Manasarovar in Tibet

I was sad to read about the deaths of ten piligrims on way to yatra in Tibet.

Mansarovar KailasYatra in Tibet is ultimate goal of piligrims in India ,Hindu ,Jains and Buddhist alike..

Situated at 14,000ft above sea level this is a magnificient large lake.Mythology says this is abode of Lord Shiva,and the magisty of Kailas is such that one feels ,it is fit only for God to reside.

What  is so different in Tibet?It is high elevated mountain platoue which is nowhere less than 14,000ft .The flat and wast terrain is amazing ,you can see far away land and mountains ,to a distance you cannot judge .Once we watched clouds coming our way form far ,and they reached us two days latter.It is like being on a boat and you see only water till the horizen .Here the horizen is streched out so far away from you ,that as you travell ,land seems to go further away from you .

This is mountain desert land and the formation of mountain rocks ,the colours because of the minerals in them range from bright yellow to red and orange to purple and shades of greys and browns.It is surely work of divine ,and as you drive from Nepal int Tibet you are in awe with the landscape.The air is thin here,and oxygen is rare here.

This is surely a place not fit for common man to live in , especially not for people like us who live in plains and in warm weather,and in comforts of our homes in small towns and cities of India.

The diifficulty in Tibet is the high altitute,every one of us even if we are fittest of all need to get acclamatized or in simple words our lungs need to get used to the rare air .And this needs a simple thing  that is TIME , that means as you come in to Nepal from India , stay in Nepal for two days Kathmandu is about 6000ft .Go slow , you are on piligramage and this is going to be  once in a life time ,so stay at every stage for a day and then proceed . Every one I have spoken to wants to FINISH it in hurry .You invariably will have a headache and not enjoy the trip .

The second problem is warm clothing ,for some reason people do not want to wear warm clothings till they start shivering but once the chill catches you , body cannot get warmed up easily this adds to your breathing problem further.

Now the still bigger problem is there are no good accomadations anywhere on the way, .rooms or Dharamshalas are pathetic and cold, toilets non-existant .Food is basic and nonpalatable.Emergency medicine very minimal and you have to be lucky to have a doctor around.

The chilly wind  blows constantly at this altitute and piligrims shiver all the time .

The travel agent take hefty fees , for the arrangement but do not gear for the cold .The blame game is on each other , the travel agent say that people do not listen to the rules ,and want to finish in a hurry.Many people say that if you are on piligrimage you have to suffer and nt complain .

In varibly a tragedy strikes and it is taken in philosophical way that ,the person’s soul is reached heaven because he died at Mansarovar.Well can you imagine death in that place? when you have to do all the formality with Chinese police and Indian police and the either the body to brought back or kept ther .Ther is no wood available there at all I am no sure what they do.

And let me tell you that every month there is a tragedy or two.Infact most of the people are over 60 in age and it is on sheer will power that they complete the piligrimage.

Todays group got stranded at 8000f t  for a long time and suffered a major tragedy .

THIS ALL CAN BE AVOIDED IF PROPER CARE IS TAKEN BY INDIVIDUALS .

I have been talking about this over and over and again and again ,we have enough temple trusts with loads of money and educated people looking after it .but I do not know why good facilities are not demanded and given .Same is the case of all yatra in India but they are less difficult than Mansarovar.

Now about the filth that we have made around Mnasarovar I will talk some other time .

But if you have any one going to this yatra tell them to go slow, stay at every place get your lungs strong enjoy the mountain and then reach the destination .About the poor souls I can only pray for Peace.