Kashmir /3

Ever since the word went around that we shall be spending a night in Kargil, our friends and family started to relive the horrors of the war. I feebly tried to explain that the war was fifteen years back, and that seventy years back there was a war in Paris too… but it all fell into deaf ears. While in Kargil last evening, father-in-law somberly reminded us to be careful and not to indulge in too many “adventures”. A dear friend had also called and after knowing that we are in Kargil, continued to gasp repeatedly and was unable to converse any further. One loss that I faced in Kargil was that I had at one point of time, sat on my phone, resulting in a broken screen. I would later realize that a week free from WhatsApp and Facebook would help me to see the beauty around me. Somodatta is very enthusiastic about photography, but I had always thought that you cannot appreciate the grace of nature if you look at it through a camera lens. But these differences in opinion are the kinds of diversity that bring colours to our lives, so no complaining there. Most of the photographs that I share here have been clicked by Somodatta.

Satyajit Ray had taught me that the Gonpa is the Tibetan word for monastery, and though the Bengali script spelled it as Gum-Pha, I knew what to expect whenever I saw directions for a Gonpa. Lamayuru Gonpa is at a distance of around one hundred kilometres from Kargil, by which we would have traversed more than half the way to Alchi. This monastery is one of the largest and oldest of its kind in Ladakh, and at a height of 3500 metres we were feeling slightly short of breath while climbing the stairs. We would later learn that every single monastery in Ladakh is very clean and most of them require an entry ticket which pays for the maintenance of the premises. The cleanliness and serenity of Lamayuru was no exception. After spending some time in Lamayuru, we were heading towards Alchi.

Most of the vehicles that ply on the highway between Kargil and Leh would head for Leh directly, and Alchi, till now, has been an offbeat destination. Due to this, we had to keep our eyes open for any roadsigns. After driving for a little more than an hour while the mighty Indus was flowing towards our right, we spotted the sign that pointed towards a diversion away from the highay, which we were to take to reach Alchi. Alchi is a tiny hamlet which boasts of the Alchi Gonpa, one of the few monasteries in Ladakh that are not built on a hilltop. We had our reservations made with Zimskhang Holiday Home, from which the Alchi Gonpa took only a couple of minutes by foot. Extremely hungry that we were when we reached Alchi, the lunch took precedence over everything else as soon as we checked ourselves in.  The lunch was vegetarian, but the hotel staff inquired if we would prefer chicken for dinner. This question would always elicit positive response from a Bengali couple, and they asked us to come down for dinner at half past eight to relish the chicken while it is still hot. After resting for some time, we proceeded towards the Alchi monastery.

In the monastery while looking around, I also recollected the teachings by Satyajit Ray in his first Feluda story “Feludar Goendagiri”, when he told us that the Buddhist paintings on cloth is known as Thangka. All the monasteries in Ladakh have a very good collection of Thangka, mainly depicting the various stories related to the life of Buddha. Alchi Gonpa is also one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh, albeit a little younger than the one in Lamayuru. After moving around the monastery and taking some pictures, we proceeded to take a walk around the village. Alchi has a population of less than one thousand, and the economy is dependent mainly on tourism and the government rural employment schemes. Though Alchi is at a lower height as compared to Lamayuru, we were still feeling breathless, and the walk could not continue for long.

Leh is only at a distance of two hours from Alchi, and we were feeling a bit relaxed at the possibility of not having to get up too early from bed. We will have to bid goodbye to Firdaus tomorrow, and he introduced us to Karma, the gentleman who would take us around in Ladakh. Firdaus has been an excellent guide and companion, and he assured us that Karma also would not give us any chance to complain.