It was immediately decided that a Gurudwara should be built . The holy site came to be known as Gurudwara Sri Pathhar Sahib .
The most prominent aspect this Gurudwara is that it is located at an altitude of over 4,000 metres and is managed by the Indian Army . A feature is a huge rock with the imprint of Guru Nanak Devji ’ s body and that of the demon ’ s footprint .
Throughout the area there is one objective and teaching ; that of living a truthful life with purpose , believe in one God ( who is the creator of the universe ), respect others and have high moral standards . Guru Nanak was the founder of Sikhism and is one of the ten Sikh Gurus .
We all sunk in the blissful environment and offered our prayers to the almighty . Like every place of worship , divine energy and calmness embraced us , as we spent extra time before Guru Granth Sahib .
Langar , or food prepared in a community kitchen , was being served to all the visitors , irrespective of caste , creed , religion , gender , ethnicity , or economic status , by the soldiers .
The experience provided an atmosphere filled with learning for all of us . The blissful time at Gurudwara came to an end as we needed to move on .
While heading to Turtuk , we came across two children who were crossing to the other side of a rusty iron bridge . Stopping we began interacting with them and found them extremely friendly , innocently charming , and cute .
Smitten by their simplicity , I couldn ’ t resist and began playing with them . This place taught me a great lesson of life ; to observe , to learn how people with just bare necessities , no visibility of their future are divinely happy and satisfied with whatever comes their way , be it strangers , harsh weather or attacks by unfriendly neighbours , they just don ’ t complain at all and seem to be devoid of any visible stress in life . In the company of the children we became further enlightened and headed on to Turtuk , just a stone ’ s throw from the bridge .
Just 2.2 kilometres from the LOC ( India / Pakistan border ) Turtuk is a remote village . Once under the control of Pakistan it fell to India in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 . Speaking Balti , a language that is a mixture of Tibetan and Persian , the people of Turtuk find themselves as the last bastion of Indian territory in the region .
Walking a few metres further , we reached Thang , the northernmost village in India . Interestingly , before 1971 the twin villages namely Thang and Pharnu ( now on Pakistan side ) were in India , the people would live in one place and work in the other . After the war of 1971 , the villages were separated by the LOC with families separated , the way they remain to this day . Families separated by an invisible wall , members living in two different countries . Extremely sad , yet true .
This ten-day ride transformed my life , providing a new perspective and turning me into an author before I could even come out of the trip hangover . KK
Kamlesh completed the ride , returned home and immediately began telling of his adventures . Kamlesh wrote a book ; Tenu Main ‘ Leh ’ Javanga that tells of the ride amongst eight friends . He says the adventure has only just begun .
1 . The Kargil War or Conflict took place between May and June 1999 . Pakistani soldiers infiltrated Kashmiri militant forces and were able to become imbedded in the India side of the Line Of Control , the de facto border between the conflicted states of India and Pakistan .
While the conflict was conventional in the mountainous terrain it did highlight and remains the only time to date that two nuclear states have openly fought each other . 2 . Jawan . Of Persian origin , a term meaning ‘ young ’ in many southern Asian languages . In the case of India and Pakistan it ’ s a term used to identify junior ranking soldiers . 3 . The Magnetic Hill in the Leh Ladakh region is an optical illusion that creates the appearance of vehicles rolling up hill without power .
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