It is the third time our car has almost missed skidding down below into the gaping Kullu valley. Brown mountains capped with snow surround us and there are dark clouds in the sky. The road has become slushy in places and is mostly gravel. We are on the road across the Rohtang Pass and it?s freezing cold. It was 4 am when we started our ascent from Manali. We were on our way to Chattru, the mid-way point between Kunzum La and Rohtang. This was the place where we were supposed to catch the cars and motorbikes participating in the Maruti Suzuki ?Raid de Himalaya?, or the Himalayan car and bike rally which has been an annual feature for nine years now.
We had to start three hours before the rally as no one is allowed on the tracks an hour before it commences. Now we can be back on those tracks once the rally drivers have zoomed past. The drivers were to drive through the Rohtang Pass area in the second leg of the rally from Manali to Kaza. And, they would, pass through Rohtang Pass, Gramphoo, Chattru, Batal Kunzum La, Losar and Pangmo-Rong Tong.
The earlier leg between Shimla to Manali via the Old Hindustan Tibet Road had already taken its toll on the drivers. Of the 120 vehicles flagged off from Shimla, only 79 were to participate the next day. The white mist visible atop the mountain ranges, certifying the presence of snow at higher altitudes, had done enough to keep the faint hearted away. But being among the brave hearts, we crept up the mountains in the middle of the night, deciding to take on whatever that was to be.
So here we were trying to cross the ?pile of corpses? or Rohtang Pass as translated into local language. In fact, Manali in the age of Kullu?s hill rulers, was called Kulanthapitha, meaning ?the end of the habitable world.? However, in the summers, between the months of March to September, when the pass is open, it is of immense importance to traffic. It is the only route into Lahaul and Spiti valleys from the Kullu district. There are other routes that come from Kashmir and through Leh to reach Lahaul and through Kinnaur to reach Spiti, but they are too long and complicated.
But for now, in early October, we had indeed left the habitable world far behind. We get back into the car when we can take the cold no longer. Our driver is a local and is confident of driving in the snow which had just started a while ago. He says he is certain that he can get us safely to Chattru, the next pit stop. We realise there is no other option than doing what he says, that is to ride ahead. Finally, we start descending and after another one hour of an on-the-edge drive, we hit level ground and reach Chattru just in time to beat the snow blizzard.
The pit stop is nothing more than two small shacks serving tea, paranthas, egg and bread. I don?t think we could have cared more for manna from heaven at that time. As we warm our hands around a teacup, the rally?s official car receives news that members of our team have not been able to pass Rohtang and the rally may be cancelled. The snow starts again and we realise that we face the prospect of being cut off in the area without any contact with the outside world (the phones had conked off a long time back), food or clothes. We start to panic and frantically begin searching for a phone. The search leads us to the house of Suresh Sood, a hotelier from Kullu, who has somehow managed to set up a 50-acre farm in the area and grows potatoes and other crops. In his free time, he also serves as the local doctor and problem shooter.
He also has the only working phone in the 140-km stretch. It is a satellite phone, he informs us. ?I have had to fight the government for six years to install it. This is the only link for the 70-75 odd villagers and me to the outside world.? Sood comes here every summer. He speaks with erudition and is a former Doon School alumni. What is he doing in the wilderness, we ask him. ?This is my ancestral land and I am taking care of the people around,? he says.
As we wait for the phone lines to connect, he hospitably invites us in for a cup of coffee. We learn that the snow is bad, but that the rally may be flagged off soon, as it is showing signs of stopping. We rush down anticipating the rally cars and other team members. And lo and behold, the sun comes out.
A sudden hum fills the air. Seconds later, we can see a red gypsy zipping past us. This too on the same track we had negotiated at some 15-20 kmph. As we stand gaping at its receding frame, a bright spot in yellow is visible on the horizon. A biker! He made it through the snow and was even willing to brave the freezing cold. Soon several bikes and cars zoom past us, one after another.
It made for a great display of skill and the triumph of the human spirit. ?We will not stop, no matter what,? is what the rallyists seemed to be saying to the weather Gods. We had asked for an adventure when we signed on for the Raide de Himalayas and we seemed to have got it full throttle.
?(The rally had to be eventually cancelled due to heavy snowfall and ended at the halfway stage at Patseo after the completion of the third leg. There were seven legs planned initially.)