LEH April 2013 Day 4

Day 4

The kamaths were cheerful as they woke up today. All 3. a good nights sleep worked wonders for all of us. The power did go off at 11.00 pm but came back at 11.10 as promised. All thru the night it kept going off intermittently. I would know coz I was back on my 90 mins snooze routine. At 6.00 it finally said goodbye, promising to go on only at 6.00 pm. That is how it is here. Assured power from 6.00 pm to 11.pm. Baaki sab raam bharose. Aaya toh bonus hai.

The husband had spent a couple of hrs chatting up the hotel owner over the IPL Match. . Cricket indeed is a medium of bonding. The information he gathered – the awesome roads that are now available for driving are courtesy Pakistan and China. Pakistan aur China kee dein. It was only after the attacks that the infrastructure was developed mainly for and by the army . During the Kargil war, one man frm each house had to volunteer. Some joined as porters, some supplied their animals etc stc. Before the the war, supplies used to be airdropped..now there are regular flights which bring in supplies from leh and the plains. The locals thank the Indian army and in the same breath they thank Pakistan and China too.

Okk.. so after a hearty breakfast of aalu ka parantha, fresh fruits and dalia we set out for the village of Turtuk. Turtuk is a good 120 kms frm Deskit. Today we all were in a better shape physically and mentally to enjoy the view along the drive. Once again we were driving through plain land surrounded by mighthy but gently sloping mountains on either sides, with the shyok river to our right.

The army presence was predominant, they have their bases at regular distances. They also run a lot of army goodwill schools in several villages. There is their airstrip at Thoise and helipads too. Army aircraft and army chartered aircrafts land here.

The shyok river was at its bluest best. A little paler than ink blue, a little darker than copper sulphate. The river will loose its blue and turn muddy soon when the snow on the mountains and the glaciers melt and flow into the river. The shyok joins the Indus and will eventually end up in Pakistan as the river sindh, they say.

As mentioned in the brochure, the mountains start growing closer and darker as we approach Turtuk . Soon, the narrow valley opens up magically to the paradise that is Turtuk.

One enters turtuk and the beauty of the place astounds you. We head to our resort - the Turtuk holiday resort. It is a very intimate and cozy kind of a place, the views and the sounds remind you of the native place of your childhood where nature dominated. Trees, birds, chirping birds, the sounds of silence, of insects… that is what you hear. You can hear the sound of the river flowing a distance away, you can also hear the gurgling of small streamlets.

The camp we are put up at has about 10 tents. They are all self contained ones, atleast a couple of ones. The others have an attached bath outside and are all in the process of being converted into self contained ones. The owner is passionate abt his vocation. He is particular about dusting the carpets, arranging the pretty inscribed towels and napkins on hangers along the tents. The bath room has cheerful looking ceramic ware. All in all very uplifting. You can see the effort he is putting in running a set up like this, in a forlorn village , really untouched by modern civilisation.

Turtuk is known for its apricots. The best ones. Most of it is exported they say. They also grow their own barley, palak, salad leaves, turnips and aalo in their fields. They also rear a couple of head of cattle… cows. A variety which eats little and gives the best of milk, not too much ,but very thick milk. They also have their sheep,donkeys and some poultry

After lunch, on the cards, is a walk thru the village.

The turtukians are of Aryan and mongol race. U can see it in their features. They are extremely fair , pink cheeks, with light eyes,, more like the rugged folk from Afghanistan or they have distinct mongoloid features.

The village is picturesque. Quite a climb, but the moment u enter, all u see is a clean vibrant green. The apricot trees, the barley fields….all look as they have been given the freshest coat of green.

We saw the first magpie of our life in Leh. Till then I had only heard about them in british stories. The magpie is a biggish bird, black and white in colour . they looked plumper in Turtuk. Hawaa paani badhiya hai maybe. The magpie has one more trait. In the cold winter it keeps flitting around but come summer and it builds a biggish nest in the trees. The nests are interesting not just because of their size but also because they line it with mud and plaster as well.

The women in the hilly areas put in more hard work, and it is evident here too. They toil in the fields, watering the farms, pulling out the weeds, looking after the children and infant who hang around them and also look after the house. Most of the menfolk we saw here were loitering at corners. Some men work alongside the army.

 The children are a particular delight. Playfully innocent as only children can bee. Cherubic, innocent, cheeky,naughty ….essentially just being children. Some follow u with chants of “One foto, one foto” Others look away hiding their faces in their palms saying “No photo”. The women hide behind their dupattas and turn their back to us,but suddenly overcome their shyness and thrust their kids at us for a foto  while they peer frm behind the trees. They are all muslims. The speak the balti language and some reasonably good hindi.

The baltis have a lot in common with the Persians Iranians and Afghanis, they celebrate a common festival navroze on mar 21. of the 11 villages which formed baltistan in Pakistan until 1971, 5 are now with India. Only turtuk is open to civilians. The next village is takshi and then 3 more which are not open to tourists. Only the locals can move in and out of these villages. The army checkposts are vigilant. There is a 7km stretch if road which straight goes to Pakistan from takshi. We drove upto takshi and chatted up the soldiers.

Today was a cloudy day, it rained too making it chilly. The K2 range is not visible today, we are amidst the karakoram range and siachen range begins somewhere close by too. So much for geography and hist lessons.

The village of turtuk as I said is absolutely beatuful as are the people. They are an innocent lot yet to be hit by commercialisation, though that day is not too far. U see empty packs of Maggi noodles and cremica biscuits tossed around. After a while the kids starting chasing us for 'paisa'.

The person who runs this camp is an enterprising one. His tents, the mattresses, the red carpets on the flooring,the blankets, crockery hot water bags are trendy. His family doubles up as staff. his brother who works in the best hotel in leh came up with this idea and they don’t seem like they have cut corners anywhere. Extra blankets are delivered to the tents at night. Courteous people, smiling faces, enthusiastic attitude,and great service… u are willing to overlook any other lapse.

Here too power is available frm 6pm to 11 pm. Bread is not available locally. Bfast options are parantha cornflakes and bread if u have carried it with u from Leh. bottled water is not avlbl either, at the camp.

Meal times -  veggies have a great flavr, the locals ones . they are grown without pesticides as they harm the apricot tree. The locals know that the farms feritilised by dung and other traditional means is known as organic farming.

They are well versed with their history and geopgrapy.. They know their topography. They point out to army posts on mountain slopes which are not visible to us.

No the scene is not so hunky dory . the govt has built schools n primary heatlh centres. Both are unmanned, no teachers no drs,no nurses. The ones who manage to get a good education, settle outside turtuk. They study medicine and enngg and become progfessionals in the city. Nobody seems to prefer giving back to society. 

There is a community training centre in the village which imparts skills to the women folk. There is a telling motto painted across it. “ENTER TO LEARN, LEAVE TO SERVE “

The place also has their unique local crafts … they make beautiful walking sticks with textured branches from the woods around. They are embellished with brass and even ibex horns.

A local halwai is adept at carving stone into pieces of art. We got to see one such sample – a pair of ibex on rocks, carved in stone.

The place is so beautiful, u want everybody to see it. But it wont remain so beautiful then, once  the “prisitine ness” is lost.

The people… they are innocent and simple..u want them to prosper. Education exposure and tourists might change this . A perfect catch 22 situation which can only be resolved by keeping a balanced head, wisdom, morals and ethics, but all these mght be trhwn out of the window in the face of tourist onslaught which brings money and exposure to a different lifestyle which might not be really an ideal one but definitely a more attractive one. Succumb they will but I hope the manage to strike a balance.

Again the same question, should they not advance and develop just because the city blokes want to come back to a wholesome rural experience?

A lot still needs to be done here. Hygiene is not maintained. The chidren look unscrubbed. Tourists offer the children food like cream bbiscuits and chocolates... they already have bad teeth.  Dental hygiene seems unheard of.  We went to a neighboring village which was far more unclean. Unclean , as the cattle and people reside in close vicinity, the houses are closely situated in alleys which remind you of the hutments of Mumbai.

Though tourists have started arriving here only recently the villagers have spruced up their act. There was a gentleman who has converted a room of his house into a museum. On one wall he has painted his family tree going back to 1500 Ad. He has on display ancient baltistani head gear and ornaments worn by the regal horses owned by his family.

He thanks tourism for being able to put his booty out on display and arrange methodically all the goodies which were otherwise dumped in trunks in various corners of his house.

The enterprising gentleman who looks atleast 60 hosts traditional Baltic lunches for guests who want to try the local fare.

There are several new structures coming up in the village and, on the outskirts overlooking the fields, armed with dish antennae,  grandly announcing Home stays...so what if there are power issues!

Though there are no mobile networks here at the moment, the enterprising camp owner looks forward to  making the camp a wi fi enabled zone.

Yesterday evening the husband finally declared that he had had enough of  the black dal, roti and fried rice and noodles and that he would like to cook dal the Konkani way. Mustard seeds and hing are alien commodities and the cook at the camp hadn’t heard of these. but they gladly volunteered to go look for it at the army store,  kms away, in the next village.

We all drove towards the army post and bought some mustard and hing for the evening , The owner was thrilled feeling the rai daana in his fingers and the fragrant hing,,,, he asked the husband how to identify a good quality mustard . and he also wanted to know what hing is . he bought a little more than reqd. "Aap aaj banaao, phir samaan toh mere paas rahega, hum bhi seekh lengey and phir kabhi banaayenge,. Hum bhi kuch naya samaan dekh rahein hain aur naya swaad bhi" he said.

It rained in the evening, it's raining still. It is chilly. We are wearing 3 layers of woolens

I cant stop gushing about the owner of the resort. His enterprising attitude, his pleasant countenance, his hunger to learn more and yet remain very balanced in his head. 

When one is planning to holiday here, one shouldn’t go with high expectations of a luxurious stay and you will be more than pleasantly surprised and compensated by the warmth of the people and the service they provide. The service they render by means of luxurious mattresses, blankets, hot water bags, furnishings, food served in lovely crockery, and cutlery, the bowls thoughtfully covered with foil as they arrive at the table from the kitchen, …..etiquettes and lifestyles new to them. food like rice dal , salads, paranthas are again alien to them. they are learning on the job and with great joy.

The village was open t to tourists only a couple of yrs ago, tourism is doing them good  Or rather turtuk is doing us good.

I am in love with leh. i want to tear out yesterdays entry. I am coming back.