Malana on my mind,still esp. after....Malana is ancient,once upon atym,the villagers used to consider themselves a seperate republic,not part of sovereign India,been there only once,early eighties,o twas a thrilling mis-adventure,no motorable road,went trekking from Naggar,took more than a day....returned to Jari,one day walk.there was also a trail from Kasol.Accompanying me from Vasisth,near MNali was friend from Kokata,Dr Rana Sengupta(his maiden venture to Himachal Pradesh) & a fraud babaji whom v met @ another dear friends( late Rana Choudhuri, da original bangalee hippie married to Italian Paula)house @ Vasisth. babaji told us hes been to Malana b4 & hence knows da route & v were supid enuf 2 beleive.....v were late to start coz of his incessant smoking so had to spend the first night in a temple @ Rumsu,a village a short trek up from Naggar. The next v climbed up & up to reach a temporary shelter the gujjars built in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to spend the nyt there,but da babajiinsisted v carry on& then...hold ur breath,v got lost,caught in sudden storm totally unaware @ twas getting dark. In retrospect,only God saved us that nyt. We spotted a big rock,strategically placed by nature in suck a way thad u cud hide behide it to guard against the howling wind,a kynda apolgy for a cave,taking turns to stay awake,v survived by the fire v managed wid collected twigs,had to burn ashurt or two to keep it alive.Next morning v sighted Chandrakhani pass not very far & ventured towards it after being energised with very small helpings of meat achar,bread & jam(saved a bit). But wen v reached the pass which is the highest point in the route from where u go down down to Malana,my companions refused to proceed further,exhausted,disoriented,confused. Our last food pack slipped out of hand only to be lifted by the prying eagles in a jiffy. Reluctantly v turned back,passed our night-shelter & suddenly v face a group of travellers coming up from below,a motley group of local bher-bakriwallahs & a few foreigners. They stayed da nyt b4 in the shack v ignored. More later,plzdont go away....
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 08:33:40 +0000
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