Land's End... Journey to Leh

Life is a journey in itself. We travel, seeing the sites around us, meeting new people every minute of our lives. I once told a distressed relative that life is but a journey, people we meet along the way are fellow travellers the best we could do is look out for each other and enjoy the journey. The choice is ours. Often we are forced to stay put in a point for longer than we desire, maybe it for our good, I know not. Nevertheless enjoy the journey.  Some events, people, places ... remain with us forever, no matter how far behind they are in the million niches of your mind. 

Rugged land, breath taking scenery, unpredictable climate and sense of mystery forever surrounds the place I visited recently.

This trip happened by chance. Got a call from my friend asking me if I wanted to join her and her aunt on a journey to see the river Sindhu.?? That means going to Leh, wow! Never thought that anybody would invite me to join em on to visit Leh. Yes Leh. And the cost approx. 8G, yes people just, oh ok u can push it to 10,000 G in all. Boarding food and sight seeing included. Though we did leave out Hermis Monastery and Diskit Monastery, but more or less covered all of Leh. Please be nice to tell me if I have missed out any other must see place. Maybe we could plan another trip.

So, after pondering and consulting with the important people in my life, though I had decided I was going the on the trip. All I knew was this was part of the Sindhu Darshan programme.  The name gave a kinda of spook, don't ask why.

For the next couple of months no action towards the trip, when I was called again with the dates and an itinerary. Couldn't make head or tail of the itinerary except that we were leaving on the the 17th of June 2012  and coming back on the 30th of June 2012, the dates I would have to take off from work and that is what I did. Took a break from planning lessons and deadlines. Also I found out my friend and I were in the minority group of young people. Besides 5 people in their late 20s and early 30s rest of the group was averaging around mid 60s and man are they fun to be or ARE THEY FUN TO BE WITH.  And I was the only non marathi in the group.

 On the 17th of June 2012, the journey began. At Bandra station I met the group for the first time.

The Kotwals, Jawdekars, Kalke kaka (meaning uncle in marathi) and Lele Kaka. We were joined by my friend and two more couples (the Borses and Phadkes) at Borivali, a suburb in Mumbai.

On board the train we were joined by two sweet Gujarati Couples, one married for a longtime and yet very much in love, and the other newlyweds (Tejas and Avani) on their honeymoon to Jammu and Kashmir. It was to be a 36 hrs train journey. The Swaraj Express leaves Bandra Terminus for Jammu Tawi and passes through 6 states and 1 Union Territory. Let me see if I can get it right, Maharashtra  Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and finally J&K. Monotony of the long journey was broken by the changing scenery and entertaining fellow travellers. 

Besides the yummy food that is part of long distance train travel in India, one gets to meet a lot of people too. We did too, being the time for Amarnath Yatra and Vaishno Devi yatra, most of our fellow travellers were going the same place as us. Most were also travelling with their families. So there was this sense of security rather than a constant concern for your luggage. I have to mention here, that we were travelling by AC coach, man was it a luxury, thought it did not begin like that. The AC over our coupe had conked so it was equivalent to non AC for the first few hours our journey. But soon that was rectified by the friendly attendant in the boogie. I slept under the AC on the Upper birth, yippee, did I sleep?

After the initial hesitation we got talking to all the people around in the coupe soon talking gave way to playing cards. At first it was simple ice breaker games, then came the big one. Guju uncle who was in our coupe was a what I would call a " shaukeen", "fond of all good things". Realising we enjoyed playing cards he taught us some big ones, that which thrilled me is what we call "Teen patti", or simple gambling. And man did we play that night, straight two hours, gambling with imaginary money went on. It was fun, with strangers helping us play and pull a win or a draw. Complete strangers, who would smile at our silly moves and caution us before the next move and lastly simply jump into the game with us. Declare, was another that I picked up, but nothing can beat the thrill of teen patti.

Next day also was dedicated to honing our skills at our make shift card table, which a pillow balanced smartly on our stretched out legs. Pretty decent card table.

Soon it was time to part ways and that we did with a smile on our faces and pleasant memories of a train journey. Somewhere a hope lingered in my heart that we would meet these people on our way back home.

Jammu Tawi, never did I imagine that one's visualisation of a place based on hearsay could be proved sooo very wrong. Landing in Jammu and stepping into the piercing sun did exactly that.

Sweat trickled down my back and forehead and the street was filled with people. Sea of humanity is not a wrong term at all. We were to stay at Vaishnavi Dham, Jammu Tawi. It is a governemnt run rest house for travellers starting their journeys to Vaishnav devi, or Amarnath yatra. Pretty good place, four floors with private rooms and dorms. Dorms are for both men and women. every floor has clean washrooms with water, except no matter what our people just don't know to keep the washrooms clean. We were given a dorm on the fourth floor, and trust the luck machine to conk when you need it the most, there was no current when reached the Yatri Niwas. We lugged our luggages to the fourth floor, only to find the shrewd aunties to have blocked all the good beds for themselves, their husbands, friends, friends of friends and so on, but who is complaining?  I couldn't believe that J&K was actually sweltering at 44 degrees. At 8 pm in the evening was like 5 pm in Mumbai.

We were to stay at Jammu and wait for the rest of the group to join us. We were to then proceed to Leh. So we had one day on our hands and were free to do anything. Mami, friend and I had decided we would visit Vaishnov devi. But it is said one can see the goddess only if she wants to see you, I guess she wants to see me with more time on her hands, not just a rushed meeting. When we enquired about the yatra we were told it was crowded and time management would be a problem, therefore I backed out, but mami managed to accomplish what she desired. So,the  friend and I disillusioned about Kashmir stayed back and decided to explore the local market, Shiv Complex. I doubt if that is the only marketing area cause it is just a few streets and by-lanes  actually the market at Leh was much bigger. All of them were selling cricket bats, yes, cricket bats of good quality are made of Deodhar trees from J& K. Different kinds if almonds, apricot, memorabilia from Vasihnov devi, warm clothes and the usual knick knacks were available, besides the good roadside food. I was not intent on shopping as that would mean carrying a load all the way to Leh and back. We were anyways going to spend a day at Srinagar on our return journey from Leh. Here I was all set, but destiny had laid down a different plan all together.

Bang opposite our dormitory was the J&K police memorial, open to all. to me it looked like a huge blooming  lotus with an eternally flame in the middle.

     

Sight Seeing...

My doubts about travelling with Senior citizens was put to rest once I boarded the train, by the time we set out sight seeing we were having a ball. Food was flowing, all kinds, meals on the train were proper full course feasts. Similarly having rested enough the group set out to see the sights in Jammu. We began with the Amar Mahal,built by Maharaja Gulab Singh,  once home to the royal family of J&K, .i.e Karansingh's (MP from Congress) family. It is now a beautiful museum, showcasing the family heirlooms and objects of interest. The architecture is splendid inspired by the French style. There was also this beautiful throne made of pure gold.

Other places of interest are the Raghunathji Temple, and the Bahu fort. Exhausted we trouped back to our lodgings which was hot like a furnace. The crowd at our dorm was growing by bounds people were everywhere. The night before I couldn't sleep, though my friend had managed to grab a prime spot (bed) right under a fan, it was no good. Both of us were tossing and turning in our respective berths. So when it became unbearable I walked up to her bed and woke her up on the pretense of accompanying me to the loo which was hike, especially with people all over the landing  and in every vacant spot available. Back in our dorm, we decided we prefer the old school style of bedding and simply landed in the balcony ans spent the night counting the stars and chatting about everything under the sky. Alas the second night we were denied our choice spot as the balcony had been taken over by the numerous clothes lines. We were glad out stay at Jammu was coming to an end and soon we'd be on our way Leh.

Itinerary Jammu- Srinagar- Kargil-Leh by bus. By the way one can also fly to Leh in case one wishes to avoid a bone rattling  mind boggling  road tip to Leh. Trust me when I say cause I have been through it. Bu it was fun. My suggestion take the road trip on your way to Leh, cause you don't lies ahead, so teh surpirse of it all is great, but fly out of Leh cause the monotonous barren land be tiring after a point. Because I did not have a choice on my way back to Jammu I slept all through.

In short it was to be a 48+ hrs road trip to Leh, it was divided into 2 parts, one night at Srinagar and the second night at Kargil. This meant passing through some of the best natural scenic beauty one could see in India.

On route to Srinagar we saw very many pretty sights. We halted for the temple dedicated to Lord Krishna, though I forget the name it is bang opposite Lal Chowk, Srinagar. We got of the bus on the opposite side and had to lung her stuff to the dharamshala which was a cosy stay. Next day we set off to Kargil, Jammu. The scenic beauty on the way was mind blowing. It was nature at it's artistic best. Weird, is not the word to describe the wacko geological creations. You can see some of teh image sthat I managed to capture in  my camera. A millions ain't enough to capture these creations. Some are really funny.

The landscape gets rugged as one moves closer to Kargil and onwards to Leh. Some of the passages are one lane and vehicles have to back off to let the other pass.  We decided to see around Srinagar on our way back. Dal Lake was all I saw. Draupadi Kund is a beautiful pond on route to Kargil. According to the myth, this was built by the Pandavas for Draupadi and adjacent is the Pandav Kund, obviously meant for 'Big Five' (Pandavas). While the ponds are on the right of the road on the left rises this lofty hill of sorts of soil. Something I must share here is, the soil in these regions varies every kilometer. Flat slate, round smooth pebbles and boulders, big enough to give you cover for...; then there is the sticky muck and dry mud not  the brown colour we see around Mumbai but it is creamish colour mud. A WORD OF CAUTION, cover yourself. So, this lofty hill, it looked beautiful like a Pallava crown, for a moment I thought it was probably the crown of an ancient giant king which he had laid down and lo and behold it took deep roots for mere mortals like us to look at and Marvel. That is when I saw this board...

We were close to Kargil. Yes, Tiger Hill, Tololing Hill, Rhino Hill ....

Next stop KARGIL WAR MEMORIAL

The Vijay Smarak is dedicated to the soldiers who laid down their lives defending the borders of our country in one of the toughest terrains in India.  

There was an officer who gathered us around and narrated how it happened and I couldn't stop my tears. I still can't stop it while I am writing this. Capt. Vikram Batra's Valour and "Dil Mange More" echo in the valley. To think that some 10 years ago right where I was standing a battle was fought and young men laid down their lives for me to be able to travel freely from Mumbai to Kargil can never be put down in words.

I am writing this 3 days before our 65th Independence Day, the newspaper headlines of all major print media in Mumbai are talking of riots, rape and scams. I wonder what was it that these young men fought for? The saddest part was when I saw this elderly uncle spitting in the lawns of the smarak. I who is usually calm in public places lost it and yelled at him for insulting the martyrs. His response, chalo ho gaya na? I wanted to slap him then and there. How do you make people understand? The fellow just walked away. It is so fucking embarrassing to have people like him living. Apologies for the foul language.

The journey for a few hours after the visit was sombre intensified with spirituality. The Chamba Buddha, Mublekh,  this Buddha is called Maitreya Buddha or the Future incarnation of Buddha. Surprisingly one finds reference to this form of Buddha all over Leh. It is an experience turning the prayer wheels and gawking  at the enormity of the future Buddha carved on the face of a rock. It is a beautiful journey, through on the smooth, long endless road, it is a harrowing journey on the scary, path covered with stones, and nature's wrath sitting on her high perch ready to unleash her self in full glory, to anybody unawares, in form of boulders, snow, landslide or rain. Praise be to mother nature, she decided to show her best side to us. This journey in many ways seemed to be alike the beginning of a life journey. The group we travelled with shared all their experiences each one making us eager to visit those places. One such stop was Phalgam, the starting point for the Annual Amarnath Yatra. The Amarnath yatra is yet another phenomenal journey in search of  the "________". It is a beautiful cave where the Linga  (Phallus associated with Shiva is formed out of ice). It was a breath-taking site, looking down at the lakhs maybe more people and equal number of vehicles,  tents all laid out in an organised manner. Imagine the amount of planning, coordination and organising on such a large scale that went into it. Seeing is really believing in this case.

Meals, not clearly classified as lunch or dinner,  all through the journey was really interesting place, the first time was in communal hall food served by local students.  The second, if I remember correctly was late in the day/night not sure, cause it got really dark there. Being separated by great distance, electricity is hard to get, but one marvels at the facilities some of these places have.

Through the valleys and passes, Zozilla Pass we entered we entered Leh. Yet another stop here was the Patar Sahib, a shrine dedicated to the Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Sahib. Set in the middle of barren land it is a refreshing and reassuring site for the lone traveller. The story behind it is, during his journeys through India mad Nepal Guru Nanakji camped here when he was challenged by an evil spirit who wanted to destroy him. The evil spirit rolled down a boulder towards the spot where Nankdevji sat meditating. It is said that Nanakdevji did not see the boulder coming down at him at great speed but when it did hit, his back left a concave impression in it. Seeing this the evil spirit realised the greatness of this being and surrendered. That rock is enshrined in the Gurudwara for all to see. With this our entourage had officially entered Leh.

At Leh we were lodged in the School- Kendriya Vidayalay, Choglamsar. We were on the 2nd floor. 7 in a room. We were provided with cosy mattresses, pillow and thick quilts and they were clean. It was pleasant stay.

The next daythe real adventure began. And that how it was, with Phungchuk, yes, that was our driver, we set out to reach the highest motorable road in the world- Kardungla Pass, at 18380 ft above sea level. Like an eager mother waiting for her child to visit, it was a game of hide n seek, rain, snow, fog, clear skies we saw all of it. and through all of this we made it to the top of the world. Yes, baby really proud of myself and grateful to Shaival, my frienf who thought of taking me along on this journey. Words are not enough describe the feeling, or I am no Wordsworth describe it, maybe the pictures will. But it can be painful, lack of Oxygen doesn't go down easily with everybody. Even our driver insisted that we spend only a few minutes and like the good man he is he began herding us back into the car.

Maybe it was true or maybe it was psychological we were tired after the scintillating road trip that all of us crashed. Evening saw the official welcoming ceremony with the local people welcoming us in their traditional  manner with silk scarves this was followed by cultural programme.

Next day was to be the actual event when all of us went trooped to the banks of the River Sindhu and spent half a day her lap soaking all the fresh Oxygen. Yes, speeches were followed by dance and music but it was kind of fun, not a drag, surprisingly. I was not sure what is that I was gonna do once at the River. But this is what I did, I took off my shoes, rolled up my pants and stepped into the freezing cold water and offered my gratitude to the Sun god, the forces of nature that sustain us, me. And said Thank you to Mother River Sindhu to let us be there on that day. It is not everyday that one gets to be so close to nature in all her splendour. Our car was only one to reach it get and back before the way to the pass was blocked. many couldn't make it some did not want to pursue it out of fear. It is a WOW feeling every time I think bout it.

Post lunch we set out again for sight seeing, this time it was the Tiksey Monastery which houses yet again a representation of the future Buddha, Maitreya Buddha. This image  is gilded in gold and measures 40 feet in height. Next stop the Shanti stupa followed by shopping. The Old Market as it is called is as usual filled with the same trinkets that I have so far seen during my travels. Accessories, clothes which look like they from Goa's flea market,so I wasn't kicked on seeing them. Food, always a welcome prospect. We set out looking for a good place to eat and we came across this small narrow eatery called Sneha snacks, Highly recommended, Aloo tikkis are the best. We also had tea, samosas all of us agreed that Aloo Tikkis are the best. Cause the next time the group had any time ontheir hand they wanted us to guide them to the eatery and taste their yummy food.

Yet another harrowing journey through the mountains led us to the serene pristine Pengong lake. Honestly the oldies knew more about it than me. Then somebody told that it is the spot where the last scenes for the famous bollywood film  "Three Idiots" was shot. What's the Big Deal, yet it is a Big Deal, see it to believe it, cause during the little time we spent there was moment when I was completely lost to the world. Shaival almost panicked. There I was sitting one of the small famous pebble pile staring at the lone seagull flying over clear, blue, green azure still waters of the Pengong Lake, a few 100 kilometers from the Chinese border, I could hear Shaival calling out, but I couldn't get up, it was like I wanted to dissolve into the waters of the Lake. She showed me teh dark heavy clouds moving swiftly towards us and we rushed for shelter to the nearby makeshift restaurants. Before we left for the lake we were told food was going to be scarce on the way and back, some of us panicked, primarily because we did not know how far, how long. Why am I saying this, because the makeshift restaurants were a blessing when it rained, cause it gets realllllllllllllly cold. They are like the oasis in a desert. Cosy they had all that one needs to survive, and what fun it was to have a a hot bowlful of Maggie Vegetable soup with friends cackling warm pungent smoke of cigarette filling the air. It was beautiful. BTW, 1/3rd of the Pengong Lake is in India and the rest is China. Though the lake is at 900 ft above sea level it passes through roads well above 17000 ft above sea level.This was to be the last stop before we returned to Srinagar and then leave for Jammu again.

Unfortunately, Srinagar was rife with turmoil with groups opposing Amarnath Yatra. An old mosque had been burnt and pages of the Holy Quran had been disrespected. A curfew caused us to leave really earlier than our actual time. At that moment none of us knew what a return journey it was gonna be. 48 hours straight we sat in the bus, drove through unknown villages of J&K, saw sights that we would probably never see again, cribbed about cramped legs, aching tummies, no pee stops and finally made it to Vaishnavi Dam the day before our departure for Mumbai. with  more than half a day on our hands, we relaxed, not really cause it had not rained and Jammu was still the same, sweaty and sweltering. No complains after seeing people living happily in much dire conditions, it was just a day's matter before we would all be in the cosy comforts of our homes. That we did two days later.

People can be out right rude in spite of being in the same group, some people are sweet no matter what, then there are the evolved beings and those evolving.

Where do I Fit in? That depends on me. Enjoy the slideshow.