Author- Colonel Balaswamy ( Retd )
When: August 1970
Characters: 120 Engineer officers and jawans from the E&M Specialist Unit traveling from Panagarh, West Bengal to Ladakh.
Nerve wracking incidents from the past can so beautifully mellow into amusing anecdotes! I now happily recall such an incident from August 1970 when I was part of the E&M Specialist unit, traveling from Panagarh, West Bengal to Ladakh. En route Pathankot, we were housed in a special train of 2 coaches – the usual fauji opulence of bathing on the railway platforms, merry making with only anecdotes, cooking for and by ourselves, sleeping on hard bedding rolls with an arm for a headrest (or an inflatable pillow for some foresighted souls) was very much a part of this journey. However, the tediousness came from multiple halts that involved waiting in platforms for over 7 hours for clearance or to hook on to the next train, and so, we optimised that time cooking our meals!
On reaching Pathankot, we had to wait for 3 whole days before moving on to Baltal (J&K). Baltal was approximately 11000 feet above sea level and we had to acclimatize, or if I may be fashionable in keeping with the times, “quarantine” ourselves.
The unit was informed that Amarnath (a Hindu shrine in J&K which houses the famous “Ice Lingam”) was located just 14 km away from where we were staying. And incidentally, August 14 happened to be a full moon day, which was considered very auspicious to visit Amarnath.
The group was excited on hearing this and some of us decided to make the trip to Amarnath the following morning. We were 40 people, and sufficiently warned about the treacherous trek to the shrine. Nevertheless, our excitement took over and we planned to have an early start the next day.
We spent the night preparing for the journey, starting first, with whom else but our langar commander! He made and packed lunches of poori – aloo sabzi for the entire group, a few others had filled water bottles, and a small team was tasked with the most important items – the tea rations, which included a stove carried by one person, a barthan by another, and matchboxes, candles, tea leaves, tea strainer, milk tin, sugar, etc. distributed to the others for careful storing and carrying. We were all set now for our journey the next day!
At 0300 hours we had a head count with briefing, and began our adventure to Amarnath. The moon was the only source of light as we began the march towards the shrine. It was a long arduous trek and the weather was humid which made it twice as difficult.
The first halt happened around 0600 hours. A headcount was quickly taken and 5 fellows were found missing! It seemed they had given up and decided to head back.
The second halt was at 1000 hours and now there were 12 heads missing! The third halt was at lunch time and we were down by another 5. Not to be daunted, the rest of us marched on enthusiastically.
Just before the shrine, we had to cross a convention point of a river and a 100-foot solid ice glacier. It was indeed a chilling trek in more ways than one, as one wrong foot would get us a direct darshan of our Maker instead of being merely content with a shrine. And that too after an excruciatingly painful dive into the Indus river gorge below!
At that point, we also met a couple from Coimbatore. Unaware of the harsh weather, the gentleman was wearing a dhoti and the lady a silk saree with slippers, and both were finding it extremely difficult to walk.
The group, reduced to 18 now but with a couple alongside, reached the foothills of the cave. We removed our footwear, entered the shrine and had a quick darshan of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha in all their frozen glory. We forgot our every aching muscle and straining breath, and simply marvelled in the majesty of the Divine. A few more adventurous souls among us also had a darshan of the aghori sadhu folk and we were astonished at how these ascetics could continue to follow strict rituals and extreme practices with only white ash smeared all over their bodies even in that icy region.
Having made our prayers, we decided to lay down for a bit and rest enough for the journey back to the temporary base. It was then that we noticed that the Major – Officer Commanding (OC), and his buddy had finally reached the shrine. They too made a visit to the shrine and joined the rest of us to relax. That is when it became a true test of nerves.
OC: “Bala, you have tea ration, let us all have a cup of tea”.
Immediate response from self: “Oh yes sir, we have all the ration required! It should not take too long to make us a cup of piping hot tea”.
But as I looked around, I discovered with icy horror that the team that carried the tea ration had disappeared, especially the boys carrying the stove, tea leaves and vessel. What was really left with us now was a matchbox, a broken tumbler and a spoon. In short, extremely useful items but quite useless in tea making!
I had to think on my feet and so, I immediately set about looking for or at least trying to sight the boys. To my luck, I found a sardarji brewing fresh chai near the shrine. I walked up to him to buy us all some hot tea.
Self: “Sat sri akal ji, could you please make me 23 cups of tea”?
Sardarji: “Sat sri akal, saheb. Yes, I can make 23 cups of tea. Each tea costs Rs. 1.25”.
I was completely taken aback at this outrageous price (asking for more than 20 ps for a cup of tea in 1970 was easily extortion). Practically penniless, I quickly called out to a few boys in the group, collected some cash and managed to get exactly Rs. 1.25. After a brief discussion with the sardarji, the Major’s tea was duly purchased.
As we headed back to the expectant group, I quickly issued a few instructions.
OC : “Ah thank you so much for the tea, Bala. How about the rest of you”?
Self : “Sir, the sardarji is short of crockery and so the rest of us will drink tea directly from our water bottles”.
The Major nodded and contentedly started to drink his tea along with the rest of us sipping from our water bottles.
A little peek into what actually happened:
The rest of the group including me, actually drank piping hot water that we had filled in our water bottles from the sardarji, enjoying it with great gusto as tea! I did have divine providence favouring me that day as the steam from the water bottles made the Major believe we were indeed having tea and not just boiled water!
Fast forward to 1978
This little secret was revealed to the Major when he took over as the “Commanding Officer” in 1978. One can only imagine his reaction – definitely not complimentary!
And this was our delightful “par-tea” at Amarnath !
Colonel Balaswamy ( Retd ) –Madras Sappers