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1000 ways to disappear: Inside India’s ‘Bermuda Triangle’
It was a moonless night in Parvati Valley when a young tourist in Kalga village was chatting with his friends on the phone who lived across the valley in the neighbouring village of Pulga. They were inviting him over to their guesthouse late in the night and he seemed excited at the prospect of meeting them.
It is a daunting trek from Kalga to Pulga, even during daytime. First, you have to descend around a hundred metres down steep rocky steps. Such a climb is called khadi chadhai (vertical climb) in Hindi.
Then you have to cross the stream, which the locals call Pagal Nallah (crazy stream) because every summer the stream takes out any bridges the locals have managed to build over it. After crossing the latest makeshift bridge, you have to climb up the gully that is chalk full of dust and gives away at parts. Finally you reach the kutcha road which goes to Pulga. The complete journey takes around an hour.
This young tourist had no clue where Pulga was and how to reach there. He asked the manager of our guesthouse while still on the phone with his friends.
Premu bhai, the usually polite and courteous guesthouse manager, erupted at the idea. I have never seen him so angry with a guest.
“Have you gone crazy? Are you drunk or have you done some drugs? What is your name again? Bring me your ID card from your room immediately. Meet me at the reception desk.”
The young man on the phone froze. He couldn’t understand what was happening or what he did wrong. You could hear his friends on the other side going “Hello? Hello?”. He nervously mumbled that he would call them back later and sheepishly told Premu that he had been merely inquiring and never actually setting out.
Standing closeby, me and my then girlfriend, understood perfectly what was happening.
The verbal onslaught was justified. You simply do not venture out in the mountains after dark. It is one of the few unwritten rules of the mountains, especially if you are new. There are no streetlights, no fixed path, no safety rails, no SOS services. He could have easily fallen off the cliff or stumbled into the river. Beginners find it difficult to find trails even during daytime.