Blood in the valley, but mountains still lure foreigners

Their leitmotif: “to see the Himalayas.” Michelle, a 27-year-old social worker from Britain, in fact has just returned from the place where Maria Girones and her son were brutally done in. She says, “I’m not worried. It’s so quiet and green there, so beautiful.”

A German tourist was killed in the midst of this “beauty” near Manali early last month. And on July 13, 25-year-old German trekker Adrian Mayer Tasch survived an attack near the 15,000-foot high Hampta Pass. Tasch was badly shot in the legs and collapsed behind a boulder, where he crouched all night long. His friend, 25-year-old Jorge Wiechruch died in the attack. The trekkers’ tent was set afire by the assailants, a group of six blacksmiths who were on the hunt for the safed bhaalu (`white bears’, a codename for the foreigners). The assailants are now in police custody.

Tasch has since returned to his native Augsburg, from where he e-mailed the man who rescued him from death, adventure tour operator Sanjeev Sharman. “Sanjeev and your lovely brother! Sorry, it took me a while to write to you…Hope things in India went back to normal in the meantime…For now, I’d really like to join you back in India…” reads the message.

Tasch told Sanjeev that he had left hospital just a few days ago, and could walk with great difficulty. Around 140 pellets are still embedded in his legs since their surgical removal would destroy muscle and tissue. A major nerve in his left leg which helps lift the toes and foot is working at just 10 per cent of its capacity. Doctors warn that his leg may have to be re-opened for major surgery later, and complete recovery could take as long as one-and-a-half years.

Yet, Tasch is not embittered by his experience, though. “I’d really like to join you back…It’s nice that I found some friends like you who helped me get through all the s***.” But his sense of betrayal finally percolates through: “Jorge’s parents aren’t coping too well with the loss of their son and there isn’t too much information coming in to Germany…It would be nice to give his parents at least some clue about what’s been done by the Indian police.”

Capt Swadesh Kumar, President of the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India says, “So far, the Indian government has not even bothered to issue letters to foreign tour operators to reassure them that steps are being taken to prevent such incidents in the future.” Till then, it seems, foreign tourists will continue to trek towards violence and death.