The Indian Air Force

As befits a strange story, it begins strangely. An Indian air force pilot on a routine reconnaissance flight over the Himalayas espies an antique monastery clinging to a peak in the middle of nowhere and comes in close for a better view. The moment is soon forgotten but has been recorded in a quick succession of shots that so fascinates the military brass the pilot is called in for questioning. Did he have any idea what he had photographed? He is handed photos of a yogi meditating in lotus, so oblivious to the world he takes no notice of a jet streaking by on a strafing run. All around him at a distance of some feet the ice and snow has been melted away from the sheer heat he is generating. This is high altitude Himalayas. Brutal cold. Unimaginable heat. For all that this implies, defense has a vested interest in that sort of power. The military brass would like to learn a thing or two from that yogi.

They never did, but the story got out. And so it was that I found myself trekking through the Himalayas.