Today would be my reason for coming to Leh.
My annual pilgrimage to the Thiksey Monastery to pay homage to the Maitreyi
Buddha. Over the past many years that I have been coming to Leh, my primary
reason has always been to visit the Thiksey Monastery. And today was that day
again, after a gap of a year. But first, I had to touch base with Anil Reddy.
Electricity was a major problem and I had a
whole lot of footage to dump and empty the cards on the cameras. Since there
was no electricity I sat in the car, hooked up all the electrical to the
inverter and sat around dumping the footage. While that was going on I called
Anil and then went to pick him up from the hotel he was staying in at Old Road.
Rahul Gandhi was in town and the whole place was chaotic with the security
bandobast. He was due to leave in the afternoon and that was good news since we
would have the town to ourselves once again. Anyway, while waiting for Anil to
catch up, I bumped into Abhishek Biswas and his team who were shooting episodes
of Wonderful World for Travel Trendz.
Coincidental to have met up in Leh of all places. They were off to Dha Hanu to
shoot the Aryan tribes there. I have never been there and some day would visit
that village. There’s so much to see and do in and around this region that it
marvels me to imagine that despite having been here so many times, I have
managed to miss out on so many things. Dha Hanu for one. Zanskar for another.
Beyond Nubra Valley and the Karakoram Pass.
Anyway, hooked up with Anil, came back to our
Guest House and breakfast completed left to have a look-see of Leh. It was late
in the day and there was probably not much we could pack in today, but we would
make a start. The first stop was the Shey Palace. Then came my annual
pilgrimage and the Thiksey Gompa. This is one place I manage to climb up the
stairs to reach the sanctum sanctorum. And the statue of the Maitreyi Buddha
was as pristine and as beautiful as ever. I sat there for almost two hours,
meditated a bit, took pictures, made my peace with the Buddha and felt a whole
lot more peaceful having accomplished what I had come to Leh for. Did you know
that the statue of the Maitreyi Buddha is allegedly the most photographed work
of art after the Mona Lisa?
Lunch was at the restaurant at the entrance
of the monastery and then we drove down to the Sindhu Darshan site. It was a
sad place to visit. Beautifully modelled, we saw a whole lot of cars parked
next to the river, getting washed. There were a couple of other cars with the
passengers enjoying their bottles of the golden brew. There should be some sort
of security in place preventing such sacrilegious activities.
It was nearing sunset and there was not much
else we could pack in today. I wanted to show Anil a glimpse of the airstrip he
had landed in and I drove on to the Spituk Gompa which has a wonderful view of
the runway. Anil was dumb founded. He knew that the landing at this air strip
was tricky, but he did not realise exactly how tricky it was. The runway sloped
upwards to give the aircraft some additional braking power. The runway is
short. And it is surrounded by high mountains on all sides. He landing is manual
and not instrument based. One of the trickiest airfields to land on and Anil
was surprised that he managed to land in one piece. Looking at the strip from
the Spituk Gompa he promised that henceforth he would drive in and not take a
flight and chance Fate!
In the evening Anil and I went to meet the
Commanding Officer of the Military Police soliciting his help and support
during the expedition. He gladly extended all help possible in the truest and
finest tradition of the Indian Army. After a cup of tea with his and extending
our thanks and gratefulness, it was back to the Guest House and bed.
Tomorrow we will apply for the permits and
hopefully the day after we will do a recce of the route that will comprise the
Dirty Dozen, particularly the Tso Moriri sector. I have done that route many
years ago and do not remember anything at all. A recce is certainly called for.
So till then, ciao and take care. I’ll see
you when I’ll see you.
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