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Morning in Sumoru village.
Aug 13th ... Day 10th
Morning Guesthouse/Restaurant in Sumoru village
It took me some time to come into terms with reality. It had a been a long trip and at times when you wake up you wonder where in the hell are you. I was sleeping under a couple of blankets in a tiny room and there was nobody else in that dungeon shaped room. Wait , wait wait .... I was with JSR and Sumo , but where are they.
As I walked out of the room ,what I saw is still etched clearly in my mind. There is a table , with Ladakhi Roti , Namkeen Chai ( salted & buttered tea ) , jam and honey. Behind the table sits JSR with a camera ...and behind him is snow capped peaks of himalayas. The snow caps of himalayas was glistening from the rays of early morning sun.
We have to visit the high altitude deserts of Hunder ( read 'who-nder') which is the last point of access for tourists , beyond which is the Siachen glaciers . By around 11 in the morning we reached the deserts . It was too hot , and the 3 layers of clothing we were wearing didnt help much either. Still, the double-humped camels of the desert lifted our mood and morale. History says that , hunder desert was once a lush green valley and was used as a pit stop on the old silk route. Once some fight broke out between the mongols, afghans or who-ever else was there and they fled the place after leaving the camels . These camels , double-humped ones , were used by the travellers when they trekked the long and ardous silk route. During the later part of the history, some flood or avalance washed away the valley and all that remains is a desert full of white sand and Seabuckthorn shrubs.
As I climbed on an old looking camel , I felt as if I am a general in Chengiz Khan's army.
By 12 noon, the heat was getting unbearable , so we took solace in the shade of a hut . Thats when the irony , rather the ironies of the place, struck our eyes. Here is a desert with a small stream on one side and boundaried by snow capped mountains just 500 meters away and all this at an altitude of 13,500 ft.
By 12:30 we left the smoldering desert and 75 minutes later as we were reaching near "North Pullu", we were caught in hail stones. We pulled over for a tea in the only T-shop there. Inside we met these German couples who were on their way to "hunder". They said its going to be difficult climbing the K-Top again as its completely snowed and is snowing. The word snow had our hearts go thumping. Its going to be fun riding on snow ( atleast so I thought ) .
So started our last 14 kms to the K-Top. Road ( or what was left of the road) was slushy but still manageable. But the cold was getting unbearable. My gloves was already drenched in rain and snow and I couldnt control my fingers. The water on my helmet's visor stopped dripping down and only a touch on the visor was enough to give the reason. It has become ICE. The water drops slides to visor's bottom and forms a small drop that freezes, blocking my view. First it was fun , cutting it off with a finger but as the roads become dangerously broken taking hands off the handle became difficult.
2 o clock , just 90 minutes from the desert we reached K-Top covered in snow. We stopped the bikes and ran to the world's highest cafeteria. Ordered tea and started jumping around. Its paining ..... hands , legs , face , body ...its all paining . JSR , our walking thermometer declared , "Boys , its below 0 degree . I'm sure" . Asked an army officer , and found the correct value .. its 15 degrees on the wrong side of 0. I can feel the shiver even now. Breathing now is a difficult exercise , which we are forced to take . We decided to push off the place within 10 minutes.
Snow by now has covered the entire road and there was no slushiness . Just plain snow . I was on the lead when my bike hit a snow covered pothole . A I tried to maneuver my bike off the next pot hole , back tyre skidded . Applied the brakes and now the bike became perpendicular to road and the tyres locked ...but still skidding did not stop. And worse, I'm skidding to the gorge side of road . Frantically I dropped my legs to snow filled ground as a last resort breaking. Snow started filling my shoes , but I could feel the rock solid ground underneath it. Bike stopped finally and I turned back to see where my back tyre is. Its precariously close to the edge. Pweeeeh .
JSR and GK moved on , but I took my own time to rest , breathe and decide on how to move on. I've a big problem... my back tyre is not good for snow. It'll slide and skid the moment I apply break or accelerate . For next 10 kilometers , I rowed the bike with my two legs. Snow was really bad , and I started dipping my shoes whenever I saw water or mud on the road. Its much warmer than snow and ice.
Finally we all met at a lower altitude and laughed our heart out . We crossed the highest motorable road , while it was snowing and came down alive. A moment , that I'm gonna keep framed in my mind till I die.
Evening we reached "Hotel Sidhartha" and the welcome party was there. Ashiq, Anu Malik and Jithesh bhai.:).
Aug 14th ... Day 11th
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We decided to take rest as the last two days events literally worn us down , mentally and physically. I used the day to buy a snow boot . Thats better than ruining my Woodlands . Inside the "motti market" , I found a shop that sold Gum Boots for Rs300/- . Light weight and long enough to cover the sheen.
Evening as we were sitting on top of our bikes and chit chatting , I saw her again . She was wearing a white cap , white t-shirt and a red cargos. She was washing something in the small stream that goes near our hotel. She turned to our side and our eyes met . She gave a warm smile and continued washing the clothes.
Aug 15th .... Day 12th
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Today we are to say good bye to Hotel Sidhartha . We are on our way to Pangong-Tso , a high altitude salt water lake on india-china border. If we get petrol on the way back , we decided not to come back to Leh. We would be on our way back to Sarchu-Manali-Chandigarh and then Delhi. Jithesh bhai , Anu and Ashiq bid us good bye and we all stood for a group photo also . I saw her walking behind the photographer , but she did not let out any expression other than a passing glance.
So here we go ..... ole ole ole ...... to Pangong Tso . We crossed Changla ( 3rd highest motorable road ) and soon met a Army doctor from Kerala. He insisted on treating us with a coffee . But as we were not sure of our distance to destination , we promised a stop on our return journey and pushed on. We stopped at Durbuk for a small break and there was this small kid playing all alone near the mostly deserted road. She was wearing rags, had dirt all over her face and hands ... and a smile. The smile was so surprising given the fact that she was all alone on a dusty road with not even a shade of green to be seen around.
JSR called her aside and asked in Hindi , if we can take her picture . She nodded . JSR took her photo with me on the backdrop. Out of natural instinct , that usually follows a photo , JSR said .. "Thank u ...". She replied .. "You are welcome" . !!! It took few seconds for my brain to register that . She said "You are welcome" in perfect english that would have put any English guy to shame. We gave her our biscuits , and with a smile on face that evolved out of an unexplainable emotion we rode on.
By the time we reached Tangtse, only 2 bikes were there. Sumo and his bullet is missing . While JSR and I decided to stop for lunch break, we saw Sumo from far. He missed the turn we took and he was heading straight to Pangong Tso. That left the 2 of us with mutiple options , either to tail sumo or have lunch. We finally decided on the right option.
Lunch break turned out to be my first Maggi break. Guys, u wont believe it . Maggi noodles never tasted that much , when it was made at home. After an hours break , we headed towards Pangong Tso , keeping a lookout for Sumo and his bull. As the road was through a small valley between mountains , we did not have to look for bull in gorges and rivers.
5Km to lake and we see the bull parked on the side of the road. Sumo was lying flat on a rock by the road. As we woke him up , he said he was having a strange feeling of floating in air. We also stopped just to see whats happening. JSR was fast enough in indentifying the mysterious feeling. The Oxygen content of air was soo low and that we were feeling dizzy within minutes since we stopped. "No more floating, lets go ", said JSR.
By 5 in the evening , we reached Lukung, the western most part of the lake . We drove till the edge of the lake and took a lot of pictures . Thats when JSR reminded me , "Hey , its your birthday". I had almost forgotten the date. It was a funny feeling . Here I'm in a god for saken place ...no electricity , no telephone range , no sounds of vehicles , no sounds of birds chirping , no sounds of dogs barking or howling, no greenery . Just a blue sky , blue lake and snow capped brown mountains and we the "3 mosquitos".
JSR and Sumo decided to push further to Spangmik the last point allowed for indian tourists. This meant 8 Kms of no road . I bid them bye, as I wanted to spent some time with myself. Walked into the lake to a rock that was just prodding above water. Sat on it and closed my eyes. The only sound I could hear was the ripples of lake lapping on to the rock and my legs. It was otherwise perfect silence. I sat there for almost 15 minutes , and hell lot of emotions flooded through my mind . The most powerful of them was of felling empty. Tears rolled down my eyes and I got out of the place before I started to weep.
JSR had already befriended a 8th std kid ,Tanzing Norboo, who agreed to give us space to stay for the evening at his home. The kid was the eldest son of a shepherd family. They gave us a room to stay for night , and tibetan thupka for dinner.
I asked Tanzing , "Can I get some chocolates from somewhere..? Its my birthday today"
He replied, "Sir , there are no shops around here. I can get you beer if you are interested".
I was not planning to eat chocolate , it was to give it to the kids . So we decided against having beer either. I also got the tent exclusively for myself to sleep in . Late that night , I could hear the hail stones falling on the tent , as I cuddled inside my warm sleeping bag.
Aug 16th .... Day 13th
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I woke up facing the lake . It was truly the most beautiful morning I've ever seen . Just stood outside the tent for long just to see the place around.
JSR and Sumo soon joined me . We asked Tanzing where the toilet is and he pointed ahead , ahead of us , ahead of him , towards the lake . Sumo was like , "What the SHIT, Dont tell me" and the kid gave a "Whats-the-big-deal-in-it" look . JSR went first and came back with chilling story of the lake water . I decided then itself , that , I'm not going to attend any of the Nature's call until we reach a hotel room. Sumo had no other options , but follow the footsteps of JSR to the chilled lake.
Tanzing is a really talented guy. He has a lot of medals in his house , for long distance running . We told him that we are from Banglore , a place he never heard of. JSR gave his india map to him and you should have seen the happiness in his face. JSR also promised to send him a lot of pictures and maps once we reach back .
We left Spangmik by 10 in the morning and reached near Chang-La by evening. Had a nice cup of tea from the army officer's mess and ate few chocolates. He described to us , how they keep the capsule like cabin warm during winter and also how they take care of people who suffer from High Altitude Sickness.
By evening we reached Karu and realised that there is no petrol pump where we can fill petrol. As our next pit stop is 365Km away , we decided to head back to Leh . By 6 in the evening , we were back at Hotel Sidhartha . As we were chit chatting with Anu and Ashiq , I saw her staring at us from the window. I guess she just came back from her college , as she was still in white churidar and looking really angelic.
We went for some shopping at night and had a nice dinner and slept . Our trip has neared its end.
Aug 17th ...... Day 14th
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Our Final day in Leh . We bid good bye to everyone. As 3 bikes were being loaded with our bags , I saw her again . She was looking at us , but walking straight to road . She was carrying books and files , the way college going gals do it. I smiled at her and she returned the gusture. I felt so lost . Here is a gal whom I've seen for almost a week, but has never uttered even a single word with. Before I could make a decision , she was lost in the buzzling morning crowd of leh.
We all hugged Jithesh, Anu and Ashiq . Smoked the last the cigarette in Ladakh and was just about to get on the bike when I saw her again . She was walking back to her home.
This is my last chance.
I told JSR that I need to take the picture of our room and ran back to our room. I clicked some pictures and as I turned back saw her on the window again. She was wearing a red jacket over her white uniform.
I got inside my room , rehersed my lines again and again . Then took a deep breath and walked out . Looked at her straight in the eyes and said
"Juley , Kya mein apka ek photo kheenj sakta hun ? " ( Hello, can I take a photo of yours ?" )
She simply nodded in reply . This ... is ...the moment . I took out my camera and tried to focus on her. But my hands were shivering faster than my heart-beat. Somehow I managed to click once and ran back to my room. I smiled at the bravery of myself. For the first time in my life , I asked a favour from an unknown person..... that too from a beautiful gal and look at what I got . A photo of her's . Wait.... I cant see the pic in camera. SHIT
Its too blurry. ..... Its too shaken. SHIT .!!!!
I relaxed . Now that I've taken the leap , let me get this one corrected.
I went out of the room once again , called her and said in whatever hindi I know , " The photo was not clear , can I take one more pic ? . It would be great If you could come closer to the window and stand ".
And this time , I took all the time in this world , to get the picture as sharply as possible.
Finally said Juley to her , said bye to ladakh and we were on our way back to Delhi.
You may wonder , whether nothing crazy happened during the trip back. Fact is, a lot happened . But I thought I'll dedicate the return trip for JSR , the one guy who taught me and GK a lot of things during our 3 eventful weeks. JSR was at his best during the return trip , so it would be a lot better for writing about it with JSR as hero.
As of now , my 4 part series of our Ladakh trip ended here ...... in Hotel Sidhartha , with 3 of us on our bikes to start our journey back to civilian world. I had a special smile on my face, coz I just got the photo of the beautiful ladakhi gal...wait .. wait , whats her name ? Oopps I don't know her name. Holy Shit .... I didnt ask her name . !!!
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