Two years ago when I wrote The Circle of Life, I signed off wondering when I'll visit Ladakh next. As it turns out, it didn't take long for me turn on my heels and head to the mountains once again; this time with a larger group of Ladakh enthusiasts.
I recently returned from an eighteen-day-long trip of Jammu and Kashmir. This was my third, and thus far, my longest visit to J&K. Over these eighteen days, I covered by road, Kashmir, Ladakh and Zanskar. For the completely uninitiated, J&K is the northernmost state of India. It's disputed territory, and the ceasefire line called (Line of Control), runs right through the state and serves as a de-facto border of sorts, so there'll be many who will argue against that last statement I made. Let us, for the purpose of this discussion, consider that as a purely geographical, and not a political statement. The state is as riddled with mountain ranges and pristine lakes as it is with conflict and complex humanitarian situations. A land so beautiful is obviously coveted, ergo fought over. In these few days that I spent in the region, I experienced a heady mix of all of the above, leaving me with a taste in my mouth that would be hard to forget.
I've always loved road travel. I feel that the slower one travels, the more one learns about the land. I'd personally prefer to walk through these mountains if my body could take it. But a long road journey in the hills, aside from throwing up the meal you indiscriminately gorged on, also throw up a bunch of stories and interesting anecdotes you're left narrating for life. This story has a number of characters. The six main characters are myself, Mohsin, Ruchira, Shaoli (aka Shao), Manav and Pathik (aka PP). Prashant (aka Roy) and Shagun make a short appearance. Khalid and Hussain (aka Balli) light up the proceedings towards the end. Also thrown in are a motley crew of other characters such as Rohit the civil engineer-cum-amateur ornithologist, John the travelling septuagenarian and Jigme, who Mohsin correctly describes as the coolest guy in all of Ladakh (that expression really loses meaning sometimes in a place like that).
On to why this book is titled thus. This being my third trip to J&K overall, and my second trip to Ladakh, gave me in a lot of places, a deep sense of familiarity; almost like a dream I'd woken up from and fallen right back into. Many of the places that I visited, I recalled distinctly from my last trip there. It was nice to see that many of these places hadn't changed much from the last time I went there. Déjà vu literally means "already seen", but that I feel, is a far cry from what I felt when I revisited this beautiful land. Déjà vu for me, means return to a land that I felt welcomed in, again.
Over the next few posts, I will chronicle sights, sounds and stories from our long journey through Kashmir, Ladakh and Zanskar.
Let me begin where I left with The Circle of Life:
"A travelling fool is better than a sitting wise man"
I recently returned from an eighteen-day-long trip of Jammu and Kashmir. This was my third, and thus far, my longest visit to J&K. Over these eighteen days, I covered by road, Kashmir, Ladakh and Zanskar. For the completely uninitiated, J&K is the northernmost state of India. It's disputed territory, and the ceasefire line called (Line of Control), runs right through the state and serves as a de-facto border of sorts, so there'll be many who will argue against that last statement I made. Let us, for the purpose of this discussion, consider that as a purely geographical, and not a political statement. The state is as riddled with mountain ranges and pristine lakes as it is with conflict and complex humanitarian situations. A land so beautiful is obviously coveted, ergo fought over. In these few days that I spent in the region, I experienced a heady mix of all of the above, leaving me with a taste in my mouth that would be hard to forget.
I've always loved road travel. I feel that the slower one travels, the more one learns about the land. I'd personally prefer to walk through these mountains if my body could take it. But a long road journey in the hills, aside from throwing up the meal you indiscriminately gorged on, also throw up a bunch of stories and interesting anecdotes you're left narrating for life. This story has a number of characters. The six main characters are myself, Mohsin, Ruchira, Shaoli (aka Shao), Manav and Pathik (aka PP). Prashant (aka Roy) and Shagun make a short appearance. Khalid and Hussain (aka Balli) light up the proceedings towards the end. Also thrown in are a motley crew of other characters such as Rohit the civil engineer-cum-amateur ornithologist, John the travelling septuagenarian and Jigme, who Mohsin correctly describes as the coolest guy in all of Ladakh (that expression really loses meaning sometimes in a place like that).
On to why this book is titled thus. This being my third trip to J&K overall, and my second trip to Ladakh, gave me in a lot of places, a deep sense of familiarity; almost like a dream I'd woken up from and fallen right back into. Many of the places that I visited, I recalled distinctly from my last trip there. It was nice to see that many of these places hadn't changed much from the last time I went there. Déjà vu literally means "already seen", but that I feel, is a far cry from what I felt when I revisited this beautiful land. Déjà vu for me, means return to a land that I felt welcomed in, again.
Over the next few posts, I will chronicle sights, sounds and stories from our long journey through Kashmir, Ladakh and Zanskar.
Let me begin where I left with The Circle of Life:
"A travelling fool is better than a sitting wise man"
No comments:
Post a Comment