By RAHOOL TALUKDAR
National Creative Director, Focus Circle
It’s difficult to describe a morning in Lachen. Words won’t suffice. Lachen is a small village in the northernmost stretch of one of India’s unbelievably stunning states, Sikkim. Surrounded by mountains, Lachen stays modestly put by the banks of a giggling river, Teesta. Probably a stereotype, but the sight of the first light of the morning painting the snow-clad tip of a mountain golden can transform you as a human being. Ego, self-proclaimed glory, pay cheques, tax exemption plans, awards, ‘being somebody’ – everything is crushed and humbled by the sheer magnitude of nature. When you look up at the mountains which start at an altitude of 12,000 feet, you learn a lesson about your own existence and so-called ‘stature’.
We were put up overnight at modest cottages in Lachen, from where we were to begin our journey to our final destination, Gurudongmar Lake. It was around May last year and yet the temperature was a mere couple of degrees. The chill wind bites into your bones, but the people who rented out the accommodation were truly warm – simple folk living simple lives. Such hardships they face, and yet their smiles make you believe that life’s worth it all. May be the austerity of nature itself has taken its due course in the hearts of these people.
Soon, we bid them goodbye and set out on the final stretch of our journey to the legendary place. Up until Lachen, the landscape is endowed with pristine vegetation. The river Teesta flows like a pre-adolescent girl with her hair let loose in the first rain. Her energy is infectious; her spirit unbridled. As we push our four-wheel drive, we see the landscape changing fast. Leaving the mountains and the thick foliage behind, we now cruise towards a vast expanse of lifeless terrain. This is the Tibetan Plateau. Acre upon acre of beige landscape riddled with snow. I have never felt the air so clear; never seen the sky so blue. We were silent, as if talking would be an offence there. It puzzled me all along that such an arid landscape could have a lake of such repute…
It wasn’t long before we stopped at a place that looked like the edge of a ridge. I got off the car and walked up to the edge and what I saw made time stop. Sometimes in life, you see things that hit you hard. For me, it was the sight of the Gurudongmar Lake - a colossal paramecium-shaped water body nestled in absolute divinity on the plateau. Emerald blue hues of the water reflected the skies above flawlessly. The altitude was close to 18,000 feet and breathing was not very easy. I walked to the banks of the lake and couldn’t resist taking off my gloves to touch the water.
I don’t know if God exists, but that expedition surely took me close to something extraordinarily divine. Meet nature in its most pristine form, and the feeling is God-like. Did I meet God that day at the lake? Maybe I met myself. It was an experience way beyond the simple pleasure of travel for leisure - a feeling so intense that it ended up in my DNA. That’s meeting God.
