i am back...eatin and still very very healthy.... living a life that a normal person lives...and everything is alrite with me... as yu yu can see how satisfied i am..... Ohhh yess!!!!!!!!! of course i am not here to talk about my satisfactions and my eating habbits....well i can actually do that in my next blog...just a worry being, probably that blog would never end..... damn were am i heading, i am suppose to talk about Patalsu....yu see thats my problem when it comes to food i am unstoppable...
Patalsu is a peak standing at 4470 m AMSL...falling just behind the Solang Village, standing eye to eye with the Rohtang Pass...about 10 km of steep climb would take you to the peak... n trust me friends monsoons not the ideal time to go here... why... soon you will get to know......i m gonna tell yu a STORY... a long 40 hrs story in short... so please be a lil patient....
It was a Thursday evening when i was about to take a volvo for Manali, from Delhi. It was pouring like hell, and we started our journey 2 hrs late, to get stuck up in the traffic and crossed the Delhi border only at around 12.30 am 15th Aug, the Independence Day...so i was already 6 hrs in the bus and jus managed to cross Delhi.
I need to tell you guys about the 5 characters other than me in my story, Abhimanyu, local Himachali lad travelling back to his home town Sundernagar, Raj and Jason two friends working in B'lore, later being a Dubai resident and was visiting india for a back packin holiday.... the 4th Character was the Bus Driver..cool fellow.... and 5th characters should i say were all the other people in bus......
When we first entered the hilly roads, around 11km from Swarghat we found ourself stuck in the traffic. Doing the normal thing i got off the bus to see the happenings and realized that about 16 km from where we were there was a major landslide, and there was no one clearing it.... rememb 15th Aug Independence Day... there was a major group of people still sleepin....initially people were calm... most of them walked to a close by Dhaba n had something to eat.... the bus dint move for about 3 hrs... people who drove upto the blockade came back saying "Iska kuch nahi hone waala hai... lagta hai kabhi nahi khulega raasta" it was then when 2 of the Volvos returned back to Chandigarh, because people forced the drivers to go back...Such Idiots i would say....Bus was moving a lil bit filling the empty spaces ahead.. All of a sudden Delhi Public in our bus get impatient.. they asked our driver to do the same as others...n reuturn bak to Chandigarh, from where they wld hire a Taxi to go via Shimla route....But Abhi the local lad along with the driver convinced them to wait for a while...
CONVERSATION
One Sardarji involved in the argument all of a sudden says...wats the point waiting...
Abhi: says its the main national highway 21, life line of Himachal, it has to be cleared up later or sooner..
Sardarji: Tumhe kaise pata...
Abhi..Frustrated!!!!!!
Abhi (Explaining): See bro if we go back and take the Shimla route yu do a 250 km extra strech, plus the roads there are narrow for a Volvo bus. on top of that if there is an landslide there it would surly take days to clear that.. so its better we stick to NH 21..Also for the fact even if we go via Shimla we end up meeting at Bilaspur which was jus 50 Km from the place where we were..so why do a 250 km strech extra...
Sardarji (joined by other Delhiites): Tumhe kaise pata????? ....how do you Know??
Abhi and Driver.. even more Frustrated!!!!!!!!!
Abhi: Boss main yaha ka local hoon mujhe pata hai... (I am a local fellow i know the place better)
Sardarji: Okay!!!!!!!!
[NOTE: It was 10 in the morning]
Sardarji: We will wait for 1 hr (Typically in his punjabi accent) and when its 12 we will leave towards Chandigarh....
All the passengers agree and go back to the bus... Sardarji Zindabad....
Aheemmmm......Well if yu havent realized something..it was 10 in the morning and Sardarji said we wait for 1 hr and if bus dosent moves we leave back for Chandigarh by 12... i thought 10+1 was 11...
Later myself, Abhi, raj and Jason we almost walked 7 km to reach a place were Police had blocked vehicles to go ahead, and as soon as we reached there they started letting the traffic go.. we waited there for our busses and off we go... n tat was before 11 am... the bus travelled some distance without any hassels overtaking and stuff.... about 30 km from Bilaspur... there we go again... Stuck!!!!!!!!! Yet another major major landslide had taken place...
It was closing lunchtime and we were hungry.... a few Km ahead there was a small dhaba... we guys walked there had our lunch... simple dal and chawal.. tats wat the poor guy had...but he was making his whole yearly earning in one day and im sure the dhabawala mus be praying for more landslides in his area.....by 2.30 we were done with lunch and nothing seem to be moving... we were waiting close to the dhaba..when a bunch of Motorcyclist came riding saying this wont be cleared for 2 days...we said Damn!!!!!!!
The first thing that came to mine and Rajs's mind was Angry Young Sardarji who would surly come blasting at Abhi.. and we had a laugh of life... But abhi wasnt worried, he said, he was a local guy, Sardarji could do nothing of him even if he wanted too.... Later on 2 cops came on the bike and said the Jam was around 8 km ahead and would be cleared in 1 hr. Indeed it did.. and they were letting 1 vehicle go ata time...it seems there was some very slippery slope to tacke with hence the precaution...
We walked a few more Km to reach a fantastic looking Tea stall... in front of us wat the Gobindsagar Lake surrounded by the Mighty himalayas.... it was drizzling a bit and what better time to have chai. The setup was perfect and i was actually starting to enjoy this horrid experience along with newly made friends Raj, Jason and Abhi. We gulped down 3-4 cups of chai and it was already getting dark. Abhi called up his Uncle who came to pick him up and that was when Abhi said good bye to us...The bus was really moving very very slowly... it was Crawling...
There was another dhaba few more km down the way and we walked there for our dinner.. had nice chana masala and rotis. Raj and Jason picked up nice bottle of local wine and within no time they were done with it...By now the traffic was crawlin a lil faster. We decided to walk back to the bus, on reaching there we found people enjoyin themselves playing Antakshiri...Jason was back on his seat tired and wanting some rest... but me and Raj decided to walk to the place where the problem was to see actually how bad it was.....
On reaching there we saw a huge chunk of mud on the road...and it was actually slippery... the truck drivers were drunk and seemed not in the state to drive. We spoke to the police men since he had stopped the flow of traffic, just as a saftey measure. They said they wont let traffic move until further orders, we told them about the kids and passengers who were hungry n starving in the bus, but they wont listen. Frustrated we returned back to the bus and passed this message on to the driver. He had his dinner had a lil alchohol and was off to sleeep... Me and Raj were still gulping down chai at the stall close by...
Follwed by which a lot of people went to the police and the demanded the traffic to be moved. I guess god answered our prayer and slowly the bus started to move. Eventhough the driver wasnt in the best condition to drive he drove really well. We crossed the danger area and then the traffic moved on really well, with no further blockades. By morning 8.30 we were already in Manali. What a great relief it was to check into a hotel and dump all the body waste just in time. I should say one experience of life time..dint mind it tough cos of the superb company i had...and lotsa attractions on the way too....it was a 40 hrs long travel
We guys met up for breakfast and decided to Trek to Patalsu peak. Already tired and late to start for the trek we took a taxi to Solang Nalaah. Chander our guide was waiting there for us...We decided that how much ever we can trek we ll do that and come down before dark. It was gettin overcast and dark clouds were covering the sky...We started the 10 km long trek from Solang village...
the Beautiful Solang Valley...........
Thats Chander our Guide....
and this is Raj in black and Jason just behind him...
Crossing the Beas river we head straight towards old Solang Village and straight up towards Patalsu...wen we just crossed the village it started raining slowly....
Dense clouds and mist started appearing in front of us.... it was really wierd that even though it was raining the fog dint seem to clear....and it had by now started raining a bit heavy..we still kept climbing.....
This is the first time i am actually doing this... experimenting with color, brigtness contrast, saturation etc... of a picture... so please excuse me if you dont like these pics...
We had climed some distance by now and still there was no sign of clearing....the fog got even deser and rains dint slow down either... at times we took shelter under the conifers.....
the path was steep, muddy and slippery... we still carried on....dint know what got us going, we dint wanted to go back......but then came a time when it really started pouring and it was 2.30 pm already... Chander said we might hav covered not more than 6km and we had about another 2 hrs 30 mins climb remaining....
tired of the 40 hrs travel plus less time in hand and heavy rain adding to misery dint do any good to us... We took a wise dicession to get back to the base....
Slipping all the way we moved down.. and rain started slowing down... dint disappear tough... plus the fog was still there....
by 3.30 we were in Solang and guess what happen... Rain god goes fast asleep.... but hold on just for a while though.... we dint hav to regret our decision...
Some nice flowers that i managed to capture on the way up and down... see them in a different look tooo.... do tell me if you like them.......
river Beas at its full flow... i remember last time round i was at its source......the Beas Kund...
On reaching Solang...we had yummy things to eat.... Mutton Momos, Maggie with egg... yummm and some real nice chai... the view of the Himalayas was fantastic from there...check it out....
Looking at the mighty Himalayas we were waiting for our bus to Manali till 5pm... we bid good bye to Chander and his father Mr.Tikam Thakur.. Had a good night sleep after a real tiresome day..... Next day i met up with Raj and Jason and i had to take a bus back to delhi in the evening. Raj and Jason were heading towards Keylong for their back pack trip and i was worried about my travel back to Delhi... I was happy to know that busses were indeed leaving for Delhi but via the Shimla route...an extra 250 km.. this time i dint hav great company... a bus full of couples who dint wanted to be disturb.. its like if you goin out of the bus and touch anyone they wld be like... givin looks.... It took me very long 24 hrs to reach Delhi...those 40 hrs were much better than these 24 hrs....
Anywayssss!!!! yet another trek though not complete..but a nice break anyways from the usual routine... Mr Patalsu Peak i would surly be back to claim your trek...But a trip where i made 3 new friends... and an experience of lifetime which i surly would cherish..... Following my ritual..let me once again thank the Almighty to give us the lovely Himalayas and an experience of Life time
-Tanzeem Patankar
