Trek Himachal

I know! I know!! Its been a flood of posts given my standards. Take into account the fact that this is the longest (5 days) that I have had internet access since middle March. The temptation to post is high and I normally don't resist temptations. Uruguay are playing Germany for the 3rd place in FIFA WC and the fool I am, its posting time. So, we go back a little.

Its the middle of June, about a little less than the middle of my 45 day trek. Having changed the route from Kugti to Chaurasi ka Dal, we find ourselves in this area of Chamba called Churah. Mr. Shalabh is desperate to cross the Pir Panjals. Mr. Jango is nowhere near as desperate. The weather gods have been really screwing with us. They made it hail when we crossed Gaj Pass, they let us be when we crossed Sukh Dali, they kicked us out of Kugti, they almost made it impossible to cross Chaurasi Pass. I am an obstinate ass though, not ready to give up, not even if the gods decree. So, we get our asses out of Bhanjraroo, which is some obscure town in Churah, on the the top of a mountain with some beautiful views and deodar jungles. Last 2 days has all been about drinking Director's Special with a relative of Jango's who has come to admire my onion chopping skills. Its just that on treks, its almost become an art for me. Chopping onions really really fine, I can spend 30 minutes doing just one. It then gets mixed with namkeen and we have it with Director's Special. Oh, its bliss, I tell you!!

From Bhanjraroo, after an arguement with an arsehole of a police officer who thinks he owns the world and a long wait for a bus, which culminates in the impatient Shalabh hiring a jeep, we land up in Trela. Its the traditional start point for Sach Pass. Traditional because it was used long ago. Now there is a road all the way to Sach Pass, sadly! I am all for tradition though. I get Jango to get off at Trela and start off on the traditional trail. I can see the decline of the trail. Alwas, once an important stop on the Sach Pangi trail, alike for locals as for trekkers is a deserted village now. The guard quarters are locked and the shops which used to serve 'simple meals' in western trekking parlance are long shut. The only life is some villagers. No trekker comes here any longer. The road is an easy option and humans always find it easier to do the easy. No one wants to take the 'road less travelled'. Jango wants to stop at Alwas. I am young blood though, I push him onto Bhanodi, a police post. The police guys are better there and I participate in a cricket game there. I lose one, I win one and I am happy at the end of the day.

Next, we reach Satrundi, the base camp. On the way, we pick a lot of jungle fruit. Ok, we pick and have all of it. Its a really satisfying experience. At Satrundi, we stay in an abandoned PWD (Public Works Department) hut. Satrundi is infamous for a terrorist attack in 1998, when 35 labourers were killed in the middle of a deodar jungle. Quite how can someone get themselves to perpetrate such an act of atrocity under such beautiful trees is something I will never quite understand. This also has the distinction of being the only terrorist act in the confines of Himachal. Such are the mental scars that we still have a police post at Bhanodi and Satrundi. While the former does not do much except playing cricket all day and the latter does not even exist till its too late in the summer, it does speak volumes about what it meant for the local community and the government.

Cutting the crap, we spend the night in the PWD shelter. The night is starry and clear and we are optimistic. The morning is cloudy and I am pissed. Jango is indifferent, he thinks its not good enough to cross the pass. I, who no longer thinks Jango is god and has enough experience of his own, thinks its good enough. I dont want to enter an argument though. So, I just sulk in one corner. From 5:30 in the morning, when we wake up, I dont utter a single word till 7:30. Thats when we notice a group of horses going up to Sach Pass. I sulk even more. I just remark once 'What the f*ck! If horses can go up, whats wrong with us?' Jango gets the cue. He sees my impatience and the hopelessness of the situation from his point of view. So, he decides we go up at 8:30.

I just need the chance. We start and for the first time in 10 months, I refuse the stop at all climbing a pass. Who knows when the weather will worsen and Jango will want to climb down citing all his experience, which I by now think is useless anyway. So, at 11:30 we are at the pass. Jango is surprised because he has never seen me not rest at all. I am honest enough to tell him the truth. 'Would you have let me do it in these overcast conditions if I stayed with you? I know the answer is no. So, I decided to climb anyway. I knew you could not leave me, so you had to follow me.'

Sach is the gateway to the mystic land of Pangi. They made a road but they did not realize the futility. The road opened for all of 2 months last year. This year, its already June and the road is nowhere near opening. There is too much snow. Sach was long the foot gateway to Pangi. In the days when there was no road and no horse trails, sheep used to carry the essentials to Pangi. Imagine salt on sheepback. Sometimes I wonder how salt played such an important role in the years gone by and its valued so little these days.

So, anyway, we reached the top of Sach Pass. There is the customary temple, enlarged by the presence of the road and 2 bulldozers, fuel frozen in extreme cold, deserted by their drivers. There was no time to look around, contemplate and think about life. It was cloudy and about to snow. Life is far more important than the views from Sach, atleast to me and at any rate, Sach is a depressed pass, so there is not enough to look around. The climb cum slide down is painful. There is waist deep fresh snow, neither good enough to walk down on, nor good enough to slide down on. Its worse for the group of horses. They are sinking all around and their owners are having a tough time pushing them.

We are already across Sach, Jango cant possibly shove me back over the pass and that was my greatest concern. I am going to take is easy now, watch the stream take its course, watch the tree leaves wave in the breeze, watch the snow flakes make their way to the ground, slide easily over the snow, melt into the mystic land that Pangi is with its lazy elegance, beautiful people and eternal magic. Its time to be one with the surroundings, the passes, the snow, the dangers of trekking can wait for another day. The land is magical and so is the feeling. Sach is crossed, life can wait!