Such was the disappointment because of having to make the decision to postpone the much planned Solang Valley trip, that I needed to do something drastically different to get away from it all.
Around 7pm I was having a quite bite with Paramjeet when even he sensed the sheer sense of defeat and desperation I was undergoing. When I suggested that we repeat the Kasauli trek the following day, he immediately agreed without batting an eyelid. Within a jiffy, I called Deepinder who said he was game too. Bapu ke teen Bandar were ready, but then we thought since a car would be going, might as well find out if there are two more souls ready to pounce at the eleventh hour opportunity. Next was Ashish C who said, ‘Bilkul jaayeinge ji.’ Last to be called was Manpreet and hey, we were on a roll.
Paramjeet offered us all the luxury of home pick-up service but we had to be ready by 6am. With no water bottles, only three sandwiches prepared by Deepinder and a carton of cherries brought by Ashish C to share between the five of us, we could not have been more ill prepared for a trek which is not necessarily a stroll by the lake, but we could not give two hoots. We were on an adventure trip. Ashish C even treated us to large glasses of fresh vegetable juices from his local park, where he had done ‘saetting’ with the Juice Vendor in advance.
We reached Jabli at 7.30am to have a quick fueling of our rumbling bellies, had 4 paranthas packed from the restaurant, bought 5 bottles of water from a local shop and set foot towards Kasauli, enroute Garkhal. We were soon huffing and puffing on the way, taking pictures at practically every point where we had taken photos during our last trek 7 months ago. We almost knew what to expect round every corner. The sight of the railway bridge brought a kid out of each one of us again. Amazingly, we had even remembered the colours of the houses we came across.
Then came the fields but there was nor corn or cherry tomatoes to pluck. Sure enough there was a fruit which remotely looked like a fig but was too red to be one. We still don’t know what it was, but trust Ashish A to say that they were apricots, till in fact he did come across some apricot trees and he accepted his error of feeble judgement pertaining to vegetation. However, I did enjoy eating yet to ripe, nearly bitter apricots plucked by Manpreet along the way.
During the last hike upto Garkhal we came across a pack of monkeys which stopped us in our tracks. Refreshing our memory boards from reading newspapers where Chandigarh MC once said not to cross between a mother and a baby monkey, not to make eye contact with them and not to make noises whilst walking past them, we armed ourselves with tree branches just in case nevertheless and quietly made our way through our homo-sapiens. This little encounter however did intrigue Deepinder to say that if we humans evolved from the monkeys, then what went wrong with the evolution process of the monkeys still prancing around us!
Soon we went to the same hotel Hemkunt where we had had soda lime last time. After a well deserved short break, we set foot to hit the trail for Kasauli. A short but extremely hike of 3kms to take us to Ros Common. We made more pit stops for food and rest in this short stretch than the entire 6kms hike from Jabli to Kasauli. It was fun spotting the familiar cottages on the way and discussing the changes the owners had made since our last trek. Weather had started turning a little pleasant too.
On reaching the point where we could either head towards the Market or go towards Manki Point, we discussed for a minute and simply did heads and tails for a quick decision. Don’t think we remember the number of heads but we simply started walking towards the Manki Point – Jai Ho Hanuman Ji Ki. The clouds had completely taken over by this time and it seemed as if I was back in England. Most hilarious déjà vu moment came when on the way to Manki Point, a soldier asked us where had we come from? When we told him that we had come on foot from Jabli, he took a good measure of us all from tip to toe and asked, ‘Don’t you have a car?’
By the time we reached the Air Force base to gain entry passes to pay obeisance at the Hanuman Mandir on top, it started raining cats and dogs. A kind Army soldier got the passes made for us and we even went through the security checks, deposited our rucksacks in a brave attempt to still make it to the top, but we were stopped in the nick of time by the Base Keeper that a minor land slide was taking place and gates had been closed. Ill equipped as we were in terms of clothing, I became the mascot of bravery (or stupidity) with my shorts and sleeveless top. People could not help asking me, ‘Aren’t you feeling cold?’
As there was no sign of the torrential rain taking it easy, we started making calls to see how best we could get back to either Kasauli Bus Stand or to our car in Jabli. There was no cab immediately available and we were asked to wait for one which would have taken a while to come up. In the meantime, Ashish C managed to locate his Wng Cmdr Uncle who was luckily posted in Kasauli itself. We were delighted to know that his residence was actually no more than 200mtrs from where were standing like ‘Bhigi Billian.’ Forgetting the rain, we literally ran towards his house where he welcomed us with open arms and a hot cuppa cha. Thank heaven for little mercies.
By the time we sipped the last of the tea, the rain had become a little kinder and Deepinder managed to get a cab upto the Air Force base too. Once again, with clouds kissing our cheeks and a spray of rain playing with us, we ran (carefully) on the slippery road downhill to catch our cab. As luck would have it, at the gates we found that he had left after waiting for us. We were back to square one; rain and no way to get back.
The girls were delegated the task of asking for a lift for five of us but guess we were no Pooja Bhatts. Not even some lecherously smirking drivers would give us the lift. One even had the temerity to say, ‘Paidal hi aaye the, paidal hi wapis jaayo.’ I somehow could not help retorting back, ‘Allah kare tumhara tyre puncture ho jaye!’ Plenty of cars went whooshing past, but none took pity on us. We had made up our minds and we were going to walk through the rain to prove the point, don’t know to whom though!
Just as we had resolved, a Chandigarh car stopped in the middle of the road and a SardarJi asked, ‘Lift Chahiye?’ We didn’t even say yes but simply opened his back doors and made ourselves comfortable. Unfortunately only three of us could fit in so Paramjeet and Deepinder decided to foot it to the bottom. As soon as we reached the market, we found the Momo’s shack and ordered the food, where both Paramjeet and Deepinder joined us within ten minutes. As soon as we finished our food, the rain stopped as well. Munching over ‘chhaliyan’ whilst browsing through the market place, we decided that we were going to walk back to Jabli rather than taking the bus back. Clearer weather had also cleared all the doubts of our minds, apart from that of Ashish C. Though initially we gave him the option of going by bus and waiting for us at Jabli, we changed our mind soon and dragged him downhill with us.
All was going well till we reached Garkhal. Whilst buying two water bottles to sustain us on the way down, Paramjeet decided to ask the shop keeper if there was another way down to Jabli, instead of going through Garkhal village. The localite merrily pointed out that we could go through Kimughat instead which is a quicker way down. Adventerous as we had been through the day, we decided to find a new route down. Given that we had heard ‘quicker’ way down, we probably forgot to ask him, ‘but how difficult is it!!’ Hum ho.
It was too late by the time we crossed Kimughat. We thought we just had to take the trail which seemed to be going down, but when we crossed Kimughat, we realized that there was no trail, only zig-zag hard to spot paths covered with dry pine needles, making it a very treacherous way down. But there was no going back. We were lucky to spot a couple of odd villager on the way, who kept on assuring us that we were heading in the right direction, but just had to be a little careful!
Fortunately, we were all well balanced and nimble footed to make it to the bottom of the hill and actually felt like being on top of the world when we hit the road. There were cheers and meows all around. Unbeknown to all of us, Paramjeet had twisted his right knee by this time which was hurting him badly. In order to mask his pain from all of us, he started walking about a 100 mtrs ahead of us. Even when we took a little rest of some scooters parked just before hitting the last leg of the journey downhill, he sat a few feet away from us. I sensed something was simmering inside of him but could not put my finger on it. I thought perhaps he was keeping the distance to have some peace and quite to enjoy the nature, away from the yapping cats.
Most poignant moment came when nearly towards the end of coming down, we came across lots of young girls and women carrying empty buckets and pitchers. Out of curiosity Manpreet asked one of the young girls barely into her teens, ‘Aap yeh kya ker rahe ho?’ Pat came the reply which left us all speechless, ‘Aap ka kaam hai ghoomna-phirna aur humara kaam hai paani bharna.’ In this day and age where living in cities we crib about the water supply cuts for 5 hours a day, here we had tender years of life being wasted in fetching water from perhaps miles away to cater to their daily needs. Could we not be a little grateful for the luxuries the one above has bestowed upon us? Could we, the so called priviledged ones do something collectively to ensure that action is taken at the grass root level so that atleast basic facilities are available to our fellow beings?
Ashish C and I had done this trek before in Oct’07, so we knew more or less where we were heading, but if there indeed is a record of trekkers asking for directions from the localites, we surely broke it both on the way up and down!
By 6.30pm we were back in the crowded and noisy Jabli, where we had a quick bite to satisfy our rumbling bellies, before Paramjeet dropped us all back to our homes.
It was the most unplanned and hastily put together trek we had undertaken, but one which was full of adventure and absolutely joyous day, in which we saw three seasons of the year in a single day.
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