Book 2: Chapter 9: Part 4: Norbu, Brother Tameng and Hariram Maharaj
travel together from Darchen to Gyangdrak Gompa
Norbu and Brother Tameng sat at the newly decorated
vegetarian section of the eatery and stretched themselves. Some of the other
boys took care of Norbu’s two yaks, while his mother fed his mastiff with some
fresh meat broth. Norbu’s parents sat with Brother Tameng and heard the entire
story of the events of the valley over the past three days and nights. Hariram
Maharaj stood near the warm stove, cooking a meal for everyone. He was
tremendously excited. His first day at Darchen, and it seemed to be filled with
aspects of adventure.
Brother Tameng explained about the twelve pilgrims in the
stone circle, and the visit by the herd of large wild yaks accompanied by the
wolves. He spoke about the meeting at Dirapuk and the expedition to the valley
beyond the monastery. Hariram Maharaj was happy, gleefully happy, at all these
unexplained happenings. This was what he had come in search of. He was excited
to hear about the monks and trackers who had made a team to go into the secret
valley. ‘Beyul’, they called it. Whatever be the name, imagine a secret
valley that was even hidden from the kora in the sacred region. This
could be the reason why he had managed to reach upto Darchen, he thought.
Norbu kept interrupting, with instances and events that
he wanted Brother Tameng to explain. He had been feeling guilty about having
left the group of pilgrims that he was supposed to help on their kora,
and he did wonder if his father would scold him after the departure of Brother
Tameng to the Choku Gompa. To continue with the description of the events,
Norbu asked Brother Tameng to explain about the hidden valley and the boulders.
Brother Tameng hesitated. He did not know anything about
Hariram Maharaj. This strange looking, almost Tibetan looking, Indian was not
supposed to be privileged to know about the Beyul or whatever. If they would
get to know about it, who knows, about 10,000 pilgrims could start coming to
the valley of Kang
Renpoche , or Mount
Kailash
He spoke about the possibility that the hidden valley
could lead them to the ‘mouth of the lion’. This could probably be the
source of the Indus
River Lungdep Chu
River
Hariram Maharaj did not understand the geography and the
distances between the places at Kang Renpoche. But, he loved to hear
about all these mysteries. He had once met some Swedes who had come to
Shiquanhe with tremendous amounts of equipment. Some of their stuff had been
discarded at Luo Tsering’s eatery and Hariram Maharaj had kept the really good
thermal stuff for his own use. The leader of the expedition from Sweden had also
gifted Hariram Maharaj with snow walking sticks, thermal gloves and balaclavas.
He was just about ready to even walk through the inner kora to find out
how the twelve pilgrims could have disappeared by themselves.
Those Swedes had been mentioning about some search to
some place that they kept referring to as the Lion’s Valley. Hariram Maharaj
had been excited and happy to talk to them, since he came from Gujarat and it
was the home of the Lion in India .
This secret valley that Brother Tameng was speaking about, it could be the
mysterious and unknown ‘Lion’s Valley’, he thought. How could he reach that
valley? He had to simply go to this spot and see for himself and travel without
any deadlines or return schedules.
Brother Tameng explained to Norbu’s parents that the most
important concern now was to send food, supplies, equipment, blankets and
tenting material to the people who were exploring the valley. Nobody had
expected that it would turn out to be a longer expedition, and one could not
withdraw or fail in this journey just because there were no supplies. As he
explained, what if the expedition took more days and months and was trapped in
the secret valley in the winter? It would be better to be prepared and with
more than adequate supplies. He suggested that the entire support could be
organised by Norbu’s parents. They would be paid for the material that they
would supply. Master Rinchen had sent some money with him, he assured.
“Would Norbu go back with to the secret valley, Brother?”
asked Norbu’s mother, anxiously. Brother Tameng smiled and said that it would
not be without him. He had promised Master Rinchen and he would similarly
promise Norbu’s parents that the boy would be in his care. It was good to be
with Norbu, he told his parents, for he was a good boy and was very intelligent
and knew his way around in these mountains. He was good to his yaks and his
mastiff trusted him and was very loyal to him. “No,” He said, “Norbu and his
two yaks and mastiff would come with me, for I go to the inner kora, to
Gyangdrak Gompa. My two brother monks have gone ahead to the sacred place, and
they are trying to understand the knowledge available here about the beyuls.”
Norbu smiled, for he was also wondering if this was the
end of the adventure for him, since he had returned to his parents’ eatery. His
only worry had been that his parents would have been frightened for they would
have been expecting his return to Darchen with the pilgrims. Now that he had
met them and that they knew of his well being, Norbu was eager to get back to
the secret valley. He was happy to accompany Brother Tameng for he knew that
the monk was entirely unlike the peaceful demeanor that he showed to others.
Norbu’s father went out to collect some animals and boys
to be sent to Dirapuk, while Norbu’s mother and Hariram Maharaj busied
themselves with placing the necessities to be packed up. All equipment, food and
supplies would be covered with thick plastic sheets, and would be covered once
again, after they were loaded on to the yaks and horses. Norbu’s father had
gathered up four yaks and two horses. Two yak-boys and one horse-boy would go
with them. He had chosen boys who knew the kora and animals that he had
known to be steadfast in snow or rain. The entire group of animals and boys
were soon on their way to the Yamadwar and onwards to Choku Gompa before
going further to Dirapuk.
Brother Tameng and Norbu got ready to go to Gyangdrak
Gompa. Norbu’s two yaks were loaded up with supplies for the two, the monk and
his new student. Hariram Maharaj had a sudden impulse. He spoke to Norbu’s
father and sought his permission to go with Brother Tameng and Norbu to Gyangdrak
Gompa and later, to the secret valley. He suggested that it would always
better, as they would say in his Gujarat , that
three people were always better than two. It would be good to be of help to the
expedition, for he could cook and help with the silly tasks. It seemed like a
big group was coming together, and who knew how many more monks would start
from the Gyangdrak Gompa to go to see the secret valley.
Norbu’s father was happy to allow his son and Brother
Tameng to be helped by Hariram Maharaj. His son would be better protected in
this strange expedition. After the severe storm, most of the pilgrim groups had
not arrived at Darchen, and it was a slow business day. The situation would
probably continue for a week, and it was possible that this entire crazy
expedition would be over, and everyone would return from the secret valley that
they were talking about. He did not want to intervene in something that his son
was obviously happy with. He was in good company and this was not some travel
that would result in ill-mannered behaviour with the helper boys who came along
with the pilgrim groups.
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