Sumdo, Himachal Pradesh, India, 1 February 2017, 1318 hours:

We have reached Sumdo. Still no news of Sanju, since his phone seems off.

We are 380 kilometres from Shimla, but we plan to stay the night in Rampur, maybe Sanju will catch up tonight. It feels very odd to not see Sanju in the driver’s seat next to me. Abhishek and I are sitting in the back of the Sumo along with two girls from Lingti. They are going all the way to Kullu- that is a very long journey. Ameen, Suresh and Abhinav are in the middle seat, while there are two girls from Tabo in the front seat. This is how most people from Spiti travel, apart from the state transport bus service that is.

The section ahead is treacherous since it is a zone of shooting rocks and boulders.