GOA II

Goa-II

After we returned from Leh, Ruchi, my eldest daughter -in- law , rang up from London and said that she was coming with grand children on 14th July,09 & that she would like to go for a holiday along with us for about a week during her stay. I therefore requested my other two daughters –in- law, ( Ritsy & Neha), my sons (Amitabh, Siddharth & Parikshit whom we call Pilku, Silku & Babloo respectively at home ), Vikas & Preeti, his wife, to suggest some venues for holiday in place/ places where children, aged 7 & 4 could play and enjoy. Ritsy suggested that we could go for holiday in Goa. But I brushed aside her suggestion on the ground that it’ll be raining there cats & dogs. In fact she was prophetic. Except Neha who suggested some nearby places none else came up with a suggestion. I surfed the net also for a monsoon holiday package.
On 21st June,09 in the supplement of the Indian Express captioned, “Eye”, I came across a detailed account of places which could be visited during monsoon for a holiday. Now we had the following destinations in view for a monsoon holiday in India in the month of July:
1. AMBOLI; in Maharashtra on Green Road to Goa
2. THEKKEDY; in Kerela, Periyar National Park
3. BASTAR; in Chhattisgarh, 300 km from Raipur
4. LEH; in Ladhak
5. SPITI; in Himachal Pradesh, 200 km from Manali
6. THIMPU; in Bhutan
7. Goa.

Out of the above destinations we selected Goa. We had been to Thekkedy in 2006 with grandchildren & stayed in the Spice Village Hotel. Besides us, other guests in the hotel were from Europe, USA, Australia & Far East. These people appeared to be from working class. They were quite fat, chinless, pot-belied with their spouses of matching features. A batch mate of ours, from whom I receive quite a few e-mails, had suggested a quiet holiday in SPITI in Himachal Pradesh, 200 km from Manali or in AMBOLI in Maharashtra on Green Road to Goa.

The holiday this time too was mainly for the two grand children who were coming from London for the vacations. Abhshree is 7yrs and Amolikaa is 4yrs old. The place of stay had to be child friendly. We shortlisted two such places in Goa, namely, Taj Exotica and Hayat. We decided to go for Taj Exotica & booked accommodation for five nights & six days of stay in it. In all we were four adults ( myself, Venita,Pilku, Ruchi) & two grandchildren. The Taj had the provision of a number of child friendly activities. We hired two rooms in a Villa. Taj has 90 Villas and 48 rooms in the main hotel situated in lush green 56 acres. It is in South Goa, an hour’s drive from Panaji. The guests of the hotel were mainly from upper strata of society, both from India and foreign countries.
This was our second visit to Goa from 26th to 30th July this year, earlier being from 13th to 16th February. I have already written a travelogue on February visit. I am not writing a detailed travelogue on this time.
The Taj exotica has in its neighborhood a host of Five Star Hotels, namely, Raddison, Club Mahindra, Dona Silver, Ramda, Holiday Inn, Hayat, Majda, Sita, Leela, besides Baywatch and Cleva Beach, three Star Hotels. The Inter Continental Hotel is the last hotel on the south Goa Beach on the Karnataka boundary. The Taj has a pool each attached to the two rooms of the Villa, 2 ½ feet deep. As soon as we reached the rooms the grand children switched over to their swim suites and jumped into the pools of water splashing it all around. Near the pools they found two baby frogs which they picked up and kept in a glass. These were so small that they could not be more than a day or two old. It was becoming dark and we had to go for dinner. Ruchi persuaded them to say bye-bye to the baby frogs so that they can go back to their mother and have their dinner too.
The hotel has a sliding waterfall into the pool where the children liked to spend most of their time besides running into the sea for a bath. The hotel staff advised us not to enter the sea as during monsoon you very often get jelly fish which can cause immense itching if they touch any part of your body. If the size of the jelly fish is big its touch can be fatal. But the children won’t listen to and will rush to the sea water. On one occasion I was alone with Abhishree & trying to prevent her running into the sea. I got fully drenched. Even my watch got the full impact of the sea waves & later when I had a shower bath I forgot to take it off of my wrist. As a result it is now resting in a watch shop. I don’t know when it will decide to come back to me. It was a watch which KTS had gifted me about five years back. He had brought it from U.K. for 75 pounds. It served me quite well. Now I have changed over to a Titan watch presented to me by a unit of Meghalya Police in a farewell function on my transfer from Meghalya Police to the Ministry of Home Affairs Govt. of India, New Delhi.
The Arabian Sea Benaulim beach along the Taj Exotica is more or less an exclusive beach for its guests. Venita & I used to walk along it everyday. Some times the sea was so rough that its waves went several feet up in the air, scaring you as if they would devour. One early morning at about 4 am I could hear the horrifying sound of the waves from my room giving a feeling as if they would enter the rooms and take us all away. When not so, it was pleasant to walk along the beach.
Near the beach, you have a Lobster shack where you can pick up a bicycle of your choice & size. These are complimentary. Somehow these did not suit the children. They however used them on one or two occasions. I also bicycled in and around the nine hole executive Golf Course on concrete footpath where Buggies of the hotel ran with guests from the reception to villas or one villa to another, or carrying luggage & around the entire property. We also took rides to have an overview of the Taj property. The hotel has tennis court, swimming pool, fitness center, helipad and giant chess board. It is learnt that helipad was constructed for landing of the helicopter of Shri Atal Behari Vajyapayee, the former Prime Minister of India & it is in existence since then. Besides three restaurants, namely, Eugenia (a 24 hour Coffee Shop) Algeria, Li-Bi, there is poolside bar. I had steam bath more or less everyday. Venita had Taj Spa once. The steam bath is complimentary. The Spa is very expensive. As I am a Taj Inner circle member she got a 30% rebate. There is a small cricket pitch also. But the children liked sliding with the water into the pool which is about 3 1/2 feet deep.
One day when I was watching children sliding into the water, Amolikaa came running with an agitated face. I said “ what happened”? She replied “ that boy is not nice to me. I’m going to his mother to tell it. I said “I’ll talk to the boy.” I went to the pool & talked to one of the twin 6 year old decent boys. They immediately apologized and Amolikaa was satisfied with the apology. They again started playing together. I saw Amolikaa pulling one of the two to go with her for sliding together. Amolikaa is highly individualistic and quite sharp. Pilku told me that on another occasion she was carrying shoes in her hands because these got filled up wit sand when she was running around on the beach. A boy of her age asked her “ why are you carrying shoes in your hands”? She said “ because I want to carry them in my hands”. The boy did not ask any more questions.

Abhishree is very affectionate. She always is keen to talk. But the problem is that we do not understand due to her English pronunciation which has local touch. We understand only BBC pronunciation of English language. Very often I get to know her through Pilku & Ruchi. She feels disappointed as she would like to converse but cannot as we do not react properly. We very often react ignorantly. When I am sleeping or meditating she would try to open lids of my eyes, sit with her two legs on my shoulders & over the head. But finding her unable to either awaken or disturb, she will hide our slippers so much so that very often we have to get new slippers from housekeeping. On the day of departure there were at least 8 pairs found from underneath our beds. She is immensely sweet, loving & caring. May God give her enormous happiness & bright future.

Towards the end of our stay in Taj Exotica I got a message in my cell giving the no. of City Bank Credit Card No. of my wife & informing that it had been used for a transaction in the hotel for about Rs. 12,000/-. I was surprised & wondered if some thief had used it. Later I found it had been used by Venita for buying two Sarees from a store in the hotel. I told her that the prices here were at least 30/ 40% more than the market. To which she said, “ may be. But the color, design and fabric of the Sarees are not commonly available in the market”. I could not say anything.
During our 5 nights & 6 days stay in the hotel we had breakfast, lunch & dinner together. It was a long stay as we noticed that the other guests came for a day or two and then left. We saw a number of local and foreign tourists coming and going during our stay. Food had variety. It had Chinese, continental & Indian cuisine. The children had their choices. I invariably had a glass of par magnate juice in the breakfast whereas others had either orange or sweet lime juice. I enjoyed breakfast & food in the company of grand children, son, daughter - in- law & wife after laps of about 2 years. It was in 2007 that we had food together like this when we visited them in 2007 in London. But then the sprit of holiday was missing so far as children were concerned as they were in a hurry to go to the school, Pilku to office. Ruchi was busy in taking care of the household.
After the breakfast children will run around trying to catch butterflies. They will either rush to the beach or change over to swim suits & jump into the pool, sometimes in pools meant for children or even for adults along with my son. They can swim well in deep pools too. Myself & Venita will lie down, sipping tea/coffee/coconut water/juice & watching children play/ swim in the pool. The beverages served on the pool side were all complimentary.
On 28th July Shri Sanjay Sahu, Chief Finance Officer of Frigoglass India (P) Ltd. rang up from Gurgaon informing that the Excise Taxation Officer, Gurgaon ( W) had written for deposit of 50% of due tax as per the orders of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana on 30th May,09. I told him to e-mail the notice of recovery. On receipt of it I talked to Shri KTS Tulsi & discussed with him as to how to go about the matter. I asked if we could go to the High Court for the stay of notice of recovery as the High Court itself had ordered that no recovery will be made except 50% which Frigoglass had agreed to pay. The order of the High Court was contradictory in so far as on one hand it said that assessment for the period may go on but no recovery of tax would be made. It further said that Frigoglass agreed to pay 50% of the tax voluntarily. Shri Tulsi said that we could file the Civil Misc. Application for stay of the Notice of recovery. We drafted the application. But later Shri Tulsi said that as our main Civil Writ Petition itself is on the board and will be taken up on 1st August,09 we may not file the application & that we may reply to the ETO, Gurgaon pointing out that his demand was contrary to the orders of the High Court. It took one full day in the business centre of the hotel drafting & e-mailing the application to Chandigarh for filing. I missed playing with the children on 1 out of the 6 days of stay. Later in conference with Shri Tulsi it was decided that there was no need even to reply & we will deal with the matter on 1st August,09 when it comes up for hearing.
The Taj has an impressive list of child friendly activities. There are special toddler areas besides entertainment all day long at Tex kids. There are computer games, an outside play area, board games and much more such as children movies, leaf painting etc. Then there are bicycles at Lobster shack, golf putting green, table tennis, cricket, soccer, indoor archery & tennis. Pilku took children to PanaJi & gave them a cruise on river Mandovi. The children enjoyed it very much.
On one evening there was a fire display and dance to the Dj tunes in Adega Camoens, bar of the hotel. Children joined in the dance. While Pilku & Ruchi favored dancing by children in public places, this somehow did not go well with me, may be, my values are old. I remember Swami Ram writing in “ Seven Days To Rama” & quite often mentioned by Gurumaa in her discourses that the inculcation of the value system in children is complete by the age of 7. After that it is only cramming & mastering of the facts. The value system of a child guides him/her in the years that follow in his / her life subsequently.
The three wheeled electrically operated well cushioned buggies were a big hit with children.
We enjoyed the stay very much. It reminded me of the days I spent in Mussorie for the Foundational Course on induction in the Indian Police Service : sumptuous meals, horse riding, P.T., monotonous( sometime illuminating) lectures, whispering windows, trekking, picnics, new friendships, shero shairi, love affairs of batch mates etc. The course had over 25% probationers from Allahbad University. The camaraderie still continues. We, retired I.A.S , I.F.S, I.P.S, I.R.S & others Central Service Officers, still meet on second Friday of each month in the Central Services officers Institute Mess over a contributory lunch. Our relationship is now 45 Year old and still growing stronger. We had proposed the celebration of the 45th Anniversary of the 1964 batch at Thimpu. Dago Tshering of Bhutan who had training with us and was ambassador of Bhutan in Delhi for over 10 years invited us to Thimpu for the anniversary. But as most of us are in late 60s and have our own individual programs, the visit to Bhutan did not materialize. We hope to celebrate Golden Anniversary of the batch, though quite a few of the batch mates are no more and may be a few more may go before the batch turns 50.
I’m sorry for being reminiscent. It all came because the enjoyment in the Taj Exotica, Goa with grandchildren was great & carefree.
JAI HO

LADHAK DIARY

26.06.09
(FRIDAY)
Left home at 04.15hrs. Arrived Palam Airport 04.045hrs. Checked in. The plane took off around 06.00hrs. Arrived Leh 07.15hrs.Temp. at Leh is 15 degree Celsius. Its MSL height is 35005 meters (11,110 Ft. approximately) at city centre. Leh airport is named after Ladhak’s pre-eminent incarnate Lama, BAKULA RIN POCHAY who died in 2003. It is believed that he is reborn in a village of NUBRA VALLEY & is now about 3 year and a half old. Our accommodation is arranged by Ladhak sector DIG ITBP, Shri PK. DASHMANA in 16thBn. Headquarters at Leh. We reached it at about 08.00hrs. The name of the guest house is DEPSANGLA. It is the name of a pass in northern sector on India – China Border.
We are advised to stay in the guest house for 24hrs to get acclimatized to low oxygen levels. Generally people who come here feel breathless & headache. Fortunately we did not feel either. But we followed the advice. We also took one tablet each of DIAMOX, necessary to counter the effects of low oxygen levels.
Retired to sleep at 10pm after watching India – West Indies One Day international cricket match at Jamaica for sometime.


27.06.09
(SATURDAY)

THIKSE Monastery

Left for THIKSE monastery (GOMPA). It was founded in 1480 AD. Magnificent Maitrya is a beautiful clay statue of Buddha, completed in 1980. In the main prayer hall, you have the picture of Dalai Lama. Venita did some shopping in the only shop of the premises. There were a number of tourists visiting it, mostly from foreign countries.

Statue of Buddha at THIKSE














After Thikse, we passed Shey monastery but did not go up. Then we went to the spot where Sindhu Darshan is celebrated every year. The ‘ghat’ was inaugurated by Shri L.K. Advani on 01.06.01. The Sindhu water was dirty due to melting of glaciers


Sindhu Darshan


Thereafter we visited Stoke & Stoke Palace. It was built in 1820 by king Tsepal Nangyal. The first king of Ladhak was SKID-1 DE NYINAM from 0957 to 0990 AD & the present King is CHOSGYAL WANGCHUK NAMGYAL as per the genealogy of Ladhak Kings exhibited in the museum in the palace. There are 7 floors. The fourth & fifth floors constituted residence. On the sixth floor there is the throne room and a small temple. The study of palace required much more time. Lunch time had started and the caretaker was keen that we should vacate the premises.


Tsepal Nangyal

The palace museum had dresses of kings & queens & also their pictures & photographs. Among them was a picture of Hieuntsang, the Chinese traveler who has written travelogues of journeys done by him. In one of the photographs I saw Late Indira Gandhi in trousers along with Late Jawahar Lal Nehru. I had not seen such a photograph earlier. I knew her she knew me and I respect her.






Leh Palace

On way back to the guest house the guide told us that all cereals were grown in Leh except wheat which was grown in lesser quantity on Indus basin. The vegetables were also grown in the basin as water was in plenty. You see mostly two varieties of trees poplar & willow. These two are also seen along the Indus basin .Among the fruits you have small apples, apricot & berries in different seasons. The fauna is in upper reaches of Ladhak such as hoards of wild asses, deer, snow leopard etc. In the afternoon we had planned to go to Shanti Gompa (monastery) constructed by Japanese in 1983 and was inaugurated by Dalai Lama. It is chalk white. After the Shanti Gompa, we were to visit SAMKAR GOMPA which is Leh’s principal monastery. It was seat of KAUSHOK BAKULA, Ladhak’s senior most LAMA. We hope to visit it tomorrow.Retired to sleep at 10pm.

KAUSHOK BAKULA









28.06.09
(SUNDAY)
Completed Vipassana meditation for one hour. In front of me, through the glasses of closed window, I see snow-clad and barren mountains. Due to absence of vegetation in mountain range, there is low oxygen as well as little or no rain. People here do not pray for rains. Instead they pray for melting of glaciers so that there is more water in rivers, which are the lifeline of the people of this place. First we visited ‘Sangam’,(confluence), of Zanskar & Indus rivers at Nimu. The confluence in the background of barren as well as snow clad mountains was heart rending. We spent sometime on the banks of the rivers, playing with their water. A team of army men had come down the Zanskar river over 5Kms, rafting to the confluence. I talked to one of them. They were about 7/8. They had packed up their rafting equipment & waiting for another batch coming down rafting on Zanskar river. Such adventurous activities which involve taking risk are necessary for army men as well as others who are engaged in jobs which call for taking risks for good results. They were from nearby army camp at Nimu. On way to confluence of Zanskar & Indus rivers, we saw a group of Tibetan gazelles. I took snaps. But later, I noticed that, I committed mistake while I clicked the camera. I was pressing the button for snaps whereas it was meant for closing the aperture. I felt quite bad when this revelation dawned on me. Quite a few snaps were so taken of Venita on the confluence of Zanskar & Indus river. All are gone down the drain.

Magnetic Hill

On way back we halted near magnetic hill which pulls your vehicle of any kind for quite a distance without ignition. For trucks it is a big struggle to cross it if it is going against the magnetic pull. We also visited Pathankot Gruduwara managed by army & paramilitary units. It has clean toilets. On Sunday there is big langar which is joined in by families of the forces. The day of our visit was Sunday. We got prasad. We tried to have a cold drink. But the shops were closed due to Sunday all along the Leh - Srinagar highway, well maintained by BRTF, which touches Kargil before reaching Srinagar. We took a number of snaps on way from view-points of the majestic barren-snow-clad mountains of Ladhak range travelling the highway along the INDUS RIVER. You see vegetation along the river wherever the human habitations are there, mainly consisting of army BRTF units & sometimes sparsely populated local villages.
Next stop was SPITOK GOMPA, "on a craggy hill overlooking LEH airport. A branch road from Srinagar highway ascends the GOMPA HILL". Leh has two main groups of GOMPAS. One of them is Spitok & the newer, Samkar Gompa. Leh’s another attraction is its ruined palace & its history. One group of Gompas are in the east on Leh-Manali Road. We visited Thiksey, Shey Gompas of this group & hope to visit Hemis Gompa which is about 60Kms from Leh. That will depend upon availability of time. The other group of Gompas are in the west of Leh, off Leh- Srinagar Road. We visited only Spitok of this group. The monastery prayer halls are like caves of ancient times where Rishis used to live and meditate. The mentioning of such caves comes in the writings of Swami Ram & Yoganand’s “Autobiography of an Yogi”. It is closed from all sides with an opening at the top for light and at entrance. In course of Vipassana we were told to meditate in a closed room. Light & air disturb concentration on breath.
Spitok Monastery (GOMPA) has 100 lamas in residence. It is the reformist GELUPA ORDER. The name Spitok means “effective Example” in Tibetan. It was established by RINCHEN ZANGPO, the great 10th century Tibetan scholar for a model community in the area that would be an example for rest of Ladhak. Spitok Gompa controls other Gompas in and around Leh including SAMKAR, STOK & SABOO Gompas. On the ridge top is a temple of the wrathful demoniacal protector deities. It is mistaken by Hindus, for a temple of KALI MAA. As it was high on the ridge, we did not climb up. As you enter the Gompa, there is big MANI LAQUAR, spiritual wheel. The spiritual wheels are seen at the entrance of all Gompas. These wheels are propitiated by Lamas after a long series of rituals & prayers. The pages of Buddhist scriptures containing mantras & other things are placed inside them. Kushak Bakula who controlled GELUPA order of Gompas, is said to be incarnation of one of the 16 ARAT (disciples) of LORD BUDDHA and was incarnate of Sitapatra ( one of 16 disciples). He is said to have taken birth in a village of Numbra Valley & is about 3 year 9 month old as stated above. As per plan, we had to visit ‘Hall of Fame’ exhibiting list of warriors of the Indian Army, weapons seized by them and everything about Ladhak. We could not go there as we felt tired. We came back to the guest house of ITBP. ITBP has 3 battalions in Ladhak sector, 24, 5 & 16. It is the guest house of 14th Bn., well maintained & served. We get food of our choice, at our time & on a ring to the mess. The Sector commander is DIG P.K.Dasmana whom I rang up from Delhi on advice of the office of the DG, ITBP. He arranged the accommodation and gave useful tips such as rest for 24hrs for acclimatization, clothing etc. Shri SB Sharma commands the 14th Bn. He is recently promoted to the rank of DIG.
In the afternoon, we visited Leh town and saw the ruined Leh palace. The new palace built by the then Leh king, is prototype of the ruined one. While in the town we heard AJAN from a local Mosque, the voice was sullen and lacked force as we notice in our part of the country. Venita again bought some stone jewelry. She forgets all kinds of pains in her body when she is engaged in window shopping. I have brought her round to agree to a Vipassana course which develops awareness of a unique kind & relieves you of physical pains & mental botherations. We have learned two local words/expressions: JULE (NAMASTE) & THUK JE CHHE (THANK YOU). I use these words in my dealings with local people.
Retired to sleep at 9:30pm .
29.06.09
(MONDAY)
In the morning we saw Black-billed magpie(Pica Pica), the only bird seen by us so far during our stay here. Although pictures of all kinds of birds are given in the book on fauna with us (courtesy : Shri SB Sharma) but we could hardly see any other bird except Pica Pica. Visited Shanti Stup, built by the Japanese Buddhists. Venita collected a lily plant, widely grown here and not so easily available in Delhi. She struck acquaintance with a family of Saket, Delhi. After taking a number of snaps we proceeded to Samkar Gompa. All images of the deities here were of over 178 years.
Samkar Gompa is Leh’s principal monastery, about 2Kms from Leh City Center. It was the seat of KUSHAK BAKULA, Ladhak’s senior most incarnate Lama. He is inline of incarnation of one of the 16 disciples ( AARATS) of Buddha, namely, SITAPATRA as stated above. It is situated on the plane & not on the crest of a hill. On the far left of the shrine is an 11 headed representation of AVLOKITESHWAR with 1000 feets, 1000 eyes & 1000 hands. Above the DUKHONG, prayer hall, is a gallery, on one side of which is a chapel with rare THANGAS, painted figures to ward off ghosts etc. & an image of DUKHAR, The lady of the white PARSOL, & avtar of TARA with 1000 arms, 1000 heads, 1000 feets, 1000 hands & 1 crore eyes.
In the afternoon we visited hall of fame on Leh Shrinagar road. It contains arms & ammunitions seized by army in wars with Pakistan & China apart from other articles. It has a scroll of honour of Indian warriors who fought bravely.
There is almost all information about flora, Fauna, customs & cultural heritage of Ladhak in beautiful photographs & paintings exhibited here. I wrote one full page on the visitor’s book.
We wished to visit PAN GONG Lake. It takes one full day to reach there & one has to return the same day. There is no accommodation there. We abandoned the idea to visit it as it would be quite strenuous. Then there are Nubra Region, Khrudung pass, Shyok Velley,Zanskar region (suru valley) these are quite far. Tracking does not suit our age. Ladhak is ideal for trekkers. Shri SB Sharma, DIG ITBP Leh, visited us. We had a long chat about the place. Later he presented me a book on fauna of Ladhak.
Retired to sleep at 10pm

30.06.09
(TUESDAY)
Visited the residence of Dalai Lama, Bhuddhists believe that he is incarnation of Lord Buddha. Pancham Lama who was second in line to Dalai Lama died in Tibet. Dalai Lama declared GEOHUN CHOEYI NYIMA as incarnation of Pancham Lama on may 14, 1994. He was born on April 25 1989 in Tibet. He is alleged to have been taken away by Chinese on May 17,1995 along with his parents. Nobody has heard anything about them since then. Dalai Lama says that he is the youngest political prisoner of the world. We saw all the rooms in the residence of Dalai Lama. As his birthday falls on 6th July,09, the house is being cleaned up & painted. Two girls were preparing pictures of 4 directions which have to be kept inside the spiritual wheel along with Mantras, written more than a crore times, some grains & other items. After propitiation these are given for installation by Dalai Lama, One has to churn them reciting, OM MANI PADHI HUNG. In the shrine we saw the statue of Avalokiteshwar, along with images of Tara & other deities, lamas. The manager of the residence is Shri LOBSANG TENZIM, an 85 year old Lama. Earlier he was principal of Buddhist school. Tachi, our guide, studied in the same school. We had ‘GUR-GUR BUTTER TEA’ which is salty and made of soda, butter, salt & spl. tea leaves. Then we witnessed the mercy of Dalai Lama ,on a wild ass & sheep which were brought by Dalai Lama when he came across them in disabled condition while he was coming back from his visit to mountains in high reaches. At the residence of Dalai Lama, one line from Dhammapad is printed in Tibetan, English & Hindi language:
“The mind is fickle, wavering it is difficult to guard and pacify. Just as a Fletcher (maker of an arrow) examines an arrow, the wise guards his mind”
We visited Leh City Center & had ‘Pakoras’ Tea & diet coke in Dreamland restaurant. Venita bought some stone jewelry.

On way back to Leh city center, I was amazed to see a 18 hole Golf course on barren dry sandy land. They have put up small lifted parts of land from where they club the golf ball to its purported location. There is a 9 hole golf course in the premises of 14 Bn. of ITBP and adjoining sector commander head quarters. Such is the craze for this game. Apart from visits to monasteries and Sindhu darshan, treks are the biggest attraction. Treks for days together are planned by foreign and Indian tourists apart from visit to lakes which are at quite high altitudes. Despite inhospitable weather/ climate, barren land, little vegetation & lack of oxygen, the tourists visit Ladhak in hoards for peace of mind in monasteries & long treks. For persons of our age, who could not undertake long treks to high altitudes, 5 day visit is enough. Venita bought a good white Pashmina Shawl hand woven from the wool of baby goats, reared at higher altitude with green pastures. The goats, reared at lower altitudes with less of green pastures do not give out good Pashmina wool. The Pashmina shawl from the wool of ‘Chiru’ is banned. An interesting aspect of visit to monasteries & stupas is the portrayal of ‘THANGAS’. These are meant to ward away evil spirits. We often see them used in plains, probably picked up from Buddhist architecture.
01.07.09
WEDNESDAY)

Thangas

Left ITBP guest house at 8.45 am. I had to visit ATMs to draw some money to reward the men who had served us well. But none of the ATMs – SBI, PNB and J&K- were operational. We somehow managed rewarding about 8 men with available amount. We were left with just Rs. 50/-. We spent 40 Rs. F
for two cups of Nescafe coffee in the sterile lounge at the airport. We were worried for any taxes which may be required to be paid at the airport, for which a demand is made by the authorities all of a sudden. We were greatly relieved when we boarded the plane with just Rs 10/- in pocket and it took off. The flight was more than half empty, landed at Palam airport at 12:30 pm. After collecting luggage we left for home. During the day went through the newspapers of last 5 days as we could not lay hands on any at Leh.On 28th June in restaurant, Dreamland, we got TOI of 26th june and of 28th june too. While the newspaper of 26th had all the pages, that of 28th, only cover page was available. On enquiry we were told that the remaining pages of 28th June had been used in the kitchen. On further query as to why kitchen did not use newspaper pages of 26,th the restaurant staff had no answer. In fact all of them had no knowledge of English.
Due to the thin layer of oxygen in Leh, a visitor often faces breathlessness & headache. Very often blood clots are formed in the sinus which come out when we blow our nose for clean up. This phenomenon is common even among the local residents of the place. The staff of the guest house and the local guide also confirmed it. One has to take care & acclimatize for 12 to 24 hours, taking rest. 1 tablet of Diamox is recommended by the medical officer after dinner for 2 to 3 days to counter the adverse effects of the local climate. We took complete rest for 24 hours. May be because of this we did neither felt breathless nor headache. The whether of the place has bright sunshine, cool/cold air, barren mountains with some them snow clad at a distance, low level of oxygen and consequent thin air. Despite a hostile weather, if one is interested in TANTRIK Buddhism and trekking this is the place for a visit . Although we were not interested in any of these, but we decided to visit the area to feel the place. The sudden decision to visit Ladhak was also accentuated by failure to go on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra which had to be suspended due to inclement weather & a number of deaths of devotees during journey in China on advise by India embassy at Kathmandu. There are quite a few books on Ladhak. My son, Parikshit got me a book from his colleague from Finland, Ms. Anna Eakkila, the Mumbai Office head of Finpro, India on Ladhak. She has trekked a lot in the area. The book became our guide apart from assistance from a local guide, provided by ITBP. I also surfed and collected all that was available on the net. The office of Tourism Ministry of the Govt. of J&K located in the Janpath Hotel, New Delhi also provided me with materials available with them on Ladhak.
The temperature in Leh quite often went down to 5 degree Celsius in the evening. A good quilt or a thick blanket are necessary when you are inside the room whether it is day time or night. During the day you require a half sleeves sweater or light jacket. Sometime it is suddenly very cold due to snowfall in higher reaches. A cap to cover your head all the time is must when you are out for a walk/visit in the market. Tourism is the main source of income for the locals apart from a few agro products , Pashmina , other woolens, precious stones etc. The people are Buddhists. In Kargil area they are Muslims. There is communal harmony and good understanding among different communities. A number of foreign tourists, mostly from Europe & USA are Buddhists. You see them in good numbers in monasteries. The local economy is provided for in a big way by army & paramilitary forces all over the year including winters when it is very chilly & snowing & there are no tourists, local or foreign.
I have mentioned the above facts for the convenience of those of you who would decide to visit Ladhak.
Retired to sleep at 10:30pm.