Fluid Verve

Holiday Romance

Pangong Tso after Sundown

The first glimpse of Pangong Tso was as entrancing as a sudden realization of having fallen in love, deeply and blissfully.

“Oh my God! I am here!”

It felt like a precious dream that I wished would never end. However, this sweet dream was for real and what’s more it was just the beginning of a serene, intense and unbound romance.

It was dusk and we were headed to Spangmik to camp for the night. After maneuvering the bikes through the rocky trail for about an hour we reached a point where a stream blocked the path and we had to pause to figure out how we were to move forward, more importantly, in which direction to move. All that we could see till far was Pangong on one side and rocks everywhere else. While others in the team were busy discussing where and how, I was lost in my own world of daydreams. I was engulfed in a deep and peaceful silence when a splendid vista captured me unaware. The stunner was the moon emerging from behind the hill on the opposite bank of the lake. Zillions of diamonds were sprinkled on the water of Pangong Tso as moon rose into the sky. It was a full moon night and the orb of night shone in its full glory engulfing Ladakh-‘the moon land’ in its divine light.

“Too happy for words” was all that I could say.

Soon we managed to move forward, reached the campsite, had scrumptious food, pitched tents, talked, joked, and vanished into sleeping bags. All of it seemingly happened in a dreamy trance. I fell into deep sleep despite the chilly weather, the bed of rocks (even with the sleeping bag and foam sheet), incessant barking of a guard-dog from a nearby home, and the wind threatening to blow the tent away at any instant.

Around 3:00AM wind slowed and I woke up feeling choked due to lack of air. I wanted to open the tent but decided otherwise as I didn’t want the other two girls to catch cold. Shraddha also woke up feeling the same way. We chatted for a little while, drank some water and dozed off again. I had slept for barely half an hour when I woke up again. Being in a vast landscape and yet staying confined to an 8×8 feet tent was making me all the more claustrophobic. I gave up trying to sleep, wore another jacket and went out of the tent. I can never be too glad of having done that. The moony landscape outside was a sight that I am going to live with forever. The moon that had blessed my wanderlust soul earlier by its royal rise was now preparing to descend behind the hills on the opposite side with equal magnificence. I was awestruck…moonstruck!

I took a stroll around the campsite for a while. The swooshing winds had got tired by then and had sobered down to a sleepy murmur. Someone was snoring in one of the tents. The guard-dog wasn’t barking anymore. The dog’s object of attention, his owner’s herd of sheep was also sleeping nestled into an inseparable mass of wool.

I sat there for quite some time. That was the pinnacle of my being me and just me.
Peace!