High Himalayan Heavens :Part six

Day 12 and 13-

We started our journey to Manali . We got a tempo this time,comfortable journey. Our driver was adept in driving but was cranky . Our playlist for the journey,was Gannu and Pobs memory card,and the driver was fed up with it, after a point, he removed the card reader from the car stereo and refused to play any music :P We noticed a change in landscape as compared to the onward journey, there were lesser number of snow peaks,most of the snow seemed to have melted entirely in just a span of 7 days. We drove all through the day and halted at an stunning place for the night. The open valley surrounded by Barren hills and white canvas tents pitched in the open land, the tent was a luxury ,with a bed in it,heavy warm blankets,a table,chair and even a small toilet with a commode. Pampered! It seemed like middle of nowhere ! The boys enjoyed their night ,the details left unsaid,only three words to sum it. Shiva trance music. It was a wonderful night, the strong cold winds bellowing at our tents and the canvas flapping,even a slight drizzle in the night. A phenomenal place to have spent the night. We continued our journey.What perplexed all of us was Baralacha La, we passed by it and there wasn't as much snow as earlier,in fact,it was reduced by a percentage of 50%. Unbelievable! The weather had gotten clearer . Nearing Rohtang Pass,a huge Lorry got stuck in the muck and another lorry from the other side also got stuck,blocking the entire width of the road . We were flabbergasted by an army truck who made his way , cleared enough traffic for himself to move,unconcerned about us civilians stuck in the gridlock. When he asked our driver to make space,our driver stood up to him and refused to. With a commendable effort from Amit rana and all the civilians,they pushed the lorry into motion. We cheered and moved ahead,just to get stuck in another vehicle hold up,but our driver was smart enough to avoid the further confusion and we made our way down to Kalath. Heavy rains as we descended and visibility dropped because of the thick white fog. We reached Kalath at 7pm, the boys purged themselves in the hot springs. We had a fulfilling dinner and plopped on the beds !.