The lake called Pyongyang tso

For a change and because of previous night’s exchange on punctuality in the group, all of us were ready at 7.30 am for a change. Karan was looking at us with an awe, as till now he had religiously seen us behind schedule,every day of the trip.he could not believe his eyes and was constantly rubbing them,maybe for this reason.It could not be because of less sleep because he used to sleep early And was ready before time everyday.

Neeru wanted me to sit between her and Preeti, and Sally for the first time sat on the front seat with Ria. Probably by now Neeru was sensing my closeness to Ria with a magnifying glass, I thought. I sat in between like Kashmir is situated between POK and India.Not giving too much air to the controversy, which probably was doing rounds in the group, about me and Ria. Ria held on to the seat next to Karan and I warned her not to lean too much on Karan’s shoulder while he was driving. Ria looked at me as if she had never felt asleep in the whole journey and had never rested on my shoulder at all.

We had only two stops in between Leh and our next destination Pyongyang tso (mening mountain lake in ladakhi). Now this was the most talked about destination in the whole trip. Neeru probably had researched and saw a few photographs also, so she was gung-ho about the place. I on my part had never even opened to see the itinerary so the question of searchin photos did not arise at all. We crossed the first stop eventlessly but as we reached the second stop, Sally got too nauseated to sit in front and hence preeti moved on the front seat.

I was all the while looking at Ria. In the whole revised situation, too volatile to handle,I was missing out on the front seat and the incentives attached to it. Although I must appreciate that Preeti was very calm and composed in the morning as if nothing had happened the previous night. Probably it was her morning pranayam and meditation which kept her so calm. Her outburst the other evening also lasted for a short time only. Neeru was sleeping with her head on my lap, mostly taking out the less sleep she had in the morning in order to maintain the scheduled departure. Also, I though she might be very tired as she was the one looking at every single small detail at all places. Meeting all the concerned and ensuring everything was in place for us. My cute sister was an awesome organiser, I felt,and I thought the group might also be feeling.

As we crossed the last hill and turned round the corner, our mouth were left  wide open with awe and eyes were full of amazement at the sight. It did not looking like a   mountain lake at all. It seemed as if somebody had brought a sea of blue water between the mountain from nowhere. As we crossed the steep bend, we were all spell bound at the sight. God has created something magical, is what we were all thinking. As we neared the lake it looked vast and well spread between mountains. We could not visualise the other end of the lake at all as it lost somewhere in the far mountains in a territory which belonged to China.

Karan told us it was seventy two kms long out of which twenty seven kms were in Indian territory and the rest was in China.The tourists can go up to seven kms only, the rest 22 kms were only accessible to indian army,he told us.

As the vehicle was parked near the lake,Neeru and Ria were the first ones to take off shoes and run towards the lake.By the time we reached they had got their feets into the water which was so chilling that when I put my hand in,I thought it had frozen inside.With the sun rays on the lake the lake looked green from some places and blue from other side.We were singing and dancing next to the lake and it seemed to be the ultimate destination in our long journey.I had never seen such a big water body ever before in my life,which was not sea.

The person who lost 500 bucks in the game of flash, with me at Sarchu was also there with his firang group and his sisy. The gentleman took off his clothes and in a spur of a moment dived into the chilled water, wearing only his undergarments. We all were taken aback, and instantly started feeling chilled only by this sight. This man kept on chanting some religious mantras all the time as he immersed himself fully into the lake and we could sense the power of believing in god, as he came out, not shivering a bit also, in the cold winds, all around.

After spending almost three hours, Karan wanted to start back as we had to cross two big streams on our way back. We argued with him that we crossed the streams in the morning also but there could not spot a grave situation wrt patthar and paani then. How could it become so critical while returning to Leh. Karan was back with his lifelong theory of the two elements and told us, in this terrain as the sun comes up, snow melts in the higher mountains, and thereafter the flow of water in the two strams is such that it can be a big risk for the vehicle, as also for us. Once more the group thought Karan was going overboard with his comical theory but Neeru asked all of us to believe him this one time.

Neeru pacified us by saying that if we ever come again we must have tent arranged next to Pyonyong lake and we must spend a night with bonfire in this place. The idea excited everybody but this time we were stuck with a schedule so we could not change it in between.

As we reached the stream which we had crossed with considerable ease in the morning, we found to our utter surprise, that the stream was now flowing violently with more silt and stones coming out with water and covering the entire road. It seemed nearly impossible for the vehicle to cross this stream any which way. It was Karan, who was now smiling,as he told us that we may have to put up in vehicle tonight.None of us spoke, as we were now only dependent on his wisdom to take us through to Leh.

Finally with the help of local people and some of his local driver friends, Karan made a small pass to take the vehicle to the other hand, as we all helped each other to cross the stream, which now looked frightening mass of water and stones. Finally Karan’s theory came to life once again in the journey. He gave us patthar and paani gyaan for the rest of the journey. And for a change none of us interrupted him this time.

As we neared Leh, Neeru and Preeti gave the suggestion that we can again go for shopping again in the evening as we could not visit all shops in the market. Two extreme individuals coming closer and having a joint opinion. What a group this was turning to be, one day you fight over one issue, and the very next day come up with a joint resolution in favour of it. Girls could never be understood fully, I thought. After we reached near Leh, I declared I was too tired for any shopping and the others can decide what they wanted to do. But the group was adamant that all will go together.

I was directed to remain seated in the car till they did shopping. Off to the market we went without going to the hotel and this time Neeru maintained time everywhere. Preeti wasn’t complaining as her out pour last evening had changed the game and rules of the game albeit for some time. Back at the hotel, Amit was waiting to brief us over dinner about our journey to Nubra valley next day. When we asked what was there to see, He started by telling us about the famous Mangolian Camels with two humps. You don’t find them in India as camels in rajasthan have only one hump. Amit told us these were exclusively exclusively brought from Mangolia.

Suddenly Sally asked Amit if one could sit between the humps. I could not stop myself at this and told her that it depends on the hump, that you have to decide how long you want to sit in between. Sally added spice by agreeing that one had to sit in between two humps to be relaxed, especially if the humps are big. Everybody in the group started laughing loudly and Amit was completely embarrassed with this development coming suddenly. The waiters could not get the essence of the joke obviously and were perplexed audience as we burst into loud laughter.  Amit could not fathom how naughty this group was.

Even Preeti, so conservative about dirty jokes went into a full smile with her dimple growing bigger and better. Amit left quickly thereafter to avoid any further comments and subsequent sheepish smile which he would be forced to give.We had our dinner all the while talking about the humps in various ways as it evoked more and more laughter. Ria and I spearheaded the hump joke right from Sally’s comment and kept on relating it to many other situations, till Neeru stared at me, as if to tell, enough had happened and things were going out of hand. As all were returning back to rooms, I nudged Ria and invited her through gestures, to come back after some time. We all returned to the Room and as Neeru and Sally slept quickly as all were dog tired after the trip. A Journey for whole day had drained out everybody but more so Neeru and sally. Sally was not feeling fully fit also.

I quietly moved out of the room. Outside it was a bit chilly at that hour. I sat on the steps leading to our rooms and could realize that the whole hotel was looking so romantic in dim lights and a complete silence. Slight sound of door opening partially drew my attention to the back. Ria was slowly moving out of her room as Preeti must have also slept quickly. Ria came and sat near me, straightaway putting her head on my shoulder. I could make out that she knew why I had called her, as whole day we had not had much conversation and not got much chance to sit side by side during the journey.

We sat quietly for some time as I ran my hand through her hairs. A few strands on her face were making her so desirable in the quietness of the night. Ria broke her silence by asking me if I called her out because of not getting much moments of nearness in the day. I was about to say also.

None of us spoke for a few moments and than I took the courage to ask her whether whatever was being said about us in the group will not make a difference in our friendship for the rest of the Journey. Ria nodded her head, didn’t probably want to say much about it. After whiling out our time moving around the hotel for sometime, we quietly moved towards our respective room.As I entered my room I could see there was the same quietness as I had left the room with. Neeru and Sally were fast asleep as real fatigue had taken the better of them because of a long and tiring day. Next day was the day where the travel was not so much so we could wake up by 8 am,have a good,heavy breakfast at the hotel and start by 10 am.