Tracing the “bloodied” origins of a Himalayan river

Glimpses

If you are interested in reading about a thrilling journey where where you are one with nature, where you get to sleep under a billion stars, and get to witness the sacred yet creepy blood-red water of Rakti Nala, then go on!

 

Sainj Valley

Bidding goodbye to my family at Shimla, and after having witnessed the engineering marvels of tunnels being constructed for people to reach Manali by saving a significant amount of time, as I was standing at the Aut tunnel, seeing cars whiz past me, and waiting for the bus to take me to Sainj and further to Ropa, I was reminded of the last trip to the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), which was done in 2015, when I had introduced my son, Yuvaan, to hiking in the  Himalaya. We as a family had gone for a hike in the Tirthan valley of GHNP, which was so beautiful, it took our breath away! 

Unlike every year when This time, I had planned to hike in the Sainj valley, all by myself. It would be an understatement if I said that I didn’t miss my family while on the trek. Sainj is a parallel valley to Tirthan, and is an equally beautiful one. I had not planned the trek initially, however a coincidence led to the trek getting planned.

Coincidence

Like last year, when Bikat Adventures canceled the Bali pass trek which I had signed up for, this year also they canceled the Yunam Peak expedition that I had signed up for, with them. One fine day, I got a call from them that the pass that we need to cross to reach the base camp of Yunam hadn’t opened up yet, and is unlikely to open for the dates we signed up for, so he requested me to shift the climbing trip to different dates, which wasn’t possible for me, as I had already booked my travel.

So, with the travel dates fixed - scouting for Plan B started, and following options were considered:

•  - Kinnaur Kailash, which was supposedly closed down due to several deaths in the last year. The locals said it would be July 2nd week before the annual pilgrimage begins, when I would be able to attempt it, so that was not an option.
•  - I asked Bhushan, a friend of mine, who heads a hiking club in Pune, whether there’s any trek/expedition in that area during that time. He told me that he would be climbing Friendship peak, and I could join in with him and his team. However, a few days later, he told me that I needed to be at the base camp on the 25th itself, which wasn’t possible for me. So, that plan got canceled. 

•  - I started looking at options in the area like, Pin Parvati Pass Trek and enquired through both my contacts as well as my friend’s contacts, but there wasn’t any group going on that route, and because of very heavy late snow in the season, nobody was venturing on this trek, until the snow melted. 

As all the options were out, my exploration started, and I stumbled upon a blog by a lady who does offbeat treks, and Raktisar Glacier was one of them. As my request to connect with her on FB didn’t go through, I got the contact of a person who had organized it for her - Sharad Tyagi. A couple of calls with him to finalize my plan, and I was set to go see the origin of Sainj river in the Sainj valley of GHNP. And, it is this coincidence of me having read the blog that led me to Aut, where I was seeking a lift to go to Ropa.

Ropa

With election season at its peak, and a bollywood actress running for office against the incumbent royal family’s heir, people were running around like crazy, with the campaigning going on in full swing! A side effect of this was that all the government buses that ply to the remotest villages within GHNP were busy with the supporters campaigning for the elections, so the common citizens were left at the mercy of taxis and cabs which were charging exorbitant amounts.

 

A family stopped to give me a ride, but they didn’t have space for my backpack, so I had to let them go.

Then, fortunately, a pick up van which was transporting vegetables to Sainj stopped for me, and gave me a ride till Sainj.

 

The Sainj market was showing all the acars of the previous year’s floods, when river Sainj was so swollen, that it took with itself a couple of houses, hotels and shops on its way down.

The roof of a hotel was lying in the middle of the road, which hadn’t gotten cleared yet. I got down at the Sainj market, and stood at the intersection, looking for somebody who would take me further to Ropa. Fortunately, a guy going to Shangarh stopped, and gave me a lift.

 

Ropa is the village from where one goes towards Shangarh, or the other route goes to Niharni, where the road ends, and the trail starts. Here is where I met Sharad, who runs an outfit called Himalayan Monk Riders Association (HMRA), and organizes bike rides and treks in GHNP, especially in the Sainj valley.

The children from Ropa and Shangarh go to their school in Sainj, and everyday a bus comes down from Shangarh to pick up the kids at around 8 am in the morning and take them to school. This service is throughout the week, except on Sundays. While sipping on tea at one of the stalls, it was nice to see kids eager to get on the bus to go to school, in such a remote region. 

A very long journey which started at 4 am, all the way from Shimla to Ropa was indeed tiring, and I was dead tired by the time I reached Ropa. Upon my request, Sharad arranged a room for me for the night, so that I could get a good night’s sleep, before the trek begins the next day.

Sharad Tyagi

A very interesting person indeed, whom I met in this remote village in Ropa, where he has been running this outfit for the past ten years or so. Hailing from a place called Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, after having graduated as an electronics engineer, he joined a telecommunication company.

Bhind has always been a place famous for dacoits, as one of our relatives also had his posting in Bhind, as SP, when he joined IPS through the MP Cadre. He was responsible for nabbing multiple dreaded dacoits in that area during his posting,

Sharad, also was fearless about dacoity, which led to him having some additional perks while in the company. During those days, the company was putting up towers around a region around Bhind, where there was a fear of dacoits who may nab the company officials, and ask for ransom - which, if not provided, could lead to them killing that official. The company’s work was getting delayed, as nobody was volunteering to go and help set up the tower in that region, as the region belonged to a famous dacoit named Dadua Dakait, who was known as the “Veerappan of Bundelkhand”. He rose through the ranks of his seniors, and as of now, his son, daughter and nephew are in active politics from the UP/MP area. 

As fearless as Sharad was, he volunteered for this work, and was immediately posted to get the towers erected. He told me that a few members of Dadua also met him, and he was taken to meet with him as well.

 

In the meeting, he told Dadua that the communication would be a great help to all the locals in the region, which impressed him as well. The tower got erected, and his work was highly appreciated in the company he was working for. However, this work of going to remote places and erecting towers did another thing - Sharad got bitten by the travel bug. And, he got bit so hard that he never looked back. After this job, he got two more job offers, but he rejected both of them, and decided to quit the corporate world, to settle in the Himalaya. His family also didn’t appreciate his decision at first, but once they visited him in Ropa, they were convinced about him staying in such a serene place. He currently organizes bike tours for clients in the Himalaya, and also organizes a few treks in GHNP. He wants to facilitate outdoor activities in this region, and is also building a cottage in Shangarh, which is known for its meadows, along with a local. He operates out of a room he’s rented in Ropa, where he gets full signal, and hence stays connected to the world.

GHNP

Having visited GHNP earlier with Panki Sood, and having visited multiple national parks in the U.S., I was aware of the importance of declaring a region as a national park, as it helps save the ecology of the region. The park is a UNESCO Heritage Site, and nobody can venture into the park without a valid permit. 

During my previous trek, we had explored the Tirthan valley, and this was a great chance to explore the Sainj valley. River Sainj originates deep inside the valley, where the main river is a result of streams from 5 different locations feeding into it. SuchainGarh, Raktisar, Munda Tapra, Rala and Naina are the five glaciers/streams that feed into the main Sainj river. Raktisar is especially of interest, as this was the place where Goddess Kali had killed Raktasur, one of the fiercest demons in Hindu mythology!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shakti = Power/Strength in English

A heavy breakfast was indeed required to kickstart the trek to the first campsite called Shakti, which locals refer to as “Shaaktee”, emphasizing on the “aa” and the ending “ee”.

I remembered this was the same village, which my cousin had mentioned to me when he had visited GHNP for a birding visit, and the locals had either told him about this village, or he and his group of bird watchers had hiked up to this village, albeit from Tirthan’s side. They had come to the Sainj bird sanctuary to see the variety of birds that one gets to witness here. They had told me that this was the last village in the national park, however we realized that this is not the case. There is another village which is further than Shakti, called Maror/Marod. 

 

The trek begins at a place called Niharni, where the road ends, and the trail begins. Sharad had a Scorpio Getaway, which was used for dropping us off to Niharni, and returned back as soon as we deboarded. Rinku Rajput, a 28-year old guy from Shangarh, who was the trek guide, had done his Basic Mountaineering Course from Manali in 2017, and had undertaken multiple treks/expeditions in Himachal. He earned his B.A. in Tourism from a college in Sainj, the only one that offers a degree only in Arts, that too with limited subjects to offer. Rinku didn’t pursue higher studies, but turned to tourism/trekking/mountaineering as a guide.

He hadn’t submitted any peaks until now, but had led several treks in GHNP, and had been with Sharad for the past 6-7 years. Along with Rinku, a guy called Sunil came along, who was Rinku’s friend. Sunil had never been to the interiors of GHNP, so he took this as an opportunity to tag along and be of help to Rinku. 

In the morning, when I was having breakfast with Rinku at Ropa, and the bus from Shangarh stopped, nobody got down, which got me concerned. Rinku said, he is my friend, who will come. Within 5 minutes, a college-going kid, with a college backpack (similar to the one my son carries to his school) walked in. He had just cleared his 12th exam, and was planning on doing his B.A. from Sainj, as there wasn’t much choice in this area. Later, Rinku told me that he had asked around and nobody wanted to come along, as the next day was election day, however Sunil agreed, and here he was - a lanky fellow about whom I genuinely had doubts about him walking to the interiors of GHNP.

We reached Niharni around 10 am, and started our hike towards Shakti. At Niharni, we could see a small dam built on the river, for generating hydro-electricity. There were many dams constructed on the Sainj river before it reaches Aut, where it merges with the Tirthan river coming down from Tirthan Valley, and Beas River coming down from Kullu Valley. At first, the trail passed through tall Deodar and fig forests, which opened up once in a while for us to see the vistas around us. I realized that as the trail is going all the way up to the origin of the river, we are going to have to walk right beside the river. However, little did I realize (I was told later) that the last year’s floods had wiped out the entire trail of this trek, and we would have to make our way by carving out a new trail, in short - breaking trail by jumping over streams, boulders and sometimes, trees which had fell due to the devastation causes by the floods. 

The hike was very pretty with the trail through forests, and a small village where Rinku bought some last minute stuff, which he couldn’t get in Sainj. We walked until we reached a point where the bridge had collapsed, and locals had put in place a trolley to take people and stuff across the roaring river below.

We had to sit in the trolley and pull ourselves and our pack from one bank to the other bank. Even when I told Rinku that I’ll be able to do it myself, he had some reservations, hence he accompanied me on this ride over the river! Such was the addiction of these kids with social media that as soon as we got to the other side of the river, they started posting videos of our trolley journey on instagram and facebook!

I urged them to move ahead, as we had a lot of distance to cover, so with a little reluctance, we started walking again. The trail is intact till the village of Marod, but there’s absolutely nothing after that. On the way to Shakti, Rinku showed me electricity poles which were brought here around 6 years ago still lie strewn along the path, as nobody took this project further. With this being a UNESCO heritage site, and the world bank having monetarily invested in setting up this national park, I was told that they have to be consulted before making any changes to the infrastructure within the park. And, getting electricity to the locals is also a point of contention, as they think it would lead to the ecology getting disturbed. I felt sad for the locals for not having access to power, but at the same time felt good that this part of the Himalaya would remain as it is, with minimal human intervention, which generally tends to destroy things. 

A good lunch break consisting of Parathas which we had eaten for breakfast, and a few steep switchbacks later, we saw a tiny little village called Shugaad, perched right on the edge of a hilltop, with a few colorful homes along the trail going towards Shakti.

I saw a very well-dressed family (father, son and wife) walk past me, and it was their clothes that I felt as if they were going to some mall in a city. I was told later that they are going from their home in Shugaad to Shakti, to welcome the local deity (devta), which was highly revered in this part of the park. The deity was returning back home from outside, and there was festive atmosphere all around, as all locals from this as well as nearby villages were gathering to welcome him. 

This was one of the last places where a signal could be established, as there was connectivity for Jio customers here, no other network. So, I took this opportunity to get a hotspot, and made calls to my family, to tell them that I was doing good, and that I won’t be able to contact them for the next few days, as there was no signal inside the park. After crossing Shugaad, we were witness to some very pretty waterfalls on the way, as we meandered through the trail by the river. After crossing one last patch of pretty wildflowers along the trail, we were standing in front of the site set up by the forest department in the park - Shakti Trekker’s Hut. A guy came running towards us, and upon seeing our permit, he allowed us to camp within the premises of the forest hut. The forest guard was hosting a team of teachers from Nirmand, who were representing the election commission of India, and had come all the way to Shakti to carry out voting for the 99 voters listed among the combined villages of Shugaad, Shakti and Marod.

The school teacher of the primary school in Shakti was assisting them with the arrangements as a local representative, and 2 police personnel from the HP Police were accompanying the team. It was heartening to see the efforts being taken by the election commission of India, to ensure that no voter gets left behind, and everybody in the country gets to exercise their constitutional right.

I was reminded of similar efforts that the election commission had taken to walk all the way to the scenic village of Dumaak (last village in Chamoli District in Uttarakhand) to help people cast their votes, and Mr. Rudra Pratap Singh having helped them. After interacting with the teachers, they were happy to know that I was also a teacher in my hometown, and that I had visited Nirmand on my way to Shrikhand Mahadevlast year.

They suggested that we hike about a kilometer to see the arrangements for the voting, which was scheduled for the next day.

The primary school in Shakti had been converted into an election booth, where the village locals would come and cast their vote. I realized that the only unfortunate part in this whole deal was that the team had to (at any cost) return and report to Banjar the same day, when the voting finished. 7 am to 6 pm was the official time for the voting, and after 6 pm, they would wrap up everything by 6.30 pm, and begin their trek back from Shakti to Niharni (around 6-7 hours), where a car would be waiting for them to drive them to Banjar, which is about 50 odd kilometers, which would take them around 2 hours further. Once they reach Banjar, they would need to submit the ballot box to the officials there. I was guessing that it would be midnight before they would reach Banjar. I prayed for their safety, as I retired for the night after a good night’s meal. 

The Last Village

The election party had left early in the day, as they wanted to get the voting started.

The guard helped us charge our phones and my watch using his solar panel the previous day. We left after a heavy breakfast, and saw a group of people gathered around the school, where voting had commenced. We bid goodbye to the team, and as we walked past them, Rinku told me that the place where we were walking had about 5 homes and their farms, where people stayed.

All of that was gone, as floods ripped through the entire state of Himachal Pradesh last year. I remember, just 1 day after I returned to Pune, floods had caused mayhem in Manikaran, Mandi and Shimla, and other regions of the state. I wasn’t aware of the destruction caused in this valley, until I saw fields and houses wiped off the map by the river last year. This is where Rinku told me that the entire trail to Raktisar Glacier was obliterated by the floods, and we would have to carve our own path from here on. At Shakti, even a new bridge had been built to cross the river, as the old one had gotten swept away last year, leaving no access for people of Marod to be connected with the world.

A small miscommunication led me and Sunil to climb up to Shakti village, while Rinku waited for us at the riverbed. After about 20 minutes of hiking, we realized that we couldn’t spot Rinku, who was leading, and the next moment we heard shouts from below, where Rinku was calling us out to descend and follow him.

 

This small hike, however, gave us a great opportunity to see the Shakti village, its small deity, and the valley that opened up in front of us towards Niharni.

Once we descended, we crossed the bridge over to the other side of the river, and met a lady walking all alone towards us. I asked her, and she told me she’s from Marod, and that she walked 6 km from Marod to Shakti, to cast her precious vote!

On the way, we met more people from Marod village who were heading to Shakti, to vote for their preferred candidate. For the Lok Sabha seat of Mandi going to polls, an actress (Kangana Ranawat) was challenging the erstwhile king of the state and 6-times chief minister’s son in a fierce battle that ensued. Upon speaking with them, the people were unsure of the candidates in the race, pretty much like everywhere else in India. 

We all were hungry, so we had our packed lunch at Marod, after yet again crossing over to the other side of the river. Little did I realize that this was going to be the last fully-constructed bridge that we would be crossing over, for the next week or so, and we will have to make do with whatever is left over of the bridges which got swept away last year. Marod also boasts of a forest hut, albeit it was completely abandoned and in a poor state. But, the village was lively, with kids running around, a beautifully constructed temple and most of the elders gone to their fields, or to vote. 

Once we left Marod for Krechar Thach, we were basically just boulder-hopping.

This boulder hopping was interspersed with bushwhacking, when we had to hike up from the riverbed, as there wasn’t any place to navigate the waters on the banks, or we had to jump over fast flowing currents, as there was no other way around.

The route just wasn’t there, and we had to wade through all sorts of terrains (climbing trees, slithering below fallen trees, avoiding thorns, jumping across rocks, etc.) to reach Krechar Thach. Upon reaching Krechar Thach, which is a small-sized meadow, with the river flowing below it at a distance. At the back of our campsite was an extremely folded version of the Himalayan wall, which reminded me of my colleague, Dr. Rahul Joshi, who would’ve definitely taken a day to explain the intricate details of the geology that we witnessed there.

During Panch-kedar also, me and Rajib remembered him when we saw something interesting during our hike. Post dinner, which consisted of simple Roti and Daal, but followed by a single piece of Gulabjamun, I dozed off, while Rinku took some splendid photos of the night sky, with our tents glowing with our headlamps, from inside.

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty Meadows and Bifurcation Point

The morning sun shone on the campsite, as we woke up to the constant roar of the river beside us.

Sitting outside the tent, sipping on the tea, and writing my blog while birds chirped around, a river gushed below, and the wind flapped against my tent outer - it was truly peaceful at this campsite. The campsite looked really pretty from far away, where I had gone for nature’s call. It felt like one should just sit there, do nothing and embrace nature. 

As soon as we left the campsite, we descended into the riverbed, and started finding our way. There were many places where we had to take a leap of faith across the stream flowing down from the high mountains. The devastation caused by the floods in the previous year was evident when we looked back to the place we came from - it was nothing but rubble of rocks, sand, boulders, and trees, which had gotten swept down when the entire side of a mountain got washed out. We stopped sometimes for a break, we drank water from the river whenever we were thirsty, and had our packed lunch when we got hungry. 

On the way to Rakti Col, there was a place where we saw cows and buffaloes grazing, and I wondered - who the hell is grazing their cattle here? I was told that the villagers from Marod leave their cattle for a few months up here, and come pick them up just before the onset of winter. They graze and relax here in the summer months.

 

Also, this place where they are left for the summer was a place where Marod villagers owned land, and they grew their stuff here. I was surprised that about 3 km away from home, people would come and do agriculture. Within some time of passing the agriculture place, we had a thrilling experience of crossing what was left of a bridge, once upon a time.

The horizontal ledges on the bridge were all gone, and we had to cross it on all fours, ensuring that we don’t slip and fall in the stream, as the wood was wet and slippery, due to constant exposure to water. We had to be ultra-careful, and once done, there was a steep climb up the side of the forest on the riverbank, before the forest opened up in one of the most beautiful meadows I had ever seen - Parkachi Thach. 

As we exit the forest, and enter the meadow, one trail goes to the left, towards a forest hut which has been constructed by the forest department, for hikers and the likes to rest and take shelter for the night. However, we could see that it was also not in the greatest of conditions, as there was no door, and a few windows were missing. As hunger had overtaken our stomachs, we decided to take a halt at the other end of the meadow. And, I must say, the bright blue sky, with a few picture perfect clouds, lush green meadow with a trail coming out of the forest, and the forest rest house on one corner of the mountain - it was nothing less than a painting. And what better place to have lunch with this kind of view in front of you.

 

As the next campsite was quite close, we rested a bit over here, before we moved further. However, when we started moving ahead, we noticed two things - one was bear shit - which was kind of scary, as Rinku told us that the bear had passed from here this morning.

And, the second was a lonely guy, who was all by himself, looking for medicinal plants in the mountains.

 

This was my first encounter with a guy and little did I know that I would be seeing hordes of men and women during my return journey, who go up in the mountains to look for “Jadibooti”, which means medicinal plants/herbs, which fetch them a very high rate in the market. Of course it’s illegal to go and fetch these to sell it, hence all this business takes place through a black market, where the system of buyers and sellers is quite fixed. Among the 50 off people that we may have met/encountered during our hike back, Rinku knew about 90% of them, which told me that Rinku was a popular guy in that region. I jokingly told him to run for office after 5 years, as he had a very good public connect. 

About an hour later, we reached a place where I saw a makeshift temple of Kali Mata, constructed by locals. It was constructed by piling up stones on top of each other, with multiple faces of the goddess that adorned the space that was created in the hollow of the rocks that were piled up together.

 

And, right besides this temple was a small area beneath a massive tree, where we were supposed to camp for the night. The tree had an ominous looking part, which looked as if a person/owl was staring at you. There was hardly any space for camping there, but we managed to pitch two tents in that space. While Rinku was preparing the dinner, I sat on the rocks to write my blog. 

Tea was followed by an early dinner, as we usually sleep early in the mountains. So, after the dinner was done, I was just looking at the sun setting down, with the clouds and mountain ranges in front of me.

 

The interplay of clouds and sun with light peeking through different corners of the clouds was a fantastic display, but nothing could match the colors we got to see when the sun was finally setting behind the mountain ranges, and the color of the sky turning from blue to orange to yellow was a slow yet surreal display of gods’ magic - a treat to the eyes! 

This campsite of Rakti Col, nestled below a tree, right next to a temple, gave us the most spectacular show that I had ever seen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right outta “Lord of the Rings”

Rakti Col is the diversion where people go west towards Raktisar Glacier, or can move further north towards Rala and Munda Tapra. Naina peak is visible to us to the east, where a separate trek is also arranged within GHNP. 

The beautiful morning sun was fresh enough to let all our tiredness go away, so we broke camp, had our breakfast, freshened up in the stream flowing down from Raktisar, and began our hike by moving towards Raktisar Glacier. As soon as we took the turn towards Raktisar, Rinku showed me the forest hut that was built by the forest department for the Naina peak trek, and where trekkers sometimes take refuge. 

The hike from Rakti Col to the Raktisar campsite was interesting. I was told by Rinku that people don’t camp near the glacier, but way before that, and that too under a huge rock, in a natural cave that has been made by nature. Also, along the way, as much as there was no trace of any trail, there were multiple places where remnants of a glacier remained, and which needed to be crossed with utmost caution, as its snout was wide open, with a forceful stream gushing out from inside. 

Since the time we had begun the trek, it hadn’t rained, so today was that day! Within two hour’s time of us having started from Rakti Col, it started raining, and before we knew it - it started pouring. So, in a hurried manner, we looked around, and found a natural cave which had gotten formed due to a huge bounder which had come down from the side of the mountain.

 

 

The space that remained was enough for 5-10 people to sit and relax. So, immediately we took shelter, and Rinku set out to look for how far is the campsite, where we would be camping for the night. As the rain didn’t show any chances of slowing down, the temperature dropped immediately, so I and Sunil collected whatever wood we could find around the cave, and lit a fire in the cave. Rinku returned, telling us that the camp should be about an hour from where we had taken shelter, so it was ok if we waited for a bit and started when the rains subsided. However, to our dismay, the rains didn’t stop, so we had to take a call of leaving this cave and head to the campsite in rain gear. And, lo and behold, as soon as we started, the rain gods got pleased, and the rains subsided to a bare minimum.

 

Jumping over rocks was becoming a headache, with the rocks completely wet due to the rains. They had gotten super slippery, and as I had a dilemma while walking on the river bed, it was getting difficult to walk with my hiking sticks in my hand. So, I put them aside, and used my judgement to navigate through the mix of rocks, snow and trails which lay in front of me. 

About an hour later, we made it to the campsite after crossing yet another bridge, however this one was much better, if not completely intact. The campsite was basically a cave with three “rooms”, and a place to pitch your tent, if required. The “rooms”, were sections of the cave which had hay and dried grass strewn all over, for people to sleep on. Many times, when cattle herders come to these high altitudes, they use these caves as a shelter. Rinku asked me if I would like to sleep in the cave, but I preferred the tent, so we pitched the tent in front of the cave.

The rains started again, and we huddled inside the cave, when Rinku got to making tea. 

The view I saw outside was unbelievable - clouds had descended onto the jagged peaks that jutted out from the valley, soaring into the sky. It looked like a scene right out of the “Lord of the Rings” movie where one got to see some seriously unrealistic locales, wondering if they were for real, or created by VFX. One thing I can say for sure that this was real, and it was god up there who was designing the VFX moments throughout this trek. To add to this masterpiece in front of us, Rinku made some papad and popcorn, which couldn’t have been better. 

We were wondering how it would look, if all the clouds parted, and we got a sneak peek at the mountains being shrouded by the clouds. Rinku was telling us that it was very pretty up there, and we may have to walk about 4-5 km to reach Raktisar glacier. Having pitched the tent, we all were chatting up about people at Rinku’s and Sunil’s homes, their parents, siblings and I learnt how simple lives these people in the mountains live.

 

Rinku shared with me about the variety of clients he has traveled and hiked with, while Sunil told me about how he had 2 German Shephard dogs at home, and one of them died due to a disease. His family did everything possible to save his life, but in these remote places, a vet is also very hard to come by, and despite having taken the dog all the way to Mandi, where the doctor lived, the dog couldn’t make it.

Rinku mentioned to me how his brother is working hard in a restaurant in Manali, a job which is not really paying him that well. How a lot of kids in his village want to do the Basic and other courses from “the institute”, which is the Manali Mountaineering Institute, but nobody ends up doing it, as they don’t see themselves guiding clients - for whatever reasons. So, in short - even looking at the plans which Sunil had (which were not certain yet), there wasn’t much of a choice that kids had in this part of the country, unless of course you leave your region, go out and explore, meet other people, see what they do, learn about other choices, take some risks and then make it big over there. Like the lady whom I traveled with, on my ride to Aut, her son had done his engineering from Sundernagar (not far from Kullu), but he did take that leap of faith, which helped him carve out a career for himself as an engineer in the Indian Army! But, it’s easier said than done. Most of the people are comfortable in their own homes, and that is what makes them complacent. I advised Sunil to consider making some such choices, so that life not only improves for him, but for all around him, including his family. Whether he will do it or not, is however, entirely dependent upon him, but the teacher in me woke up, when I advised him about the various choices out there. 

So engrossed were we in these discussions that we didn’t realize that the clouds had parted and the entire vista opened up in front of our eyes. It was like a feast, with snowclad mountains touching the skies, and green pastures at their feet along with sacred streams flowing out. The skies opened up, and it was pretty blue everywhere.

I soaked in the beauty for a while, and then went and sat in my tent. It was indeed difficult to pen down words for what I was witnessing in front of my eyes. 

The view of the mountains, framed by my tent’s profile, was just too good. I just sat there, spellbound, gazing at the sun slowly setting, and the peaks turning from bright white to orange to pink to light yellow, before night engulfed the peaks in its darkness, and shared with us millions of stars that shone upon us. Rinku had a Google Pixel phone which he used for capturing the night shots. I tried with my phone but the shutter of my phone won’t remain open, while the shots that he took were just fantastic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blood-red waters of Rakti Naala at Raktisar Glacier

We anticipated that as the skies had cleared up, the next day, we would get good weather for us to hike up to Rakstisar glacier. However, when I woke up and opened the zip of my tent, I saw clouds all over, hovering over the peaks in front of me. There were clouds even behind me, in the valley that we came up from. I just prayed to god that - Let there be sunlight, so that we can hike up to the place we had intended to go. 

After having a sumptuous breakfast, we decided to take a call to go forward, and see what happens.

At the most, we would get wet in the rains, nothing more was going to happen. So, we set off from the campsite in the hope that the sun would shine on us, and we would be able to witness the miracle that was awaiting us at Raktisar glacier. And, to our surprise, within no time, the clouds parted, and the sun started shining brightly on us. All of a sudden, hiking beside the river was much more enjoyable, as the water that flowed past us was glistening as the sun rays hit it, and the white froth of the gushing waters added to the beauty of it. Within an hour of our hike, we saw that the riverbed had widened, and that we couldn’t walk besides the river, so we had to hike up a steep slope, and to our surprise, there was a huge green meadow we came up to. It was so nice to walk on the grass, with the river way down below. Also, as the clouds slowly gave way to the beauty around us, we all could witness towering peaks around us, most of which were unclimbed. I thought - there was so much potential to camp here and climb all these peaks!

On one corner of this meadow, Rinku showed me one of the herbs which fetched a high price in the market - called Lehsun-Jadi, which in English would mean Garlic-root.

This was shaped like a garlic, and Rinku told me that in order to fetch a higher price on this root, it is better to have this grow a little taller, as the “matured” root is much more valuable.

However, as everybody is in a hurry to make money, they end up harvesting these roots way before they mature, and end up getting a much lower price for the same. This was evident from the discussions we had with a few of Rinku’s friends whom we met on our way down, who were eager to go and pick all the roots that they could find, as their mindset is - if they don’t harvest them, somebody else will, and they don’t want to lose out! 

Right after the meadow, we came across a pile of stones which was converted into a Shiva temple, with a trident jutting out into the air. The picture of the trident with the valley behind was spectacular. Right after this brief encounter with god on the way, we had to again descend down to the river (which had become a rivulet/tributary by now), and cross it, as Rinku showed me from far the moraine hump beyond which lay the Raktisar glacier and the Rakti Naala. This descent, stream crossing and going to the other side involved a bit of bushwhacking, as there was absolutely no trail there. It was great that Rinku knew about the exact location, as it is very easy to get disoriented and get lost among the huge glacier walls and multiple ridges coming down from the mountains. 

Once we crossed the stream, we could see the expanse of the Raktisar glacier in front of us.

More than a glacier, it was an icefall, where the glacier had broken down into huge seracs, due to the inclination of the mountain slope. Rinku told me further that the “sar” in “Raktisar” meant a “lake”, which used to exist here at the base of the glacier. A few decades ago (according to his ancestors), this lake got completely dried up, as one end of the lake broke apart, and all water flowed down the valley into Sainj river. We could see the dried up lake, as well as the famous “Rakti Naala”, with “blood-red” water running through it. It was so spooky and creepy that I had to go down and take a look at it by myself. While Rinku and Sunil were busy making reels for their instagram account, I walked by the stream coming down from the glacier, and joining the Rakti Naala. It was surprising to see fresh white water coming down into the Naala, where it merged with the blood-red waters of the Naala. Local folks recite a story that this was the place where Raktasur (Raktabija) was killed by Goddess Kali, and hence the entire water in the Rakti Naala is blood-red. Raktabija, a demon, got a boon from lord Shiva that each drop of his that will fall on earth will lead to the incarnation of another Raktabija, like him. So, in a battle with Goddess Durga, when she beheaded the demon, it was Goddess Kali who drank all the blood of the demon, thereby not letting it fall on the ground. There is enough literature on the web regarding this. 

I sat down next to the Naala, and took a few photos, before picking up one of the stones. It was shocking to see that the water wasn’t red in color, but it was something that was binding the rocks with a red color. In fact, when I picked up the stone, the red stuff, which was quite viscous in nature, peeled off of the stone, and my fingers got red.

This is exactly when I thought it to be extremely creepy, as it actually felt like blood on my hands. The viscosity and the texture of that color was very close to blood, and I can vouch for this, as I’ve felt blood on my hand, having donated it multiple times in my life.

Of course people who reason, who are devout followers of Science won’t accept such superstitious explanations, so possible alternative explanations to this were that this could be because of a mineral like iron, which gives off a red color, and makes water turn red, or there could be a certain type of algae/bacteria, which had led to this color being in the waters. 

As much as I am a firm proponent of Science (being an engineering faculty myself), I am also of the firm belief that there are things which are beyond Science, and can’t be explained by Science. This was evident from the experiences that I had during both the Panch-Kedar and the Shrikhand Mahadev treks in the past. And, furthermore, if it would’ve been a Geological phenomenon of the presence of iron, then why wasn’t the iron seen at other places nearby? What prevented the other streams or the river from getting the red color? Also, as far as I could see, I never saw any kind of algae or bacteria in the waters, which may have given it the red color. The water was very clear, and the stones had a red coating over it, which got washed away once you dip and clean the rock in water. Baffled and amazed at the same time, I spent the next few minutes close to this water, thinking over my decision to take one of these stones to my home, back in Pune. I asked myself - do I want to take home a stone which is soaked in the blood of a demon? And the obvious answer was - No! As stupid as it may sound to people sitting comfortably in their respective homes while reading this, over there - it was very creepy. That place, where you see these towering snow-clad mountains around you, a huge glacier feeding fresh white water into what becomes river Sainj, nobody around except the other two guys, and this Rakti Naala, where you have blood-red water flowing - you DO become superstitious and decide on certain things. And, I decided NOT to get that stone from there back home, as it may bring bad luck along with it. 

I looked up, and before we knew, the sun had gone, and clouds had started coming in from all directions. Looking at the rate of the incoming clouds, I felt that it was going to pour at that very moment, but I guess I was wrong.

 

It would be a while before it started raining. We took a last view of the Raktisar glacier, made a small video for remembrance sake, took a few photos, and started our journey back to the camp. We walked back briskly, so as to avoid getting caught in the rains, and getting wet. However, this pace was hindered when we met a couple of guys who were Rinku’s friends, who had come for harvesting the medicinal herbs/roots in this region. They had gotten ration worth a month or so, and were intending to stay put in this region for about 2 months before the rains intensified. This was just the first group of people we met on our way back, and I was shocked to see similar groups coming our way, who wanted to make a quick buck by harvesting these herbs found high in the mountains, with many of these groups consisting of females also. In fact, there were a few groups which didn’t know which route to take, so, instead of crossing over to this side of the valley before Marod, they continued straight into the jungle, and called us from that side of the river asking where the bridge was - which was long demolished last year! So, in short - one tends to see and experience fools everywhere, albeit here, there is a chance to lose your life, if you get on the wrong side of nature. 

We reached our campsite around noon after which we had lunch, broke our camp, and set for the Rakti Col campsite.

While on the return journey from Raktisar glacier, I slipped and banged my knee at least 5 times - that too, at the same place.

This made me limp a bit on my return journey to the Rakti Col campsite, as the bruises on the knees and my forearm were kind of itching continuously. We made camp as soon as we reached, but had to face another horror at the campsite. Rinku told me that there’s been a goat slaughter that was done at the campsite, for the Goddess at the campsite. We could see blood running over the rocks we were sitting on, and near the temple, we could see pools of blood. I always wondered, why such traditions continue, where harmless animals are killed in the name of sacrifice to the gods. However, as I say, I am nobody to go out there with a mission to change the world, so I kept my views to myself, thinking they might hurt these two guys who are from the local community, where following such traditions is a ritual, followed over ages. 

 

Post dinner, a very unique thing happened. Rinku said we have Gulab Jamun for dessert, but as soon as he put them on the burner for thawing, it started to rain. So, as they took shelter, I went inside my tent. And, within 5 minutes, I was served 1 whole Gulab Jamun in a bowl.

Having seen both of them eat their respective sweets at an earlier campsite, instead of gobbling up the entire Gulab Jamun in one go, I followed in their footsteps, and cut the single small piece of Gulab Jamun into 10 pieces, and ate each of those small pieces taking my own sweet time. Both the guys had agreed that when there’s ample to eat, one eats a single Gulab Jamun in a single bite, however, when there’s only one to eat then it’s better to derive satisfaction from each bite! Talk about delayed gratification - this was the ultimate example!

Crossing “the” bridge again!

Hiking out of the Rakti Col campsite, we met many people on the way. While we were having our breakfast, a group walked in, with a lot of load on their back, which I was wondering how they carry. But, with plans of staying up in the mountains for about two months, one needs to be properly equipped, at least when it comes to food. On our way, we had to cross the treacherous bridge one more time before we set our foot onto Parkachi Thach, and hike towards Krechad Thach. 

The water below the bridge had gotten even faster, as it was later in the day, and a whole lot of snow must’ve melted up there in the mountains. We all took turns crossing the bridge with utmost caution, as we didn’t want any accident to happen on the return, which is the most common thing that happens on any trek/expedition. 

We reached Krechad Thach on time to light a fire, and roast the parathas that we had made for our packed lunch on it. Once crisp, we hogged on them, as we all were terribly hungry.

As we were eating, we could see a few figures walking towards us. One by one, the figures got bigger and they walked towards us. As expected, everybody knew Rinku, who was greeting them personally by name. We treated them with tea and after they left our campsite to go set up camp at Parkachi Thach. Upon them leaving Rinku was told something that validated the faith in me that things are never going to change.

He told me that all the people in the group belonged to a certain caste, but one of them was from a lower caste, and how are these guys going to stay together for a month or two, up in the mountains. Upon further prodding, he told me that the upper caste people won’t even have meals with the lower caste person, so he wondered how they are going to stay together in one hut/tent. This system of caste has gotten so ingrained among Indians that even in harsh conditions where a human should be treated as a human - they don’t! I truly feel, this is the shackle that’s holding back our country’s progress and prosperity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, he even told me that irrespective of caste, any outsider is not allowed inside a local person’s home. It felt very strange that in all other parts of the nation, usually people are welcoming to outsiders, and would likely serve them tea and snacks, if somebody visited. However, in this part of the country, if an outsider walks in, inside the home of a local, they will have to “cleanse” the entire home and its surroundings, probably by sacrificing a goat or something.

It so happened in Rinku’s place that Sharad was visiting his village, and by mistake he entered Rinku’s home. According to the traditions, the God that resides inside the home gets insulted if any other caste member comes inside. Although Sharad belonged to a Brahmin community/caste, still everybody considers it to be a sin that’s committed, and Rinku and his family had to sacrifice a goat and please the god, before any other ritual is undertaken within the home. It was very strange, but it was true! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing and interacting with locals

The weather was nice, as we left Krecher Thach towards our last camp - Shakti. Crossing the fields where people from the last village, Marod harvest their pulses and rice, I was happy to see houses on the horizon, after about a week in the high mountains. I never realized but we are so used to having people around us all the time that it feels odd when you are alone all the time, that too in a remote mountain campsite. 

As we entered the village, we saw people from the village reinforcing one of the bridges near the village, and making it ready for the monsoon season, which was almost here. The river can get really destructive during monsoons, and if the bridge doesn’t hold itself well, then the village is cut off from the rest of the world till the river subsides. As we hiked up to the village, we saw small kids playing, running around fields.

It was nice to see them engrossed in their playing, without being attracted to digital accessories, which adorn the hands of kids of similar age in urban cities. While two of them were running around, an active kid was climbing up trees and jumping from there. I was a bit worried that if he falls down and hits his head, it could be serious. Rinku assured me that this is how the kids grow up here, and that I need not worry. 

As per the instructions given, I dared not even ask if I could come inside the home of one of Rinku’s relatives, where he took our phones for a quick recharge, as all our power banks had lost their juice. We needed power for another day in Shakti before we could hike out of GHNP the next day to Niharni, to get to Ropa, from where we could go to our respective homes. 

Ensuring that we had enough charge, we hiked towards Shakti on the trail that was there for us. It felt good to hike on a proper trail, as opposed to the usual jumping around on the riverbed boulders. I took the lead, and paced myself up, so that we reached Shakti in time, and got some rest. 

When we reached Shakti, I saw a couple of students playing Volleyball, as it was school time. They were on a break, and while the guys played, the girls were engrossed in some discussions pertaining to their studies. After playing with the kids for a while, I tried talking to them by telling them that I was also a teacher, but they were too shy to speak to me.

One of the girls had a decent command over English, so I was asking her questions in English, to which she initially responded, but later shied away like the other girls. The guy sitting at the back was a bit comfortable speaking to me, so I had a good conversation with him.

I was told by the teacher that half of these students walk from Marod to Shakti, for school purposes. That’s about 5-6 km one-way, through the forest. My utmost respect went out to each one of these students who walk around 12 km each day, with the sole purpose of learning. I prayed to god that they get to finish school and choose a profession which would help their families financially, as they have to break out of the cycle of staying in the village and being completely dependent upon farming.

We camped at the same place where we had camped while going inside the national park. However, this time there wasn’t anybody, so the entire forest area was for us to use. The guard had locked up all the rooms but it was nice to have running water just beside the campsite, so that we could go fill up our bottles whenever required, and it also helped us freshen up after a week in the mountains.  

 

It was a good feeling to freshen up, if not take a bath in the running water. We relaxed for the entire day in our tents, had a nice cup of tea in the evening, followed by an early dinner, as the next day was going to be a long one. 

Back to civilization

We left early in the morning. However, as we were exiting the forest campsite, we saw a person coming in with a board on his back.

We were surprised to see him getting an updated board for hikers in the GHNP. He told us that more boards are on the way, and we can also see some of them already installed while we hike out to Niharni. It was amazing what all can happen in a span of 7 days.

When we entered the park, there was absolutely no sign or boards anywhere, and if one was alone, he/she could easily get lost, as there wasn’t any trail anywhere. However, within the last week, suddenly there were boards everywhere along the route, which would greatly assist hikers in the area to know the directions they need to take to reach the next campsite. I also saw the board of a place called Denga, where the Sainj Wildlife Sanctuary begins, and where a lot of birdwatchers come to see multiple species of birds native to this region. Then, there was also a village on the top of the mountain called Majhan, for which we had to take a diversion from the normal trail, which goes towards Shugaad, and hike up 5 km, to reach this village. Rinku told me that this is the only village where one gets full connectivity, as a new tower has been installed near that village. People living in urbanized cities can only imagine what it takes to walk around 5 km to get decent phone connectivity, as well as the efforts it takes to walk around 15 km to reach Niharni, then to Ropa and then to Sainj - just to buy your regular groceries! In my heart, I saluted these local people who undertake such efforts! 

Just before reaching Niharni, we saw some forest huts on the other side of the river, and sadly enough, we saw two pipes from the huts going into the river. Rinku told me that all the waste and drainage of the people living in these huts is getting mixed in the river below, on which so many people downstream are dependent. Instead of setting an example for others, if the forest department themselves are behaving in such a manner, then what can we expect from common citizens? 

A little further from the forest houses, we saw a couple of people coming towards us with some stuff on a mule, and some on their backs. One of them was carrying a mattress on his back, which was strapped on his body. He was going to either Shakti or Marod, so that he and his family members could get a good night’s sleep at night!

A turn away from these locals who were toiling to get basic necessities to their loved ones, and I could see the Niharni dam, which was the first of the many dams built on Sainj river. As there wasn’t any car waiting for us at Niharni, we walked to the dam wall, and found a guy who agreed to drop us off till Ropa.

Sharad wasn’t there at his room, as he had gone to run some errands in Rayla, a small village enroute to this Ropa. I just picked up my stuff, bid goodbye to both Rinku and Sunil, and took the same cab, who dropped me off at Aut, where I immediately got into a bus to Mandi. At Mandi, I got to know that there's a terrible traffic jam enroute to Chandigarh, so I followed my usual rule - hopping onto whichever bus is going further south, and keep on moving. A bus to Bilaspur stopped at Sundernagar, where I called my friend from Shrikhand Mahadev, Mahi, who was a bit caught up with some visitors at his place. A pretty long wait at the Bilaspur bus stand led to frustration, as I was very tired, having walked almost 16 km from Shakti to Niharni, which was followed by this long journey. Finally, the bus that had left Mandi all the way to Chandigarh came about and I got a place to stand next to the conductor, with my backpack at my feet.

Half of the journey was in standing mode, but then at Kiratput Sahib, a large crowd got down and I got a place to sit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner was just a packet of biscuit and a soft drink, which was enough to help me doze off while waiting for the bus to stop at the bus stand in Chandigarh. It was at around 12 am, that I finally entered Usha Didi’s home, where she and Sourabh Bhaiya welcomed me with a warm smile and a hug, before I took a shower, and had a wonderful sumptuous dinner at 1 am!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Company

I’ve been hiking alone for the past couple of years, on and off. Many a times, there is at least somebody with you, for e.g. I had my colleagues and friends during Panch Kedar, and I made new friends during Shrikhand Mahadev. 

 

 

However, on this trek, I had two guys with me who were both from Shangarh. They had known each other for a few years, and it was just a casual conversation with Rinku which had made Sunil come along, as he had never seen Raktisar Glacier, about which he had heard multiple times, from multiple people. 

Right from the first day, this led to them talking to each other about pretty much everything under the sun, right from stuff in their home village to the weather, and the absence of a trail where we were hiking. Once in a while, they would ask me a question to which I would answer in short or long, depending on the question. I could see that many times I was just needing to talk with somebody, however there was nobody around, not even a soul! 

I missed talking about the beautiful nature around us, and sharing the wonderful experience that we all were undergoing on the trek, as we hiked along the river. The first two days, I felt as if I needed to have some company by my side, but there were a lot more days to go, so what should I do? 

 

After two days, I found company. I realized that I had gotten a writing pad with me, which I started using to write this blog whenever I got time after reaching the campsite, or before leaving the campsite, in the mornings while sipping on tea.

The moment I realized that I could talk to somebody, i.e. my writing pad, I was at peace. I used to sit down either in the tent, or somewhere close-by, and keep on writing till it was time to move, or to have tea or dinner. The calming effect that the writing had on me was remarkable, as I was able to share and discuss my feelings with somebody. I remember feeling like this during the Chamser Kangri expedition, when the loneliness was amplified by the extremely barren surroundings of the region. However, this wasn’t that bad, but I surely felt that it was time that whenever I plan my next mountain trip, I have some human company, along with that of the billions of stars up there!

 

 

 

 

 

Images

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