14 July 2010

Another lazy wake up. We could see from the camp site that the truck was still dangling at the LoC. It would be a long wait. As we began to wrap up the tents, Vihans had his second fall(Fall #3) in the same fashion that he had done the previous day. At that time I laughed. Soon, I was the victim as I was turning my fully loaded Bullet and miscalculated the slope(Fall #4).
The news was that the pass would definitely open today. Grabbing some beer from the nearby theka(Carlsberg at Rs 90, naturally cooled) and tea for the others, we sat down at our regular dhaba with the maps. We had met a group of 4-5 bikers from Tamil Nadu the previous day. They had opted to take the Spiti route to the other side of Rohtang. Word had also reached us from Nishant that two of his friends were already in Leh after taking the Srinagar route.
The Spiti route was discounted as it would be a diversion of some 700 kms that would leave us with little energy if we ever reached Leh. Then also, we would not be able to explore anything. We began to calculate how long it would take for us via the Srinagar route. Gyan's analysis showed that it was the same situation through that route too. It would have meant 4 days of relentless riding with no scope of rest. So, we just waited.
As we lounged around, Rohit went for parajumping. He had been wanting to do that since long. The rest of us passed the time by being a part of the curious crowd gazing at the latest Akshay Kumar - Aishwarya Rai starrer movie being shot close by. The Rohtang effect had long reaches. People were struggling to get a view of the stars. No problem for us as we were all armed for the occasion. Vihans had brought binoculars and Ajit had a very powerful zoom lens. We considered lending out the binoculars @ Rs 10 for 5 mins. There was ample business opportunity. Funnily, many honeymoon couples had also lined up to get a view. I might not have the experience but isn't honeymoon time for a couple to be devoted entirely to each other? Why do you want to line up to see a couple of strangers? One of the onlookers even rushed through the security covers in a bid to hug the hero. The cops took him aside and gave him a whack. Served him right. I hate people who idolize other people.
Rohit had had an adventure of his own. He fell down while landing from the parajump(Fall #5).
After a heavy lunch of dal-rajma-rice, news began to pour in of the pass opening up soon. Quickly, we got dressed and reached the point where a couple of BRO people were stopping the traffic. The pass had truly opened. The oncoming traffic was allowed to cross first. There were loud cheers as it passed the ongoing crowd. Only a few vehicles later, we were given the go ahead. There was a long, long line waiting to cross. Heavy vehicles were to move on later. Taxis and motorcycles were allowed. Slowly we reached the LoC. The truck was still over the edge but it had been somehow stabilized. The path however was one gigantic slush-pit. The non-Bullets of our group crossed first. The heavy laden Bullets needed a push to get across.
FINALLY, WE WERE THROUGH. It had taken us 4 days to cross this 10m long piece of land. All were jubilant. The only way was forward. Strange enough, there was no signage at Rohtang Top, marking the summit. We rode non-stop till Koksar and stopped at the first dhaba. It had gone quite dark. Keylong was still 45 kms away. We did not want to cross the pagal-nullah at nighttime.
The dhaba owner, Tsangpo, was a jovial one. A drunkard too. It was an apt time to open Black Dog. Tsangpo gave us good service. However, the ladies were not amused. We were keeping them awake. The bottle was quickly empty and we went in for the meal. Tsangpo offered us shelter @ Rs 40 per head. There were no blankets though. Ajit missed that statement and went to sleep in his sleeping bag topped up by one of the lying blankets. One of the ladies was calling to him to return her blanket. But he was fast asleep. We had to take the blanket forcefully. The night was really cold.