chadar notes excerpts - chittaranjan desai - bookaholics open mic forum 23rd jun 2013

7/28/2019 Chadar Notes Excerpts - Chittaranjan Desai - Bookaholics Open Mic Forum 23rd Jun 2013

1/8

And The Chadar Runs

An Ode to our Dying Rivers -And The Chadar Runs

Crumpled white sheet of snow, by her thigh,The sleeping Beaut stirs by my side,Peaceful dreams flicker her eye lashes,Stretches, yawns & her wave splashes,She squints at the sun, tosses & turns

And the Chadar runs.

Peeps, smiles & sleeps one more dream,I watch her bosom swell, with each breath she takes,Chadar Gorgeous I whisper & touch, she quiversWinter hibernate her no more,Icy nights, a thing of yore,


Wide awake, she dazzles me with her eyes green,hums a love song from the mountains she had been,throatily she laughs, as I goose-bump on her embrace,Snuggles close to my chest, last time she does,Leaves her fresh breath on my neck, she kisses adieu


I watch the pristine Chadar undulate away,

through the valley, with a womans sway,In the know of her fate, I sigh in vain,Beauty to be soon sullied by sewage drain,Polluted, tainted & dishonored by us, ask I whyRavaged, Oh muffled the Chadar will cry.

And yet the Chadar runs.

And yet the Chadar runs


2/8

Nights on Chadar

Nights on the frozen Zanskar river are magical. No

electricity means no light pollution. No cacophonyof man made machinations. You hear yourself

breathe heavily & the snow crunch under your feet

as you walk on the whitest of the white snow lit by

a full moon. You gasp more due to the breath

taking vista & less due to the high altitude rarifiedair. You sense the river flow, albeit muffled under

the ice & snow sheath "The Chadar" & the billion

stars silently twinkle at you from light years away.

Chadar is one nature's magic show, which I would

watch again & again.


3/8

Frigid First Night

Looks serene & spectacular right? On the very first

night, I faced the cold reality that my sleeping bag wasmeant for -5 degrees & wouldn't really cut the cake, inthe ambient -28 degrees Celsius. I tossed & turned,shivered uncontrollably. I tried spot cycling, school P.T.drills in a claustrophobic zipped cold cold sleeping bag,to no avail. I recalled the "Birbal's Khichdi" story many atimes in the night, neither the distant glowing lamp's

heat, nor sleep would come. I tried burying my fingersin every available warm orifice, excruciating painwouldn't leave my digits. Gawd, they still hurt after aweek! I could hear snores rumble from Tim Vollmer, mytent mate & even the other tents & I fired a few SuratiFour Letter vocab at them. *2#%^! Kya Karoo, Brrrr!


4/8

True Frigid First Night story, fit for an Agony AuntColumn!Porters Suite

Whilst we were whining about the conditions, in

spite of being layered under kgs of winter wear,

the twenty two Ladakhi porters, would lug heavy

loads the whole day & in the extremely cold

nights, would merrily sing Ladakhi songs, tellstories about their villages & families deep inside

the Zanskar valley. The fire, a ragged sleeping bag

& fond memories, were all that they needed inside

these caves to keep them warm in the < -25

degrees Celsius nights.


5/8

First Crush

Walk on Ice - Frozen Zanskar river is a Chameleon. It

morphs it's colors & state every few hundred meters &changes by the hour. This huge patch was a solid thick

slab of slippery transparent ice, which reflected the

azure sheen of the sky. I silently followed in a Penguin

Slide behind Kalpesh Jain& Saanddok, our Trek

Assistant Guide & kept on clicking images & videos. I

admired them in the LCD Screen & started walkingfaster with a smile. A big mistake!

Before I knew, I slipped, was airborne & although I

managed to keep the camera up & safe in my left hand,

truly befitting a retired cricketer, I had twisted & nose

dived on my right cheekbone. Thud! The lights went out
https://www.facebook.com/kalpesh.jain.560272?directed_target_id=0https://www.facebook.com/kalpesh.jain.560272?directed_target_id=0https://www.facebook.com/kalpesh.jain.560272?directed_target_id=0


6/8

for a few seconds. It felt like a vicious Left Upper Cut of

Neha, the Boxer. I heard the Referee count till six

before I staggered on my knees. The new Oakley's, now

broken & separated, dangled on my ears. I could feel

the warmth of blood oozing out from the gash. I could

sense the numbness before the pain seared through my

teeth. I thought of applying ice to reduce reduce the

edema & wondered if that would indeed be the right

course of action upon hitting the ice?

Kalpesh Jain, told me I looked ok..... like a watermelon -

green, black & red! Any fellow trekker who publishes my

swollen face picture on the web, will be seriously sued

for defamation by my lawyer!

Aaaaargh! You'll never forget your first fall on Chadar!


7/8

To Be With Me

Yes, on the Chadar Trek, you of course take in the

majestic, awe inspiring surroundings, but

essentially you are there enjoying your own

solitude & being with your own self, as you walk

along the endless river. You hear yourself breath

under the muffler wrapped around your face &

you think - of life gone by & what lies ahead,about people & things, places, wants & desires.

The brain never stops whirring, does it? Suddenly

you stop dead in tracks, admire the stillness of the

mountains, the sunbeams lighting up the narrow

gorge & the river echoing your thoughts. You


8/8

smile, at the realization, that you, your own self,

are a pretty nice guy to be with!

chadar notes excerpts - chittaranjan desai - bookaholics open mic forum 23rd jun 2013

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