A Journey To The Lama's Lands, Part - 3

A Journey To The Lama's Lands,  Part - 3 

 After that we went to visit the magnetic hill. In fact, these strange mountains are spread all over the region. Just for a test we stopped the car completely and without leaving it on any descent, we saw how the big car, along with the passengers, was moving towards the hill with an unknown infallible attraction. The whole region is like a magnetic field. We spend some time here and started again.

Going a little farther, on the left, we first saw a river that was as fast as a young teenager. The colour of the water was almost saffron. The history of India might not be complete without this river. I have heard from my childhood that my land in India has been nourished and refined by this river for ages. This is the Indus River. From whose name this country and our entire civilization are named. The name Hindus and India from Indus. On the banks of this river is written the tragic glowing story of hundreds of centuries of retaliation, pain, humiliation, laughter and joy. 

Overwhelmed with emotion, I bowed my head. This banks of yours is so sacred to all Indians that I cannot explain. Today I am blessed. O’ my lord, the great River Indus, I salute you. After going a little further, another stream came and met with Indus. This is Jaskar. These two streams met here, this is called the confluence of The River Indus & Jaskar. It is like a grand arrangement in the gap of this smooth mountain range without any greenery. I set off again after seeing the scene of this joyous reunion of the estuary with full of heart.

This time we are going to see the famous Buddhist temple Alchi Monastery in Ladakh. Smooth & plain  road . I parked my car on the side of the road and saw Bosgo Palace from a distance.

The car was running with a moderate speed. We crossed several numbers of  villages, houses, schools, colleges on both the sides of the road.  Sometimes shiny hills on the right, sometimes on the left. It was as if the sun was shining on the mountain. 

This time there is a lot of apples as well as a lot of apricots, which in Bengali we know as “Khubani”, the fruit, is in the trees. These fruits are very beautiful  in look as well as in taste and smell also. Few fruits are orange in colour and few are ripe and absolutely reddish in colour. The local females were selling the fruits sitting on the side of the road displaying the ripen fruits in their small basket. They were selling their items like the ripe apricots filled with juice, dried apricots taken out from the seeds, sweet apricots taken out from the seeds, nuts, walnuts, apples and many more. We bargained happily and bought a lot to eat in the car. Seeing our joy and excitement, the females came to the car with a bunch of more and offer us a lot of extras without taking any price for those extras with smile in their face. At the time of leaving,  everyone said please visit us again. Everyone came with folded hands and said 'Jule'. I have learned this word after coming to this beautiful Ladakh. This sweet word  ‘jule’ means hello. This is my country. My motherland, our Indians knows how to embrace everyone with love. ‘Basudhaiva Kutumbakam’, which means the whole world is our relatives, is our real religion.

Once again our car is moving forward. We arrived in front of the entrance gate of Alchi Monastery. One will have to walk from here. Alley road.  Numerous shops on both sides, narrow range. The narrow path is crowded with foreign tourists more than Indian tourists. What's not in the store. From beads to socks, gloves to toothbrushes. Impossible price of anything. The shopkeepers have no respect for the native people like us. And why? I saw in front of my own eyes that a foreigner bought an ordinary necklace at a rate of 1300 rupees. The woman wanted to make a deal at 1200 rupees but the shopkeeper would not give her less than 1500 rupees. Finally, after buying a garland for 1300 rupees, the white woman returned proudly victorious. I firmly believe that the price of the garland cannot be more than 50 rupees. My heart became badly heavy out of this.

This Alchi Monastery is very ancient. Also this is a sacred holy place of pilgrimage for Buddhists. We looked around. The Indus River flows along a paved road at the back of the monastery. This place is very beautiful. There are beautiful paved seating arrangements on the banks of the Indus. I could not spend much time due to lack of time. We will also  have to go to Leakir Monastery now. After drinking  apricot juice, we started for our next destination again.

As we parked our car in the parking lot of Leakir Monastery, I was amazed to see a huge, as tall as nearly a seven story building, a very beautiful Buddha statue adorning the sky. The colour of that statue was amazing, so is its indescribable beauty. 

After seeing this beautiful statue of Lord Buddha, I do not know why, but It immediately seemed as if  all the heavenly melodies consists of all seven heavenly tunes started playing immediately  in my mind, believe me, I felt the Indian raga  “Bhim Palashree”and  “Behag”. When the tunes were on their full swing, suddenly I realize that these all were the surprise only and now  we will have to reach at the footsteps of that great man’s statue by walking to that top . The scorching Sun was then in the middle of the sky. The monastery was quiet silent. It felt good; my mind was filled with a beautiful serenity.

Two dining hotels were found next to the parking lot. One already hung a no-meal notice, and the other looked at our hungry faces and very reluctantly prepared and served Chaomin and Veg Manchurian for us. Ah, I can’t explain the heavenly taste of that food; it was just like sweet nectar at the time of hunger.

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