Slowly from South Pullu, the snow-capped peaks seemed to come within reach. A huge glacier stood right on the side of the road, as if it were about to roll down the road. Amazing view. We were speechless.
Nazir tapped me on the shoulder and said wait for five minutes and we will play ice after then. The road is so bad here that it took about half an hour to go to the five minutes distance. Snow on both sides of the road. Frozen ice is also present in the ditches of the road where water is supposed to be frozen.
I came to see the top point of the highest path in the world. This is that Khardung La Top. Several cars have already reached before us. There is a rush to take pictures with the border monument. There were Americans, Germans, Russians, Malaysians to visit to this place today, Indians are no less. All were busy to take pictures with his country's flag.
It was along this road that the Indian army set out to rule the formidable Siachen Glacier. Blessed are the heroic children of Mother India who patiently sacrifice their present so that our future may be safe. There were a lot of ice-throwing fun, and a lot of clicking of pictures, the drivers were repeatedly warning every one that no one to stay here for long, breathing problems could start, but who cares. After explaining the gravity of the situation to our team members, I put everyone in the car and started again.
After crossing Khardung La Pass, we stopped at Khardung
village. A Small and beautiful village it is. We took a lunch break here today
in a very large restaurant. Owner is a young girl, with her groom and mother or
mother-in-law was managing everything of this restaurant, we were wondering how
she could handle the 50-60 hungry customers with such quickness and patience.
We started again after the meal. Way down The adversity of the road is so great
that we are almost dancing down. We went down to the lap of a very sweet river.
Sayak is the name of this impossibly beautiful river. Hearing the name, I
thought it was male, so I said Male River. The word Sayak means sharp weapon,
sword. Surely this seemingly calm, innocent current, at times, becomes
extremely sharp, and the solid, ruthless pile of solid stones on both sides, is
crushed with pride and flows into laughter. Who knows! I also bowed to that
Strength. Rough dunes have started in this Sayak river basin. Sometimes the
stream has flowed through the middle.
A little further on, on the top of the
hill, I saw a Buddhist cave or monastery. After a while we reached the top. This
is Diskit Monastery. Very nice environment here. Quiet solitude. Turning the
Dharmachakra, we also said “Om Manipadme Hum”. Here too a tall Buddha statue is
adorned with horizon lights. The mind of all of us was full with the lovely
ambience.
After spending sometime here, we proceed again towards Nubra. This
time I am going to the wonder of the Himalayas towards that cold desert. Rough
rocky hills on both sides now. Somewhere with smooth slippery skin, somewhere
yellow, somewhere black and somewhere they are very pale. After coming in
Ladakh,I have come to know that stones are having so many colours .
Now we
arrived at the famous Nubra desert. Pretty cold here. Air is blowing with
moderate speed. This is probably called bone-chilling cold. But I am standing
on the vast rough desert. The tiny sand dunes and thorny bushes all exist. Only
the difference with a common desert is this cold desert is surrounded by all
snow capped mountains and a very chilled weather .This desert is not yellow in
color, it is white.
The camel with two humps whose local name is Lama is the
ship of this desert. Many people are waiting to ride camels with tickets from
the counter. The slippery face of the mountain has turned red with the color of
twilight. At a time when people all over the world are terrified of the Corona
Virus, take away all worries and think about this cool desert and its beauty in
the middle of those cool ice peaks. You will really feel the peace of mind.
Rows and rows of camels along with the riders on the gap of their double hump
were going for the camel safari. It was a wonderful sight.
The camel driver is
only holding the first camel rope in front. The rest of the camels are
connected to each other with small ropes. As the camels walk, they are rubbing
their faces on the previous camel’s back, biting his neck. The mutual rubbing
of these camels is a big problem for the passengers.
After a while, a sand
storm suddenly appeared. Probably it is an everyday game of the Goddess of
Nature in this amazing twilight. How we the common people can understand the
extraordinary matter of the gods and
goddesses! ‘O’ my lord, When you play a game, that is also the thing to think
about’, the poet has already written that. Unable to bear the gust of sand in
my face I came back. On our back, it was then like a sandy dark fog. We proceed
to our shelter for tonight now.
This resort has a very large area. There are many vegetables
in the garden along with apples and grapes. There are flowers in a big lotus
tree (Hibiscus Metabilis). Very good environment.
However, electricity service
is available in this area only from 7 pm to 11 pm. These times are the only
exception during the day and night. Our
hotel had a solar heater to heat the water in the morning, so in the cold, it
was not difficult to bathe or wash hands and feet. Nubra is a region of
considerable growth. A good number of
houses, a good number of people living here. The fact that we, the flag bearers
of urban civilization, are now relying almost entirely on television, the internet,
etc. at the moment, just think, you are deprived of these essentials month
after month, year after year. You may not be able to think like that lately.
However, the electricity service has not reached these marginal areas. I heard
in Nubra that there is a very small diesel power plant. It takes 5 gallons of
diesel per day to provide electricity service for only 4 hours at night.
Incredible calculation. These marginalized people have accepted the
non-confrontational position as the best. Hats off to the tolerance of all
these people. It is surprising to think that this is also my country, my India.
To be continued...............................................................................................
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