A handful of thoughts

When our car started off from Lachen it was 5:30 in the morning and the wind seemed to do justice to my feather jacket as I continued to sport my ‘mattress’ look. Our destination was at an altitude of 17,100 feet, the Gurudongmar Lake, about three and half hours drive from Lachen. Our car (only four wheel drive cars can make it to Gurudongmar) stuffed with overdressed enthusiasts began making its way uphill against the currents of the “Lachen Chu” the river after which Lachen gets its name.

The green of the slopes, the white of the rapid surf and the brown of the bumpy road all worked together tirelessly to give the place a paradise like look any mountain lover would swear by. Our bags were filled with popcorn, lozenges and some high altitude medicine; one of us happened to be a doctor and carried a mini oxygen cylinder as well. The popcorn according to the locals, help you cope up with the high altitude climate- dunno if that’s a myth but we all kept on munching them religiously 15,000 feet onwards. As for myself, I though it was best to stare outside the windows and keep mum and save some breath. The snow capped peaks were already in sight and that made it difficult to concentrate to anything else.

The ride went pretty much uneventful up to Thangu, the last place with habitation. We stopped at a house had a humble breakfast of bread butter and jam, and tea. We were made to sit in their spotless kitchen where dried yak legs hung from the ceiling along with lumps of “chhurpi”- a chewing gum like dairy product consumed in large numbers by Nepalese and Tibetans; perhaps to beat the chill. There was not much time to lose in Thangu because at Gurudongmar, it is the earlier the better. So we had gulp down our tea fast and head for the car only before buying some more popcorn though. Gurudongmar was another good one and half hours away at least and the clock struck 7:40. As we made our way upwards, the green got scarcer and the huge barren rocky slopes loomed larger and larger and by the time we reached Giaogong, it were sandwiched between a clear satin sky and cold gravel. Giaogong stands at 15,000 feet and boasts having the “Café Fifteen Thousand”- the highest café in the globe. The café is run by the military and the steaming coffee you get here for 7 rupees is very good. Apart from the café, Giaogong has lavatories and a medical camp where if you are interested you can get yourself checked before hitting the 17,000 mark.

Giaogong onwards there are no traces of roads to be found except for a few arrows demarcating mine fields and showing the way towards Gurudongmar. Yes you read it right- I wrote ‘mine fields’. But there are no fears of getting blown up unless you have a blind driver since the areas with mines are clearly marked; and blind drivers do not get license in Sikkim. About thirty minutes of this little Tibet and we landed a few meters above the Gurudongmar Lake. A turquoise blue mass of still water flanked by a glacier on one side and a host of barren metallic looking mountains on all other, most with some amount of snow sprinkled on their peaks. In all my rendezvous with the Himalayas, I have seen very many beautiful places, but Gurudongmar has a stunning quality about it- its quiet dazzling beauty is so larger than life that it froze me to the spot; it was a while before I started clicking my camera.

There are several myths about the lake I’ve heard but our driver did not enlighten us with any of them; he only warned us that we should not take the flight of stars that led to the level of the waterbed since it might get problematic for us plains people to climb up. The temple- the ‘sarv dharm sthal’ and a whole flock of Buddhist colorful prayer flags fluttering with the strong wind make a sight and were successful to make quite an impression even on a non-believer like me. I do not know what there is inside the temple since I did not dare to open my shoes in the cold. In a short while, it was time to leave paradise behind and as I cast one last look on Gurudongmar I remembered what these prayer flags read- “Om manipadme hoom”- the jewel in the lotus. And though I know that those words are directed at a completely different meaning, at that point it suddenly occured to me they are all pointing towards the Gurudongmar. You can call it over reading or a wildness of imagination alright, but that’s how it is.