We bid goodbye to Sunil the next morning and continued ahead. Destination Jispa. We were given to understand that the road up to Jispa was fine. We decided if we do not get any better news we would call it a day at Jispa. Have a picnic and return back. We ran into some Airtel connectivity in Keylong. The telephones did not stop ringing. Friends and relatives were very worried and wanted to know more about our well being. We reassured them that we would turn back as soon as we thought it was too risky and any danger to our lives. We ran into some unexpected winding uphill ride beyond Keylong until just short of Jispa. Both Vijay and I struggled. Ibex Hotel welcomed us with hot showers and clean bed sheets. We had reached some civilization again.
We were woken up early next morning when a large group of motorcyclists, staying at the hotel were returning back to Manali in their unsuccessful bid to reach Leh. Thank God we had incidentally planned a rest day in Jispa. Our first task on hand was to find out whether Darcha bridge had opened. We were happy to find out that they had just let a few small vehicles cross the bridge in the morning. Vijay had to use his Army links to ensure they would not only let our Endeveour but also Raju’s Tempo Traveller go through. Our day was made and we rejoiced by visiting the 108 room mud palace belonging to Ravi Thakur’s family. Ravi Thakur is the owner of the Ibex Hotel in Jispa. He became a good friend. He is trying to move a campaign to stop a dam being planned in Jispa.
| The Castle Ravi Thakur, the owner of Ibex Hotel, told us about the attractions of the Lahaul Valley. Included in his list was a familiar building that we remembered as one of the options Sunil had offered as a stop over in Jispa…the centuries old 108 room Mud Castle! We went there the next morning. The castle was in state of neglect but had obviously seen its hey days. Mud walls, high staircases, musty smell, only a few rooms in use and a small Buddhist temple within. It had potential but we were sure to have spent the night in the open if ever given an option to stay there! Our guide was the ‘Uncle’ with a serious case of conjunctivitis. If anyone spoke to him he would reply by first removing his really dark glasses, looking into your eyes and giving a reply no one would understand. We soon got the idea and stopped asking him anything…in fact half way through the visit it became a game of how to make sure he doesn’t look at you and nor manage to touch you. The goodbyes were the Indian traditional Namaste instead of hand shakes while we were rushing out of the Castle!! - Vijay Dhawan |
| Tibetan Doc “You know in Tibetan medicine we look for a balance between Vatta, Pitta and Kapha. We then address the imbalance” said the Tibetan Doctor we went to see in Jispa. A young doc who graduated from Dharamshala Tibetan medicine college, he seemed to be eager to discover our medical problems through pulse reading and did not do a great job of it. He then had to resort to the Allopathic method with the famous diagnostic question “Soooooo…what is your problem?” When we told him the problem he was happy to dispense ready made packed Tibetan medicine which was labeled “This is for stomach ailments, loose motion,…” etc etc. Since he was the only person with a ‘Dr’ before his name for a thousand miles (for us) and was ready to listen…out came all our problems and confessions. He had a cure for all ailments. The case of Gagan stands out as a shrilling experience. He complained about the pain in the bone of his shoulders. The doc said ‘this I can cure’, but the treatment is painful. Gagan said ‘Bring it on!’ I did see a faint smile on the conqueror of the Greater Himalayas…twice over! The doc took a shaft of wood and started to rub it on a bigger piece of wood……a la Tom Hanks in ‘Castaway’ trying to make fire. Tom made fire…doc did not! He simply took the hot wooden shaft and shafted Gagans shoulder bone with it!! Gagan had to be held down while he shrieked in surprise and pain! The short and long of it was that Gagan’s shoulder pain disappeared and was replaced with a burn bruise on both his shoulders and all the rest of us were cured at any possible bone pain!!! - Vijay Dhawan |
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