Day 18: Pangong Lake (11th Sept 2014)

Woke up at 5:30 am. I was feeling very hot at night under the three layers of blanket and also had a breathing problem owing to the lack of oxygen. The double-layered tent was very well insulated. I could only hear the ferocious wind blow outside but didn’t feel the chill of it at all.

It was a cloudy, windy and a very cold start to the day. I took one blanket, covered myself with it and sat on the recliner waiting for the sun to come out. At 6 am, some flakes of snow started falling. I was the only one on the shores of Pangong.

At 6:10 am the first streak of sun tore through the clouds to kiss the Pangong. I felt that I was blessed to be there at that moment.  

First rays of the sun fall on Pangong

I saw one lonely army guy, so I walked up to him for a quick chat. He was from Ladakhi Scout and was a man of few words. Still, he managed to share some Kargil conflict stories with me. While we were chatting, the flag hoisting ceremony started at 7:30 am. It took a team of about 7 jawans to hoist the national flag. Not because it was heavy, it could have been easily managed by one man. The only reason why so many jawans got involved was to ensure that at no point in time the huge national flag touched the ground. And ensuring that was by no means an easy task. When the flag reached the top end of the pole and started flattering in the wild wind, I got goosebumps seeing it.

Once the sun claimed victory over the clouds, the chilling winds started to lose its power. I headed back to the camp for my breakfast. The breakfast buffet had cornflakes, toast, pancakes, gobi parathas and poha.

Breakfast

After breakfast, the other groups in the camp returned to Leh. I was not finished with Pangong. My plan for the day was to do nothing but sit beside Pangong and click all shades of Pangong. The staff had advised me to go to the “Shooting point”. No points for guessing why it is called so. It was the place where the ending scene of the movie 3 Idiots was shot.

The shooting point

 A group of students from Jharkhand was having a gala time there. They had every right to do so. One of them asked me if I was the same guy wearing a helmet with a red star. It was now obvious that my identity was overshadowed by the helmet and Chitti ( that's what Linda calls my Royal Enfield .Inspired from the movie of one of our favorite actors - RAJNIKANT !!! ).  Rubbing it in further, he said that he wanted to take a photo with Chitti and the helmet. I was not carrying my helmet because the shooting point was only about 10 mins of a ride from the Martsemik camp. Not left with many choices, he eventually took a pic with Chitti and me.

Once they were done with few clicks, their tour guide signalled for them to leave. They had hardly spent about 20 mins at Pangong but had an itinerary to follow. Luckily I had none. I could take all the time to soak in the beauty of Pangong.  

 The water of Pangong was freezing but I wanted to swim in that mystic lake. I would not get another chance to do so in a long time. I also had brought with me one towel just in case I decided to jump into the water. After a few minutes of contemplating the consequences, I gave in to the temptation and much to the amusement of the onlookers, I jumped right into the icy water of Pangong for a swim*.

 Few minutes of swimming in that freezing lake gave me a brain freeze. I realized that it needs a superhuman effort to swim in such waters as the body just refuses to follow the brain's instructions. Staying in that water any longer would not have been wise, so I got out and quickly changed into the warm clothes.

While I sat there imprinting the beauty of Pangong into my mind, I saw one local driver cleaning the lake while his client went to capture Pangong on their camera. I asked him if he does it regularly and he said that he does it everywhere he goes as it gives him peace of mind.

“Peace of mind and so easily?” -  I thought.

As he pulled out plastic wrappers from the Pangong Lake one after the other he counter questioned me, “Aagar mein aapna ghar saaf nahi karunga toh kaun karega?” (If I don’t clean my house then who else will?).  He was not expecting me to answer that. I was talking to a man who had evolved to a different level. The best I could do was to help him clean his house, so I too joined in.

As the conversation with that gentleman progressed, I learned that he was an ex Indo – Tibetan army personnel. He showed me one peak which was occupied by China during the war of 1962.

For his peace of mind

After all the tourist left, the shooting point was left only to me. While I was noting down the chronicles into my diary a group of 3 tourists from Dharamshala came and one of them was contemplating diving into the water. I told him that he will not regret it. Hearing me, he too jumped into the water and made a memory for a lifetime.

Went back to the camp for lunch. I met one driver on the way who was waiting for his passenger. Seeing my KA number plate, he asked me if I was riding from Kerala. I told him that I was riding from Bangalore.

“Akela?” (Alone?) he asked.

I nodded.

 “Zindagi ki maaja loot rahay ho. Enjoy your trip”, said he

I replied, “Kuch aise he samajlo aap” (Ya, something like that) and waved him goodbye.

The lunch was served hot. There was a special dessert made from apple which I had never tasted before. It definitely was not an apple pie.

I headed to Pangong again right after the lunch and spent the remaining day there. I used to spend an entire day in the office sitting in front of my laptop. That day, spending an entire day just sitting in front of the mesmerizing Pangong Lake, seemed like a much-needed change in my life.  

 Reflecting on life. The Pangong effect  

An army surveillance boat guarding our treasure. 

At around 4 pm, I headed back to the camp area and laid in the recliner facing the lake. A group of travellers from Mumbai had arrived by that time. The group took the recliners next to me and got lost in the beautiful sight. One amongst them was a girl named Vinita who was acting overtly smart. The kind that speaks too much for digestion. She was some digital planner in a startup. Her toxic 'I know it all' attitude was proving too much to handle. When her verbal diarrhoea showed no signs of stopping, I was forced to put her in her rightful place in my own polite style. In the end, she was left so embarrassed that she rushed into her tent and never showed herself in front of me again.

Once the sun had set on Pangong, I went into the hall next to the kitchen and asked for a few pegs of rum. The swim in the icy water of Pangong warranted the pegs. While I was sipping on my rum and chatting with the staff, the landlady came to check on the kitchen duty. Once she was done with her inspection, she sat down to chat with me. She talked about BRO, Leh, J&K politics, the floods, her Bangalore trip and also on Buddhism. Linda being a Buddhist, I was already familiar with Buddhist customs and rituals. So, I could understand most of what she said on Buddhism. By the end of our conversation, she had grown so fond of Linda that she wanted to meet her and taste the special wine that Linda makes.   

She was pleased to know that I swam in Pangong. Further, she said that the swim in Pangong would prove good for me as it was a holy lake for the locals.

Met one friendly group of travelers while having dinner. As I was having my dinner alone, they invited me to join them. They were a group of friends from AP, WB, Bihar, Andaman & Nicobar and Japan. The liveliest one amongst them was a lady named Kiran who had a very infectious laugh. A short chat with them over the dinner was very interesting and humorous. When they heard my riding plans to Darjeeling, the one from Bihar advised me on how to keep myself away from trouble while riding through the wild-wild-Bihar. At the end, he said, “waha log juttay kay leya mar daytay hai” (People kill even for your shoes there), and it scared the shit out of me. I had noted everything that he had asked me to do.

At the end of the 18^th Day, I had traveled a mere 20 km on-road, but my soul had wandered so far that I will forever be lost in the Pangong beauty.

*All the special moments which I would not get a chance to do otherwise are in bold
    

(Do read the other days Chronicle listed on the same page)

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