And they didnt return

Twenty-four-year-old Amichai is the 19th foreign tourist to have gone missing in Kullu (mostly from Parvati valley) since 1992. Thats an unsettling statistic for a tourist haven that is called the Valley of Gods,whose valleys and ridges offer a favourite setting for trekkers and tourists. Apart from the list of missing foreigners,official government records say 57 foreigners have died in the region between 1998 and 2009. Most of these deaths are attributed to accidents or drug overdose. But there have been murders too. Like that of Martin Young,a British national who died in a murderous assault in 2000. Similarly,Alessandra Verdis death in 2001 was described as murder. The Italian tourists body was recovered from the Parvati river bank.

While local authorities deny anything sinister behind these incidents,the US Embassy team told the SP that they were considering putting an advisory on the Embassy website,warning its citizens on travel in Kullu. This visit follows a letter that the US Embassy wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs (dated July 31) on Amichais disappearance,requesting assistance for search efforts.

The current events bear an uncanny resemblance to the case of Nadav Mintzer,a member of the Israeli Defense Force who went missing from this area in 1997. Following his disappearance,a Mossad team tried unsuccessfully to search for him. In Amichais case,too,Irit Shenor,a consul from the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi,had rushed to Kullu soon after the family informed the Embassy of his disappearance. A massive search,including a helicopter recce,followed.

With directions from the police,villagers have been rummaging the area for clues for the last three weeks. Apart from the district polices search operations,Amichais family and friends are trying to locate him on their own. A three-member search party of his friends,who are here from Israel,trekked from Khirganga to Bunbuni forest,the route that Amichai took. Harel,the company that had insured Amichai,conducted its own search. But with no luck.

The local police believe Amichais is most likely an accident case,without any malafide element. But Amichai,a hiking enthusiast,has gone on adventure trips earlierto Krygyztan,Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Looking for answers

So what happened to Amichai or to the 18 others who went missing over the last 17 years? The versions vary,depending on who you ask. According to the police,the unpredictable weather and the treacherous topography of the region are to blame. Many of the disappearances have occurred along the trekking routes,which start from Manikaran,a place of religious significance for Hindus and Sikhs. Among the 30,000-odd foreign tourists who visit Kullu every year,the onward trek to Khirganga,Bunbuni forests and Kulga are exceptionally popular. The area is part of the mighty Pir Panjal range of the Himalayas. As the altitude increases from Manikaran,the forests become denser,the gorges deeper and the habitation sparser.

We always advise tourists to take authorised travel guides with them. We ask them not to venture alone in these areas,but our warnings are often ignored. The weather is fickle and if someone is involved in an accident,it is very difficult to locate them. Then there is a list of travel advisory points which we issue to foreign tourists says Indoria.

Police reports show Amichai had ignored most of these advisories. On July 21,the day he checked out,the guesthouse had not bothered to make him fill Form C (mandatory for foreign tourists). Police say both Amchai and his Israeli friend didnt have guides with them. (Amichais friend has since returned to Israel).

Jacob Steinmetz,Amichais father who has been in India for the last two weeks,isnt entirely convinced. He has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for anyone tipping him about his sons whereabouts. I deserve to know what happened to him. On the basis of my stay in India,I can say that 99 per cent of people here are good. So I am not saying that something evil surely happened to my son. But there has to be a conclusive answer, he says.

The American Embassy team was more forthright. Even if we believe that 15 of the 20 disappearances happened due to natural accidents,it still leaves five that involved bad motives. It is very important to know about them, an officer leading the delegation told the SP. The bad motives allusion is largely to locals involved in the cannabis/marijuana trade.

High on hash

Marijuana is everywhere in Parvati valley,even in front of the police checkpost in Manikaran. The weed grows naturally. Anyone who knows the right technique of plucking and rubbing the leaf would have hash on his hands,literally. Thats a big lurearguably bigger than the beatific beauty of the regionfor several tourists.

Two km short of Manikaran is Kasol,a village where Caucasians outnumber locals and where the eateries are more likely to serve falafel and hummus (West Asian delicacies) than dal and roti. Some of the signboards at these restaurants are in Hebrew.

Puffing a Goldflake cigarette,whose tobacco filling appears clearly altered,a 22-year-old Israeli says,Most of the Israeli tourists who visit Parvati valley are in their twenties. In Israel,we have this mandatory three-year draft period where we serve in the military. After that,we get a huge collective compensation. Several of us make our way to India or Latin America to relieve ourselves of the stress. Tourism here is cheap.

Cheap it certainly is. It is not difficult to find a room with a daily rent of Rs 100 at Kasol. The guesthouse in Khirganga,where Amichai was staying,had a daily tariff of Rs 200.

More importantly,hash is available at one-tenth of international prices. Pose as a tourist and ask at the right places. Further away from Kasol,is Malana. Legend has it that its inhabitants are direct descendants of Alexanders army. A contemporary connection is the Malana cream,regarded as the finest variety of cannabis in the psychedelic world. At Rs 2,000,you can get 10 gm of it.

We are not saying the trade doesnt exist. We keep arresting people who try to smuggle cannabis out of the region. Its cultivation is illegal and recently,police teams destroyed vast swathes of it, says Indoria. He admits that locals could be involved in the trade. We have a list of suspects and monitor them regularly, he says. The crime chart at the police quarters shows 80 cases have been registered under the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act in Kullu district in the first eight months of 2009.

they keep coming

Cases of foreigners going missing or of other crimes dont seem to be affecting the inflow of tourists. For the last several years,the number has stayed around 30,000. In 2008,29,848 foreign tourists from 79 different nations visited Parvati valley. Around 3,850 of them were from Israel. The others came from Britain,France,USA,Australia,Germany,Italy,Canada and South Korea. It is believed that some of them dont go back. They simply keep on climbing the mountains and become a part of the several remote communities that live in these mysterious hills, says a police officer from Manali.

For locals,the tourists are welcome arrivals. Over the last two decades,the tourists have changed the economy of this idyllic region. Shops in the smallest of villages are stocked with exotic groceries and teenagers walk around with T-shirts that say Dont walk on the grass. Smoke it. There are Maruti Altos and dish antennae in almost all the villages.

Back at the police headquarters,as a dejected Jacob Steinmetz prepared to leave after yet another day of futile search,a highly agitated 20-something Russian burst into the DSPs office. Alexander was unhappy that there was an inordinate delay over the authentication of a very important documentthe validation of his marriage with a local girl in Manali.