by Anil John
Day 3: The blankets of dark still lay over and I could see the magic of dawn amidst the snow peaked mountains surrounding the village. I requested him to take me for a morning walk before I took my hot water bath. He happily led me across the bushes and rocks to his green fields by the river.
The view of the dawn in the valley was mysterious and transitional. I thought to myself that the boundaries of his green fields to which he was pointing out, was more defined by the senses and not by a map.
Chapter 8
“Have you ever seen a flying object in the shape of a saucer or a disc, up there in the skies?” I asked him bluntly, while walking by the river.
He stopped and then replied “Sahib, They are the gods and they come occasionally to keep a watch over us.”
“Have you seen them really? That may be some sophisticated aircraft or some planet in our universe that became visible at such high altitude.”
“No Sahib, why will an aircraft come to a standstill over the mountains and valleys, with flashing lights and emitting some fairy floss kind of substance and after sometime they lunge on both sides before going out of sight in the blink of an eye. It cannot be a planet either because planets do not come that close and emit flash lights and planets would not disappear in seconds.”
I could feel my heart racing and pounding fiercely inside my chest.
I asked him further “Did it land? Did you see anyone come out of it?”
“No Sahib, They do not land on our sinful soil. They are the Gods after all.”
He showed no more interest to discuss it further and requested me to follow him back to the village.
I took my bath back in the tiny washroom outside the house. The weather was pleasant and I enjoyed my outdoor breakfast and tea with Tenzin, his wife Dolma and his parents.
It was nine in the morning by now and it was time to pack my bags and forge ahead on my journey to my next destination, Jispa.
I shared my plans with my host and he asked Dolma to make a few parcels of homemade cookies, bread, half a dozen boiled eggs and fruits for me to carry with me on my trip ahead.
I bid farewell to the wonderful family of Tenzin and on their hearty request, I promised to come back with my family someday soon.
When I was driving away from the village, back on the dusty rugged mountainous terrain, I could not help thinking about the incredible generosity that the Tenzin and his family had shown me.
Nobody asked me for anything or wanted anything from me.
They simply enjoyed hosting me as their guest.
I could not help but wonder how would the people in my city receive those people? Would the people in my community open their homes for them? Would the villagers be welcomed in? Would there be such hospitality and generosity?
Off course, I knew the answer and the answer was a resounding denial just because they are poor, just because they don’t speak our language, just because they wear faded, shabby clothes and do not wear slippers.
We would oust them, sneer at them, turn our backs and we may even label them as beggars and thieves in our urban civilization. It is at times like this when I wonder who are the ‘poorer’ in true sense.
I can say that I have learned more from the poor about grace, humility and generosity than I have from the rich. It has always been in my experience that the people who have nothing are the ones who give everything to others.
The acceptance of UFO sightings by Tenzin back in the valleys of Khardang, sent shivers down my spine.
In the middle of nowhere driving my SUV, I recalled the biblical narration of how the religious leader Ezekiel writes about an encounter with a flying object in the year 592 B.C. near river Cheber, now river Chaldea, in today’s Iraq.
Ezekiel Chapter 1 verses 16 and 19 say;
16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the Earth, the wheels were lifted up.
Jispa was a popular destination for trekking and river side camping. It was 22 Kilometers drive from Khardang Village. I drove out for a couple of hours at a slow and steady pace due to the rugged terrain and reached Jispa Campers Ground.
On reaching the venue, I parked my travel mate to the camper’s parking lot and filled the enquiry form at the office nearby and carried my camping gear down the valley to find a creek to camp in solace. The feeling of solo camping was amazing.
I had not been out hiking or camping in years. I have always loved nature in solitude, the fresh air, and natural sounds of the wind, river, birds and animals, the magical aura of the dawn, the glorying moment of dusk and above all, the star gazing at night.
After exploring the woods on the riverside for a while, I found a creek suitable enough for camping myself.
On the edge of the river, this creek had a green pasture with hills on the front and woods on the background. The weather was pleasantly warm and the crystal clear running water of the river was shallow and safe for a swim.
I had brought all the camping essentials in my camping gear, from portable water proof tent, sleeping bag, basic cooking supplies, food parcels, flashlights with extra batteries, first aid box, insect repellant cream, warm clothes, a sharp pocket knife, a Zippo lighter, my iPod and my camera.
Throughout the journey, I had clicked great shots of the outdoors, that way I had each of my moments captured to show Dev and to cherish them as memories for life.
I did notice that it was afternoon and I needed to set up my camp. I unloaded everything from my camping gear and set up my camping tent pretty quickly. I felt pretty accomplished after doing and made sure to take a photo of my camping tent.
I scavenged around the area to gather enough wood to sustain a fire throughout the night.
On the bushes and grass below, I noticed some floss candy kind of substance spread all over. It looked like a carpet of spider’s web.
“I had never seen anything real like that before except in movies, seems like our friendly neighborhood spidey camped here recently.” I quipped to myself.
I touched the substance and tried picking it up. It was lighter than I thought; the texture was just like a cotton floss candy and white in color. The flossy substance was a bit sticky and smelled like fish, but then surprisingly, the substance started to evaporate into thin air.
I was feeling hungry by now so left the flossy epic behind and in an act of urgency, started gathering dry weeds and pieces of wood and returned to my camp. I had no worries of cooking because of the food parcels I had with me.
The parcels had enough food supply for two days. I ate a bread and a couple of boiled eggs leaving the rest of the bread, eggs, snacks and fruits for dinner tonight and for tomorrow’s brunch. The water from the river to drink, tasted better than the much boasted purified mineral water brand back in my world.
I lay back on the grass, close to my tent, looking towards the low hills, listening to water flowing down the river and dozed off.
I woke up to the occasional hooting of an owl which echoed in the valley and saw that the sun was about to set. I realized the urgency of lighting a fire near my tent and lit it.
As the night approached, crickets started chirping and the occasional hoots of the owl were fascinating.
The sky was not that good with the stars since there was a full moon outshining most of the stars.
I did not complained because solo camping under the moon light in a valley of mountains with a river flowing besides was once in a lifetime experience and certainly not for the faint hearted. I enjoyed music on my iPod, made coffee on the fire I lit, scribbled in my diary and then had fruits and some cookies in dinner.
It's a great way to re-center, to escape from the details of daily life that can distract us from our own big picture and to come back with a new sense
of self-sufficiency and purpose.
It was pretty cold later that night, so I curled up in my sleeping bag and zipped up tight in my tent and took a bit of time to doze off and then slept like a rock.
Chapter 9
Day 4: I opened my puffy eyes to the rapture of mountain birds and I saw light coming through my tent. I sat up, stretched myself and zipped open the flap of the tent and poked my head out. The fresh air and the view was a full on rush better than any caffeine.
It was five in the morning on my wrist watch, I got out of my tent, and it was cold and damp outside.
I smiled and thanked God for letting me live these moments in this lifetime and I picked up the plastic container and then walked towards the river to collect water.
I could see a bit of flames here and there inside the fire ring amidst the ashes in my camp fire. I wanted to relight it with more wood to make a coffee and then extinguish it with water before I wind up for my journey ahead in a couple of hours.
After making my coffee, I extinguished the camp fire with water and stirred the ashes with a stick to ensure that no spark was left.
Sipping my coffee walking bare foot on the dew soaked wet grass felt more refreshing than a spa treatment.
I carried my shaving kit to the river, brushed my teeth looking at the birds chirping their praises to the creator, made a close shave, and then washed myself with a short swim in the shallow part of the river.
Wrapped in a towel, I came back to my tent and dressed up with a fresh pair of clothes; kept aside my jacket and woolen essentials, sunglasses and the camera and I started packing my back pack.
Once my back pack was stuffed, zipped and knotted, it was time to pack my camping gear.
All set and I was craving for breakfast, I took out the fruits, started munching them and sat on the ground for a while leaning on to my back pack crossing my legs.
I took my digital camera, and started going through all of the pictures I had taken over the course of my travel. There were some really great nature shots, interspersed with a few selfies as well. I think I went a little overboard clicking the mountains and valleys. After going through the tenth seemingly identical shot of those magnificent mountains, I hastily skipped to the start to see the pictures I took from the start of my trip.
The first click was of Dev and Nitu waving their hands bidding goodbye, the breakfast and coffee shot at the IGI Airport, a friendly click with the travel agent, a proud click of the SUV before hitting the highway, the mustard fields on the way to Manali, the view from the hotel window in Manali, the vendors in Rohtang Pass, the military trucks carrying supplies, the gas station at Tandi, a distant shot of Keylong town,
the SUV parked in Khardang village soaked in mud and dust, a selfie with Tenzin and his bicycle, a family picture at his father’s house, the multiple angle shots of outdoor dinner around the fire beneath the stars in Khardang and a funny shot of myself stirring the cooking pots, the house in which I stayed, the first creek I found on the river side of Jispa and then there was the picture of my tent that I had taken right after I finished setting it up and before wandering around to get the firewood.
I clicked >> button to the next picture: another shot of my beautiful tent.
I stopped, curious.
This one was taken when it was way darker; the tent was visible only by moonlight.
I froze, and it dawned on me. “I did not take that shot.” I exclaimed to myself.
My heart started to race. “No, calm down,” I thought to myself, “Maybe I did take that picture, right before bed?” but deep inside, I knew I did not clicked any.
Hands trembling, I clicked >> button to the next picture.
It was my tent lit by moonlight.
“Again” I murmured to myself in anxiety.
My heart was pounding like a jackhammer at this point.
I clicked >> button again.
My tent lit by moonlight but closer, taking up more of the frame.
“No, no, no, this can’t be real.” >> button again.
An even closer shot of my tent, with almost none of the dark surrounding woods visible.
I was about to scream from how freaked out I was. Please stop now, but I had to know, I couldn’t stop myself from clicking >> button again.
Click >> - a lean forearm green in color and three protruding fingers, pointing towards my tent was visible on the digital screen.
I was now fighting back sobs of terror.
Click >> - A blurred view of the camping fire.
Click >> - The view of my back pack and the ground below as if it got clicked automatically before someone dropped the camera on my back pack.
My heart beats were racing, I shivered as icy chills went through my body and then my fingers found the housing of my digital camera damp from outside.
My digital camera smelled like a fish until I wiped it thorough with my napkin. I stood up frozen in fear, realizing my life could end at any moment. I would have gladly taken a pissed off grizzly bear in place of whom I knew those pictures must have belonged to.
They were Aliens and they were here last night.
After an eternity, I found my breath back and eventually, after a lot a anxiety, I got hold of my senses.
The sun came up, I was out of there. I carried my backpack and my camping gear to retrace my path at a strong power walk, checking over my shoulder and looking around everywhere.
Meanwhile, my mind was racing furious with questions, how can this happen and how did I not wake up? Did they really visit last night and then leave or they were still there in the woods? Did they check my stuff and camera? The fish odor was exactly the same as of the flossy substance I found over the bushes yester afternoon.
Oh my god, was that the cotton flossy substance Tenzin mentioned while describing the emission from the flying object he had witnessed?
I reported my departure in the camper’s office and sweated my way to the parking lot, got into my car and sped off for the highway to my final destination – Leh in Ladakh.
Chapter 10
I wanted to stop before hitting the highway and parked my SUV near a motel and walked in for a hot coffee.
I had the evidence of an extraterrestrial activity down the valley in Jispa captured in my digital camera.
I kept my calm rechecking the pictures this time and countered myself on sharing this with anyone, not even reporting it to the police.
I did not wanted to make it news and get stuck with the formalities of local police and media but I was dead sure about Dev going crazy over this digital evidence.
My solo road trip to Leh, the capital of Ladakh was planned by the gods, I swore to myself.
I took out the itinerary which the travel agent had documented for me with all the possible details. Leh was 260 kilometers ahead and the last phase of my road trip was supposed to take 13 hours from Jispa. On a highway back in my world, this distance should have been taken 3 hours but driving through the mountainous rugged terrain with steep ascents and descents and a series of hair pin bends over the valleys, on one of highest motor able roads in the world, was not going to be cakewalk.
I strapped my seat belts, wore my aviator shades and pressed the keyless ignition.
The muscle car roared before we started on the highway.
The first stop would be Sarchu after a drive of 3 hours.
The route ahead was beautiful, occasionally straight, occasionally haunting, but was worth the pain and every penny.
On reaching Sarchu, I realized my first encounter with the rarified air of the Ladakh Valley and it got a bit uncomfortable due to the lesser oxygen in the air. I decided to go slow and steady so that my body acclimatizes to the high altitude atmosphere. The plan was to drive another 3 hours and to reach Pangi and take a lunch break.
Baralacha La and Sooraj Tal were exceptionally beautiful and exceptionally cold on the way.
Gata Loops, a series of twenty one hairpin bends on such high altitude was breathtaking. It fe
lt like each of these loops or hairpin bends added a kilometer or more to my journey but it was worth every bit of that distance.
I was ascending on Gata Loops and I noticed a dump of water bottles in front of a small temple made of stones with a red flag fluttering on top of it. It looked weird and quite an eyesore in the middle of such a scenic place.
I pulled the brakes and got out to find out.
“How could someone dump so much trash before a temple?” I muttered. I saw an old man sitting near the temple. He might be the one who takes care of the temple, I thought.
I asked him “Baba, why is there so much trash before a temple?”
“They are not trash; they are the offerings to this temple.” He replied.
It was then when I noticed that all the water bottles were full and seal packed.
I got curious and asked him to tell me about the temple and the story behind such an offering.
He happily agreed with a tiring smile.
“Several years ago, It was late October, during the winter, when a cargo truck with its two travelers, the driver and his assistant, crossed Rohtang Pass and moved on its way to Leh. It had already started to snow at a few places and the driver was warned at the Pass but he had no other choice. He had a time line to deliver and had to reach Leh. It was too late for him to turn back on the route.