Postcards from Ladakh: Excerpts

Postcards from Ladakh is a pictorial travelogue on Ladakh written by Ajay Jain, a full time writer, journalist and photographer. The book is intended to give readers a flavour of what Ladakh truly is based on his 10,000 km journey across the region.

Excerpts:

Jispa: The mood kicks in

This is it. The edge of heaven. As far as oases go, Jispa's tough to beat. A recommended night halt before Ladakh, it's just the place where the mood kicks in.

It's the last green spot -- with trees, flowers and wheat fields -- till you hit Leh. Jispa lies at 10,890 feet on the bank of the Bhaga, whose waters lull you to sleep at night. Mudhouses and chortens complement the serenescape.

It's quiet. Very quiet. Except for the rumble of passing tankers and trucks ferrying supplies to Ladakhis and the Army. You'd think the locals are introverts, barely seen except in the mornings when they reach the communal taps to brush their teeth and wash their utensils. Or to stroll and ruminate like the cows leading them -- at least like the three men I saw.

I spotted some boarding a bus to Keylong. A sign inside asked passengers on seats 1 to 3 not to sleep lest they make the driver drowsy. Some women were shopping at a grocery store run by 'ex-man' Karam Singh; methinks the sign should read 'ex-serviceman'.

Jispa can be a destination in itself for travellers. Pity it's inaccessible eight months of the year.

One earning member usually feeds an entire family in rural India. It could even be the grandmother. Like the one I met by the highway in Jispa.

Knitting and smiling away, she sat waiting for other villagers. Together, they would go make the roads that travellers like me drive on. She was probably a beneficiary of the government's rural employment guarantee programme. But how much work could her ageing body put in?

Some locals work as daily wagers like her, she said, though Jispa's chief occupation is agriculture. Its main crops are potato (sold in the mandi or wholesale market) and peas (sold locally). During the harsh winter, villagers knit woollens and weave carpets but mostly for their own use.

She pointed to a local school, an impressive building. No student or teacher plays truant here, a major achievement in India. A board highlighted targets of the government's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (education for all) programme: By 2003, all children to be enrolled in school. By 2010, all children to study till the eighth grade. Seems Jispa is well on course to achieve these milestones.

Granny posed for some pictures. Then, a cheerful wave and she was off to make roads...