It was a pitch dark night. I pulled the curtains aside and
took a quick glance through the transparent square frame window. All black, no
white.
‘Thank God’ I murmured. The heavy snowfall in Leh since the
last three days had us stranded in the city. No flights took off due to poor
visibility and our stay had got extended.
I sat on the cushioned wooden chair in my room with the diary
on my lap. The heater upfront was doing little justice to keep my palms and fingers
warm, which were now out of the comfort of the woollen gloves. I had not written a single word, not a
scribble. I sipped some water from the thermo flask, staring at the snow that
lay on the ground outside. I tried rewinding the series of event that had led
me here...
When Parag, our group leader had posted about Chadar trek
somewhere in the month of July, an impulsive me jumped to feet and declared to
world, ‘I am going!’
Reason? Simple. The
trip was to begin on the eve of my birthday.
As months drew closer I realized that just being
enthusiastic would do no good and that I must prepare myself. I took control of
my health and made my mind- cometh hail or storm, I am doing this. With all bags packed we were set to fly to the
land of Lamas.
We landed in Leh on January 20th. The flight from Delhi to Leh had our eyes
treated to picturesque Lahaul Spiti range. In anticipation, as we stepped our
feet on the air stair at Leh airport, a chilly breeze flew past us. It was 11am
and the sunshine glorified the sand mountains. The deep blue sky welcomed us to
its land.
We checked out of the Leh airport and boarded the cabs that
took us to our hotel- Mahey Retreat. The
weather demanded us to wear our hand gloves and mufflers to heat up the now
numbed hands. After what seemed like a 15 minute drive we checked into our hotel.
The rest of the day was spent shopping the required gear in
buzzing Leh market and relaxing in the comfort of the hotel. It was
my birthday and I was celebrating it with 12 other wandering souls and the
mighty Himalayan snow desert. Picture Perfect gift!
Acclimatizing Day 2
We stepped out to explore places around Leh visiting Thiksey
Monastery, Shei Palace and Hall of Fame. Since January is a non tourist season,
there were not many wanderers. One could
absorb in the serenity at Thiksey as the hands turned the prayer wheels.
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| Shey Palace |
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| Prayer Flags at Thiksey |
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| Maiterya Buddha |
The 23 ft tall statue of the future Buddha- Maitreya was
alluring. As his holiness Dalai Lama quoted, you could look and look and still
feel that you've not seen enough of it. The structure of the Shei Palace
left me thinking what the palace would be in its full glory. As we drove across
from one place to another our eyes were treated to colorful and intricately
crafted infrastructures. For us behind
the lenses, they were a perfect concoction of colours, for our three brilliant
architects – Brijesh, Mugdha and Ruta – a platter full of delight.
Trek Begins
Rucksacks, gumboots
and walking sticks were now brought out. After a scrumptious breakfast at the
hotel, we wore our down jackets and
alighted the tempo-traveller which drove us to a little ahead of chilling
village. En route we witnessed the confluence of the River Zanskar and River
Indus, both of which were now frozen. The beauty of this confluence cannot be
described, it but has to be witnessed by the naked eye and absorbed by the
eternal soul- to know why two dots connect!
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| Courtesy : Mario Mascarenhas |
A vast landscape of mountains greeted us as we stepped down.
We let our behinds rest and the shutters do their work as we waited for our
guides and potters to arrive. Once they did, we descended a tiny rocky patch.
What our eyes saw next? The mighty Zanskar. It was time to explore the raw
The left portion of the river was seamlessly making its way south,
while the right was frozen into thick sheet of ice. I wanted to act like the
penguin from the movie- happy feet alive! I stepped my feet slowly onto the ice
bed and walked with the help of my walking stick. Yayy! – I didn’t fall.
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| First steps on Chadar |
Cherishing
the first feel of ice we marched to our first camp – Shingra Yogma. As the sun
bid good bye to the mountains the stars filled the sky- If I could, I would have slept on the rocks near the river bed and star gaze all night, but the minus
temperatures refrained me from doing so.
I perhaps came to a conclusion that there is a reason we
named it nature’s call. It the middle of the night, after strenuous efforts of
getting out of the sleeping bag, finding the right gum boot, when we did
respond to it, the dark beauty cast a spell. Dimly lit with twinkling stars,
sometimes hidden by clouds of snow. It was surreal.
Day 2 Trek- Camp two-
Tsomo - That ‘Yayy, I didn’t fall’ was jinxed.
If there is one thing I could learn from the local’s who served us hot meals at breakfast, lunch and dinner was how they could manage to
cook a delicious meal in a short span of time. Once we were done feasting on
the scrambled eggs and bread, we stepped our gum boot feet on the thick sheets
of ice.
Since the Chadar ahead was bleak we had to ascend a rock
patch. As I stopped to catch my breath, I watched in bewilderment as the
potters took down several kilograms of weight effortlessly.
Tip- Carry the basic required stuff only. It is but a futile
effort to have our luxuries loaded on their back.
Once descended, a fascinating gorge welcomed us. The wind
eroded valleys seem to build a wall protective and nurturing to protect the
pristine Zanskar. The ice shone brightly as the sun travelled across. All the
hours of physical training keyed in, all mental assurances of ‘you can do it’
since months had led us to this exuberance and this was just the beginning.
I lost the number of counts I fell and slid on the ice bed.
Venu uncle, who accompanied me at patches during the trek, finally exclaimed,’
I can now only see you falling’. I laughed at the metaphor. I realized all
though falling was essential; too much of it could break your bones. On Chadar,
you lose focus and you fall, just like life.
On our way to Tsomo caves, Parag asked all of us to wait back as he narrated a story. In front of us was the only waterfall on the river Zanskar that did not freeze in the chilly winter. The folklore has it that once when Nerak went dry, a holy man went up to Kailash where his wish would be fulfilled. He was given a box with the only condition being that he wouldn’t keep it down until he reached his village, unfortunately series of event led to him keeping the box on the ground. The box opened and two gold fishes flew from it. They entered into the cavity of the hill and water started gushing out. In anxiety the man, threw his shoe in one hole and the water stopped flowing
Surprisingly, the hole in the left is dry and the one on right has water flowing endlessly into the river Zanskar even in this Chilly temperature.
Striding across Chadar we witnessed
her various forms. At some places the entire breadth of the river was frozen. When
we reached our 2
nd Camp- Tsomo, I could see the entire river disappearing
into the ice rock.
Remembers those by-the-lake-side camps, textbook drawings we
fantasized of? Camp Tsomo was just like it. In fact, a better version.
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| Camp atTsomo |
Day 3 Snowfall –
.As we sipped our Kahwa (Kashmiri tea) in the misty morning,
I felt something touch my nose. It was tingling, as I turned my back towards
the valley, I saw a white curtain filling gap between two hills. The sky was
showering tiny feather like elements. Amazed, I asked,’what is it?’
‘Snow’ they exclaimed. My cheekbones strained and I was
instantaneously euphoric. As we set foot on the Chadar again towards our third
camp ‘Tibb Caves’, the snowfall intensified. Nature was now covering the bare
valley with its soft white blanket. I
wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. But given the layer of clothing,
I bent down, lay my head on the walking pole and witnessed the magic of the
wind, river and the snow. The currents here were stronger so the right side of
the river was flowing. Snowflakes kissed as I Swayed my head in the direction
of the wind. I closed my eyes to absorb
in the moment. Utterly fascinating and gracefully soul pleasing. The valley had
blessed us. Was I in the Disney movie, frozen? Could be.
Reaching Tibb we cheered to our first snowfall experience.
Our tents were set on the rocks that rose a few feet above the river bed which
was now snow drenched.
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Tibb caves
Courtesy : Mario Mascarenhas |
Given the intensity of snowfall and the route ahead, a
decision was made to turn back instead of marching ahead to Nerak-our final
destination of the trek.
Sigh! I was going to
miss the world famous frozen waterfall. When Vishakha said that the journey was
more important than the destination and that the trek so far had been blissful,
the exploring me took a note. Later that night, in our tent, we laughed, we
debated and we spoke endlessly on topics. Insights from art, finance, music,
architecture filled the tent. We then moved to scariest storytelling and I quietly
escaped under my sleeping bag.
Way back
The snow fall hadn’t stopped. Right from our gum boots to the hills
everything was covered in a blanket of snow. As I stepped out to for the
morning rituals, I struggled to clear the snow out my gum boot. It was chilly
and snowy.
So much of snow and no fight? The notorious of the gentle
personalities had stepped out, as we threw heaps of snow at each other. All of us
were bathed in snow. Pure unadulterated happiness!
It was January 26th. We stood in attention for
the national anthem as we waived the flag. The colours of orange, white and
green filled the atmosphere with pride. I realized the efforts of our soldiers at
Siachen and in the Himalayan border range and was humbled.
Our guides decided to camp at Hotong the next day, which was
barely a few kilometres away from Tibb. Another, quaint lakeside camp. Slurping
the maggi and sipping Kahwa in the dense snowfall was an absolutely different
experience for a foodie who loves the Mumbai rains and enjoys it with hot tea
and Bhajiya. It was now snowing heavily. It could match the density of the
rains in Sahyadri.
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| On the way to Hotong |
We headed back to our first camp on the January 27
th.
The chadar had changed its formations drastically and we could barely recognize
the Tsomo camp. The continuous snowfall had changed the geography of the river
and the hills and made our walk a little easy
We reached Bakula Baav (Bakula Cave) where a Rinpoche once
meditated. It was considered to be a holy place. Here our guide and the porter team tied
a twig from the coniferous tree of Juniper or the holy plant of shukpa.
‘Ki Ki so so Lhargyalo’, they recited in unison. ‘Victory
to the Gods’ it meant as they wished for our good health and we smiled in
humility.
Striding in the snow had our stomachs growling.Our team
served us lunch at Shingra Korma- the same place where we had lunch on the
2nd day of the trek. I reminisced this as place of sturdy rocks by the
river bed; it now had more than 3ft snow covered.
As we reached our first camp- Shingra Yogma at 5 pm in the evening
realization dawned upon us. It was our last day on the pristine chadar.
Every
person in the tent had an altogether different perspective of the tent. Welcomed by bright sunlight we walked by the
river, with hills and valleys crafted by the ever flowing breeze. Slipping and
sliding we saw the ice opaque and transparent. The deadly temperature which
made survival a task for any living being , the ravens had mastered the code who soared high above
the sky. Every element in the nature was modest and still stood out its
individual characteristic.
That evening, I went uphill and sat gazing. I saw wide
stretch of the gorge, comforting and welcoming every snowflake that fell. The
vast fuzzy sky that overlooked the valley seemed to be meditating in its
wildest form. Nature wasn’t calm, but in its extremist form was stunning. She
hugged me with all delight!
While we were all set to leave, an impromptu Brijesh decided
to take a plunge in the river. Sameer and Pranjal followed. The men swam heroically
all the way wide.
When Ruta convinced Brijesh, telling him it was once in a
lifetime, I succumbed to temptations. Without taking the effort to go back to
the tent and change, I took off the layers, placed it on my rucksack and took a
plunge in the river!
STRIKINGLY cold mineral water. Every inch of my body
shivered. Once out my, feet fell numb. I waited a minute before I could go back
to the tent and change. Parag and Ruta, now tempted, were getting ready for the world’s
most natural spa.
After the rejjuvenating bath we set our foot back on the road. Post ascending the same patch we climbed on Day 1,
our never ending walk began. A landslide on the road made us walk an extended
15 kilometre, which we had covered in the bus. Warm at first and cold later.Tiring and enticing at the same time. I remember meeting a babbler on the way.
She accompanied me half a kilometre jolly well singing. I sang along.
As we
turned our stride with the valley , each walking at its pace, the witty nature scheduled
a meeting with ourselves. We met a different person that day. The sight of the
bus was an indication that the trek was now officially over. The picturesque
view on the way back made every note of music echo. We hummed along.
.. As my roommates walked in, reality struck. I was back in the room,The magical
tour was over, but the spell wasn’t.
The silence that day conveyed that it was but for the
strategy of this spell bounding snow dessert to have me stay back. The genie
did exist, my wish was granted!
As we boarded our flight in bright daylight on the 1st
of Feb, to return to the pandemonium of the metropolitan, mixed emotions
bottled up. The journey mattered, not the destination 🌝
And if these souls didn’t accompany, the journey for sure
would have been incomplete. Leading
Parag dada, Humble Ruta, and Joyous Mughdha, Smiling Shashi and Happy Rahul,
Supportive Jyoti and Guruji –Sameer,Inspiring Vishu and Notorious Pranjal,
Creative Brijesh and the one who because of whom I love travelling- the congenial
Mario sir .
Untill Next time...
Julley
