The state of Sikkim, India is beautiful. The encircling lofty ranges of the Himalayas played hide and seek with the fluffy clouds, and the slanting sunlight painted ever dynamic natural pictures of immense dimension. Sikkim is adorable.
The ice cold wind that sweeps the valleys caresses a soul with its soft touch, gently putting the visitors to a quiet slumber.
the waving trees were a sight to behold
Amidst this supreme beauty, if you happen to be a driver, remember that underneath the grandeur lies the most treacherous tools of deception and once carried away by the natural magnificence, you will have the most catastrophic end in the crucible of nature.
You have to be constantly vigilant. The terrain is merciless and has zero tolerance for a single spec of a mistake.
Yet again, the mystical forces of nature wrapped us and I am alive to narrate you the true story of missing our own annihilation.
June 2010:
We drove down to one of the most stunning and equally inhospitable Himalayan terrains, in the state of Sikkim, India – Yumthang valley.
Our Swift took us till Gangtok, the capital of the state.
Gangtok to Yumthang – about a hundred thirty kilometers that ate a close to ten hours of travel time. Beyond Tashi viewpoint, the going got tough.
Started from Tashi viewpoint
The roads were non-existent at places, and with the constant landslides, the road remained out of bounds for hours. The BRO, (Border Roads Organization) does a commendable job of maintaining them at that height.
The process of nature’s destruction and rebuilding by humans are like the two vibrating fingers of a tong.
As the road condition was severe, we hired a Tata Sumo, in fairly good condition and made our way.
This was one of those very few instances where we hired a different vehicle other than our own. It belonged to a friend of mine who had a transport business.
I was able to convince him to allow me to drive the hilly roads and take a spare driver as a backup.
Yumthang trip needs a full posting, so let me go directly to what happened on our way back.
After a grueling ten-hour drive on our way up, on our way down I had given the car to the driver to catch some rest as there was nothing exciting on the way back..
At Mangan, which is the midpoint between Gangtok and Yumthang, we broke for lunch.
After having Thukpa, and other oriental dishes, typical of the place, we set off.
The road and beauty around kept changing from left to right as it hugged the huge craggy mountains.
At places, we could not see beyond one kilometer through distant rolling fog, so had to gear down and drove with caution.
Mountains are ruthless and they do not seriously like anyone to commit a mistake at all.
The Danger ahead
A gut numbing worry or perhaps a six sense started to brew in me of a danger as I noticed that the driver was pushing the car at unnecessarily high speeds.
He was dazed and drowsy. Showed no restraints on the speed especially around the corners laced with mud and rocks.
I told him twice but he had a glazed look in his eyes, and hardly changed his driving style.
I had hardly spoken a syllable when disaster struck. The driver turned sharp right, throwing the left rear wheels skidding across the road, and the rear tires got jammed in thick mud.
He veered left, but the Sumo kept its forward uncontrolled movement and lurched left over a broken slope as its front left wheel went into the air.
The car dipped, and with a metal screeching sound, grazed against a road stone or a bridge embankment and stopped movement.
The Sumo was at a drunken angle looking at a shallow ditch. If it had rolled into the ditch, it would have cartwheeled several times on its side, and I have no idea where the car would have crashed, because a slope of 600 plus feet below was looking at us covered with dense undergrowth and a few trees grown on the slope mounds.
Frozen with fear
Worst of all – The driver flung open the door and ran off, anticipating another hill accident. We three were all alone balancing on the ledge.
I saw for a few seconds or a minute at the old landslide that blocked a section of the road a little far away on the winding road which had fallen into a valley below amid trees and grasses.
The drop was about three hundred feet and then there was fog so I could not see beyond what lay.
The Sumo pitched three or four degrees, and slid slowly and stopped. My family completely froze in the rear seat, thinking the end of it all. Every movement we made, the car tilted but did not move out. I told my family to go at the right rearmost corner as slowly as possible, thinking the extra weight will hold the Sumo on the roadside edge and I was in the front seat looking at the depression below. The Sumo creaked as I moved by an inch.
The rescue
After about ten agonizing minutes of being perched at that angle, we heard a rumble of a heavy engine. My son and wife desperately waving their handkerchiefs through the open window to attract attention.
A loaded army dumper. They stopped. Eager hands grabbed the Sumo’s roof rails first and they tied thick ropes to them and strung them to the dumper’s rear bumper.
Once the rope was taught, I disengaged the gear to ‘neutral’ and the truck pulled away slowly and by inches the Sumo came out of the slope.
We all disembarked from the stricken Sumo.
Not sure, how many times we thanked the army personnel. Having pulled us out, the army truck drove away.
After they left, the local people and a few other Sumos’ joined to bring us fully out of it.
One of the village ladies who were present looked at us and said, “Anyone of you, had a life beyond today. He or she had to live so the others got saved”.
Only a six inches of graze had kept us from sliding away and I would not have been around to tell the tale.
Our return
Without the driver, I drove back stolidly, to Tashi viewpoint, a 60 kms of twisted, rock laden, muddy hill roads.
Darkness surrounded with the decreasing day light and we reached the hotel a little after 7 pm and parked the car.
Touched her hot bonnet, the water dripping tires and kissed the A-pillar. She saved us. We stood looking at each other and parted.
We did not reproach the driver or the company. Handed the keys to the hotel reception.
Inference
- I was convinced cars protect us from the fiendish forces of life.
- This time, not, my own car; however, a hired SUV saved us from getting wiped off.
- How do I explain the way vehicles in my life have saved me from abnormal conditions?
These chivalrous ladies who have touched my life created convivial milieu bringing in peace.
They may not talk, but provides enough evidence to make you believe they shield you from dangers mystically.
I spread my arms, and bow to the veiled force with gratitude, to these charming ladies who protected me, and to those who accompany us today in our quest for exhilaration.
Additional readings
You can read about four more mystical occurrences, where man and machine complemented each other. A Maruti 800 car battled a flood at Camac Street and saving the driver from the cops, at College Street and reached us to safety.
A Zen, that ran into a mechanical snag but never let the family down. The Nagarjuna Sagar dam story will keep you guessing till the end. Her dramatic climb backwards on a broken gradient at the Golconda fort will mesmerize you.
Trip and location statistics
| Cars used: | Swift Diesel 1.3 L engine, 4 cylinders / Tata Sumo Victa 2.0 L engine 4-cylinders |
| Total distance covered: | 1800 Kms |
| Fuel (Diesel): | 69 liters |
| Places to visit in Sikkim (Only lakes): | Gurudongmar Lake, Khecheopalri Lake, Menmecho Lake, Teesta river, Cholamu lake, Kartok lake, Tsomgo lake, Lachung river |
| Other Non lake places: | Baba mandir, Nathula, Pelling, Lachung monastry, Rumtek monastry, Tashi viewpoint, Seven sisters waterfall, Goechala, Kanchenzonga, Zuluk, Ravangla, Gangtok |
| Distance from Kolkata to New Jalpaiguri: | 585 Kms |
| From New Jalpaiguri to Gangtok: | 120 Kms |
| Nearest airport: | Bagdogra |
| Nearest railway station: | New Jalpaiguri |
SPITFIRE GAUTAM 