Turtuk

It was pitch dark and I was waiting for the last meal of the day at Shayok home stay's DIY gazeebo. LED bulbs at subsidized rates by the Government of India had reached this part of the country as informed by a local. The host was in the kitchen and the essence of the South Asian Spices could assure me that I was in the Indian Subcontinent.

Hiraeth brought me my Tea. No denying the fact that the number of the Thankyous we Indians say while we are traveling, if inculcated in our regular lives, this country will be a different experience to live in. While thanking Hiraeth for the tea, I expressed my curiosity if there was a third person in the kitchen who was disseminating the essence of the saute. It was his wife in the kitchen.

The bridge of the village across
Shayok River. 

Hiraeth was a Government school teacher and used to help his wife in the daily chores in the evening. He had studied English Literature at the Jamia University in Delhi. After having lived in the capital for almost 5 years he shifted back to his home and later got married. His wife who was now expecting their first baby needed more of his involvement in the home stay business. Not known to many travelers till the last decade, they stayed in the Northern most village on the Indian mainland. A few kilometers away is Pakistan. After serving the dinner the couple left for their home which was in the same lane a few properties away.

Pakistan is just a few kilometers away.
I have always been fascinated with Pakistan. after growing up in North India and after having met beautiful and interesting people from Delhi, Himachal, Punjab and of course my homeland Jammu and Kashmir, I have developed an understanding of what the partition of 1947 would  have costed the ones who suffered. Had there been no partition, I would have not been really interested to seek and insight into this country that we call as Pakistan. My grandfather worked in Pakistan before the partition. It was the nature of his job which made him travel extensively. So here I am assuming how the bus journey from Sialkot to Jammu would have been similar to a bus journey from Delhi to Chandigarh today.  But in the current time if I reciprocate the journey from Jammu to Sialkot, I am certain that we will be sighting green flags all around in our imagination. No surprises that most of the Indians would have not even heard of the town Sialkot (which is the manufacturer of maximum bagpipes in the world) in present day Pakistan. Interestingly, I came across an incident when a family member residing in Hyderabad (India) was asked to submit a copy of his Indian passport to parcel some goods from Hyderabad to Jammu. Well, the courier guy was then informed that Jammu is in India. Is ignorance really a bliss?

Conditioned as an Indian so far, I will not deny the fact that I was a little scared that night; dismayed. Maybe the over thinker in me got activated and made me believe that I might be questioned by anyone for not calling myself Siddhiqui. The next moment I woke up to the Aazaan from the nearby mosque and it was right before the dawn. The time when the only active members of any village would be the cattle. Leaving a message for the host next to the Holy Quran on my table I checked out of the accommodation.

Off to school in the valley.

There were no travel agents in the village to book me a ride to the closest town and further cnnecting me to Leh. There was one spot from where some limted cars passed. Waiting at that spot the same morning, I happened to hit an interesting conversation with a young man in his 40s . He pointed towards a peak and remarked it as Pakistan. Well, that close!

Paparazzi!

After the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, This village was one of the very few villages that were undertaken by the Indian Army.
My proximity to the neighboring country took me back to this funny incident when the dating application on my phone last year in Jammu was reaching out and detecting only Pakistani Women. so was I using Tinder across the border, internationally?

At the local taxi stand

The young man in his 40s shared his honest belief that how difficult was it to change from one nationality to another,"Our currencies changed, National Anthem, leaders,Army, All changed "
He informed me that this had lead to a major issue of Identity crisis in the village. Maybe that is the reason why the kids I had met last evening at the local polo ground of the village had their best cricket players comprising of players from both India and Pakistan, The first Indian player they quoted was Kohli after a bunch of their favorite Pakistan players topping their respective lists.

Khardungla was rough unlike this guy who drove me to Leh.

Almost half an hour of a sensible interaction with this man I got into a shared SUV. Sharing the ride with all the locals hailing from the same terrain and heading to Leh. All were students heading to college after spending a good time at home during Eid. On the front seat to me was a young girl clad in black burka. Zainab was a student of Science t the Undergraduate level in the government colllege at Leh.  Accompanied by her brother who was a doctor in Srinagar.

Passing through the barren valleys of the Karakoram range, I was introduced to the recent tracks of Coke Studio Pakistan- season 9. The only lady in the car was requesting when the track was to be changed and what track had to be played next.  3 hours post our start we were ascending towards Khardungla pass when I experienced my first live snowfall. Zainab turned around and asked if she was expected to shut the window, which I didn't want owing to the surreal experience. Khardungla was rough to us. Delayed by the snowfall we reacheD Leh at 10 in the night.


I did not exchange any numbers and e-mail ids with anyone I had met during this ride. I instead wanted to keep it sacred.

Turtuk made me meet some really sweet, honest, pure and safe people till now. (provided one follows some norms made by the Balti clan.)

Norms, Conditions, Requests, Rules, Ideology, Ideals or Hegemony.
Whatever you may want to call it!

https://youtu.be/GMxillp487w