harikumar1964's blog

Day-2 ( 20.09.08)

Sound of chirping birds woke me up. It was still drizzling but just a light one. It was overcast. But from the balcony of my room, I could see clear skies at the distant horizon- giving rise to hope of a adventure filled day ahead. The surrounding hills and the distant landscape looked really spectacular. From my balcony I could look down the precipice – a vertical fall of almost 200 metres – which is nothing short of spectacular- with lush green trees and sound of small streams of water. For the city dwellers, the air breathed freshness unimaginable in any Indian cities leave alone megacities like Delhi. This was reinvigorating. But alas , at a distance- probably in Haryana or Punjab, I could see smoke spewing chimney of a power plant. Well these power plants seems to follow us wherever we go!.

After a shower, we assembled at the dining hall. Our co-ordinator decided to venture into adventure sport irrespective of the drizzle. A quick breakfast and we boarded the bus for the location of our first adventure. For a group whose average age must be over 46 (except for 10 of us who are in the early 40s most of the group are in their 50s.) I saw a childlike enthusiasm on the faces of all. Motoring the bus down the hill through the narrow road from the fort itself was a mini adventure. Once down below, our bus took a right turn and started the ascend of the first hill. Suddenly the scenary changed. Within a couple of kilometers, we were well inside a hilly terrain, rains of the last couple of days had caused landslides everywhere. We had to stop atleast twice to remove rocks and boulders from the road to clear for the bus and it took some efforts. We could see the deep gorges and a small river- named Chikni- which is a tributary of Sutlej. After some ascend, our descend started and at a point we crossed the river from one hill to the other. And again ascend . It was narrow and winding road- which reminded me of Kenny Roger’s song-

 “ this road was so long and winding- it was such a hard road, but we could not stop – once we have started- we’re always getting closer - suddenly it happens – suddenly- chance of a lifetime- we gonna take it, we can make it- when you put your heart in it, it can take you anywhere”   - 

Suddenly after a bend, our bus stopped by a gurudwara- Gurudwara Gurukund- and as we alighted, we could hear the roar of the river may be 50 metres below. The whole area was truly out of a picture postcard. Huge mountains, gushing river, a small bridge across the river, waterfalls all around and to make it  even more spectacular, everything drenched in rain. A milestone indicated that we are on a state highway with a marker “Simla 90 Kms” . Up above in one of the hills, we could see an old dilapidated fort – Ramgarh fort- which is more than 4000 ft above MSL.

A team of three led by Manish had come all the way from Almorah in Uttarakhand to guide and assist us in the various activities. First was the crossing of river. Because of the overnight rains, the river was in its full fury. The location where we had to start is on the other side of the stream. And that required a difficult trod across a small hillock full of slippery rock and dense vegetation. This itself was a sort of adventure with most of us slipping at every step. But with some effort  we made it. The final landing point across the river was a rock near the Gurudwara.  The nylon rope which could carry a weight of 2000 Kg was tied to a tree atop a rock at our end and to another tree at the other end. In the real life situations it is used a rescue tool – helping people to cross rivers and rivers and difficult stretches, but one person adventurous enough has to cross the river or the obstacle to tie the rope at the other end. The method is called Terolene traverse. The harness attached to the body and hooked to the nylon rope with the help of a belt slides smoothly and helps us in crossing is called Terolene.  In our case since it was a planned one, and both banks were accessible rope tying was just a formality, but while tying when the rope touched the river, we felt the real fury of the water – four of us had to pull with all our energy to prevent it from being carried away by the river. And I wondered in a real life situation, how could any one swim the river across and tie the rope at the other end for people to safely cross! After a demonstration by the team from Almorah, we – in turn- followed. In my case the parallel safety rope (a safety rope running parallel through the terolene  to pull the person across  in case the person loses strength or loses confidence in the middle.) got stuck up on another hook at the loading point half way through my crossing. For a moment, I could not understand why I am unable to pull myself across- then I was told of this, and till they released the safety rope, I was suspended in a sitting position( as adviced by the instructors ) moving up and down just above a river in thunderous flow. But let me assure you this was the most memorable moment and I did not panic for a moment enjoying every second of it (which lasted almost a minute).  Once released, I started off to complete the crossing.  Most of my colleagues except a few ( who had high BP) did this with reasonable ease.

Once this was over it was almost lunch time and we returned back to the resort crossing the two hills with the view of Chikni river down below. By this time the rains have stopped completely and the sun had come out for the first time.  (our original plan was to have lunch at the Gurudwara – free meals called Langhar. But then we realized that the Gurudwara is not fully functional as some civil works is still going on.).

After the lunch, we proceeded for the next adventure. This was called “Rappling”- a technique used to climb up or down vertical cliffs the way reptiles like monitor lizards do- and hence the name. Once upon a time reptiles were used for this by such historic figures as Shivaji to climb vertical precipices of forts by the great Maratha Shivaji. Our original location was a vertical rock by the side of our terolene traverse adventure. But because of the heavy flow of river, we could not find a dry landing area. So the venue was shifted to the resort/fort and the vertical wall of 60 ft was used for rappling. To tell you frankly this was much more difficult that the river crossing. To make matters worse, the vertical wall was very slippery. Half of our team quit- when one among us- Mr Sharma-  a short and heavy man in his 50s slipped while taking first step into an awkward inverted position of head down suspended in the rescue rope and we had to pull him up with great difficulty. For somebody with BP, this could have been quite serious if not fatal. But fortunately nothing happened. Reciting  Gabbar Singh’s   Sholay dialogue - Jo dar gaya samcho mar gaya- I decided to go ahead and do it. I also slipped at the beginning but then I slipped to my normal position of legs down, so I could regain my horizontal position ( one has to bend backwards to almost 60 to 90 degrees to the vertical wall- that is you should almost be vertical to the wall and horizontal to the ground below)  and after 4-5 meters of sliding down, I gained confidence and started the jump descend. The one thing I learned was that in the  position vertical to the wall, the feet should be achored on the heels and not on the toes. That will make rappling all too easy.

In the evening some more funny games were arranged by our co-ordinator like making tent blindfolded. The team of six of which 3 will be blindfolded and will make the tent, the other three will give instructions without extending any physical help. It was truly funny especially with the members of the other team trying to disturb the blindfolded. It gave us so many hilarious moments to cherish. We had long bursts  of hearty laugh not experienced since our childhood days. This was truly de-stressing.

In the evening it was time to unwind. A party was thrown up by organizers in the top terrace of the resort overlooking the town with a cool breeze blowing across. The usual Anthakshari and jokes were part of the intoxicating party which ended just before midnight and we slipped back  to our rooms for a well deserved night’s sleep.

Day-3 ( 21.09.08)

It was a stunningly beautiful day. From the balcony, the landscape looked truly heavenly. A thin layer of mist  blanket gave an exotic look to the green landscape at a distance. The air was refreshingly fresh- whatever pollutants in the air were washed away by the two days of rain. Early morning sun’s orange rays gave a mystic look to the mist blanketed landscape. Alas for the first time I regretted not having a still camera with me- I had one handycam- and this scene can be captured best in still photography not in moving picture. But then I did not want to miss it. So I captured the areal view of the landscape.

After breakfast we assembled for a thanks giving and mutual appreciation session- where we scribbled the best of each one in their cap.  Then a few of us climbed down the hill for a trek/ walk and if possible some interaction with locals. We met on the way a family of 6- husband , wife and 4 kids all of them under ten. They mistook us for some govt officials and immediately started complaining about the losses of their mustard crop due to the heavy rains- and how they could get the compensation. We told them to approach the village officer for the compensation. And one of us – a doctor- gave a lecture on family planning- and the importance of having small family. I don’t know whether he appreciated it – even though he nodded to whatever doctor said. We saw a couple of schools- small primary schools- full of students. They waved enthusiastically to us and we promptly reciprocated.  For a moment I wondered how many of them would be lucky enough to get higher education? Probably very few lucky ones whose parents can afford to send them to towns. Atleast these famer community in a remote landscape is understanding the importance of primary education. And most importantly it was almost 60 to 40 boys to girls. Our brief trekking expedition was curtailed because of shortage of time as we have to leave by 12:30. So we went back, packed the baggage and had our lunch. By 12:30 all of us boarded the bus. After the customary exchange of wishes with hotel staff and the support staff, we moved out of the fort at 12:45. Sun was shining brightly and so the AC was in full. It took almost two hours to reach Pinjore. The rains had damaged the roads to such an extend. As we had our tea, some among us went inside the Mughal gardens. And then suddenly the driver intimated us that the air pipe of air break had cracked. So we went in search of some fast adhesi ve- and managed m-seal quick for the temporary repair. By 4:15 we were back on the road, but then driver wanted the pipe to be replaced at the nearest garage and so we stopped by a garage at Panchkula and got the pipe replaced. So another hour was lost. Since no dinner was planned on the way, (dinner was arranged at our training centre at Noida) we cruised along stopping briefly for a tea at Karnal. But strangely enough even without rains, we could manage to get back to Noida at only 5 minutes to midnight.

It was truly memorable- there was never a dull moment- we enjoyed every bit of it , not only the adventure and trek, but even the bus ride along the bad roads, and a bus breakdown. Probably this group of middle aged men needed some adventure which was lacking in their daily routine. I felt that the stress we felt while doing the adventure sport is a great destresser. A rejuvenator for the body and soul- and only with the proof of photographs, our kids will believe that their dad had done all these and still there is some youth left in us.

  share this

Post a Comment