The Ocean in the Lake

 

 At Pangong,

You had turned philosophical

The infinite gradients of blues,

The thinness of the Karakoram’s air

Or just the sheer magnitude

Had triggered a change

And your eyes,

Had turned darker than

The shadows of the Galaxy

Spotted here at night

 

Don’t you see, you whisper –

This is not a Lake any more

But a Sea, an Ocean

Yes, I nod, large indeed

The largest of the mountain lakes

But no - even this is not enough for you

Not just the present, you counter

But a trace of the ancient past

A drop of turquoise

Left behind in a capsule of time

 

Tethys, you explain

Memories of Tethys that was always here

Until engulfed by the hungry plates

Only a mirage remains.

You look at me

The waters ripple in your placid eyes

For me to eternal wonder

Which one had shimmers more

 

Why? You yearn me to ask -

Is it that, despite these dreams of pristine ice,

Truth bleeds in turquoise tears

And in the meltwater, floes of lies

Remind, how in the purest of heights

Hide seas now submerged, fake

Waking once awhile, when you stumble upon

An Ocean in a mountain lake…

 

23^rd May, 2025

 

Dedicated to the blues of the Pangong Lake - the largest in the Himalayas.

Long before the formation of the Himalaya lay the Tethys Sea, that died with the collision of the Indian plate with the Asian plate. Today, underwater fossils are found extensively all over the Himalayas reminding of the Waters of the Tethys that gave way to the mountains.