A punctured bike got us stranded in Likir Village, but we were helped by complete strangers to get back to Leh that evening.
I was unsure what to do when I discovered the flat tyre. I had no clue about fixing punctures and there was no place in Likir to get it fixed either. When I called Namgyal, the person who rented us the bike, he suggested that we take the bike to the highway and flag a truck. But Likir is a few kilometers away from the highway and I wasn’t even sure if we could push the bike so far. Without any fuss, Namgyal agreed to send one of his mechanics to Likir. Incidentally Likir is 60km away from Leh. “Give the mechanic some tip,” he said, “otherwise it should not be problem.”
In the next thirty minutes however, I had managed to get the bike to the main road and started flagging trucks. With no cell-phone signals available, we could not inform Namgyal about our progress.
It was a while before we could find a truck heading towards Leh. A few BRO trucks passed us, but none were heading towards Leh. One of them stopped to ask us what the problem was, but they were only going a short distance ahead. An army jawan in the truck got down and started flagging vehicles for us.
An empty truck on its way to Leh stopped a few minutes later. After a brief discussion with the jawan, the driver agreed to take us and the bike to Leh. The jawan and the cleaner assisted us in lifting the bike into the truck. After saying ‘thank you’ and ‘good bye’ to the friendly army man, we were quickly on our way to Leh. We decided to look out for Namgyal’s man on the way, stop him and ask him to return to Leh.
The driver was a talkative person from Punjab who had a good experience of driving in the Ladakh region. He spoke for a long time talking about his life in Ladakh and asked questions about our journeys. He seemed to enjoy being in Ladakh and driving through its mountainous regions. Infact he was one of the few immigrants I had seen who did not complain about the harsh terrain and difficult life. His favourite place was in Nubra Valley beyond Hunder, where, he described, the mountains are tall and steep. But we discovered another reason later – his wife happened to be from those parts! This area in Ladakh was out-of-bounds during my visit, but was recently thrown open to visitors by the Government of India.
As we talked, we saw two men on an Enfield carrying a spare tyre going in the opposite direction, suddenly crossing us at a steep curve. They had gone past us before we could even wave at them.
We reached Leh just after sun down. Our troubles however did not end there. The trucker’s destination was just before the town, but he agreed to drive in a bit and find a mechanic for us. The first puncture-shop guy refused to help us, as he primarily worked on truck tyres and did not know how to remove a two-wheeler’s rear wheel. The truck driver came to our rescue again. He drove us to a bike mechanic’s shop, one owned by a friend of his, a few hundred meters ahead. The plan was to get the mechanic to remove the wheel, take it to the puncture shop, get it back to the mechanic’s shop again and then re-assemble the wheel.
Having worked this arrangement, the truck driver took leave from us. At the end of all this, he refused to take any money for his help!
The mechanic looked at the bike and sternly said that he normally never touches the bikes taken on rent, but he was doing this since the driver was a good friend of his. Having said that, we got into a conversation and found out that he worked in Bangalore for a few years. Sometimes I wonder if there comes a day when everyone you meet anywhere in the world would have worked in Bangalore some time or the other. Never mind, he now took an extra interest in the work. After he removed the wheel, we took it to the puncture shop, got it fixed and returned back. And then it was a déjà vu. He refused to take any money!
We finally reached Namgyal’s bike shop just before he was to close for the day. The news from the folks who had gone to Likir was that they searched all around for us and were finally about to head back. I apologized for the trouble and explained him what happened. So how much should we pay him for the services of those who went looking for us? Well, he refused to take any money!
Here is the list of all posts on Leh town, written as part of Ladakh Travelogue series.
- Arriving at Leh, with just Rs.50 in hand requesting deferred payment from a taxi ride.
- Leh, the first impressions and an overview of the town.
- Spending an evening at Shanti Stupa.
- Seeing places – Leh Palace, Namgyal Tsemo Gompa and Soma Gompa
- The guesthouse at Leh with friendly owners, a spacious garden and some Ladakhi food.
- The complete guide to Leh – places to see and things to do.
I started working on a post on my observations and interactions with people of Ladakh. There are so many memorable incidences that I realized it is not going to end in a short post. Here is Part I.
A grandmother and a little girl were part of the family with whom I stayed in Leh. If there was one thing common between the two, it is a toothless smile that warmed our hearts. While grandmother’s smile had a reassuring feel to it, the bubbly little girl charmed us with her innocence. In the two months I spent in Ladakh, I found an abundance of effortless smiles. People smiled at their kith and kin and even strangers unpretentiously and greeted each other with a warm ‘julley’. Sometimes there is such a deep acceptance in their smile that you almost feel part of their family.
The smiles and goodwill were often seen in action too. I was initiated to the tolerance of Ladakhis as soon as I landed in Leh. With no money in the pocket and the ATMs in town not functioning, our cab driver Sirin did not make a fuss but agreed to take his payments next day. The next morning when we headed out to the market to begin our first day at Leh, our host Wangyal did not just give directions, but escorted us half-way through the maze of alleys to ensure that we don’t get lost.
After staying at Wangyal’s guesthouse for good ten days, we even left without making payments and did not have to worry much about leaving our hosts unhappy. We had to check out from the guesthouse before dawn to catch an early morning bus to Nubra Valley. When the attempt to wake up the hosts was not successful, we decided to leave and get to the bus-stop in time. We left a note instead, saying that we are coming back in a week’s time to make payments. I called Wangyal later in the day to apologize, expecting a disgruntled person speaking at the other end. But he seemed least bothered and had no complaints to make.
Later during our journeys in Ladakh, we have always had people helping us in situations of trouble. Even immigrants who lived in Ladakh for a long time have acquired this trait from the locals. Once when our rented bike was punctured and we were looking for help to get it back to Leh, an army officer and a truck driver went out of their way to help us. Another truck driver and his associates worked with us for more than an hour to get our bike started when it gave way mid-way to Pangong Lake. A mechanic who came on the way later pitched in his efforts to ensure that we were back on the road. Without these people, our journeys in Ladakh would have been a lot more difficult.
If there is one thing that catches a traveler’s eye on the first visit to Ladakh, it is the easy-going approach to life that Ladakhis have. You rarely see them complaining or worried about something, even when things go wrong. Rare are the times you see them sullen or fighting with each other. It is not that you never see this happening, I did encounter some one who seemed unhappy with himself and another one who got into a small skirmish with us. But most people are so cheerful that you would like to be in their shoes.
Visitors and anthropologists often associate this attitude to their upbringing, the traditional community life lead by Ladakhis, their religious nature and the harsh terrain they live in. In a typical Ladakhi Village not yet affected by modern living, the family works together and lives together, interacting continuously through the day. Families co-operate with rest of the village get difficult tasks completed, such as building a house or ploughing the farm. Children join the family in these tasks very early in life and learn to take up responsibilities. Buddhism teaches them to be tolerant and compassionate towards everyone. Interestingly, the most demeaning thing in Ladakh is to call someone short tempered!
Ladakh’s cheerful nature is infectious and easily rubs into people visiting the region. No wonder that I long to go back there again.