It was still getting colder

It was still getting colder
A trip to Nathula Pass





“Oh, No!” I thought. This was the third time the current had gone. I knew it would not come before one hour. I was exasperated with the continuous power cuts of Guwahati. I sat down in the comfortable couch besides me, closed my eyes and let my mind drift…

As I looked out of the window of my hotel room in Gangtok, my heart ached. Anyone’s heart would. The weather was too foggy, too wet. The plans of seeing snow maybe dim in this kind of weather. It felt as if you were wrapped up in a white blanket. Nothing was visible. Nothing. Just the fog.

I closed the window and switched on the television. There was nothing to watch I looked around gloomily in our elegant hotel room. My aunt was still in deep slumber. I sat back in a chair and stared at the ceiling. As if that would help to clear the fog!

Suddenly, I realized that someone was knocking outside my door. I opened the door only to find my uncle who told me to dress up quickly. I knew that with my uncle around, who was always energetic and ready, we would go to Nathula Pass. Nothing was going to stop us. Not even the weather.

Within an hour or so, we were all ready with heavy sweaters and jackets and were zooming through the narrow streets of Gangtok. Mr. Dugal and Mr. Deb had also joined us on our trip, acting as guides. Mr. Dugal said that there would be a great chance of seeing snow, as the weather was cold. How I longed to see the snow! How very mistaken I was when I thought that the weather was bad!

We passed over mountains and we felt that we gradually gaining altitude. We could feel the cool breeze in our faces. It was getting colder now. The roads had sharp curves but our driver was expert and didn’t even make one mistake. He felt the curves and rightly didn’t try to test them. God knows what would have happened if he had made a single mistake. Well, I know too – we would have fallen down right from eight thousand feet!
My aunt kept her eyes closed. She was sitting besides the window and was getting psychologically frightened about what might happen. I shifted seats with her. Now, I was in the window seat.

At ten thousand feet, we saw the first snow. We stopped our vehicle and got down to take some snaps and to touch the snow. The snow felt as if it was wet sugar. It was getting colder now. We resumed our journey. The sights were getting magnificent too. Huge mountains with roads around them and beautiful valleys of pines and many other trees greeted our eyes. The cows had fur too! I also caught some glimpses of mountain dogs, which were fully covered with fur. How I longed to be an artist!




It was getting colder now. Temperature was down to about five-ten degrees. The mountains were totally covered with snow now. I looked out of our Mahindra Bolero only to find that the clouds were now beneath us! Isn’t it amazing that we were travelling in a car at a height in which planes travel?

We went past the Tsangu Lake, which was at an altitude of around twelve thousand feet. We proceeded on our journey to Nathula Pass. It was still getting colder. Temperature was now three-four degrees. We had a cup of tea at a place called 17 mile. I suppose it was at an altitude of thirteen thousand feet. There was a blinding wind that was full of powdery snow. Ashok, our driver, wore his sunglasses now as the sunlight glittered in the snow and you couldn’t possibly see anything clearly.

We finally reached Nathula Pass. We were at a height of 14,500 feet! That is about half the height of the Mount Everest. The temperature was the lowest now. Minus Four Degrees! My fingers felt paralyzed in the bitter cold. We went to very close to the Indo-Chinese border. It was about a metre or so from us. There was deep and dangerous snow, which prevented us from going to China. We were given vitamin tablets with some reddish kind of water to drink by the guards there.

There was a conference room right there at the Nathula Pass. Chinese and Indian officials had talks there. We couldn’t resist the temptation of going into the room. It was bound to be warmer than the minus four degrees outside. We went inside the room and were followed by a gust of powdery white snow. It reminded me of the cold air that comes out when we open the freezer door of our refrigerator. Here the only difference was that we felt as if we were the ones inside the freezer! After staying in the snowy mountains and looking around for a few minutes, we returned to our vehicle to proceed back to our hotel room in Gangtok with wonderful memories imprinted in our minds. The soft snow of the mountains had made a soft corner for itself in our hearts.

Suddenly a light flickered on. I opened my eyes. The current was back. I had spent the last hour thinking about that memorable trip. I touched my forehead. Not a drop of sweat. Not even a single drop. Then I reasoned, how could I sweat when it was still getting colder, when it was still minus four degrees! I switched off the light of my study-room and walked out with some wonderful cold memories still lingering on my mind.