“Bingo!” Ravi was thrilled to see an actual photograph of the lake from his dreams. “This place actually exists. It is not a creation of my imagination. But why do I keep dreaming of it?”
He would worry about that later but before that he needed to browse through the details of the mysterious lake. He found that the place from his dreams was none other than the Roopkund Lake in the Himalayas. The name sounded familiar and he vaguely remembered some school stories associated with the name. He ran another Google search for 'Roopkund Lake' and went through the matter the search threw up.
As he went through the details, he remembered the school lore associated with Roopkund Lake. Roopkund Lake, also known as 'the skeleton lake' because of the discovery of a large number of skeletons on its shores long back, had been a favourite trekking destination for the boys of his school till around ten years back and was a must on the adventure menu of every batch. But twelve years ago on a trekking expedition, a landslide had killed all the five students who were climbing the slippery hills beyond. Next year, another team had attempted to reach it but had to abandon the attempt due to inclement weather. The year after that, a team of three boys from the school had successfully trekked to the lake but on return two of them had fallen seriously ill and the third student, who had been a topper all his life had flunked the board exams. A myth of sorts had grown around the lake of misfortune, as it had come to be known in the school; and no student had attempted the trek after that.
Roopkund became a bit of an obsession with him from that day. From making an occasional appearance in his dreams it started dominating every waking moment of his. He felt a strange pull for the mysterious lake in the Himalayas which was associated with myriad myths and had made unsolicited and repeated appearance in his dreams. He did some more research and the more he read about it, more did it come to haunt him. He discussed the matter with Vikram, his best friend. Vikram was a hardnosed, pragmatic and practical person. He had a simple solution for the problem.
“Dude, why don't we trek to Roopkund in the Diwali vacations? We'll take a look at your mystery lake and I am sure visiting it will satiate your curiosity as well as end your obsession for the lake,” Vikram suggested.
“That is a great idea. Let me talk to the headmaster about it,” Ravi said.
Next day, he met the headmaster and told him that he and a few others wanted to trek to Roopkund Lake. “Hmm! Roopkund, the skeleton lake. This used to be a favoured destination for our students before it acquired a sinister reputation in this school. Young man, if you want to break the school myth you have my permission and my blessings,” the head master said.
The SUV they had hired at Kathgodam drove up the serpentine roads and deposited them at Loharjung many bone jarring hours later. The team of four boys, though blessed with the natural resilience of youth, was exhausted by the time they reached Loharjung. The team leader, Vikram took over the responsibility of finding them porters, mules and making arrangements that would ensure an early start the next day. Once all that was done, they had supper and decided to sleep early. Ravi's heartbeats started behaving erratically as the image in his mind stared becoming clearer. He couldn't quite fathom the reason for it and soon closed his eyes.
The trek started early the next day. “We will follow the Lord
Curzon Trail to Neelganga, which is mostly downhill. Once we cross the river at Raun Bagad, we ascend to the village Didna, which is our destination for the day,” Vikram announced.
They set off through the thick forest mostly populated by rhododendrons, pine, birches and fir trees; alive to the sounds of birdcalls. Ajay, a keen bird watcher, was delighted and would often stop to point out various birds. Sahil, their fourth companion and a keen photographer, did not speak much and preferred to use his digital camera to capture the images.They crossed a few dry streams and came upon a pair of unusual creatures. Though much bigger in size, the black and yellow mongoose like creatures ran up and down tree trunks with amazing grace and dexterity. Sahil tried to get a close up of the animals but they were too swift and he had to be satisfied with a few long shots. “Yellow bellied martens!” Vikram enlightened the others. “I have seen them earlier at Corbett.”
Two hours into the trek, they spotted the Kulling Village. They crossed a large stream that seemed cool and inviting and took a well-deserved rest. They moved further and came to a fork on the road. Vikram was about to turn right when someone patted him from behind.
“Hey, that is the wrong turn. We need to take the smaller trail which will take us to the wooden bridge over Neel Ganga,” Ravi informed.