School series lake 26

 Lakes of India — 4

Pangong Tso — The Lake of Changing Colours

High in the mountains of Ladakh, at about 4,225 metres above sea level, lies one of India's most spectacular lakes.

Pangong Tso is an extraordinary sight—not only because of its stark beauty, but because its waters can appear to change colour.

Depending on the sunlight, weather, time of day and viewing angle, the lake may appear deep blue, turquoise, greenish or even grey.

But there is another remarkable fact.

Pangong Tso is not entirely in India. About one-third lies in India and the rest extends into Tibet, under Chinese control.

It is also a saline lake, despite being surrounded by some of the world's highest mountains.

In winter, its surface can freeze completely, turning the brilliant blue lake into a vast sheet of ice.

There is something almost surreal about the scene:

Blue water.

Brown mountains.

A cloudless sky.

No trees.

And an immense silence.

Pangong teaches us something simple:

Nature does not need colour to be ordinary—or silence to be empty.

One lake. Two countries. Many colours. One unforgettable landscape.

And Pangong is not alone in changing colour.

The mountains around Ladakh have colours of their own. Golden in one light, brown in another, black, grey or even reddish elsewhere. Some appear to glow in the morning sun and turn almost silver towards evening.

There are no lush forests to soften the landscape. Instead, there are bare mountains, deep blue skies, shimmering waters and an extraordinary silence.

It is a landscape painted without a painter.

Perhaps that is Ladakh's greatest magic: nothing seems to be there, yet everything is there.

Colour. Light. Space. Silence. And a beauty that is difficult to describe.