Back to the travelogue.
Day 4. Aut.
We woke up to a morning tea, which is staple on all YHAI trips, and it's always damn good, I might add. I don't even get morning tea delivered to my room at home(forget bedside) but ironically this was a feature on this trek. I didn't realize it then.. maybe I was too sleepy every morning; but it was a treat.
Breakfast was a nice couple of butter and jam sandwiches, and an egg each. Thankfully there were two vegetarians in our group due to which I was able to have an eggstra egg.
We were then led to the 'garage' which housed our bikes; and everyone quickly got their hands on the best cycles. I too got hold of one well in advance - but what the hell did I know about cycles, and how to judge them.
Today was orientation cum acclimatisation, where we were meant to take our bikes for a spin, get the hang of gears and terrain, or something like that. Our instructor said something about restricting ourselves to 4-5 kilometers. Well.
We took off the fastest our legs could carry us.. Manish and Sumedh sped away. I just couldn't keep up - I attributed that to my cycle or wrong gear changes, but we all know what the truth is. Anyway, we met up at a spot near the river, where after a bit of offroading we sat down to take some snaps.
On the way back my cycle chain snapped. There was already a graoning noise due to the wheel brushing against the mudguard, now this. I somehow rolled on the bike till the base camp where i took on another Thunder. Some gear problems, and wheel malalignment but I didn't give a damn.
We went back to the other side of the river where we had gone yesterday. Saw some fascinating butterflies - beautiful greenish bluish aquamarinish (i'll stop now) colour. Just couldn't get a good photo.
We came back by 12:30, and got an earful from the administrator. There was still some time for lunch, and the guys and I decided to go for a swim in the waters, when Sumedh politely stated something about "sewage of manali" and "these waters" in the same sentence. I then decided to sun-bathe instead.
The guys, barring me and Sumedh jumped into the water. We were joined by Harsimran, who had just come then. Harry knew Sumedh from a trekking group they both belonged to, and apparently that was a coincidence.
There was a lot of water splashing around, while I lay on the pebbles which were quite warm from the heat of the day. The water was chilly, almost freezing and I was sure someone whould get a sunstroke right then and there. I lay there looking at the river, a hill with pine trees on the other side, a small beach bound by rocks to my left, and big imposing rocks to my far right. The skies were slowly acquiring clouds that were just begenning to acquire a shade..
That was when I saw the bird.
We saw something resembling an eagle. Nonsense, we figured. Eagles are an endangered species, right? That's probably a kite; or maybe a hawk. But not an eagle.
It was making lazy circles, and I lay back admiring its effortless flight. A sudden halt - almost an epoch in time and a quick dive into the water - like a missile - missing it by an inch or so, and a ricochet carrying a frog in its legs.
We stared silently into the spectacle before us - a world we thought that existed only on the National Geographic Channel. A few gasps later I felt, yeah, it could be an eagle. It went to its nest on the opposite side of the river, and the fresh catch attracted two ravens circling around this hunter. She let out a screech - the loudest sound I heard in these parts throughout the trip - scaring the ravens away and left me spellbound.
It was probably not that big a deal to the others - and maybe not to you also. But to me, that was an expression in survival. Performed by an artist.
I tried to capture some photos but my 3x zoom simply couldn't cope up.
Lunch was served, which was quite forgettable. It started to rain and we concluded this afternoon rain was going to be a daily feature. It also started to hail, which was the first time I was witnessing that.
We played cards till evening. At the time of evening tea, by when it was cold and damp, 2 folks from the previous batch came on their Firefox bikes. It was by all means a grand entrance - made grand only by virtue of the bikes. I couldn't get to take a test ride, sadly, as the bikes were quickly locked up by the stricter head honcho. Manish performed some stunts and fell of perfectly executing a 180 degree stoppie.
The 2 guys who came were all praises for the trek and the experience. They warned us against the last stretch of the uphill climb, failing brakes on the downhill, and apparently horrible food at one of out pitstops on the way - "Aunty da Dabha". Point noted.
Two other participants from the last batch joined us later. They also came on Firefoxes, of course.
There was a nagging thought in my mind - and I noticed a similar look of concern on Chetan's face. I confided in him the scenario is envisaged: 11 members on our trip, only 8 Firefox cycles. Out of which four were at hand - and four more would be waiting for us at the next camp where we are to halt the next day. Four members will exchange their Thunder cycles with four from the previous batch, who would wait for us at the 2nd base camp. That leaves 3 people with Hero Thunder bikes for the entire trip. Hmm..Midnight card game later, it was lights off and the first day of the climb ahead.
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