Friday, August 19, 2011

Destination Sach Pass- Prologue

Date - 13/08/2011


Missed RakshaBandhan, when I had a chance to meet my sister on Rakshabandhan after so many years. She was staying just 25 kilometers away from my place.
Missed [supposedly] the grandest Alumni Meet of my graduating institute. 
Because I wanted to go to the Pangi Valley, Sach Pass, Trilokinath Temple (Udaipur), probably Keylong and possibly beyond. 

However, sometimes or may be always, things happen on their own and we stay happy with the disguised story of we being the doer. 

We left for SunderNagar in the evening at 7 A.M. Having learned a lot from our [last few] well designed but badly executed plans, we took nothing but one sweater [X 2] and that’s all, plus the riding gear obviously.
I met an accident few days back and I fell down, damaged my shoulder but managed to save my head as I always wear a helmet. Unfortunately, my motorcycle could not bear the crash and its headlight started to point towards the sky and not the roads. 

We somehow managed to travel half the distance, while our headlight kept pointing towards the sky, disturbing all the birds and monkeys peacefully sleeping in their tree houses. With all the illiterate/uneducated people riding expensive cars on the road and our headlight out of all sorts, it was almost ‘मौत का कुआँ[watch video] ride. We tried to fix it and as we are qualified engineers, we always manage to fix the tire punctures, grease fixation and screw tightening, and that is all. One dog hit the front tire of the motorcycle and then disappeared in the dark, as if it was hired by someone to kill us. 

The next fifty kilometers were smooth until we encountered a cow trying to ‘literally’ save its ass from an ox, which was blindfolded by his sexual desire. Had I been riding that time, I would have certainly hit the cow considering my love for speed and the ox would have surely fucked us instead of the cow. We laughed our hearts out as we managed to save three asses by applying brakes at the right time, of course the ox never managed to fuck the cow after all that happened and we just ran away from the spot. 

I decided not to go to my home as explaining my travel stories to my father is not as easy as it sounds, well it doesn’t even sound easy. So I decided to stay with my friend and JP decided to go to his place, and come back the day after early in the morning so that we could reach Chamba in time. 

And unfortunately, it started to rain and it rained for 36 [48] hours continuously after that. JP came back the next day in the evening; my friend had left to celebrate rakhi with her family handing over the responsibility of handling the keys. I lost keys of the main gate, it was raining, JP was standing outside, I was inside and in between us stood the dark black gate with a huge lock that asked for keys. Obviously, we could have broken the lock but then people in small towns keep looking for a reason to vent out their anger and frustration. I decided not to take chance and jumped out of the house like a thief. The task of breaking the lock was left for my friend. We were all drenched and tired and the journey had not even started. 

My home was just 10 minutes away, I was all drenched, shivering and wanting to get dry clothes to cover myself. But, it was just not supposed to happen. It did not happen. 

We had to cancel postpone the trip and we came back to Hamirpur on the next day, wearing the same wet clothes. 

How I wish we had carried extra clothes with us. How I wish it had not rained. 

However, the trip happened [it is happening right now, live]. Just the calendar showed some other dates. I am not sure if rains will allow us to touchdown at Pangi or Sach Pass or even at Chamba. I hear that the mystic 'Jot Pass' is closed down by the PWD. 

But sometimes, I choose not to hear and just walk past the closed roads and rains. 

P.S: The clutch brake was broken. The chain drum set was broken. My friend had to leave his [new] bike on the road and walk some 10 kilometers to reach his home, so that he could celebrate Rakhi. I hope he has managed to break the lock and explain the story to his landlord.

P.P.S:  Song of the moment. Song of the journey. (Ain't No grave can hold my body down)





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