Testing your limits in the mountains is not bad provided you are not hypertensive or on the other side of fifties. For me it was both. A strong desire to prove that I am physically fit in the backdrop of the fact that I will not have this opportunity in life again; is perhaps what was driving me to my limits bordering sanity. It was August 2012 and I was in my second year of the high-altitude tenure in Ladakh. Normally, tenures in High-altitude area are for two years; give and take three months for the relief to be in place. As the winters keeps most of us confined to indoors, this was my only window of opportunity to live and indulge beyond the beaten tourist’s circuit of Ladakh. No wonder I was very liberal in saying yes to the treks that normally someone of my profile should avoid. At the same time, not to be unfair to my inherent streak of adventure, I always felt a strong pull whenever something offbeat came my way making me jump and grab it. Secretly, I had a strong desire to attempt the Chadar Trek; which is a tough ten days trek starting from Chilling near Leh covering almost 105 km on the frozen Zanskar river. The mere thought of doing it in the coming winters gave me such a rush of adrenaline that I was ready to do anything to be able to take part in it. As, I was not sure of my fitness I wanted to prepare well to give it an honest shot. These offbeat treks therefore became a means for me to prepare for Chadar Trek.
Ravikant was my partner in crime and also my inspiration. He always came up with crazy ideas with great spontaneity. Last week, we had hired two mountain bicycles and decided to paddle our way to Karu. This was a moderate ride of around 35 km one way. The enticing landscape alongside River Indus actually made it a worthwhile experience. A shopkeeper on the way to Karu casually suggested that we should consider exploring the Igoo valley that lay astride the road leading to Nyoma. It’s secluded, not very many people go there and there is a beautiful water body up there. “Ask for Chho…” he gave out the cute key word.
“Chho???…” perhaps, it is the name of some village in the Igoo valley, we could only guess. We quietly made a mental note of this to seek further information on Igoo valley and the Chho, whatever it was.
By the time we reached Karu it was already two in the afternoon. Any thought of making up to Igoo valley was quickly abandoned, the moment we encountered an extended uphill stretch of over two km. In contrast, our tired bones and hungry bellies made us succumb to the prospects of sampling famous black forest pastries of Trishul Bakers; a regimental venture of Trishul Division enroute. Trishul Bakers stands invitingly at the main road and it is not easy to fight the temptation of lip-smacking goodies it has on display. Two pastries and a few veg patties later, it was criminal to even think about any further paddling. So, we abandoned our bicycles and borrowed a motorcycle from our logistic team to head for Igoo valley for preliminary reconnaissance.
Two hours of happy mingling with the locals was fun who were awfully busy with the harvesting, yet generous enough to offer us ‘gurgur chai’ (traditional Ladakhi salt tea). We could gather some interesting facts about our new found interest in Igoo valley. Firstly, Chho was not some village but was a water body in the mountains; more like a brackish water lake. Secondly, reaching Chho was not an easy proposition, in any case it was ruled out for today because this was a full day trek in the higher reaches. Unless we started at four in the morning there was no possibility of making it back in a reasonable time since Chho is in the wilderness sans any arrangements of a night stay there. Consequently, it had to be planned as a separate trek and for that we had to have a night halt in Langkor; the last village in the Igoo valley. In any case Langkor was still six to seven kms further ahead on the village road. We also learnt that Chho was no ordinary lake. The locals revered it as it is located at a great height. The mountains that feed the Chho with ice cold water were still snow clad so we needed to be prepared not only for the extremely cold weather but also for extremely steep climb on the way to Chho. The information only whetted our appetite for further exploration. We managed to reach Langkor to extract some more information, but the only extra thing we gained that day was an inviting view of the mountain peaks that stood majestically in the direction of Chho. Interestingly, we also saw appreciation and understanding in the eyes of locals after we expressed our desire to visit the Chho. After some more deliberations we realized that Chho perhaps, was a local pronunciation for Tso which in Bodhi language means lake. So, it seems we had set our hearts on a Tso which the locals lovingly called Chho.
*****
The first visit of Gen Bikram Singh to Ladakh after taking over as Army Chief had come to an end. It was a Sunday and by the time his entourage departed for Delhi it was lunch time. Normally, on a Sunday, we would have been free to start our move to the Igoo valley early morning but because it was Eid holiday on Monday and driving time to village Langkor was only about two hours from Leh; we decided to hit the road after a quick bite in the Mess. Stocking up with some fresh apples, chocolates, biscuits and juice bottles I also picked up a trekking stick from the Leh market which I had been fancying since long. As we steered our bike towards Karu we noticed the Sun hurrying up to the West as it was already four thirty. We knew we would have to hurry up if we wished to find a shelter for the night and a guide who has been to Chho recently.
I have seen Ladakh in great details during my stay here for the last year and a half. It has its own pace for everything it does, and that’s the beauty and essence of Ladakh. No one is in a hurry here and no one has any desire to challenge the mountains. The inherent reverence and willingness to be accepted by mother nature is reflected in the day-to-day activity of people here. Army and tourism are the main stay of bubbling economy of this remote region. While Army has pumped in a lot of adrenaline in the Ladakhi culture; the tourism has been like a growth hormone. Unfortunately, too much of growth hormone at too rapid a pace has been pushing Ladakh to acquire dimensions that did not exist hitherto fore. It often reminds me of a young Bollywood starlet who was forced to grow up in haste after delivering a sterling performance with Hritik Roshan in his home production “Koi Mil Gaya” as a child actor.
Unfortunately, the biggest nemesis of rapidly growing Ladakh is also the burgeoning tourism here. Obviously, the basic infrastructure has not been able to keep pace with the demands of huge tourist influx which leaves numerous small and big garbage dumps comprising pet plastic bottles of mineral water, soft drink and wrappers of chips, wafers, instant noodles and biscuits. It is not just the tourists, but even the younger generation is now living off the packaged foods items on a regular basis. They have traded their traditional chutakhi, sattu, gyakko and paba for instant noodles, ready to eat packaged meals, aerated drinks and canned juices blindly aping the tourists. The lure of fast money from tourism is immense and one finds sizable number of Ladakh Scout soldiers who have given up their Army job prematurely and bought an SUV to take the tourists on excursions during the five months of Sunshine in Ladakh.
Igoo valley was surprisingly different. We were really impressed to see a series of empty 200-liter barrels painted white with bold green letters “DUST BIN” neatly inscribed on them. These barrels were placed astride narrow winding road at each of the villages and hamlets throughout the valley. What really impressed me was that there was no litter anywhere except for inside these dust bins. There was no litter in the vicinity too suggesting that the locals were careful while disposing the garbage in these dustbins. It was an unusual sight for most Indians from any corner of the country, perhaps with the exception of Sikkim.
During our ride to the Igoo valley we waved at unknown people wishing them with a spirited Julley and they promptly waved back at us. I don’t think I could do this while driving in Delhi or Mumbai or for that matter at any other place in urban India without being labelled as wierdo. No one here suggested us to be happy with abandonment, yet we felt completely free and in our elements. What stops us from being us otherwise? I could not put my finger on something tangible.
We finally reached village Langkor, our destination for today after fair amount of slipping and skidding on the loose gravel and dirt of the serpentine road. As the splutter of Bullet died on switching off the ignition, we looked around to see where to start. On being guided to meet the village Numberdar, (Head) we waded across a mountain brook to arrive at a clearing between the trees to find a village meeting in progress. The locals did not notice this intrusion, perhaps it was the last thing to expect as this is the last village of the valley that too not on a regular tourist circuit.
Everyone stopped and looked at us in response to our awkward Julley. We had presented a completely unexpected sight and had taken them by surprise. Obviously busy discussing important local issues, they abruptly stopped the animated discussion going on in ‘Bodhi’ and looked at us, questioning our motive to be there at such an odd hour.
“Tashi????” we asked searching for the village Numberdar amongst the gathering of twenty something and at least three or four Tashis looked at us questioningly. After hearing our long winding introduction of self and our purpose of being here; Tashi the village Numberdar looked at us without any expressions that stayed on his face for eternity. Just before we could conclude that our explanations have fallen on deaf ears, he summarized; “You need a guest room for the night, right…but there are none out here. You can stay at my place though”. Hearing him relieved us and we waited for him to finish the business in hand.
We walked with him to his home and started talking. He was very curious to know as to how did we know about Chho. Tashi, we learned was an ex-serviceman, and had served Indian Army in Ladakh Scouts. He retired as a CHM (Company Havildar Major) in the year 2009 after rendering mandatory 15 years of service. Now, he owned a Swaraj Mazda Mini Bus that runs daily between Langkor and Leh providing connectivity to the villages. His service in the Army as MT (Mechanical Transport) driver has put him in good stead as he can maintain his bus well because Army had trained him in handling smaller maintenance jobs on his own. It’s interesting how MT is added to describe the profession of a driver in Army. It is to distinguish them with yet another category of drivers called AT Driver. AT, here denotes ‘animal transport’ which refers to the soldier responsible to operate mules for carrying loads on posts in the higher reaches of mountains with no road connectivity.
Tashi’s elder son we learned, drives the bus to and fro Leh that helps him make, up to five thousand rupees per day. In a short period of three years, he has also acquired an SUV that is driven by his nephew to ferry tourists during tourist season. He has a daughter and another son studying in class tenth and seventh respectively. His wife looks after the affairs at home that also include a small agricultural land and three cows. A double story house tucked in the rocky patch of the mountain face is one of the three pucca houses in this remote hamlet.
We were ushered in to the best room of the house on the first floor that had full height wall paneling of willows wood with a neat coat of varnish. It also had wall to wall carpet that had bold patterns of flowers woven with striking colored wool. Dragons were painted artistically on five or six chokseys (small wooden tables covered with three sides) in bright red and golden colors. The front wall had a wooden cabinet across the entire length which stored modern crockery, dinner plates and assortment of cups and mugs. Our good host prevailed on us to have home cooked rice served with green leafy vegetable and plain lintels that evening. It was a comfort food that also helped us conserve our stock for the trek the next day.
We were later on very thoughtfully oriented to a Ladakhi toilet, constructed on the reverse slope towards the rear of the house so that we could use it during the night and also next morning. It was nothing but a small neat hole on the ground with a spade and some loose dirt stacked next to it. Interestingly the toilet had no roof but was so sited that the person while using it is not exposed to the direct gaze of people going about their job in the vicinity.
“I will send my son to accompany you in the morning. He is still not home” Tashi informed us as a matter of fact. Normally he is quite reluctant to accompany tourists but let him come home, I will speak to him. I will tell him that you will offer him Inam”.
We readily agreed and dumped our bags in the room to take a stroll in the nearby fields before it got too dark. A few paces later we were greeted by customary Julley and treated with some fresh green peas by a family that was harvesting the crop from their field. I don’t remember having ever tasted such fresh, sweet and juicy green peas ever in my life and I mean every word when I say this.
*****
A small piece of starlit sky waited us outside the large window as we lay awake in the dark room going over the events after we reached the village. Earlier in the evening before dinner, Tashi had introduced all his children including the youngest 14-year-old Tsering Stopdan who was to be our guide tomorrow. Could he really walk if the Chho is such a tough climb? We had wondered, perhaps unduly. The young guide had assured us that he knew his way very well and that he had been there only last week. “We must leave at four in the morning”, he had cautioned us. He also offered to wake us up in time. Tsering Stopdan appeared as a no-nonsense kid who knew his job well. He was not at all intimidated by our presence unlike most shy kids in the rural Ladakh. So, we decided to address him as Guruji.
Guruji gave us a cup of tea at 3.30 am next morning and we marched off at sharp four with our torches and walking sticks in hand behind him. From the beginning it was clear that this kid knew his job well and we were in safe hands. It was a beautiful morning and the sky was still dark but clear. One could get dizzy looking at millions of stars twinkling up there. We were walking next to a ‘Lunpa’ (small rivulet) that made gushing sound of sparkling ice-cold water. Some of the star constellations were so clear that we could not help but speak out loud ‘Saptrishi !!!’ the moment we saw it. The walk was literally ‘heavenly’, as we couldn’t see a thing on the ground.
After a strenuous walk in the darkness for an hour and a half, a faint outline of mountains in the far distance was beginning to discern. By now we were well accustomed to the darkness and were enjoying the fresh cold breeze that caressed our faces. It was not long before we faced a steeper gradient to climb that made it difficult to continue wearing the warm jackets anymore. Initially, our buttons were undone and after a while these came off and reached on our shoulders. Not able to walk properly we finally tied it to our waist using its sleeves. It was then we noticed Guruji who was walking effortlessly without any such heavy clothing. The climb was indeed tough and finally we found ourselves resting for longer than we took climbing a stretch. “Is it this steep a climb ahead or harder?” I couldn’t stop asking as I managed to control by breath.
“Most of it is similar but towards the end, it is much tougher” Guruji replied gravely. We were shown a small spring on the way that appeared to have emerge from nowhere and offered to take a sip. The water tasted wonderful and refreshingly cold giving a new meaning to the word mineral water that we often see written on plastic bottles in general stores in plains. The Sun was behind the mountain and it had lit up the ambience with golden outlines on everything that stood there proudly. Slowly, the strain of climbing at an altitude of 14000 feet had started to build up and I found it increasingly difficult to move forward. I was out of breath so quickly and frequently that Guruji just stood there watching me if I was really serious about this trek? My partner Ravikant though himself in dire strait did not have enough words to boost my morale as he repeatedly said, “Take it easy sir, we are in no hurry…”.
It was another hour and a half of climb that made me realize that my heart was pumping much harder than I have ever seen it doing. I had never felt my heart beat so loud and distinct and in such rapid succession. Yet I was not able to make my limbs go on climbing. A slight dizziness started to envelope me and my vision became hazy. Finally, I realized that I was hardly moving ahead and in turn have tied down Ravi and Guruji both. “Why don’t you carry on, I will catch up slowly…” my voice trailed off as I offered Ravi because no matter how long I rested my ability to continue climbing the tough mountain was ebbing fast. “Take it easy sir, we are in no hurry…” Ravi’s voice was also not very bright.
After an unusually long break I realized that everyone was waiting for me to commence the climb. Looking at them I said; “I think… you please carry on. I am going to need much more than these short breaks… we are taking now”. I spoke with great efforts after composing my thoughts but there was no acknowledgement from them and they continued waiting on me. Now I was troubled, did I not say that loud enough? Because, if I did, at least Guruji would have reacted even if Ravi was equally tired. “You want to rest some more sir?”; oblivious to my dilemma, Ravi asked me after sometime. This time I simply nodded in affirmative knowing well that I was not left with enough energy to give a verbal response. I also indicated them to move on.
After they disappeared at the next turn of the mountain trail, I looked for a safer place to plonk myself. My roving eyes, settled on a ledge slightly off the track which was overlooking the valley. The flat piece of ground was barren except for few patches of grass that had almost dried up. I moved further ahead in search of a levelled rock to comfortably rest. In fact, I was looking for a place to lie down. I was feeling so drained that sitting down was not enough. Finally, I spotted a rocky patch with its large overhung part projecting out in the valley. It looked tempting and I dragged myself to it. I was awestruck as I saw the valley below from the overhanging rocky outcrop. As if in a trance, I slumped on the flat surface and lied down. The hard and cold rocky bed felt really good as golden warmth of the Sun started recharging every cell of my tired body. A light breeze enveloped me with its soothing caress. Down below in the valley, heavy mist had obscured the depth of the valley making it look like an ultra-luxurious fluffy spread. The natural slope of the rock was such that I was able to see the entire valley without having to strain my neck. Before I knew how tired I felt, I had slipped in to a peaceful sleep.
*****
I had an intense and vivid dream; I saw that I was sitting squatted in front of this beautiful Chho. Captivated by the beauty in front I was completely submerged in it. After a while it felt that I was neck deep in the Chho and somehow, I had become so transparent that I could also see the Chho inside me. I found myself wanting to go deeper and open my eyes inside the Chho when I saw Guruji floating next to me. I noticed him because he was poking my face with his small fingers. He was so close to my face that I could feel his breath on my forehead. Strangely enough I did not really know his face as I had never seen him before. In the morning when he brought us a cup of tea it was dark and I didn’t see his face at all. Yet somehow, I knew it was Guruji. Did I had presumed that it was this small kid we called Guruji? I wondered if presuming is the first stage of existence?
All of a sudden, I was aware that it was just a dream and in fact I was in no way near the Chho. This made me uneasy and I thought that if I did not move quickly, I may never reach there. The thought of missing out the experience to be face to face with the mysterious Chho made me really sad. I then noticed that Guruji was looking at me with great empathy. He was not smiling yet his face exuded warmth and care. He told me that this is the Chho I had been looking for. He asked me to be careful and to not go deeper as it will be difficult to breath if I ventured inside the Chho. “Keep your head up and breath” he instructed in his grave voice. I tried to get up but my head was heavy and eyes did not see clearly when I tried opening them.
“But I do want to see the Chho from inside, it is so beautiful here, that I must see the beauty from within.” I said slowly, as if in delirium resisting being pulled away from beautiful fluffy spread that covered the valley.
“You think you are ready yet…haven’t you seen how difficult it was so far?” Guruji was calm and understanding and at his empathic best. “Stay here, drink and breath the fresh air and let the Chho heal you.” He said calmly. I was losing the intensity of the dream now and had started noticing the hard rock underneath me. I saw Guruji floating away in to the fluffy mist and I felt the cool and moist breeze touching my face again.
*****
I don’t know how long I slept on the rocky outcrop hanging on the pit-less valley. As I slowly regained my senses, I realized that someone had pulled me away to a safer position from the edge where I had so dangerously slept unmindful of how easy it was from here to meet an effortless destruction. I was slowly becoming aware of my stable heart beat and restored vision. My head was clear and I could see that the valley in front of me was not how I had dreamt it few hours ago. It was harsh and rugged and the fluffy luxurious spread that I thought it was there in the morning was missing. I did not know if the reality was so different or the morning breeze had lifted the mist away. I slowly rose on my feet and stretched my body to understand what I should do next. It was then I heard someone talking, as if people were passing by from the mountain track nearby.
“How do you feel sir…” Ravikant asked as he and Guruji walked towards me. It made me oddly aware of the circumstances in which I had halted here in the morning. Not fully aware of the time lag I smiled at them and asked, “Where have you two been?”. Even before I finished my question, I already knew the answer.
“Sir, we went ahead after you said you wanted to stay here and rest. It is good that you decided to stay on, the climb ahead was a real f***”. Ravi could not control his speech. Guruji stayed composed as ever oblivious to the crudeness of the expression.
“Oh, but you managed to reach there, right?”
“Yes yes…we did. Thanks to Guruji, at many places he literally dragged me up.” Ravi said appreciatingly looking at him with fondness.
“In fact, in the morning I did not realise that you are abandoning the trek. So, we waited for quite some time after reaching further ahead. But once you did not turn up, I got worried. I had no strength left to get back and see how you were doing. Leaving you here unattended was also not an option specially after knowing how exhausted and out of breath you were when we had left you here for a small break. It was then, Guruji volunteered to get back and check on you. He asked me to pend the decision to continue the trek based on your condition”.
It was really amusing to learn what all was going on while I was peacefully sleeping on my rocky bed. “Did Gujuji not come and check on you?” he asked me.
“I guess he was here” I said ruefully.
“But he also told me that this is the Chho I had been looking for?” I looked at Guruji questioningly. There was a hint of smile on his face, but he was as composed as always.
“You were fast asleep and too close to the edge. I feared that you may fall off while sleeping, so I pulled you slightly back on the rock” Guruji added as a matter of fact.
“And you were adamant and telling me to start walking to the Chho, but had no strength left to move, so I told you to find the Chho here. By the way, you are not alone to get stuck here; many of our own people who cannot walk further find the Chho right at this spot. You also found the Chho here, didn’t you?” He questioned me, this time almost looking in my eyes. I was dumb struck and did not know if what I dreamt of, was the manifestation of my imagination. If this was the case, then how come others also see the Chho here as stated by Guruji? I was really intrigued.
“Anyway, what is next? What is the time now”? I had resigned to reason out further.
“Back to Langkor! It is already 3 pm. We are on a downhill journey now but it will still take two hours from here”. Guruji added and we started walking quietly. I had been sleeping alone for almost five hours here. It did not seem that long. Guruji was leading us and we did not talk much unlike in the morning when we had so many questions that we kept asking about the Chho to our young guide.
After about an hour or so, we took a small break to catch the view. It was a pleasant walk and we were not exhausted at all. My mind was preoccupied with a lot of things. The most painful part of the thought was about my failure to complete the trek. Was I that weak? What if I had persisted and walked on; however slowly it may have been? Do I have a heart condition, why did it look like I could not walk a step ahead?
All of a sudden, the intangible spikes of my ECGs started to dance in front of my eyes. We in Army have to undergo regular medical tests and after a certain age, ECG becomes one of the essential tests. I recalled how my world appeared topsy turvy when my first time ECG showed up T6, T7 inversions. I did not know what to make out of these T wave inversions because I had no physical symptoms in line with the test results. I recall how I was extensively investigated for this freak abnormality that existed in my ECG. My frustration back then was reflected in anything that I did as I knew not how my career and my disease would progress. For few months everything in my life got fuzzy because of this abnormality in my ECG. Besides regular Treadmill tests and Stress Echo, I was also subjected to Thallium Scintigraphy and finally, in the absence of any evidence of a heart disease I was declared medically fit in SHAPE-1; the best medical category for any military person. Has the disease progressed now? I was already showing up signs of high blood pressure and was told by my doctor brother to start the medication for hypertension. It is time to go for a detailed examination again I thought making a mental note. Ladakh is known to precipitate such dormant medical conditions and it has been over 18 months here.
“Ravi, can I ask you something?” I prodded my partner gently. “Yes sir, anything. What is bothering you, I see you are so quiet, are you feeling fine?” Ravi was more than willing to strike up a conversation.
“What did Chho looked like, can you describe it for me, I really regret missing out on reaching there and I am sorry, you too would have missed it because of me.” I said pensively.
Ravi was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at me with genuine concern in his eyes; “Sir, please don’t say that. I am ashamed of having heeded to the advice of Guruji when he told me you are fine and you will wait here till we come back after visiting Chho. I should not have left you like that, not unless I had personally checked on you. Sir, please believe me I wanted to do just that but I was so tired that I knew I too would drop out if I returned to your location”.
“Hey, it is ok Ravi, I was really fine. Guruji indeed came back to check on me but it seems I was too dazed to have noticed him. I thought he was in my dreams, floating on the Chho with me. Now I recall, he had advised me not to go deeper as it will be difficult to breath if I ventured further”. I was lost in my vivid dream once again as I described my surreal experience to Ravi.
Now it was time for Ravi to be pensive, “Sir, you also saw him floating in the Chho?”.
“What do you mean you also; who else saw him inside the Chho?” I was beginning to wonder now.
“I too saw him afloat in the Chho; in fact, he went missing for some time after we reached there. Believe you me sir, I was frantically looking for him when he suddenly appeared to be floating in the Chho at a distance. He came close and I saw him neck deep in the Chho. He somehow appeared transparent and himself made up of the fluffy luxurious mist that had covered the Chho.” Ravi was spoking in a dream like voice.
*****
Next one hour we walked in silence till we reached Langkor. Our minds had gone numb as we finished exchanging the notes on what the Chho was like; for me in my dream sequence and for Ravi in what he saw after reaching there. Now we both had such uncanny similarities in our perception of the Chho that it blew our minds. We did not know which one was the reality and which one a dream. Guruji was walking with us still as poised and composed as he had been in the beginning of our trek. He maintained a stance as if everything was normal. After reaching Langkor, we collapsed on the comfortable mattress in the guest room of our host Tashi while Guruji vanished without saying a word. Who really was Guruji and had accompanied us on this trek, we really did not know. We only knew that he was our protector and a reliable companion in our hour of crisis. After a while we quickly gathered our things to start our journey back to Leh, and then Guruji appeared in front of us with two cups of Chai in a tray. This time he smiled at us openly and very compassionately. After finishing the tea, we fetched few currency notes of Rs 100 and offered these to him. He politely accepted it and kept these in his pocket without counting them.
“I hope your pilgrimage was good?” Tashi asked us cheerfully. He added that it had been long since some outsiders came to pay their reverence to Chho which even the locals find it a tough challenge. He also added that not many who start their journey complete the pilgrimage. We did not know when something that started as an adventure trek turned in to a pilgrimage. After so many years, I am still at a loss to understand what I dreamt half way to the trek was?
Few words spoken by Guruji in broken Hindi still reverberate in my mind that were spoken by him when we had asked him how difficult will be our trek to the Chho; “Everyone has a Chho inside them, only one has to find it. That is why it is so near yet so far”.
Col Hemant, your experience in the trek to the Chho is very well penned and is awe inspiring to many who read your blog. These experiences of trekking in the remote mountains reinvigorating to any one who undertakes them…each is a pilgrimage..my own experience in treking and climbing the Stock Kangri at 22K feet and the Kun mountain near Kargil was a grand and memorable experiences..akin to bring closer to the Almighty…one mistake and u will reach the abode of Gods!
Thank you Nikhil sir. How aptly you have put across the divinity of such experiences. I look forward to hearing your experience.
A fantastic account, of a surreal experience which is not so uncommon in the Higher Himalayas the abode of Gods and everything divine.
A very interesting read.
Thanks Neeraj, I am so happy to see you taking time to read it. Life teaches many lessons but the best and most useful ones are rooted in our failures rather than successes.
Beautifully narrated. Gave a wonderful snap shot of the geography if that place, sublime beauty even in a harsh terrain like that and the physical fortitude and mental courage of Hemanth to press on regardless of the stamina till sensibly decided to take a break instead of causing bodily harm. The mystery and enigma of Guruji also gives that mystical twist. All in all it was nice going through the write up visualizing what the environment around would have been on the trek. Xcellent narration.Thanks.
Thank you sir, it wasn’t easy to forgive myself for abandoning the trek before reaching the destination. The regret remains till date but today in retrospect I understand how it helped me understand myself better.
Such vivid details and engrossing capture of each and every aspect of trek. As if I have gone with you. Wow… is all that I can say.
Thank you Rakesh, this is what keeps me going. Thanks for taking out time to read it.
Very well written! Could have been shortened for SM posting! It’s not often that one gets to read so much in detail about Ladakh, it’s people and their mores.
Thank you sir. I will try to write a smaller version for SM postings.
What a beautifully penned narration of your wonderful experience.
Just loved reading the piece.
Thanks sir regards
What a beautifully penned narration of your wonderful experience.
Just loved reading the piece.
Thank you sir, I am happy that you find the piece appealing. Hope you find time to read more such anecdotes on the same platform.
Hi Hemant…a very interesting “read”…ur superb discription of a journey which started as a trek n ended into a exciting pilgrimage or even a Mirage of sorts
As it happens in life ur destiny dictates the eventual path…ur going on an unknown path one doesn’t know is the inner forbidding to reach out to this mystical water body….such a rare experience…u must have been guided powers that Be to have guided u on this holy journey ….U r right to have encountered various psychedelic forms of sensations gripping u on ur nightmarish mystical journey
Ur record of the beautiful breathtaking sights encountered during ur treck r excellent n well covered…n keeps the reader engrossed in tune ur journey ..it leaves a delightful hint to budding treks to venture to uncharted beauties..thank u Hemant for taking me on this journey
I tracked with you. Felt exhausted. Struggling to find Choo indide me but desire is ignited.
Pure exhilaration.
Hemant: Your narration is vivid and your spirit of exploration going beyond the physical limitations is a fantastic journey towards finding the Choo within.
Jilley
Julley Sir. Thank you very much sir for your support and encouragement. I hope you find time to read through some more anecdotes here on the same platform.
Your narration made me feel snow under my feet. So real it is. Increase in tourism is a blessing to the Ladakh at the same time being an UT,onus does fall on the administration to tackle the garbage menace and develop the infrastructure at a rapid.
A superb reading.
Thank you Sir, your appreciation means a lot to me. Please spare time to read other anecdotes as well here on the. same platform.
What a beautiful narration Hemant. Hats off to you for creating a wonderful pic in our minds who never had any slightest idea of Laddakh and nearby mountains for that matter. Your point to point details made it quite interesting read. Simply a chilling and exciting writeup like a chilling cold of Laddakh…
Fully enjoyed..Thanks sharing your great unforgettable experience..
Thank you shrirang, It is so good to see you here on my blog. Please find time to read my blog on our batchmate Dimpy Raina. It is titled “Beyond One Last Step”. You will find it here on this platform under Soldiers Life.
Loved reading it. For once I was not wanting this beautiful narration to end. The start of the episode motivated me for Chhadar tracking but now being 64, your caution at the beginning has meaning. I have been posted in Army Avn Flt at Leh flown in Sachin to last post of Demchok and seen the best of the Beautiful Leh Laddqkh. Ever since visited 4 times thereafter and still it is in my favorite destinations to repeat. I am adding Choo to my bucket list. Thanks for this lovely blog and what an experience you have been through.
Thank you so much sir. Ladakh calls you again and again. Looking forward to visiting it again soon.
Too good sexy I gaveca feeling as I am there and enjoying those black current from trishul bakers
Thanks buddy. It is good to find you here on my blog; stay connected bro.
Thanks for another great post.
Thanks for your time and generosity to provide me the feedback. Regards
Wow. So beautifully written with such stunning visuals. Keep writing, keep enthralling.
Amazing piece filled with beauty and serenity.
A true Guru is one who teaches/shows us who one truly is. Physical age does not matter who knows great saint is just a little kid playing under your banyan tree. It’s his wisdom and words which heals us.
This year even we did a small trek of Kareri Lake in uttrakhand. Treks do give us some exhilarating burst of energy.
A great read indeed.