Travelers views : LURED BY LEH

LURED BY LEH

Awesome view of lake at the background of snow covered mountains.

This is the first time I am writing about a place without actually visiting it. But I had to write about it,

I have heard so much about its serene beauty from my nephew, who is an Air Force personnel and is holidaying in Delhi for few days.

Every family has certain traditions for get-together, with birthdays and festivals, we had 26th January to celebrate with fervor.

My kids were always used to look forward for this national holiday, to visit maternal grandparents, where the pinnacle of their visit used to be to witness the fly-past by Indian Air-Force, which comprised of the first fighter formation, comprising five Jaguar aircraft in the shape of an Arrowhead, followed by five MiG-29 upgrade aircraft in similar formation. The Sukhoi formation comprising three Su-30 MKI aircraft will fly in the last phase. The end of the parade will be marked by a single Su-30 MKI aircraft, pulling up vertically in front of the dais and carrying out the signature ‘Vertical Charlie’ rolls. It used to be such a grand treat for everybody, age no bar, that you would always be left wanting for more. And during one such occasion, my young nephew, who was totally taken by this national pride moment, declared that "I want to be an Air Force pilot." This statement from young lad of less than ten years became the dream project for his parents.

Now when I saw him yesterday, I thought what a great joint effort by the parents and the Air-Force officers, who had chiseled a gallant officer from a young lad, whose eyes used to sparkle with dreams to fly, and that too for Indian Army. His dreams also got settled in the aging grand parent's trembling hands, folded in silent prayers and in the best wishes of near and dears. My father always used to remind me after every Flypast ritual that one day you will see that my grandson will be doing it. I used to say, "yes daddy I know." And every time that day used to get culminated with all kids chasing each other and running through the corridors,

Shanti Stupa

shouting and giggling and me doing hush hush to them, and my brother making huge club sandwiches, which were served with huge portion of potato chips to go along with cold drinks.

"How the time has changed, and now the kids are chasing their higher dreams and we as parents are chasing sweet memories."

As he has now been posted in Leh and extended me an open invitation to visit it. Since I have not visited it, I had to gather information from wikipedia, and this is what I have gathered:

"Leh was the capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh, and now the district of Leh in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Leh district, with an area of 45,110 km2, is the second largest district in the country, after Kutch, Gujarat (in terms of area). The town is dominated by the ruined Leh Palace, the former mansion of the royal family of Ladakh, built in the same style and about the same time as the Potala Palace-the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India, during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. Leh situated at an altitude of 3524 metres (11,562 ft), and connects via National Highway 1D to Srinagar in the southwest and to Manali in the south via the Leh-Manali Highway.

Leh was an important stopover on trade routes along the Indus Valley between Tibet to the east, Kashmir to the west and also between India and China for centuries. The main goods carried were salt, grain, pashm or cashmere wool, charas or cannabis resin from the Tarim Basin, indigo, silk yarn and Banaras brocade.

Now Leh has become a very popular and most sought after tourist destination. It has everything to satiate their passions from trekking to huge monasteries to awesome lakes.

I think some of the most beautiful places on the face of earth are in the mighty Himalayas,which has stood as sentienal since ages providing beauty and cementing faith in God.

Lets see friends when I will visit this place, then I will be writing more about it.