Arunachal 2

Oops ! I goofed up.The confusion occurred because of enormity of the travel and the similarity of Himalayan ranges. In fact travel from Tezpur to Bomdilla has nothing specific to offer except those wild bananas. Yes there is one this Nag mandir which we visited actually on our way back but the story behind it befits any 3rd grade Bollywood pot boiler like 'Revenge of Nagin. Part 3, so nothing great to write home about.  All the happening things are on the road from Bomdilla to Tawang ! So far what we did was just travel, travel and travel for more than 40 hours. Now it was time to explore Arunachal.

Bomdilla is a sleepy town not thickly populated. Like any hilly town it too is settled on different levels. Being at higher altitude, in winter months it's either covered under snow or clouds.







 

My bubble about rest in Bomdilla, burst in no time.Tawang which is THE place of Arunachal, was still a day's travel away, that too in the mountains again.On the way to Tawang we visited a smallish monastery of Bomdilla. 

Young ones are indoctrinated into Buddhism and are taught at the school run by the monks. This young one refused to utter a word, may be because of extreme cold !

One has to lunch on the way while in travel as the distances are  cumbersome. From Bomdilla to Tawang it's more than 150 kms, that too again up the mountain , down the valley. Its takes around 6 to 7 hours to reach Tawang depending on the climate.The dhaba that served the food served typical all Indian food and not the cuisine of the locals. I actually wanted to taste it ,but that's what you get when you travel en mass. Surprise was Karela bhaji cooked in typical Marathi style.May be it was asked for ! The staple food all over Arunachal is rice with Yak meat. Of course we were never served Yak meat, but we devoured the milk  of Yak cow !

We named her Yakee ! Her milk is thicker ,sweeter and bit salty than the usual milk available elsewhere so the tea without sugar too tasted sweet ! Yak seems to be a mixture of bull and buffalo but has more fur, naturally ! 

Tawang , stands in turmoil even today due to variety of reasons. China border is just a few kms away and danger of annexation to China still lurks large over the head of every Tawang Resident !  The main reason for political dispute is, Tawang was considered part of South Tibet during British regime and the controversial MacMahon line was always refuted by China.

So when China annexed Tibet  it was claimed by China that Tawang too, automatically should come along. But due to India's presence of mind it did not happen, so the perpetual unrest ! Situation today is more delicate. Actual border being not there, the imaginary line between the two soldiers, one Chinese and other ours, is the the only international border between 2 countries .If Indian one recedes even a few steps and Chinese comes forward a few steps there forms a new boundary ! And that's why our army has to guard it 24 *7 relentlessly without even blinking for second ! Extremely stressful and difficult task !

Tawang and its surrounding area has 20 different types of tribes, Monpa being prominent and in large numbers. Monpas resemble Tibetans and seemed amicable. On the way 3 young girls waived at our bus for hitch hiking, as it was extremely cold we allowed the driver to let them in ! And within no time our small bus was filled with laughter , continuous giggling like any other teenager was their hall mark. And to our utter surprise they burst out in Bollywood songs in melodious voice ! And how many songs they knew !                                             

                                                                             Common Tawangian on the street , though does not have any thing in common with the rest of India, be it a language, culture, religion, their very own Mongolian features, and though does not allow you to peep into his mind [ probably ?],  always treats you politely and converses in Hindi [ That too is a surprise] ! Every single one praises Indian army for protecting them from the would be onslaught of China but nonetheless every body seems to be aware of the developments carried out by China just across the border in Tibet ! In comparison, India seems to be just surviving. So what lies behind those chinkey eyes still could be a mystery !

But there is a difference, even corroborated by the army men whom we met time and again, naturally it has got tremendous presence in Arunachal, every mile or two there is an Army check post. Some even Marathi from Satara or A'Nagar ! In Kashmir though the scenario seems parallel locals always abuse army in spite of always being helped by it, here army men too vouched for good heartedness of the locals. 

Just stone's throw away from town of Tawang there are few beautiful lakes. But like any other word in Indo/Burmese or Tibetan languages the pronunciations are tongue twisters. Two or three consonants come together with hardly a vowel in it. So the lake that we visited was Ptso or Pankang Teng Tso lake. Shonga-Tser lake was bit away but because of incessant snowing we could not proceed further. Heartening thing was , because Madhuri Dixit did a dance number here for Bollywood film 'Koyala' now it's known as 'Madhuri' lake.

Nonetheless Ptso lake too was picture perfect. Fortunately when we reached, clouds took retreat and the sun came out of perpetual veil and then whatever became apparent was simply breathtaking !

But the favor by sun the almighty was not to  last long so within 20 minutes or so the entire terrain got covered in fog and the lake again went behind the veil !

P.S: I am not a researcher or student of political sciences. The views expressed here should be taken strictly as common man's , as first impression without any bias whatsoever.