A Journey To The Lamas Land, Part - 6

A Journey To The Lamas Land,  Part - 6

Nazir went to the kitchen of the hotel in the morning and shook hands with the cook. I want to love this man as much as I see him. He looked at me and said let's eat hot puri and vegetables and go out. We were ready. Hot puri, potato curry with raw chillies and tomatoes from the garden, aha, what a taste! 

We started from hotel at nine o'clock in the morning. The distant hills are then smiling sweetly  wearing the jewels of  sun light. We are returning on the same way back today. Leaving Nubra, we crossed the Diskit  Monastery, leaving behind the laughter of the Sayak River, but my mind remained on the dusty paths of white sand behind it. I will come again, I will definitely come.

On the way back, the soldiers suddenly blocked the road in front of the Diskit market. They requested us to wait for a while on the side of the road. It turned out that a big truck was coming on this road and it was carrying a giant helicopter. Nazir laughed when he heard this. He said that the dignity of this helicopter is gone, it is better to escape from here than to see such a scene standing. The car turned around. The army officer asked us that where we are going. Nazir  answered that he was going to the market to have tea, so he turned his back. Then we went through the village of Diskit and after some time we got up on the highway again and Nazir said that he has done  this arrangement so that the misfortune of the honorable and respectable helicopter  is not to be seen with one's own eyes. Nazir is really a very funny friend of mine. 

On the way back, it started snowing from North Pullu. The car's windscreen is filled with ice. Moving so much ice at the moment is beyond the reach of the wiper! I saw that the workers at the outside were working tirelessly even in the condition of that  thick snow. We bow our heads in respect to them. We stopped once again at Khardungla top, the area was covered completely with thick snow. Continuously snow fall was going on. The snow covered Lord Himalaya, my friend for ever, seems to have appeared wearing his majestic gown today. Our mind was full with joy and happiness. This beauty is wonderful. I will never forget this scene. 

We stopped at South Pullu again and informed at police outpost regarding our return from Nubra.  After having a cup of  tea at stall, we started again. We reached Leh around 3 pm. We Didn't eat lunch today. Hearing this, the hotel owner Zum Bhai and his wife arranged for pulses, butter and vegetables on that last afternoon within half an hour. The freshly smoked hot dal and rice, filled with the scent of sincerity and love of those friends, filled both the tongue and the mind with an indescribable serenity.

I thought it will be better to take a little rest after having a nice satisfactory meal in this late afternoon. Others went to Leh Market for marketing.  It was our good luck that at that time there was no chances of Virus infection, there was no attack of Corona Viruses, so no question of social distancing was arising at that time. I sat comfortably in the lobby and shared the story of our tour with Jum  Bhai and Selim. Today her eldest son Javed is supposed to come home. Javed comes home once a week and goes back on Sunday. On the way to Kargil, Javed taught at a college near Khalsar. He is an extremely polite and educated young man. I have known Javed for a long time. Although this is the first time we will meet face to face. 

Javed came in the evening. He got out of the car and came to meet me first. Sweet look, bright eyes with rimless glasses, a very bright young man. We both hugged. We used to speak over the phone perpetually, especially regarding this hotel and its promotion we discussed several time. We have a very friendly relationship. After  exchanging each other’s weal, Javed went to change his clothes. During the dinner session, Javed asked if everyone in the group had brought as many warm clothes as possible. Tomorrow morning we will start our journey to Pangong and Sumoririh. The outbreak of cold during this two-day trip is fatal. Javed didn't like the warm clothes I had with me at all. He brought  a thick jacket of his own which is made of bird’s feathers and literally forced me to wear it. I was really overwhelmed by his love and affection . There was no end to his worries for me. He approved our next day trip to Pangong after checking the details from his own. I promised to put on the jacket he gave me at least once during this trip.

Nazir was knocking us from 7 in the morning and finally we left at 8:15 a.m after having breakfast. On the way from Leh to Pangong, the ascent started a little further. The cold also started to increase. The road is bad. We are approching Chang la pass almost leaping. The word chang means south, and la means pass . That is the southern pass. If you go south from Leh, then you will reach Pangong Lake. 

As mentioned earlier, the Tanglang La Pass, famous for being the second highest motorable road in the world, has an elevation of 17,480 feet. But the height of this Chang La Pass is 17590 feet. The publicity of this pass is low. So even though it is the second highest motor road in the world, this pass is not promoted in that way. Probably there is no one to say for this pass.

There is a beautiful tea shop near Chang La Pass. It was quite crowded. The shopkeeper and his wife are struggling to cope with the customer. After drinking Ladakhi Kawa tea, my mind was filled with joy. 

Strong winds were blowing here. Even after wearing so many of warm clothes,the coldest winds were piercing my body now. A huge glacier was just in front of us. It was amazing. Great environment here. Our eyes were glued with this indescribable bewitchment of nature. The car started moving again towards Pangong.  We are moving forward through the rough steep bald and colorful hills. Inside the car, a few of us were speechless as if we were drinking this unadulterated beauty continuously with wide eyes in amazement.

On our way to Pangong we saw from a distance that four or five bikers were doing something. After going closer it was seen that few big brown animals just look like rabbit, with tickling eyes, was eating biscuits given by those bikers. These are the famous local rats of this region which are called “Marmuth” in the local language. 

Nazir  stopped the car and started muttering angrily to the bikers. He told them, “Tell me, who told you to feed them? Will you come here every day  to feed them? They are children of mother nature, nature has already arranged soft grass and soil insects for them. Can you provide thousands of millions of biscuits every day for all of them? Please do not damage their food chain for the sake of momentary pleasure. If you really think that you are educated, then please don't do such a thing to them.” I don't know how much the boys understood, but I looked at the face of Nazir, who had very little education in a very ordinary family of Kangri village. On the arrogance of my urban educated mentality, Nazir just pointed out a finger at the essence of the well-known theory of natural balance by driving heavy bulldozers in such a simple way that it seemed that no one is educated just by reading books, the right education comes from environment, nature and loving mind.

 To be continued.......................................................................................................