At 5 am at the break of dawn, DJ started out towards the mighty Sach pass ‘Killar Himachal Pradesh’. After crossing the check post at Bairagarh, he meandered his way through the winding roads of the Himalayas. DJ’s experience of watching the sun play peek-a-boo between the mountains while coasting along was surreal.
Just as he was coasting along on the smooth roads, the beauty of the route came to an abrupt end after 8-10 km, giving way to the exact opposite (non-existent roads). Interestingly, these roads did not vanish suddenly but gradually started disappearing. There was dry mud and stones, most of which kept flying out from other bikes and larger vehicles.
Now the road started moving upwards from Bairagarh. So steep was the gradient that at one point in time, DJ’s Bullet just couldn’t move anymore. This was exaggerated by the fact that there was a blind turn just before the gradient, and there was a slush immediately after. Despite trying his best to accelerate forward, he just couldn’t move ahead. The result? His bike and the entire load on it started moving backward.
Not only was the bike off-balance due to the heavy load but now DJ had to contend with leaking petrol as well since the can with extra fuel had now fallen down. Not one to accept defeat easily, DJ put the vehicle into neutral gear and loosened the load. After keeping the weight ahead of the dangerous gradient, he returned to pick up the bike, which at this point was lying precariously. The front tire and the light assembly were a comfortable few inches away from the ledge, while the rear tire was at the ledge. Despite this, DJ managed to pick his bike up, roll it ahead, and cross an icy path to bring it ahead to a decent road. Little did DJ know that another rigorous challenge was coming up ahead in 100 meters.
After this, man and machine had to now contend with a water stream, made by a waterfall that was gushing across the road. The water stream itself was not very difficult, but it was complicated by the presence of a protruding rock on one side. This rock was actually part of a mountain. A two-wheeler could easily cross by going around this rock, but there was every chance of a hit if a four-wheeler driver was not careful. To take a vehicle safely around, one has to cross a cemented pipe, which is what DJ did. Incidentally, there used to be gushing water from the waterfall here, which has now been covered by this Government-built pipe. Even though one crosses the pipe, the climb towards Sach Pass from here is still fairly steep.
At the end of this climb, DJ noticed the writing ‘Sach Pass café’ on a huge rock. For a few minutes, he became excited while thinking that he had reached the pass, but alas- there was some distance to cover. However, he decided to give his limbs a break and stopped here for breakfast.
The climb was still very steep, and that too on rocks. Right through the Sach Pass, the Bullet passed over dry and wet mud, water, and innumerable rocks. DJ rode through the center of a snow wall, enjoying the magnificent view at a height above 10,000 feet. At 10:30 a.m., he was able to get to the Sach Pass. The air here was very cold, possibly at 6 degrees C, and so was the strong breeze. He noticed a mandir here at 15,059 feet, from where a pundit by the name of Kabli Ram came out. Kabli Ram told DJ that he was very early to the pass.
As our favorite rider rolled down the mountain (losing altitude), he saw people only after 2-2.5 hours. There were small stones all along the way, and it was imperative to balance a heavy bike like the Bullet correctly. Getting down from the 350cc bike was more difficult than climbing.
2-3 km before the town of Killar, DJ noticed a strange sight on the road. Tens of thousands of small lizards were visible on the road, for no apparent reason.
Till Killar there was absolutely no tarmac. DJ managed to reach the town at 1:30 p.m., after which he started his search for a guesthouse. He got to know about the availability of a room at Chandrabhaga Guest House, which was owned by VR Thakur. Although there was no provision for food at the guest house, Mr. Thakur’s son went the extra mile to get ingredients and prepare a “No-onion-no-garlic” meal for him. The room was spacious, and DJ relieved his hunger with a meal of zucchini and rotis.
During the course of the meal, DJ began a conversation with the homeowners. He was told that there were two options to roam about in the town:
- Totan Mata ka Mandir– This was 12 km from the guesthouse
- Hodal– This was 8 km from the guesthouse
Completing both places was not possible since the roads were bad on either side. Instead, Mr. Thakur took his family members and him to the PWD office as he was a PWD officer in Killar. DJ was offered a cup of herbal lemon tea, also known as Shyamala Tulsi at the office.
Through the medium of this refreshing tea, Mr. Thakur gave him another fun option- to travel in their Alto on the Killar-Kishtwar road for about 15 km and then enter Sural valley. Here they had their inherited land and wished to show him, to which DJ agreed.
As the vehicle crossed tiny water streams while moving towards Killer, DJ was told about a water pipe with pure and sweet water that entered directly into the river below. It is said that this water has cancer-curing properties. According to legends, it is said that the Chamba king himself took water from here to drink. The area was full of wild hazelnut trees which smelled beautiful.
Once back home, DJ got to try the local ‘Gurnu’ tea, which was just as sweet as jaggery. The lights went out at around 7 p.m., but fortunately, the Thakurs had an inverter backup. Dinner was served at 8:30 p.m., and DJ slept like a log after having a tasty meal of simple food.
