RACE TO THE ICY LINGAMS

 I was introduced to the youngest mountain ranges of the world,Yes Himalayas, by my mother though indirectly. She had a wish to visit Chardham (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri), nestled in lower Himalayas and thus I was insisted to accompany her along with few oldies from Pune. At the age of 20,in my second year of MBBS, I did the Chardham yatra,the yatra done at fag end of life to attain salvation. Though always away from these beliefs, this trip was a turning point in my life. Never ever I had seen these huge mountains,the rivers, whose names I had read only in the textbooks, with waters defining the word purity. The magnificent valleys whose beauty cannot be described in words and finally the people from the hills(Pahadi/Pahari), simple but strong, gentle and kind hearted. This exposure to the Himalayas opened a new window for more exploration and I got that opportunity during my internship in August 1996 after completing my degree.

Myself and my cousin Sanjay (an engineer then) multi-talented MBA decided to go to Amarnath in J&K. To tell the basics Amarnath is a place where Shiva tells Parvati story about secrets of Immortality and was overheard by couple of pigeons. There is a Shivalinga formed from the snow during winters and could be seen upon entering the cave at around 15 thousand feet. We registered with a tourist company from Pune and travelled long distance by train and bus to reach Pahalgam.

It was year 1996, I was all of 22 years old,bunked my peripheral posting during internship to reach Jammu and Kashmir,the state which had just opened to civilians from other states in India (due to terrorism and unrest). Pahalgam was then a small village with hotels lined on one side with beautiful river Lidder flowing across the road with mountains surrounding from all sides. We stayed in one of the many hotels and our plan was to reach Chandanwari the next day,which was  around 16kms, from where our trek for Amarnath was going to start. 3 days to reach the cave and 2 days to come back so roughly around 4 nights we were going to camp in the mountains. The army jawans were monitoring the activities right from Jammu till Pahalgam and even on the trek route. They were very watchful and cautious over the proceedings. But they had one big problem to handle. The crowd. There were around one lakh people who had arrived and doing the famous Amarnath Yatra.

Evening prior to the trek,we all went to visit the market for last minute shopping and to get a glimpse of what I learnt was a  new word called 'Langar'. People from north India had come all the way to Pahalgam to serve the yatris put up stalls serving food(multi cuisine). There were plenty of langars and the volunteers were kindly requesting us to get a taste of their food. From parathas to samosas and from Dal chawal to lassi it was a treat for us and indeed we were treated like VIPs to say the least. And Yes it was all free!!!

The next morning we reached Chandanwari where few more langars welcomed us by giving us food packets, medicine pouches,sticks and raincoats. OM NAMAH SHIVAY and BUM BHOLE were the words of greetings exchanged frequently between strangers. We had only one goal and that was to see the natural Shivalinga. We started from the makeshift camp at Chandanwari to climb one of the toughest and never ending ascent I hv done and is named as Pissu top. Almost 4 to 5 hours of tiring climb took us to the top of Pissu. There were thousands of people who were climbing that day which had clear skies and sunshine and a very warm weather. Crowd and noise were the two dear companions, close your eyes one will feel like wandering in Crawford Market or Dadar station in peak hours. We reached our first campsite called Sheshnag after arduous hike of 8 hours. 

Sheshnag had a green turquoise pond way below our campsite which was packed with tents, people from all over India with various languages being heard from all corners of the small plateau. Marathi too complimented others with equal fervour. As we were having our early dinner of dal chawal, people of all age groups mostly seniors, finding their way to reach their alloted tents. Bhaiya aur kitna duur hai is the common question asked by the person who has started trekking on day 1. I was worried about how so many people are going to be accommodated in few makeshift tents as it was getting darker and colder. Dinner was over as was the day and sky filled with stars elated our tired souls. It was time for a well deserved sleep.

Midnight 2am one horse tried to enter his face inside our tent as we were fast asleep and was shooed away by fellow yatris. Woke up at 7 am and decided to go out of the tents to see the surprise which was stored for us. Dusky sky and snow white ground was a frame when I went out to attend the call of nature. It was very chilly to say the least. Inside the tent again,we waited for the call for bed tea though the watch was showing 8am. Getting trek ready to go ahead to Panchtarni,our next halt,we got a information from the organizers. Our Yatra had been called off and we were ordered by the army who was in complete control of the yatra to return to the base camp at Chandanwari at the earliest. No arguments. Sudden drastic change in the climate with a rumour of a glacier collapse at Panchtarni(another camp ahead of Sheshnag) and plenty of people dying gave us a setback. Sanjay and myself started our decend at 8.30 am. No functioning langars,stalls or any arrangements for tea or breakfast I had only a small pack of biscuits and few peppermint sweets in my pocket. My thoughts started playing on from the pony who tried entering our tent to hordes of people who were co trekkers on that particular day and not getting any tents to rest and spending freezing night out in open. It was a disaster.

Decend is difficult than climbing and getting down on boulders with intermittent snow with rain persistently pouring down we were facing tough time. Meantime atleast thrice the armymen carried  a makeshift stretcher in a great speed on which had a near dying hypothermic yatris. It was something dreadful which had happened in the mountains packed with people. In couple of hours one of my shoes gave away. The sole divorced from the rest of the shoe exposing my wet socks to the snow,soil and stones. Those days we didn't had fancy stores catering to this adventure sports nor we had money to buy and I was just an intern. I had purchased my shoes from nearby Grant road bazaar for 200 bucks after hard bargaining (today a good basic trekking shoe cost 5k). So 100 bucks were lost and thus was my speed. With no food and water for almost 8 hours we started dragging our wet bodies for more than 8 hours to reach Chandanwari. We were literally half dead.

Resting our backs at the base of the big pine tree trunk we were tired, dehydrated and nearly hypothermic. Rain had refused to cease but luck favoured us. Pahalgam Pahalgam Pahalgam shouted a young lad as his  matador stopped in front of the pine tree where we were resting. With all the energy we two sat on the front seats with eyes partially shut. Within minutes the vehicle was packed and a man sat on my strong thighs saying Om namah shivay. Within 40 minutes we reached Pahalgam village and with a smile on our face entered our hotel where we had stayed only to get disappointed as there were no corners left to stay forget about the rooms. Afterall there were thousands of people in that small alpine village called Pahalgam. We were supposed to be in the hills so no room was booked in our name for that particular date. Our only source of survival was to find out our bus as our luggage was offloaded in it. We were wet and it was not at all prudent to wear them. It was getting dark and cold though rain had stopped. There were no mobiles then, so contacting our driver was a distant memory and to find out our bus was a nightmare as on the bus adda(station) there were hundreds of them. But that day luck smiled on us and our driver came in front of us like magic and greeted. The driver and the cleaner were kind hearted people and the tag of doctor before my name got me the respect.  That night after changing our wet clothes and eating the best dal chawal of my life prepared by the driver and cleaner on a stove and sleeping in a partially reclining position with warm blanket provided by the driver all in a 50 seater bus. Who can forget that night!! And who knew that this was going to be my bedroom for next 10 nights.

We were the only two to reach Pahalgam and rest of the yatris from our group were yet to arrive. The next day one by one yatris from our group started coming in search of the bus as their luggage was offloaded. By evening all of them arrived in not so good frame of mind. The whole night they had to sit in a tent on a makeshift cot as gushing waters started flowing beneath due to incessant rains. They were hungry and exhausted. Luckily we got hold of three rooms in a hotel and we were 17 of us and there were thousands in Pahalgam. With no room to stay as we, the young adults decided to sleep in the bus itself. We were briefed by army that the roads leading to Jammu have been damaged and the repair work will take time. So we could not leave this place until further notice. By rules one had to travel in convoy under supervision of the Indian Army. News from the cave was not good. Hundreds had died that fateful night due to hypothermia and exhaustion as they were standing in a queue for roughly 17 hours in a freezing temperatures that too at the high altitude. Bodies and stranded were ferried by helicopters while many dead bodies were carried down to Pahalgam. Makeshift cremation ground was created near Lidder river where after a day or so, bodies were tied to a big stone and were released in the flowing waters of the river as they were dearth of wood and petrol/kerosene for proper burial. After every few hours dead bodies used to be cremated or released in water. That particular episode I never forget. Never ever!!

Young intern, freshly passed, graduated in medicine,the doctor in me was in full enthusiasm. I had even packed a sthethoscope to impress any accompanying girl in my group but for my bad luck there was none. I started helping the doctors from a small medical center near the market as there were huge numbers of patients. 'Bambai ka Doctor' was a nickname given for me as yatris used to consult me for small complaints and I used to roam the long street of Pahalgam with sthethoscope around my neck. Though I was spending my nights in the bus and day working in the centre and evenings sitting and chatting non-stop with my group which had my cousin Sanjay,three jewelers from Pune, a Mama-bhanjha from Mumbai and a landlord or Zamindar from Pune, who had 2 apartments in Mumbai and Pune each,a bungalow in Mahabaleshwar and Varanasi,100 acre land in Lonavala,one lake palace at Bhor,40 odd villages and to icing the cake 4 forts in Maharashtra. So in short we used to have diverse discussion. Another problem which was in stored for us was the food. As stocks got over due to huge demands and the supplies were hit due to damaged roads obtaining food was a challenge. The langars were shut also few restaurants and we for the first 3 days survived on Dal chawal had to survive on Parle-G which was available for a premium rate. Military helicopters were air-delivering food supplies but unfortunately it never reached us. As I had become famous amongst hundreds of yatris,one gentleman from Ahmedabad asked me to come over to his hotel to examine fellow yatris. After examining about 30 odd he invited me for lunch. My hunger pangs took me to their dining room and viola.... Amras-puri with samosas prepared freshly by their Maharaj. "Sone ko jagah kam padi to chalta hai.....magar khana.....No compromise" he said to me in typical Paresh Rawal accent. Heavy lunch after many days.....I took my reclining seat on the bus for a much needed siesta.

It was now 7 th day in Pahalgam and every now and then news would arise about opening of roads. The climate was good and patience was becoming thinner as the time flew.  As we were in a pre-digital world then and landline telephone out of order the only way of communicating with my folks couple of thousand kms away in Mumbai was with the help of satellite phone which was with Army,so it was next to impossible. Our day used to be like working in health center, sit beside Lidder river gossiping about anything and everything. Evening we used to visit the. Tibetan market to buy sweaters. Everyday I used to kill time and buy one sweater. One of those I still wear after 25 years and this particular green sweater has been for more than 20 himalayan treks. On eight day early morning our prayers were answered and we left the pretty destination of Pahalgam.

The convoy of hundreds of buses carrying thousands of yatris and few dead bodies too took 7 to 8 hours only to camp on the higher grounds past town of Anantnag. By the way! Locals call this place Islamabad. There was risk of militancy and few young lads doing graduation were selling hot kahwas(Kashmiri tea)."Aa jao humare ghar" the invitation we politely turned down. Rumours of militant attacking us always heard from someone. That was the scariest of night we spent in open though Dal chawal was the best we had which was served by our army. The next day again few hundred kms in a slow snail speed we reached Rampur on the Srinagar-Jammu highway after crossing the jawahar tunnel. On the way we saw scores of vehicles and people who were stranded on the highway with hardly any facility for having food and answering call of the nature. Later I learnt that they were helped by the locals.

I reached Jammu the next midnight where it was pouring cats and dogs. Then after almost 12 days of cutting out from the outside world, I searched a telephone booth to call my landline number to hear voices of my relieved parents. I was alive. Over 300 people/yatris lost their lives due to hypothermia and exhaustion. All due to overcrowding and underplanning. I myself encountered few while descending down from Sheshnag and few at Pahalgam which were cremated. No news channels then to cover the breaking stories, though it was a front page news for a week or so. My parents had no clue about my wellbeing for 12 days and they had trust only in almighty. Afterall I had been to Himalayas and this was my only second trek. My father came with 2 garlands,one for myself and for my cousin Sanjay as Jammu Tavi reached Bombay Central station. That is the only time apart from my marriage I have worn a garland around my neck. This calamity made me strong mentally to face challenges which I have faced aplenty. As they say it's...... Survival of the fittest.

Trekking or walking in a crowded market.

Thousands of trekkers were on hill at any given time.

Spending days and nights on the bus.

overcrowding was a disaster in making.

Kids are always ready for sweets.

Choppers doing the sorties.

Lidder river.