DEV BHOOMI - Day 6

9th July 2010

Had a very bad night’s sleep. Major stomach ache, all through the night. Could hardly sleep through the night. Maybe it was the anticipation of crossing Rohtang today, that was playing havoc with my system! Was awake much before 4.00 am. Washed up (bath was out of the question, no hot water) and got ready. Arshad and Dinesh are up and ready by 4.15 am. Asked Dinesh about the stomach ache, he suggested some medication. Thought it prudent, to stick to my Homoeopathic medicine, rather than take something, I was not comfortable with. Tea arrived at 4.25 am. Finished tea and all set to leave the hotel.

Packed all our luggage into the car and moved out of the hotel at around 4.45 am. Headed towards the Rohtang road. Stopped at the Rashpian Filling Station on the way. Not a soul in sight. What the heck? Dinesh decides to pry into the office and sure enough the attendant is all curled up and sleeping. He is woken up and finally decides to come out and fill diesel into the Bolero. We pay up and finally are on our way. Its almost 5.00 am.

Pass Palchan, Kothi, Gulaba villages. Gulaba is named after, Raja Gulab Singh, who camped here on his way to invade China! (Wonder what happened to him?). We stop somewhere in between to take some snaps of the sunlight hitting the mountains.

Cross Marhi at around 6.30 am. The restaurants/ stalls are just about opening shop. We decide not to stop and keep moving. A few meters ahead, a passerby informs us that, there is a road blockage up ahead and traffic is stuck! He advises us to wait at Marhi itself and not proceed further. Having already spent two days in Manali, we decide that it would not be wise to wait in Marhi, but rather proceed ahead and wait in line for the traffic to move. I even forget about my customary tea break and continue driving.

So on we go, along the twisting and turning roads, some of them, barely qualifying as roads. The condition of some bad patches of the road is mainly due to the incessant rains that have been lashing the region this season. At many parts, we see boulders, that have run down the mountain side, or maybe boulders that have been cleared by bulldozers from the road above. Progress along these roads is a little slow. It is better to be cautious and slow, rather than rash and fast, and find yourself being hurled out of the mountainside.

Finally at around 7.05 am., we fall in line behind, what appears to be the main line of vehicles. Trying to find a gap somewhere in the front of the line of vehicles, we proceed a little further and sort of double park. Step out of the car, make enquiries and are told, that there was a landslide a little ahead late last night. Most of the cars and trucks stuck at this point, have been here since last night, or very early this morning. We are around 3 to 4 kms. from Rohtang Pass.

At around 7.30 am. we see some of the BRO/ GREF workers arriving, to try to clear the roads. We catch hold of a BRO man in uniform and ask him about the situation. He tells us that the bulldozer is on its way up, to clear the landslide. He also tells us to move our car (which is double parked) out of the way, or the bulldozer will do it for us! That does it for me. Rush inside, start the car, reverse and find a gap in between two trucks.

The bulldozer finally arrives at around 8.45 am., trundling past us. As it passes us, a GREF officer (looked like a Major), gets into the driving seat and proceeds to drive it down further towards the landslide. The mood turns a little cheerful, compared to the sombre mood, we were in some time back. Arshad and me step out of the car and decide to explore. I take a few snaps of the snowcapped mountains opposite, where we are stuck.

Little did I know, that these were to be the last snaps we would take today! Arshad has strolled off somewhere, while I was taking the snaps. My stomach ache is sort of under control, thanks to the medicine (Homoeopathic). I loiter around for a while. Down below, I can see the snaking road into Marhi, full of parked cars. Maybe all of them are having their teas/ breakfast, etc., before the assault on Rohtang Pass!

I hang around for a bit and then head towards the cars to catch a nap. See that Dinesh is already taking his 40 winks. I get into the back seat, make myself comfortable and close my eyes. I really don't know how long I slept, but the next I know, is that Dinesh is shaking me awake and insisting, that I have something to eat. I can barely open my eyes, I'm feeling that drowsy! He thrusts a cheese sandwich into my hand and I eat it. I see that Arshad has also joined us and is having some sandwiches himself. I glance at my watch and see that it is almost 10.30 am. I have gone without teas for almost 6 hours. Must be a record of some sort! Maybe the drowsiness is due to the lack of tea. I finish my sandwich, have a gulp of water and the only thing I can think of, is shutting my eyes!

Close my eyes and out like a light! The next time I open them, I see Arshad has also joined Dinesh and me in our siesta. Somehow manage to shake myself awake and step out of the car. Splash a little water on my face and decide to take a stroll along the road. There are many guys, selling Chole pao. Hoping against hope, to find someone selling CHAI! No such luck. Salvation is to be reached around 5 to 6 kms., down the road or maybe a kilometer as the crow flies at Marhi! I resist the urge, take a peek at my watch, its almost 12.30 pm. Enquire around and am told that the road may be cleared soon. Unfortunately there's also a truck stuck somewhere up ahead. But the news of the road being cleared soon, sort of cheers me up a bit.

Call H.V. Kumar in Mumbai and inform him about the road conditions. Its been 9 hours, since we left Manali and almost 7 hours, since we arrived at this place. Doesn't that qualify as the longest traffic jam, that many of us have been stuck in? It surely does for me! All I can say, we are mere puppets in comparison to Nature and its might. Whatever we may do, we are no match, if Nature decides to play spoilsport. Experiencing it first hand!

After about 15 to 20 mins of strolling about, I feel the drowsy feeling returning! Is it A.M.S. ? I don't even know the altitude we are at. All I know is that Rohtang is at 13,045 ft above MSL and that the climb from Manali has been quite a bit. Back to the medicine chest I have got with me. Dr. Deepak Kulkarni a consulting homoeopath, and my next door neighbour in Bombay, has been kind enough to give me medicine for various possible ailments, that may be encountered. The earlier medicine for the stomach ache, was from the same cache of medicine! I refer to the list and take a dose of the right medicine.

Arshad and Dinesh are still sleeping. Hearing me pottering around, Arshad wakes up. Dinesh merely opens his eyes and asks as to what is happening. I inform him about the situation. I ask Arshad how, he is feeling, he says ok, but a little drowsy. Dinesh says that he is fine, but I would beg to differ. I'm sure he also is feeling drowsy, cos he shuts his eyes the moment any conversation ceases!

Its almost 3.30 pm. and finally some good news. The road will be cleared soon. Yeah finally we can move on. This bit of news peps us all up! We start doing the calculations. If we can manage to clear Rohtang pass by around 4.30 pm. then we will have probably have around till 7.00 pm., before it gets dark. That would roughly mean around 50 kms. covered at an average of around 20 kms/hr. That would probably get us to Keylong, if we pushed a little harder. The only problem with that; we would have to cover the Keylong to Leh stretch the next day. That would be stretching it a bit!

The traffic has finally started moving. Unfortunately they are letting the traffic blocked on the other side of the landslide, heading towards Manali pass by first. Lots of cars passing us by, all in the opposite direction. Again a conference to decide our future plan of action! We stop a Senior Police official passing by and ask him about the time it will take to get the traffic on our side moving. He says that it may be around 6.00 pm., before they will allow movement on our side.

That does it for us. If we cross Rohtang at 6.00pm., we reach Keylong, maybe by 9.00 pm. That is a little dicey, considering the conditions of the road and the darkness that surely would have descended by then. A decision is made to head back to Manali for the night and come back early tomorrow morning, so we atleast reach Jispa, if not Darcha during the daylight hours.

Its 4.30 pm. Take a quick turn and we join the long line of cars heading towards Manali. Reach Marhi, which is full of cars parked, wherever you look. Manage to spot Padma Tashi. He has been waiting here since around 11.30 am. The cops and BRO/GREF had actually stopped people from proceeding beyond Marhi towards Rohtang, since around 11.00 am. Padma insists that he will wait for the road to open and then head out, whatever the time of the day or night. He has to be in Leh by the day after tomorrow. We exchange our byes and move on towards Manali.

Back via the same road, only descending this time, instead of ascending! I've got a throbbing headache. After Marhi and just before Raahla Falls, is a small bridge over the river. There are some stalls here. I desperately need tea, so we decide to stop. Park the car, and head towards the stall. Suddenly I get a very quesy feeling in my stomach, classic signs of me wanting to throw up. I try to control the urge, but without any luck. After that, the headache sort of lessens. I wash up in the river and splash the cool water onto my face. Feel much better after that.

At the stall, we order for tea and Maggi noodles to go with it. Remember none of us has eaten anything much for the whole day. Gobble up the noodles and wash it down with tea. Spend around 40 mins. here and are ready to move on.

We cross Gulaba and reach Kothi at around 6.30 pm. Just at the end of Kothi village, on the left is a hotel: Hotel Sagu Valley, which appears to look good from the outside. They appear to have rooms on the 1st floor. We decide to check the place out, since it makes better sense to stay the night here and leave from here rather than go all the way to Manali. We have a look at the rooms and are pleasantly surprised to see, that they are quite nice. Infact the bed is big enough to accomodate 3 adults. Over and above that, is the promise of hot water availability. We are staying here for the night, no 2 ways about it! We haggle a bit over the price of the room, get a decent discount and move in with our luggage.

I go for a bath first and come out feeling completely refreshed. Maybe we can attack Rohtang Pass now! (Just kidding). Dinesh takes out his laptop and does some photo transfers, while Arshad has gone for a bath. Its almost 8.15 pm., and everyone is ready to hit the restaurant for some dinner. We order dinner and while it is being prepared, we stroll out on to the road. Stop a few cars passing by, and ask about Rohtang Pass. Most of the cars have come over from the other side of the landslide. Get to know that the road towards Keylong is also operational now. Yipee! So we are definitely going to cross Rohtang tomorrow.

Get back to the restaurant, just in time to see our food being served. Have a hearty meal, made all the more delicious, with the prospect of finally reaching Leh the day after tomorrow! After dinner, head out on to the road, once again, just to stop a few more cars and double check on the status of the road. ALL IZZ WELL, we are informed. Traffic is moving both ways.

On that cheery note, we return to our rooms and hit the bed. The actual journey starts tomorrow, wouldn't you say! Lie down on the bed and out like a light, the moment the head touches the pillow.

To be continued................