Leh - An Incredible High Altitude City

Leh! 

The name we heard many times as the only major city in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir state in North India. But only when you get there, you will start realizing how amazing the place is! In fact, you will start realizing even before reaching there.

Here is why: Unless you fly to this remote city tucked in the Ladakh range of mountains in the Himalayan region, which is very expensive to begin with, you need to cross some of the world's highest motorable roads, no matter from which direction you come through.

We traveled from the southern road connecting to Leh. That is from Manali in Himachal Pradesh. It is one of the most scenic and rugged roads you can find anywhere on the planet. You will have all the adventure feeling you want - sharp turns, 20,000+ tall Himalayan peaks, glaciers, rushing rivers, lush green to no green mountains, snow covered dangerous passes, icicles that you can eat, road side camps, no petrol/diesel for 365 km!, and much more.. It takes a lot of time - for us nearly 2 full days to get to Leh. But it was all worth it. You get to pass through Rohtang Pass (13,000+ ft above sea level) initially and then Tanglang La pass nearing Leh. Note - Taglang La is the world's third highest motorable road at over 17,600 feet above sea level! (La in Boti language means mountain pass).  Some claim Taglang La is the second highest road, but it is definitely a very high pass.

Some of the on road small eateries provide very comfortable blankets, pillows etc. for you to rest and catchup on some breathing, before indulging in tasty noodles and other food.

If you travel north from Leh towards Siachen Glacier, the world's highest battlefield now (close to 19,000 feet above sea level), you will pass through Khardung La pass. Khardung La is the world's highest all-weather motorable road at nearly 18,400 feet above sea level, leading you to Nubra valley and then Siachen base camp. Nubra is very special as it is probably the world's highest sand desert covered by snow covered peaks! You can take double humped camel rides or ride ATVs over sand dunes, in freezing temperatures. Keep in mind, many attractions north and East of Leh, need special permit and you should talk to a travel agent or read on the web before heading to Leh.

If you travel east from Leh towards the ultimate Pangong Lake (Tso in Boti language), you will have to cross Chang La at nearly 17,700 feet above sea level, also the world's second highest motorable road. Today, Pangong is 40% with India and 60% with China after 1950s and 1960s expansion of China. A salt lake at over 14,250 feet above sea level, is a dream come true for any adventure seeker and you will know what is chilly winds if you stay at a camp next to the lake overnight.

If you travel west from Leh towards Kargil and Srinagar on National Highway 1D, you will pass over Namki La (12,100+ ft) , Fotu La - highest point on Highway between Leh and Srinagar at 13,500 ft above sea level and other passes, which are also quite formidable at 12,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level. The most scenic one is Zoji La (11,600 ft) , which is closer to Srinagar and Amarnath cave's northern point (Baltal base camp). Just driving from Leh to Srinagar, you can spend 3 days enjoying Dras (Kargil war memorial), Sonamarg resort, Zero Point, Magnetic Hill and dozens of scenic attractions.

So imagine.. no listen.. Leh has the world's highest motorable road in the north, second highest in the east, third highest in the south and a very high pass of 13,500 ft on the west. There is much more.. You can even see 21,000 ft+ peaks right from Leh!

Now you understand why I told it is very tough to get to this unique city by road, but it is worth every minute if you are brave enough to try! The best part? There is hardly any population there. Leh city, at 11,500 feet above sea level, has less than 35,000 people living permanently there, and they are very friendly to tourists.

You will need at least a week to fully see Leh and surroundings. If you have time and money, spend a month here. There is so much to see.

Shanti Stupa, built by the Japanese about 35 years ago, is one of Leh's main attractions. Whatever your duration is, keep 2 days to acclimatize to 10,000+ ft altitude. Else, you will develop breathing issues and major health upset. Also, if you have breathing issues, buy a small oxygen cylinder at a local medical store as soon as you reach Leh. Don't ignore low oxygen issues.

And, a Leh trip is not fully done, unless you take the legendary Royal Enfield's Bullet motor bike for a ride. 1000s of *crazy* folks drive all the way from Manali (south) or Srinagar (west) on their motor bikes, braving those tall snow covered peaks and dangerous slippery roads. But we took a short cut by just renting the bike in Leh and driving around the city and the national highway for fun. It is an incredible experience driving in the rugged mountains and vast uninhabited terrains.

Leh is probably the only main city in India today, where you can take a bath in the sacred Sindhu (Indus) river. I did that with my friends, and it was tough.. Water straight from Himalayan glaciers can be cold, but as a Hindu, I had to take the sacred bath. Sindhu is one of our 7 most sacred rivers, and the name Hindu, Hind, India are all probably based out of some variation of this great river. And there are many "Sangam" places like the place where Sindhu meets Zanskar river before flowing into Baltistan not in today's India's control.

Leh is known for its Buddhist architecture and history. And the monasteries across all the four directions I mentioned above, are worth seeing. Some of  the world's most gorgeous view points are there in these monasteries.

And don't ever forget to visit the Hall of Fame military memorial for Indian soldiers in Leh. It is near Zorawar fort and on a breezy evening, your will have the time of your life paying homage to all those who laid down their lives for our secure future.

Did I tell, a 500 year old Sikh Gurudwara Patthar Sahib is a must-visit place near Leh? Guru Nanak ji personally visited this place exactly 500 years ago.

Leh! Undoubtedly the most unique high altitude destination on the planet. I have not even talked about 100s of high altitude snow trekking in Zanskar valley and other attractions around Leh for winter enthusiasts. 

Meet Captain Naveen Nagappa - Kargil War Fighter

Jammu and Kashmir is again in news.

50 days of curfew, non stop media coverage, 10s of crores of Rupees coming from Pakistan to sponsor stone pelting, anti India slogans in the so called "human rights" events, with natural reaction against anti nationals from Desha Bhakta students on streets, and much more. So I attended the well publicized and very well attended Nilume event today in Bengaluru. This Nilume group is the most active group of Kannada bloggers today with 1000s of highly creative writers. I went there to understand the situation from three different angles:-

1. One from police angle narrated by the former Commissioner of Police of Bengaluru city, Mr. Shankar Bidari. 
2. Second from a researcher, professor and journalist angle narrated by the popular Kannada writer Mr. Prem Shekhar. He has also written books on Jammu and Kashmir.
3. Third from a Kargil war veteran, Captain Naveen Nagappa, who fought valiantly to protect India's sovereignty in the Himalayan hills in July 1999.

I was thoroughly impressed with Mr. Bidari and Mr. Prem Shekhar's narrations. They covered the issue from human rights, army morale, history, blunders of Nehru, British and US bias, geo-politics and war perspective. They were outstanding. Between them, they spoke for over 2 hours, so I will try to narrate their talk a little later on Facebook and Twitter. I knew both of them and admired them for years. Awesome gentlemen!

Here, I want to jump straight to Captain Naveen Nagappa. Honestly, I did not know about him till date. Shame on me! I did not know about a valiant Indian army man who not only fought bravely at Kargil protecting us, but also survived a serious injury to tell us the story. But it is never too late. So you can learn more about him here..

It was January 1999. A young Engineer from Karnataka called Naveen had joined Indian Army, instead of going to do Masters Degree in Engineering. He had great dreams of protecting our Bharat and had become a part of 13th Jammu and Kashmir Rifles group. This was the group of Late Captain Vikram Batra, of "Yeh dil maange more" fame. This battalion got numerous awards during the war for supreme sacrifice. Our of the 4 Param Vir Chakras awarded during Kargil war, two were given to his JK Rifles unit.

While he was just getting started with his army career, General Musharraf and Pakistanis were planning and executing something sinister. They were breaking the Gentleman's agreement between India and Pakistan of vacating the 16000 feet plus altitude hills during extremely bitter winter periods. They were not only occupying the Kargil heights, but also were building bunkers and getting ready to shell Indian army's vital Siachen and Leh supply routes from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir state.

Things came out open in May 1999. But June Indian army was fighting to capture the hills back, one by one. When Naveen's team was sent in early July to capture a vital hill, he was put in reserve.
Point 5140 was where the big battle was starting. Captain Batra and team had already fought there, but Naveen was not given a chance to fight. His team was sending radio signal, including "Yeh dil maange more" kind of awesome slogans. But Naveen was not fighting in the open. He desperately wanted to.
 When his team was given a big task for 3rd and 4th July 1999, he went and pleaded his chiefs like General Yogesh Kumar Joshi. Naveen pleaded that he did not leave his chance for Masters in Engineering, and come all the way to Jammu and Kashmir borderline, to just stay in the reserve. He wanted to fight. His boss asked - You are here only for 6 months in the army. Not only your safety, but also the safety of 120 people who are with you matters, with your split decision. It is not easy. But Naveen did not quit. He kept on requesting and finally got the stamp of approval to lead a mission.

Super excited, Naveen was on the mission to liberate "Point 4875" near Kargil. Captain Batra had told Captain Nagappa one simple thing - "Naveen, you take care of your men, and they will take care of you". So Naveen started his expedition with JK Rifles' war cry - "Durga Mata Ki Jai"!

Location of Point 4875. Source: http://lazydesiauthor.com

We have heard more of Tiger Hill and other popular named hills. But a few of these numbered hills were vital to get to the top of Kargil mountains where Pakistanis had setup bunkers, so that they can be kicked out of Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir. So the battle started on 4th July 1999. Incidentally the day of Vivekananda and US independence too! Personally, I had just crossed oceans at 38,000 ft to get back to India that morning, but had no clue that supreme sacrifices were being made exactly at that time by the brave jawans of India.

Naveen and team had followed the same buddy system that army follows. Everyone who goes out in the night for attack, is paired with another brave soldier. Their job is to make sure that if something happens to one, the other would take care of it. Naveen had just seen his buddy suffer badly the previous night. But there was no going back. He had to fight on 4th morning, 4th night, 5th morning, 5th night, 6th morning, 6th night... They had to melt water from snow capped mountain for drink and eat some energy food carried with them. They could not move easily as the enemy was in higher location and had clear sight of them. But their mental power carried them. Why? They had heard about how Pakistanis had tortured Late Captain Saurabh Kalia and team who had gone on a fact finding mission earlier. They had heard about the gory details of brutally Pakistanis had taken out organ by organ of the brave Indian soldiers who were taken as Prisoners of War. They had heard about how after torturing in the most inhuman ways, Pakistanis had shot Kalia and team at point blank, before "returning" the bodies to India. When you hear such barbarism and brutality of your enemy at front lines, you just get the energy to hit back. No question of fear or family or tiredness. That was Captain Nagappa and team during those extremely difficult moments of July 1999.

They kept fighting bravely. And then a grenade landed in front of Naveen. He was trained on how to handle a grenade when it lands. Usually you have 6 to 10 seconds. A grenade can kill everyone within 10 meters radius. So the first instinct of Naveen on 7th July morning was to just pick it up and throw it away. But a body that has been fighting non stop for 100+ hours can't really throw a grenade back 100s of feet as they show in movies. Unfortunately, the grenade came back after hitting a boulder.. Now Naveen had 2 to 3 seconds!!

His thought was - Anyway the explosion will happen now. I have no chance of escaping. At least, let my upper body go back home in one piece, rather than piece by piece in a bag. So he hid his upper body from grenade and exposed only his lower body. Booooom.. the explosion happened and before he knew what happened, he was in severe pain. His legs were hit. But in a conflict zone, you can't just get away after being injured. Any movement will attract more bullets. So he controlled his extreme pain of both legs being damaged and still fought on. But his team observed and asked him that he should crawl from the mountain to the bottom slowly. He did not agree, but they convinced him that he had to do it as he was seriously injured. With great reluctance, Naveen left his team to fight further, and crawled back to the lower heights very slowly. As you can imagine, he would be in tremendous pain and losing blood rapidly. Still he made to the bottom. The first thing he did there was to remove his snow shoes which are below the knee, but above the ankle. And then he realized how hard he was hit as his blood turned a few feet of snow around him red! He had literally spilled half of his body's blood for Bharat Mata, in an un-named hill, 1000s of KM from his home.. what a spirit! Still he wanted to fight barely having consciousness.

Even there, you can't expect a quick evacuation as the enemy was a higher position, observing everything. So it took lot of time. Finally after hours, he was given basic treatment and taken to the nearest helicopter. With great reluctance, he had to head away from the fighting zone, in the army helicopter taking him to Srinagar. And when the chopper took off, at a lower height to avoid firing from higher hills, he was losing consciousness due to heavy blood loss. Just then his chopper flew past Point 4875 for which he almost sacrificed his life. And there the Indian national flag, the tricolour was flying proudly!! After watching it from the army chopper, under lot of sedatives to kill the pain, he finally closed his eyes in total satisfaction. YES!! My boys have done what I went there to do......... What a relief!
His mind was -

"Naveen.. You have left a legacy behind.. whatever happens after this is irrelevant. Whatever role you were meant to play, you have played. You have created history".

Then he spent 21 months in the hospital undergoing treatment. He had to undergo 8 surgeries. He got the Sena Medal. His spirit kept him going even when the bravest of human minds crumble when hospitalized for such a long time.

And he narrates one other thing from his hospital stay. The mother of his close friend from army came from Dilli to visit him. She had lost her son during the same battle. Naveen could not sleep the prior night as he did not know what to tell that Maa, about her son. He could not digest that fact that he was alive, but his close friend soldier had made the supreme sacrifice for India. She came and met him. He talked with his "aunty" with lot of respect. They talked for 2 hours, but she never asked about her son not returning. Naveen could not take it anymore when she was about to walk away. He asked her.. "Aunty.. I am extremely sorry that I could not get your son back, while I survived myself". She told in a calm way - "Naveen.. it is the best honour for a mother to see her son wrapped in a tiranga. I am proud of my son". No need to highlight that when Naveen narrated this today, he got loud claps from the emotional audience in Bengaluru.

Why am I writing all these 17 years later? Because when I was busy building my high paying corporate career in 1999, these young men, some younger than me, were busy shedding their precious blood drops for Bharat Mata. As I am typing this, I am sure 1000s are taking extreme risks in the Himalayan mountains, rough seas, dangerous central Indian jungles and much more. During every real estate purchase we do, ever mall purchase we do, every road trip we take, every party we enjoy, every cricket match we cheer for, every political rally we attend, every TV show we watch, every birthday party of kid we celebrate.... there is an Indian army soldier making a split second decision whether to sacrifice his upper body or lower body because that grenade is about to explode. Either he is facing the situation in real, or training hard in drills. Sooner or later that situation would come for many brave fighters as we are surrounded by internal and external enemies.

Hold these brave soldiers with the highest respect. We have NO IDEA of what they go through.. when you can't even take out your shoe for hours to check if your bleeding legs are still attacked to the knees or not, THAT is sacrifice for mother India. That is what 1000s of these Jawans are paying with their blood for our safety each year.

Oh.. did I tell you that all the tall promises politicians made to him - nothing has materialized till date :( You can hear his narration here, from an earlier event.

You can read about another narration of meeting with Captain Nagappa here. They have posted one memorable picture from Kargil times.

The next time you hear some nincompoop talk of "human rights" or "azaadi" slogans against these brave Jawans, just ask them to go speak to brave sons of Bharat Mata like Captain Naveen Nagappa in Bengaluru. I can take them personally.

Freedom is not free. It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to protect it. DAILY!

The Physical India - Amazing Place!

Recently, I spent some time understanding the physical India and the tectonic plates movement. This was right after the devastating earthquake in the Himalayan region killing over 6000 already in Nepal and close to 100 in India.

My key question was - Why is the Himalayan region so susceptible to earthquakes? But while understanding that, I had a good revision of the entire physical features of Indian subcontinent. Right from 12 crores years back to today, and the projection 10 crore years into the future!

Sharing some highlights for those interested in our Bharata Varsha, Bharata Khanda and Jambu Dweepa :)

12 crore years back, India was fairly close to today's Antarctica's location. Trace our Indian subcontinent's movement right from Antarctica region to northern hemisphere pushing the Eurasian tectonic plate up here. India moved from Antarctica region close to African east cost to middle of the Indian ocean to colliding with the Europe-Asia plate and to pushing Himalayas up and reaching the place today.

Where would Indian subcontinent be 10 crores years from today? Pretty much the same place as it can't push any considerable distance. But the western half might expand, while the eastern part might get submerged per the scientific projections.

Watch this video for a graphical representation of what I am trying to say. 

Here's another video giving a closeup look at the most recent 5 crore years. 

Isn't it amazing to see how India changed the Asian continent, and most importantly gave the planet earth, the most amazing Himalayas (Hima = Snow, Alaya = Mountain, in Sanskrit)? Out of the top 15 peaks in the world, ALL are in the Himalayas. If India had not traveled from the tip of southern pole to northern hemisphere, planet Earth would have been a much boring place without giants like Mount Everest, Kanchanjunga, K2, Kailash mountain etc..

If your interest in tectonic geology has gone up, don't miss this awesome video on how Earth was formed, how earth's land surface came up, how continents formed - split - rejoined - split again.. Amazing journey over 10s of crore years!

Asteroid impact

Now that your thirst for tectonic plates, earthquakes, Tsunamis, island formation, Himalayas etc. is quenched, let's move on to more India specific things. I was reading this morning more connection between a very historic event that wiped out Dinosaurs 6.5 crores years ago, and the rise of Deccan plateau over which I am sitting and typing this today. Why did Deccan plateau rise? Also, note that India was not exactly where it is today, as 6.5 crore years ago. It was still somewhere near Equator, making the massive asteroid impact point on the western hemisphere, directly antipodal (exactly opposite place of the sphere in the other side) to the Deccan plateau today. 

Yucatan peninsula (impact point) and Deccan plateau. Pic: enchantedlearning

Pic: Wiki

Here is a simple depiction of what is antipodal point when you take a sphere.

Here is the interesting article that describes how the largest Deccan eruptions, referred to as the Wai subgroup flows, which produced about 70% of the lavas that now stretch across the Indian subcontinent from Mumbai to Kolkata. These researchers argue that the impact likely triggered most of the immense eruptions of lava in India known as the Deccan Traps, explaining the “uncomfortably close” coincidence between the Deccan Traps eruptions and the impact, which has always cast doubt on the theory that the asteroid was the sole cause of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

For those not familiar with the Deccan traps, here is a beautiful sight.

Deccan Traps - Pic. Wiki

So we learned quickly about the tectonic plates, the great movement of Indian subcontinent from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere, and the amazing connection between the Dinosaur extinction asteroid impact, and the Deccan plateau. Keep in mind, we are talking of extremely high amount of volcanic eruption into the atmosphere right from India, between today's Mumbai to Puri, and Nagpur to Bengaluru region!

Now comes the most important question. Why is India termed a "subcontinent"? Was it just a fancy name due to the amazing diversity of languages, cultures and other diversity? Or was it something beyond that?

Well, I found my answer today. India is called a "subcontinent" because it is the only country on the planet that has ALL the six types of physical features described on planet earth. Wow.. exciting isn't it? Let's find out what are those six physical features and their subcategories.

Feature 1: Mountains.
India is home to all types of mountains described in physical geology. India is home to one of the world's oldest fold mountain called Aravalli range spreading across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Dilli. India is also the home to the world's newest mountain ranges, the mighty Himalayas. India has the Western Ghats, one of UNESCO's eight biological *hot spots* of the planet, among other mountain regions.

Watch this educational video to learn about the mountains of India. Right from the coldest mountain region to the tropical mountain regions are there in India. This video shows a very interesting sub section of the four cross sections of the might Himalayas, taking you right from the plains of north India to the Mount Everest, to the Manas sarovar holy place, to Tibetan plateau.

Tip: Do you know about a place just north of Jammu and Kashmir (not in India), that is called a *knot*, because four of the world's great mountain ranges start from there, including Himalayas? See the videos here.

Feature 2: Plains. 
India is home to some of the most fertile plains on this planet. The Indus planes, the Gangetic planes and the Brahmaputra planes of North and North-East India are amazingly diverse. 

Watch this video to learn everything you want, about the plains of India, how they were formed and the difference between each section of plains.
 

Tip: Did you know that India converted most of Tarai or marshy plains of North India into agricultural fields since 1947, to settle and feed the large group of refugees who came in during partition?

Feature 3: Plateaus.
India is home to some of the oldest plateaus on mother Earth. We already talked of Deccan plateau earlier. Did you know about the economic importance of the Chhota Nagpur plateau and its incredible deposits of iron and other valuable ores?

 Watch this video to know all you want about plateaus.

Tip: Did you know that Deccan plateau and Chhota Nagpur plateau of India are the two, that NEVER were submerged under sea over 100s of millions of years? Not even during the four major ice ages or after ice melting! Extremely rare examples of always being above sea level places, yet never below the ice sheet places.

Feature 4: Deserts.
India is home to both hot and cold deserts. The coldest deserts are in the Leh/Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, while the hottest deserts are in the Thar region of Rajasthan.

Watch this video about deserts.

Tip: You can comfortably drive from one of the coldest deserts on the planet, Ladakh, to the one of the hottest deserts on the planet in Bikaner area, in just 24 hours by road. Where else can you find such diversity?

Feature 5: Coasts.
India is home to over 7000 KM of coastline. This is the seventh longest coastline for a country in the world. Also, the coasts are very historic and very diverse connecting 3 seas and one ocean.

Watch this video about coasts.

Tip: Some coastal areas of India like Dwaraka in Gujarat, trace their history back to 10000+ years of continuous human settlement.

Feature 5: Islands.
India is home to both Volcanic and Coral islands.

Watch this video about islands.

Tip: Traditionally we say Kashmir to Kanyakumari as describing India. But the physical southernmost tip of India is Nicobar islands - a point called Indira Point that is more than 1 degree latitude south of Kanyakumari!

Isn't India one of the most amazing countries of India?

• The world's largest democracy.. 
• the country with the world's largest number of tigers.
• Has the world's biggest gathering of humans called Kumbha Mela (over 10,00,00,000 participated last time) repeating every few years.
• A historic and traditional calendar that has all six seasons. 
• Home to the world's oldest continuing civilization. Vedas chanted the same way they were chanted 5000+ years ago!
• The source of 70% of the world's spices, making the world a truly *spicy* place :)
• The world's most diverse linguistic country with 15 languages being spoken by at least 1,00,00,000 people.
• A country where marriages have been sacred, instead of being contracts for 1000s of years. 
• The only country on the planet where Jews were not persecuted, ever!
• The first country on the planet that sent a mission successfully to Mars in its first attempt.
• The world's largest postal service network.
• Among the four religions with 1 billion+ adherents on the planet, two originated in India.
• The list continues endlessly..

But most importantly.. India is the ONLY country that is also a subcontinent! You leaned why :)