Day3







traffic woes!







The husband woke up complaining. It is totally unlike him.
But this is what he has been doing fr the past 3 days. Something must
be really bothering him and bad. He is never the cranky types. He has
been at his non co-operative best on this trip...expecting to be taken
care of at every step. Usually he is the one to hand us our stuff, keep
up the cheer etc.
It also didn’t help that he managed to find out that the best hotel in Leh is the Golden Dragon which has room heating facilities 24 hrs. I think that did it for him . Our rooms didn't have one. Infact there is no power after 11.00 pm.. And wearing 4 layers of clothes, socks cap , heavy blankets on a soft mattress making it difficult to turn sides, didn’t make fr a happy night's sleep.
It also didn’t help that he managed to find out that the best hotel in Leh is the Golden Dragon which has room heating facilities 24 hrs. I think that did it for him . Our rooms didn't have one. Infact there is no power after 11.00 pm.. And wearing 4 layers of clothes, socks cap , heavy blankets on a soft mattress making it difficult to turn sides, didn’t make fr a happy night's sleep.
Today
we were to drive towards a village called Turtuk. Turtuk is one of the 11 villages of the Baltistan region of Pakistan which were captured by India in during the war of 1971. It is one of the
5 Pakistani villages captured and then retained by India. Turtuk is open to
tourists. The entry to the other villages is still restricted. The army
stands guard at a post after the village of Turtuk. In fact tourists
started touring Turtuk, only about 2 yrs ago.
The villagers
are fiercely patriotic towards India. I had even read on a blog that the
surrounding mountains are Pakistani territory and they watch the
villagers in the valley below and because they do, the villagers of Turtuk, indulge in a lot of singing
and dancing to let them know that they are in a very happy space.
We
started from Leh, at 8.00 am . We were to reach and then cross the mighty
Khardungla pass.
We were to travel from in between tall snowy mountains. That was the happy part. The roads , the turns and bends make it a tad uncomfortable. We were queasy. We must have driven for 40 mins and encountered a huge traffic jam. Behind us were a couple of army trucks. It is said that the population of Leh is 2 lakhs while the strength of the army stationed there is 3.5 lakhs.
We were to travel from in between tall snowy mountains. That was the happy part. The roads , the turns and bends make it a tad uncomfortable. We were queasy. We must have driven for 40 mins and encountered a huge traffic jam. Behind us were a couple of army trucks. It is said that the population of Leh is 2 lakhs while the strength of the army stationed there is 3.5 lakhs.
As usual the non existent civic
and road discipline causes a traffic jam . All lanes are packed with vehicles going up to Khardungla from Leh... How were the
people from the other side to descend? The driver soon announced that
the traffic has been stopped from our side such that those on the other
side could take their turn to cross the mountains. So we waited. There
were a lots of cars and tempo travelers. And more. People started
trundling out of the vehicles . Photo ops, snow ball fights and the lot. Iit started snowing. An odd flake here and there . I put out
my arm and there were so many on my sweater. Haahaa… I loved it. And
exactly at the same moment it made me worried. A traffic jam, unruly
traffic and snowfall. Vaat laagli re !
After about 2 hrs we were
herded to a small ground for checking our permits. And again as is
typical the cars on the road were let off ahead of us, resulting in another mad scramble . Car tyres started sinking in the slush and
would not move. vehicles piled up here too.
Then our driver said "Saahab, chain lagaatey hain . I had to get out of the car for him to retrieve the bag of chains. In those 5 minutes the cold air that I breathed in....it was like a sword was struck down my throat. The driver offered us a swig of hot water frm his flask. Made us feel better almost immediately.
The driver then wrapped the chains, securedly round the tyres so that it could have a great grip as it drove through the icy slush. Funnily the other cars, tempo travellors and the zens did not have this one simple mechanism. They were left behind as cars like ours were let off and allowed to proceed ahead of queue.
The army is doing a splendid job here. As is the Border Road Organsation, who maintains roads. They check out the roads each morning for landslides, and clear the roads. They are parked at regular intervals and are summoned when required.
Then our driver said "Saahab, chain lagaatey hain . I had to get out of the car for him to retrieve the bag of chains. In those 5 minutes the cold air that I breathed in....it was like a sword was struck down my throat. The driver offered us a swig of hot water frm his flask. Made us feel better almost immediately.
The driver then wrapped the chains, securedly round the tyres so that it could have a great grip as it drove through the icy slush. Funnily the other cars, tempo travellors and the zens did not have this one simple mechanism. They were left behind as cars like ours were let off and allowed to proceed ahead of queue.
The army is doing a splendid job here. As is the Border Road Organsation, who maintains roads. They check out the roads each morning for landslides, and clear the roads. They are parked at regular intervals and are summoned when required.
Altitude sickness -
Khardungla is the highest motorable road. 18600 feet plus. Those heights
work havoc with you. We were advised not to halt there at all as we could be hit by altitude sickness giving symptoms of head ache and nausea amongst
others. And as luck would have it we were stuck once again 4 kms short
of the pass.
A Santro had developed a snag ,.it wasn’t moving and the passengers, a sprightly batch of 20 something llamas were bravely doing the "zor lagake haisha"....pushing it. In fact this car had been having issues all through out the journey. At regular intervals, the llamas would alight, push the car and then scramble in as it revved and moved, only to repeat the act once again, a couple of mtrs ahead . Eventuaaly the clutch plate gave way . yet the guys wouldn’t relent. In that cold, in that low oxygen zone, they were incredible . at one point, better sense seemed to strike them and they parked on a side letting a convoy race ahead. We yelled out a loud Jhuley of thanks and appreciation.
But then our woes hadn’t ended. We reached Khardungla and just a couple of metres ahead of us, there was a land slide. I had just happened to read a road sign – avalanche prone. Things couldn’t be worse for us. The cold, a slightly restless husband and a visibly ill and hungry daughter! She doesn't eat breakfast while traveling. I had forgotten to give her her road sickness tablet. The weather ...Outside, it was sunny, it was cold, it was icy . It was very warm in the car. Yet you dared not remove your woolens.
One was hungry. And thirsty . But couldn't drink a drop of water or eat a morsel. It was nearly 2. pm. We just put our heads down or behind us and waited. We were feeling sick and washed out..drained out. . Even turning in the seat to look around was a task.. the head felt heavy. The hands and legs were heavy. The daughter was in tears. The other drivers came in with advice … "Madam kuch khao, bahut paani peeo and dekho bilkul sona nahi"….. And that was the only one thing we wanted to do, drift off into slumber.
I kept reminding the family of the routine. Lambi lambi saans. 1 2 34 in ...1 2 3 4 out. The effort was tremendous. The daughter was sniffling. And that made the husband melt and I had to play bad police man and get the 2 to work along. A bite of bread, a bite of thepla, a sip of water. It was an ordeal getting the food inside of us. Our driver came to our aid here too, once again he offered a cup of hot water, which helped the chewed cud in the mouth, go down the gullet.
A Santro had developed a snag ,.it wasn’t moving and the passengers, a sprightly batch of 20 something llamas were bravely doing the "zor lagake haisha"....pushing it. In fact this car had been having issues all through out the journey. At regular intervals, the llamas would alight, push the car and then scramble in as it revved and moved, only to repeat the act once again, a couple of mtrs ahead . Eventuaaly the clutch plate gave way . yet the guys wouldn’t relent. In that cold, in that low oxygen zone, they were incredible . at one point, better sense seemed to strike them and they parked on a side letting a convoy race ahead. We yelled out a loud Jhuley of thanks and appreciation.
But then our woes hadn’t ended. We reached Khardungla and just a couple of metres ahead of us, there was a land slide. I had just happened to read a road sign – avalanche prone. Things couldn’t be worse for us. The cold, a slightly restless husband and a visibly ill and hungry daughter! She doesn't eat breakfast while traveling. I had forgotten to give her her road sickness tablet. The weather ...Outside, it was sunny, it was cold, it was icy . It was very warm in the car. Yet you dared not remove your woolens.
One was hungry. And thirsty . But couldn't drink a drop of water or eat a morsel. It was nearly 2. pm. We just put our heads down or behind us and waited. We were feeling sick and washed out..drained out. . Even turning in the seat to look around was a task.. the head felt heavy. The hands and legs were heavy. The daughter was in tears. The other drivers came in with advice … "Madam kuch khao, bahut paani peeo and dekho bilkul sona nahi"….. And that was the only one thing we wanted to do, drift off into slumber.
I kept reminding the family of the routine. Lambi lambi saans. 1 2 34 in ...1 2 3 4 out. The effort was tremendous. The daughter was sniffling. And that made the husband melt and I had to play bad police man and get the 2 to work along. A bite of bread, a bite of thepla, a sip of water. It was an ordeal getting the food inside of us. Our driver came to our aid here too, once again he offered a cup of hot water, which helped the chewed cud in the mouth, go down the gullet.
Nearly
an hour later, a BRO vehicle drove past us and pushed out the snow
from the road and with the army guiding the traffic, we were back on the
roads.
We were moving once again and i was peering out of the
window..What do I tell you of the scenes. Incredibly tall snow white mountains with
chocolate lines drawn across, ahem ,, these were the roads . Then a
little ahead and on one side of us were the tall mountains while on the
other side which sloped down were walls of ice, 4 t0 5 feet tall at
places. White and more white all around. I tried to click a few
pictures ..The pics were just white - with the white of the sky and the white of the mountains.. I gave up. We were too depressed and not
recovered yet. The driver tried to cheer us up and showed us the bare mountains ahead where we
should soon reach .. out of the cold mountains.
Nearly
an hr later we were out of the snowy mountains and none the better off.
We continued to feel sick .The husband though not complaining was very
white in the face.
Its difficult for women on the road. No
toilets. The fright and probably the breakfast in the morning made me
clutch at the tummy, while the drive made me want to throw up . It was a
bad situation. The daughter was now crying. And I was guilty as hell.
Why did I keep romanticizing about a holiday in the hills, the snow,
and force an unrealistic vacation on the family. The son was away. If he
was with us at least we would have been together . What would he do
without us, if something were to happen to us.. why did I inflict so
much pain on the family!!
We finally reached the plains. The
mountains were now bare. The pink jaisalmeri kind of pink with dark gray
veins. They sloped gently . The snow covered mountains were now
replaced by these pink ones and the odd snow mountain in the background
peered in making us aware "Hey, main hoon.!"
The evening hrs cast a
shadow and the color play was awesome .. the pink slope next to it a
sunny one and then a dark black one and peeking from over the was a snow
capped one.
The roads were tarred but scalloped and with u pin
bends, not one straight road. The husband was breathing hard, gasping. I
checked on him and he was sweating mildly. He admitted feeling ill.
And we still had a good 4 hrs drive ahead ...to get us to Turtuk..
And
then the husband suggested a change in plan. We would halt at the next
available destination and continue to Turtuk tomorrow. It was 5.00. pm.the
nearest town was an hr away. we decided to take that chance. We decided
stay in the town of Deskit. We had to
check whether they would have room fr us.
I was trying to relax. And
look around so that I would be distracted frm the misery of my people. For a
moment I was thinking ifat somehow we could manage to get ourselves
airlifted into leh and rush back to Mumbai. I made up my mind ...this
would be the last time I would fall for the call of the Himalayas. This
time it would be an official goodbye. The plans we had made last night , for another road trip.. driving thru manali or spiti...No.. I was done. No more. If only could end this trip with my family hale and hearty.. I
would give anything to see them fine and smiling. God dear god,
side with me please. Why hadn’t I read up more, why hadn't i questioned more as we planned the holiday ...about the scenario to expect. Why did I
assume that everything would end up fine as always. Foolish bravado!!
We were driving towards Deskit now. This was 120 kms short of of our scheduled halt at turtuk.
On
my right I noticed a river snaking below. It was the Shyok river. The
bed was dry, nearly dry. The river was all but a ribbon, . And as we
climbed up again, the ribbon like Shyok was now shaped like a dna.
Crisscrossing like a series of the number 8. it was the most beautiful
blue. Not aqua, not greenish, but the purest of blues. And shimmering
in the sunlight. Suddenly it widened and then again it twisted into a
ribbon. Always snaking on a otherwise bare bare river bed which yielded a
fabulous contrast. And then it thinned again and the bed became sandy
and I was reminded that a couple of kms ffrm deskit was the Hunder
desert . in the horizon I could see big wide wisps of dust rising.
Can u visualize the sight,....mountains surrounding, a wide wide plain ,a major part was the river bed, a ribbon wide river in the perfect shade of blue, a huge huge idol of the Maitreya Buddha on the horizon, and the sand rising like golden dust… the gold was the sand highlighted by the setting sun. btw the monastery is also a venue of the sunset point.
Can u visualize the sight,....mountains surrounding, a wide wide plain ,a major part was the river bed, a ribbon wide river in the perfect shade of blue, a huge huge idol of the Maitreya Buddha on the horizon, and the sand rising like golden dust… the gold was the sand highlighted by the setting sun. btw the monastery is also a venue of the sunset point.
We reached the village of Deskit which is a pretty one and checked into
a beautiful hotel - Stendel. I rushed to the washroom. The husband hit
the bed. Waves of nausea washed over me and once it was all out I felt
great. The daughter gave a repeat performance and now cleansed of
everything inside us, we felt good. Like an awesome wife and mom, I
tucked the husband and daughter into bed and snuggled in too. We must have slept for a good
2 hrs. Waking up we all felt as good as new.
A warm dinner under
our belt and plans for tomorrow emerged. We travel to turtuk tomorrow,
arrive in deskit again, the day after and then go back to leh via
khardungla. I can only hope and pray that we escape the ordeal over Khardungla.
The
husband just announced that the power will go off at 11.00 pm. It is
10.49 now. If the power comes back , it will be at 11.10 or then only
tomorrow evening.









- on K top... landslide se pareshaan





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