6th July 2010.
Wake up a little later than the past two days. Has been raining all through the night (I know, cos I woke up once in the middle to pick up a Razai to cover myself, Arshad had hogged the blanket for himself). Dinesh is already up and ready. Shaved and had a lovely hot water bath. Am hoping that the rains subside, or actually stop. The attendant arrives with the tea. Breakfast not available, so will have to make alternative arrangements. The attendant informs us rather sheepishly, that there are some charges to be paid for using the Officers Mess facilities. We ask him:- Kitna Dena Hoga? Almost apologetically he tells us Rs. 150.00. I almost spilled my tea, when I heard the amount. Any decent hotel would have charged us nothing less than Rs 2000.00 for a room of that size. We pay up and add a tip of Rs. 100.00, for services rendered and hoping to be attended to well, on our return journey!
The rains are playing a bit of spoil sport, but our enthusiasm has not faded. Today we will be reaching Manali. We leave the Officers Mess at around 9.20 am. Chandigarh looks pretty different in the day. Was less crowded last night, maybe it was the late hour and the Bandh. Today its a lot more of traffic and everybody heading towards work I guess. Good wide and clean roads.
After a couple of wrong turns and asking directions, we are finally onto NH21 heading to Manali. We reach Kurali Toll plaza at around 10.25 am. Stop for breakfast just after the toll plaza, at Lee Rose Fast Food and Restaurant. We order for Aloo Parathas. The Fast Food is a misnomer. The food came anything but fast. Leisurely breakfast (not entirely our fault) and we move on.
The rains have somewhat subsided. So the going is pretty smooth. There are patches of the highway, where widening and other works are happening, so some small diversions. Cross Ropar at around 11.35 am. A little after Ropar, we come across a bridge over a river. Interesting part is that the colour of the water is practically like chocolate. There is a spot where the water from a canal mingles with the water of the river. We stop to take a few photos.
This is the first time that we get a glimpse of the Great Himalayas in the distance. They will not leave us, neither will we leave them, for the next 12 days and boy are we glad! We move on and reach Swarghat (Not to be confused with Swargate by Puneites!) by around 1.10 pm. The climbs, the descents, the twists and turns have begun. It is truly a wonderful drive. Arshad and me are as excited as a couple of schoolboys. Dinesh more or less has a very "Been here done this expression" on his face, having done these journeys a couple of times earlier. Though it is his first time driving on these roads! We stop to have teas and capture some images on camera.
We move on, after a short break of around 20 mins. and soon pass towns and villages of Kullur, Bilaspur, Nauni, Lakhanpur, Hamirpur, Barmana. Barmana has a huge ACC cement factory (don't really know whom this is of interest to, besides me!), so the road is a little blocked by the truck traffic and trucks parked on the side waiting to enter the factory.
Pass Slapper (yes thats right), Charol, Sundarnagar, Ner Chowk and reach Mandi at around 4.20 pm. Head on towards Pandoh. At Pandoh we were informed that the road ahead to Manali via Aut is closed, due to the river Beas overflowing and submerging the road. This is the first time that we are facing a situation, wherein nature has conspired to thwart our journey. The unprecedented rains have necessitated some dam gate upstream being opened, resulting in the overflowing Beas. Traffic has been stuck since 11.00 am. in the morning. Was that bad news! We are informed of a single lane road, over the mountains from Mandi, passing through the villages of Kumand, Kataula and onwards to Bajora, bypassing Aut completely. We decide to head back to Mandi and try out this road.
Reach Mandi at around 5.30 pm., and stop to ask for proper directions. The shopkeeper in Mandi, tells us categorically, no point in taking that road, because it will most definitely be jammed with traffic. He insists that we should stay back in Mandi and leave the next day, when the water has subsided. A much better option according to him, rather than being stuck in a one lane road, without proper food and shelter. We ignore his suggestions and decide to carry on. (Having sleeping bags, food and warm clothing, in the car probably made the decision easier). We move on and hit the one lane road. A few kms. on and we reach our first major traffic jam. Being a one lane road, there is a snarl due to a Local transport bus being unable to pass due to cars lined up on one side.
The cops finally arrive to sort out matters. After about an hour, things ease up a bit and finally we are moving. Arshad takes over and drives for around 20 mins, until we reach our next TJ. This one seems huge. Cars just lined up, engines shut, everybody out of their cars, walking around, no concrete information, just that it will be sorted out soon! We wait, Dinesh catches a few winks, Arshad and me walk around, admiring the scenery and the quaint villages in the valleys. After about an hour, the three of us are resigned to the possibility of having to spend quite some time here, maybe the whole night. Do a check on the food and water situation, we are comfortable.
Still trying to gather some information regarding the TJ, very hard to come by. Finally someone with some pucca info tells us that we are just about a Km. away from Kataula. That is the good news. The bad news, there is an Army convoy, coming in from the Bajora side, that has got stuck in the village itself. Looks like its going to be a long wait, a very long wait!
At around 8.00pm. see some senior police officials arriving. Finally someone, who can probably give us some good information. Alas we were wrong. They seemed to be as clueless as us. Many calls over the cell and the walkie talkies, they tell us that the situation at Kataula village looks grim. The army trucks are unable to move, causing the other side of vehicles to be stuck. After a few minutes the senior lady police officer, informs us that the road at Aut is open and that traffic is now moving smoothly. No water on the road.
Its 8.30 pm. and we decide to head back to Mandi and onwards to Manali. What was going to be leisurely drive to Manali, is turning out to be a major Traffic saga! Reach Mandi at 9.15 pm. A lot of cars follow us, back down to Mandi. Head on towards Pandoh. Stop for Diesel at Pandoh at 9.45 pm and dinner thereafter. Have a quick delicious simple veg. fare at a roadside dhaba. I can't believe that I have managed to survive without my customary teas!
10.00 pm. and we leave for Manali. Arshad goes off to catch some sleep, I am driving, Dinesh beside me. Its raining quite a bit. Dinesh contacts the hotel in Manali (Hotel Marble), informs them of our impending late arrival. He is told by the hotel manager, that a group coming in from Leh is stuck on the other side of Rohtang, due to a landslide. So we will not be the only ones arriving late. Vinayak, the organiser of the tour group is a close friend of Dinesh. He is the person who will be arranging our accommodation and other things in Ladakh.
Driving on through the rain, through poor visibility we pass through the tunnel before Aut. All along, I can only hear the Beas river, unable to catch a glimpse due to the rain and poor visibility. Progress is a little slow. After passing over some bad roads, due to the rains, we finally reach Manali check post at 12.10 am. Pay up the Rs. 300.00 entry and parking charges for Manali, valid for a period of 7 days. Reach Hotel Marble at 12.10 am.
Some good news at the hotel. Vinayak and his group have arrived from the other side of Rohtang. They had to cross the area covered by the landslide on foot and then get into other cars and come to Manali. The Tempo Traveller they were travelling in, was still stuck on the other side of the landslide.
We meet up with Vinayak, Mr. Bhim(Hotel Manager), Mr Ramesh Bhai (Tourist car/bus service owner), exchange pleasantries, gather information. Rohtang pass looks unpassable the next day. So our plans of heading on to Jispa/ Sarchu look bleak.
Nice double bedded room, with decent sized Bath cum Toilet. Thankfully there is hot water. We wash up. Can you believe, there are no fans in any of the rooms in the Hotel!!!! This would be the case in every place we stayed, right upto Shimla!
The three of us, gather for a post midnight discussion regarding the next days drive. Decide to give the drive to Jispa/ Sarchu a miss for tomorrow, and let the weather and road conditions stabilise, before driving through Rohtang pass. The news on TV is that there have been floods in Haryana, Punjab and NH1 near Ambala has been shut down, due to waterlogging. Boy are we glad that we missed that!
Decide to finally retire for the night. We can sleep late. Nowhere far to go the next day!
To be continued..............................
