Ladakh Escapades Part IV

 

 Saturday

Our school geography tells us that Himalayan Mountain ranges form a natural and formidable barrier between Indian subcontinent and central Asia. This is very true, for central and eastern parts of the Indian peninsula. In the North-West India however, where Ladakh is located, things are bit different. We certainly have the Himalayan barrier here, extending all the way from central India to Afghanistan in the West. But in addition to this, There are three equally formidable mountain ranges one after another, spreading parallel to each other in North-West direction.
If we decide to travel to north of Himalayan ranges, we have first the Pir-Panjal or Trans Himalayan range, followed by the Zanskar range. Ladakh range follows the Zanskar range. Finally, before we can reach Central Asia, we still need to cross, an equally formidable Karakoram range.
Between these mountain ranges of the north, major river systems drain out from the glaciers and flow generally to the west , all finally meeting the Sindhu or Indus river. Thus, between Pir-Panjal and Zanskar mountain ranges, we have Zanskar river in the Zanskar valley; between Zanskar and Ladakh ranges we have the Sindhu or Indus flowing in the Indus valley and also the city of Leh; finally betwwen Ladakh and Karakoram ranges, we have the Shoyok-Nubra river system flowing in Shoyok and Nubra valleys.
I am ranting and chanting all this school geography, for one simple reason. I am leaving for Nubra valley today and it is always better to know where you are actually heading. I just had a very refreshing breakfast in my hotel in Leh. My new driver with his Innova station wagon, has just arrived. He is a complete contrast to the earlier bloke, who made my first two days in Ladakh, quite uncomfortable. This new guy, Tundup, has a wiry physique, yet I find him quite enthusiastic about his job. He appears fairly knowledgeable too. In short, I am happy to leave on this new journey.

India’s ancient gateway to central Asia

In the spring of the year 1889, a rather unusual application for help was received by the Darbar (King’s court) of the princely state of Kashmir, in British ruled India. What was unusual about this application for help was the fact that the applicants, generally known as Kirghiz people then, were not even citizens of the princely state of Kashmir, but actually were inhabitants of a place called ‘Shahidulla’ in Chinese Turkistan. The region of Chinese Turkistan ( presently known as Xinjiang) lies just east of the Ladakh region of Kashmir. These Kirghiz people essentially were traders and carriers who regularly ran pack animal caravans between Leh (a city in Ladakh) to Yarkand and back. A new threat had emerged for the trade caravans as Kanjut tribesmen from the state of Hunza (Presently in the Pakistan occupied part of Kashmir) had started increasingly, raiding and looting the caravans. The traders had initially applied to the Chinese authorities for protection from these Kanjut raiders. The request was however refused by the Chinese authorities. Because of this, these Kirghiz traders had now made a petition to the Kashmir Darbar.

Kashmir Darbar immediately forwarded this application to the Britsh Government of India at Shimla. Sir Mortimer Durand, the foreign secretary of the Government of India then, decided to undertake an exploration on the northern frontier of Kashmir and chose a young British officer, Francis Edward Younghusband to lead a team of Gurkha soldiers for the job. Francis Younghusbnd and his team, consisting of 19 men, mostly of Kashmir and Balti origin, made all their preparations at Leh and finally left on the expedition on 8^th of August in that year. After traveling for eleven or twelve days through one of the most grueling and tough terrain on the face of the earth, the team reached a very desolate and barren mountain pass.Francis Younghunsband describes this mountain pass with these words.