The Meadow of Gold

Sonmarg, meaning “Meadow of Gold”, is an alpine valley lying in the vicinity of some great Himalayan glaciers and is flanked by the snow covered peaks of Sirbal, Kolhoi and Amarnath. Located at 2700 m above sea level, this picturesque place is famous as a tourist destination, characterized by breathtakingly beautiful meadows in summers and gets covered by a thick sheet of ice in the winters. Sonmarg had its own share of calamities, a park newly constructed by J&K Tourism lay buried under the debris from the recent landslide and only a part of its boundary wall was visible.

After Sonmarg, we had to cross a bridge which was badly damaged in the flash floods of a few days back, so much so that its railings had been washed away and the bridge itself was covered with slush. However, it was just strong enough to let us pass and we continued on our way.

Baltal

Running at an elevation of 3500 m, Zoji La (La = Pass) is a high mountain pass connecting Srinagar to Ladakh. The pass is about 9 KM long, is more like a mud path, quite steep at places and is not for those with a faint heart. Even if I travel through that pass everyday, I will not stop getting scared. I was wondering how Asraf, our driver, was keeping his cool over the edge to nowhere, but when I caught a glimpse of his face in the rear view mirror, he looked pretty creeped out himself, and this after crossing this pass 300 times (by his own account) !

There was hardly any traffic on the road that day so most of the time it was just us versus Mother Nature. As Taurus went higher and higher, we held on to the arm rests of our seats, avoided looking down as much as possible, and gave a shriek of pure unadulterated horror from time to time. On other occasions, we half hung outside the windows and clicked away to photographic glory. The view outside was glorious and we could see the valley of Baltal a few light-years below us and majestic snow-clad peaks at a distance. At a few places the snow reached so close to the road that we could almost feel cold currents coming from it; had a stony look to it and looked more like marble than just frozen water.

The road still needed repair at places and workers from the BRO were on their duty to keep the lifeline of Ladakh open. Places like these bring a sense of respect in the heart, both for the power of nature in front of which we are nothing but puny nobody, and the grit of human spirit which defies all challenges and can carve a path on the breast of the mightiest of mountains ..

As we crossed the pass and reached normal roads, we took a breath of relief, stopped Taurus by the roadside and jumped out in It was a small valley with sprawling grasslands. There were numerous sheep grazing around and a lone shepherd girl guarding her flock. We took photographs, gave her some biscuits and went on …

Momos At 11000 Feet !

These words etched on a signboard made us jump in joy. We had reached Gumri, an isolated military station which had a cafe serving momos to the civilians ! This was our first interaction with some army officers who were known to the captain and over plates of delicious momos, they were kind enough to tell us more about the place and its importance in the war history of India. Gumri was the focal point of the Battle of Zoji La in 1948 and the War Memorial on the other side of the road is a silent testimony of the supreme sacrifice made by our brave soldiers to carve out and protect the present boundaries of India.

Gumri is covered under many feet of snow during winters and the temperature reaches 40 degrees below zero. Even in such hostile conditions and under constant threat from the nature and enemy, our jawans and officers stand guard to protect our motherland.

Getting a first hand look at the workers from BRO and these brave soldiers, I felt a pang of shame for being an ever whining, ever dissatisfied IT wallah. Our air conditioned offices have weakened our spines so much that we have lost the capacity to appreciate the work and life we live. I am not sure that I will give a good account of myself if I were to serve at their place…

Lunch with the Bakarwals

After getting fed and much pampered, we said profuse thanks to our kind hosts in uniform and started again. The views soon changed from breathtaking to absolutely stunning and we decided to stop at a grassland by the stream where a few Bakarwal families lived. We decided to camp at this beautiful place and have our lunch.

Bakarwals are nomadic tribal spread across the Pir Panjal and Himalayas and are mainly shepherds. They live in tents and keep moving from one place to another. Their gritty features are quite photogenic and hence we spent quite some time capturing their portraits. However they have this annoying habit for pestering for bakshish (tips) and after a point it starts getting on one’s nerves. So after the photo-shoot and the lunch we quickly packed up and set off again to what was going to be our last stop of the day.

Camped at the Paradise

The place where we finally set up the camp was a place to which no words or photographs can do justice, though am going to try both. It was a quaint little valley, so picturesque that one would stop breathing at the first look of it. Snow covered mountains flanked it on all sides, and the vast grazing lands were covered with the greenery of the summer. The serpentine Kargil-Skardu road passed along a mountain river (Indus ?) and crossed it with an iron bridge. A small mountain stream passed just next to where Taurus was parked and the whole set-up seemed like a cosmic conspiracy to bring the paradise at our feet.

Am I overdoing it ? Whatever ! For the records, there was another smaller dera of Bakarwals on the other side of the road near the river and at our end, another military camp kept a watch on us. We were going to have fun !

Click Here for Better Resolution Photographs of this trip on Flickr