Pangong Lake Compelled Charvi Kathuria To Look Beyond The Ordinary!

I vividly remember it was 12 pm in the afternoon when I found myself standing beside one of the most spectacular water bodies I had ever seen in my life — Pangong Lake in Ladakh that rose to fame especially after the Bollywood blockbuster 3 Idiots's last scene where Aamir Khan meets his best friends and his beloved after many years. The ardent desire to visit the same place has brought many tourists like me to this lake.

The mesmerising lake is surrounded by the Himalayas and one can see only one-third part of the lake in India. The remaining part is in China. We were informed that it is situated at around 4350 m above the sea level and despite being saline in nature, it freezes in winters.

I stared at the lake for a few minutes and I must confess that the water was so clear and blue that for a moment, I thought that I was seeing one of my paintings that I used to work on during my childhood come alive. There came a moment when I realised that even the blue colour of the lake was sparkling in various shades and pampering my senses. One moment it was azure, the next turquoise and then indigo... and so on...the black brown mountains and the green meadows added vibrancy to the scene. I sat beside the lake feeling light and blissful.

The small waves coming towards me and then going back brought to light so many deep thoughts. I learned how things and situations aren’t stagnant in life, everything is going to change their places now or then — happiness, sadness, doubts, difficulties, challenges, opportunities and much more.

Here was a place so distant from the city and so natural that the presence of tourists was the only urban touch it had. What an Elysian experience!

As time progressed, I saw all the cares of the world slip away. I had felt nauseated throughout the journey but reaching Pangong and marvelling at its blue waters rejuvenated me. No place can be more peaceful than this. It compels you to stop, introspect and relax. I was sitting there nonplussed by daily mundane concerns. Here was a place so distant from the city of life that the presence of tourists was the only urban touch it had.

I was wishing for time to stop. I usually don't like capturing places using a phone camera because I feel it is more important to absorb places with one's eyes and heart than phone's gallery but the pristine beauty of the lake and the stark reality that I won't be able to experience something of this kind again made me click scores of photographs that I cherish now. The lake had a therapeutic effect on me.

There came a moment when I realised that even the blue colour of the lake was sparkling in various shades and pampering my senses.

We stayed there for a good three hours and when I look back, I realise that those three hours were the most precious hours of my life that compelled me to look beyond the ordinary, get in touch with myself and in communion with nature. I consider myself blessed to have got a chance to visit this lake.

The visit was also memorable since I was in the company of my favourite people - my family and cousins who miss the entrancing views of the lake as much as I do and only I know how much we reminisce in those memories. These memories bring a smile every time!

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