The rain vanished as suddenly as it had appeared and they moved early after sipping on the cold water in their flasks. They trekked hard, reaching Patar Nacahuniby lunchtime.
“Funny name.” Vikram said, “Let me ask the porters why this place is named so.”
The Other Side
207 “This place has a centuries old legend associated with it. A king was making the pilgrimage to Nanda Devi with his entourage. He was travelling with his queens, musicians, servants and dancing girls. This displeased the deity and she turned the dancing girls into rocks. Some say that she pushed them into patal-lok, leaving several depressions in the ground. In fact, some of them are present even now,” the sturdy man replied. For some reason, Ravi frowned but he refrained from commenting on it.
They pushed on again, and arrived at the temple of Kalu Vinayak. After offering the mandatory prayers to the black Ganesha idol, they moved further towards Bhagwabasa. They hit the snowline immediately afterwards and the air became thin and bitingly cold. They rubbed both palms vigorously and flexed their legs lest they turn numb from the cold. They reached their destination just before sundown, absolutely exhausted from the titanic effort. They decided to stay in the stone huts offered by the local villagers instead of the tents with the hope that they would provide some respite from the biting cold.
The boy turned back to take one last look at the frozen lake. They were moving up the steep mountainside. The rough track they were following meandered upwards through black rocks and patches of snow. The air was thin, the cold gnawing at their bones as they exerted with strain. The group of people moved slowly, already exhausted, even though this leg of their journey had just begun. Dark clouds floated and swirled about, almost touching them. The wind increased the intensity of its ruthless attack; the temperature plummeted, making it almost impossible to move. The tall man in the turban signaled a stop and the column halted. The clouds turned thicker and darker. Then it started to rain. The huge raindrops fell on the hapless group, who were caught on the open slope without any shelter. “It can't get any worse,” thought the boy, as he was completely drenched by the merciless deluge. Almost as a response to his thoughts, the skies laughed at him showering hailstones upon the group. Initially, they were small in size but the speed in which they descended was tremendous. There was nothing to do but to bear the punishment stoically. Yet their meek acceptance of the punishment did nothing to assuage the fury of the nature. The wind howled and screamed, the air temperature dropped further and the size of the hailstones increased dramatically. The tennis-ball sized hailstones hit them mercilessly on their heads, face, neck, hands and legs. One by one they collapsed, to answer the call of death on that narrow icy ledge. Some fell down to their deaths in the valley beneath, their screams submerged under the combined synergy of the bellow of the wind, the thunder of the hailstones and the torment of their companions. The boy buried his head in his arms as he tried to find some kind of shelter behind a large rock; but there was no respite. But the sky showed no mercy. The hailstones came down thick and hard, battering his head and coloring the surrounding white blanket with a deep red shade. Suddenly he stopped feeling the pain. He felt a wonderful warmth course through his body as his soul was set free and he soared above, watching the scene of carnage with curious detachment.
Ravi stirred and woke up in the morning but the previous night's dream was etched firm in his mind. He could recall every detail of the nightmare, not sparing even the minutest. He trembled uncontrollably, but could not decide whether it was from the extreme cold or from the after-effects of his ghastly unpleasant dream.
“Rise and shine!” Vikram entered the room with a steaming cup of tea for him and immediately stopped in his tracks. “Hey dude, you don't look so good. Exhaustion? Cold? Or is it a touch of mountain sickness? I hope that you have been taking the Diamox tablets regularly?”
“I am okay,” Ravi replied, “But I have been having some very bizarre dreams,” he admitted, going on to narrate his experiences. “Wow man! Are you having some kind of extra sensory perception? Maybe this is what actually happened years back. The skeletons found at the bottom, may be they were of those victims from the hailstorm and now you may be picking up those vibrations,” Vikram prophesized.
“Whatever. Let's move,” Ravi mumbled. They started on the last part of their trek. The climb was steep and the snow hard. They climbed slowly, putting one foot in front of other. The air was sparse at such a height and they had to make frequent stops to regain their breaths. The climb took around two and half hours. The last part was the most difficult. The gradient was steep and they had to crawl along on all four limbs. They crossed the cusp and suddenly they could see the lake in all its pristine glory. The water shone inside a crater in the mountain with snow-covered peaks forming an impressive backdrop to its surreal beauty. Ravi stared at the vista, overwhelmed by its magnificence. He felt a strong sense of belonging, having been there before and having seen it all. He trembled again for reasons unknown. Yes, it was a replica, a replica of the image from his dreams.