Wander through India : THE SPITI EXPEDITION ( DAY VII KALPA TO POOH)

DAY7: KALPA – POOH

Destination: Pooh, Himachal

1. We woke up with very high spirits as the distance to be travelled today was not that large and going by the previous account of journeys I would be reaching Pooh by around lunch time. However we had decided to start early as we would be approaching the first rock slide point that going by accounts was causing mayhem in the itineraries of numerous travellers. As I was readying the vehicle and warming it up I struck a conversation with two local drivers who had come the previous evening from Kaza and seeing them at Kalpa gave my confidence a big boost that the road might be open.

2. First things first, I wanted to catch the beauty of the Kinnaur Kailash in the early morning sun rise and accordingly had woken up for the same and what a sight it was, the narrow beams of the sun was just shooting up in all directions as it came up from behind the mountain peak .I was speechless by the sight and to tell the truth just did not want to leave that place. But with the promise of what lay ahead and better vistas to see we were ready to roll by 0800 hrs.At around this time prayers had begun in the local monastery below and the air was filled with the Buddhist chants of " OM MANI PEDME HUM ".The strength of this chant is so profound and the peace that it offers is something that I actually cannot express. The meaning of this chant is something that I asked to a few people but no one could really satisfy me, but rest assured they all said that it holds deep meaning in the Buddhism way of life. I did happen to come across a video clipping of this being asked to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. His Holiness replied that it is not easy to put it in to words what these mean for the meaning differs for each person however to put it simply it means that the mind, heart and the speech speak what is good for all those around oneself, they disseminate good health and cheers to all beings that are in this universe.

3. It was really painful to let go of such serene environment but then we eventually did and moved towards Powari from where we would take the right diversion of the NH-22 towards Pooh. Around 04 kms ahead of Powari we came across the rock slide area and joined a line of vehicles waiting .Even though we were early yet there were so many vehicles ahead of me that I was now apprehensive if we would get an opportunity to go past or not. Anywas I had the whole day with me so I was pretty confident and relaxed.

4. We parked the car and then moved forward on foot to have a look as to what the action was all about and as I neared to the epi centre of the rock slide it was sight that I saw for the first time in my life .There were rocks tumbling down from the mountain side and either they were stopping on the road in the pile of rubble that had already been created or were hurtling down in to the valley below and crashing in to the River Sutlej which was flowing. The place was fast gaining notoriety as the "crusher of vehicles" as was evident from the plight of the most recent victim - a Toyota etios that had been ripped apart from the rocks the evening before. The length of vehicles kept increasing and soon there was a bunch of trucks, SUVs, an army convoy, pickups etc waiting to cross over. I really could not exactly understand as to why were the rocks falling but the bottom line was that they were falling and as the day progressed the wind pick up in intensity and soon the rock slide was almost continuous with hardly a break of maybe five to ten minutes.

5. There was a JCB with its crew at work from one side and a earthmover from the other side .it was a constant battle between man and nature as the effort to remove the rocks piled on the road was carried out doggedly and the rocks too kept piling up with the same spirit. No one was giving the other any room .The JCB crew worked with a spotter and let me elaborate a bit on this , the spotter was a guy who was on the ground a little ahead of the JCB and at all times was keeping his eyes on the mountain side from where the rocks were hurtling below .As soon as he detected a slight dust rising up high in the mountain he would blow a whistle and run backwards , hearing the whistle the JCB crew would reverse their machine with the maximum speed possible to get out of the way before the avalanche of rocks hit the exact place where they were working moments before. It was a battle of will and perseverance between man and nature, a slow moving battle which went on and on right through the morning.

6. As the afternoon dragged by I started getting apprehensive for now it meant that the road ahead would be even more daunting to cover and I would be travelling under pressure to meet the target of meeting my deadline. As the waiting went on there was nothing much to do other than strike conversations with the people that had gathered there , right from the local drivers to the bus passengers to the army personnel for whom this was their third day of being stuck at the same place .I was speaking to a group of foreigners who were on a trip to the Spiti Valley and then on to the Ladakh sector and as I was speaking to their guide he was advocating turning back and travelling back to Rampur and then take the Jalori Pass towards Manali and then crossing over to the Spiti valley from the Rohtang Pass and thereafter the Kunzum pass. I spoke less and listened more as now I was also weighing the options that were available.

7. Soon evening came on and nature had her way as the JCB crew gave up and the rocks still kept falling .In the fading light the chill started building up .People started weighing the possibilities and the localites just turned back. The army convoy too started reversing back which was a challenge in its own hoping for better luck the next day. I contemplated what should be my next course of action for reaching Pooh was no more in the picture, my bookings had gone for a toss and I had no booking for the night at either Kalpa or at Reckong Peo.We even contemplated spending the night at the rock slide site itself like how the truckers were planning to but after deliberation decided to move back towards Reckong Peo and spend the night out there in the car itself and be back on site early in the morning.

6. Accordingly we turned back and headed back to Reckong Peo and parked the car at the community car park. All this while my mind was racing with the options available because seeing the way the situation was building up I was actually losing hope of crossing the rock slide. One option even came to my mind to abandon the trip and see some other places in Himachal but I composed myself and told myself to get a grip.Anyways I decided to use this evening to do some research as I had not even planned for something like this .I started going through Google maps to see the route to Manali and the time that it would take to reach there .Additionally I went to local taxi stand to get on ground information as to which route I would take. The route to Manali was around 700 kms long and would take roughly 8-9 hours if I went through Jalori Pass and sainj.The reports on ground stated that Jalori Pass was open for traffic. Additionally I was not very sure if the non state HP vehicles needed a permit to cross Rohtang La for to reach Kaza from Manali I had to cross Rohtang La which in my initial planning I wanted to avoid .I could not get any confirmatory answers to this question because if this was true even for a private vehicle that implied that I would be delayed in Manali for an additional day and all my further bookings would be tossed all over the place. Abandoning the trip I was not willing to so finally I decided to try my luck tomorrow morning and then take a call as the situation progresses and if need be turn back and drive through the night the same day to reach Manali in time and salvage some sort of an itinerary.

7. After all this conceptual planning we decided to eat something for we had not eaten anything proper the entire day .Accordingly we decided to indulge in a bit of street food and so on the chilly evening at Reckong Peo we sample fish tikka deep fried with accompaniments and fresh onions , totally north Indian style. It was simply delicious and this starter actually built up our appetite as then we decided to go in for an early dinner and then retire for the night.

8. We strolled around the small town and enquired some good places to eat and after a few recommendations selected one and had a nice warm dinner and thereafter retired to the car for the night. It was my first experience to sleep in the car the entire night so we reclined the seats , donned all the gloves and the caps , put on some light music and made ourselves as comfortable as possible .The plan was to get some sleep and reach the rock slide site very early so that if the opportunity presented itself we wanted to be among those who could get across.