SNOWBOUND (Part 2)
The leader of the expedition Mr.
S. V. Srikantia, a geologist who hails from Karnataka, had sent the tehsil peon
Panchiram to Manali to fetch a pack of mules to transport luggage on their return journey. The fateful day of the 20th September began with
anticipation that the mules would be heading for the camp. The drizzle of the
wet afternoon turned to excitement as they saw the first hints of snowflakes gently
settling on the earth. It was their first experience of snow. Inch by inch the
snow started piling up. Gradually the visibility reduced and the first feelings
of nervousness began to stir in. The sun had set and the darkness of the night
took over. By about 9 p.m. about two feet of snow had accumulated. The thick
blanket of snow reduced the area into a trackless terrain and the camp had
become an icy trap which was cut off from the rest of the world. The food
supplies were barely sufficient to last a day or two and the kerosene supplies
were also running out. The possibility of Panchiram reaching the camp with the mules seemed to be ruled out.
As a first step to face the grim altered
circumstances, it was decided to restrict themselves to only one meal a day.
The snow piled on incessantly and the temperature began to drop drastically.
Babu Ram, the cook, who was laying down the dishes for dinner suddenly collapsed
to the floor with a thud! The party realized that he had fainted due to the extremely
low temperature and revived him with a swig of brandy. Still tottering, he was
stuffed into a sleeping bag and shifted to a warm corner. The rice was icy cold
and almost impossible to swallow. That was the last dinner they were to have
for the next few days.
As the snow kept on piling up, they began to discuss strategies for escape. Fuel and food shortage
was in fact quite precarious. It was past midnight as the party began to fear the possibility of
tents collapsing under the weight of the snow. Donning gloves and warm socks
and footwear, the party members embarked on digging trenches and shovelling the snow around the tents.
The silence of the night was rudely punctuated by the thundering noises of
avalanches and snow-slides.
“In the morning (September 21st)
when I opened the tent I was confronted by a snow wall,” says Srikantia
reminiscing about that morning. Extricating himself, he saw a misty expanse of
snow. It was still snowing and the camp was almost buried and the visibility was very low. Heating snow
to generate water and thence heating it further to boiling, the party refreshed themselves with some black coffee.
Trenches were re-dug and soon they were almost ten feet deep. They tuned on their transistor radios to find out if the world was aware of their fate. “They still don’t
know about the snow blizzard here,” remarked Padhi, another geologist from
Orissa. At noon Ramnath, a technical bearer cooked some boiled rice. Mixing it
up with some spicy powder or the other the expedition party had a frugal repast. Babu Ram
was recovering speedily. “I should be o.k. by tomorrow,” he said reassuringly.
More snow was cleared in the evening. The blizzard was continuing unabated. The
noise of avalanches were heard all through the night. Luckily the party had selected
the camp site with prudence or else they would have been swept away. Soon the tents,
already fully soaked, began leaking and the sleeping bags became wet. With the
shrill winds and the noise of snow-slides sleep was impossible throughout the night.
(To be continued …)
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