The smoky village- Jespa

Early in the morning as we got ready and had barely started having photo sessions around wildflower hotel while waiting for the breakfast,I could spot somebody,almost a look alike of Bruce Lee.

In fact a closer look and I could realise that if Bruce Lee was stretched from both ends for sometime than he would loose some of his chest & muscles and gain some more height.a bunch of hairs hanging on either side on his upper lips made what was a moustache.The hairs appeared to be pasted by adhesive.I was curious and wondered whether he was the judo instructor from Manali or maybe some kung-fu freak.

I went down to the group who kept chirping and clicking themselves in various different poses around wildflower as if some photoshoot was on.I have a feeling that this is a typical syndrome with girls to strike various different poses(sometimes exposes also)in front of the camera and than look at the photos to get convinced about their beauty from some angle or the other.But I must admit each one of them was looking so cute and beautiful.I stood their admiring their photo poses and their spicy conversation on who was looking hottest.

Neeru was looking wonderful in her jeans and top,so attaractive that one had to stop and look at her.She was the last to wake up and she took the max time to dress and make up.But looking at her all that was worth the time taken.She looked awesome.Ria as usual was throwing up jackets to give some Hollywood like poses. Sally and Preeti were decently posing for a few snaps here and there in between.

Coming back to our own local Hollywood look alike,aka Bruce Lee duplicate, who was standing so silently at the gate looking like a ghost who has been left out of his group in the night.I went ahead and asked Dharmendra who was this mystery man and he told me that he was our Driver Karan who was a Ladakhi and had come to pick us up to take us  to Leh and beyond.He was our driver for the next one week or so.Once the photo shoot got over the girls except Ria went back into their room to put some more make up as if whatever was on them wasn’t enough to attaract attention.

I quickly went and whispered this news into Ria’s ear.I was so near her that I could smell the perfume she has put on.It was really capitivating and filling my nose as I was spilling the news in her ear.Her first reaction was of awe,as she looked at his moustache with side hairs which were moving aimlessly with the morning wind.

Then we both went and met Karan and told him that we were part of the group he is driving to ladakh.He gave a small grin and his small hairs started swirling as if they were also part of that grin.With his thinner than a stick like structure,probably supported by the car side he was banking on,he folded his hands and said Namaste.The guy appeared to us as a very decent and honest Ladakhi.We reciprocated  his greeting and asked him as to how far was Jespa from Manali.

Jespa  was our destination for day two of the journey.He scratched his head as if all the while giving our question a thought and said” bahut dur hai! kafi time lagega (Its quite far and would take lot of time to reach there).He added by saying, if you people are disciplined about time all the way than we might reach by 5PM.Aur agar paani aur pathar raste mein aa gaya to kitna time lagega koi nahin janta(if we find water and stones,effectively meaning a landslide on the road than nobody knows how much time the journey would take).

I, Preeti &  Ria had our breakfast packets loaded quickly and put our luggage in the Qualis as we saw Neeru and Sally frantically coming out of their room looking for the vehicle and the driver after some 30 minutes.The grin on the face of Karan was slowly changing to frown and than restlessness in those 30 minutes.A delay on the first day was probably something he was not liking,though,expecting.Finally Neeru and sally came up to the vehicle and gave Karan a closeup like smile and Karan mechanically folded his hands in Namaste and immediately blurted that in hill journeys all of us will have to keep tab on time every morning or else by evening we may have enough water and stones for our company on the road.

Neeru and sally gave him a dirty look but immediately covered it with a smile as if smile was a cosmetic to hide their hatred against the statement Karan made targeting them early in the journey.I and Ria sat in the front seat with Karan as if it was pre decided.There was something very infectious about Ria’s laughing,I must admit here.Her whole body would move rhythmically with the laugh and she would look very naughty while enjoying the laughter.She would slap my thigh for a good joke which I contributed, and that gave me the encouragement to contribute more.By the way I was the official entertainer for the group also with my timing of words and humorous interpretations of everything around.

Preeti’s smile was generally very formal and sometimes a forced one especially when the joke was a bit of dark humor.As it is Preeti seemed less comfortable with dark humor.I and Neeru continuously remined her that she needs to be used to all this.After all she was going to marry soon.

I told Ria, that probably Karan must have had some terrible incident involving water or stones or both in his childhood,otherwise why would his conversation would involve water and stones every 10 minutes.Finally with all set the vehicle started rolling.Karan seemed to be cautious and skilled driver from the word go.It was first good news of the morning.If your driver is skilled,you can actually sit back comfortably,chat,sleep or share jokes all the while as he trudges along smoothly on the route which is so curvy & risky.

Karan was a nice driver and a nice person except for the paani and pathar (Water and stones),which he continued to talk about every few minutes.At his age he should be more obsessed with girls than with water and stones,I told Ria.Maybe in the next few days we might able to distract him from these two objects of his desire.

Neeru was having severe constipation and was looking for some medicine and Karan suggested that medicines will only available at a town called Keylong some 50 miles from Manali with no medical help or petrol pump on the way. Neeru was complaining about constipation and I immediately suggested having a banana could help her get relieved. Ria immediately butted in to say how taking a banana would help reduce constipation and the group broke into a laughter. Karan did not have an inkling of how naughty the group was and what lay ahead in store for him during the journey.He was quitetly concentrating on the road ahead.

Ria and I jostled now and than to get a leg space in the otherwise small space we were sharing in the front with Karan.Neeru,Preeti & sally were in the middle and luggage and food packets occupying the back seat.It was easy to share naughty jokes with Ria because she was sitting next to me and than she would laugh loudly and spill it to Neeru who in turn would give me sermon about being more tounge in check than I actually was.Although at times the humor was so very timely that even Neeru would also laugh heartily first and thereafter with a little support from Preeti,would act like a neighbourhood granny.

Sally was naughty in her own way.She would throw up something very naughty at a very appropriate timing and than let me have a free run dissecting it to the fullest and end up making it damn hilarious and entertaining.

We reached Keylong in the after noon.The town was small and full of men who were either drunk or going for drinking.It seemed the men did not have much work as some were playing cards in a group.There were only a few of them we saw in the whole town who did not look intoxicated,but they were looking at Ria and Sally as if they could see through their clothes.Coupled with dirty looks the men were laughing in a very obscene manner after cutting some jokes in their language.With their gestures it was amply clear it was directed towards the girls.At that point in time they were not used to seeing girls in jeans and skimpy clothes,hence,it could be another reason for their curiosity and talking.

Suddenly Sally had the urge to go to the Loo.What a timing I thought.I took her to a hotel where people were drinking laughing and merrymaking while chatting very loudly.Sally was scared but I and Ria told her that we would take care of her.We came out without any untoward incident.Probably the men were not violent and they were restricted to their groups because they knew we were tourist and Ladakh thrives on tourism.

We crossed the road and reached a Kirana shop to find a lady manning the shop.In most of the shops we could see ladies were manning them.We could sense that the men were good for nothing, idle and useless.Perhaps the only thing they knew was how to make babies.The lady in the shop was so sober in her manners and very cute.We took a few items from her and she served us,and smiled all the while as we chatted with her.She looked to us as one of the very few sensible people around that place.She must be forty.around my age and was very gracious in appearance.

We started our journey for Jespa after halting for around three hours  at Keylong. Karan brought medicines for Neeru from a small medicine shop located at the other end of the town.It was already 4.30 pm and Karan was mumbling something.I asked him what he was saying and he said now its so late,worried it would be dark by the time  we reach jespa.

And the very next moment as he was speaking,he stopped the vehicle by applying brakes suddenly.All of us were jolted with his sudden action and looked at him as if we would kill him.There was no vehicle in the front or coming from the other side then why the hell did he apply brakes. Karan told us to keep quite and he got down the vehicle quickly putting his ear next to the hill on the left.No w all of us started having doubt over his sanity. Neeru got down and asked him the reason for the sudden activity.He told her there was a sound which he could hear as he applied brakes and it suggested that the foot of the mountain was about to throw out some kind of slug with lot of water,rocks and sand.It was unheard for all of us as we had never experienced such a thing in our lives.

With a small thud a slug type material came out from the foot of the hill after a few seconds. Patthar aur paani. This was probably the first live demonstration of what he had repeated atleast 19 times in my presence and maybe another 10 times to others in my absence from Manali to this place.The whole thing gathered force as water with lot of mud and stones started oozing from the base of the mountain.Water,sand and stones moved ferociously towards the other side going down all the way into the valley making a scaring noise.

How the hell could one except such a thing from the base of the hill which stood rock solid seconds back.Nobody would ever expect anything would come out ever from something so solid.The sight was frightening as I looked towards the height of the mountain and thought about the whole damn thing falling on us.Only thing which I found good in my thinking about the situation was that if everything falls on us we will not feel pain and die instantly without suffering or actually getting any time to suffer.

Karan asked one of us to keep a watch on the place from where it was all coming out as  he got ready to drive past the point fast. Neeru volunteered to be out there all the time watching the vent till the vehicle crossed the point.Honestly I was a bit afraid to go near that place.Who knows the whole thing could come out at once and beat the shit out of me.As if it would shower flowers on Neeru who was standing so near to the large hole as if she was trying to locate the source of the landslide.I could only admire her from inside the vehicle for her courage.

More so,I admired Karan for his alertness otherwise our trip could have taken a different direction taking us down the valley and upwards to heaven in few seconds time.

As we started our journey again Karan started by talking about his favourite subject once again but I told him to concentrate on driving as the road was quite narrow. Ria gently nudged me to tell me that I was a bit rude to Karan, for me to stop him in his tracks all the time.

But at once Neeru and Sally came to my rescue to add that sometimes one has to be objective and straight about things.I was not thinking about the comment but was dreaming about the nudge.it had some nearness in it which I could sense because love was one thing I was deprived of most in my life.The journey started looking more interesting.

As we neared Jespa  we were driving down the mountains towards a valley like space between two long ranges of hills.It finally became a plain straight road and suddenly from nowhere we could see a small yet beautiful wooden structure in the middle of nowhere.Alongside the river we drove around 10 kms to reach the only hotel at Jespa. It gave ghostly and mysterious outlook as the sun kept going down and the hills seemed to be painted with the fading sun rays.As we entered the hotel we got a news which we seldom hear in developed towns.

In the age of mobile telephony the place was not even connected with a  landline. No towers in that place and hence no telephonic connection with the outer world. No Cellphone usage and no land phone. How exciting!Suddenly in the next few minutes I began to realise that Preeti was chatting a lot more with us than usual. Probably she knew she can’t get in touch with her hubby for at least a night now. We settled down in the two rooms booked for us in that place.An extra mattress was arranged to be put on the wooden floor in both the room.

Jespa is a small smoky village, and has a big hillock to cover itself from the outside world.A river flowing at one end.It was a very captivating view of nature at its wild best.As we settled in the rooms on first floor,we could see sheep returning home after grazing and little bells making a rhyming sound.It prompted us to immediately move out of the hotel and start looking for a route to reach the river before darkness could set in.It was already dark as we found trail to the river and I and Preeti were the first to reach the river.

No photos were possible by the time Sally, Ria and Neeru joined us as it was pitch dark.The sound of river crashing on the boulder was so very inviting that we stood there 15 minutes just sensing the beauty getting absorbed into us.None of us talked much.Such a place was unimaginable in the civilised world,we were thinking.I n a matter of minutes there was a cold wind blowing and the place became chilly and too cold to bear.

We quickly started our retreat to the hotel where some firangs had already started drinking.The hotel stocked all possible stuff like Italian dish ingredients,Chinese items,Indian food,tandoori also.So many varieties in one place amazed us.But probably this could have been because of so many firangs charting this route to Leh and since most of them were part of some package,so arrangement had to be done as per everybody’s taste.

Al of us were of the opinion that since we had time in hand for having dinner,we wanted to open the Bacardi and Vodka and make full use of them to kill the chill.The place did not have a heater so booze was the only way to kill the chill all the way.But to have a hotel in the middle of nowhere was also an achievement,I thought.As we settled down on one of the tables,we could see some Foreigners drinking.Soon as we started drinking,these people got on with their meal and then started leaving for their rooms.As we gulped the drinks a fierce discussion broke out on various different topics and finally zeroed on the empowerment of the girl,Now,I knew it was four to one,but I kept on for sometime as the discussion became more noisy.With more intoxication we were shouting our lungs out.

Our caretakers,the staff of the hotel were busy watching a movie.Once it crossed 10 pm,one of them came to us and politely told us that it was very late in the night and our noisy discussions would be disturbing their dollars worth guests as floors in the hotel were all wooden.He was probably more pushy because they were also tired of seeing the full movie and wanted to sleep after serving us dinner.We had not much apetite for a dinner after drinking so much.I was literally on Ria’s support to sit straight.Even she was not objecting because she also wasn’t in senses.

While coming back to the rooms I was on complete support of Neeru,occasionally trying to justify whatever I said and she just asked me to concentrate on the steps.Last thing she wanted me to fall down and screw up the next stage of the journey to Sherchu. While coming back to the hotel room and for the first time since we began our journey from Manali she wasn’t envious at all about what was happening between me and Ria but I could sense that Neeru was feeling I had shifted or inclined slightly towards Ria.

I told her repeatedly that she was the only person in the world who meant so much to me.Everybody else was second to her.There was so much we shared ,agreed and disagreed but it was true that we knew each other more than anyone else.

After coming back to the room I and Neeru talked for almost 3 hours on various personal things  we did in many years that we were away.After all both me and Neeru had gone through our own share of tragedy and sorrow.Either of us felt a lot more deprived when it came to getting true love. At 2 am Neeru climbed on to the bed and I went in to the blanket on to the mattress which was put on the wooden floor.It was very cold in the night.The coldness seeping through the wooden joints made it worse.

The mattress was a bit short than my height as they would have made it to suit their heights or for the Japanese or chinese tourists.I kept on trying to keep myself with the blanket all the time while trying to be fully on the mattress.There was no sleep till 5 am for me in the cold.My ass was frozen completely through my jeans because of the wooden floor which allowed cold air to pass through so easily.But the only good thing in my case was that I could sustain without enough sleep for a day even if I have a catnap for even half an hour.By five my body gave way and  could not take any longer.Pressing my hands between my thighs(that was the only place in the room which was above room temperature and growing warmer) I went into deep sleep all the while thinking about the close calls with Ria, my past years with Neeru,and the journey ahead.

What was the journey bringing in for all of us.There was no doubt that the journey was slowly unfolding before us as a great adventure.But the fact that 5 hard nosed professionals,along with a sweet local driver cum guide, were a part of this group and with views so divergent things were going to be rough,tough,and exciting.