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Day 6:
By now I'm used to waking up at 5:15, though our bed tea is
a bit late. Yesterday's clouds have cleared and we have a
clear sky. Today we will be going to Manikaran, place of hot
springs by bus. No need to carry our backpack, as we'll be
coming back before noon and then starting towards Rashol I.
To go to Manikaran we have to walk up to Kasol and catch a
bus or hire a sumo from there. At Kasol I called home. There
we get to know that Cronje has died in an air crash. After
much haggling 11 of us hire a Sumo and reach Manikaran. The
place is not kept clean, considering that it is a tourist
and pilgrimage place.
According to the mythology,
when Siva and Parvati were roaming, A Magi from Parvati's
earring falls into the river and "Shesh Nag" (king
of snakes) in pathal lok (nether world) gets it. Despite of
extensive search, it couldn't be found. Siva gets angry, and
opens his third eye and out comes Naina Devi. Fearing Siva's
wrath Shesh Nag sends the Mani but along with it many other
Manis too. Siva curses all other jewels except Parvathi's
Mani to become rocks. Thus the place came to be known as Manikaran.
We haven't had bath since
we left base camp and we do not want to miss the chance of
having one! We go to a hotel that rented rooms to just have
bath in the spring water. When we are all through we go to
a gurudwara and have lunch. Before we know it is time to turn
back. We catch 12 O'clock bus back to Kasol and reach Chalal
camp.
We are back to trekking.
From now on most of the trek is uphill. We weigh our backpacks;
mine is 11.5 kg!! Our next stop is Rashol I (supposedly at
a height of 8500ft, but everyone have their doubts). Though
it seems too much, trek isn't that bad. We are walking most
of the time inside the forest and its quite enjoyable. About
an hour from the camp we meet 3 women and a 10-year-old kid
carrying groceries.
I should mention here about
an interesting incident. The kid's name is Chatur Singh and
he asks mine. We talk as we walk along and I find him quite
smart. So I remark in Hindi, "yaar thum bade Chatur ho!"
("You are quite intelligent", Chatur meaning intelligent
in Hindi) and he instantly responds with -- "Thum bade
Rakesh ho" (You are quite Rakesh!). I could only smile.
On the way we take some rest. The lighting conditions being
good we take pictures of the villagers. Here I need to mention
another incident. As we are taking pictures, it starts to
rain. We soon pack up and take out our rain sheets. One of
the women (Chatur Singh's mother) finds the rain sheets interesting
and asks for it. I give it to her and she refused to give
it back. Showing maturity beyond his age, Chatur firmly tells
his mother to give it back. I enjoy talking to this boy and
soon we reach the camp. Chatur moves along to his village
higher up. He promises to meet me, next morning before he
leaves for school.
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Rashol I
camp is situated at a perfect spot, with the tents facing
the open valley. As we sit inside the tent and take rest
we see some beautiful birds including a rock thrush. My
sinus and throat infection is getting more uncomfortable.
I request the cook to get me some hot water early in the
morning to gargle. We have our dinner early and sleep |
Day
7: I get up early,
gargle and take in Vicks steam. I get only a slight relief.
Gautham tells me about the yellow wagtail very near the stream
that he was trying to shoot. I finish my breakfast, pack up
and go there to investigate. The bird seems to be quite unafraid
of me and comes quite close by with some feed in its beak.
Gautham soon joins me and we shoot quite a few frames.
It's time to start. Today's
destination is Rashol II about 6km. Camp leader informs us
that we can take it quite easy today since there is not much
distance to cover. As we were about to leave Chatur Singh
turns up, on his way to school (he hadn't forgotten his promise!!).
He invites us to come again next year and we say good-bye.
We reach Rashol village pretty soon. We spend some time there
talking to villagers. People here follow caste system quite
rigidly. We are not supposed to go near their temple (a sign
loudly informs wayfarers that if one touches even a nearby
stone, he will be fined Rs.1000!). You can see signs of opium
culture here. Men hardly work, most of it done by women and
children.
After lunch we start again.
We reach the camp (8700ft) just as it started raining. Rashol
II camp has one remarkable feature. The kitchen is inside
a cave!! The cook makes a wonderful soup, feels great drinking
it in cold and wet climate. We soon have dinner and I cannot
wait to sleep. We get sleeping bags here and everyone, me
including sleep like logs!
Day
8: It's a beautiful day, good for trekking.
After breakfast we thank the genial camp leader, Nirmal and
start, destination Malana. It's a good climb and I enjoy it.
As we reach the top of this mountain (about 9500ft), our group
leader gets cramps in his legs. We take rest here; enjoy the
sight of the formidable peaks all around. Rest of today's
trek, about 5hrs, is downhill. As is its wont weather changes
dramatically and it begins to rain. Downhill trek seems easy,
but in rain it's a challenge. We make a rather slow progress,
slipping and sliding. After about 2 hours we reach lunch spot.
Take some rest, have lunch and start again reach the Malana
valley in about 1 ½ hrs. Valley is very beautiful, lush green
and I enjoy taking pictures. (I got some of the few good pictures
of the whole trek here.) Opium is grown all over (that's what
makes this valley green!). We reach the camp (8700ft) and
its already 5. Campsite, keeping with YHAI's standards, is
splendid, situated right beside river Parvati (narrower, but
definitely no less rougher than what it was near Chalal).
We wanted to visit the village and few of us get permission
from the camp leader and set off with a guide (we have to
sign a letter taking responsibility for whatever happens till
we return).
| Malana village
is unique, for though situated inside India, none of the
Indian laws apply here (They are supposed to have 2 trees
representing Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha!). Jamadagni (Parashuram's
father) is their god and they consider him the strongest
and sacred of all gods!, Guide explains as we climb up
to the village. This means none of the outsiders are allowed
to go even near the temple. What's worse, they consider
some of the stones lying around as sacred, so if you touch
it by mistake you are fined Rs 1000 flat. By the way he
says they use this money to buy a goat a sacrifice it.
Yuck! The village itself, as it turns out, is very dirty
and nothing significant, except for a few wooden houses
that are beautiful. It's also sad to see people wasting
their lives for ganja. We are informed lots of foreigners
camp here for months, though we hardly found any (may
be because of war fears!) |
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Some of us return a bit early, not wanting
to be later than promised time of 7:30. For all the trouble,
we get an earful from the camp leader for leaving behind others.
So much for being punctual! Being warned at the lower camps
we are prepared to find camp leaders at higher altitude to
be a bit jittery. Anyway nothing more to do for the day just
eat and sleep.
Day 9:
Today we go to the highest camp of the trek, Nagruni (10500ft).
I have a 4-5 ft fall as I come out of the tent, but luckily
didn't sprain or hurt myself. Would have been horrible to
miss the best part of the trek due to some stupid fall. Water
is damn cold. Have to brush in the same water. Amazing how
fast we finish our morning activities in cold conditions J.
We start at 8. No more villages
ahead till Phullang, just mountains and us! We skirt Malana
village, taking a narrow and steep path. At places, have to
hold onto some bushes for support. After about 3 hours of
trekking we break for lunch. Don't feel like eating, but still
go through the motions. Stream water tastes wonderful, freezing
as if just taken out from a refrigerator. Nagruni is another
4 hours. Begin to feel the height now. Need to take more frequent
breaks to catch breath. No trees around just grass, find a
few sheep dogs there. After about 2 hours we reach end of
the grassland and forest begins. Guide seems to be lost at
this moment, or as we later presumed was a plot to make us
walk faster!! Rather a wise move, because we don't want to
get caught in the rain, for then it will become slippery and
would be risky climbing. The trek through the forest seems
to be forever. As it is we have lost track of the time and
so when we finally reach Nagruni camp we are totally surprised
that it is just 2:30!
The camp leader here is Mr.
Shanmugam from Pondicherry, a very nice person. Not a trace
of the fact that he hadn't met a soul the last 2 days. As
I had mentioned earlier, the campsite gets better with height
and Nagruni was no different. With snow capped peaks and lush
green mountains around it was one step to heaven J. We see
few vultures landing on a plateau, some 100ft from the camp.
Thinking that they might be feeding on something, Gautham
and I decide to venture out. Unfortunately they were through
with whatever they were lunching on and have flown off, by
the time we reach there. Disappointed we come back and have
tea. Its cold and tea feels great.
It's around 6:30 and we have
just finished an early dinner, suddenly there is hailstorm.
We waste no time in getting into the tent, and thinking that
the day is over, we cozily get into sleeping bags, thoughtfully
provided early by Mr. Shanmugam. Nature here doesn't stop
surprising and soon we hear murmur of excitement from outside.
Curious, we come out and to our amazement the sky is totally
transformed. It is as if some one has splashed paints of different
hues all over the sky. Such is the effect of the setting sun
on the peaks and overhanging clouds, I stand transfixed not
knowing whether to take pictures or just watch the drama unfolding
all around me. It is surreal. The show is over as suddenly
as it began.
Tomorrow we climb to the
highest point of our trek and cross the Chandrakhani pass.
Groups that had come in early May had to get up at 2:30 so
as to cross the pass at daybreak! We don't have to be so early,
as there is hardly any snowfall, but still we have to get
up by 4 and start at least by 5 towards Chandrakhani.
Day 10:
Today is "the day". A day we had been all looking
forward to. Not that the past few days haven't been exciting,
but probably it is human nature that makes us partial towards
reaching the top. We have our bed tea at around 4 and get
ready for the climb.
It may be the end of winter,
but it is still quite cold. I put on my fleece jacket and
we start climbing at 5:30 AM. A young kid, Rajinder, gives
us good company on the way. I see some solid looking dogs,
which he tells me are all sheep dogs and could be quite ferocious.
Interestingly one of the dogs keeps us company throughout
today's trek herding us along, as if we were his pack of sheep
J. After about 4 hours and 1500ft of climb we finally reach
Chandrakhani Pass. Chandrakhani Pass joins Malana valley to
Kullu valley and I can only imagine how it would be if there
were snow. We play in the little snow that is there. A couple
of hundred yards from the actual pass we reach Trainer point.
It is named so after a trainer who died in 80's trying to
help someone cross the snow. We have reached the highest point
of the trek. There are a few golden eagles flying in the sky
that seems just out of the reach of our hands. I cant but
think of the song "I believe I can fly". From now
it is just downhill. We start climbing down at around 2:30
in the afternoon. We are climbing down but our minds are still
at the top. After about 3 hours of climb down and some sore
ankles we reach our final camp Phullung. This camp is right
in the middle of the village. Tomorrow we will be reaching
the base camp. Everyone in the group exchange address and
promise to keep in touch. I don't know we will keep in touch
or not but it is for sure that we will have the experience
of Chandrakhani to treasure.
Day 11:
Today we will walk to Nagar, from where catch a bus to Seobag,
the base camp. Trek to Nagar is uneventful. It is 10 when
we reach there and the next bus to Seobag, as we find out,
is at 11. Venka, Nagesh and I decide to visit Roerich museum.
Roerich with his wife Devika Rani lived right here and it
is now converted into a Museum. As probably any Roerich art
lover would agree Himalayas and the life here very much influenced
his paintings. After enjoying the paintings and an adjacent
museum on Himachali folk art we meet others at Nagar bus stop.
It looks like the bus is
delayed and we all huddle behind a truck, the space just enough
for all of us to stand! Thus we reach the base camp each one
ruminating on his tryst with the part of nature. Tagore had
said of Roerich's paintings -- if an art can be comprehended
in a language other than its own, then that art has failed.
Himalaya is an art by nature probably nobody can truly comprehend,
but surely no one can stop enjoying it.
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