A Gist of Tiger Solanki

 

Kashmir the land of paradise

If you ask me where is paradise I will say it’s in Kashmir, though the rubble left behind by the terrorist has jeopardized the tourism to certain extent and the uniform forces have stood to the testimony of the times, I hope peace prevails in the valley and more and more adventures seekers explores the Paradise. 

 

Hazratbal Shrine

MISADVENTURE: Though the misadventure of the political outfits has created the rift in the minds of the religious outfit and the Fatwa’s been issued by the religious fundamentalist has ruined the peace in the valley. As of now people have understood the economics and have come to terms to revive the life style and live in peace, but still there is not one iota of lingering in the minds about the system and the hostile attitude of the people towards the system is still bothering many minds.

Naranag Temple ruins

 RUINS: But the fate of the religious     shrine is already in dilapidated states that revivify them will take huge resources to bring them back to grandeur of the origin state. The State administration has turned a blind eye to the structures and the locals have been vandalizing it time again.

ADMINISTRATION: Though the state is run by the locals and very few are from the majority community, but the people lack confidence in their own people and their own system. God helps those, who help themselves that is what I can say at the attitude of the people, rather than cribbing on the system. We should start believing in the system and make the system come to us and do the best for the people and for the region.

Tiger Solanki 1988-2022
(34 Years wandering in Mountains)

JOURNEY TO KASHMIR: The journey of the Kashmir which was started in 1988 has been fascinating but the fascination then and now has changed a lot from topography to people and to the system too. Have been to Kashmir several times like 1988, 1998, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2021 & 2022. But like the variant we have in the disease here to we have different variants the experience of trekking, cycling and tourism angle to hospitalization of the trekkers have different experience to share with you all.

TARSAR MARSAR TREK: It’s been dream destination for the trekkers to explore the valleys and mountains in Kashmir and had been to Kashmir great lakes last year and one video clip of the region was haunting me to explore this twin lake destination. As said by APJ Dream is which never allows you to sleep, so it was haunting me and I am happy that I did attempt it, but never completed so it will keep haunting me till I accomplish it. 

Rashmi-Tiger-Sweta

It was February and we were planning for the expedition for the year 2022 and Kedartal was haunted one for last 2 years and those who gave a slip so I coxed them for the Kilimanjaro and those who missed Kilimanjaro then I was contemplating to go for the Kashmir and hence Kashmir twin lake Tarsar Marsar came into the forefront and it was just three of us initially like Rashmi, Sweta and me. 

Later they coaxed their friends and few of them just confirmed and we were in dilemma what to do as they were from far flung places in the Karnataka state and how the training will be etc was haunting me but never the less we booked 8 tickets initially that was Veena, Shravan, Vaishali, Smitha, Sweta, Rashmi, Vidya and tiger, followed by Vasantha. 

Yes few more added like Sangeetha, Praveen, Sowmya, Shobha, Shravan,  Yasharth, Daksha, Pawan, Rekha, Nagesh, Tanu and Santosh.

But in the end four of them dropped out like Yash, Veena, Sweta and Vasantha on various grounds and team became seventeen members.

It was June when I came back and there were little sour in the expedition as people were not responding to the requirement of the expedition and fitness of the expedition was more important and somehow I coaxed both the ladies of the Mysore to meet once before I go for the Kilimanjaro, so that physical assessment of the participants can be done for the expedition. So it was decided to for a trek to Kudremukh which can  asses the physical standards of the trekkers. 

KUDREMUKH: It was 17 members but alas only few turned up like Shravans (2) Vaishali, Sowmya, Praveen, Sangeetha, Tanu, Santosh & Smitha and rest laid back on various reason best know to them.

But the trek was fully enjoyable and it was easier too and this was the first batch which came back before 6pm.

It was good that atleast 50% turned up for the program and it drizzle for the day but the trekkers never cribbed and they did it cooly and it was good piece of mindset for them to understand the nature too. 

Google Meet: It was google meeting and most of the candidates I have not seen & was seeing them for the first time that too on online and it looks so weird as you don’t get the confidence of the offline briefing, but had no choice, had to do it as most of them were from flung places and their professional commitment didn’t permit them to come here, but it was a lesson for us to that we should fall in line with the trend of the generation or else you would be left behind. 

Kilimanjaro was set and was off to the Africa and did the expedition there succesfully and while coming back what was haunting me was the faces of the trekkers coming for the tarsar marsar as most of them I had not seen and will be seeing them for the first time directly at the airport and never in my history, this kind of expedition I had done like seeing them directly for the expedition, which was a new experience for me too we had 2 participants for the kedartal too. But here also we had similar experience, so was little getting used to it.

• Mission Kashmir:  I came back from Kilimanjaro on 22^nd Aug 2022 and it was just 10 days to go and things were falling little weird as we were working with a new agency and previous experience of the Kilimanjaro was bad so I wanted to make it best for the trekkers. 
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  So had lots of meeting with the vendors and made sure that the trekkers when they come there, don’t feel jepordise that they have been taken for a ride. So went out to give the best, might be the food at the Taj Resturant on vice versa went one step far away to get the curds which is mandatory in the menu for the trekkers from the southern region. 

Logistics : When it comes to logistics, things has to be clean when we organise, it might be sleeping bag, tent, Dinning tent, mattress etc which is checked much before the participants use it.

Transport: When we take the participants on sojourn the parameters of the travel is checked by making sure the safety of the trekkers. The vehicle is thoroughly serviced and we make sure that driver driving the vehicle has the valid licence to drive the vehicle and he slept properly in the night or else he may end up in the sleep while driving and the whole program will get Jeopardize. 

Journey : As we land in the Srinagar Airport there is little goose bumps as the area where we pass through is little hostile area and the chaps standing guard on the road really scare the common man, but nevertheless they are standing on guard to protect the common man to defend the nation from the clutches of the terrorist. Recent attack on the conveys has send the olive green uniform frenzy and now they are over conscious on the convey movement and whole system on the road comes to halt when the olive green moves on the road and they traffic is halted like any VIP movement till such time the convey moves. 

• Airport to Aru Valley: We boarded two tempo travelers and the journey to the Aru valley was enticing as we move, we could see the nice roads and paddy cultivation which gives you a sense of moving in the paradise the greenery on the both sides can mesmerize any one. 
• As we pass through the Anantnag Dist the local call it by name ISLAMABAD and there is Islamabad cooperative society too an I am witness to the same board been displayed a the Medical shop in the Anantnag Dist hospital and College. The trekker cum doctor Smitha who gets down at the local chemist find the people hostile and I do comment nothing like that madam, as and when we come across strangers we usually see them  like one eye jack, so nothing new in it, As we moved one of the doctor desires to see the apple orchard but as we were running short of time we have to forgo her request and move further and as we reach the Pahalgam the memories of the 2014 was still haunting me on the mind as going by a horse to the meadows in the upper reach area. 
• As we moved to the Aru route the mesmerizing river flowing on the left and channel on the right will give you a different feeling and as you approach the Aru the rivers passes through the road and you reach the destination in dark not much is seen and the local Ashraf and his son received the team and the luggage was moved to the campsite. 

Aru Valley Base Camp: We reached the Base camp and what we see the huge meadows covered with the mountains around and green forest cover gives the sense of wilderness. We all just sneeked into the tents and fresh-n-up and few were little apprehensive about the comforts zone and as we entered the Dinning tent they come and ask sir is there no rooms and toilets to for the today and some trekker called their home and narrate the plight and their hubbies ask for god sake what are you doing and ground reality is totally different and in the dining tent one doctor from Bangalore just asked for few things but my honest answer was no this is what we have and you got to adjust and get going doctor but that doctor was little hesitant to digest my theory and gossip was going on but at the end of the day Dr.Rashmi from Mysore convinced her, that this is how the trekking happens.

Dinning Delicacy : We all assemble in Dinning area and we have tea and snacks and starts the intro round with the trekkers like we ascertain their interest and there past and their profession in other words its also called as ice breaking session. After the ice breaking session the Trek moderator Mr Rawat takes the reins and explains the intricacy of the trek like do’s and don’ts and about the route and in particular he briefs about the next day schedule too. In the end we had sumptuous supper and we retire to bed thinking about the next day’s program. 

Tek to Lidderwat: It was 5.15am when I got up and few were already up in the tent chatting probably it was there first time in the tent and couldn’t sleep as they were used to home comforts, but nevertheless I had sound sleep despite my partner snoring in the tent. When I come out of the tent oh! My god what is the fantastic view of the valley and the river flowing down the lane to the aru village side and its said the first sight of the valley just mesmerised me and I coaxed my friend to take few pictures in her DSLR camera and then saga continued and I moved to my routine morning schedules.

We all had our breakfast followed by segregation of the luggage going for the mules and Day pack and left over luggage been sent down to the locker. The trek moderator Mr.Rawat asked the trekkers to join him on the sojourn of the stretching exercise, so that the limb moments get relaxed to hook on for the days trek. Amidst the chanting of the ganapathy bapa maurya the trekkers started the trek to the Lidderwat led by the grand old man Mr Gulam of Sonamarg region despite the old age he loves leading the teams and he is no nonsense man. As the team moved forward the tantrums of the trekkers also you get to see, one trekker had come with the kids day pack and she gives all the things to the Sathar the horse fellow and she walks free hahahaha some are born fussy and intelligent rather they know how to use the services of the people. 

THE SOJOURN: As we trekked the uphill we came across beautiful trees and meadows which just captivated our hearts but the first pit stop what I see the trekkers hogging on the pahadi Maggie and I expected some miracle on the day and suddenly one trekker from the overseas comes & ask how can you allow the trekkers to do all these things and my simple answer was you all were students and now they all are doctors and they know better then me, what is good and what is bad and doctors usually have more wisdom then common man. 

Lidderwat River: So I silently moved on from there, but as we moved further we could see beautiful Lidderwat river from the top and as we went further down the meadows and river just enticed us so much that we just sat down appreciating the beauty of the place and said lets have lunch here only and we just ate our lunch on the bank of the river and spent some good time clicking pics and can’t say how much fun it was I am feeling short of words to explain the place rather, I can say you got to come here to feel the same. 

Post Lunch: We had a tea at the local shepherd place and moved to the Lidderwat camp and the camp was again on the meadows and there were some wooden hut on the site and we could see the Army on patrol on the route so they were staying there for transit accommodation and move on to the next destination as assign to them by the unit commander. In the evening by 4pm we went up so that our body gets acclimatized and its said climb high and sleep low though many were cursing but it was useful session where in we had lots of fun and zug uza to motivate the moral of the trekkers.

Evening we had tea and snacks and Dinner and during the dinner, we could notice one of the trekkers tantrum not eating food and
suddenly she was refusing to eat food and she wanted to puke and it was not coming and forceful eating and drinking water she puked all the Maggie products and after that every thing came out. Our young trekker was telling me, that see what is happening and how come your so silent still.

We concluded the day and Daksha wanted to shoot the pic of the skies but the clouds were Howering and played the spoiled sport and we had to wind up with pics of the tents. 

Trek to Shekawas: This day the clouds were howering but it was dry, but after some time it started drizzling on and off but as we proceeded. The trekkers were cursing the rain, but as we moved it was getting slushy and they were getting annoyed. By the time rain stopped and it became more difficult as they had to cross the maroon region. As the rain stopped we could see the clouds raising and it was sight to behold in life. 

Here we had hot lunch and most of the trekkers were in lazying around and some them had snored in the dine tent despite our warning, we coaxed people to come out for the climb high and sleep low pattern but none of them were in mood to move out of the tent, and believe it or not friends one good doctor said why are you forcing them so much, leave it know, then despite my best effort I just indulged them in some activity inside the tent, we played chor police etc and spent some time laughing but to tell you friends most of them were getting sick and they took medicine on their own as they were wise in their field.

Some of them even skipped the dinner and complaining about the little dizziness and feverish and they slept cozy, but me and rawat were mentally prepared and I informed my friend too that some one may have to go down tomorrow. 

Trek to Tarsar : As we moved to the most awaited destination, we started from the  Shekwas and we crossed the stream and as we walk up you come across huge boulders to traverse and the mules crossing them really gives you the jittery moments, but you have no alternative but this 3-4 km trek really matters a lot as you climb about 1500 feet approx and as you climb up & up you find the meadows and the ridges and when you look back its said the beauty lies in beneath of the mountains that is where no one looks back here, I made trekkers look back and capture the breath taking pictures of the mountains and one range was full of snow patches looked like Shivaling but overall the whole place looked picturesque.

Here the trekkers start panting and some of them take the help of the horse and move on it and this fast movement on the high altitude is disastrous, though this trekkers are matured and wise enough but still  they take the horse, i wander if they can't face the small hiccups in life, then how will they face the challenges of the life is my concern.  As you go near the ridge and go down what you see the breath taking view of the Turquoise blue and green water which is called as Tarsar lake. 

Believe it or not friends it was simply a sight to behold. Some of them were stunned by the beauty of the lake and emotions went down the eyes and you could see the wet eyes in some of them and sharing their experience but what could be the best moment is when we hold the tricolour and flag flies high above the ranges give a sense of belonging to the place. We just clicked pictures and video’s and came back as the butterflies in the stomach were crunching so we just rushed to the dine tent.

LUNCH TIME: What I see here one trekker sitting, I simply asked her to go the lake as she had come on the horse and walking was mandatory but she was reluctant to go, but when asked for the companion we asked Doctor Santosh to accompany her and by the time we had our lunch.

AMS TRAUMA: There comes one more trekker who had come on the horse, we noticed the symptoms of AMS and Doctors see the erratic breathing pattern & when examined there, and he was advised to move down & we immediately rush him on the horse and me made sure that for the transparency we take the patient's wife so that there is no bickering in the minds of the spouse. So  we moved his wife to on another horse and  Dr Santosh initially was asked to accompany, but as we see Dr Shravan also wanted to go down with his friend, but due to paucity of the horse I said u better continue with the trek and rather I accompanied Santosh and other two to the Aru Base camp. 

DIAMOX : I & Dr Santosh descended with the trekker and we too moved with the speed of the horse and near Shekawas, Santosh asked for the Diamox which was not there with us on the way and we had run to the Shekawas and get it, rather we ran further so that by the time he could come we can fetch the medicine and give him the same and in the mela I remember how fast we ran in the normal times it may take 20 minutes to go and 30 minutes to come, but the speed what we ran down and came back was remarkable in the hush bush, I slipped down and hurt myself no worries it was all worth it for the patient. What medicine we were carrying down as his safety was more on priority and then my injury, which became a secondary and I can’t even show it to others as I am at the helm of the affairs and if you show no body will bother it also, and it will be overlooked and in the end we reached Lidderwat and our energies were drained out. 

TEA DELICACY: As we came to the Lidderwat comes a messiah who gives some water and shamelessly I asked for the chai and sipped the same with Six of us. We further went down and in the kios we forget to check the torch and as we moved it got darker and nevertheless we moved and moved and till such time there was moonlight and it was blessing in disguise,and when we entered the forest region where the torch was required when I switched on the light there was no much life in it and santosh torch came handy and by 8 pm. I remember santosh who was enjoying the endurance got tired and he to wanted the energy to refueled then gave him some emergency food and juice and it pulled on for next one hour but it was challenging as the slush was more and we had to traverse at many places but nevertheless by 9pm we could see a ray of hope and again some energy was refueled and we went ahead and by 9.25pm we reached Aru Valley you can say we did 26.5kms .

Messiah: We saw one gentleman was holding a torch and was guiding us and as we went down,we just jumped into the taxi and we drove to the nearest village where PHC is available but before going to the PHC we sourced a medical shop at 10pm and we took medicine as required may not be there in the PHC so we took and went prepared as we went to the PHC doctor simply took the inputs from Dr santosh and meanwhile his saturation was checked which recorded around 53% and he was immediately given oxygen through the concentrator and after some time the doctors went for the Dinner we too sourced some thing to bite through our Ashraf Miya and he got some some roti and veg curry and ate and later it was decided to move him to District hospital as the PHC had no oxygen cyclinder to support the patient and  from their Ambulance with oxygen was sourced and we ran immediately to the Anantnag@Isalambad.

ANANTNAG DIST HOSPITAL AND COLLEGE: When we moved to the next destination Sangeetha and Santosh didn’t wanted the spare vehicle to come with us but I insisted as the local support is most important in a alien place probably they would had thought otherwise, why waste resources but nevertheless my presence of mind works better in situation demanding and I continued in the same vehicle with the local support as we reached the destination the parameters of the patient was checked and he was referred to the ICU but the beds in the ICU were not vacant and so we had to shift him to trauma care but there were also mess awaiting us, but nevertheless some how we could manage a bed for the trekker.

HOSPIAL TRAUMA: In the hospital saw some thing different, the beds where filled with patients and attendants and we were finding it difficult to understand who is the patient or attendant or the medical staff but to tell you some thing the infrastructure is good and the supply chain of the medicine is also adequate, not like ours where the doctors find it difficult to treat the patients in absence of the supplies. As the time was 2am Dr santosh asked for the different mask which was used during the covid times but alas! It was not in supply but we could source it from outside and gave it to the patient and by the time it was 3am and we were also tired and fatigued, so we wondered could we find some accommodation so that we can rest for a while, but the accommodation near the hospital was inadequate and we had to rest in the car which I had come, see how handy it was and meanwhile I was not getting comfortable with the position of the Sangeetha asking for private hospital of and on. So I called my friend Cdr Sanjay Kohl in the middle of the night but probably he had kept the phone away and he had slept and I too gave it up and dosed off.

MORNING BLUES: As I could sense some thing was not good and the police in action in the hospital I could understand the situation, I was not feeling comfortable so I was waiting for the call from the Cdr Sanjay and fortunately he called back in the wee hours of the morning and he asked is all OK, I had to tell him the exact things and he said Sher A Kashmir Govt hospital in Srinagar, but again govt hospital means another trauma but nevertheless I asked him can we accommodate in the Army Hospital.

ARMY HOSPITAL: In the morning we got the confirmation that he can be admitted to the Army Hospital and immediately we moved him to the Srinagar in Ambulance with oxygen support. As he moved out of the hospital mess we got little relaxed as we knew he is going in right hands. As the ambulance rolled out of the hospital our local agent was in a hurry to get back  to the village but I holded him till the ambulance entered the Army Hospital. As the ambulance rolled inside the hospital and Dr Santosh said its all OK we rolled our car towards Aru Valley.

ENQUIRY ONE: As we reached the Aru valley, we got to know that they were happy with the facilities and contended. I got little relaxed and went to the Ashraf'shome and took a relaxed bath and had one meal and went to bed and slept for some time and it was again time to enquiry about the well being of the patient and it was fully confirmed that he is been treated well and all the parameters are in order and as his conditions improved. Then I told ashraf miya to organise some guide to go up but in the evening we assisted them in daily chores in the feild by cutting the grass and by the evening had nice meal and retired to bed.

Back to Square one: As the day rose I got ready and as we were going up I saw two horses and I asked what is this horse for and he said one for him and one for me and you can’t imagine what I aspired to ride a horse in Himalayas was been fulfilled today and my happiness knew no bound and was super excited to ride the horse and had fabulous time riding the horse in the ups and downs of the valley and in the streams and slush and one point of time had to get down so that horse doesn’t slip down.

As we reached the Lidderwat the guide was reluctant to go further but somehow I coaxed him as I was lingering to see my trekkers and share the news of the trekker that he is fine, after going some distance we left the horse and got down and moved on the foot and saw the trekkers coming and my happiness knew no bound and just told them that their counterpart is fit and fine and not to worry and every body was relieved and we trekked slowly and it started drizzling little bit on and off but it was fabulous day had lots of pics once again with my buddies in the last and many a times tears rolled down as I was relieved of the medical emergency and the barrier was broke which was long pending between two souls and the misunderstanding was revoked and it was happy ending and we reached the destination Gudmargi.

Gudmargi: We just reached there and there was excitement among the people as they heard there is a signal but were disappointed they couldn’t get any thing in their mobile but there was signal which was available only at one point in analog mobile which people paid 10 Rs per call and informed their loved ones about their well being.

It was the last day in the tent and people were in full zoom and the camp fire was lit and people sang songs and danced to the tune of the Dr Shravan Rajpurohit and culminated the day with nice dinner.

Back to Aru Valley: After a group pic with the staff and we all parted our ways and started to descend to the aru valley in between we met few Israeli's and be friend them and lot of interaction and shared the pics too.

As we reached the valley people were in full zoom to catch the signal and upload the pics on the social  website and talk to the loved ones it was like fish out of water for so many days and now they are back into the urban world. They forgot the colleagues and all indulged in the mobile and deep into the mobile world and in between we hogged at the Taj Resturant and finally we landed at the army hospital to take back out trekker and the doctor. Who shared their experience in the Army Hospital and I was much relieved as they were happy and contended.

Boat House: Though we had made good boat house but most of them had their own apprehension about the accommodation and cleanliness in the boat house, Alas the boat house was much beyond their expectations and again I was relieved that people are happy  and contended that is end result what a organizer looks at and few of them took the Shikara for the evening ride and some went out to  dine outside and where as some of them dinned in the boat house itself.

Sight Seeing: In the morning we got to into the vehicle and just went to the shankaracharya temple where they bowed their head infront of the Lord Shiva and thanked god for the wonderful expedition and followed by few visit to Garden and to the fort, though only few came to the fort but it was worth a visit to see the city from the fort.

Parting : In the evening we all had yummy dinner with near and dear ones as every one was all enthused to go back home after one week and we all partied and had teary eyes as we parted with people sharing their experience and we honoured the agency and Boat house for the wonderful experience and we wished Daksha who was going abroad for the higher studies and acknowledged our gratitude to Dr Rashmi for the wonderful team she gave because of whom we organised this expedition.

We also thanked Dr Swetha in absentia though she was supposed to come but due to medical reason she to miss the expedition.

Zoom of the Airport: We zoomed back in the Tempo traveller and simply boarded the flight and came back to Bangalore in the evening and had simple eat out at Udupi Upahar and drove straight back to home sweet home.

Writers Remark: I missed the best part of the expedition but nevertheless saved one life which was more pressing than my summit but people will come and people will go but memories will be long lasting and we missed Dr Swetha who along with Dr Rashmi who were back bone of the expedition. Though Rashmi came and shouldered the responsibility in absentia when i went down with the trekker. Thank you doctor we are proud of you and hope you tend to team leader in days to come.

Special thanks to Dr Santosh for the services rendered in saving a life. 

Hope to see you all in full form next time in wilderness or in the mountains till then good bye