Well, this is the edited version of my article in Srijan-2014. This isnt vastly different...Id call it a v2. The ending has been altered a little. Heads up-this is quite a long read. Allow me to humour you with a reminiscence. This is no typical, lame, dull, cloying, regular story. This tale still gives me goose bumps as I try to regurgitate the happenings over the course of two days. Okay! Enough of how I feel! Let me run you through the tale. January 14, 2012, 6 of us, Saksham, Shivak, Neeraj, Shubham, Sahil and I plan to go on a trek to one of the most serene places - Prashar Lake. There was a lot of deliberation; one guy didnt want to come since it was raining, while another wanted to tag along only if were going to the lake. But we all knew that snow was forecast. We decided wed take the risk and go trekking on a 6-person conference call; there’s this funny, inexplicable kick that guys get when we gamble. We came to this agreement round about 12:15 AM, January 15, 2012. One of the guys called up a cabbie and asked him to be present by 1. So, 6 guys took off on a trip that would definitely find a mention even on their tombstones with the phrase ”Survived Prashar”. The trip didn’t kick off too well. The cabbie came on time, but the car was of the wrong make. Heck, it did not even have a functioning heater. To further delay our tryst with fate, the car thought it would be an appropriate moment to get a flat tyre. And it did! After the driver fixed the tyre, we went and spoke to a few other cab drivers, and luckily enough, we found another car to our liking. Looking back, this was probably the only reason we returned in one piece. By 5-5:30, we had reached Mandi. It had just begun raining then. The driver stopped for freshening up, while we packed in a few biscuit packs. Soon, he took us up a narrow road that led to Prashar. The aerial view of Mandi, with stochastic glowing dots under the shimmering moonlight was a sight to behold. It was extraordinary. A little distance later, we found that there was no tar road further. The path was a little mushy, with snow lumps at random places along the road. The view the path offered of the hills was, well, indescribable! Such a narrow path with so many curves, with the glory of the Himalayas surrounding us! We were awed. By 7, we had reached a small shop that was the last one that sold anything useful. Beyond that, there was going to be no shop. So, any last minute shopping had to be done there. We had to convince the bhadka to make us maggi and boil a few eggs at that chilly time of the morning. After many refusals, he relented and while he was at it, with shivering hands, we clicked photos of everyone with the majestic Himalayas providing the beguiling backdrop. After we ate what was our only proper meal over the next 36 hours, we got back into the car, and the driver left us just where the road wasn’t tractable any further. We got off, and right then, that very moment, I saw snow for the first time. And to my delight, it had started snowing. It had started snowing! We were buoyed! Forget snow, I was in a snowfall! We quickly took our cameras, clicked a few pictures. Right across the road, we found a capstone with the inscription that loosely meant, “This is the way to Prashar”. About 8 AM, Jan 15, we started the trek. We were dancing like a group of monkeys that found a fresh stock of bananas. We did. So many photos, so many one-liners, so many snow-balls, we were at it! One of us led the group as he had already visited the lake the previous year, or so he claimed. For the sake of this narrative, I wish to address him as the leader. He kept yelling at us to keep pace with him and that we’d find many more picturesque views. We trekked for an hour before we reached a deserted house (the word’s a little ironic, I know). We took a breather there. We lit paper and made a small fire. And to our surprise, forget snow, forget snowfall, we found icicles! I-C-I-C-L-E-S! Yes! Hanging, tapering pieces of ice formed by the freezing of dripping water. They looked like those magic wands in Harry Potter. We broke a few, “ate” a few, threw a few, and posed for a few pointless photos with them. I’m sorry, but I can’t describe the emotions for lack of space, and mainly because the juiciest bits lie ahead. After burying a guy in snow, we took off from there (of course, he came too). By then, it had started snowing heavily. The leader told us that the lake was on the 4th hill from where we began. As we moved along, we came across a hamlet. People warned us that the trek was dangerous since it was snowing heavily. We didn’t care. We knew for certain what we wanted. We didn’t listen and turn back. We didn’t take their advice. Sissies take advice. We weren’t sissies. We had the courage to face adversity. Or so we thought. There was no way we were turning back and returning to the comfort of our silky quilts that were lying folded (okay, that’s a lie) in our hostel. We just couldn’t/wouldn’t do that. After a few slips-and-falls and a lot of exhaustion, we found ourselves half a kilometer away from the lake. The view from there-well, I don’t quite think gorgeous, magical, spectacular, splendid, awesome, stupendous or any such adjective would do justice to its pulchritude. There were 60 degree slopes lined with conifers. So many of ‘em! We were just a foot slip away from rolling down a hundred meters as a snowball. Luckily, we didn’t have that privilege . Before we knew it, we were staring at one of the most arresting lakes in the world. I know I’m prone to frequent usage of hyperbole, but I swear this isn’t one such occasion. The lake had frozen, and we could see the crust that formed over the surface. That snap, I still use it as my wallpaper. Right beside the lake was a temple. We went closer and there, the residents made tea and lit a fire. While we made ourselves comfortable, a few went barefoot inside the temple. The others weren’t that audacious. It was 3 PM. After a few snacks, we took off to the rest house that was a quarter kilometer away. We went inside, gave the inn-keeper the packets of maggi that we carried along with us. While eating a little and wasting a lot, the leader proposed that we leave the place right away. And to our astonishment, he wanted to leave because he wanted to attend classes the following day! And this guy wasn’t even a 7-pointer!. I’m sure you could imagine the horror on our faces. We tried to reason with him, but he was petulant. He said he’d leave alone if nobody came along. We couldn’t do that. We were in it together. We asked the inn-keeper the way back, and with good intentions, he suggested we take a shortcut that would lead us down the hill in 45 minutes. It was difficult to believe, since it took 6 hours to reach the lake. Nevertheless, the impetuous leader and his minions (no offence) took directions from the inn-keeper and we were off with the conviction that it would take 2 hours, tops! We left the rest house at 3:45 PM. We left with a smile. The smile didn’t last long. A special detail of our route needs mention here. The inn-keeper informed that we’d find 2 houses after a short distance. I’m pretty sure we either lost our way in the beginning itself or he flunked kindergarten math. We found 5 houses. 5! We didn’t know what to do. But the place offered a magical view. While a few of us took snaps, the others deliberated on which route to take. There were 2 routes. One towards the right, and one towards the left. The route towards the right had a transmission line which all of us conveniently ignored. This was supposed to be the ROUTE. We “analysed” our options. We were treading through 6 feet of snow. A few wanted to return to the comfort that the rest house offered, while the rest wanted to continue. After a lot of thought, we chose left. And boy, were we wrong!? What are the odds of 6 people, all choosing the wrong option where there’s a 50:50 chance? Go figure! This was the decision that scripted the remaining story. It was 4:45ish then. I threw away the only bottle of water we had, because my intuition told me that carrying an extra kilo of payload would be imbecile. Even after taking long strides, we reached nowhere. It was 5:30 already, and there was no sign of non-icy land. The snowfall had picked up. It was now snowing heavily than ever before. We scrambled. We had to reach the village before it was dark. Each of us took turns to lead the rest, and each of us found a unique path that led us to one cliff after another. All of them were dead-ends. All of us remember this anecdote, the star of which is the leader who wanted to attend classes the next day. This was the same guy who led us to believe that he knew what he was doing all along. He was the same guy who told us he knew the path to Prashar. And he was the same guy who said he knew the way to return. He walked up to a point, and when all he found was a 100-foot drop off a cliff, he turned back and yelled, and I quote, “yaar, mujhe yahan se raasta nahi pata”. The next 5 mins contained a million expletives all directed at him. No exaggeration here; we still pick on him for that. Not knowing where to go, we continued to head down leaning to the left. Lucky for us, the snow was fresh, so we weren’t really slipping as much as we had expected to. We leaped down and let gravity do the work. By tilting our shoes and sliding across, we used the grip for braking. Thus, in less than 1 hour, we covered plenty of distance. But we still reached nowhere. The forest got denser while the snowfall became harder. Before we realised, natural light gave in. We were now walking in a limitless forest with zero visibility. 3 of the 6 phones we had had already died. The other 3 had little battery left. One of us had a phone with a flashlight that would function only when the camera was on. To use it as a torch, we had to record video. To top it all, the phone had little memory. After every 5 mins, we had to delete the contents. And only 1 phone was being used by 6 guys to walk down the hill! This is how we did it: the leading guy would hold the phone and take a couple of steps, then pass the phone to the next person. This guy would take a couple of steps and pass the phone behind. When all the 6 of us took a couple of steps, the trailing person would then pass the phone to the leading guy and this process would start all over again. (We have two videos. Watching them still scares the living daylights out of us.) It was only time before something dramatic happened. One person landed his foot into a cavity and was writhing in pain. None of us paid attention to him. We simply ignored his cry. Not because we didn’t want to help. Because the mental state that we were in simply didn’t allow us to not be selfish and help the guy. A few walked on ahead, a few took a breather, all while he was crying out in pain. We just stood by and watched him for a while before it dawned on us that we needed to help. We helped him, made him stand up. Only his foot came out of the cavity. The shoe still remained. He had to stand on one foot as he couldn’t put his bare foot on the icy surface. As one guy tried to get the shoe, the rest pondered over the course of our action for the rest of the night. We were hopeless and stranded. The battery was about to die. One of us was hurt. If this was any indication, it was only a matter of time before someone broke a limb. If that were to happen, the rest can’t move with him, can’t move without him. That would have been tragic. Suddenly, we found a huge opening that resembled a cave. A chilly cognisance ran through our tired bodies. We could feel the adrenaline pumping. We could very well have found the abode of a huge, monstrous animal. It could have been anything. One of us mustered enough courage to peek into it, and to our relief, he yelled that it was empty. But, and this was a big but, the cave had footprints of an animal that resembled a bear all around it. The bear could have gone out for a meal. The bear could return any time. What if we face it? What if it attacks us? What if it decapitates some of us? One guy proposed that this was the only way we could survive. This was the only logical strategy that offered us a chance of making it out alive. We had already trekked for over 10 hours that day. And we didn’t have it in our bodies to go on further. We were beaten by nature. Completely trumped by its brutality. This was a bet that we had to make. There was a lot of commotion on this proposal. Few said that it was too dangerous to risk staying inside a cave. Few seconded the proposal arguing that it was too dark, and we didn’t have a light source to keep us going. Besides, if we were stranded midway without light, without shelter, the cold wind would kill us. This was the first place that was suitable for shelter after we left the rest house. The rock could shelter us from the cold gusts. The cave could provide us the little warmth that could keep hypothermia from setting in. Our clothes were wet from all the snow. If we spent the night standing, we’d have had no chance. This was text-book Bear Grylls from the Man vs Wild show. This was the only reason we survived the cold winter night. We didn’t know the exact temperature, but it certainly felt like -20 degrees C, with wind speeds around 40 kmph. It was cold hell. By 6:45 PM, we settled in the cave. The cave wasn’t really comfortable, but no one complained. This was like an oasis in the desert. The cave was 8 feet long and 3 feet wide. It was sort of a like a king-sized bed, except that 6 of us had to fit in. We weren’t carping. We were grateful that we found it. We had packed in a couple of biscuit packets and few nuts before we started the trek. We decided we’d save one pack for the next day, and we’d have the nuts and one pack of biscuits that night. One guy was in a terrible state with his hand blue in colour. He couldn’t feel his hands. He needed warmth. To put it euphemistically, one guy watered his hand. There was no water to drink. To quench our thirst, we had to eat snow. The biscuit pack we opened was ironically called “Nice Time”. We all appreciate levity. But at that moment, it was an overkill. We contemplated our predicament. There was little we could do then. We were betting big on the snow to stop. We were hoping it would stop. We were praying it would stop. We let the ill person have most of the biscuits and the nuts. The rest just starved. That was an immense sacrifice. It wasn’t easy, but no one grumbled. The following 11 hours were the most arduous 11 hours of our lives. We can still recall every second of the time we spent in the cave. We were tired, but couldn’t sleep. We were hungry, worn out, thirsty, and uncomfortable. We felt as if the Elements had defeated us. We felt as if the Elements were mocking us. We removed our shoes and socks and sat on sweaters that we spread under us. We sat barefoot on a woolen spread that hardly provided an escape from the cold, dry stone. We couldn’t risk hypothermia. The matchsticks we had on us were wet and hence were rendered useless. There was no fire. We were all freezing from mental and physical exhaustion. We felt the bruises of all the slips-and-falls of the day. Time moved very slowly. Each passing minute seemed like an hour, and each hour seemed like eternity. Every 2 mins, someone would shout asking for the time. The rest would yell, “sirf 2 min hue hain”. We had no tomorrow then. There was no tomorrow. Each of us took turns in saying things that meant a lot to us. We didn’t want to die that night, not this way at least. And when someone proposed a plan for the next day, the plan started with an “if we’re alive until tomorrow, ”. Our chances of survival slimmed dramatically. We were now reliant on 2 factors-one, the bear shouldn’t turn up. If it did, it would find a few delicious humans. Two, the snow had to stop. It was as if we had no say in our lives anymore. Only fate had had. We were regretting about things we didn’t do in our lives. We were discussing the things we would definitely do if we survived. At that point, it all boiled down to the most important things in our lives. Education didn’t matter, a college degree didn’t matter, a fancy title didn’t matter, a good job didn’t matter. All that was on our mind was our existence. All of us turned philosophical. Each came up with stunning phrases that only sages could come up with. It made us realize that when we remove the extraneousness, all of us are indeed spiritual. We don’t need to turn to god-men for philosophy. To understand the true essence of life, imagine oneself in the most difficult situation. It’s only in the face of adversity that we turn to God. Looking back, these things were funny. But at that moment, they seemed heartfelt. There was a tree at a short distance from us. Every 5 mins, the accumulated snow on the tree would fall on the ground with a distinct, frightening sound. We would turn on our phones’ screens aiming at the entrance of the cave to check if it was any wild animal. Not that we could have done much if it were one, but that was our primal instinct. We couldn’t sleep for 5 mins at a stretch. We just couldn’t. The thought of being mauled by a wild bear was too terrifying. We’d rather lose sleep than turn into a meal. During the night, a lizard made its way among us. We didn’t move because of 2 reasons, one-we thought it were a snake, and if we moved, it would definitely bite us. Two-we didn’t have the courage to move about. Such was our abandon. By 4, we were all awake. We couldn’t think of resting anymore (not that our anxiety made us rest anyways). We knew we made it through the night. We knew we survived the cold, snowy night. This awareness suddenly brought in the needed enthusiasm. We now knew we could make it out. No, the word isn’t could, it is would. We definitely knew we would make it. We prepared ourselves mentally to trek for the next 12 hours. Somehow, we had this self-belief that we’d get out of this mess. That was our resolution. We told each other that we were in it together. Each of us took turns in encouraging the rest with a few positive words. If we could survive the night, we could very well get out. This was the defining epiphany. Humans have a primal warrior instinct. Each of us are warriors, but it takes a battleground for us to realize it. We had realized ours. We discussed our action plan for the day. Some of us wanted to get back to the rest house, because that certainly meant that we would live. But we had drifted very far from the rest house, so it would take us the entire day just to get back. But that was the only safe bet. The other plan was to keep heading down while drifting to the left. This plan was risky, since every step we took downhill would make it exponentially that much harder to return uphill. Besides, we had seen streams flowing downhill, so there definitely was a waterfall. What if the waterfall was steep? What could we do then? That was the lingering question on everyone’s mind. If it had paid off, we would reach in a short time. If the wager fell flat, we risked our lives. There was a lot riding on the decision. We finally decided we’d risk it all and go downhill. It was 5 AM and was still snowing heavily. One guy stood up and went outside. He looked behind and told us an incredible thing that made our hearts skip a few beats. He said he saw a light, a light that was being carried across by a human. We obviously thought he was high, or hallucinating. But he insisted that was what he saw. Another person went out and echoed the same. We felt we were saved. These two started yelling, “hello bhaiya, koi hain? hello?” there was no response. Two others jumped out of the cave and joined in their yelling. There was no response. Their tone grew deeper with every passing cry. In desperation, they shouted, “please, koi hain? Bhaiya, please, koi hain?”; there was no response. It was moonlight that they saw. We sulked! Our confidence took a vicious hit. By 6 AM, the snowfall had stopped, and there was 20-25 meters visibility. We knew our day started. We didn’t want to waste any more time. This could very well be our last day. And we didn’t want to go down without a fight. We put on our shoes, stretched our muscles, and packed our stuff. We had a loooong day ahead. Before we began, we opened our last pack of biscuits. And again, as it had been throughout our journey, levity was the order of the day! The pack was aptly called “Good Day”! We took off with all of us taking turns in leading the group. At a time, 2 people would lead the rest with each looking at different paths. The rest would take the best path. Before long, we reached a point where we had to decide which direction to go. If we went uphill, we had a long trek ahead of us, but we were guaranteed a tomorrow. If we went downhill, we didn’t know what tragedy was awaiting us. We decided to gamble. We decided to go downhill and challenge the Elements. Since the snowfall stopped, the cold temperature froze the fresh snow. The snow had now compacted and was very slippery. It was very difficult to walk. The previous night, we leaped and hence covered a great deal of distance. That morning, we couldn’t take 10 consecutive steps without falling. The bitter cold also made the branches lifeless. The dead branches uprooted easily. We weren’t able to use them as support when we slipped. We uprooted scores of dead plants. The funny thing about that hill is that we imagined its shape to be an inverted-V. But in reality, it was in an inverted-U. The lower we went, the steeper the hill became, and the steeper it became, the difficult it was to retract. All around us, we could only see brown trees and white snow. The reassuring sight of brown, muddy ground eluded us. We longed to see it. We were fed up of snow. At every cliff we came across, it would only seem that 50 meters and we were safe! That was never the case. Throughout this ordeal, one thing we didn’t forget to do was to keep checking for mobile network. Suddenly, our phone picked up a signal, and immediately, we dialled 1-0-0. We just wanted to speak to a human. The voice of another human in such a distressing situation is always comforting. The first time we called, some guy picked up and didn’t answer. We called again, and this time, we spoke in the local dialect. The telephone operator misunderstood our wordings and thought we were soldiers trapped. Boy, that was funny! He called up an Army office at Delhi. This was aaaalllll going south. We were now the object of disgrace to the Army. They called us and asked us where we were. They contacted the local police and told them to begin search and rescue operations. Our rescue operation was now being directed by the Army! At about 9 AM, we found timber. Also, the snow was a little sludgy. This lit in us a spark of hope. This meant that there was human habitation somewhere close! Our joy knew no bounds! We were safe! We could at least find someone, pay him all the cash we had on us and get out! After half hour of trekking, we found a small establishment that sort of resembled a temple. Now we definitely knew we were safe. We just had to find a way to that place. But that seemed to be at least 3 hours away. We had no option but to move ahead. This sudden change of events gave us a lot of courage. Finally, at 10:30 AM, we had reached the bottom of the cliff. But there was one big problem. The bottom was flooded with water . We had to move carefully along the rivulet without tripping, because the water was freezing cold. We drank a little water to quench our thirst. We hadn’t tasted water after I threw away our only bottle the previous evening to reduce weight. After a 10 min walk, we found ourselves facing a 10 foot waterfall. It was something we expected, so this didn’t surprise us much. We were astonished that it was so small. We were so sure of our destiny that we were surprised we didn’t see a 50 meter waterfall. We crossed it extra carefully, since the rocks were slippery. I had never crossed a rivulet before. This was something new to me. We had to cross the it and go on to the other side. There were 2 rocks in it that we had to step foot on. All we had to do was place one foot on one of the rocks, place the second foot on the other, and then leap to the other side. I put my stronger foot first, then put my weaker foot on the second rock. As I took off my stronger foot and pulled to closer to my body, my shoe slipped and I fell face-first on the rock. My head just missed a pebble. That incident scared me. It suddenly drowned out all my confidence. It made all of us come out of our complacency. We took things lightly over the past half hour. But we were wrong. There were umpteen things that could still go amiss. We were focussed again. We wanted to make it out without many bruises. At 11 AM, we found a narrow path leading upwards to a small mound. One guy pointed it to us saying that it definitely led to a house. He argued that the path could have only been made by humans. We wanted to check it out. We had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. These were the enervated steps of 6 people who had looked Disaster in the eye. Not finding habitation wouldn’t have disappointed them. They would have attributed it to their fate. But now, their luck changed! They heard the bleating of sheep! And they found a house! Our first reaction was, “you must be kidding me! We made it! We made it!” We hurried to the house and asked them the way to the nearest village. It’s funny how the caste system is still prevalent in a “modern” India. The house belonged to a local priest, and he was asking us our caste to light a fire. We didn’t know how to respond. We were angry, but at the same time, we were relieved that we had found human life. Right below the mound, there was a road that led to the nearest village. The village was about 20 mins away from that place. We walked extra carefully now, realizing how stupid it would be for us to hurt ourselves after all we’ve been through. Just then, we found a villager. We asked him to click our group photo. This photo epitomised our relentless valour. 20 mins later, as we strolled into the village, people looked at us in awe. They asked us where we were coming from. And when we told them of our adventure, they all echoed in unison, “Not possible you guys are alive! You shouldn’t be alive!” Yes, we shouldn’t have made it alive. But we did. They asked us where we stayed the previous night, and when we told them of our cozy abode, they were left speechless. They told us that there was a bear in the vicinity, and just in the previous month, it had killed 3 people. That sentence left us wondering what we’d have done had the bear turned out to say hello. Or something similar. It wasn’t easy to digest that piece of news. We just stayed at a man-eater’s residence without it’s permission. That is something we will all be proud of! After we reached the village, the local convenience store told us that cops had called them asking if we reached. We called the police and they asked to meet them at a specified location. In the next half hour, our cab driver arrived and we left the village. We went there, and after a lot of questioning, they made us sign a few papers and took our addresses and phone numbers. The chief also took a photo of us all. I’m guessing he released the photo to the local media claiming he rescued 6 students. We left the place in the comfort of our air-conditioned cab. Looking back, the change of cab probably saved us since this one had a heater. 7:30 PM, we reached our hostel much to the dismay of everyone. We were ecstatic when we entered the gates of the campus. We were relieved to find that our world hadn’t changed much. We were exhilarated to see known faces. Our smile was uncontrollable. Our spoils consisted of many bruises, a lifetime of memories, and an unmatched fortitude. We had developed this rational thinking that would remain a part of our lives. This adventure renewed our faith in raw human abilities. Impossible is just a word. Unconquerable only has its place in the dictionary. We returned with the impression that everything can be tamed. In hindsight, so many things could’ve gone wrong, so many moments could’ve put an end to our lives. But fortune favours the brave, and we were witnesses to that proverb. We had seen some of the most brutal conditions. No food, no water, no light, no shelter, no fire, -20 degrees C temperature, 40 kmph winds, we braved it all. Looking back, I think the leader, inadvertently helped develop in us an indomitable spine, an invincible spirit. He helped us muster enough courage to look such disasters in the eye and still triumph. We would have quite possibly, never truly understood what exploits we were capable of. We never would have grasped our limits. This trip set the benchmark for all of our future adventures. All our trips would be measured on the basis of this episode. Whenever we faced a challenge after that, we only had to reassure ourselves, “I survived Prashar. This challenge isn’t so much of a deal”, and the problem inadvertently paled. But the real question, “Would we venture out again? Would we gamble again? Would we risk it all again just for the thrill of it?” We wouldn’t bat an eyelid before we’d say, “YOU BET!”
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 14:16:34 +0000