Pooh-Delhi

in morning the chaurkidaar knocked at 8am to give tea. and along with it he gave us a really scary piece of news.. very coolly with a big smile he said "ji wo badal wapas aa gaye hai.." what!!! clouds settling in again.. means it could start snowing anytime.. abbe ismein hasne ki kya baat hai...

this news like sent a wave of energy through us and we quickly jumped out of the bed. if anyone would have seen us packing and loading our stuff, it would have been like watching an animated film in fast forward. last night some people had come from Ludhiana in a jeep. they were also warming their vehicle, putting hot water on the engine to warm it and the coolant to get it started. thank god we had a better vehicle which started on the first twist of the key. quickly we left pooh by 9. the sun was out but the snow had not started to melt.
the river had also started to freeze from the top..

i was praying that we dont encounter any ascend with snow. with all this ice on the road, i was pretty sure it would be difficult to climb..

but infact it turned out to be the other way round. the tires were getting better grip on the uneven hard ice. we could hear the brittle ice crunching under the tires as we went along. on the way we saw a army soldier walking along the road.. we stopped and offered him a lift. he wanted to go till Rampur and graciously accepted.. similarly we also let a local and a middle aged man come along till Akpa. this was to ensure we had some man power incase the car got stuck somewhere. the old man wudn't be much of an help but we couldn't refuse him when he said he was not well. the locals were saying that the climb after the Akpa bridge might be tricky. so we were better prepared for it now..

initially as i drove i was a bit scared. i was all the time fighting with this feeling that at the next corner we will find a climb that we wont be able to negotiate and get stuck.. also i was praying that we dont encounter any landslides.. after driving for an hour or so, i saw that the clouds were beginning to clear..

this was good news.. also the sun was out and it got warmer.. but the road was not in that good a shape.. throughout the way it was either covered with ice or broken..

the snow covered valley..

although we did find some good stretches where the snow has been cleared but here also we had to drive carefully as there were big pieces ice on the road.. and here also there was a line of ice in the middle which scratched the irritatingly low bumper of our car..

we made good progress.. after spillo mobile networks were available and our phones started working.. i cant describe the feeling at time.. it was as if i had been cut off and now was again connected to my loved ones.. that really made me realize how important cell phones are..

more snow on the road..

now the army movement had also started and we encountered many vehicles.. one place we got stuck in this jam. there only one vehicle could pass and vehicles from both sides had created a deadlock.. but the army vehicles were equipped with 4 wheel drive and had chains on the tires. they easily drove over the ice and crossed...

but when the local vehicles tried following them, they slipped in all ways possible.. this one slipped sharply sideways and nearly banged into my car..

we also had to back our car onto the ice to give more space to these vehicles which lead to further scratches on the bumper..
then we reached Akpa.. the place were trouble was expected and were we found enough of it.. first there was a stretch of road where the snow had been cleared..

at the end of this stretch was a bridge.. just before the bridge was a huge puddle of water whose surface was frozen.. i thought i will build momentum and cross the puddle.. immediately after the puddle was a mall incline to climb the bridge which was absolutely frozen.. if i stopped on it, surely the tires will not find grip to climb further.. was i dint anticipate was that the puddle was deep and at the bottom was mud.. the car went straight into the puddle and got stuck.. no matter how much i accelerated, the tires kept on spinning in the mud and ice below.. then all our passengers and manik got out and pushed.. the car moved forward but the wheel wont climb the incline.. then some locals also came and pushed.. still no use!! finally someone got some piece of wood which was placed under the tire and everyone pushed and the car climbed up.. pheww!!! tired, everyone sat in and we crossed the bridge.. immediately after the bridge was the incline everyone had warned about.. it was under the shadow of trees so dint get much sunlight.. hence the snow here was thick and slippery.. and as expected our car again couldn't climb.. we pushed hard and it moved ahead few meters.. and then again stopped.. we definely did not have the energy to push it all the way.. and there was no dirt on the road sides to cover the snow.. with no option left, we waited.. soon a car full of locals came.. thank god.. but instead of helping us push the car forward, they pushed it to a side and drove off.. kya yaar!!! then after resting some time, we pushed again.. this time i also got down and pushed.. the car moved ahead but not much.. now we had a corner in front of us.. pushing the car up seemed impossible.. then came another car.. this time the locals helped us and we were able to push the car up the corner.. after the corner the ice was bit harder and slipping left and right, the wheels got some grip and were able to climb.. only a single lane of road was drivable.. when an another car came from the other direction, i had to literally climb on the snow to let is pass.. thank god it happened only once.. the car was skidding badly but again again due to ABS, i was able to control it.. after some time the incline ended and came a steep decline.. again the ABS was a life saver..
after some time we were stopped by a landslide.. oh no!!!

this is what i feared.. and normally landslides could take hours or even days to clear depending on their intensity.. but now luck was favoring us. it only about half an hour and we were on our way.. as we were descending it was getting very hot.. also there was less snow on the hills around.. as we reached the cut for Recong Peo

there was more water in the waterfalls now..

it was really relieving to see no sign of snow on the hills around..

the petrol pump at Powari..

now it was manik's turn to drive.. we were really relaxed.. we had cleared the snow and were finally free.. we could drive till ever where we reached that day and then leave next morning and drive home.. now joking and enjoying the drive we crossed the rest of Kinnaur.. i cant say the same about the car though.. the bad stretch near karcham was a torture for it.. and now after being stuck for so many days, we too were more worried about getting out than about the car.. many times it was hit from under and each time my heart skipped a beat..

i was so happy to have mobile network back that i couldn't stop calling people.. after my family and my office, i simply started calling people to wish them a happy new year..

after some time there was no sign on snow even on the highest peaks around.. no one could say it was snowing anywhere in this part of india.. our car, covered in mud with splashes of water, seemed odd..

another waterfall on the way..

finally we reached Rampur, our destination for the day..

at Rampur we stopped for our first meal of the day.. all the emotions had made me forget that i had not had much to each since morning.. when we finished our food, it was around 7pm. now we had to go and look for a place to stay.. as we got back into the car, this insane idea of driving home right then, came to our minds.. it seemed stupid but the thought of reaching home was tempting.. we had not eaten properly, not had bath for a week or even brushed our teeth properly.. also my father was leaving for Hyderabad next morning and i would not be able to meet him for another week.. so as much as we tried to, we couldn't prevent ourselves from succumbing to this idea.. so instead of turning towards the rampur town, we kept on driving on.. soon it was dark..

we had been told that there would be snow around Narkanda and we dint want to take any chances of getting stuck again.. so we were going to take an alternate route which would bypass Narkanda and get us straight to Shimla.. after Shimla there was no snow.. for this we took the cut for Tattpani from Kingal.. now we came on a small and lonely road.. it was totally black all around and we could only see as far as the beam of our headlights.. on one side was the rocky mountain and on the other side was the valley.. there was no one in sight and no traffic on the road.. but atleast the road was in good shape.. it had potholes but nothing which our car couldn't smoothen out.. now and then as passed a village which again were empty.. the roads..

occasionally there were jungles on the sides also.. many times i thought we were lost but there was no one to ask, so we kept on going.. a waterfall we crossed on the way..

many times we saw a fox or two cross the road.. but till i took out the camera, they ran away.. on time i managed to catch this one..

after hours of driving through the empty roads, we finally saw a sign for shimla.. ok, so we were on the right track.. then we came across a fork and took the cut marked for shimla.. the road started climbing up.. we crossed naldera and mashobra.. now there was snow visible on the sides of the road which increased as we climbed higher.. i just hoped we dont get snow on the road as it would be very tricky to negotiate in dark.. good thing was that we dint.. we took some long way and looped around shimla and finally crossed it.. now it was almost 2pm and i was starting to get really sleepy. but i dint want to sleep leaving manik driving alone, incase he too fell asleep while driving.. so i persuaded him to stop at the next hotel we saw.. we could sleep the rest of the night and restart our journey next morning.. we tried several places but couldn't get a decent hotel and in the process i fell asleep in the car itself.. when i woke up we had almost crossed the hills.. after chandigarh, i took the wheel and manik went to sleep.. in the plains, again our luck was good and we dint get any fog or traffic.. we quickly reached murthal where we stopped for a parantha dinner or actually i should say breakfast.. next stop was home.. we finally reached home and it felt so nice.. thus ended a trip which was planned for relaxing but turned out exactly the opposite.. and at the end we had an adventure we could never forget the rest of our lives..