There is nothing in particular to write about Suru valley except that it is a fertile land with fair amount of cultivation along the way. We could see small orchards as well as small fields. We could also see some people using small oar boats to perhaps cross the river or do some fishing. Children walking to school or playing near the roads was another sight. After driving some distance, we stopped at a place to take some pictures. After that we crossed a bridge over the Suru river and went around a village on the other side. |
After spending some time thus, we returned to our hotel for lunch. In the evening we hired some local taxis to take us to the Hundarman village which is close the the LOC with Pakistan. We used the telescope there to sight our army stationed at various place on the mountains. We also saw the border where our army personnel were camping within a short distance from the Pakistani army. We also saw bunkers on both sides as well as small shrines used by the army on each side.
After spending some time here we returned to our hotel. A couple of us took a walk around Kargil town to do window shopping and get a flavour of the place. We were surprised to see people closing shops by 7 p.m. even though there was plenty of light. We went to a pure vegetarian restaurant / dhaba and were informed that they are about to close shop. We realised that people retire early here as they have to attend their evening prayers. We returned to our hotel, had dinner and also hit the bed.
One our our tour members (Lakshmi) was still feeling unwell and the hotel people kindly helped in getting a doctor to examine her and even arranged for a visit to a local hospital. The doctor made more that one visit and did not accept any payment for her services. She said you are our guest and it is our duty to take care of you. This was a very impressive gesture on their part.
The next day, Day 5, we checked out of the hotel after our breakfast and drove to Drass War Memorial. I can say that this was one of the highlights of our trip. The war memorial is maintained by the army to commemorate the bravery and the sacrifice of our soldiers during the Pakistani aggression in 1999. We went around the memorial and had goosebumps hearing the tales of valour displayed by our bravehearts. We saw the guns on display, including the famous Bofors guns, which were used to pound the enemy positions on the top the mountains. We were told that many of the mountains were reduced in height due the pounding. We also saw the Tiger Hill in the distance that was captured by a daring act of our troops.
We saw the busts of the soldiers who were awarded the highest awards for their bravery and courage. One of them was Captain Vikram Batra whose twin brother is an ex-colleague of mine. We also went inside the display hall which contained various articles captured from the enemy, the last letters of our soldiers to their family, the stories of the carious battles fought and won over the years etc. Later we also went to the place where the tombstones of some of our Martyrs are kept. We also saw an audio visual of the entire operation narrated by Amitabh Bacchan in his inimitable baritone voice. To say that this kindled a strong sense of patriotism in all of us would be an understatement. We realised the true nature of the sacrifice of our armed forces and our respect to them became stronger after this visit.After this, we drove towards our next destination which was the Uley. We arrived late in the evening at our resort. It was very chilly at that time. We had to quickly wear our sweaters to cope with this. After some freshening up, we went for a fabulous dinner where we were treated like Royalty. The resort people took great care to cater to our varied requirement. More about the property and the locale in my next blog...
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