Features on Ladakh

F E A T U R E S

Travelogue

recently travelled by road from Leh permission from the Biama Brigade to go me: The climate was so harsh that 'eggs

to Kargil, and it was a journey unlike up to the village, which is known for the become tennis balls, and orange juice Iany other – either within Jammu & last few surviving Aryans who live there has to be boiled'. The photo gallery was

Kashmir or outside. The Indus river (Aryans are considered to the semi- overwhelming, and I made a mental

came along till Batalik, and then nomadic tribe which wandered in to note of coming back to spend more time

changed course to make its way into India from Central Europe around 1500 there.

Pakistan. The stark naked, brown BC, establishing the beginnings of the As I was leaving, I thanked the

m o u n t a i n s p r o v i d e d a v e r y 'Indian Culture'). soldier on duty who had very patiently

unwelcoming terrain, but the curves The Army has set up a Women's and kindly answered all my questions,

and turns got friendlier as one got used Empowerment Centre where women and shown me around the memorial. He

to them. from the village are taught tailoring. I even wished me a pleasant onward

On my way, I crossed village have grudged this for all the years that I journey. Overloaded with emotions, I

Nehmo, from where came the Leh Berry have been working in Jammu & Kashmir said to him that it was because of him

juice until it got embroiled in – any civil society initiative for women and innumerable other jawans like him

controversies, and the manufacturing ends up in tailoring/ embroidery that people like me were walking 'free'.

stopped. Nehmo is also known for its schools, as if women can't do anything He returned the compliment by saying

sole woman Panch (head) who else! However, I also do realise that this civilians were equally important. He

contested the Panchayati Raj elections is something which comes naturally to went on further to say that thousands of

in 2001, and got elected to the village women; something that does not need people worked hard day and night to

council. Tashi Yangskit was the first and too much 'exposure'! prepare food and warm clothing, and

only female voice in the first and only arranged to carry weaponry etc. uphill The high point of this journey was a

Panchayati Raj elections held in Jammu so that the soldiers could fight, and visit to the Drass War Memorial. Drass

& Kashmir. eventually win the war. I can't and Kargil became household names

remember a more humbling moment!I crossed many Border Roads after the infamous summer of 1999.

Organization (BRO) boards which read: National Highway 1D passes through It made me dwell on the futility of

'You are being watched by the enemy'. I Drass, connecting Srinagar and Leh. war. Certainly nothing original about

briefly stopped over at Khalsti for a Drass also happens to be the coldest this reflection, but something very

quick snack as I was told it was the last inhabited place in India. Situated personalised. Ten years since Kargil,

point where one would get any food amongst Tiger Hill, Tololing and Three have we – India and Pakistan – moved

until Kargil. I kept eyeing the apricot Pimples - the three ranges captured by forward on any front? Leave alone the

trees which dotted the entire route the Pakistani Army in early 1999 which larger Indo-Pak issues, have we moved

from Leh to Kargil, and were laden with led to the war of Kargil - the memorial is any further on the cross-border/ intra-

so much fruit that they seemed to be awe-inspiring, to say the least. Kashmir initiatives?

weighed down under the weight. The Kargil war was fought through Perhaps the only effort which has

moved anywhere is the cross-LoC trade I was keen to visit Darchiks - the the months of May and June, and in the

– of course not without its controver-last village in the Batalik sector - which soldiers' accounts accompanying the sies. No doubt the cross-border trade is is under Army surveillance due to its many photographs at the memorial, at a very fragile crossroads right now. A proximity to the LoC. I had to seek there is one in particular which struck

MANISHA SOBHRAJANI

A Journey to Himalayan enclave

5 4

Vol. 3, Issue 11www.epilogue.in Epilogue, November 2009

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Jammu and Kashmir’s Monthly Magazine

November 1, 2009 Vol 3 / Issue 11 || Price Rs. 30 ||

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NowTellingThe J&K Stories

RNI : JKENG/2007/26070 ISSN 0974-5653

Jammu, November 1, 2009 / Vol 3 / Issue 11 || Price Rs. 30 || Postal Registration No. JK-350/2009-11 || www.epilogue.in

RESEARCH : INTERVIEW : NYLA ALI KHAN

Socio-Cultural and EconomicChanges Among Muslim Rajputs

Author of Islam Women & Violence in Kashmir

BRIDGINGDividesVia Talks & Trade

Special on First Anniversary of Cross-LoC Trade

An Analysis of Joint Chamber --------------

New Delhi's Fresh Peace Initiatives---------------

Perspectives on Harnessing Indus Waters

r e cen t v i s i t t o

Chakkan da Bagh con-

firmed the same.

There was talk of

trade exchange of

products which are

not J&K specific (I

understand this is

one of the pre-

conditions for the

p r o d u c t s b e i n g

traded!).

However sym-

bolic it may be, it

does exist. And now

that it has com-

pleted a year, we

must extend all

efforts towards sus-

taining it. Perhaps it

is the only ray of

hope in the

sequence of events

beginning with the

Mumbai attacks,

going on to the con-

troversial meeting

between Indian

Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh

and his Pakistani

counterpart Yousuf

Raza Gilani at

Sharm-el-Sheikh,

and ending with the

very recent meeting

of the two foreign

ministers –

Nirupama Rao and

Salman Bashir - in

New York.

Manisha

Sobhrajani is a Delhi-

based independent

researcher working

on the various

aspects of the

Kashmir conflict. She

can be reached at

manishasobhrajani@e

pilogue.in

F E A T U R E S

Life Stories

adakh in the eastern part of child-centered, joyful and meaningful

Jammu and Kashmir, a high- learning activities. And stressed on the Laltitude desert region, on the use of games, songs, stories, field trips,

upper reaches of the Indus River, shares and low-cost teaching aids.

borders with both China and Pakistan. In 1994 SECMOL launched

This strategic position by itself has been Operation New Hope (ONH), to overhaul

the single-most important factor in the primary education system in the

opening this isolated rural society. With Government schools in Leh district. This

high priority on defence since the addressed the foundational causes of

1960's, it has attracted subsidies from the malfunctioning of the educational

t he Cen t ra l gove rnment and system especially in remote villages.

development activities such as schools The ONH movement rests on the

and other institutions was initiated. convergence of three sectors on the

Today Education has taken centre- Government, the Non-Governmental

stage in national policy and the priority Organizations (NGOs), and the village

accorded to it is justified. For any communities.

society to develop, Education is the One of the key components of the

foundation and this stands true for ONH was to inculcating a sense of

Ladakh where the education system was commun i ty owner sh ip o f the

in disarray. Government schools did government schools , to ensure

not function properly remained in dire accountability. This was the motivation

need of repairs. There was a complete for a concentrated campaign and the

lack of involvement of the families and creation of VECs (Village Education

village communities in schools Committee. VEC's elected by the

This is where the local government villagers themselves have one third

“Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development women members and include at least

Council (LAHDC) along with some highly two students.

motivated NGO'S stepped in to don the The move has caught the

mantle to revamp education system at imagination of the people and the the grassroots. The efforts of SECMOL momentum was palpable. It essentially (Students Educational and Cultural transformed them from passive Movement of Ladakh) an organization bystanders bemoaning the crumbling founded in 1988 by a group of young government educational facilities to Ladakhi's with the aim to reform the taking the onus of improving it educational system have been stellar. It themselves. From 1997, SECMOL has attempted to change the attitude and organized more than 10 batches of approach of the people towards intensive training for 1000 VEC teaching, from "chalk, talk and stick" to members. The training uses group

ZAINAB AKHTER

Spreading the Lamp of

Learning–the Ladakhi way

5 5





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RNI : JKENG/2007/26070 ISSN 0974-5653










discussion, brainstorming and role-

plays to develop techniques of problem

solving and planning.

To promote transparency and

accountabi l ity, members learn

accounting and book-keeping. Insights

and knowledge gained by the VEC

leaders are then shared with the

community where the level of

receptivity has been found to be high. .

After the success in Leh District, a

similar reform movement has started in

Kargil District

For taking the flame of education

beyond established villages to remote

areas in Leh, SECMOL runs a hostel to

groom community representatives who

are willing travel and work in such

areas. There they combine their

educational training with actual education while instilling in them the a keen desire, a commitment to developmental work in the villages. It spirit and skills to take this learning education in its widest possible sense. also provides media training to forward in their respective regions. It Rather than addressing a single interested students in basics of video has intervened at other levels too, aspect SECMOL has looked at the needs including shooting and editing, audio, a d d r e s s i n g a v a i l a b i l i t y o f of the region in its entirety. These have photography, reporting and layout. infrastructure. Middle and high schools ranged from content and syllabus, The emphasis on reaching out to in several remote villages face teacher training, infrastructural needs village communities is accompanied by problems because of lack of support and and community participation. It has expansion of reading materials, both infrastructure. In response to one such then evolved an expansive system which course and for extra reading available case in the high mountainous region of takes into account multifarious needs of to teachers and students. Keeping in Changthang plateau, SECMOL opened a a society, a region which remains mind, the region's needs in developing solar heated residential school in distinct from the rest of the country and material related to the cultural, social, September 2001. This combined the even within J&K in terms of its history , regional context, SECMOL's sister resources allocated to middle and high terrain, its culture and language. concern Melong Publications publishes a schools and was able to provide free Today in its 2 decade long journey, variety of genres. Books on Ladakhi board and lodging for students for whom this commitment and efforts have paid language, food, children's stories, traversing the mountain terrain on a off, lighting up young lives in Ladakh. A school books and teaching materials daily basis was difficult. standing testimony to this has been the designed specially for Ladakh are its

This was a pioneering move, which big jump in enrolment and retention of forte. Being culturally appropriate, has since been picked up by the children in areas of their work had students find it much easier to grasp the government to establish similar increased to such an extent by 2006, messages than from books suited to residential high schools in other far- that it was jokingly said that the new other regions. flung areas of Ladakh. Students being problem in the school system was SECMOL has developed an trained at SECMOL are being absorbed in overcrowding! innovative way of training students the education department of Leh. They Charkha Features from remote areas to become teachers are making it to the teacher selection while they pursue higher secondary {This article has been written under l i s t brought out by the J&K School education in Leh. The idea is to the “Sanjoy Ghose Ladakh Women Government. All of this emanates from not disrupt the process of regular Writers' Award 2008-09}

F E A T U R E SLife Stories

5 6


F E A T U R E S

Life Stories

In SECMOL I met many volunteers up before me. What was a part of my was born in a small village with and I went trekking with some of them. growing up experience could become a around 60 houses called Takmachik I One of the women asked me to come way of life, a career option, She about 120 km from Leh, Ladakh . In with her as a guide. Previously, she had a my village, all the 60 families are pursued this and together we went to bad experience with a male guide, who divided into groups to take turns at meet with the organization “Snow had tried to coerce her into having sex grazing the goats and sheep on the Leopard Conservancy” which runs such with him. Distraught, she had mountains.. We also would make trips programs in the region. Although it did abandoned the trek and fled. And now to collect grass and store it so that not quite work out with this particular was understandably weary of taking a during the long harsh winters, the organization, the experience of this male guide along. She knew that I have animals have adequate fodder. foreign women believing in me, left a trekked before and though I said I did Sometimes my father used to go up huge impact on my life. not the route, remained keen to hire me everyday for 3 or 4 weeks to collect I decided to pursue it on my own as a guide and offered to pay me my grass in the quantities required. steam and approached two travel charges. I had been born in the As a child during my holidays , I use companies. At one of them, the person mountains and spent my childhood to go up on the mountain with my father in charge asked me if I did monastery amidst them. It was natural for me to and our herds. I was afraid that tours. He was taken aback on hearing slip into that mode and become for the something may happen to him if he was

me say categorically, that I wanted to first time, a trekking guide! alone. My mother had died when I was a

work as a trekking guide. I was rejected. It was an altogether different baby and I had only my father, whom I

At the second company, it was worse. I experience from my childhood cared about deeply. I did not really cut

was clearly told that local society would wanderings. I found I was attracting a any grass, I just went because of my not accept a woman going up on the lot of attention with local people father and because I loved the peaceful mountains with a group of tourists. coming up to me and speaking to me in mountains. These were bitter experiences, leaving English saying they had never seen a This was the bliss of my childhood me dejected, my dreams seemed on Ladakhi female guide ever before. In which I still miss in the village which I the verge of being shattered. fact so remote was the possibility of still love. But then life changed and I

But help was near. I shared my encountering one, many of them went out into the world to get myself an angst with my English teacher, Becky thought that I was Japanese!education and explore possibilities for who was from America and found a The trek turned out to be my life ahead. After Class 10th , I had to much needed supporter in her. She wonderful and the woman enjoyed it leave my village to further my studies. I encouraged me to pursue my dreams immensely. She suggested that I think was selected for the SECMOL (Student and paid my fees for mountaineering Educational Cultural Movement of about becoming a guide as a profession. courses. Later, Becky introduced me to Ladakh) hostel in Phey, around 25 km It was the first time, I had got advice of a travel agency, she knew well and they from the Leh Town. this kind and suddenly the world opened

THINLAS CHOROL

A Trek Through Life

Growing up amidst the mountains in Ladakh, the story of a young girl fired by a dream to become a professional trekking guide, a male-dominated field. The rejection she faces from travel companies and the support from individuals and groups mark her journey to realize her dreams.

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RNI : JKENG/2007/26070 ISSN 0974-5653










said they would hire me! It was I knew a travel companies. I faced a similar time experience the real Ladakhi way

turning point for me and I had to prove situation everywhere. of life.

myself to all those who believed in me. But I persisted in my efforts. And Over time, a few travel companies

I did a few courses to upgrade my my lucky break came in 2004 again came to know about our work and

knowledge and skills and also to show through SECMOL. They opened a travel approached me to be a trekking guide

the agency that I was really serious company called “Around Ladakh with and I began to get hired for their treks.

a b o u t m y w o r k . I f i r s t d i d Students”. Most of the guides were This is what I loved doing the most and

mountaineering course at the Nehru women, all of them were doing cultural such opportunities encouraged me and

Institution Of Mountaineering and guide and monastery tours, except me. gave me a confidence, a renewed faith

National Outdoor Leadership School I was for the first time a full-fledged in myself.

(NOLS India) . It was here that I really trekking guide! It was a dream come I have learnt a lot on my journey

learnt how to live in the wilderness. true and my joy knew no bounds. This and enjoyed it immensely. Women who

Generally in Ladakh, students was the beginning of a journey for me. I are interested in the outdoor field or

work as a guide without any formal observed that generally it was very any field dominated by men should be

training. Men are hired by company expensive for individual tourists to patient and keep the competitive edge

even if they do not have this training, travel to different regions in Ladakh and sharp. I have learnt that if a woman has

any familiarity with trekking routs or get a sense of the local life there. In the courage to do something in male

work experience. In spite of my my present capacity, we use homestays world, it will be a lot of hard work, but

training though, in the beginning it was for taking up groups where tourists can the sweet rewards of success will surely

very difficult for me to get hired by the stay in homely comfort and at the same be hers in time.

F E A T U R E SLife Stories

5 8


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