a couple of minutes, covering hardly any distance, snow(as we had discovered) provides resistance far higher compared to its normal temperature counter part while walking on slopes. This was going to be a tough one, as we climbed further the slope became steeper, the snow deeper, my fear of heights caught up with me , one look back and I gripped my walking stick tighter and dug it deeper into the snow. The weather was rainy and cold with dark clouds, yet I was sweating due to the whole effort and of course the height we were at(real scared). We stopped in between to enjoy aloo bhujiya with nimbu (courtesy Avnish) while watching many a tourists enjoy the dirty snow and then head back thinking this is all that is there to Rohtang, mountain side full of snow & tattu's you know what.
We trekked further, stopping for tea breaks in between and then moving on again till we reached a sort of snow entertainment park, with people telling us to buy 'shillajeet' & 'kesar'. It was a sea full of tourist with skiing, sledging, dhaba's, yak rides, photographers and more tourists straight from the heart of lajpat nagar market. We were disgusted at being in rohtang's version of crossriver mall, rohini thus we asked a few people about zero point and were directed towards a temple about 5 minutes of distance but 30 minutes on snow. I relied on the walking stick heavily to keep going but now realize that it slowed me down even more as the stick was 1//4 th my size and I had to keep bending to stick it in the snow and that was why I felt so exhausted(obviously my weight had nothing to do about it).
Others walked to the temple as I ambled behind them, wondering if it's possible to have a heart attack while walking through snow, but of course I had this particular tattu waala to keep my spirits high, he shared his expert opinion with me in good faith "tattu karlo sir, high altitude pe saans ki problem hoti hai, aur aapko to zaroor hogi", I assume he pointed me out because of my height, after all my nose was 6 feet 1 inch above rohtang pass, I was definitely getting less air as compared to my companions and the tattus(obviously my weight had nothing to do about it).
We reached the snow covered temple in 15 minutes thumping the snow and walking amidst the clouds refreshing us with the cool water mist carried along. The temple seemed to have a snow covered idol inside a stone igloo, I noticed a board emphasizing "Aagey jaana mana hai". I felt a bit happy thinking this means no more walking, everybody happily ignored the board and started suggesting walking to zero point. I planted my butt down and suggested people to go ahead without me, everyone said yes however kept standing. I realized that sometimes being the weakest in the gang makes you feel helpless however that is the one and only opportunity to overcome that weakness. After a few breaths my juices kicked in, I asked a sledge owner about zero point he said "bahut door hai, ek ghanta door hai". Not willing to buckle down I asked a chai waala, "5 minute door hai" pat came the reply.
We were off again, Verma and Avnish up ahead, me and punter behind, after 1 minute of walking punter and me were resting again, Verma's stamina training had paid off and Avnish gave him good company initially. However Verma surged ahead later with Avnish slowing down he realized that he knew he had to reach zero point ASAP before the gang gives up. He reached zero point in a minutes walk more and signaled to us, whatever it was Verma's enthusiasm or the very rush of being at zero point, we got going. Avnish, Me & Punter eventually reached Zero Point half-breathed but full on the rush.
Zero point had almost nil tourists, only a group or two helped by the Govt. of india tag on their vehicles. This was the real Rohtang, mountains covered with blankets of clean white snow, a hill to the left, a hill to the right, a frozen lake amidst snow covered mountains. It was hard to imagine that such a place exists, beautiful and white, quite and serene. The sun shining through clouds at times, the air was cool but fresh, people few. As a I saw a couple walk up a snow covered hill, I realized that I missed her, "now" would have been beautiful with her, the forlorn beauty amidst this gloriously white snow.
In the background was snow covered peaks which filled my heart with a strange awe, there was a mystery in those peaks, that frozen lake asked a few questions. Frequently we hear phrases "heart of nature", here it was, I was face to face with the very heart of nature here. My hearted wanted to be amongst those peaks, I knew why I was in awe, the mountains stood like gods, touching those clouds in the clean blue sky majestically, they symbolized eternity, immortality, thousands of years have passed and these gods have withstood all time,seasons,everything.
It was slightly scary to be in company of such awesome power almost monstrous and yet so peaceful. After a couple of hours, we sledged back to the tapri at cross river mall, Rohtang. Feasting on pakodas, maggi, omelettes and sipping on tea at the tapri seemed heavenly after "andha trekking". We headed back down now, this time on tattus as the heavy trek through snow had tired us down a bit. As the tattus tip toed down the 7.5 km road, the weather cleared up, the sun shined and realization dawned upon all of us, the whole thing was like a well managed mafia. Taxi's intentionally dropped the tourists so far down so that the tattu people along with stick and sledge pushers can benefit from the whole thing, people who drive up personally are generally forcefully stopped and given reasons like bad road etc. whereas the road and weather seemed fine. Probably the profits are shared at the top most level between the taxi owners and tattu owners. Tourists exploited in the most organized way, aah the splendors of india, the magical feeling of being amongst mountains followed by the realization of being duped.
Our taxi picked us up from the same point and we were back in Manali by evening, the trip had left us hungry, Punter and me started our search for lamb stew and rumali roti. What followed was the most funniest experience, none of the eating joints opened up before seven in the evening. After searching a bit more we decidedly dined at a place called "Mom's Kitchen". The reverse racism became ever so obvious when we ordered for lamb and the owner told us,"Foreigners don't like lamb because it stink thus we don't keep it in stock, everywhere you will get chicken but not lamb, foreigners don't like to eat it". This was india at its best for me, food stocked for europeans but not for indians. Our dinner was followed by a walk back to the hotel and then a marathon discussion about racism,cross cultural differences, our own overseas experiences along with beer and cigarettes. It was a grown up version of our discussions at IIC, a real kickback to our college days, only better.
beautifully done, both, this one above and the one below...
ReplyDelete[sarcasm]hey, you didn't tell nothing about that lake and the couple... i'd have clicked a few shots, damn it }:-) [/sarcasm]