Day 5. Stranded in Heaven but Loving it!

TOYOTA Leh Jayenge
Day 5.
Stranded in Heaven. On Tenterhooks but loving it!
19th May 2010, Wednesday
Place : Srinagar to Sonamarg (Destined for Kargil but not to be!)

With a late night report of the Drass area still snowed out and infested with landslides due to the incessant rain, we were hopeful that good weather would prevail the next day for making our journey to Kargil possible. Early morning calls were made to the local Traffic Control Police, the Kargil outpost, The Leh Deputy Commandant, to check the situation on ground. The response was positive as work was on to remove the obstructions. The morning did welcome us with bright sunshine which made everyone feel good as this would facilitate faster clearance work.

By now, our respective spouses had also reached Leh, a day before our scheduled arrival, as had been previously planned. An extra day because they needed to acclimatize whereas we would do that naturally as we climbed up. They were also concerned and worried as they had been looking forward to welcoming us when we arrived in Leh and of course enjoy the sights around, with us.

We got some good news about the clearing being possible late afternoon. We enjoyed the breakfast and that comprised of hand tossed omlettes cooked by N.K with his love and culinary skills and then spent time in the bright sunshine in the sprawling garden of our hosts residence, clicking some whacky photographs and savoring their hospitality. At around noon, we heard that there was a likelihood of the passage opening late afternoon so we decided to leave immediately as it would take us 3 hours to get to the location and the hope of passing through immediately, thereby saving precious time.

Saying our goodbyes to the hosts, we hit the road with S.W. at the wheel, and exited Srinagar by traversing the periphery of the Dal lake which simmered in the bright sunshine, with the Four Chinars and the snow capped mountains making the view breathtaking. The meter read 7333 km.



Leg 1. At the Wheel, S.W.

The narrow winding streets of Srinagar were congested and it was a pity that with the kind of flow and tourism, almost around the year, the Government had done little to make the exit route more convenient. We took the Dragryung Road to Highway NH1D which goes all the way to Leh.

The drive was memorable with the Sind river on one side and the panoramic snowcapped mountains forming the backdrop. The road was a dual carriage, with broken patches caused by the vagaries of recent bad weather. An hour and a half away from Srinagar, we stopped at a roadside Dhaba at Kangan Saran, for some Aloo parathas and Onion Pakoras. Onion Pakoras seem to be a specialty and much in demand menu option almost at every dhaba. The Sind was flowing by the dhaba and eating here, sitting outside was something else. We had a great system for sharing our expenses. We had entrusted N.K with the responsibility of paying for all expenses enroute and had given him an equal share of money to start with. This went into an envelop which he carried all the time
( Our UBL or Union Bank of Lefafa) and this became our constant ATM.





Leg 2. V.S at the Wheel.

We had time on hand so we decided to stop at another spot by the gushing and frothing Sind to click some pictures on the rocks close to the bank of the river, just alongside the highway.

We crossed Sonamarg and 10 km on, we were stopped as there had been another landslide. This was much smaller in comparison and was being cleared. We were by now trying to figure things out by calling various people who would give us an accurate assessment of the situation. All our phones, except V.S with a BSNL connection, were not working now. No Vodafone, no Tata Indicom. Wonder what happened to the Zoo Zoo’s! Thanks to BSNL we were still connected to the world including our spouses in Leh. The good news was that the weather being good, and the passage being blocked now for three days, the clearance work would happen expeditiously but the bad news was that there were fresh landslides.

We were directed to the SHO at the Police outpost in Sonamarg to get the correct status but even he was not able to connect to Drass, where it was all happening. We turned back and spoke to the outpost as well as people in Leh and Srinagar and the common news unfortunately was that nothing was likely to happen tonight so we reconciled and headed in search of a suitable accommodation for the night. The SHO was busy doing his job by traversing the stretch between Sonamarg and the landslide area as hundreds of vehicles carrying valuable provisions were stranded on this side, all queuing up and impatiently waiting for the good news. Our only connection with the SHO, in his absence was a young, policemen, Shabbir, at guard with a very disarming smile who couldn’t help but helplessly smile each time we approached for the latest news on the passage and his boss the SHO.

A Tip for travelers: Traveling at this time in May is not always the best thing to do. Perhaps end May or early June would be a better option.

We managed to find a two bedroom cottage of JK Tourism Development Corporation which though at a picturesque location was ill equipped with low voltage, dirty towels, no heaters, no T.V reception and hardly any infrastructure. So much for Government administration in the tourism space.

Forlorn but still very upbeat and high spirited, we decided to make the best of the beautiful location that Sonamarg is, by walking in the mountains and climbing up to a small glacial flow. It was dinner time soon and with hopes still high we drove down to a decent restaurant in a Hotel and enjoyed the Tandoori Chicken and Dal with some great crisp rotis. The weather was cold at 9 degrees and a strong cold breeze which had us shivering by now. V.S, still under clad, still refused to divulge the source of all the warmth he could retain! We were on Tenterhooks alright, but loving it!

We turned in early after the usual round of mirth and leg pulling, which certainly lightened the end of the day’s proceedings. We spoke to the SHO at 11pm, just before turning in and he was hopeful of the next day being favorable. He also promised us an update at 8 am the next morning.

P.S. Till the time, N.K’s Vodafone network worked, the mystery of the MISSed calls still continued!