Tsango, Snow and the fading light

Gayathri and the kids were to see snow for the first time in their lives. It was to be snow, that beautiful lake called Tsongo and fading light on the second day of our stay in Gangtok.

We had slept quite well with the hotel guys providing us a room heater to beat the cold. I woke up in the morning and came down to check about the trip to Tsongo lake with the manager. As I got off the last step and turned around, I was stuck by the scenery outside. A light drizzle was on, the light was dull and the whole area was covered by mist. I walked to the terrace to take in the scene. Nothing odd about it except for the fact that the terrace was on the ground floor !!! Well, in Sikkim most of the people build their houses on the mountain slopes. So you can have terrace on the ground floor as well !! I quickly went and got Gayathri down to see the scene. It was misty and it looked as if all the clouds had legs as they crawled across the mountains, which were there on every side we turned.

The manager had arranged for the Tsongo lake trip. We paid around Rs.1200 for the trip. It was a bit high as it was the season. The driver turned up by the time we finished our breakfast. He was past middle age and he turned out to be a safe driver and a pleasant man.

The drive started and after we had gone some distance I had the first glimpse of a snow capped mountain. (There are no snow capped mountains when you drive from New Jalpaiguri to Gangtok) I was sitting in the front seat of Maruti Omni besides the driver. I turned around and told Gayathri and the kids, "Look there, way beyond. Can you see the snow capped mountains". "Wow" said Gayathri and the kids. "Thats where we are going sir", said the driver. "What" !!! The mountains looked way way away. "Yes sir. We have to cross x number of mountains to get there" said the driver. I have forgotten if x is 11 or 20, but it was surely in double digits.

We started climbing the mountains and the houses and trees below were diminishing in size. The view of the valley was fantastic and you would enjoy it as long as you dont suffer from vertigo. We kept steadily climbing and the sizes of objects kept steadily decreasing. Gayathri, who is not a great fan of heights, told me,"We are climbing so high that it looks like we will directly go to Kailash". The scenery beneath was scary or wonderful depending on your point of view. I mean the figurative point of view !!

After crossing a few mountains the light started dimming. The drizzle had stopped earlier. It was then we saw those white patches along the road. All along the road and on the mountain side, we could see patches of something which was dirty white. "What is it", we asked the driver. "Snow", he said. "Whoooa", said the kids. "Stop, stop. We want to touch it". It was the first contact with snow for Gayathri and the kids and were they thrilled!! This snow was made of tiny crystals and was not the powdery one. Both Ranjani and Harini squealed in delight when they touched the snow and felt the chill on their hands. Even the more restrained Gayathri couldnt control herself. She picked up some snow and threw at me !!!

Promising them that there will be more snow ahead, I got them back into the car and we went ahead. We stopped at a tea house and had some hot tea. Lot of other cars had also stopped at this place. The amount of snow around us had increased and so had the thickness of the mist. The light was fading. The kids as usual wanted me to buy some stuff to eat from the shops there. We started and passed a couple of waterfalls. I still clearly remember an area which was in between two mountains. The road was curving and the mountains had cut off most of the already failing light. The extremely dull light, the black mountains and the silver waterfall combined in such a way that it reminded me of the dark scenery in Harry Potter movies.

After some distance we came to point where the road widened. There was a river running besides the road and the road had probably been widened so that people can stop and watch the river. A great idea. There was more snow around, the river running in midst of it and the whole area covered with mist and the half light. It was too good a scene to miss. We stopped the car and asked the driver to take a picture of us.

The snow around us was getting thicker and whiter. There were lot of army camps around and all of them were covered in snow. As the vehicles were getting nearer to the Tsongo lake the climb was steep and the snow on the road made it tougher for the cars. We could see a couple of cars getting stuck in the snow and other drivers helping them get out of the mess. "These small boys dont know how to drive in these conditions", said our driver. "The trick is to give the right power at the right time. It takes experience to know this". As could be expected, he got stuck in the next five minutes when he was climbing a curving slope which had snow on it. There was an awkward silence in our vehicle and a couple of drivers from other cars helped us out of this situation. That was the last climb and a few hundred yards off, we were at Tsongo lake.

Generally whenever you read about a lake, people describe it as shimmering in the heat or glowing like a pearl. Though I would have loved to use such high flying descriptions, unfortunately I cannot. The lake was neither shimmering nor glowing since the light there was not bright. It was half light and the scenery was a surrealist delight. The black mountains around the lake were covered with white snow giving you the illusion that you have mistakenly stepped into a Black and White world. You would probably have believed it had it not been for the colorful dresses of the people around. Tsongo is an almost oval shaped lake lying in midst of the mountains. The lake was a real delight to behold and its location impeccable. Looks like this lake is frozen during the winter and looks even more beautiful. My colleague told me that when he had come to Tsongo, there was no snow around but the lake was partially frozen !!

It was extremely chill and we were saved by the fact that we had shopped for the woolens the previous day. The gloves were absolutely essential and I had a tough time when I removed them to take some snaps. It was freezing cold and my hands started paining. So I had to put on my gloves back soon.

We went on a yak ride. There are lot of guys with yaks around this lake and this is probably the most entertaining thing you can do around the lake. Harini refused to get on the yak and stayed back in the car. There were too many people and vehicles around. The area was slushy with the half melted snow and it was a difficult task getting around on foot. So you can imagine how much more difficult it would have been for a yak !! The yak handler though made the yak walk between the narrowest of path between cars, made it climb over ledges and walk in the mostly slushiest of the areas. They way the yaks maneuvered around, I wouldnt have been surprised had a yak climbed over a car and got down on the other side !! They did look capable.

We came back after a short ride, took Harini along to play in the snow. Ranjani started feeling very cold after playing the snow for some time and now it was her turn to get back and stay in the car !! Harini was enjoying herself in the snow and started throwing snow at us. She and Gayathri threw snow at each other which made them very happy.

We then went and had some hot chai and got some hot Maggie noodles for the kids. You need to clear off from the Tsongo lake by 1 or 1:30pm. That is the rule there. So all vehicles started pulling off. We too started. Along the way it started getting foggy. Infact the fog became so dense that the visibility decreased to almost 10 feet. Given that we were going on curving mountain roads with no barrier on the side, this was not an advantage !! Inspite of all our apprehensions, we still couldnt stop ourselves from appreciating the lovely scenery !! Terror and Beauty coexist in such situations. The driver got us back without any incidents. We had our lunch in the hotel and couldnt go outside in the evening as it was continuously raining.

The next would take us to Lachen. It was a trip which would make Gayathri and the kids shiver !!