"3 Banjaare" on astonishing expedition into Seven Sisters's Land from Bangalore - 7
March 17,2017
While Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan were in deep sleep, the destiny had already planned an astonishing adventure for them. It had been snowing all night in Tawang since previous evening while they were cozy in their warm bed and their true friend - the room heater.
They had planned to get the permit for BumLa in the morning and wished to spend the day at BumLa including the beautiful lakes on the way, but that depends on the weather. It was supposed to be confirmed by 7-8 am whether they are getting the permit and the staff would take care of informing them once it is done. So, this day they were bit relaxed and did not hush for getting up and getting ready. Mrs. Tarzan got up by 7:30 and ordered tea to wake up Mr. Tarzan. She slided the curtains on the windows pane to see the view outside and got awestruck by the layer of snow widespread all over and shaked her head with shivering . Actually tea is a Mrs. Tarzan’s trick to wake up Mr. Tarzan and a much powerful tool when it is not an office day.
After having tea, Mr. Tarzan went to enquire about BumLa permit meanwhile Mrs. Tarzan got to know about good amount of snowfall at both BumLa and Sela from her quick chat with staff while giving order for the breakfast. So it was less likely they would get permit for the day. As Mr. Tarzan returned, he informed that the army was not allowing permits owing to the snowfall. At BumLa one needs 4x4 as the terrain is really rough and tough that if it snows they need to chain the tyres for even army truck to pass through so it was a strict no . He also added that no one had reached Tawang from Sela yet, even the guests expected at the hotel were not able to make it to Sela itself, only a few taxis had entered Tawang from neighboring village.
Anyways Mrs. Tarzan was not thinking much about it and was feeling lazy, possibly the snow effect was on her, plus she remains perfectly happy if she is with Mr. Tarzan, at least. She was enjoying the view from window while having breakfast. However Mr. Tarzan was thinking if he could visit Bum La at least the next day if the snow gets cleared but this has put them behind the schedule by another day. Anyways, they both planned to visit the places within the city that day. As they went down to parking while eyeing outside on the weather, one of the staff member asked about their plan and then also explained them what they could do during the day handing over a cute hand made map which she had made for some tourist long back.
It was around 9:30 am when they finally started off and headed to the city.
Tawang is a beautiful city which blooms with orchids all the way while reaching out from Assam in months of September-October bearing very vibrant and colorful valley and peaks. Whereas, in winter season receives snowfall and people love to play with snow amid the picturesque snowy peaks and valleys. It holds several monasteries and Gompas and hoists major festivals celebrated by the people at monasteries.
When they were crossing the snow decorated market towards Budhha park as per map, it started snowing again. At the end of the uphill, there was a giant Budhha statue having an aura of snow which they both admired from distance and then not willing to step out in snow, destined toward the monastery. Though they had map but hilly town roads in snow were much confusing, then they noticed some police standing by the corner and Mrs. Tarzan wanted to ask them about the monastery by opening the window and inviting some snow. From there they got redirected to trail back. However, for catching up with this moment she wanted a picture with this huge Budhha statue in snow. As she stepped out, she picked her jacket covering her head with its hood, and invited more snow inside. It was her second time out in the snowfall during this trip while Mr. Tarzan was sitting inside warm and cozy, watching her, and asking her to hurry up. It was very quick click though the window pane had been lined up with snow as she returned back carrying snow on her to which she grinned and quickly wiped while getting inside.
The road to monastery was scenic with snow laden coniferous, snowy houses, few haphazardly distributed along the road and a few peeking out from heights from the veils of snow over the mountains.
Some boys they went past were looking joyous while carrying out their usual chores with bare head, then a few meters ahead some ladies were walking on road with their umbrellas on at regular intervals. They stopped by one such group and asked about the road to monastery as there were no significant sign boards visible but according to google map they were following the route. These girls seemed merry and confirmed the direction they were going.
The snowfall was intensifying and sky was playing snow ball. The coniferous on the way were becoming more conical with snow icing and the road started to get sheen sheet of snow, and the music in the air was making Mr. and Mrs Tarzan enjoy it even more.
As they approached near monastery, there was this huge bright entrance on the road through which a wide road was clearly visible with no one inside. They both thought for a moment but slowly entered the road which now looks like a parking area which seemed to end with some bright structures on both side looking like worship place. Also, there was an elevation on the right side which had stairs to move on while the left side faced walls overlooked by snow dripping coniferous. The place had several Buddhist holy signs and flags all bathed in snow that it was unclear in the snowfall which was the monastery or rather a way towards monastery.
Anyways, Mr. Tarzan decided to climb over the stairs after forcefully dumped over with his jacket by Mrs. Tarzan but refused to put on hood leaving her angry. After all he is the he-man and all the rules bypass him. He climbed the stairs carefully as it became sloggy all way up there and landed into an elevated ground without any near resemblance to monastery. Mrs. Tarzan listened to him but still wanted to see the view and climbed up to join him. It looked like a small park with mixed vegetation, all covered with snow were looking like snow themed park decorated with colorful flyers.
They took couple of clicks there and then climbed down. This is when they saw few buddhist students passing by and Mr. Tarzan asked them about the monastery. They got to know that it was towards the end of the road. As they started walking towards it, they were informed to take Cheetah along and park nearby as it was quite a distance in snow. So, they took Cheetah few meters ahead and ran into a fluffy road as it got covered with snow. They did not get much idea about this situation from the parking lot as it was shadowed by trees but here it was open for the snow to be accumulated. Mr. Tarzan looked at Mrs. Tarzan , “Should we do it“. Mrs. Tarzan seemed to be much in the heat as she had already witnessed the worse the previous day and said, "We have come this far, let's enjoy this". Mr. Tarzan smiled, “That's my girl”. He took a careful and slow u turn to park at the small gate leading to a flight of stairs.
As they both stepped out, it started snowing more that even while they took out their belongings and lock, it was a considerable layer of snow accumulated on the wipers . Mr. Tarzan went in and turned the wipers on to shake off the snow while probably calculating something in the background leaving Mrs. Tarzan wondering. He then said, “Not sure if it continues to snow even more, then we will be stuck here only”. Mrs. Tarzan was perturbed at first then with a freaky smile she replied. “If this is the case then the city will also be in bad shape, then what’s the point to go back”. Agreeing to it, Mr. Tarzan nodded and walked up with Mrs. Tarzan into the monastery premises after the flight of stairs which faced a huge gate. It was snowing heavy that Mr. Tarzan was forced with an umbrella by Mrs. Tarzan while she was pulling up her hood.
The premises opened up into a small township itself with a couple of essentials’ shops on the outside and on the inside were schools, houses, hospital, all spread in the vicinity wearing sheets of snow but no human being around in the visible range. Even the pathway leading to the inside also had a thin layer of ice and snow.
While climbing up Mrs. Tarzan slipped and disbalanced a couple of times making Mr. Tarzan run for her but she balanced herself fast enough and told him to stop fearing that he might also fall in order to support her. Actually she had climbed in a hurry to take a picture of Mr. Tarzan standing under snow tree holding Mrs. Tarzan’s umbrella and her bag. This black umbrella was so loaded with snow and had turned to white.This bag was picked by him to make her more free to walk in the snow. Though grumpy on outside, he cares a lot for her on inside !!
They started taking pictures when meddling chatters which came from a swarm of young buddhist boys trying to run in the snow while holding up their shawls made them to switch their attention. The kids were probably wondering why these idiots came at this point of time in snowfall.
There was another entrance few meters ahead coupled with a long sequence of prayer wheels on the right side. As they moved further the path turned into a narrow alley with homes or rooms on left having closed wooden doors, from one such door one young boy came out running holding a tea kettle and barged into another door. At once they both wished for tea as the cold was increasing with their prolonged stay at the outside.
There was again a flight of stairs, narrower comparatively, overlooked by huge building. In few more steps they were standing near the monastery and after getting closer it turned out that it had its door closed. It stood in front of a very big ground enough for sporting a parade, surrounded from all sides either by museum or other building, couple of whom were under renovation.
It is the largest monastery in India and second largest in the Asia (not sure about world) after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet situated as high as 10,000 feet above the sea level amidst the picturesque Himalayan ranges and offers a panoramic view of the Tawang-Chu valley but Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan could not see very clear the ends of the Monastery itself !!
As they stood outside the closed door of monastery a monk came by and told them they can go inside. Removing the shoes was really a big deal. It felt like all the bare minimum trapped heat was loosened out with the shoelace that even socks were helpless to protect their masters from cold.
The monastery was very brightly painted as expected however it was dark inside and there was no electricity. Mrs. Tarzan was fast enough to enter inside as she was hoping to be warmer, though being comparatively warm it was sending chills to their spines. The wooden floor and the rugs were also not giving any warmth to their cold feet that once Mrs. Tarzan sat on asanas to lift her feet for a couple of minutes. They roamed around in whole monastery and adored the paintings , colourful and vibrant interiors and admired huge golden Buddha, took photographs and prayed in their usual 2 second one liner what they know of.
This one is a very big monastery which would look more beautiful and bright in light however they could see it in the dark within a span of 15 mins.
After coming out, wearing shoes on numb feet was more challenging, topped with the fact that shoes were a bit wet due to blown snow. The snowfall had already turned into a blizzard meanwhile and within a couple of minutes Mrs. Tarzan had collected snow in her hood and her locks scattered over her face that she was looking like strawberry shake ice cream in her pink jacket . Mrs. Tarzan somehow dragged herself towards the museum only to find out that it was locked. Actually it was good for them as they were really very cold and needed to go back and be warm so Mr. Tarzan didn’t look for much around and took her along while returning back.
While returning, the stairs were more snowy and under the pressure of their feet would compress and become slippery. Mrs. Tarzan slipped and fell down once setting Mr. Tarzan on rescue, but she din’t hurt herself much. After this Mr. Tarzan was on alert and held her hand all the time. However, she had gone crazy with the snow and would run under the shades to have a closer look at snow deposits into amazing sculptures. She took few more photographs again as everything was fully covered in snow with its real self peeking out to depict what is hidden beneath it. It was first time for them to experience a proper snowfall. Again, Mrs. Tarzan had stopped near prayer wheels.
They were keeping their steps cautiously and carefully when a young lad crossed them very fast over the snow making them stop and look at his amazing skill. They tried following his path and their own calculation to climb down without falling, though Mr. Tarzan had skidded once. As they were relaxing for a while there came another teenager running down and then skidding with a thud . A few more lads joined the slides, it was not an artificial one like cities but a real natural slide. Mr. Tarzan enjoyed while watching them as if he was doing it and eventually was lost in his childhood. Mrs. Tarzan was smiling at his little Mr. Tarzan and wondered if she asks him to slide he might crack a bone which will bring more sorrow to him and the journey, so she was quiet and let the moment be it.
When they were finally back, Cheetah was looking like an ice cream with dark chocolate tyres. It was accompanied with 3 two wheeler who were covered with snow may be called a bike ice cream, and a four wheeler not sure what color was it.
They captured this memorable moment and then Mr. Tarzan pushed Mrs. Tarzan inside. It was dark inside as all the windows and windshield were covered with snow, she quickly wiped the snow which got inside with her and removed her jacket in whose hood she collected hell lot of snow and then turned on the heater. Mr. Tarzan was removing snow from the windows and windshield and the mirrors making some visibility out of it, however the sunroof was still loaded with tons of it. The road had also turned into thick bed of snow which sent Mr. Tarzan in deep thoughts. This could be extremely dangerous to ride on such surface and they both were sitting quiet till they saw one police vehicle moving slowly on that road.
“Okay, lets try this”, they both looked at each other. Mrs. Tarzan then added, “We will follow the police vehicle”, though Cheetah didn't have capability of a 4X4 but standing here will definitely have much adverse effect so it would be worth trying. Anyways there is risk at both sides and one has to take calculated risk and choose a side on which he has more confidence or leave the side which has more cons. Mr. Tarzan turned on the engine and screeched, it was too slippery for Cheetah to remain stable but somehow Mr. Tarzan managed it. A couple of more 4X4 on road boosted his confidence and slowly he was taming the Cheetah over the snow. The mirrors started to deposit the snow and back mirror couldn’t catch clearer view as snowflakes scattered all over.The wipers were fighting with snow making visibility in the front with company of dippers.
Overall, everything was going quite fine until at one circle in the city it was an uphill which also had another van coming downhill skidding and stopping and hiccupping. Mr. Tarzan thought it was wise to stop and let it pass on otherwise there is double chance of collision. Somehow it passed. However, as Mr. Tarzan tried to accelerate they were stuck in slush and snow would cause more depression on acceleration that it was able to climb uphill. After few trials, he then went reverse and started climbing again, however due to previous attempts on the road the road had become very slushy and slippery that even the fresh snow couldn’t provide enough friction . Somehow, after few retrials Cheetah could climb but it was helplessly slipping sideways that Mr. Tarzan was only trying to keep it on the road instead of falling on the side. In couple of meters, a van moving ahead slowly parked itself by the side while Mrs. Tarzan was struggling hard to find way back to hotel which was only a couple of kms away, as all the signboards or buildings for landmark were covered in snow. However, Mr. Tarzan noticed that those guys were signalling him to stop and eventually he understood that they were trying to warn and make him stop for his own safety. They both were thinking to move ahead to the hotel just 2kms ahead as per GPS as they have come this far, and they can always stop if the things start running out of control. Mr. Tarzan parked by the side and went into the shop beside and returned in sometime with some information. He told that the road is worse than this after next turn, and even a vehicle got skidded to fall into the drain. Listening to this Mrs. Tarzan also agreed with him to wait further. But they did not know how much they had to wait. The situation can be better or can be even worst which is non predictable so if they move they can be in danger or may be through, however it looked more risky to go ahead . It was good that at least they came very near to the hotel and into the heart of the city that even in worst case scenario it was a relief. As they were sitting inside, more and more snow would pile up . Mr. Tarzan was turning on the wipers periodically to shake the snow off, and periodically sliding front windows down to remove snow from window pane. The snow then found one secure place and deposited there. It was the side mirror !!
Slowly the mirrors were turning from a bearded hat to a lost snow cloud . An hour went past that way while they were waiting indefinitely. Slowly the people started coming out of their homes and they saw a couple of patrolling police jeep which would go skidding, that Mrs. Tarzan gave a thought to follow the jeep if possible to which Mr. Tarzan said that they would move only if the other local who had stopped them would leave as they would be more experienced about when it is doable.
“Right”, thought Mrs. Tarzan. Soon they were surrounded by people playing with snow, they were throwing snowballs at each other, and also stole the mirror’s snow making it bare, however it regained its snow fast enough owing to snowfall. Mr. Tarzan laughed and said good that snow is getting cleared from mirror that way.
The folks were enjoying the snow madness that Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan also felt this strong urge to go out and play but they felt so cozy enough inside, they grinned at each other and left it to the next time when they will have proper snow protection gears with them.
It was already the evening and they were dreaming about hot tea and pakodas. In some more time their neighbour started cleaning up the snow as a preparation to start off ending Mr. Tarzan’s wait. He also cleaned the snow for his visibility and started off slowly. The Cheetah was going slow and Mr. Tarzan had also eventually learned the trick to tame it in the snow. There were a huge queue of slowing and skidding vehicles from both lanes, each struggling and managing to reach its destination maintaining a wide gap. However, when they were few hundred meters away, all of them were stopped which seemed to be like due to some vehicle which got stuck. They spent several minutes just waiting and watching.
A few guys had started tying ropes on the tyres of a couple of vehicles at nearby shop. Usually in snow they chain the tyres to move in the snow but here the ropes were also helpful with similar effects. Mrs. Tarzan asked Mr. Tarzan if they also need to rope the tyres, to which he replied that if they need he will do it but for now he can manage.
The stuck vehicle whose one tyre got into the drain was trying hard to come out and would skid further coming close to other vehicles in spite of the bigger gaps. The locals were lending helping hands to each other and pushing the vehicles when needed. Mr. Tarzan made enough room for him and went further on his sideways. Finally in couple of more minutes that vehicle was out and everybody could move, however all the following vehicles were getting stuck in that slush but were given thrust by the locals as if they were all waiting in queue for being pushed and get the blessings.
Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan could reach the hotel by 5:30 pm and demanded hot tea and snacks. Mrs. Tarzan noticed a snowman standing outside the hotel entrance wearing a dashing jacket. It was made by the staff.
Mrs. Tarzan was so glad to see it that Mr. Tarzan encouraged her to make one by herself. She jumped at the thought but was hesitating and then was further encouraged by the smiles of the locals. She made two snow figures on the Cheetah's bonut, one herself and one Mr. Tarzan and went inside to call him. Mr. Tarzan was having tea and called her to have one, but she wanted him to see it so gulped it quickly. Later when she pulled Mr. Tarzan out, the snow was not there making her angry at Mr. Tarzan while he was enjoying her angry red nose. It is a mystery still that where the snow had gone.
After so much snowfall they knew they don’t stand chance for BumLa. However, their visit to Tawang was indeed very special and unique. The hotel owner told them there had been no snow since 3 winters and suddenly Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan brought snow with them making all the tribes so happy. She herself was glad to meet them and their enthusiasm.
This was the first time when Mrs. Tarzan came up with a very needy usage of hair dryer from drying her hair to drying her clothes to drying her bag and shoes. She used it most than putting together all the times she used ever since it came to her hands. A warm and cozy room and a hot nice dinner is all one would love in such a weather.
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