The Mystery of the Kailash Trail - Chapter 5 - Part 1

Chapter 5: Part 1: The mountain may call him from near Gyengtak Gompa

Shenshe wondered if he had heard right. The Sikh pilgrim from India, in search of answers to questions about his holy master, wanted to go to the Kang Renpoche Mountain and “explore”!!! Nobody went out there. He knew that. He did not bother much about the superstition or mythology about the mountain, but it was his job to maintain the peace and prevent any break down in law and order in this remote place. This pilgrim wanted to go on the mountain just because he could not sleep?

He was alone at Darchen today. Whom could he discuss this problem with? Perhaps he had not heard him correctly. After all, he did not know the language properly. Did he really say that he might want to walk up the mountain that all these pilgrims thought to be very sacred? Should he stop him? Should he tell him not to go up the mountain? Shenshe wondered about the action he should take. Most yak-boys and other guides would listen to a policeman, he knew. It would be better to just frighten them and wait and watch.

Sardar Amarpal Singh sat down next to Shenshe and smiled at him in a very peaceful and happy manner. His smile and demeanor were very comforting. It was puzzling for Shenshe. This man wanted to disrupt the local customs and do something that could very well be illegal, and he was now sitting next to a policeman and smiling. Shenshe looked at the Buddhist monk from Nalanda and asked, “Brother, did your friend say that he wanted to walk on the Kang Renpoche Mountain? Did I hear him say that? Am I correct in understanding him?”

The monk from Nalanda smiled at the predicament of the Chinese policeman, and replied, “Do not worry. My Sikh brother is a devotee of the Sumeru Mountain. He will not do anything wrong and will not go against the practices of the kora. He has felt some pull from the sacred mountain. It was a strange night during the rainstorm. We do not know about what was happening out there. We are not tourists. These pilgrims who come here, to do the kora, are not tourists. We come here in reverence. We feel the pull. You see only a mountain. We see our very identity.”

“It is not about Tibetans who fled to India. It is not about Tibetans from various locations elsewhere who come here to do their pilgrimage around the kora. This sacred mountain is about several religions. We who come here do not come as tourists. Those of us who come from beyond Tibet, for us, this pilgrimage are a once in a lifetime journey. We do not come here to doubt our religion. We come here, those of us who come as pilgrims, we come here to worship,” said the monk from Nalanda, “we do not come here to commit sacrilege. Trust us.”

Sardar Amarpal Singh spoke to the monk in Hindi, and he translated to Shenshe, and said, “My brother, my Sikh brother, tells me that I am mistaken and so are you. He says that he would go near the Sumeru Mountain, our Kang Renpoche, but he will not walk on it. He says that he does not know if he would want to walk on it. He does not know about what will happen. He felt the pull of the mountain. He says that it did not rain for a brief while on the peaks of the Kang Renpoche when it was raining all about. He saw the peak very clearly. He felt as though something happened out there. He wants to go nearby, but he does not know if he will change his mind, once he goes closer.”

The Sikh smiled again, and Shenshe was more confused than before. Why is this man smiling again? He has just now told the monk that he would perhaps commit sacrilege, and there he is, smiling again. He thought about what he could do. It was certainly not a clear crime to climb the mountain. It had been prohibited within the various religions through their respect and reverence for the very sacred mountain. If someone would go, there would be widespread condemnation. He knew that people spoke about those who did dare to go on their own, without telling anyone. But he had not heard of anyone who had returned. Did this Sikh pilgrim know that nobody returned?

The monk spoke again to Sardar Amarpal Singh upon Shenshe’s insistence. He conveyed the policeman’s worries and concern. They spoke for some time and the monk translated, “My brother tells me that he is not master of the future. He is here, on land that has never been understood by anyone earlier. He has come here in search of answers. This is his life. There is nothing else that he wants to do or achieve. There is nothing to go back to in India, if he does not get answers about his questions. He would rather go nearer to the sacred mountain, and wait.”

The Sikh pilgrim spoke again to the monk, who repeated, “My brother would not wish to go to Tarboche or to the Yam-Dwar. He does not wish to go to walk on the kora trail. He will do it later. The group of pilgrims that we came with has gone ahead. My brother could not walk beyond Choku and became breathless. We returned from the monastery area and returned to Darchen to await the group of pilgrims who have gone ahead to complete the kora. He says that he would want to walk today to the Silung Gompa or to the Gyengtak Gompa, and stay there at night.”

Shenshe replied, “Yes. I was wondering about what the two of you are doing alone here at Darchen. Pilgrims from India are not allowed to move around without a group. Your pilgrim guide will be held responsible for anything that you would do that could be condemned. I have no problem with your Sikh brother and his questions. I respect religion. I have my job also. I think it would be good for you to go to the Gyengtak Gompa. I know the monks there. I have stayed there. Its closer to the sacred mountain.”

The three of them, Shenshe, Sardar Amarpal Singh and the monk from Nalanda stepped out of the tented eatery and looked up at the Kang Renpoche slopes. The Sikh pointed out to the peaks and identified them separately by name. He knew this terrain well, thought Shenshe. They spoke again to each other with respect, and the monk translated for Shenshe, “I have told my brother that you have recommended that we should go to the Gyengtak Gompa and that you know the monks there. He was happy about it. He says that it is a sign for him that he received instructions from one who has just turned up without him having to search for you.”

“He has also one request, though,” continued the monk, and said, “He wishes to ask if it would be possible for you, he says this, if it would be possible for you to come with us to the Gyengtak Gompa. He says this because you know the monks and he knows that we cannot go wandering about without our pilgrim group. The monks may not allow us to stay at the Gompa for fear of action by the police. He says this, not me. He says that if you are with him, he wants to see if you would stop him, when he will decide to go on the mountain, if it would call him. He wants to see if you have the power to stop him when the mountain will decide for him. He says this, not me.”

Shenshe smiled. He liked this sort of an open challenge. At least this pilgrim was not trying to tell him any lies or bluff his way through. He was correct in asking Shenshe’s help for nobody would help wandering pilgrims from the groups from India. It was about one night, and what could one night’s damage do that the rainstorm had not already accomplished, he thought. Gyengtak Gompa was the closest to the Kang Renpoche from the south, and was directly in the line of sight between Darchen and the Nandi Peak. It gave an awe-inspiring sight of the Kang Renpoche mountain peak and the Sikh pilgrim would perhaps be satisfied at the proximity.

The policeman spoke to the monk from Nalanda, “OK. I will come with you. Take two sherpa boys from the pilgrim group, and one yak. We will also take three horses for us. It would be wiser. You have been breathless earlier. Did you all not take any medicines with you? Look at your size and shapes. You two are not meant to walk these hills. Devotion is not the measurement of fitness to walk the kora. Why did you not hire horses? Let us go. I will get the local yak boys and horses to come with us. They will not disagree with me.”

The monk from Nalanda turned to speak to the Sikh pilgrim. He and Shenshe saw a strange sight. Sardar Amarpal Singh was seated out there in the open, with his prayer beads, deep in meditation and apparently chanting some hymn. He was facing the sacred mountain, and was lost in prayer. The stranger aspect of the sight was not the Sikh, but it was the mastiffs nearby. They were crouching, very close to the ground, and growling. They were not growling in anger or in threat, but seemed to be very wary. Two yaks nearby were standing still, their tails up straight, in stiff alert postures, their heads up, and breathing out very large smoky bursts of air from their nostrils. Shenshe shivered at the sight, and was worried. There was something very different going on.