Me and this world - a tête-à-tête

A promise that will last forever...  It was third week of November 2003. I was recovering from relapsed Malaria and pneumonia and had returned to my parent’s place from Navi Mumbai. My then husband turned up one early evening and surprised me with a gift. The gift was a cute little black Labrador retriever puppy of less than 3 months of age. (November 20, 2003) I always wanted a dog but my parent’s understanding of responsibility had always denied acceptance of a dog. We had fish and birds but a dog was too much. I had dreamt that when I will grow up I will get myself a German shepherd and my ex-husband always had dreamt of having a black lab. So obviously he picked up a black lab. When the puppy came home, my first reaction was, "ohh my baby is here!" Day one On day one, this pup sat near the chair which was like ten times his size, six months later he found that the space beneath this chair can be his hideout when a bath is called upon, and a year lat...

Actual Itinerary:  3rd August - Pune - Delhi early morning flight, Delhi Manali Bus 4th August - Reached Manali in morning and Left for by Himachal Tourism's bus, stay at Keylong (Via Marhi, Rohtang La, Khokhsar, Sissu, Tandi) 5th August - Keylong - Leh via - Jispa, Darcha, ZingZingbar, Baralacha La, Sarchu, Pang, Tanglang La, Rumptse, Upshi, Karu 6th August - Rest, Local site Seeing - Sakthi Monastery - Festival, Chemday Monastery, Hemis Monastery 7th August - Spituk Monastery, Guru Pather Sahib - Gurudwara, Hall of Fame, Shey Palace & Monastery, Thiksey Monastery, Shanti Stupa 8th August - Pangong Lake 9th August - White Water Rafting from Chilling - Nimmo - 28 kms 10th August - Khardung La, Panamik, Sumoor Monastery, Hunder Sand Dunes & Camel Ride (Nubra Valley) 11th August - Diskit Monastery and Back to Leh Via Khardung La 12th August - Tso Moriri and back to Leh ( Mahe Bridge) 13th August - Left for Manali - Stay at Keylong 14th August - Reached manali - L...

13 August: It was 4 something, when I woke up. Praj was ready to leave hence I freshened up fast and we went to Stanzin’s office across the road. We called Stanzin but Dorje- our driver to Nubra came outside. He said he would drop us to the bus station. We were wondering what to do and in couple of minutes, Stanzin also appeared. He told Dorje to go back to sleep and started the car. In couple of minutes we were at the bus station. The bus was jam packed. And to our surprise most of them were foreigners. The attendant checked our ticket and took charge of our luggage and we gotten on our way. I had decided to sleep all the way as it was the same old way we had travelled while coming to Leh from Manali; And as it is Avomin, my motion sickness tablet had done its job of putting me to sleep well. Although I was a bit sleepy, I could feel that the road was bumpy. The bus kept taking its halts for loo and food. I was just tired… bored may be of travelling all this time and all I wante...

10th August:  It was a good morning as it I could get up leisurely and get ready. We packed all luggages and kept in the guest house’s cloak room. (There were barely two big backpacks technically.) Today, I was well prepared with motion sickness tablet. We set ourselves in the SUV and picked up 2 Austrian girls Viktoria and Christa. They were on long vacation to India. We withdrew some money as we did not have any bookings made at the Nubra Valley. Our driver Dorje was a middle aged man, who claimed to be an ex-army. Jolly good fellow. He was fun to chat and seemed to be experienced as he knew how to handle 4 girls. Khardung La is barely 40 km from Leh. And most of the road to Khardung La overlooks Leh city. Shanti Stupa looked glorious in soft sunlight. Now, we were gaining altitude rapidly and I was haunted by the memories of Kargil war and Formula One car at Khardung La. Every time, we drove past the Army Officers, a feeling of regret, shame and pride kept revolving in my...