"3 Banjaare" on astonishing expedition into Seven Sisters's Land from Bangalore - 8
March 18, 2017
Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan had seen lot of snow in past couple of days that could they both hadn’t viewed in their entire lives summed up together. Even their journey at Ladakh, especially snowfall in the Pensi La pass or numerous other passes did not shower tons of snow over them.
With the snowfall relentlessly engulfing whole of the city, there were bleakest of the bleak chances for BumLa to be open. While watching TV the previous night, they comforted each other saying that even if BumLa had been open there was no chance to see the beautiful lakes as all the lakes would be frozen. So better to move out of the place at earliest and continue the journey instead of thinking about BumLa. “Yes, let's keep BumLa for our next visit”, they again assured each other. However, Mr. Tarzan was much more concerned about Sela Pass, how it had been after the snowfall in Tawang.
As the morning dew crawled in through the window, Mrs. Tarzan got up and pulled out the curtains to a clear sky hovering over the snow covered landscape. She shakes Mr. Tarzan with her question, “They sky looks clear so should we wait for BumLa or we are going to checkout”, as she was still attached to her imagination of BumLa. Mr. Tarzan was firm with his decision considering the fact that it is better to get out of the place which has no certainty of weather changes. They were up, had breakfast, got ready and were standing at reception for checkout by 8.
The hotel owner was quite attached to them, while bidding bye she was concerned of their safety and asked to keep her informed about their well being. It is hard not to get attached with Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan after meeting them!!
As they were climbing down from Tawang, the snow was getting cleared from the road with melting ice traces being washed away as water. The sun was playing hide and seek behind the fluffy white clouds ensuring enough warmth in the villages along the highway down the hills. The women were busy washing clothes and drying them as they see clear sky, with their babies hanging from their back which were tied securely with blanket kind of rigid cloth. This is one beautiful style of carrying babies while mother can work freely and finish off even the chores like washing cleaning etc, while the baby on the back is actually enjoying the mother’s warmth and comfort and often asleep. Both the mothers and babies were red as apple and were looking so charming and beautiful that Mrs. Tarzan was gaping at each of them and Mr. Tarzan couldn’t resist to suggest her to adopt all of them. Mrs. Tarzan replied, “Yes. I will. And I will support their education as well , I have some plans”, and turned back to where she was peeking out.
She had turned on music playing her favorites melodies.
In an hour they were at the small bridge at Jang which Mrs. Tarzan while coming towards Tawang had noted down to Mr. Tarzan as photoshoot stop since it was raining that time and Mr. Tarzan didn’t stop. From here there is a distant glimpse of Jang waterfall from the highway which they imagined how marvelous it would be when it is full of water. Right then, it was clear sky with a shining sun hence the river was sparkling with clear water and the bridge was bright with blue, red, yellow, green colored tall flags lined up at both of its sides. Mrs. Tarzan instructed Mr. Tarzan to stop by so that she can have those amazing clicks. They spent couple of minutes on that beautiful bridge and then Mrs Tarzan sent Mr. Tarzan back to the start of the bridge to pick her up at the end of the bridge while she walked towards the end . Puzzled Mr. Tarzan did the same and started off, only to extend his stern lips to a wide smile when he saw Mrs. Tarzan filming him over the bridge. That really turned out to be a great shot of “Cheetah- The Invincible” emerging out on the bridge with salutes of the flags lined up for the honor.
The journey on the same road turned out to be different due to the views bright under clear sky in the morning hours as they were crossing Jang. The lush green forests were swaying around them while they were moving on rickety roads of Jang. This small place is the connecting hub for Tawang situated at another mountain with the other side of the world. In half an hour they were standing in front of the checkpost and Mr. Tarzan got down for the entry as they were leaving Tawang.
The weather suddenly appeared to be lesser clear by then and Mrs. Tarzan was swarmed with questions about Sela Pass, that “How it had been after snowfall?“ or “Is there a snowfall currently?”, and “Whether any vehicle came this side or not?”, “Are there others also trying to hit the pass?”
Meanwhile, Mr. Tarzan returned from the checkpost and pointed at the truck lying by saying that it is the first vehicle which came from the other side that day. Adding to it, he told that the security force personnel also foretold that the weather might take any turn and could get better or worse, so they should go with care and if it worsens should come back to Jang which is safer.
By then, there were a couple of local taxis that went past making Mrs. Tarzan feel a bit assured of having company if anything worse happens. Running with all the assumptions and determining their course of actions they set off towards Sela. As they were climbing up, they were getting overwhelmed with the views.
Two days back this road was wearing more of greener and paler shades as far as the human eyes can see but now it was in translucent veils of snow merging with distant mist. With each hairpin bend Mrs. Tarzan’s jaws dropped to full length crediting to the magnificent view of the misty valleys and mountains engulfed by the clouds which were getting higher to her level with each bend. She was focusing her eyes from one mountain to other narrating in her way about the clouds engulfing them, or the clouds over the other cloud, or baby cloud wandering at its own , or a lone cloud grumpy over the valley, or the cloud showering at a distant hilltop, all types of clouds she could find at one place that day. She took several pictures and even pulled Mr. Tarzan out for one such pic of him and Cheetah.
The road had a washed away look with snow floating down with water occasionally.
Soon they crossed their tea stoppage from two day back, it wore a lone look today. Then came the Tawang view point where you can’t locate anything apart from clouds forget alone Tawang. The view was really breathtaking with Zastrugis against the peaks and wind slabs over the ridges, they were enjoying the other look of the road and its valleys and mountains as they were climbing up.
In couple of minutes they were standing in front of Jaswantgarh war memorial to pay homage to the martyrs in biting cold amid snow piles lying beside the road as a result of snow burst the previous night. It was drizzling outside and the umbrella was their new friend. Mrs. Tarzan was trying to find her way jumping across the water logging on a freshly cleaned road having traces of snow. Though it was cleaned yet the surface was slippery owing to reforming ice sheet out of melted or cleaned snow.
Once they crossed the huge entrance with vibrant vigour, there was a pathway leading to the memorial having a valiant soldier statue on the right, enough to fill their hearts with warmth of nationalism despite of cold layer of snow lying on the ground.
At the end of the path one has to climb a couple of stairs into the room where laid the belongings of the brave soul and the room tells its story of the martyrdom. The whole vicinity was full of the vigour and vibes of patriotism. They had couple of clicks after paying homage to the martyr and returned back to Cheetah.
There was snow topped with drizzle making them bite their teeth making them take shelter in the army canteen opposite to the memorial.This canteen is the saviour for all the travellers who come this side after fighting the adversities of Sela and also for those going to Sela as a prep up. They took hot tea with samosa which immediately surrendered to the cold atmosphere. There was also a small souvenir shop adjacent where Mrs. Tarzan kept looking for something as a memento and got a T-shirt for Mr. Tarzan, however this shop also offered other essentials like boots,jackets, bags, woollens etc and also accepts credit card.
Anyways, they continued hoping things won’t be worse, with Mrs. Tarzan wearing strained face as the stretch from there till the bridge was worst according to her. And it was indeed scary with thicker snow sheet over the road or so called road that they could not focus anywhere else except finding out the course of path for the wheels to land till they reach the Jainath bridge. However the bridge was also covered with snow and what lies past it was still out of their sight.
The snowfall was catching up its pace as Cheetah was finding its way on the snow covered road. At least one good thing was that the muddy slush was not there like previous day as it was replaced with snowy slush, however that was also very tough since the friction was missing to play its role. And as Mr. Tarzan had already tamed Cheetah how to move without the mercy of friction, he dared to take the challenge of snow and didn’t stop in the intense snowfall while moving very carefully.
The wipers were guarding the windshield fighting hard with the snow not letting it stay but still it was foggy with reduced visibility. The inside was warm owing to the temperature control with Mrs. Tarzan having mixed look on her face, having confidence on Mr. Tarzan and also the fierceness of the snow. The road was turning more slushy perhaps due to reformation of ice topped with the current snowfall which would also let the mud circumvent through the ice sheets. It was getting more and more tougher and Mrs. Tarzan was worrying about what stands next to them.
After going around 8-10 kms in such manner, they had to make a sudden halt. There was sudden still traffic on the road with a couple of taxis not moving ahead. Mr. Tarzan thought initially that someone would have got stuck and they should be good to move once the road is clear. They were at complete halt and then it turned out to be a snow blizzard.
The engine was on to make them warm enough but the chill was creeping inside from somewhere, the music was also turned off by Mrs. Tarzan. The moonroof became opaque in a couple of minutes and the wipers were barely moving due to the weight of snow they were trying to push leaving the windshield foggy enough to see vehicle ahead by a couple of feet. The side mirrors had accumulated piles of snow on them, whereas the window panes and the side mirrors were also dressed up with a cover of snow layer to some height and rest of the portion was misty making them cut off from outside world. The only good thing was that there were those taxis which were standing a couple of meters ahead of them as there was no mobile signal as well. Mr. Tarzan was occasionally sliding down the window and clearing the panes and his side mirror to have some visibility. Talking about visibility, even from open window one could not see anything other than snow fall and a guy amid the snow who came out from some taxi trying to figure out something.
It was already more than half an hour like this and no nobody was moving. By then, couple of guys moved out of the taxi in front of them and started tying ropes on its tyres. In few minutes all the four wheels were ready with ropes and it started to climb up the snow from their right, which is when it clicked to Mrs. Tarzan that it was the same under construction road which had big stones lined up at regular intervals to forbid any vehicle movement on it but now it was lying below thick layer of snow that even the big boulders were also snow capped and smaller ones were not noticeable unless some vehicle would go rampant and hiccup over them.
Mrs. Tarzan asked Mr. Tarzan, “Do we also need such ropes? But how we will find them?”. Mr. Tarzan was under deep thinking and was trying to analyse the situation and next course of actions. They were still hoping to cross Sela as it was not so far from there. Meanwhile, a couple of army trucks went past the road with stones on their right, then a police vehicle also turned up from opposite side on that road finding its way while skidding a bit. Mr. Tarzan was also thinking to move on that road but it had big boulders which makes it impossible for a Sedan to roll over. Again, another taxi was coming from opposite side with two guys clearing the road from bigger boulders, then again another taxi came repeating same fashion. The road was now looking in better shape but still it was much risky to move on that road. Mr. Tarzan thought to climb over and tried to steer towards it, but it was too steep for Cheetah who was screeching harder and skidding with each trials which also made huge depressions on the road that Mr. Tarzan decided it's wiser to leave it and wait. In some time, few more vehicles came from opposite side on that road and even their queue also started moving. Mrs. Tarzan thought may be the stuck vehicle is out now. They moved a few hundred meters heavily skidding over the snow mixed ice bed and then again came to a halt making people jump out of their vehicles and wander around furious and helpless. This time Mr. Tarzan thought to move on the same road on their right which was now devoid of bigger boulders but still there were many stones big enough for Cheetah. While he was still trying to sort out the things, a gentleman informed them that it is wise to go back as the terrain is really very tough in the storm and the vehicles are all stuck in heavy slush. Even the vehicles coming from opposite side were the ones who were returning midway as Sela was under the storm.
They both exchanged looks at each other and it was communicated that they should go back. The other guy which seemed to be from some taxi asked them if they could climb over the bouldered road. Mr. Tarzan tried again but this time there were people to help him. Cheetah screeched again with all its power with Mr. Tarzan trying to guide its course, the other guys were also guiding him with the steering movement and the clutch-accelerator technique to ride in snow. Skidding and falling back, they were finally able to get over the road, thanks to those guys. At one moment Mrs. Tarzan once thought they are going to skid away into the valley of snow where it is impossible to rescue them. But the real challenge now was to drive on the snow-road where even the boulders were invisible under the sheet of snow. It was tough to decide whether to follow the trail of tyres which already went past on the road or to move in different trail, each had its own danger. Moreover, the visibility was not even 10-15 feet in the storm. Mrs. Tarzan was not daring to peek into the valley on her side though the misty window pane. She was sitting quiet wondering whether they will be able to get out of here ever!! Somehow Mr Tarzan was managing the ride which even the AVB riders would not dare to take. There was nothing to view outside except for the snow. Cheetah had become the snow leopard carrying huge blanket of snow.
The snowfall was lessened in intensity as they had climbed down by a good range and reached near some shanties where they noticed some people waving to stop. They were the locals asking for lift. Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan quickly agreed and cleared the back seat making some room. The guy then asked how many can fit in, to which Mr. Tarzan said three or max four. Eventually, placing four ladies stuffed with them Cheetah continued on its rescue mission.
Still the visibility was much lesser to a few meters as the whole vicinity was covered in mist. The Cheetah was the rescuer for six people and was responsibly rolling on the road. In sometime they reached the Jainath bridge again and this time Mrs. Tarzan was hating the stretch ahead much lesser for she had seen the worst road and weather in her life. Till then she would consider Pensi La as the most dangerous stretch when Mr. Tarzan was riding the bike with her in snowfall on snow laden road with his numb limbs, that Mrs. Tarzan considers it their second life. And now it was today when they have got their third life!!
They went past the Jaswantgarh memorial and climbed down further. The road was now bearing lesser snow and snowflakes were turning into water droplets. They didn’t know when they crossed the Tawang view point as nothing was visible significantly, but recognised their tea point from last time when dropping one of the ladies at her home there. Further moving down, a couple standing in front of some shanties asked them for a lift, but the back seat already had three ladies. Mr. Tarzan told them that only one could fit in somehow, but guess the guy didn’t want to stay apart from her girl so they smiled and Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan also smiled and continued.
As they were climbing down and approaching Jang, the snowfall was turning into rainfall with occasional piles of snow around the road. Mrs. Tarzan was coming back to her senses and started chirping on her seat as she knew they were safe now. Everything was rain soaked when they reached the checkpost at Jang and Mr. Tarzan stopped for a while. He returned smiling over the conversation with the incharge and their fate with this checkpost. Now he had to find shelter for night which can even turn into nights as the weather was very unpredictable that no one can predict for how long it will be bad. He had started running through the idea of going back to Tawang but Mrs. was still hoping to find some decent stay in Jang itself as they will be back to square one after so much trouble. Remaining three ladies also got down at one bend in Jang. They were all very thankful to Mr. and Mrs Cheetah and enjoyed their ride with Cheetah. Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan, and Cheetah was also elated to be of some help to people in need. Mr. Tarzan needed a break now and they took shelter at one of shops. The owners were enjoying a tv show in the inner room when Mr. Tarzan gave a call for tea. The teenage girl prepared quick tea which was not good but at least hot enough to charge up the duo. Mr. Tarzan also enquired about stay nearby but it didn’t look good to him. After getting started from there, Mrs. Tarzan started looking closely at road side to find some decent stay and fell for a comparatively bigger building. They both went to see the room and it appeared to be basic room with a common bathroom shared by several rooms. Mr. Tarzan remembered their one stay at a shanty in Ladakh. Mrs. Tarzan nodded without any tantrum but was only worried about Mr. Tarzan’s Birthday which was falling the next day. However, Mr. Tarzan was not willing to keep Mrs. Tarzan in such an accommodation and shouted at her when she asked him to stay there only as she didn’t want him to take any further stress. They both worried about the other and made their decision based on it, how unusual !!
Anyways, Mr. Tarzan declared at once that they are going back to same hotel in Tawang. Mrs. Tarzan hesitatingly agreed considering the fact that she could have better celebration in Tawang with better facilities even if the weather makes them locked up in hotel only. Mrs. Tarzan quickly called the Tawang hotel owner if they could come back and got a warm response that they are being awaited to come back safely.
In couple of minutes Mrs. Tarzan started planning at the back of her mind for Mr. Tarzan’s birthday what she could do and what she would do if her plan A fails, thinking about several backup plans to make his special day. She had turned on the music and they both were much relaxed now enjoying their usual chit chats with their favourite numbers in the rainfall. Rains and dancing in rains is Mrs. Tarzan’s second love , first love being Mr. Tarzan himself !!
The rains had glorified the beauty of the valley and it turned more vibrant this time, being the fourth time they were on the same road. Mr. Tarzan stopped by for another tea break when they were about 20 kms from Tawang and went running in rains without umbrella leaving behind a screaming Mrs. Tarzan. They were enjoying their drive back to Tawang for second time. On the way, Mrs. Tarzan took several pictures of snow and rain and then came yaks and then finally stopped at pony posing on the rock. She was elated a lot that everything was looking much more beautiful to her.
When they were about 5 kms away from Tawang, they could notice snow popping from the mountain walls . The villages that wore a bright tangerine glow in the morning were wearing a smoky look with their roofs covered by snow, all the happening ladies and kids from morning were now inside enjoying the warmth in such a cold weather. It was drizzling by then and they were enjoying another look of Tawang rather a winter look. The road was turning a bit snowy slushy again.
As they were approaching Tawang, they were returning into a snow world which was more snowy than they had remembered from the morning. The road was getting more slushy with snow scattered around probably due to vehicle movement after the snowfall. At about 3 kms from Tawang they were near the landmark petrol pump from where the real challenge started. All the vehicles were moving dead slow skidding over the sheet of snow and hence everyone made a several feet distance from one another. The trails of tyres made the snow sink and take form of ice sheet which was all over the road making the movement very tricky for Cheetah. Mr. Tarzan was now expert and making excellent judgement for Cheetah. At another one kilometer, they saw a car rolled upside down sunk under one side of the road, making them feeling sorry for the rider and being thankful for all three them to be fit and fine when the locals were experiencing difficulty in driving on road and catching up with mishaps while Mr. Tarzan was successful in carrying all of them safely.
In few minutes they had parked at the hotel gate where the owner was waiting anxiously for them. They were hungry and cold sensing which they were soon provided with tea and pakodas, actually the pakodas were arranged by nearby shop. Mrs. Tarzan was in full spirit after all their adventure and started ranting about the Light and sound show at the war memorial. But both of them gave a thought, who would do such show or even visit the memorial in this weather, that even if they were able to reach the memorial on foot, chances were high that it would be either closed or if open it might not have the show. So they both thought to be cozy and warm indoor in their room which was already ready for them. Before this, they had some chat with owner who was glad to see them and also told that the guys who had checked out before them had stuck and perhaps moved ahead as per last conversation with her. No one came from the other side, even her anticipated guest also had no news . So it was only Mr. and Mrs. Tarzan who were her guests. The girls from the staff were so happy to see Mrs. Tarzan and all of them took her to show the snowman they had made. It was 5 feet tall snowman who was wearing nice jacket with his 4 feet tall girlfriend. Mrs. Tarzan also started playing with snow on the roof with them and started making snowman herself which was joined by the girls. Mrs. Tarzan was lent rubber gloves but still her hands went numb while she was working with snow. They spent the evening laughing around with the snowman that the owner couldn’t help letting the little girl in herself out and she also joined the ladies gang. They had also captured the moment with snowmen.
Mr. Tarzan was on walk for all this time while Mrs. Tarzan was getting friends with the girls and learning about them. The girls also showed them their room and the stock of beer. Mrs. Tarzan’s eyes glittered at the look. When Mr. Tarzan returned, she pulled him to the roof showing snowmen and they spent couple of minutes until Mr. Tarzan started biting his teeth. It was the first time she made a snowman and all the time she spent was unique experience for her. She was glowing with happiness making Mr. Tarzan fall in love with her again as he fixed his eyes on her!!
Mrs. Tarzan had already ordered the local cuisine including momos and thukpa. and also asked the staff girl about party revealing that its Mr. Tarzan’s birthday eve. So, it was planned to have a party the next day and she will get good collection.
Mrs. Tarzan was thrilled about the surprise she was planning for Mr. Tarzan. She had also told the owner about birthday, and almost everyone in the staff knew about it except Mr. Tarzan. The owner had suggested them a couple of places to visit where there will not be snow and also asked one of her girls to accompany them while sending out hot water for them. This seemed to be common practice there to serve hot drinking water to the guests in such cold weather and it did make sense to Mrs. Tarzan when she was seated opposite to the heater keeping herself warm and also drying up her clothes drenched with melting snow due to snowman after effect.
They enjoyed the local cuisine among the army of blankets while watching TV and spent a lovely evening together. Mrs. Tarzan was dreaming about the next day while Mr. Tarzan was smiling at her.
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