Sunday, January 4, 2015

Zuluk and the Old Silk Route - Part VI

Lobzang (Chundu's brother), Lobzang's wife and daughter accompanied me in their Tata Sumo till the sunrise point. I purposefully did not take the motorcycle because I would be retracing the same route later.

Lobzang pulls over and parks his car on the grassy stretch.
"Sir, we have reached the sunrise point", he says.

But I feel that we have JUST ARRIVED! 

The orange of the horizon seems to have spread almost everywhere.


I open the door of the vehicle and the first thing that hits me is the cold. The vehicle cabin had become warm and comfortable, and the sudden whiff of the cold appears a shock. Everything seems calm on the face of it, but, bent a little low and you will observe that the dew laden and somewhat frosty grasses sway in the wind.
The light increases fast. It resembles a dynamic scene - the colours are ever changing. You just need to press the shutter to capture it.

The autumnal cold in these high hills, the golden hour and the pristine backdrop of the mountains hoist me to a surreal feeling. I balance the tripod, mount the camera and then frame the photo. But operating the shutter with gloved hands proves to be cumbersome, so I plug in the shutter release cable and shoot this rare and luxuriant landscape.

Just, when I had felt that life can be so good, Lobzang's daughter runs towards me and in broken English she says "Here’s your tea."

It is bliss!

Initially the sunrays appeared much like search light beams that seemed to light up only a few hill tops. But now they have spread everywhere - the sky has turned into a pristine blue colour, the frost from the grasses have started to melt into water droplets and the blue rows of hills have turned into green forests.
A split second goes by and as I concentrate into the view finder, I see a faint, golden semi circular arc of light, lit up the Kanchendzonga.

The first lights have dawned on the mountain. Click goes the shutter release cable.



Gradually the golden hue increases in size and moves down the mountain and engulfs the pearly white snow.


Little crests of shadows appear to break the golden colour.

The sister peaks in the range get lighted up and after sometime half of the entire range appears golden, whereas the bottom half is in a shadow.

After a while the golden aura disappears and the sunrays strengthen.

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