Bright sunny mornings in this Himalayan
Hamlet give way to cold and rainy late-afternoons. In the greyness, it’s easy
to forget how beautiful a thunderstorm in the Himalayas can be, especially if
you have the luxury of a warm cup of tea and a balcony to observe the nature
from. The grey clouds move swiftly to the Himalayan snow-covered peaks and
swallow them. Alas, the storm isn’t strong enough to melt the snow as the peaks
are at an altitude where they stay frozen.
The rain also cleans up whatever little pollution
exists here, making the air even more fresh and therapeutic. The prolonged cold
in the Kullu Valley has kept the tourist hordes away for at least another few
days, but with the opening of the Rohtang Pass, expect the noisy plains-people
to come here in the thousands!
The showers continue on and off through the
evening. The banging of drums from a nearby temple can be heard. And in the
distance, is visible a small town on the other bank of the Beas. At night, the
vehicles moving on the highway to the plains look like a long bejewelled
serpent. And the lights on the hills and the small villages have the appearance
of tiny pearls.
To think that I am just a few Himalayan
mountains and a pass away from the Land of the Broken Moon, Laddakh! The
Laddakhis and I breathe almost the same air. We see the same skies and same
imposing range of mountains. Farther beyond Laddakh lays East Turkestan and the
desert that leads to Kashgar. Will we ever have it like the Europeans so that
one day, not a single travel document will be required to cross over the Sanju
Pass, to spend a few days on the other side of the Karakorum Mountains?
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