In control,in frozen highlands

A bus ride from Kaza,on the upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh,to Shimla can be treacherousan edge-of-the seat drive that lasts 450 km and two days.

The snow has thawed in most parts of Himachal Pradesh,but not in the cold desert district of Lahaul and Spiti. So on a freezing morning,Kamaljeet Verma,a 40-year-old driver with the Himachal Road Transport Corporation,has trouble with the ignition,again. At minus 12 degree Celsius,even the diesel solidifies. We burn coal in an angethi and place it below the diesel tank and slow-heat it for two hours, he says.

Much like Kamaljeets bus,life in Kaza,a sub-division of Spiti thats at a height of 14,000 feet above sea level,is still frozen. A thick layer of frost on the Kaza-Shimla highway ensures that traffic is thin. The Shimla HRTC bus is the only public transport that will take you from the bone-numbing cold of Spiti to the warmer state capital of Shimla.

As the engine revs to life,the frost crackles under the tyres of the 42-seat bus thats brimming with passengers. This is probably one of the most treacherous journeysan edge-of-the seat drive that lasts 450 km and two days. The bus magically steers its way through the strip of a road,along the menacing Spiti and Sutlej river gorges that are anywhere between 200 and 1,000 feet deep. But the bus hurtles along.

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The bus starts at 7 a.m. from Kaza. The journey gets more arduous with every kilometre covered. On the first day,we cover 200 km,from Kaza to Reckongpeo,the district headquarters of Kinnaur district. What we need more than anything else is patience. Also,expert maneuvering skills since the brakes do not respond promptly on frost. We learn from experience; there is no special training, says Tara Chand,who has driven down from Kaza after a gap of 15 days when the roads re-opened after snowfall.

The first night halt is at Reckongpeo. The next day,the bus starts at 4 a.m. and reaches Shimla at 2 p.m. that day.

As Tara Chand enters the drivers rest room at the Shimla bus stand,the others ask him about the condition of the road and he says,Sheesha hai sheesha (its all frozen like glass)!

This year,the HRTC won the national award for the lowest accident rate0.11 per lakh kilometers. Rajesh Kumar,a bus conductor,says that while the award is good news,these awards are only for ministers. We drivers only get Rs 5,000 as salaries. Even in the extreme cold,we do not get proper clothing and shoes. Our rooms here have no heaters,bedding or warm water.

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The severe cold however has an upside toothe nullahs get frozen. During summers and monsoons,the drivers have to watch out for at least a dozen treacherous points on the Kaza-Shimla route,like the Malling nullah between Nako and Chango in Kinnaur district. Locals call it pagal nullah. Even on a clear day,there can bring down a sudden flash flood,bringing along huge boulders and the road gets blocked. At this point,the road is narrow and one of the rear tyres of the bus usually goes off the edge of the road. The passengers choose to get off the bus and cross over on foot, says Yashwant Singh Chandel,a PWD employee posted at Kaza.

In these parts,the weather,like the pagal nullah,can be unpredictable. There are instances when the bus gets stuck midway in uninhabited placesanything,a sudden snowfall or landslide,can play spoilsport. While the passengers trek to safer places,the driver and conductor stay put in the bus till the road reopens or help reaches them.