Sindhu Darshan

Topping up the tank at the fuel station at Kargil we moved on to Mulbekh. This stretch of 40 kms is one of the best examples of viewing one religion relinquishing and the other embracing. As we moved from Kargil, we saw more and more of muslim faces and small mosques with shining tops. And as we neared Mulbekh the scenario changed to more and more of mongoloid faces, Mani walls, chortens, and prayer flags. The hill-top monastery, about 200 meters above the main road is the piece de resistance of the Mulbekh town. As we were targeting Leh we never found time and drive to climb up, but I guess apart from the frescoes the scenery from the top would be parallel to none as would be the tearing wind. Taking a snap from the road and turning the Mani wheel we progressed towards Namika La. One of the most glaring omissions in our ride after Zanskar valley and Rangdum Gompa is the 9-metre rock sculpture of Maitreya, the Future

Buddha called ‘Chamba’ in a deep relief a little further to Mulbekh. We missed it owing to inadequate study. Mountainscape from Mulbekh onwards was stunning. Barren light brown mountains appeared as if the protruded bellies of giants have been arranged side by side and over each other. It was quite tempting and I harbored the wish to poke them. I never knew my wish will be granted in this tour itself. Namika La didn’t seem like a high altitude pass and Fotu La, despite being the highest point on the Leh – Srinagar road, was again not difficult to climb. Roads were tarred and clean and snowfall was scanty limited to only upper reaches of the surrounding mountains. Only adversity felt was the piercing wind which almost froze us. We hurriedly progressed to chase the fast-dwindling sunlight.

After crossing Fotu La a point comes from where we had the first view of the then spotlit Lamayuru Monastery. Road upto Lamayuru is spectacular with its sweeping turns and long descents. At Lamayuru, the road bifurcates into two only to join before Khaltse. The left one though is longer and desolate as well. At Khaltse we met Sindhu River – enacting “Sindhu Darshan”. We rode past the turn to Dah-Hanu valley and reached PWD resthouse at around 7:30 pm. Khaltse is a very small township but its strategic location makes it important because the road going towards Dha-hanu valley connects to the frontier areas. We relished the food we cooked that night at PWD rest house but slept over the ‘know-each-other’ bash of young, handsome and pretty but noisy and tipsy medicos and paramedicos. It was here that we got to hear contemporary and hit Ladakhi numbers but under the circumstances we disliked them more.

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