Srinigar.
Firstly, a small history and geography lesson, Srinigar is the capital of Jammu and Kashmere (JandK) is in the far north- eastern corner of India. It is because of this geographic position that Kasmere’s past is so…messy. Unfortunately, the state of Kasmere is sandwiched between India and Pakistan both of whom lay claim to the state. Because of this (and partly due to the Kashmere’s own desire for independence from both India and Pakistan), Kasmere was the catalysis for 2 wars in the 1980’s and 1990’s. It was during one of these wars that the world came closest to nuclear war, and Bill Clintion described the city of Srinigar as the most dangerous place on earth.

Secondly, how I ended up in Srinigar.
Well I was very keen to get up to Leh, to work on the SECMOL summer camps, (they only last for a month and I was already 1 week late). There is a road from Srinigar to Leh which I knew for sure was open. So, I decided to brave, I had been told by reliable sources that srinigar was relatively safe and secure. So off I went. I took a 13 hour overnight local bus to Jammu, and then an 8 hour jeep from Jammu to Srinigar. It was a tough, but breaking journey, but the people that I met along the way were so nice, on the posh deluxe busses everyone pretty much keeps to themselves but on the local busses there was so much more character, to make up for the lack of comfort and I got bought breakfast by an Indian guy!

Anyway, as we approached Srinigar the first thing that struck me, and slightly scared me was the sheer number of police and soldiers; the road from Jammu was being patrolled by solders constantly and as we approached Srinigar the army seemed to have taken control of all the hotels, parks, open spaces etc. I was slightly nervous.

My nerves were heightened even more when I got to my hotel (which was a houseboat- I’ll explain later) as I met a guy called George, a photo journalist who was rushing out to take pictures of a riot…. Oh!

The Houseboats- until the wars and fighting, Kashmere was a prime holiday destination for tourist and Indians alike, on the road from Jammu I passed numerous signs welcoming visitors to “paradise on earth” (The were all slightly dated). Srinigar’s main attraction and the reason visitors flocked to the city for was the lake- Dal Lake is a huge lake right in the middle of town and it is lined with rows and rows of houseboats, I think (or was told that) they were originally build by the British as a way of bypassing the law preventing foreigners from owning land in India. Unfortunate, the houseboats on the lake have not been full of tourists for a long time, for many years Kashmere was totally cut off from tourists, but things are changing slowly. The lack of tourists has had 2 profound effects firstly, it is very cheep and there is lots of choice but secondly everyone wants the business tourists bring so the hassle is very bad.

My experience of srinigar.
It is a city of 2 halves…
1) The lake, as I have mentioned is superbly beautiful, the house boats are well made comfortable, serene and an awesome experience HOWEVER as I have mentioned the hassle is very very bad. Although the houseboats have beautiful verandas which look out onto the lake actually sitting on them brings constant hassle from souvenir sellers, and hawkers. I went with a girl I met to a floating vegetable market which was great apart from the fact that we were surrounded by souvenir seller so we couldn’t actually see that many vegs, and there is no way of disappearing when on a boat.
2) The other part of the city is the old town, on the face of it the old town is like any other Indian city- full of cows, cars, pollution, people, horns, and the rest of it. But on closed inspection and after I had got over the initial shock I realized that the people were by far the friendliest people I had met in India. In every shop people would call me over, offer me tea, talk to me, give me food and in return they asked for… well… nothing. Usually you get used to people slipping in what they want out of you- whether it be buying from their shop, give them money, do their tour or what ever it is. In Kashmere then were not that bothered- I guess they didn’t rely on the tourist trade so they were just interested in me and esperically of what I thought of Kashmere.

Therefore overall, my experience was undecided, unsure, and slightly confused. I met some really really nice people however I also met some unpleasant people. The people by the lake spoiled the city, the prime tourist attraction left me most disappointed slightly sad and a bit uneasy.

Footnote:
I mentioned George my photo journalist friend. Once his returned from the “riot” he explained to me that every Friday after prayer the city’s Muslim youths get together and throw stones at the police, I never fully understood why they did it or what they hoped to achieve but apparently it’s a tradition. The rest of the week is peaceful, just stay in your hotel on Friday (unless you’re a Muslim youth or a photo journalist)

Oh- Also I had my birthday in Srinigar, thank you for all the birthday messages and stuff!

Journey to the edge of the earth.
After recovering from my 23 hour marathon to get to Srinigar I embarked on another one to get to Leh. 14 hours in a shared jeep, from 7 in the morning until 9 pm. It was another bum-breaker. However, it was also one of the most amazing and intence journeys I have ever taken. It felt like a journey to the edge of the earth. It went like this…
Stage one: the first 100Km as we left Srinigar the scenery was lush and green- there was lots of vegetation, we followed a stream which had glaciers falling into it, there was vegetation, animals, the road was made from tarmac and it was all lar-di-dar.
Stage 2: Then very suddenly we started climbing up and over a pass, the greenery gave way to snow and ice, the road was more like a stream (or snow melt) and the ride was bumpy, we had to get out and push at one point and we were stopped at the top to let an army convoy pass (as about 200 trucks passed one Indian holidaymaker saluted every single truck… how patriotic!).
Stage 3: the next 300Km was pure desolation, in felt like we were driving on the moon, we passed valley after valley- each one was totally different from the last, the shape and color of the rocks made each vally more stunning. For hour apon hour we climbed then descended, sometimes the road was good sometimes it was bad, sometime there were villages sometimes not. All there was to do was look at the scenery, contemplate the beauty and listen to my ipod. It was a monumental journey.

As we arrived into Leh, we hit a straight flat road, I had forgotton they existed, by this time I was tired, drained and sore but at the same time I felt exhilarated, the journey was like none I had ever done before it was so incredible stunning that I was almost sad to leave it all behind- but hey, I was in Leh, Ladakh. The promised land, it was my final destination, at least for a while, after so many night on busses and trains (9on busses and 3 on trains at the last count) it would be nice to stay in one place for a while.

Leh.
First thing I did- bed.
The next morning I woke up bring and early, I went for a morning stroll, to get my bearings, I had been looking forward to getting to Leh for a while, so you can imagine my disappointment when I realized that on the surface of it, Leh was just another backpacker town with 3,000,000 travel agents, souvenir shops hotels and German bakeries. Whatsmore ¾ of the town was still closed because the season hasn’t really started. To make matters worse, after my energetic start, the attitude suddenly caught up with me- At 3,500 meters (aprox 12,000 feet) Leh is high- very high. The altitude sickness hit me suddenly, I was walking down a road happily when suddenly my head started spinning and my feet refused to move, I felt nauseous and I desperately needed to sit down.

After my rough start I did start to appreciate Leh, after all what other tourist town backs onto the Himalayas, all I needed to do was look up and spin around to get a stunning panoramic view of snowcapped peaks and a mountain desert (and to get dizzy again!).

Secmol.
After a day of acclimatization and recovery I regained my strength: ready to face kids, work and SECMOL!

Secmol was one of the main reasons I came to India, after working at Karuna in London I wanted to spend a little time seeing how development projects works in reality.

Secmol in practice-

I was picked up in Leh by Becky, the volunteer coordinator and driven to the campus in Phey, about 18km out of Leh. I was given lunch and then shown around. The campus is made up of 4 main buildings,

The main building is where I am staying along with the 95 summer campers; it also had a main hall, a computer room, a library, and a main office. The building is heated through a mixture of solar power and traditional insulation.

The dining room and kitchen, there is a solar power cooker (which doesn’t seem to be used very much!) But, it is always busy with students and the cooks making vast quantities of foot for the 170odd people.

The Toilet and shower block, the toilets and traditional Ladaki dry toilets, vaguely like festival toilets, but bearable. The showers are solar powered- so hot water is only available when the sun is out, in the middle of the day.

The dorms- The look a little like prison cells and they are where the regular students live. Again- insulated with a mixture of traditional wisdom and modern solar science.

When I arrived the place was in full swing, between mid-May and mid-June Secmol run 2 summer camps (15days each) where children from across Ladakh come together to learn, have fun, and take a bit of a holiday, all of the students have just finished their 10th standard exams (GCSEs) but none of them yet know their results so it’s a nice way for them to learn, meet people, have new experiences and have fun in a really relaxed way.

Generally the camps are run really really well, all of the kids seem really happy, they learn Ladaki history, arts and crafts and practice their English skills (none of which they get to do a school). As well as the campers there are 50 permanent students who live on campus all year round, they come from villages where the education system is failing, they live on campus and go to school in Leh (where the schools are a little better). They get study and life support while living on campus. The perminant students help to run the campler, they organize most of the extra curricular activities as well as do their duties (cooking, gardening, cleaning etc). The permanent are great, their English skills a very advancedand considerably better than most of the campers, they also seem older and wiser than the campers (most of whom are their age). It seems as if they benefit greatly from the Secmol experience and they are certainly attached to the place.

The other volunteers
The volunteers who I have met here have been fantastic, there were 5 others when I arrived and 2 more have since arrived. Our only obligation is to take Engligh conversation classes for 3 hours in the afternoon. Apart from that we are pretty much left to our own devices; we can participate as much or as little as we like. So far my daily routine involves- helping in the kitchen in the mornings, followed by a Ladaki lesson, then playing chess/ cards until lunch, doing conversation classes with the campers after lunch, followed by a jog in the early afternoon, then dinner and finally chess and biscuits before bed. Oh- and reading in between times.

I guess that’s all for now- in the next blog… Sam becomes a ladaki sex education teacher- I kid you not. That should make interesting reading!

Love you all x x x