During my student years, I read about Ratti gali in a safarnama by famous writer Mustansar Hussain Tarar. It
was a dream, till one day (1986 or 87 perhaps) I managed to escape with a college friend. We came to
neelum valley and were returning from Taobut--Kel--Sharda, reaching Dawarian early morning from Sharda.
Here from a hotel we took some food, packed parathas and omlates loaded our heavy back packs on our
backs and started the hike to the lake.Without a guide or a porter we stopped frequently to take rest and
asking about exact trail from the locals.
We were passing through a narrow valley with thick forest when here we met a
young boy, may be 12-13 years of age. He stopped by us and started accompanying us. He was going to his
summer home some where on the way to lake. He told us that he was afraid of some mysterious creature of
the jungle which he named Bin-Budha. According to his description it was some thing resembling a strong tall
man with his body full of long black hairs. He also told that it attacked only any single person passing
through the forest. We were not afraid because we were two and we did not believe in it. But he was not
ready to leave our company, taking the task of a guide without any charges. And when we got tired, he took
the responsibility of a porter as well and took the bag of my friend on his back. The sun was setting when we
reached his home, near the end of tree line in an open valley. We were greeted by his relatives there. They
helped us to clean a flat area for our tent. We ate the food we had with us and were trying to sleep in this
cold and cloudy night when at about 9 pm the thundering showers of rain started. Soon the water was
pouring in to our flimsy tent. Again the locals came to rescue us. They placed a polythene sheet on our
tent, took us to their nearby home, made much needed fire and tea for us. After an hour the rain stopped,
we went to our tent and slept there. Next morning a kid cousin of the boy accompanied us to the lake
.
This mysterious creature again came under discussion when after many years, I was hiking to Chitta Katha
lake alone. There I had to spend a night near a cluster of houses on my way to lake. Local folks told me that
in the night that creature might attack me. I was alone this time but yet not afraid simply because I did not
believe any such thing existed. So that night I slept alone in my tent, as peacefully as I could in that meager
sleeping bag and thin tent during the long chilly night.
Black bears are not that un common in these areas and I have seen one myself at quite close range in Taobut
area but that is something different.