Features On Ladakh

Jammu and Kashmir’s Monthly Magazine RNI : JKENG/2007/26070
Now
ISSN 0974-5653
Jammu and Kashmir’s Monthly Magazine
Epilogue Telling
Epilogue
because there is more to know The J&K Stories
Jammu, November 1, 2009 / Vol 3 / Issue 11 || Price Rs. 30 || Postal Registration No. JK-350/2009-11 || www.epilogue.in
BRIDGING
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Special on First Anniversary of
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An Analysis of Joint Chamber
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November 1, 2009
New Delhi's Fresh Peace Initiatives
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Perspectives on Harnessing Indus Waters
INTERVIEW : NYLA ALI KHAN RESEARCH :

Vol 3 / Issue 11 || Price Rs. 30 ||
Author of Islam Women &
Violence in Kashmir
Socio-Cultural and Economic
Changes Among Muslim Rajputs
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54 F EATURE S
Travelogue
A Journey to
Himalayan enclave
MANISHA SOBHRAJANI
I
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
any 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
mountains provided a very '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 The high point of this journey was a arranged to carry weaponry etc. uphill
Panchayati Raj elections held in Jammu visit to the Drass War Memorial. Drass so that the soldiers could fight, and
& Kashmir. and Kargil became household names eventually win the war. I can't
I crossed many Border Roads after the infamous summer of 1999. remember a more humbling moment!
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
I was keen to visit Darchiks - the the months of May and June, and in the moved anywhere is the cross-LoC trade
last village in the Batalik sector - which soldiers' accounts accompanying the – of course not without its controver-
is under Army surveillance due to its many photographs at the memorial, sies. No doubt the cross-border trade is
proximity to the LoC. I had to seek there is one in particular which struck at a very fragile crossroads right now. A
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Violence in Kashmir
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55 F EATURE S
Life Stories
recent visit to
Chakkan da Bagh con- Spreading the Lamp of
firmed the same.
There was talk of
trade exchange of
Learning–the Ladakhi way
products which are
not J&K specific (I
understand this is
one of the pre- ZAINAB AKHTER
conditions for the
products being
L
traded!). adakh in the eastern part of child-centered, joyful and meaningful
However sym- Jammu and Kashmir, a high- learning activities. And stressed on the
bolic it may be, it altitude desert region, on the use of games, songs, stories, field trips,
does exist. And now upper reaches of the Indus River, shares and low-cost teaching aids.
that it has com- borders with both China and Pakistan. In 1994 SECMOL launched
pleted a year, we This strategic position by itself has been Operation New Hope (ONH), to overhaul
must extend all the single-most important factor in the primary education system in the
efforts towards sus- opening this isolated rural society. With Government schools in Leh district. This
taining it. Perhaps it high priority on defence since the addressed the foundational causes of
is the only ray of 1960's, it has attracted subsidies from the malfunctioning of the educational
hope in the the Central government and system especially in remote villages.
sequence of events development activities such as schools The ONH movement rests on the
beginning with the and other institutions was initiated. convergence of three sectors on the
Mumbai attacks, Today Education has taken centre- Government, the Non-Governmental
going on to the con- stage in national policy and the priority Organizations (NGOs), and the village
troversial meeting accorded to it is justified. For any communities.
between Indian society to develop, Education is the One of the key components of the
Prime Minister foundation and this stands true for ONH was to inculcating a sense of
Manmohan Singh Ladakh where the education system was community ownership of the
and his Pakistani in disarray. Government schools did government schools , to ensure
counterpart Yousuf
not function properly remained in dire accountability. This was the motivation
Raza Gilani at
need of repairs. There was a complete for a concentrated campaign and the
Sharm-el-Sheikh,
lack of involvement of the families and creation of VECs (Village Education
and ending with the
village communities in schools Committee. VEC's elected by the
very recent meeting
This is where the local government villagers themselves have one third
of the two foreign
“Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development women members and include at least
ministers –
Nirupama Rao and Council (LAHDC) along with some highly two students.
Salman Bashir - in motivated NGO'S stepped in to don the The move has caught the
New York. mantle to revamp education system at imagination of the people and the
Manisha the grassroots. The efforts of SECMOL momentum was palpable. It essentially
Sobhrajani is a Delhi- (Students Educational and Cultural transformed them from passive
based independent Movement of Ladakh) an organization bystanders bemoaning the crumbling
researcher working founded in 1988 by a group of young government educational facilities to
on the various Ladakhi's with the aim to reform the taking the onus of improving it
aspects of the
educational system have been stellar. It themselves. From 1997, SECMOL has
Kashmir conflict. She
can be reached at attempted to change the attitude and organized more than 10 batches of
manishasobhrajani@e approach of the people towards intensive training for 1000 VEC
pilogue.in teaching, from "chalk, talk and stick" to members. The training uses group

56 F EATURE S
Life Stories
discussion, brainstorming and role-

plays to develop techniques of problem
solving and planning.
To promote transparency and
a c c o u n t a b i l i t y, m e m b e r s l e a r n
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
developmental work in the villages. It education while instilling in them the a keen desire, a commitment to
also provides media training to spirit and skills to take this learning education in its widest possible sense.
interested students in basics of video forward in their respective regions. It Rather than addressing a single
including shooting and editing, audio, has intervened at other levels too, aspect SECMOL has looked at the needs
photography, reporting and layout. addressing availability of of the region in its entirety. These have
The emphasis on reaching out to infrastructure. Middle and high schools ranged from content and syllabus,
village communities is accompanied by in several remote villages face teacher training, infrastructural needs
expansion of reading materials, both problems because of lack of support and and community participation. It has
course and for extra reading available infrastructure. In response to one such then evolved an expansive system which
to teachers and students. Keeping in case in the high mountainous region of takes into account multifarious needs of
mind, the region's needs in developing Changthang plateau, SECMOL opened a a society, a region which remains
material related to the cultural, social, solar heated residential school in distinct from the rest of the country and
regional context, SECMOL's sister September 2001. This combined the even within J&K in terms of its history ,
concern Melong Publications publishes a resources allocated to middle and high terrain, its culture and language.
variety of genres. Books on Ladakhi schools and was able to provide free Today in its 2 decade long journey,
language, food, children's stories, board and lodging for students for whom this commitment and efforts have paid
school books and teaching materials traversing the mountain terrain on a off, lighting up young lives in Ladakh. A
designed specially for Ladakh are its daily basis was difficult. standing testimony to this has been the
forte. Being culturally appropriate, This was a pioneering move, which big jump in enrolment and retention of
students find it much easier to grasp the has since been picked up by the children in areas of their work had
messages than from books suited to government to establish similar increased to such an extent by 2006,
other regions. residential high schools in other far- that it was jokingly said that the new
SECMOL has developed an flung areas of Ladakh. Students being problem in the school system was
innovative way of training students trained at SECMOL are being absorbed in overcrowding!
from remote areas to become teachers the education department of Leh. They Charkha Features
while they pursue higher secondary are making it to the teacher selection {This article has been written under
School education in Leh. The idea is to list brought out by the J&K the “Sanjoy Ghose Ladakh Women
not disrupt the process of regular Government. All of this emanates from Writers' Award 2008-09}

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57 F EATURE S
Life Stories
A Trek Through Life
THINLAS CHOROL
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.
I was born in a small village with In SECMOL I met many volunteers up before me. What was a part of my
around 60 houses called Takmachik and I went trekking with some of them. growing up experience could become a
about 120 km from Leh, Ladakh . In One of the women asked me to come way of life, a career option, She
my village, all the 60 families are with her as a guide. Previously, she had a pursued this and together we went to
divided into groups to take turns at bad experience with a male guide, who meet with the organization “Snow
grazing the goats and sheep on the had tried to coerce her into having sex Leopard Conservancy” which runs such
mountains.. We also would make trips with him. Distraught, she had programs in the region. Although it did
to collect grass and store it so that abandoned the trek and fled. And now not quite work out with this particular
during the long harsh winters, the was understandably weary of taking a organization, the experience of this
animals have adequate fodder. male guide along. She knew that I have foreign women believing in me, left a
Sometimes my father used to go up trekked before and though I said I did huge impact on my life.
everyday for 3 or 4 weeks to collect not the route, remained keen to hire me
I decided to pursue it on my own
grass in the quantities required. as a guide and offered to pay me my
steam and approached two travel
As a child during my holidays , I use charges. I had been born in the
companies. At one of them, the person
to go up on the mountain with my father mountains and spent my childhood
in charge asked me if I did monastery
and our herds. I was afraid that amidst them. It was natural for me to
tours. He was taken aback on hearing
something may happen to him if he was slip into that mode and become for the
me say categorically, that I wanted to
alone. My mother had died when I was a first time, a trekking guide!
work as a trekking guide. I was rejected.
baby and I had only my father, whom I It was an altogether different
At the second company, it was worse. I
cared about deeply. I did not really cut experience from my childhood
wanderings. I found I was attracting a was clearly told that local society would
any grass, I just went because of my
lot of attention with local people not accept a woman going up on the
father and because I loved the peaceful
coming up to me and speaking to me in mountains with a group of tourists.
mountains.
English saying they had never seen a These were bitter experiences, leaving
This was the bliss of my childhood
Ladakhi female guide ever before. In me dejected, my dreams seemed on
which I still miss in the village which I
still love. But then life changed and I fact so remote was the possibility of the verge of being shattered.
went out into the world to get myself an encountering one, many of them But help was near. I shared my
education and explore possibilities for thought that I was Japanese! angst with my English teacher, Becky
my life ahead. After Class 10th , I had to The trek turned out to be who was from America and found a
leave my village to further my studies. I wonderful and the woman enjoyed it much needed supporter in her. She
was selected for the SECMOL (Student immensely. She suggested that I think encouraged me to pursue my dreams
Educational Cultural Movement of about becoming a guide as a profession. and paid my fees for mountaineering
Ladakh) hostel in Phey, around 25 km It was the first time, I had got advice of courses. Later, Becky introduced me to
from the Leh Town. this kind and suddenly the world opened a travel agency, she knew well and they

58 F EATURE S
Life Stories
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.
about my work. I first did 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.
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Jammu and Kashmir’s Monthly Magazine RNI : JKENG/2007/26070

INTERVIEW : NYLA ALI KHAN RESEARCH :

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

INTERVIEW : NYLA ALI KHAN RESEARCH :

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

discussion, brainstorming and role-

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

INTERVIEW : NYLA ALI KHAN RESEARCH :

A Trek Through Life

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

Read the web version, enjoy pleasure of print edition

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

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