Painted Mountains by Venables Stephen;

Author:Venables, Stephen; [Stephen Venables]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 5523703
Publisher: Vertebrate Publishing
Published: 2018-02-13T16:00:00+00:00

PARIS BEAUTIES

AVOID ALL IMITATIONS

and continued to deliver all the baggage to a warehouse, whence it would be driven under the care of the three Bhotias to one Harish Sharma, the Mr Fixit of Leh, who would store it there and arrange for transport to Nubra.

In the evening we dutifully went for a shikara ride, gliding over the oily smooth water of the Dal Lake, thinking what a pleasant way this was to acclimatise, in spite of the flotilla of approaching canoes crowding round with solemn offers of wood carvings, saris, fur hats and lotus flowers.

On Tuesday, four of us rose early to walk up to the Adi Shankaracharya temple on the hilltop above the town and gaze out over the Vale of Kashmir to the hazy snow peaks of the Pir Panjal. After breakfast we were taken by jeep to army headquarters, where guards in exotically plumed turbans saluted with an explosive stamping of feet, giving Dave the fright of his life.

This was Harish’s opportunity to put our case for the Terong valley to Brigadier Malhotra, pointing it out on the relief map. The Brigadier was doubtful about our passing the army base at the Siachen snout, to reach the Terong entrance, but then decided that it could probably be arranged, provided that we only passed the army camp during the hours of darkness. He went on to explain that, contrary to IMF reports, we would have to be accompanied by an army liaison officer, but that he would be there to help us, as would the army chiefs in Leh, who would lend us a copy of the new, accurate, top secret, 1:50,000 Survey of lndia map. They would also transport all our luggage directly to the glacier snout, the Third Infantry Division HQ would be at our disposal, and the Brigadier’s only regret was that we could not wait an extra day in Srinagar for a television press conference. It seemed that the army was bending over backwards to help us, determined to make the most of the propaganda potential of having a foreign expedition climbing under their auspices in their sector of the Karakoram.

We stayed to be introduced to Lt General Indrajit Khanna, Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Area, and then went outside for a formal photograph before being delivered back to the hotel. The protocol was complete and we could now enjoy an afternoon of relaxation.

A friend of Harish’s who was stationed in Srinagar lent us his jeep and the services of his driver for a tour of the seventeenth-century Mogul Gardens. I particularly enjoyed the Nishat gardens. The actual planting – beds of tawdry flowers, with no apparent colour scheme – was disappointing; but the overall design, the brilliant mastery of light and space and perspective, had all the genius of the civilisation that produced the Taj Mahal. A series of cascades and pools, framed by the solid masses of lofty chinar trees, leads the eye down and out to the Dal Lake, silver and ethereal, with an arched bridge silhouetted above the water.

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