Spiti — Part 5
Self discovery in an undiscovered land
Civilisation — here we come!
Next morning I said final goodbyes to Rubina and Sidhartha and headed to the bus stop with Sanjeev. After convincing these guys for almost half an hour they finally agreed to allocate a seat to me in the front row while Sanjeev sat behind. Awesome. The trip was finally on and I was heading back home. Sidhartha and Rubina were supposed to meet that couple around 9 or 10 at the bus stop and head to Chandra taal. Accompanying us was a really cool aunty who was actually a teacher, theatre artist and documentary maker based out of Shimla. The driver was a cool chap and we were off. I soon realised why they called this a beautiful route. The weather that day only added to it. The aunty was a talkative one but not boring at all. Sanjeev who had always been spell bounded by this part of the world could not stop marvelling. “I wish I could buy a house and live here forever” he said. “Non Himachalis can’t buy land here” I quickly pointed out. “Unless you marry a girl from Spiti” interjected the lady quickly. “Damn. I’m married” said Sanjeev and we all chuckled.
Losar
Our next stop was Losar, a tiny village famous for it’s fossils. The whole caravan comprising of 5 cars halted for breakfast. Beautiful chilly weather with light drizzle and me and Sanjeev had hot omelette and parathas with chai.
“The route ahead is way more beautiful than anything you’ve ever seen” the aunty said to us. And boy was she right.
Our next halt was Kunzum la — a pass where Spiti ended and Lahaul started. The temple of Kunzum mata at 4600m of altitude — the highest I’d been to in this trip was a sure shot stop for everyone passing through. It’s said coins thrown at the stone idol with true wishes in the heart stick. I tried but mine didn’t.
Irrespective of this disappointment the scenery around is one of the most beautiful I’ve experienced in my life. It’s truly breathtaking with snow clad peaks right in front of you. This was the first time I had seen snow. At such heights even in the month of June the snow was intact though surely melting slowly.
We halted for a quick lunch at a tiny little dhaba in the middle of nowhere. One can enjoy absolutely fresh and unlimited hot roti, sabji, rajma and rice with salad for just 80 bucks.
Soon we were descending. The road got dustier. Along the way we could see the Border Roads Organisation laying out cables and wires. The conditions they work in are only to be seen to believed and the skill with which they control their JCBs will rattle your heart. Every now and then they have to move to the very edge of the open road to make way for people like us. You quicly realise that even half an inch of wrong steering would make the JCB roll down the mountain and India’s population would be less by one.
Rohtang La
Finally as we approached Manali, we touched the famous Rohtang La — a beautiful spot that was still covered in snow. It had been raining for a while and the driver had asked us to look out for the morons who get themselves clicked in Ski suites. I mean seriously? You wear a Ski suite, stand on ice with the SRK pose and pretend to know skiing?
Manali to Delhi and Tarun
Police
After 6 days my phone was about to receive some Airtel love. And when it did I got a call in like 2 seconds. An unknown number. Interesting I said to myself. I picked it up and was greeted by an urgent voice.
Ujjwal? Kahan ho? Theek ho?
Ujjwal? Where are you? Are you ok?
What?
Abhi Manali pahucha hoon
I’ve just reached Manali
I said
Main ekdum theek hoon par aap bol kaun rahe ho?
And I’m absolutely fine but who is this?
I wondered
Main Parashar uncle bol raha hoon Bangalore se. Pehchana? Main papa ke saath 2 P&S mein tha Dilli mein. Papa ko phone kardo bahut pareshaan hain. Tumne call nahi kiya to bahut tension mein aa gaye the. Waha monastery mein bhi call kiya tha. Police dhoond rahi hai aapko Spiti mein.
I’m Parashar uncle. I’m calling from Bangalore. Remember me? I’m in the Air Force police. Please call up your father. He got very worried when you did not call up for many days. We even called up the monastery and alerted the local police. They are searching for you.
What! I just realised the call wasn’t a coincidence. My phone was being tracked for signal and they had called me up as soon as I had shown up on the radar.
Suddenly as the 3G kicked in I started getting a flood of messages from worried friends and family members and my brother Monal. I was shocked.
I spent the next hour or two contacting them back and informing that I was fine. My bua called up by chance as she was just trying out if she could reach my number and it did. By this time I was pissed. Absolutely furious at my parents for overreacting like this. My mood was off for the first time in days.
To add to this we encountered horrendous traffic. It was a Sunday and there was a huge jam. The driver told me this was routine. This was my first time in Manali and I was absolutely disgusted by the horrendous crowd there. Hoards of tourists — mostly from Delhi and Chandigarh flock in over the weekend to eat the same food they do in their homes and to chill in the crowded streets which choke the traffic and our ears.
We got down near the bus stop and I frantically left trying to find the 6:30 bus as we were late. Sanjeev decided to stay back for the night as he was supposed to meet his wife. I managed to find the bus but they absolutely refused to let me board since it was full — Sunday evening I said to myself. As I frantically tried to find another one — probably a private one — I bumped into a man trying to sell his tickets. This guy had bought 6 tickets for his family and now had to cancel them. He was selling them for the same price he had bought them for — 1300 bucks — the same I would have paid anyway in the HRTC bus. I quickly agreed and he took me and another couple to a private bus stand. The bus sucked. It was cramped and kept halting everywhere to pick passengers. Eventually it reached Delhi 5 hours late. To give me company was another 25–26 something hip hopper called Tarun who also had bought a ticket like me from the same desperate man.
Just as I settled in I received a call from Dad. I asked if we could talk a bit later as there was a lot of noise and I was just settling in. Very politely he said no. We had a brief conversation about my disapaearance. He was abslutely calm which I did not expect. I thought he would blast at me. On my part I was a little agitated as to why they had gone to such exteme steps. The anger hadn’t disappeared yet. In hindsight it was my stupidity which lead to all this. It makes you realise that while you may not love yourself, there are others who do and you mean the world to them.
Biotech
Tarun turned out to be an MBA from Nirma university — my alma mater. So we started off on that connect and chattered a bit. He was a musician who was often here to play at Israeli-only clubs. We chatted about music, he made me hear a few of his pieces and then he went on to talk about India’s great past and mythology. Then came that freak moment when he talked about this yogi they had encountered on a mountain top.
Unhone mujhe poocha pata hai duniya khatam haise hogi?
He asked me do you know how the world will end?Maine poocha kaise?
I asked how?Jis din insaan apne shareer ko badalne lagega na us din
The day humans start altering and designing their bodyYeh biotech wagera jo hai na usse khatam hogi dunidya. Bahut jald future mein hum jitna chahe utna lamba jee payenge aur apne shareer aur prakriti ko bhi design aur change karne lagenge. Yeh nature ke against hain isiliye tab nature duniya ko khatam kar degi.
This biotech stuff will end the world. Very soon in the future we’ll become immortal and also design and alter our body and nature. This is against the principle of nature and therefore nature itself will end the world.
Will I end the world I asked myself. I don’t think so. He turned out to be so self-obsessed that he never even bothered to ask what I did. He was only here to tell me that I might end this world.
How was Chandra Taal?
A few days after arriving in Delhi I pinged up Rubina about their experience in Chandra Taal.
Mann ka ho to accha, na ho to aur bhi accha
Conclusion and reflection
Overall it was the most memorable trip of my life — the kind of adventure most people usually only dream of — all because I dared to go for it at every step of the way. There were butterflies in my stomach every single day but it all turned out fine in the end. Spiti especially is an extremely safe and cheap place to wander in. I learnt a lot of life lessons, had moments of deep realisations and enlightenment especially that enlightenment is a lifelong process. It’s fuzzy and not a single point of attainment. Most importantly I had experiences that made me grow and I made some amazing friends. Sometimes it is only by going far away from the normal do we find the normality in our lives.
