A geologist’s musings
K. C. Prashar

It was in 1958 when I first crossed Rohtang Pass. There was no vehicular road at that time beyond Manali. And I, along with a porter, covered all those 115-odd km on foot from Manali to Keylong across the snow-covered pass. To this day I can vividly recall the places — Rahla, Khoksar and Gondhla villages — where we spent three nights in the transit. I was an 18-year-old collegian at that time, and was spending a part of my summer vacations with my brother, a government official at Keylong.

Little did I imagine then that I would repeat the same route two decades later. I was employed as a geologist with the Geological Survey of India (GSI), and was assigned a project of carrying out geological mapping of Lahaul, including Rohtang. Mercifully, by that time, the Border Roads Organisation had constructed a motorable road to Lahaul.

A government jeep took me up to Rohtang Pass. From there I, along with my two colleagues and some porters, trekked to the ridge atop the western extension of the pass and camped there. I couldn’t have imagined then that around 5,000 ft below, nor far from where I camped, would pass the 8.8-km-long traffic tunnel, the construction of which is to begin soon.

As a geologist, having done surface geology of the Rohtang ridge and its slopes on either side up to portal areas of the tunnel, covering an altitude range of 9,000 feet to 14000 feet, I feel, in a way, connected to the proposed tunnel.

I find myself reaching for my old field diaries and maps gathering dust for over two decades. Even though I have been retired for around 10 years, I have an assignment once again, thanks to Rohtang Tunnel.

I am also reminded of the legend explaining the formation of Rohtang Pass. Long ago, Gyapo Gyaser, king of western Tibet, conquered the entire Lahaul but his further southward advance was blocked by a great mountain barrier at Khoksar. For forging entry across the barrier, he hurled a powerful blow with his magic hunting crop on the mountain crest; and lo, a dent was created on it, which later came to be known as Rohtang Pass. The king was going to give more blows, but a deity accompanying him stopped him, lest a gap dug too deep should make people from outside easily infiltrate into Lahaul and defile its piety.

Oh, it was an opportunity missed! Had the king been allowed to strike a blow or two more, the level of the pass would have been still lowered considerably to enable easy and round-the-year open passage between Manali and Lahaul. It would have saved a great deal of botheration, besides a heavy expenditure of a whopping Rs 1800 crore on the tunnel’s construction! Of course, in that case we would have surely missed all that jamboree of the foundation stone-laying ceremony scheduled on June 28, 2010.