LEH April 2013. Day 8

Day 8.

Last night… well, I am glad to announce that we lasted the night.

The cold was unbearable. The were gusts of wind for a major part of the night and the walls (?) of the tent were fluttering. The sound of the wind and the flapping tent walls was eerie .

 

Once again the layers of clothing and blankets (and yester day they were too many,) made even turning sides , super painful.

Drink lots of water at regular intervals to keep yrself hydrated , they tell you. But willing yourself to creep out of the blankets , look fr yr shoes and then limp to the washroom is an ordeal in itself.

The absolutely pitch darkness, the small tent, the weight of the clothes you are wearing... make one a bit claustrophobic too. The night stretches ahead.

Each time we wake up in the night, we look at the watch , hoping that it is morning already.. and each time the clock has advanced by 10 mins only. The daughter is restless.

I keep lying to her about the time, telling her that it is soon going to be sunrise.

Finally around 1.00 am we all have had enough. I bring out the laptop and start watching the TV serials we have loaded on it. Modern Family this time. We watch 2 episodes back to back and soon the daughter drifts off to sleep. I am awake still.

I start playing the shadow game in the torch light. A dog, a bird, a droopy eared dog, I start observing the flower shaped design made by the torch light and as I hold it away from me , the pattern starts looking like a half fried egg. Each time I move the angle at which I hold the torch , I am able to move the yolk. And I hear a chuckle. The daughter has woken up again and mercifully this time with a smile on her face. She tried her hand with the torch . I remind her that altitudes make some people loony. We both agree that yeah.. we are feeling a little light in the head. She goes back to sleep with a smile on her lips… a rare sight and rarer still coz I put the smile there.

Finally the daughter is waking me up… the tent is lit up by the morning light. I check the watch , it is 5.30 am. Now we both wake up the husband asking him to go out and check the sunlight and the lake.

Poor man, he wasn’t left with much choice. He comes back into the tent and I can see him smiling…. “cloudy weather, cant see any colors in the sky or in the water… the sky is gray and so is the lake” .. I am disappointed. Actually I am glad too… I don’t have to get out of bed.

Finally we woke up in a couple of minutes. The cloudy weather , the winds of the night before could cause a snowfall any time. And the changla pass , the snow and the traffic could be a nightmare.

Running hot water… the boys at the camp were delivering half abucket of hot water to each tent. And there were arguments to be heard. “ek hee baalti? “ the boys had an explanation… itney saarey tents hain, zyaada nahi milega turant.”

The husband talks them into giving us our quota and we are ready to drive back to Leh.

There is a light snowfall but we have a comfortable drive back and we are in leh in time for lunch. The well heated room is a treat. We are sitting around the bukhari, watching TV and going over the photographs. They have a fairly good wifi connection and I am glad to be connected.

We leave for Mumbai early tomorrow morning. 5.00 am actually. We hope to be home by 1.00 pm.

Packing is another ordeal.  They do not allow cabin baggage on the Leh Delhi sector except a handbag each.  We have purchased handcrafted walking sticks in Turtuk and a Ladakhi table in Leh.  I hope they arrive in Mumbai undamaged!

The son will be home in the evening. The  khandaan reunion – I am looking fwd to it.

The ghar kaam though is something I am not looking fwd to.!