26 Dec, 2009 5:00 AM: A call from Chetan wakes up the three musketeers. And even though it was extremely difficult to make our first moves outside the quilt ( I wonder why we get the best sleep in the world when we are woken up once and then cuddle back into the quilt), we still managed to get ready in time (obviously since none of us dared to take bath today) and made our way out of the hotel by 6PM.
It was still dark outside. No sign of sun yet. We checked out with the hotel staff if we could get anything to eat, but we were left dissapointed as the mess would only open as per the scheduled time of 7PM. Since, we did not want to compromise on our trip to Rohtang, we started the drive up the mountains. The sky was beginning to turn grey and it cast a certain mysterious spell on the icy mountains above.
The roads were narrow now, the most infact on the journey so far. One mistake or a minor lack of concentration and the car can go spiralling down the valley.
7:00AM: We stop to buy some special suits meant to help us survive on the mountains above full of snow. It was weird to wear them initially since we had no idea how cold it would be up there. The suits covered us from head to toe, the troubling part being that they had absolutely no opening. And so the job of relieving ourselves from the natural pressure became a strenuous exercise in itself. There were some lucky souls though who still managed to do that without dropping off their suits. Some talent, I must admit.
We pick our suits and head up again. Within 15 minutes, we stop again for the breakfast. Eating hot egg omlette in such suits and those long snow boots was certainly one of its kind experience. Outside, it was now windy as well besides the cold. I was slowly realizing the worth of these as I was feeling considerably warm inside. This place was Kothi. The news from Kothi is that it is very good snow up there but the disappointing part is we might not be able to go upto te Rohtang. Not only the road is covered with snow, it has also become extremely slippery to allow any kind of vehicular movement. Not willing to give up on our excitement yet, with our stomachs full, we began the ascent again.
8:15AM: We reach a site 30 kms before Rohtang Pass. Its all snow and much more can be seen at the mountians upwards from the point from where we are all standing now. This place is 7980m above sea level. Phew, never had imagined that I would come this far. It has become much brighter now compared to when we started. However, there is no sun yet. The sky is clear and so the sunrise would happen soon and would be clear as well. The otherwise green pine trees are also full of snow.
The police officer tells us that our car cannot go beyond the point and we would have to board the local jeep whose tyres have been wrapped with steel chains all around so as to prevent the vehicle from slipping because of the snow. Some bargaining later, we board the jeep to go to even higher altitude.
9:15AM: We reach Gulaba. The temperature is 0 deg C, it is very windy and surprisingly no sun yet. The road till gulaba was extremely narrow with snowy mountains on one side and deepest valley ever seen on the other. At some sharp turns, we could clearly feel the tyres slipping away only to get back on the road in time.
With snow in front of us, our excitement levels reached its zenith. We started walking. Nitin for some reason has found glory in slipping and is doing so very often now. Mind you, it is extremely risky to do that here. I was wondering, who brought him here. Anyways, the first thing that I did after reaching here was to thanks God for the suits which we were wearing. Although they made us look like complete astronauts, yet they were managing pretty well in keeping us a little protected from the cold, strong winds.
As the sun began to emerge from somewhere within the mountains, the colour orange on white snowy mountains felt so pure, so beautiful. I have not seen heaven but may be this is what it is supposed to look like. This was nothing short of a God's miracle and only he is powerful enough to create a moment like this. Between the two mountain peaks, out came the sun bringing life to the entire place. We spent two hours there, playing with snow, a bit of trekking, and lots of poses. Yes, lots of poses but no pictures. And that is so because Praveen forgot the charger in Delhi, Shweta's camera didn't charge enough through the night (since there was hardly power at the hotel) and Chetan forgot the camera cells in the car itself.
I remember from my marketing class, a question was once posed to us, " Who is the biggest competitor to Sony cameras?". The answer is neither canon, nor kodak. The correct answer is a mobile phone. How powerful can this answer be was only realized by me today. So, out came our mobile phones, which also needed some immendiate charging but we started clicking anyways. All was going well, we were gearing up to return to the base when as much as Rs. 130 slipped out of Shweta's hand. As people shouted, I turned immediately, looked back and I could see a 100 Rs note flying freely in the air (swinging like a sinusoidal wave) and down towards the valley. One amongst many localites present there ran behind it doing a Hrithik Roshan from Krishh and managed to fetch back Rs.110. And the reason why money had to come out was because Shikha tried out a daredevil stunt by fitting herself inside a tyre and diving down from a certain height. Gosh, this was risky as well because the tyre is tied to a rope and as you go down, you go down only till the lenght of the rope. And when it stops, it gives a sudden jerk, powerful enough to throw you out of the tyre and make you fly down the valley. If you do not hold on to the tyre strongly with both hands, only God can save you.
There was in fact more to thank God. While we were going down, our jeep got stuck at a turning. The driver gave a full raise, but the tyres continued to rotate on their axis only and did not move ahead. Praveen suddenly jumped out of the jeep and started running ahead. Sensing something wrong, I too started to unbolt the front door. At this the driver shouted back and instructed not to move because it would make the jeep lighter and increase the risk of slipping. As the driver continued to give raise, all of us tried to find the humour in going down. Unsuccessful, the tension began to mount with every second now. Suddenly, I found that instead of going ahead or backwards, the jeep was sliding sideways. I gave a quick glance to my left, it was a deep valley, so deep that if we do go down, it would take at least two days for someone to locate us. Suddenly, I saw Praveen coming towards us and with him were two more men, probably the local people. This brought a certain relief to a few tense moments.These localites then helped put the jeep back on track. The scariest few minutes of my life had just past away.
We reunite with our driver and begin the downwards journey towards our next destination for the day, solang Valley.
I do not know why, but my i-pod has just switched on " We shall overcome, we shall overcome, hum honge kamyab..ek din...mann mein hai vishwas, poora hai vishwas, hum honge kaamyab ek din". Enjoy!
