Saturday, January 8, 2011

Ladakh- The Journey continues…

With each experience that I had on these mountains, I felt as if Nature was turning yet another page of her Book of Secrets…

A little brown ball scampered across my vision waking me from my trance… For the last two hours, I hadn’t seen any movement in the mountains around me…

It is so easy to get entranced by the towering mountains, rising on all sides, marked by the scars of time… We were on our way to a lake in one of the valleys of Ladakh. The Himalayan peaks kept us constant company, along with the re-mixed Bollywood songs that blared from the Jeep’s stereo… The songs were the only thing that kept me from drifting into a fantasy world that I’d never want to leave.

Everything around is raw and rough, yet perfect! That is why anything even slightly out of the ragged perfection catches your eye. Just imagine my amazement when I witnessed a huge avalanche of rocks cascading down the sides of a mountain not too far away!

I immediately drew the others attention to this… Then suddenly, to our horror, we realized that a man in a red shirt was also being carried down with the rocks, mud and gravel! Just as we started panicking, we felt that there was something odd about what we were witnessing… On straining our eyes, and very carefully observing the sight, we realized that what we were seeing, was actually a man in a red sweater guiding a large herd of galloping Yak down the mountain!

Before this point, I hadn’t truly realized how distant even the closest mountain was, and how insignificant anything looked when near these silent, giant mystics. With each experience that I had on these mountains, I felt as if Nature was turning yet another page of her book of secrets…

People jealously guard their most prized possessions with barriers and defenses that would deter thieves from reaching their treasure… After I visited Ladakh, I was sure that man learnt this from Nature herself…

After a long perilous journey that is not meant for the weak-hearted, you get a glimpse of what could only be described as the Playground of the Gods… Pangong Lake! It could only be in a place like this that Nature was designed and given the breath of life… A sight more beautiful and more perfect than this, I would think impossible to find!

The serenity it inspires, no other place can; the ever-changing hues of blue, even the rarest gems cannot match; It is impossible to ever capture its beauty in a single frame, because it changes every moment… Never before had I felt a place with all my senses… Even now, when I close my eyes, I can see the water in hues of blue; I can feel the cool, refreshing brush of the pure air on my skin; I can hear the gentle soothing sound of the tiny ripples of water… It is so mesmerizing, that even an eternity would not be enough time to spend here!

Unfortunately, I had even lesser time than eternity to spend here. We needed to get back to the city by sundown, because the roads were too perilous to travel on after the daylight has dimmed. I promised myself that I’d be back here someday… Alone… I’m sure I’d be able to convince even my thoughts to leave me alone to enjoy the solitude.

My heart felt so light at the lake, but as soon as it grew steadily distant and finally out of sight, a sadness came over me… The mountains around me seemed to be mirroring the state of my heart… Thy too seemed sad, but were comforting. It seemed as if they were the only ones who understood what I was feeling…

I once again got lost in my silent conversation with the gentle giants. Each one of them seemed to have a distinct personality… Some were fashionably multi-colored, with a dotted coat of snow, some seemed bent and humble. Some had the towering arrogance of youth, while some had gentle curves, like a mothers arms, wide open to embrace her little one…

Just as I was getting to know each of these mighty giants, the little ball of fur re-appeared, once again demanding my attention. This time he stopped, stood up on his hind legs, and as I curiously looked at him, he tilted his little head and looked back at me with equal interest, until the squeals of delight from my fellow travelers scared him away…

As people expressed their disappointment at not having been able to click a picture of the Marmot, I simply smiled… Atleast for a brief 30seconds, I had excited the curiosity of a true Mountain Adventurer…



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