SNOWBOUND ! (Part 4)
Darkness was approaching and
despite a herculean effort it took quite some time to reach a comfortable place. The group convinced
Panchiram that they would not reach the designated spot that day.
“We’ll be right there in the
morning!” Srikantia shouted back to him.
Taking the shelter of a large
boulder they prepared a bivouac in the snow. By midnight it started snowing
again. The officers took every precaution to protect their maps from getting wet.
In an attempt to retain a cheerful spirit they began relating anecdotes from
slices of their lives – a broken love, a betrayal, another adventure in a field
work in a forested terrain, a ghost story etc. Though there was snow all
around, they had not a drop of water. Swallowing handfuls of snow they eagerly
gazed at the eastern horizon.
It was a grey and dull morning
the next day and their feet were painful and swollen. They continued the trek
and reached the banks of the Chandra River around 9 0’Clock. Panchiram, the
faithful tehsil peon was there and he guided the group a further distance
upstream where the river had a shallow stretch. The wary porters mustered up
courage and slowly waded through the shivering waters. They carried one end of
a nylon rope and promised to return to help the others who remained behind
after depositing their luggage on the opposite bank. However once across the
river, they were in an indecent haste to push their way ahead. Without losing
nerve, the rest of the group securely fastened the other end of the rope to a
boulder with the first end being held robustly by Panchiram.
Stripping their clothes and tying
them around their necks, they waded through the chest deep, swiftly flowing Chandra
River, locked arm in arm. The cook lost nerve and had to be carried across. Once they were across the river, the peak of the ordeal was behind them. Safely stationed on the
other bank they gave vent to their feelings and tensions of the past five days.
They next joined a human caravan
that was moving along a narrow track. They came to know of thousands who were
affected by the disaster. The route bore the marks of a large exodus. Carcasses
of mules that had died of hunger and four human bodies that were frozen to
death were also seen. It was night when they all reached the Chotadhara Rest
House further downstream. Resting for two days there they dragged themselves to
Chattaru where they rested for another day and reached Khoksar on the evening
of 30th September.
Once in Khoksar they all flashed
messages of their safe return to their homes and the headquarters of their
office. Peripheral neuritis owing to overexposure to freezing conditions caused
several sleepless nights to several of them. The group next moved to Kulu, the
administrative seat of the district.
The entire group led by Srikantia,
R. N. Padhi (another geologist) and Biswas, a surveyor together with other
supporting staff was warmly felicitated by the Chief Minister for their
courage and grit in facing life-threatening dangers and their great sense of
duty. The events were also widely covered by the press and the group felt thankful for their lives being spared.
(Concluded)
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