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| Nakchungla pass |
“LA THONG SA GANG GE CHI THO KHA,
GANG KEAI PAY KHAWA CHAG NU LU…..” Regardless of it being one of the popular
songs of nineties. It sounded not more than like a howling of the solitary
jackal under a bright full moon struggling to find a mate while we sang on the peak
of Nakchungla. With up climb of every foot step, pace of my heartbeat increased
proportionately making me difficult to breath.
Seeing for the first time, the
beauty of Himalayan scree is indescribable with my limited vocabulary. Huge boulders stacked over each other,
enriched with crimson blooming drenched by fleck of snow harbored beneath
respectfully bowing Rhododendron trees, depict the impressive atmosphere of
Nakchungla pass located at 4100 m altitude.
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| Merak village |
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| Blooming of Rhododendron |
A half a decade back, journeying
Merak was considered to be physically exhausting but an explorative trip for an
enthusiastic nature lover. Walking via ancient trial under the canopy of cool
broadleaf forest, a traveler will be privileged to encounter with a gardens of
blooming Rhododendron and a typically beautiful flowering of Michelia trees
exhaling a pleasant aroma. Perching over lush green trees, the flying feather
welcomes the traveler with the melodies song sung by the flying flocks. But
lately with construction of approach farm road, commuters opt to travel by the
vehicle that shortens the journey by more than six hours. Charm of travelling
is changed with limited opportunity to interact with the nature and traveler seems
to be psychologically exhausted with the construction of the Merak farm road.
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| Signage |
With constant two to three hours
drive from the Phongmey, traveler will reach to road end point approaching to
Merak. For first time visitors signage like “Entering to the Big Foot valley”
pinned over the standing Cypress trees with gentle dropping leaves hold their
breath for a moment, curiously trying to extract exact message form board.
Literally, big foot is associated
with
the legend of mythical creature (Yeti) known to be dwelling in and around the
hills of Merak.
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| Culture |
Ethnically the inhabitants of
Merak are more likely with the tribes of neighboring Indian state of Arunachal
Pradesh and a trace of autonomous region of the Tibet.
Draped in a thick red or black woolen cloths
resembling a skirt and a pent stitched from unprocessed hide of animals with a
mini sword entangled over their waist and a peculiar black woolen cap over
their head represents the formal male costume. But it’s not uncommon to see
people wearing an unrefined hide of ungulates resembling a halve-sleeved coat
during the informal hours. Decorated with the bulky precious stones in the form
of necklace with a red apple colored cheeks and a cascading hair seldom plated represent
the culture of the female. They wear cloth of mixed colored woven from the
wools and a same cap of the gents to protect from the cold and rains
respectively.
Located at 3500 m altitude,
winter season is very harsh with blanket of snow cover for most of the times
with difficulty to travel and survive because of cold. Livestock migration
towards lower altitude before the onset of the winter season is unavoidable due
to extreme weather condition. From the centuries, “Brokpas” indigenous
inhabitants of Merak were nomads and the tradition is still surviving with no
much changes. Their nomadic life style can be attributed to extremely harsh
weather conditions that hardly allow any agriculture crops to survive.
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| Jomo Kungkhor |
Ama Jomo, an extraordinary lady
from the Tibet is believed to be settled at the premises of Merak during an
ancient time and these days, she is being worshiped as a protective local deity
by the inhabitants. Present days the shrines of Ama Jomo in the form of
impressions over the stones is seen spreading throughout valley in spite of her
palace on the peak of Jomo Kungkhor at more than 4500 m altitude facing Merak.
For the first time visitor before
crossing any passes of the peak on the way to the village, every visitor has to
sing at least a song, so as to honor and please Ama Jomo. This tradition has
been in practice since a time of their forefathers and believe to bring
misfortune to the locality incase the new visitor enter without singing. Maintaining hygiene could be
one of the issues when it comes to nomadic life style but Brokpas really
concerns about the cleanliness of their hearth since it is believed to bring
misfortune on dirtying of it.
Practice of polyandry in terms of
marriage is not uncommon in order to meet the demand of manpower to lead the
nomadic lifestyle. “Bropka Yoeshay” a fermented cheese those are stored in an
air tight leather pouch for several months are well know cheese across the nation
and considered as the delicacy of the Brokpas.
On visiting the temple and
monasteries along the villages, one will sight at least a portrait of H.H. Dalia
Lama inside it unlike monasteries around other parts of the nation. It symbolizes
the practice of Gyelokpa a branch of the Buddhism that is strongly practiced in
Tibet. Culture and tradition is a sort of an identity chain that links us to
our forefathers who have inherited from their ancestors. It is certain that
culture and a tradition are being developed with convenience to the locality
and it differs from one locality to another and they owe to be respected. So do
here in Brokpas community instead of burning/cremation, they tend to slice body
of death ones and throw in the river which sound little bit uneasy for the
first time visitor.
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| Mode of transportation |
Their livestock comprises of Yak,
Sheep, local cattle, Zoe and Zom and horses up to certain extend. Zoe and Zom
are a typical hybrid of Yak and local cattle which bear less fur than the yak
more than the cattle and fairly looks like a yak. “Kyoe”
the second generation of Zoe and Zom are
slaughtered when they attend the age of not more than several weeks as they are
considered to be unproductive.
This
hybrid shows typical characters whereby they don’t entertain milking if their
calves are not slaughtered and tend to become too aggressive. Regardless of
horses people out here uses yak and cattle as a mode of transportation.
Approximately, more than 3 hours
uphill climb from Merak and six to seven hours from Sakteng, Nakchung-la is unavoidable and one of the
highest passes between the two settlements. Coated with snow and fueled by unpleasantly cold gusty atmosphere, the peak
is renowned for its difficulty in crossing both by travelers and animal/pony without
getting totally exhausted. According to
the oral history, people of Sakteng and Merak are said to be originated from
the subordinates/ followers of Ama Jomo partitioned by Nakchung-la on their
journey towards Merak. It’s believed that she was accompanied by a group of
people on her way from Tibet in search of beautiful and peaceful place to
reside. A huge group was known to consist of mixture of wealthy, healthy, poor
and a weak people and livestock. When the expedition team reached to place
called Lhondrojong (direct translation : returning place) which is located few hours down the base of
the peak of Nakchungla towards Sakteng, Amo Jomo envisioned that weak people
won’t be able to cross it. Relating to those incidents at present; inhabitants
of Sakteng are considered as little poor, weak and naïve comparative to Merak since
they are believed to be the descendents of those weak and poor people of Ama
Jomo’s expedition team returned from Lhondrojong and settled at Sakteng. But
it’s all on account of oral history, which requires further validation. Both culturally and
traditionally, native inhabitants of Merak and Sakteng are identical apart from
insignificant difference in their accent of speaking.
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| Walking over a melting snow |
Draped in a green uniform with ruck sack on my back and a handy cannon camera hanging over my neck supported by
magnum boot and a bucket cap to protect from scorching heavenly eyes,
enthusiastically we started our loop trail journey in early hours of the day
break from the Merak; though actual loop starts from Khardung near Phongmey
village.
On progressive climbing of
Nakchungla from its base, with every footstep, I could see the fading bird’s
eye view of clustered settlement of Merak. With fading view my breathing
shortened proportionately followed by bit of giddiness. By then, we were on the mid of the peak from
where it was vividly visible with a snow sparking over it. Zeal to climb didn’t
subside in me and continued our journey over melting snow with sweets in my
mouth to avoid catching from altitude sickness.
At last, after more than three
hours constant uphill walking through woodland, scorching sun and a melting
snow, we could reach Nachungla pass whereby we sang a song to keep their
tradition alive with our precious and limited energy left in us. Though fully
exhausted, I could feel and notice the sense of satisfaction and joy among our
team while enjoying the fresh air of Nakchungla.
