Dismaying News

Am breaking from my usual travel stories to post something which dismays and disturbs me no end. If you have been reading the newspapers recently a few headlines would be enough to shock you. As they did me. Even after 64 years of independence, even after successive governments have come and gone we in India are no better than a Banana Republic. Even the phrase Banana Republic used in our context, is derogatory to the countries called Banana Republics.


First up a headline screamed "Indian Students rank 2nd. last in global test". We who have the IITs, the IIMs and whole host of other educational credits including Indian Professors heading prestigious American Universities & Business Schools should writhe in pain and cry at this piece of cruel news. And this test was conducted with fifteen year olds to test their Reading, Mathematics & Science knowledge. And we  came in second last. What a crying shame.And if politics gets into this they will start questioning the credibility of the institution which did this survey. Instead of acknowledging something is seriously wrong with our educational system. Something I have been saying for years - lets get out of "the learning by rote" system. Instead give students concrete experiences to learn from.


Secondly there has been, in the recent past, a lot of noise about what a great super power India is and it should take its place on the world stage. And we go on saying India shining, ad nauseum. The truth is that we are worse than Sudan, Pakistan & Nepal when it comes to feeding our own people.  Imagine 230 million people go hungry in India EVERYDAY. What a crying shame - for a country progressing at about 8% growth in GDP. A crying shame indeed. In spite of the Governments food policy and other initiatives taken by the authorities. And contrast this with millions of food grains rotting in the godowns of Food Corporation of India - you have a perfect picture of how little people in power care and do for the common man. Only lip service is paid.

And then they are off to keep their "chairs", to appease their vote banks and other local constituents - all with the objective to remain in power for as long as possible.


Which leads me to ask my self the question " Does anybody care and work for India and Indians?" I seriously doubt it. And another question - should my chest swell with pride or should I hang my head in shame at being an Indian.

TRIP TO LEH – FIRST LEG – NEW DELHI – MANALI- SOLANG- ROHTANG PASS - KEYLONG

Ever since I can remember  I have always wanted to see Leh and its surroundings in the Ladakh region. Let me let you in on a secret – I am mystically drawn to the mountains and I share a close bond with the mighty Himalayas. I do not know why this “fatal attraction” all I do know is that I am at my most joyful and peaceful when in the company of these majestic mountains.

The Hidimba Temple Manali

I had another reason to travel to Leh. There was an inner push – to test my limits in the high      altitude inhospitable conditions of Ladakh. Will I succumb to the extremes or will I come out on tops? A question that both intrigued and frightened me. But I simply had to find out for my self.  The landscape in Ladakh  is anything but picture postcard and you have to have huge reserves of inner strength to survive in these harsh conditions – where the landscape changes every few minutes.  

Solang  Hotel View

      So after doing some fairly extensive research on the internet as well as talking to friends who had been there (and some friends who advised me not to make this ardorous trip) I decided it was time to go back to my first love – the mountains. So soon I found myself on a train to New Delhi where I camped for the afternoon and in the evening arrived at the designated spot to board the bus to our first stop –Manali. After a rigorous overnight bus journey with no sleep whatsoever we were happy to reach Manali with bones creaking but none the worse for the journey. But surprises are always in store for you in the mountains. So on reaching we were told that we had to take another hours journey higher into the mountains to a place called Solang which would be our first stop. Groaning we got into the jeeps to be driven to Solang. After checking in and giving breakfast a miss we hit the sack to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Solang Easy Trek

Solang is quiet sleepy small town with nothing much to do (or so we thought). We woke up for lunch and after lunch we went for the first of our acclimatization walks – a rather tepid small stroll through some beautiful countryside with roaring rivulets cascading through the mountains by our side. Yes and our first sign of how cold it was going to get was felt by us here in Solang. The next day was another trek a bit stiffer than yesterdays trek. We city slickers found out how  utterly out of shape we were – getting winded in just a few minutes.  We were advised to rest whenever we felt tired (which was often) and once ready start climbing again. Hard work I must say. Coming back to the hotel for Lunch the afternoon was free for us to do what we wanted. We determined to explore town and we got a shock when we learned that we could do paragliding, zorbing and other adventure activities in Solang which also boasts of good ski slopes in winter. 

Getting Ready for the flight of a life time

Some of our more adventurous and younger members decided on paragliding. And they were making strenuous attempts to get me to come along. I suffer from Vertigo and told them as such. But their persuasion skills were of a high order and very soon I was off on what I thought was a suicidal mission. After buckling up and listening to the instructor carefully, I thought I was mad to let myself into something as loony as this. After take off, with the pilot behind me, my initial hysteria gave way to a sense of awe and wonder. Is this what birds do – fly with gay abandon? Is this how they see the earth so many hundred feet below?  Wow I said to myself. And then the rest of the flight really turned out to be quite enjoyable with the pilot making all kinds of twists and turns and taking me very close to a mountain wall that I was certain we were going to hit. And pulling back at the last second to give me a crazy adrenaline rush.  And once we were all down the ceaseless chatter like school children began. All wanting to share their experiences at the same time. A wonderful experience – for a person who thought he would never do such a thing.  

This is how the birds see the earth

The next day was time to leave Solang and head towards our next halt via the world famous Rohtang Pass at an altitude of 13,050 feet. The distance is only 52 km but the narrow winding slippery road made it look like forever to get to Rohtang. But, once there, we were stood transfixed, mesmerized by the view of the clouds kissing the Rohtang Pass and visibility near zero.

Prayer Flags fluttering in the wind at Rohtang

Almost freezing temperatures, with a nasty wind biting into our face greeted us. But that didn’t stop us from getting down from our vehicles, and taking a walk. I slowly walked up a small hill where there was a Buddhist temple with colourful prayer flags fluttering in the wind. The climb down was even more adventurous.  

The Rohtang Pass

A View from Rohtang Pass - just Divine

After spending a  an hour and a half at the Rohtang Pass and having sweet hot tea, it was time to move on and we started our journey to our  Keylong again a small town on the way.  The journey to Keylong was uneventful but the scenery was beautiful nothing like what we expected to see. Rugged mountains were everywhere and vegetation was also seen in patches. In the afternoons mountainsides took on the hues of burnished copper. Our jeeps were full of enthusiastic chatter throughout. On reaching the hotel we were grateful for some hot snacks with hot tea to wash them down.