Dear, ..........,
Namaskar. Continuing from where I left off yesterday, my performance and willingness to have a positive attitude would result in my involvement in multiple jobs in the office. If I would be completing my job and any colleague would request for my help, I would always be there with him. On one such occasion, a team was in the process of installing a new system in place of an old one in the studio technical area. This required the pushing off the old one from its place to provide space of the new one. In the process of pushing it, my right hand thumb got crushed under the hardware. The bone was not damaged but the flush portion was in total bloody mess. I had to get first aid and that needed daily cleaning and dressing of the thumb. The progress of recovery was very slow. I continued to be a left hander for all functions where right hand needed to be used. While I was in this state, my boss had other plans. I was nominated for a ten days visit to Ladakh to accompany two programme officers. We were to record programme - music, talks for Ladakhi programme that we broadcast every day at AIR Srinagar. (At that time Ladakh did not have any radio studio of its own) I approached the boss and requested to be dropped for the trip. He did not agree and in turn rebuked me for inventing excuses to shy away from responsibilities. There was another reason for me avoid the responsibility. Ladakh those days used to be a forlorn place. Getting technical help in case any of the equipment misbehaving during the trip was impossible. So I had a fear. Now with the boss not changing his decision, I starting preparing for the trip. I had no alernative.
We three (One Programme officer, one Ladakhi Programme producer and myself) were to travel by bus. It was the month of August as there would only be a small window of two to three months a year in which the travel to Ladakh by bus was possible. The first stop was at Kargil a distance of about 200 Kms. We took a bus early in the morning. We passed through important towns. The first one was Kangan. Next was Sonamarg. At Sonamarg, we stopped for snacks. While waiting at the dabha, (roadside eatery) we heard the Government Halka Radio blaring Pakistan Radio programme to the people in the marketplace through the loud speaker connected to the radio. Halka Radio used to be a government issued radio set pretuned to AIR Srinagar frequency. The radio set would be in the custody of a responsible person. He would switch on the radio during the transmission. The set would work on batteries supplied by a sister department of AIR Srinagar called CLS "Community Listening Scheme" The responsibility of the maintenance of these sets would be with CLS. I called for the caretaker. He happened to be a Kashmiri Pandit from Srinagar on posting there. I asked him why Pakistan Radio broadcast was tuned, he said that the population in the town had pressurized him to retune the set. He said that he had to do it to save himself from the wrath of people. Being a Kashmiri Pandit myself, I could understand his position. He had to do what he had done to save himself. I would like to add here that during our entire trip we did not see or hear even one Halka radio working in the entire region from Sonamarg to Leh and its surrounding areas.
Sonamarg is a very picturesque place. It used to be frequented mostly by day tourists from the country through Srinagar. From Sonamarg, it was a climb up all the time to reach Baltal. Baltal is a place where it snows a lot and the road remains closed to traffic almost for eight months year. When we passed the highest point on the road, we saw snow on both sides of the road. (Every season when the army would start exploring the opening of the road for traffic, it would find the snow piled up to about 30 feet. So instead of clearing the snow from the road, it would bore a tunnel in the snow. With increase in temperatures, the snow would melt and the ceiling of the tunnel would melt off first) After crossing the Baltal top, our next town was Drass. This place is considered to be the second coldest inhabited town in the world. We passed the town and reached Kargil around 3 PM. One surprise here on reaching the town. There was no coolie available to bring the luggage down from the roof of the bus and then carry it to the resting place. We stayed at the rest house. (I do not remember whether we had booked the place in advance.) There was no arrangement for meals at the rest house. We found some dabha outside where we took our dinner. One more interesting feature of this town was that the ladies would be confined to their homes and none would be seen in the marketplace. The people seemed to be observing a strict form of Islam in this area. The Programme officers planned a recording session the next day. We could hardly see any singing in this area. Therefore no singing programme was recorded here. Yes we recorded a couple of recitations made in praise of the Prophet. I took a little time off during the day to visit a local dispensary for getting my wound dressed. When the bandage was removed, I was surprised to see a remarkable recovery. The wound was drying up. I think the low humidity of the place hastened the recovery at a faster speed.
By evening it was decided to take a ride next day by truck to Leh, the capital of Ladakh. There would be lot of truck movement between Srinagar and Leh with goods from Srinagar to Leh. Getting a seat at low prices in the truck was easy with lot of trucks and low passenger traffic. At Kargil, there was a road to Zanskar too. Zanskar is said to be a wonderful place for trekking. I have read about the trip details subsequently but I never ever thought to make this trip myself.
Bye for now. I will describe our next journey from Kargil to Leh tomorrow.
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