Here's part 3.... I shall post part 4 tomorrow....
Then came the highlight of the entire trip. The bare bones camping in kulu valley at the foot of Rothang Pass – the highest natural pass in the world. And later we would trek to it we were told. It was another bus ride, some irritating antakshiri and some puking from me. We reached the site and had actual back packs on our backs and trekked in our parkas, gloves and scarves to the valley. A section behind a ruinous wall was chosen as campsite, and we set off pitching tents. Of course the three of us in the ‘we’ were just admiring the process. Professional help had been hired. The tents were all double layered to keep the cold out (they miserably failed at that). All tents were a blue, and only ours was a bright orange. The HOC said that we were 'priority', because if the tents flew off, then it would be easy to spot our tent on the terrain. I was actually beaming at the thought of us being given priority, but the thought of being flown off in a tent wasn’t very appealing, and for sometime every gust of wind would scare me. But the sheer beauty of the place over came that fear. The fact that it was bitterly cold also helped.
I’m not very healthy. I’ve a very low immunity against diseases and fall ill pretty easily. So the close to 0 degree temperature was bound to get me. And I had a very bad fever, terrible cold, aching ear and no voice. At that time even a trip in a flying tent looked appealing. But my parents had expected this and I was powered with some of the most powerful pharmaceutical drugs. But it took around two days for the fever to leave me, but the cold sorta liked me, so it stuck around. Some nights I would get up unable to breathe, as the rarified air and an entirely blocked nose made it really hard to breathe. And one night when the fever was really high, I was practically shaking. Poor Priyanka was scared, she had to actually sit on me to stop me from shaking. And that night, the one night that I couldn’t eat a morsel, or couldn’t taste what I wa seating, the damn cook made my favourite – Rajma. If I hadnt been shaking to death I would have killed him.
After I was better, the HOC took me and Priyanka and a couple of other girls in a trax up to the Rothang pass for 'acclamatization'. The path was really winding and steep. So the result was that I puked, a record 6 times. When we finally reached the pass, the HOC, in an attempt to cheer me up, shared with me the news that the previous day an old man had frozen to death right there. That piece of information combined with the worlds worst cup of lemon tea made by a very old lady in a shack, made me throw up for the last time. I say last time because even my intestinal juices were out, there was nothing left to throw up. So after 'acclamatizing', we were all rather happy to drive back. When we reached the valley and were aimlessly walking around, small white flakes started floating down from the sky. Since I live near a pulp and fibre factory, I thought it was pulp ash from the burning wood. But the flakes as they touched my hand would disappear. And then it dawned that it was snow. We were witnessing the first snow fall of that year at Kulu Manali. Of course I had seen more snow in my old refridgerator, but hell, it was still ‘a moment’. It barely lasted ten mins, after which it turned into a slight drizzle and we all rushed into our tents.
The next morning after breakfast our Mam arranged for all of us to go for a small trek around the area. I really wasn’t up to it, but didn’t want to seem rude. So we all went. It was causal walking most of the part, but erally beautiful. Tall snow capped mountains all around. Crystal clear air and small streams and water falls meandering all through the mountains. When we reached three quarters of the way, because of my bad health and Priyanka’s fear of heights, it was decided that we would not accompany the others the rest of the way. They would join us on the way back. Left to our devices, we ran around (figuratively of course. I don’t run), and drank from the streams. You know, I’m the ‘mineral water’ type, but even I was amazed at the purity of the water flowing through the rocks and I had no problem in drinking it either. And then as afternoon aproached, we lay down on the rocks and balmed in the sun. We later joined the rest of the group on their way down, and headed for another dismal dinner ( no rajma!!!).
The trip to Rothang pass was a trek of sorts because we never trekked!!! We went in the bus. And we were parked very close to the region where the oldman had died. :-( Now Priyanka was ill and was shivering pretty badly. It was my turn to wrap her up and warm her up. So while the rest of them climbed over the hill we stayed in the bus. After that the next day, we all left for the base camp.
Now in our entire stay at manali, we hadnt bathed. We never sweated see. So occasionally we would sponge, but hadnt had a bath. And we desperately wanted to have one. But the cold water was unthinkable. The HOC suggested the geyesers situated near by. He said we could rent a private bath and enjoy a bath as well as do some sight seeing. We agreed. So the three of us took an auto to this place. When we reached there, we found out that all the private baths were closed and only the public bath was available. One for the women and one for men. We walked into the public bath and what do we see??? Naked women, every where. That was a really bad sight. Now we were both 17. just 1 year away from being leagally adults. So we couldn’t run and hide screaming chi chi. But at the same time, we were incapable of putting on airs like we were adults and 'this is of course natural'. So we chose the diplomatic middle path. We hid without screaming. :-) There was this section, if we went down a few steps, where the geyser water flowed out from pipes (not taps). Other more decently clad women were washing their clothes there. So we hid there. We took out the few clothes we had brought for washing. In our hurry to hide, Priyanka slipped off the top step and landed at the base right on her bum (I laughed a lot then, but wouldn’t have if I only knew that this would happen to me a few hours later). Once, Priyanka was set right, the two of us set out to wash our clothes. It was my first attempt at washing and I did pretty badly. When it was all dried the next day, I kept wondering what the blue patches on my white shirt were. It then dawned on me that it was soap. So I stashed away the entire washing. I had anyway brought enough clothes to last me a month. Oh… And you are wondering what happened to our Mam??? She divied in with the rest of the nudies. Unfortunately we had a glimpse. I had nightmares for a week. After that a very fresh and happy guides Mam and two very wet and sour girls walked down the winding path, beside streams in serach of base camp.
To be continued....
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