AFVOA Newletters of Year 2013

Page 15 of 61 the case for diesel. Our vehicles were all diesel driven. Of course all the vehicles line up for topping their tanks. There are four filling points, so it does not take much time. After lunch at Saga, we resume our journey. . This place Saga is relatively bigger than the other places en route with a few more streets. Probably night halts were not made here as it was too close to Manasarovar. Surprisingly cost of apples and bananas at this place when converted to Indian rupees was about the same as in Chennai or Bangalore. Another bright and sunny day. Around 4 pm. local time all the vehicles come to a grinding halt and lo and behold we have our first view of the holiest of mountains, Mt.Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva and the place of eternal bliss. Holy not only to the Hindus but four other major religions: Buddhism, Jainism Ayyaavazhi and Bon. What each one of us have been eagerly waiting to see is there right before us. There it stands out, the one and only snow capped mount in the range. Incidentally Mt. Kailash is probably the only mount which has not been scaled. All efforts have failed so far. In 2001 the communist regime of Beijing gave approval to a Spanish team but had to cancel the same due to international pressure and since then have banned climbing the mount. Everyone is naturally excited. Some are already paying obeisance and every one's camera is already out. We spend a little time here and soon thereafter we resume the journey just for a short while when we reach Lake Manasarovar. Just a few hundred yards away from the lake is our hotel - Lake Manasarovar Hotel. Don't get carried away by the name. It's just a huge U shaped tin shed compartmentalised into a number of rooms crammed with a dozen cots with beds in each room. This is where we were put up till the next day morning. Probably it could accommodate about 200 people at a time. If accommodation ran short a few tents would be quickly erected where you would be put up. We were lucky that as we landed at the place another group of yatris were taking off. After dumping our backpack in the room allotted, we trudged off to the lake shore. Some of the yatris decided to take a dip as the sun was still shining bright and there was little breeze. Just a dip as the water is icy cold. Here standing on the lake shore of Manasarovar one could see the reflection of Mt. Kailash in the lake. 6th Day Manasarovar being at quite an altitude (4500m), breathing was heavy and one had to walk very slowly.. On the day of our arrival at around five in the evening, one of our co- yatris who was my age took ill and had to be evacuated post haste .He had to be really persuaded to leave .Before he could reach Saga he passed away. Fortunately he was able to have darshan of Manasarovar, Mt.Kailash and Mt Gurla Mandata.where Lord Ganesha is said to have appeared. This is another snow capped feature which was exactly opposite Mt. Kailash with Lake Manasarovar in between. The face visible from Manasarovar was the southern face of Mt.Kailash. About 10 of us hired 2 land rovers to take us to the lake in the middle of the night to see the stars dancing over the lake. Though we spent over two hours near the lake we were not fortunate to be blessed with such a vision. Quite a few of the others in the group were able to view the same three