Tales From the Hills by MANOHAR SINGH GILL

Author:MANOHAR SINGH GILL
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India
Published: 2015-01-13T05:48:26+00:00

13

The Adventures of Gombu

If you travel up the Bhaga river valley from Kyelang, you will come to the village of Guskiar. Many years ago, a boy named Gombu lived in this village. Gombu was a bright and active young lad, always on the lookout for exploration and adventure. The narrow confines of the valley irked Gombu. There was a limit to the mountains he could climb or the glaciers he could explore. Gombu longed desperately to see the outside world; to travel to the ends of the earth.

Gombu’s uncle, Dorje, had travelled far and wide, and every night he told the children fabulous stories of the lands he had seen. It seemed that if one crossed the Rohtang pass, and travelled south for a week, one came to a land that was as flat as the roof of the Sha-Shur Gompa. No mountains were to be seen there, and rivers a thousand times bigger than the Bhaga meandered lazily about the flat landscape. Uncle Dorje often talked late into the night, of his many journeys to the north, of the massive inland sea called Tso Morari, of monasteries with a thousand monks, of limitless grasslands full of wild yaks and asses. But what fascinated Gombu was this tale of a mysterious land of giants, far to the north of Lahaul. Uncle Dorje had often heard of it during his travels. Gombu was determined, if possible, to be the first Lahaula to visit it.

Gombu considered various ways of travelling to the land of the giants. Finally he hit upon a brilliant plan. He waited for an animal to die in the village.

One day a mule died.

Gombu quickly went to the fields outside the village, dug a pit, and covered it with tree branches and grass. He dragged the mule on to this covered pit. Finally Gombu took a strong rope, hid himself carefully in the covered pit, and waited.

Vultures have a remarkable eye for carcass. Soon they came flying over, almost darkening the sky with their numbers. Lazily they circled the valley, came down one by one, ambled clumsily up to the dead mule, and began to eat. The vultures had never had such a delicious meal. They fought for the juiciest morsels, and climbed onto the hidden pit.

Gombu waited silently. He did not want to frighten them away. When they had settled down, he reached up through the grass, then deftly tied the legs of a number of vultures and thus captured them. Coming out into the open, Gombu further secured them with more ropes. Saying farewell to all his friends and playmates, he sat down on the middle vulture, and loosened the lead ropes a bit. They raced down the fields, flapped their wings, and were soon airborne. Slowly they circled the valley, rising higher and higher with each circuit. Gombu was thrilled and amazed at the sights he saw. At one glance, he could take in the entire length of the Bhaga river, from its birth at the Baralacha pass, to the confluence with the Chandra at Tandi.

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