A trek down memory lane

Back in November 2011, I, along with two porters, had set out to trek the Jalsu Pass via the Inderhar Pass in the majestic Dhauladhars. The prolonged dry spell that year had impelled me to trek this Pass, known for its pristine scenic beauty and vast flora and fauna, despite fears of unpredictable elemental fury. Jalsu had been the ancestral trail of the Gaddis (pastoral community) of Bharmour tribal area since centuries and still remained the most preferred route with them.

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After five days’ gruelling hike, I reached Yada, midway through the Jalsu Pass. The small resting place had a shieling hut roughly built by the shepherds for overnight stay. We heaved the rucksacks into the hut for the night. The temperature had already plummeted and I hurriedly piled up juniper brushwood strewn around and built up a fire for heating and cooking.

In the glow of crackling kindling in the improvised hearth, I ravenously tucked into piping-hot dal-chawal rustled up by helpmates for dinner. Before I had hit the sack, the porter cautioned me against defiling the immediate surroundings, or else, as belief had it, divine retribution would befall the wrongdoer. While in the mountains, shepherds use specified hillsides for answering nature’s call, I was told.

Spending the night in the eerie silence of the Pass, punctuated by creepy grunts of wild animals amid whistling winds, was an experience to cherish.

To my disbelief, the daybreak next morning welcomed me to a huge stately flock of argalis — a testimony to Jalsu being their habitat — on a proximate slope. This rare sight of the wild stock, locally called karth, was a dream come true.

My heart bled as I came to know, through recent media reports, that Jalsu Pass, popular among foreigners and native trekking junkies, had been cleared by the Centre for a road connecting Holi and Uttrala villages without taking cognisance of its fragile ecology and potential environmental consequences.

Once the road through the Pass comes up, its ecology and orographic landscape would be impacted. I fear that its natural wealth might face reckless plundering by unscrupulous elements.

As I harked back to my decade-old experience, comparing it with the dreaded scenario of Jalsu being dynamited for road construction and finally thrown open to vehicles, I sensed that the silences and scenery of the Pass might become a thing of the past for nature lovers.