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Day 3:
Today we are spared from the morning jog and exercises, but
still have to get up at 5:15 and have our breakfast by 6:30.
We also get pack lunch (puri and sabji). At around 8 we gather
with our backpacks. Ranade informs us that a bus will take
us to a village called Sansari from where we will be climbing
up to "Bijli Mahadev", have our lunch there and
continue to our first camp Ghnakala. When the bus arrived
near the camp, we young Turks pile on to the top (reminds
me of similar trip on the way back from Mullayanagiri trek).
It is a jolly good ride. I enjoy the beauty of Kullu valley
with Beas (pronounced Vyas by localites) flowing below as
the bus climbs on up to Sansari. We take couple of photos.
I should mention here about the dexterity of the driver. On
a road that is hardly wide enough to allow one bus to move
and with a 1000 ft valley on one side, our man takes a u-turn,
that too with a busload of people!! . My heart comes to my
mouth as I watch from the top, the rear wheel coming tantalizingly
close to the edge of the road. After this ordeal we get down
and start our first day of actual trekking.
| Way to Bijli
Mahadev from Sansari is of cemented steps (about 1200
of them). The initial climb is quite steep and I thanked
silently for initial day exercises. As we near the top
I find observe an interesting phenomenon. I see, what
I thought was a crow, shooting down like a missile and
suddenly picking up the current and gliding up (Later
we find from Ghnakala camp leader Mr. Anurag Srivastava
that they are Ravens). Jonathan Livingston Seagull comes
to my mind. |
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Taking in the nature's beauty we reach
Bijli Mahadev, where our guide up to the Ghnakala camp, Jayadev
meets us.
Bijli Mahadev is a Siva temple,
situated at 7874 ft and is revered by the local people. Legend
has it that Siva came here to protect mankind by absorbing
the current from the lightning strike. It is said that every
year within a 3-month period lightning shatters the Siva lingam
into pieces. After that, pujaris and temple workers bring
the pieces together and allow it to heal itself within closed
doors. We visit the temple and Jayadev takes us to a viewpoint,
from where we see the calm and clean Beas joined by turbulent
River Parvathi. There is a beautiful airstrip right inside
the valley beside Beas-Parvathi visible from this viewpoint.
Jayadev tells us that it is Bunthar airport. I saw a chartered
plane taking off and I envy the pilot! .
We have our pack lunch together
and set out to Ghnakala. This part of the trek is mostly downhill
and we pass through apple orchards full of raw apples. As
we reach Ghnakala Gautham observes the yellow-billed magpie
quite close to a field being tilled by a farmer. As we wait
there watching magpie eating worms that come out of the tilled
earth (quite a symbiotic relationship), Nagesh asks the farmer
why the bird is not afraid of him. His answer was simple.
He said the bird knows he won't harm it. Alas, if all of us
understand this simple truth. Gautham, meanwhile walks behind
the farmer and gets a good record shot. We move on to the
camp, when it started drizzling. Camp at Ghnakala is actually
a local house temporarily taken over by YHAI. Campsite is
beautiful, facing the valley with Hanuman Tibba and Deo Tibba
right in front of us. After the briefing by camp leader Anurag
Srivastava, we get into the room (9 of the young brigade in
one room!!). It starts to rain heavily and we think our day
is over with nothing else to do. As we start playing cards,
from outside someone shouts something about rainbow. Not one
but two huge rainbows in the middle of a bright valley, such
as I have ever seen, greets our sight as we come out. We take
out our cameras, tripods and start shooting madly. It is amazing
to see how the climatic conditions change so rapidly and drastically.
But I find the nature works in clockwork here in Himachal.
Morning its sunny, afternoon at around 1 O'clock it begins
to rain and evening it's bright once again. After the shooting
spree, people in our group start asking questions about various
things in photography and Nagesh, typical of him, takes up
the role of a mentor explaining various aspects of photography.
One interesting aspect of
these mountain people is the way they carry small babies.
They wrap pattu (hand woven shawl) around the kids and tie
it around their back. Ghnakala apart from having extremely
friendly villagers is very good for birding too. I find as
I talk to Srivastava, that he too is a bird enthusiast and
we shared each other's passions for birds, nature and photography.
In the evening, we were informed
that local people would like to perform "pahadi nrithy"(folk
dance). Already bored with our singing during campfire, this
comes as a relief and we eagerly have our dinner. They start
with a folk song, which venka says is vaguely familiar but
enchanting never the less. Jayadev, our guide from Bijli Mahadev
and also brother of a local jamindar, leads a group of villagers
in dancing to the tune of the folk song. They amaze me with
their simplicity. Having started with slow and rhythmic steps
going around in circles, they slowly gather pace and finally
end in "Khaith", really fast paced dance maneuvers.
After the first dance, Srivastava urges us to join in, telling
us we will never get a chance like this. I hesitate a bit,
not wishing to disturb them, who were dancing so beautifully.
But afterwards when others join, I couldn't resist. It took
a few minutes to pick the rhythm and from then on I thoroughly
enjoy. Whenever Jaydev changes the steps everyone follows.
This goes on for sometime and before we realize its 10. Jagjith
Singh informs us that we cannot stay any longer as we have
a long day of trek tomorrow. Everyone go back to their rooms.
The villagers meanwhile continue singing.
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Nagesh and
I decide to be with them for some more time; Guru and
Venka also join us. Sitting there in the night watching
them, dance and sing merrily totally oblivious to the
outside world, was heavenly. It is to their credit that
they make you, total strangers just a couple of hours
ago, feel totally at home. In fact when we finally try
to go back to our rooms, they wouldn't let us. Telling
us that as long as we stayed they would also stay and
sing and dance.But alas, we have to get some rest because
tomorrow we have a long and tiring trek. |
After such
an eventful day, reminiscing on the hospitality of the villagers
I go to sleep.
Day 4: Get up quite
early hoping to catch golden light on Hanuman Tibba. Though
morning was quite beautiful, we didn't get the golden light.
We get ready for the day's trek, have our breakfast, get packed
lunch and clean the campus. Take a few portraits of an old
lady (I and Gautham alternately holding a plate as a reflector!!)
and a small girl, Sapna. At 8 O'clock we bid adieu to Srivastava
and the villagers and start towards our next camp Pinni. After
about ½ an hour of trek we stop at a Vishnu Temple. It is
a typical Himachali temple, made of wood. We spend some time
there and proceed. Today's trek is quite long, about 16 kms
to Pinni and for the most part, the terrain is dry and rocky.
Halfway to the lunch point we spot a vulture sitting on a
rock. Gautham gets a good picture of the bird in flight. Around
12 PM we reach Dhanali. We have our lunch. Many of us are
tired and some take a short nap. We start again, young brigade
in front, at 1 PM. With rain playing hide and seek we walk
faster. Afternoon trek is seemingly endless. It starts to
rain with more intensity and then we see some building. Villagers
tell us the camp is just about 5 minutes from here. A piece
of advice here, never ask local people how far any place is.
They would say 5 minutes and it will turn out to be half an
hour! This is precisely what happened. We walk and walk in
the rain but the campsite is nowhere in sight. Finally just
as I was getting exasperated we reach the camp.
Pinni campsite is beside
a small stream, surrounded by mountains, situated at a height
of 7500ft. It's quite a good site, but I have a terrible time
here. As soon as I entered the tent, I had allergic reaction
and started coughing terribly. I missed welcome drink and
tea. I have after effects of this for quite sometime and I'm
beginning to wish that we got out of this place as soon as
possible! We have our dinner and I just go back to the tent
and crash.
Day 5:
I get up still feeling a bit stiff. We all pack up and at
8:15 we start for the next camp i.e. Chalal. Today we climb
down to 5500ft. Leaving the elders to go ahead, we start at
the end of the pack. The route is again dry and rocky. Many
a places we walk on a narrow ridge, with nothing but deep
valley on one side. Throughout we walk along the river, at
a height. We reach a small stream and thinking that we are
almost near the lunch point, take rest there for about ½ an
hour. This was a mistake. We should have completed a major
portion of the trek before the sun rose to its peak. As it
turns out, the lunch point is nowhere in sight and we end
up walking quite a distance in hot sun without any shade for
protection. I am so tired that I thought I couldn't go ahead
any more.
| We reach
lunch point, Amar Tea Stall at 1 PM (almost an hour late!).
We have our lunch. After taking a nap, we start around
2:45. The maratha gang had already started ½ an hour early.
Afternoon trek is quite a contrast to the morning one.
Climate had suddenly turned quite cool. We walk inside
the jungle listening to the sound of crickets on one side
and gushing water of Parvati on the other. Rest of the
day passes off uneventfully and we reach Chalal village
around 4:30. There we are meet camp leader Akhilesh Guha.
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The actual camp is still a kilometer
away. It was a nice gesture on his part to meet us well in
advance..
Campsite at Chalal is breathtaking,
situated right on the bank of river Parvati and surrounded
all around by mountains. This is complete bliss. Soon we are
called for tea wherein we are served with pakodas too. My
throat infection has worsened and the small wound on my right
toe is troubling me a lot. We are sitting on the bank of the
river talking about previous days' experiences, when we see
Mr. Tiwari coming towards the camp. He's beginning his Sar
Pass trek, its base camp Kasol being just about 15 minutes
walk from here. We go over to him and say hello. After talking
for about 10 minutes he leaves. After dinner much to our chagrin
we have campfire. The only bright side of this campfire was
Sharma singing 'Aaya re Khilone wala' song from Bachpan. He
has a good solid voice and we enjoy it. We soon retire to
our tents. Tomorrow we begin our trek into the mountains.
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