On The Lap Of The Silky way, Part - 8

On The Lap Of The Silky way, Part - 8

Silk Route Tour

The height of Thumbi View Point is about 13,500 feet. For those who suffer from altitude sickness, the less they talk, or the less they rush, the better. Running and jumping out of the car will consume more oxygen and at such a high altitude, as the oxygen is naturally low, symptoms such as shortness of breath, headache and vomiting may occur. So enjoy the unspoiled beauty of nature in a calm way with just two eyes. Before leaving for Silk Route Tour, please consult a doctor and take appropriate medicine. Drink plenty of water, keep popcorn, dark chocolate, etcs; with you as a snack, keep it with a small portable oxygen cylinder if possible.

Silk Route Tour

The higher we are ascending, the higher the incidence of cold. After crossing the Thumbi view point, we stopped at Nathang Valley. 

Silk Route Tour

The severe cold is here. There is ice on the side of the road along the ditch. Several teams have already arrived here. Some people are climbing up the hill and taking pictures with ice in their hands. Great place. The valley looks amazing from above. We also took a lot of pictures here.

Silk Route Tour

Our next stop is at the old Baba Temple. Baba HarbhajanSingh was a sepoy of the Punjab Regiment of the Indian Army. He was born in 1946 in a village in Kapurthala, Punjab. In 1966 he joined the Indian Army. His workplace is located in the middle of the Nathula Pass and the Tukla Valley in Sikkim, which is now on the famous old Silk Road of The Sikkim State. 

Silk Route Tour

This very remote area was much more inaccessible and unfavorable then. But the fearless Indian soldiers, despite enduring the bitter cold and freezing snow, patrolled the Indo-China border from day to night in small army bunkers, as they do today.

Silk Route Tour

One day in 1968, while delivering food and supplies to the bunker, sepoy Harbhajan Singh fell into a huge ice-cold stream with his horse and all his belongings. The body of the soldier was recovered three days later. It is heard that this brave sepoy has been guarding this vast frontier from day to day since then. The Indian Army continues to pay homage to this sepoy even today. Our soldiers believe that the Baba Harbhajan Singh protects the unwavering army soldiers as much as possible from any danger. In memory of Baba Harbhajan Singh, a memorial temple has been built around the Harbhajan Singh's army bunker in this area. This bunker on the old Silk Road is the original temple, later crossed by Nathula, another memorial temple have been built by the Army near Changu Lake towards Gangtok, dedicated to the purpose of Baba Harbhajan Singh.

Silk Route Tour

Every day, by following all the rituals, the soldiers worship the Baba Harbhajan Singh at the appointed time. It is not a worship which is bounded by any race or religion; it is the worship of remembering and contemplating from the heart. After worship, the raisin is distributed among all as prasad. Prayer music is also performed at the time of aarti of Baba. It is quite a captivating atmosphere. There is also a hot tea for everyone from the army. Lately I have seen Singara, Pakora etc. being sold in the army canteen. 

Silk Route Tour

Everything used by Baba Harbhajan Singh, even his clothes, bed, etc. are displayed here. At an altitude of about 14,000 feet, this place is low in oxygen, so we slowly  have seen everything, worshiped at Baba's temple, and ate raisin prasad and hot tea made by the soldiers.

Silk Route Tour

After crossing the Zuluk, the rocky rough nature of the region gradually became apparent. Only bare rugged hills from Nathang Valley. Just like the Ladakh Valley region of the Himalayas in Kashmir. At the top of the hill, I saw the abandoned bunker of the army on the side of the road. After Zuluk, the Indo-Bhutan border stretches to the left from the place along Nathang. However, along with Bhutan border, the Indian soldiers are guarding the vast China border in this area. Infinitely brave, fascinated by the devotion and patriotism of these heroic brothers of ours, we constantly bows our head in respect. Now we are going to see Kupup Lake.

Silk Route Tour

From Kupup to Nathula Pass, this road crosses Changu Lake and goes straight to Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. We will only go as far as Kupup. The car reached Kupup after crossing innumerable hilly bends. It is a small lake of clear blue water. The locals called it “Hathi Poukhri". Another name of this lake is "Elephant Lake". The right side of the lake looks like an elephant trunk and the left side is like the tail of an elephant, hence the name. 

Silk Route Tour

Not far from Kupup, on the top of the hill of Nathula Pass, the bunkers of the Chinese army can also be seen from here. I was immersed in a deep love mixed with respect for a while. 

Silk Route Tour

This is my country, somewhere rough mountains, somewhere gray in the dust particles of the desert sand, again somewhere the dense dark shade is glorious in the dense calm soft atmosphere, but what a wonderful bliss a peace is resonating in the heart of this country all the time. Only an Indian can feel that solemn soul music of the Indian soul.

On the way back we went down again from Kupup. Today we will return to Padmachen and spend the night there. At one point after Nathang, the army was seen repairing the road.  We were stuck here for a while. It is a large army camp. This military camp has big houses, quarters, school, and bank with tin roofs on the slopes of the hills. An Army school was probably just closed then for the day. The boys and girls of the school are returning home along the road. A young man was probably returning from the army canteen when I asked him how long it would take to repair the road. The gentleman stood up and talked for a while. He is an engineer; he is from a village of Haryana. He has been in Sikkim for almost two years. He never had been to Kolkata. He read about Kolkata in newspapers and books and has heard about Kolkata on TV. He was very interested to know about Durga Puja in Kolkata. I said let's go once during Puja, see the festival of Bengali life with your own eyes. He said, there is a wish, but there is no way, He can't even go to his house at Harynana every year to visit his mother, leaving this army unit. I felt so bad for this gentleman. His mother is sitting in a village house in Haryana looking on the way for coming of her son, and his heroic son, in the interest of all of us, in the interest of the whole country, by sacrificing all his pettiness, has become the shield of the motherland and is absorbed in his duties at the distant China border. I bow in my heart to those mothers who have conceived such heroic children.

The car has started moving again by now. It didn't take long to get down the road. When I reached home and sat down to eat on the last afternoon of the hill, it is then four-thirty in the late afternoon.

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