Bairagad with Hawaldars

Day 6: October 8,2011

Today was the most awaited day of the travel, but destiny thought otherwise. Sach Pass(ed) not yet. A half-bath and a sprint later, Chamba bus stand arrived. Met a HP Police Hawaldar(Constable) who asked me to rush to ticket counter , as the seats get filled fast.Window seat again Yay! The hawaldar was on his way to Trella, his posting. He was narrating his first day of duty in the region on the New years morning of 2011, when he woke up to waist height of snow. Also he that was the first time he saw snow. Soon the dreaded announcement was made . The bus to Killar(Pangi, local name) was canceled due to a technical snag.
The local taximen took this opportunity to make some money and hiked their tariff from Rs. 500 to Rs. 700. As I didn't want to be the the 15th chicken in a 8 people jeep. I opted for the next best option ,a bus ride to Bairagad which is 30 kms short of Sach Pass. Soon the sun came out bringing the vistas into prominence. Trella came and it was time to bid goodbye to the hawaldar .  Throughout our conversation I called him 'Hawaldar-Sahab' and he called me 'Bhaisahab' . I have this bad habit of ending the conversation even without asking their name. Another guy came to me and struck up a conversation, he too was a hawaldar who was joining office after a leave. He was on his way to Satrundi.he introduced himself as Om Pal, else I would have missed his name too. He too kept calling me Bhaisahab and i responded the same way.
Bhaisahab spoke to few pick up van driver at Bairagad on their way to Pangi to drop me there but they were fully loaded. The truckers were not willing to take a risk because of the snowfall beyond Satrundi post.Also I was turned back from PWD Guest House as some students from chamba have booked all rooms. Without much option I came back to the bus-stop , which also doubles up as the village boundary the other end being the PWD guesthouse. Rakesh Thakur , the man who runs the only Tea-stall cum - Dhaba- Hotel offer me a room for peanuts ,literally . A bakar session with truckers  and Mr. Thakur lasting hours followed.

Trucker: "Chalo chadate hai" (Lets drink)
Me: "kya?" (What?)
Trucker: "Bottle (sign)"
Me: "Mai peeta nahi" (I don't drink)

The truckers left for a drink disappointed with neither me nor Rakesh joining them. Soon raingods arrived with fury. A cup of maggi later I hit the bed as early as 6:30 PM .