The Leh Adventure

15^th June, 2018

0130 hours

Rucksack ready, bag ready. Sandwich ready, M&Ms ready. Plane ready, ATC ready. But hold on, I ain’t ready! Dragging myself out of bed (the couch) and into my room (the main hall) was incredibly tiring. 2 steps and I was done. And then I fell. Back on the bed. Asleep.

0400 hours

Barely making it to the GoAir flight, I ran through security and past my gate. I ran backwards to the gate and fell twice. Thank God there was not another soul at the airport. The GoAir attendant had actually fallen asleep behind the counter and I swiped my ticket and got into the plane. My two fellow travelers had just gotten comfy, when I asked them to get up because I had the window seat. These were the same people I was going to spend the next 10 days with. Look alive, I told myself.

I tried to make small talk the guy and girl next to me, but I instantly fell asleep. Waking up to the sound of birds and the rustling of the wind is what one enjoys. Waking up to the sound of an Indian crowd on a plane in the tiny aisle fighting to get their bags with the hostess begging them to sit down while the plane is still on the runway is just a little worse. I always think to myself, what satisfaction and precious time to these people gain by getting up before its time? But I always enjoy the fights that people get into right before they step off the plane, which always starts with a few insults. It it’s a Delhi crowd,  I’m pretty sure it ends with ‘tu janta nahi mera baap kon hai’ kind of things.

0655 hours

Leh airport is exceptionally tiny. Like really. 5 major airlines with flights from metropolitans, and just a window 0f 5 am-11am (since it is a military area). Two conveyor belts and just one tractor pulling the luggage around. We were almost made to walk to the terminal from the flight but the buses, nay the vans came 15 minutes later. We were met at the airport by our entire crew of instructors, 4 to be exact: GPS aka Gaurav Pratap Singh, Ammu aka Amruta, Manoj Sir aka Manoj Sir and Doc aka Daaankter aka Dr. Dvya Prakash. We met the rest of the participants. In total we were seven, 3 from Bangalore, 3 from Mumbai and one from Kolkata.

0930 hours

Our campsite was incredibly beautiful. On the banks of the Indus, the camp span out for ever. Proper beds and a fully functional kitchen that also served cheesecake were just some brilliant parts of a terrific camp experience. After breakfast we had an ice-breaker session where we spoke about ourselves, our dreams and aspirations, struggles and fears and many more things. And then, we slept till lunch.

1331 hours

Eat. Sleep. Repeat

1730 hours

That’s when we started going crazy. We were 11500 feet (3500m) above mean sea level, not something that all of us were used to. High altitude sickness (something we made up) is a deadly condition:

Name	Symptoms	Problems Caused	Cure
High Altitude Sickness (NOT CONTAGIOUS) (INCREDIBLY EASY TO CATCH)	Going absolutely crazy, making weird noises, slapping others for no reason, not being able to control your mouth. Also, headache, vomiting, sleeping problems, severe diarrhea, less appetite and also death. (Just kidding about the last)	It can prove fatal not only to the person but more so to the people around the person. Person with condition will most likely be repeatedly slapped in the face or insulted for something they say.	Patient should be isolated to make sure he/she does not get slapped in the face. Drinking water is recommended. NO ALCOHOL, ESPECIALLY RUM. (clinically proven)

Source: WebMD (So you know it’s true) (Just kidding. No)

Kids were puking left and right. The toilets were full and the drains clogged. I am pretty sure the height of the Indus river fell by about 3 inches in this whole fiasco of a night.

16^th June, 2018

(Bunk the army thing: that was highly unnecessary).

The day began with more cases of high altitude sickness. The doctor was running out of medicines and was overwhelmed with the number of sick kids and their sicknesses. He had to go to some shady market and had to buy new drugs, and we weren’t even on the second day of the camp.

Today was more acclimatizing, but I had some speculation. Do we really need this? Its not like kids are getting sick or something? Are they? Anyway, we were going to the Shay Palace and the Thicksey Monastery.

The Shay Palace is located 15 km away from main Leh city. This palace was used by kings as a summer retreat. Built in 1655, it is now in ruins and covered with sand. We saw a huge Buddha in the middle of the palace, and smaller rooms hosting Buddhist artifacts, mostly statues. But what was incredibly interesting was the fact that we climbed the ruins, to the top. There was no fixed path, just broken structures. Serious parkour is what ensued thereafter, with people jumping about between rocks. The sides of the top were incredibly steep. On the way down, one group (mine) took a wrong turn and ended up on the other side of the ruins, but that was quickly re traceable.

Next stop was the Thikse Monastrey, 19 km away from main Leh City. It is the largest gompa in Ladakh and is situated on the top of a hill. Surrounded by restaurants, it contains artifacts, statues and religious hand- written books. There are many other important figures in Buddhism, many I didn’t know of. Its more than just Gautum Buddha that they consider special. There are also different forms and sects of Buddhism, and lots of people veer of the mainstream ICSE-textbook-information paths, and into these different forms.

This next part has got me excited. We went to the Druk White Lotus School, or commonly known as Rancho’s school. It was a normal boarding school, until the 2009 movie ‘3 Idiots’ completely changed the face of the school. Only one scene was shot here that you can actually see as a visitor. It’s the scene where the person Chatur had gone to the wall to unload, and two kids did something. The others thought it was a waste of time, but that wasn’t the case for me.

17^th June, 2018

Exceptionally brilliant day was the 17^th of June, for it was time to hike! The Stok village was our starting point, and from there we would go for a 4-kilometer trek, to test how each one of us could handle the climb. It was the same pass we could be climbing the next day, but we took a different route that day.

The river flowed beside us, and we were surrounded by mountains on all four sides. These mountains at that altitude (somewhere around 11500 ft) weren’t the snowy, grassy or rocky kind. There were covered in layers of sand, with the occasional boulder and piece of dry wood. We saw a very old observation point, a stone structure used by messengers and soldiers during times of war. It wasn’t very difficult, and I was feeling confident about the expedition, but all this confidence was shattered when our head guide told us it was going to be 5 times harder.

Since the Stok palace/museum was closed for lunch, we went back to our camp. The rest of the day was free, with exercise and football, followed by a half hour of packing and rechecking. After a full meal, we were dismissed, with an early wake up call. We were set.

18^th June, 2018

With a wake-up call of 0630 and bag-call (made up word) at 0700 and an exercise call at 0715, we started the day with a packed morning. In the Maruthi Eeco by 0915, we went back to the Stok Village, where we would start on the same trail, but this time the trail led to somewhere more exciting than an old post- it led to the glacier and the Stok Kangri Summit (6153m).

We walked along the river and drank its not-so-contaminated water. A couple of us raced ahead, while some walked at their pace, bringing up the rear to the group of 4 instructors, 7 kids, 2 cooks, 2 horsemen and 13 horses. The ones who were ahead (including me) got to explore the off-trail paths which meant running/ climbing down to the river and climbing up the sandy hills. As soon as we reached the campsite, we immediately started to set up camp. That included 5 tents to sleep in, one dining/community tent and one kitchen tent. The campsite was called Changma, and its was slightly elevated as compared to the river flowing. We would have to climb down to use the water, whether it was to drink or wash utensils. Washing utensils was by far the toughest part of the expedition. At 2030 hours every night, the sun having already set a while ago, we were made to wash our utensils in the absolutely freezing water. It took some time, but we were able to complete the task.

Since we were three guys, we would have to share one tent made for two. That was absolutely impossible, and so I volunteered to sleep in the community tent. It was pretty cold, but the -20 degree sleeping bags did their job. Initially, the dining tent was not designed for sleeping by which I mean we pitched it on an uneven slope. I kept rolling down and had to put my rucksack (also homeless by choice) in front of me, to stop me from rolling down to far.

19^th June, 2018

We woke up to sound of the river running down extremely fast and the clouds and mist setting on the mountain. A fresh layer of snow was seen on the tops of these hills, and it was expected to precipitate that day. We started the day with a healthy breakfast consisting of Nutella and bread, and less healthy items such as omelets, fruits and boiled eggs.

As we walked through the valley, we saw a natural water purifier. Water directly from the glacier had reached this valley, and it was filtered by sand and stones on the way. It was extremely clean and we had no problem drinking it.  We even filled a plastic bottle with its water and wrote with marker “Bottled at 15f000ft”. Now comes the exciting part.

Across the river there was a big piece of ice that hadn’t melted, and a friend and me were determined to touch it. We each took different routes. Mine took me across stones, slippery due to the presence of water (off course) and moss. I walked across it and slipped. I was able to fall on both sides, completely drenching my shoes and pants up to the ankle. After that, I tried a different approach. I bent down and put my hands on the rocks as well. That prevented me from being off balanced. The piece of ice was small, but it was worth the perils of the trail. Now, that I think of it, I wasn’t that bad. Obviously, by saying that I would be lying. We needed to be rescued by an instructor. The funnier part of the story is we were listening to the song ‘Nadiya se dariya’ while this was going on!

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As predicted, it started to rain that day. It started with droplets of water, then briefly turned to powdery snow and then finally we were pelted by pieces of hail. We walked in silence to our second camp, Mankarmo, where a hot lunch was waiting, available after putting up the tents.

Putting up those tents was hard for one person. It was even harder to do it while wearing gloves, to protect one from the bitter cold. None of my tent mates had arrived. So, no people, no gloves, but pitching the tents was the only way to fully earn ones lunch (according to an instructor). By the end of this debacle I couldn’t feel my hands (now white as a sheet) and ended up dropping a steel plate in the river.

Judging our condition based on that day’s performance in the rain, we decided it would be best if didn’t move camp to the Stok Kangri Base Camp, 16300ft. We would continue to stay at Mankarmo, and would instead hike to the glacier, 17100 ft above sea level.

20^th June, 2018

We began our hike to the glacier in the morning. We were relieved of our rucksacks, so were walking twice as fast. We were walking on almost flat ground for an hour, from which we started our real ascent. As the group trudged along behind us, an instructor and me raced ahead. We continued climbing, pausing every 15 minutes. Every time I asked our instructor the estimated time of arrival, he kept saying 30 minutes more. With that phrase he made me climb three hills and two ridges until we actually got there.

As we made our near final ascent, we got caught in actual powdery snow. This got me excited, for this was my first snow. The glacier we stood on was covered with rocks, but you could see the ice below them. There was a huge crevasse, which didn’t allow us to go further, on the actual glacier that Stok was famous for. But it was still an achievement for me to go up to 17200ft. I absolutely enjoyed the trek up and didn’t mind the immense pressure I felt on my legs. As we climbed down, we met our group, who were not permitted to go up. After a quick photo session, we climbed down the mountain.

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We reached camp at 1730 and rejoiced the end of our ascents! Our cooks cooked us a brilliant meal, with a cake for the finale! As we all sat in the community tent, the wind continued to spare no one. Other camper’s tents had flown away, and even one of our community tents pegs was uprooted in the process. As the tent violently flapped around, we all scrambled to help, finding rocks and other heavy objects to clamp down the tent. The problem having been dealt with, we were taking our places in the community tent when suddenly an instructor displayed the uprooted peg in his hand and casually said “Kisi ko peg chahiye?”.  Everyone went to sleep with a full stomach and a smile on their face.

21^st June, 2018

The day of the descent had arrived. Everyone was overjoyed for there would be no more climbing, for the descent looked much easier than the ascent. That wasn’t the case for me, for I couldn’t control my pace on the way down. We made our way down the mountain listening to the new Bollywood songs ‘Naah’ and ‘Dil Chori’ and danced to these songs with some students who were on their way up to the top. Our camp doctor was also a rapper, so we made sure we got him to rap for us. We wanted him to be the first rapper to rap at a high altitude and also have a medical degree. We gave him the rap name ‘Daaankter’, and recorded his endeavor.

With an Eeco trip to camp, we were greeted with a cold-water shower and hot watery Maggi prepared on short notice. The rest of the day was relatively free and filled with Uno cards and the making of a chart with all the things we had done so far.

22^nd June, 2018

A morning filled with exercise and Nutella was rewarded with the opportunity to make a raft. Two teams of four were made, and were each given 9 long logs of wood, rope, and 4 tubes. Design a raft that would hold four people and could float. Pretty straightforward.

Our raft was to be a long thin raft, with the tubes in one line. After completing it and having a quick lunch, we were ready to test its floating capability. We hoisted it onto out backs and threw it into the water below us. The ropes held, and we too flung ourselves into the knee-deep water. The four of us climbed onto the raft and started paddling. We immediately sank. The raft was not able to hold all four of us. We looked over to the other team and saw that they too were not able to stay afloat. We came to a common consensus and drafted up a directive that stated only two people would be allowed on the raft. I’m kidding. People who didn’t say yes were doused with water until they too gave us their approval.

As both the rafts approached the starting line, their crew took their places. As the countdown came to an end, both rafts lurched forward as their respective duos did their job. My partner and I paddled in perfect synchronization and soon we left the competition behind. We made a beeline for the finish and crossed the finish line with ease. As we were pulling our raft out of the water we saw the other team going in circles, not even close to the finish line.

After a much-needed shower we took off for the Leh Main Bazaar. It is an excellent place to buy fake sun glasses and fake jewelry, not to mention meditating bowls.

23^rd June, 2018

It was the last day of camp and we were visiting the Hemis Monastrey to see its annual festival. We were extremely lucky to be in town on the exact dates of the festival, which spans over just one weekend every year.

The Hemis Monastrey is tucked away in a hidden valley almost 40 km from main Leh city and is the most renowned and biggest monastery in Leh. The festival is conducted to honor the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava aka Rinpoche. He is an Indian guru of the 8^th century and is revered for spreading Buddhism throughout the Himalayas. Hemis has the largest silk embraided brocade or ‘thanka’ which is unfurled once in twelve years, in the year of the monkey. Unfortunately, we did not see that thanka, but we saw another brocade. There is a large statue dedicated to Rinpoche surrounded by prayer rooms.

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The day did not end early for us. We sat and talked about the program and the people involved. We discussed the importance of each part of the program and how it would impact our lives. After the emotional part of speeches were over we settled down to have some fun. We had to leave the camp at 5 am, but no one was going to sleep. We sat outside and watched the moon and stars, occasionally looking through the telescope. We played Mafia and spoke about issues concerning the word, and the sort. At 2 am everyone headed to their respective tents to get whatever sleep they could.

In the end I would like to say that this program went really far. We were the first group to do it, and I personally vouch for the program to reach lengths no one in the INME office could dream about. It is extremely exciting, and if future groups have brilliant instructors like ours, it would make all the difference in the world. One will learn different things that will further enhance one’s personality. It will also push their mental and physical boundaries. This was a job well done.