Spiti-The Last Chapter

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Early next morning after breakfast, we took a drive further ahead from one high village to another high altitude village of Spiti valley, Demul. After witnessing two magnificent villages, I had not set any grand expectations for this one in terms of beauty and remoteness. I knew it would turn out to be just as beautiful as the other two if not more. But what I saw completely threw me off in oblivion. At 14,430 feet, Demul redefined remoteness and promised unbounded solitude. Home to less than 50 families, living in utter isolation, this quaint village, cut off from the rest of the world, resembled a state of utopia. Our homestay was situated right in the end towards the corner in isolation. The village amid its patchwork fields producing barley and millet, offered magnanimous views of the unparalleled landscape of gigantic mountains and snow-clad peaks that seemed to close in on us from every side. If this wasn't enough, we got lucky to have spotted a rainbow later that evening while on our walk to the fields below. It was slightly drizzling and it had gotten very cold with an occasional blow of icy winds brushing against our faces. There was something about the lucid flow of air that radiated cosmic energy. We spent some time in the field clicking photographs and soaking up on every bit of the surreal visuals in what appeared to be a no man's land. The high altitude, at last, did impact me later that night due to lower levels of oxygen and reduced air pressure that caused me difficulty sleeping in the night accompanied by a severe headache. Fortunately, I could do without resorting to any medical assistance apart from popping a normal pain killer and in the morning when I woke up, I was good to go.

After experiencing three homestays and having a hard time dealing with the toilets at this juncture, I suggested that our guide request Mr Ramesh to put us up back in our hotel at Rangrik. The villages that we were supposed to visit now were not that far off from the hotel. The next day, we were to leave at nine in the morning. We quickly got ready, packed the last of the stuff that was lying out, had our breakfast of delicious hot 'aloo paranthas’ and said good-bye to the family. Our host walked us to where our car was parked with our luggage and we started for Langza which was a drive of about three hours. Luckily, this time around, we had fellow travellers accompanying us to the village that made our journey even more enjoyable (something that we had been longing for since the inception of this trip). Unfortunately, we couldn't do the village of Komik (the highest motorable village in Asia) due to extremely bad weather conditions caused by persistent rain resulting in a landslide.

As we drove through the valley, we suddenly reached a plateau, absurdly green for the barren mountain scape that we had seen so far. On reaching the village, at an high atitude of 4,400m, we were greeted by a giant majestic statue of the meditating Buddha. It sat at the head of Langza, framed by the mountain range Chocho Khang Nilda as the background. The village is home to some handful of mud households flanked by lush green barley and sweet pea fields on one side and the mountain slopes to the other. We drove all the way up towards the towering Buddha idol, clicked a few pictures and sat there for a while seizing the moment. After some time, we walked around the village a bit, where the land is very rich in fossils of marine animals and plants. Our stay at Langza was very brief, lasting only an afternoon. We finally headed back to our hotel at Rangrik around early evening. After a scrumptious meal consisting of a bowl of rice, some chicken curry, matar paneer and rotis, we crashed out for the night.

The next morning, we started leisurely around eleven in the morning since we didn't have much to do as per the itinerary. It was that moment when I felt it's all coming back to me. A poignant reminder of the passing of time. Driving along the Spiti river, we caught a fleeting glimpse of the Ki Monastery, perched atop a hill overlooking the Ki village, with the snowy mountains as the backdrop. We decided we'd explore the monastery on our way back down from Kibber which was a drive of another 30 minutes. Upon reaching the village of Kibber, we discovered the true sense of solitude. After taking a short walk in the village, we proceeded for the Ki Monastery. With over 1000 years’ worth stories to tell, the Ki Monastery is built in a fort-like structure with three storeys at a height of 13,668 feet. It amazed us with its architectural integrity and spiritual richness. After being concisely briefed about it's history by the monk there and exploring the rare collections of Tibetan art and Buddhist paintings, we went onto explore its library that contained sacred texts and manuscripts. We were fortunate enough to spend some time in the prayer hall where a prayer was being conducted by the monks. That was a sight to behold. The chanting had a very calming effect on me.

It was almost three in the afternoon when we left the monastery. We stopped to eat at this small eatery right next to the monastery where we had mouth-watering momos and chowmein. I was lost in my thoughts when the idea of mountain biking struck me. As an adrenaline junkie, I have always wanted to give this a shot and there couldn't have been a more opportune time for me to experience this. I reluctantly passed on my thought to my friend who also expressed a keen interest in it. We practically had only an evening with us to do what we wanted to which also included buying souvenirs and thanking Mr Ramesh in person for making all this possible for us. So, we quickly drove up to Kaza and met up with Mr Ramesh and asked him from where we could rent out bicycles. I was keeping my fingers crossed and my heart was literally in my mouth because I desperately wanted to do this. He suggested we walk up a little ahead to a Hotel Deyzor where this guy, the owner of the hotel, would rent out bicycles. Much to our joy, we finally picked up our bicycles and cycled all the way to the Rangrik bridge crossing and back amounting to some roughly 10 kms. It was an indescribable experience. I was in the state of nirvana. There was something surreal about being on the road, in the dust, with the sound of the gushing water below and the golden clouds floating like cotton candies against the blue sky. I was spell bound at what the mother earth could simply conjure up. A perfect and a flawless ending to a splendid journey! Couldn't have gotten better than this. After returning our bicycles later that evening, we quickly purchased a pair of ceramic utensils, each in the colour of green and yellow as souvenirs, said our good-byes to Mr Ramesh and rushed back to our hotel to bring this one hell of an incredible journey to an end.

Totally jaded and wearied out as we were, we slept off into the night only to wake up to mixed emotions, ranging from that of sorrow to immense happiness. It was raining quite heavily when we woke up. We got ready, packed our luggage up and expressed our gratitude to the jovial hotel manager, Sonam. As we started our journey back, a fountain of tears welled up in my eyes as I looked out of the window, trying to lap everything up one last time. The rain played a spoilsport and we couldn't do the Chandratal Lake en route in anticipation of landslides up there and fickle weather conditions. As deeply upset and disheartened as we were, we dropped the idea in all prudence of taking in on this futile challenge. On the flip side, however, if it had begun raining at the time when we had started this tour, we would have been unable to do this. But this perilous journey wasn't going to relinquish on us so easily without giving us one last scare. Traveling along the violent Spiti river, the back tyre of our car got stuck amidst the rocks in a flowing water stream. As luck would have it, a group of bikers helped us pull out our vehicle. We couldn't thank them enough and the rest of the journey went off smooth and by six in the evening, we were back in Manali.

The one thing that has remained constant in Spiti, with the passage of time, since generations is humanity. A place that is unscathed by modernity and where civilisation hasn't spread it's claws yet. The geniality of the people and the grandeur of its landscape are of timeless essence in an ever changing human landscape. As for me, it truly has been an insightful and a life changing experience. A beginning to innumerable beginnings in the future.

Robbed me off my soul, Spiti has been one long tranquil pause.

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Photos

Village Demul appeared like a mirage from a distance.

Our isolated homestay.

Barley and millet fields amidst gigantic mountains.

En route Langza

A glimpse of the Ki Monastery, atop the hill, en route Kibber Village.

Entrance to the Ki Monastery.

Top most storey of the Monastery.

View from the Monastery.

Biking towards the Rangrik bridge crossing.

One of the biker trying to pull us out.

Tracing our steps back.