Karchham (Kinnaur), June 29
Ever since the Sutlej fury cut off key road links, it has been a “walkathon” for residents of this remote region of Himachal Pradesh. They are trudging miles on foot to reach their destinations. They are either in groups or in pairs with luggage in their hands and very little water to drink.

The only solace is that these walkers can sit down whenever they want to. Unlike the real walkathon, no medals are to be won and the “event” is not televised live. The only motivation for these beleaguered walkers is to reach home or finish their urgent assignment.

Chopper rescue missions are giving preference to tourists and for carrying relief material. The local residents have either found shortcuts through these high mountains or are just following the Hindustan-Tibet road and crossing over through kutcha paths where the highway has been washed away. It is the sheer grit of these people as some of them have been walking for the past two days to reach their destination.

The Tribune team met a group of people at Karcham, located 190 km from Shimla. They were six-seven of them who had walked for more than eight hours from Rekong Peo- about 60 km from Karcham.

Luggage in hand a tired looking Rajendra Negi said:” Saab hum aur kucch nahin kar sakte the chalna hee eek option tha.” (Sir, we did not have any other option than walking). It was 3 pm when we spoke to this weary group. At the same time, ironically, a chopper passed overhead, probably on a rescue mission.