Chapter 13: Pride march on the VIJAYPATH

26-Aug (Sun)

Srinagar

Kargil

Srinagar -   Gandarbal (Alt 5249) - Sonmarg(Alt 8694) – ZOZI LA (Alt 11575) - Drass(Alt 10170)  - Kargil (Alt 8858)

7.15 AM

8 PM

214 KMS

Route map for the day

Srinagar To Kargil

Day dawned gloomy and there was a slight drizzle. Weather was much cooler than Jammu had been and much more pleasant weather. The day promised to be exciting with a fulfilling drive.  We loaded the luggage.

As I cranked the car, it started giving out ICE shaking sound from the engine. Thought it was scary for a moment, it settled down to the normal levels in less than a moment.

We followed the road (the Boulevard Road) that winds its way all along the Eastern bank of the Dal Lake which at this time was sleeping, a light mist covering its surface. Lake cleaning was in progress. It was a tranquil and memorable scene, much at odds with the history and present of Kashmir.

Soon, the lakefront ended and we were riding thru the suburb of Habak and Khaja Bagh, looking for a place where to have breakfast. Somewhere short of Ganderbal, we stopped for a break and a meal. Parathas, puris, chholey and tea – typical North Indian breakfast was pretty tasty. We hardly knew that this was going to take us all the way till our dinner time! Drizzle had stopped by then.

Sonmarg: Soon after Ganderbal, the plains ended and the hills started. With the start of the hills came the first sight of tourism.  The winding and at times rough road led thru the famed Sonmarg valley.  Sonmarg is closer to 9000 ft in altitude. The power was tapering off and the car gasped for air as it moved ahead.

We stopped for a photo break right at Sonmarg. It is easy to imagine why this place is so famous. Pine-covered hills on both sides with a gushing snow-fed river in the middle made for a classic Alpine scene. The air was superbly bracing. I hardly could say that I missed my wife very much here.

In winters, it would be fully covered with snow and a haven for skiing. It was indeed a lovely place. This was the location for innumerable Hindi movies of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s before the trouble in the valley shifted the romantic scenes to Himachal Pradesh and other parts of Europe. A small part of Kashmir and by extension, India, died then. We also came across Kashmiri lads playing cricket.

We drove past the headquarters of the High Altitude Mountain Warfare School. These are among the best Alpine troops anywhere in the world, even rivaling the Alpine Korps of the Wehrmacht in WWII.



Curves on the ascent to Sonmarg



Dezire... guaging the challenge ahead

Sonmarg

Baltal is a camping ground for pilgrims, 15 km north of Sonmarg on the Sindh River at the base of Zozila pass in Jammu and Kashmir (India). This little valley is only a day's journey away from and provides a shorter high-altitude alternate route to the sacred cave of Amaranth. It was a deserted place by then as the Amaranth pilgrims had receded. The tents were still visible with the recent trodden trek path leading deep into the valley.

Look our for the white tents: Amarnath Base camp at BALTAL

View of 14 km trek route to Amarnath Cave Shrine beginning at BALTAL

Sighted many armymen in this form, Bandi posing for one such pic at beginning of ZOZILA @ BALTAL

Zozila Pass: Road deviates at Baltal and leads to Zozila. The road starts climbing almost immediately on entering the valley. About 10 odd kms short of the pass, the scenery changes abruptly - from fir meadows a la Kashmir Ki Kali to naked black soil almost akin to moraine. The drizzle early in morning had left the surface wet and it and we were climbing up but nothing to break our progress. Soon, the snow line started, the air became colder and colder as Zozila came closer.

Landslides here and there were cleared on the approach to Zozila was not a nightmare. Yes, it was bad going but nowhere near terrible. There were very few slush stretch but it led into paved way till the dip on the other side of Zozila. As we was nearing the Zozila pass (being the first test for my car) I had to use only first and second gear and the speed was as low as 15 to 20 km/ph. But, otherwise ascend was smooth. We crossed a group of motorcyclists, one of whom pointed us to turn right. That was a juncture without any road signs. Later came to know that the left road was horrendous and was not motorable for a sedan. Avinash at a later point in the day shared his last year’s experience of taking that route, a U turn because of traffic jam and the time that he saved!  We crossed Zozila Pass without any great strain on the Car. FIRST TEST OF MY CAR WITH THE ENTIRE LUGGAGE WAS COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY.

Push it Bandi.. Push it: Bandi on wheels at ZOZILA

If anyone had to pick up AMS, this was the altitude. NOW ONWARDS TILL WE DECEND TO MANALI, WE WERE ALWAYS ABOVE 10,000 FT. ALTITUDE AND THROUGHOUT and none of demonstrated any signs of AMS. (It was the same throughout the journey till Manali)

Right at the end of the pass, was a signboard of WELCOME TO LADAKH REGION.  We stopped just for a couple of minutes to take a few photos and pushed on. The road was not that bad now but again, at no place did any of us feel any sense of unease about crossing any part of the puddles or slush.

Had a tea break and some photo session at Matayen village enroute. Also had good time taking pics with the kids at that place. All way through from our entry into Ladakh region, we came across kids (mostly of construction workers camped enroute) . Had good time sharing chocolates that we had taken just for them.

Epithept at ZOZILA WAR MEMORIAL

Entered Drass region before Noon and got the first sight of the battlefield of 1999 war with Pak. We missed the deviation to Tiger Hill from where we can have a distant (40 KMS away) sight of the majestic Tiger Hills. Took a turn back to that point (MUSHKO VALLEY)  and the road to Tiger Hills.  So were the other ranges where our army had fought with the enemy.

Road leading to TIGER HILLS: Off the limits for civilians

Centre of the picture: TIGER HILLS: The latest entry into Indi's pride List

Apart from the fact that Drass was in the centre of action during the Kargil face-off with our neighbours, this place is also famous for being the second-most coldest inhabited place on earth; As history records it, on 14th January of 2011, the temperature here had dipped to sixty degrees centigrade below zero!!!

We kept on moving  on towards Kargil after a brief photo shoot and one crossed Tololing range and reached KARGIL War Memorial. I had wore the INDIA printed T Shirt that day specifically and offered a minute of silence to our brave soldiers at the Memorial and then visited the Museum and the Souvenier Shop. The soldiers over there were very cordial. They indicated the important landmarks, which at that time used to be on the lips of almost the whole country – Tololing, Tiger Hill et al. I bought one T Shirt which reminded the 1999 war and it was the priceless memento of this trip. Also picked few memorabilia for near and dear ones. The soldiers there were very cordial.

From what I read on Wikipedia on the Kargil War, I could see them trying to fathom the difficulties that one could face there and how the men must have fought there. We went into the museum and looked at the maps. I could understand that it was one of the most difficult ones conducted by an Army and Air Force, anywhere in the world. The remnants of enemy ordnance by way of twisted pieces of mortar tails, shell fragments and odd detritus generated lots of curiosity and much click-click of cameras.

KARGIL WAR MEMORIAL

Anecdote from a fellow traveler

“There were other visitors too and in typical Indian fashion. They removed their footwear before entering the museum, thus conferring on it the status of a hindu temple. It is at such time that makes you marvel at this crazy mixture of cultures that makes us Indians. We think nothing of being inhuman to our fellow beings (Being a Bangalorean, I come across this behavior daily) yet can bestow such honour on the dead. I saw some moist eyes too, especially among the ladies who must have been extrapolating their husbands/sons/sons – in – law in the names of the fallen and in the photos of the braves that lined the walls. I saw one middle-aged lady being comforted by her husband; perhaps the gravitas of the place overwhelmed her or maybe, she must have lost someone close to her in that mad conflict. I did not want to say anything to her for fear of becoming more emotional than I already was. “

All war memorials, more so war graves, the world over witnesses such heart-rending scenes. Parents, in-laws, wives, husbands, children, friends – all come to reminisce about the times they spent in the company of the dear departed. Some weep quietly, some cannot control their tears and go away to a secluded corner to seek communion with the departed soul, others appear to be overcome by shock while still some others shake their heads at the immense waste of it all - the flower of a country’s youth cut down by the circumstance of playing the Great Game.

As a couple of tear drops rolled down my cheek, I paid my private homage to my fallen soldiers in my own way.. by resolving yet again to stand true to their faith in me, to respect them as I have always done. Honour is Everything. I appreciated whole heartedly the efforts of media to keep them motivated by taking the civilian heroes to meet the real heroes of India.

I hope the message was well received

After paying my homage at the War Memorial, it was time to move on. Gradually we reached Kargil and as I had read, it was quite different from Drass sector (almost a replica of Srinagar). The last stretch of road was newly laid and the drive was awesome !! cant compare to any speed drives that we had anywhere till now !

<VIDEO LINK - watch out for this space >

We hardly recognized the hamlets Kharbu , Hardus and Thasgam went by, we did not stop there but carried on to Kargil. It was getting late. By this time everyone was tired and dreary; the drive was long and we had climbed a lot for a day, especially, because all of us were new to high altitude.

There was an interesting incident then. We came across a narrow turn and the traffic had piled up to cross over. The cleaners from the trucks on the opposite side swiftly took reverse (almost a queue length of 15 trucks had to do this from the tail end). From the expert dexterity of the crew, it was obvious that such cases were not uncommon here!

Kargil:  We reached Kargil outskirts at twilight. We took some time for us to find the place where we were to put up for the night. We parked our car in the district hospital campus and checked into PARADISE HOTEL in front of the hospital, unloaded the luggage and adjusted ourselves in the two-room set. That night, we were damn hungry as breakfast had stretched well till 7.00 pm! Dinner was Dal/ Roti.  

After dinner, spent few minutes to hang around in the evening weather of Kargil.  There was an interesting incident then. We had to get some more luggages from the car, and post dinner we just walked to Car. To our surprise… the rear window was open. Thank God. It was our own mistake of not rolling up the window. All the things inside the car was intact, and prayed once again for having bestowed us the wisdom to leave a few things to take back post dinner..

In all this excitement… the river flowed with a muted roar, the traffic had fallen silent, the stars were out and there was a slight breeze, cool and comforting. I prayed for favourable weather and retired for the night.

That night I had plans of taking some interesting snaps of the moon. The sky was so clear; one that I had not seen for a long-long time. But we felt so damn tired… I decided that I will not miss this in my next trip. All of us crashed and were happy to get into deep sleep in seconds!