A days adventure

Hi fellas,

I am Nishan describing my journey on my favorite bike (the pulsar 150cc 2005 model) and sweetheart wife Ashima  as the pilion rider, from Bilaspur(Himachal Pradesh(HP)) to Bhuntar, HP a distance of 124 kms(excluding our futile attempt to reach Prashar lake around 23 kms).

            We started from Bilaspur Sainik rest house at around 1030 hrs after a small breakfast of bread and butter, along with a cup of steaming hot coffee. We started and faced a trouble about a km from our starting point that the bike’s speedometer was malfunctioning. God was gracious that we didn’t have to return and got a mechanic about 5 kms from there and got the repair done. After that the journey was smooth with a few stoppages to capture the scenic views from different spots along the way of places which you can see.

After reaching Mandi, HP around 1245hrs we were looking for the Sanink rest house as it was cheap and best. But unfortunately the rest house was under repair and so we had to think otherwise. The other best option that was suggested by Himachal Police staff was to go to Prashar Lake and to have an accommodation at the HPTDC Guest House situated there. The option was very lucrative so we jumped at it and started from Mandi after a small lunch of dahi and alloo ka parantha and a small visit to hanuman       mandir on the way side at around 1400 hrs. The route was good except for that the road was just enough for one truck to go and at places extremely steep. But to add to our worries the road bifurcated at a place differentiating the routes to Kullu and Prashar lake.

                                      

The route we took towards Prashar greeted us with a small ripple which we had to cross. Ashima was very much scared but still I managed to cross it of course not without dipping my leg up to my ankles in the cold and shivering waters. Well my anklet boots which are commonly known as fauzi boot helped me in this regard from wetting my socks. Then again after a few steep turns we had to face the same type of a even huge watery place. Both these places the ice cold water was flowing down from some ice berg towards the  river. Ashima proposed to get down and pass over a half built bridge which was being worked on. I adhered to her and let her get down. Then I passed through the watery place on my bike.

     And then she got on my bike again. But to add to our woes the road was constantly getting worse and I had a great difficulty in riding even at the speed of 20 kmph. Slowly the road turned to be a muddy path and it was even more difficult. The road went winding its way up the hill and I followed strictly. At places there were a few houses and a small stall of grocery items. We just passed them and kept going with a thrill just unawares of what was lying in wait for us in the next few turns. We just passed a very steep turn just to see ahead of us that there are even more. Seeing them Ashima commented about how risky it would be to return via these sharp turns the next day or even after. But may be God had destined something else for us. We remained gossiping and continued further till we spotted some ice on the road side and then we were even more happy to see ice and snow. Even we shouted hurrah but this happiness was just a few moments till we turned the next turn and found our way filled with snow. I was thinking it easy to drive and get past the snow. But it turned out other wise and we were compelled to get down from our bike as the tires were skidding and it was too dangerous but still I encouraged Ashima to go on saying that the ice and snow cover on the road is only for a short stretch or so. Ashima co-operated a lot and decided to walk on her own leaving me with the bike so that I could easily ride the bike over the snow with a lesser weight

       I was really grateful to her then. If it would have been the same Ashima I met in school life, she would have shown all her anger and fury at that point of time and that would have been disastrous. But thank God and Ashima that she was not the same. After a troublesome journey of around 1.5 kms I saw that the rest of the road was totally covered with snow and huge snow and ice around 1ft  or even more at places. At this certain point when I was in a fix about what to do and what not to, I just heard Ashima shouting from behind and stranded the bike there and went downhill only to see that she is talking to some localites there who were foraging for wood. I enquired and she told that the distance from that place to Prashar lake was around 9kms and during this month of January the HPTDC Guest House remains closed till 15^th of Feb and even after since the snow cover there is around 1.5 mtrs high. Hearing this we decided to return to Kullu or some place to rest since it was already 1600hrs and the sun was almost setting as it is hills. Somehow we crossed the area of snow Ashima walking and I dragging the bike through the snow when it was almost dusk the time by my watch was 1700hrs. Then started the return journey after a tiring day of biking. This was the most dangerous part because we had to go through the same road and it was not very pleasant during the day, how could it be during dusk??? But still we managed to come back and reach the place we changed route. That fateful juncture. Again we started our uphill drive but it was around 1800 hrs and here visibility was so bad I had to put my lights on. Still the steep turns ahead ran shivers down our spines and as far as the question of asking the way, the trees don’t answer and there are hardly any signboards – courtesy the HP Govt (They develop tourism most certainly) After a long way we found a milestone, which could hardly read Kullu that too with much difficulty and we were certain that we were on the right way. Then luckily we met a car parked by the road and the driver informed us that the road led to Kullu and there was no ice/snow on the road. We were damn happy hearing this since our experience with snow clad roads just a few hours ago was the most horrifying nightmare for both of us and if it happens at night I would have fainted straight away. We continued again and reached a small group of houses (around 12 at the most) named as Ropa at around 1900 hrs. Till here we saw ice on both sides of the road clearly stating that the road was cleaned only a day or two ago. But to our excitement and horror we also visualized two wild vixens crossing the road. Well that was an added gain to the night driving. Crossing Ropa we found that a man around 40 yrs of age was travelling the way we were going. We enquired into and he said he was going to Bajoura where the road met the National Highway 21. We were happy to follow the man thinking that it was God’s help, also on the other hand we were risking ourselves of theft or decoity. But the man turned out to be a good Samaritan and helped us till we reached Bajoura and told us to continue along the highway till we reached Bhuntar, the airstrip, and look for a resting place, since we won’t get a resting place other than Bhuntar. We followed the man’s instructions and reached Bhuntar around 5kms from Bajoura and found a resting place which was cheap(Samrat guest house near Bhuntar market chowk). Here we celebrated our return through the dark woods by having a sumptuous dinner and planning our trip tomorrow: Kullu a distance of 10 kms from here.