"me no big chief …

On a September,
way back in the when
Three college friends and I,
on an impulsively adventurous mood
decided to walk in the mighty Himalayas,
breathe in the free fresh mountain breeze,
see the breathtaking views, do all those sort of wildy things.

This was from way back,
before trekking became ‘cool’.
Were we prepared? Of course we weren’t.
And did we care, no we didn’t. We were young,
the world was waiting; to boldy go, to seek, to explore.
We borrowed kits and garb that would make any museum proud,
and one morning with our vintage rucksacks slung across our back, we were off,
secure with a hand drawn map, an interpretation of someone’s travel log from years ago.

Out of breath, sweaty, thirsty, stiff with pain,
cursing ourselves for self inflicted torture, we soon lost our way.
There was no one to ask; to backtrack would have been back breaking
We plodded on and ended up miles away from where we should have been.
We were rewarded for our ‘misguided’ efforts with an amazing circular rainbow.
Was near day’s end, we ended up beside a lake, a lake like we had never seen before.

The water was dark, serenely quiet, unrippled and clearer than crystal.
It was almost completely hidden from view by a forest of mature trees.
There were no other soul around, the silence was palpable with fingertips.
There was a tiny wooden hut, about twenty yards from the nearest bank,
with couple of tree trunks laid across the marshy edge to gingerly walk across.

We had heard about the lake from the local people at the start of the journey.

Khecheopalri Lake:

aka Khechiperi Lake (the wishing lake);
West Sikkim district of the Indian state of Sikkim.
It is situated amidst an untouched forest at an altitude of approx. 5600ft. It is a holy lake to both the Buddhists and the Hindus of the region and beyond. It was said that wish made at the monastery on the lake side, would have it come true.

The clear lake water is used for rites and rituals only, and the water is kept clean around the year by the waterbirds, that pick up any leaves that falls into the lake. A fair at Khecheopalri lake takes place during the month of March every year, when a large number of local pilgrims visit the lake and the monastery, “Butter Lamp Festival” involves floating of butter lamps on the lake.

That tiny little hut was the gumpha! a buddhist monastery.
On a tiny pedestal sat an even tinier image of Buddha, peaceful in his loneliness.
A dhoop was burning; someone had left a few dhoops with a packet of matchsticks.
We lit a dhoop and made our wishes; (I try to remember, what could I have wished for?)
We stayed there for a while, lost in our thoughts, reluctant to disturb the silence
before moving on to find a place to camp for the night.

At some point during that trip I had fallen in love with the Himalayas,
returning to her, whenever I had time (and money that could only buy shoestrings)
but I have been to some amazing beautiful places, where very few people had ever been.
I had to leave behind my beautiful Himalayas, and came away with just the memories
of the places I loved to visit for peace, to escape from the city.

I read today,

ENVIS Centre Sikkim on Eco-tourism
The influx of tourists (to the Khecheopalri Lake) is high with visible impact of disturbance on the lake and its watershed. Beside visitors, there are 72 households and 440 people are now living near it and exploit the natural resources of the lake watershed by extraction of fuel, fodder and timber and by livestock grazing.

National Geographic
You can do both (eat and stay) at the Khecheopalri Trekkers Hut, Located 656 feet (200 meters) from Khecheopalri Lake. Which has cheap dorm beds and private rooms (with communal bathrooms) that are clean and comfortable.
The owners are helpful, and meals are available. A few simple snack stalls line the lake itself.

The tiny gumpha and its rickety walkway is gone, we now have
a majestic monastery, with prayerflags and wheels and a ‘boardwalk’!
a Trekker’s hut only a stone’s throwaway, snack stalls lining the lake’s shores.

Probably that ethereal peace that we had experienced is also gone; lost forever.

It is said, time heals everything, but Time also destroys.
It is destroying the Himalayas as I once knew, scarring her forever.
Tourism has touched all my favourite places, and changed them beyond recognition.
Organised treks have made the inaccessable easy to trample upon, to dig, tear or burn.

I consider myself lucky to have seen the Himalayas beautiful in an untouched desolation.

HimalayasSikkimIndiamemoriestourismenvironment

Posted by littleindian on . |

Tags: blogging, Photographs, Sikkim, Travel
Posted in Environment, Himalayas, India