Tabo: Day 3 (19/05/11)

Tabo: Day 3 (19/05/11)

The Chang did its wonders yesterday and I woke up at 8:00 A.M. After having a standard breakfast of milk tea and one egg parantha I waited in the reception hall/restaurant with the two foreigners while they waited for the bus to Kaza. They listened to some sort of French punk music (I thought the French were too classy to have punk as a genre) and I read Don Quixote. Eventually it was 11:30 A.M and there was no bus in sight and all of us concluded, correctly, that the bus had not come to the bus stop but instead just took the main road and left without halting. Irritated by the turn of affairs the foreigners chose to leave their luggage behind at the restaurant and went off wandering into the town again.

My plan initially was to wait out the sun and leave in the direction of the Tabo Bridge to see if I could get some pictures of the fields and the apple orchards-to-be. But Sonu found himself to be free of work and both of us settled down to play caroms and that was how the day was to be spent. He was a competitive player but I found myself reigniting my childhood carom championship spirit and I defeated him 7 times in a row in Khurki (A type of carom game). During the entire game we swapped stories of our lives and it was a nice talk. I found that he was a very dedicated, hardworking, and ambitious 21 year old guy and it was nice to get to know him better.

After the seven games both of us had had enough and we decided to stop playing. The sky was overcast in the typical Tabo fashion and I went out for a walk. I found my dear darling Anjali once again and she actually talked to me this time around, for which I gave her a chocolate and then resumed my walking. I love exploring a place by walking all around and Tabo had a lot to offer. I discovered the location of every food joint, general store, guest house, alcohol shop, and helipad in town. It was great fun walking through the streets and alleys and looking at the local lifestyle going about. I visited the monastery once again and then went back to the hotel.
Once I got back I was told by Sonu that 5 Bengali guests had arrived. I had gotten back in time to see them getting out of the car and moving into their rooms. They were loud and disorganized and comprised of two sets of couples and a rambunctious kid. The leader, an orange-clad antediluvian beast with bad teeth, spoke rudely to Sonu and it irked me slightly. Sonu, however, was glad for the paying guests and went about his work methodically. The guests had arrived in a single car and the driver of the car walked in. He was a veritable giant of about 6’3” and close to 100 kilos or more. He had a very intimidating air about him and he came in and sat down at my table.

I greeted him cordially and talked to him and found him to be very mild mannered and polite. He didn’t speak frivolously and answered all my questions patiently. I found that he was from Kalka, owned three cars and had been on the road with this family for several days now. I asked him some questions about the route he took, other places to see, where one could buy charas, and other issues. While we were talking the family walked in and ordered food enough for two days and made quick work of it. I left them and finished a little of alcohol that I had left and then slept anticipating my journey to Kaza tomorrow.