It started raining rocks

Says Vishal, 8220;We were walking back in the rains along the river Kali bordering India and Nepal. On the last leg of our trek, we were already quite fatigued. What kept us going was the energy of having been to the abode of Lord Kailash.

8220;And suddenly before we could realise or react, the visibility went to zero and it started raining rocks. We didn8217;t know where to turn and what to do. For six to seven minutes, a blinding hail of rocks was falling all around us. In sheer panic, one of us shouted stand with your face to the mountain wall.8221;

When the rockslide finally subsided, the team found one of them had been badly hurt. 8220;While we were tending to him, we heard Nepalese villagers across the river whistling at us. Seeing that we8217;re ignoring them, they started waving frenetically, pointing to the gorge down below. Then we checked around and realised one of us was missing. We looked down 8212; and our teammate from Pithoragrah Rajesh Mishra was hanging precariously some 40 feet below on the edge of a rock, just two inches away from the swift-flowing Kali. We didn8217;t know how to save him,8221; said Vishal.

Mukesh Pant, a policeman among the pilgrims, jumped down at the risk of his life to save his teammate. 8220;With great difficulty Pant carried Mishra back on the road. Somehow we managed to carry the injured using bedcovers as stretchers to the nearest civil hospital some 15 km away,8221; Vishal recounted.

However, the first-leg of the journey to Kailiash-Manasarovar though quite strenuous was accident-free. 8220;The other side is very pleasant this time of year, but it8217;s risky and rainy on the Indian side. That8217;s how it is, never good on both sides,8221; said Vishal.

It was eventless from Kathgodam to the base camp in Dharchula, from where it is a nine-day walk to the Indo-Tibetan border Tawaghat and the Lipulekh pass, close to 18,000 feet above sea level. The team had to cross the pass early in the morning. 8220;It closes by 8-9 a.m. Strong winds 8212; about 60 sq km 8212; starts blowing, making it impossible to cross it later. The window of opportunity is very little,8221; he said.

Interestingly, the travellers from both sides cross the pass simultaneously, exchanging the mules and the ponies to carry the luggage across. The casualty rate here is very high because of the low visibility rate.

8220;Fortunately, nothing happened. But once we crossed, it was a completely different world from the green Himalayas with its narrow zigzag foot ways, you walk into the vast open deserts of trans-Himalaya. And the time zone changes. We move ahead by two-and-half hours.

8220;India and China are neighbouring countries, but the moment you cross the pass, it makes you feel you have crossed from the North to the South pole. But the borders 8212; both with Tibet and Nepal 8212; are very relaxed and friendly, the binding factor being Lord Shiva,8221; said Vishal, brimming with piety.

The nearest trading centre 8212; Taklakot in Tibet with a 9,000 population 8212; is nearly as free and friendly. 8220;Every kind of currency 8212; Indian and Nepalese rupees, Chinese Yuan and US dollars are accepted. Though the Indian rupee a little illegally. The group got divided from this point, one went first to Kailash and the other to Manasarovar to adjust with the accommodation crunch,8221; he said.

However, in spite of his deep religious fervour Vishal Gujral admitted that the increasing tourists rush and the polybag menace have ruined much of Kailash-Manasarovar8217;s pristine environment. 8220;Though the Chinese authorities are very helpful and accommodative, they don8217;t have a waste management system.8221;

But the thing that struck Visahl Gujral most is the lack of tension in the surrounding Tibetan monasteries. 8220;The Chinese seem to have become a little more tolerant. The monasteries have lot more freedom than earlier. All the Lamas, of course, dream of visiting Dharamshala and talk of India with great affection.8221;