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I love this series in The Hindu titled ‘This day that age’ which gives us a peek into what happened years ago, when we were in our pichla janam avatars probably ;) Now now, not that what I was doing last year on the same day is of much importance to anybody orrrrr may be it is – what? every life is important no!?! In any which case, it was one of the most beautiful days of my life because we were all set to embark on that journey to Leh, Kargil and some other places which I had been dreaming about for I don’t even remember how long. And today when I look back to those days, the memories remain as fresh as ever. I did jot down a few tales from that sojourn, but missed writing about so many more even if I had been spinning them in my head and had sorted out the pics which still still lie on a folder on my desktop.  And so I have decided to go ahead and finish off those travel tales now – to relive those moments and take a mental vacation which is all  we can afford right now :| , and ofcourse to share them wonderful pics and memories with you all :P   You can check out the ones that I have already written here #freepublicity

Travelling has always been a passion for me, and like any other traveller, it definitely has much more to do than to visit tourist places, tick them on your list and  be happy about having visited another place. And Leh-Kashmir valley are just perfect for that kind of travel! The entire journey is like the destination. Every single step has something to offer. This quote says it all :)

It is not down in any map; true places never are.  ~Herman Melville

One interesting place we visited on the way from Leh to Kargil was the Pathar Sahib Gurudwara. This place has a nice mythological tale to go with it and I am a sucker for things like that ;)

Click on the pics to enlarge

The Gurdwara was built to commemorate the visit of Guru Nanak Dev to the Ladakh region.

The insides

Legend has it that a wicked demon once lived in this area where the Gurdwara is now situated and terrorized the local people. The people prayed to the Almighty for help. It is said that Guru Nanak heard their woes and came to their aid. He settled down on the bank of the river below the hill where the wicked demon lived. The Guru blessed the people with sermons and became popular in the area. The locals called him Nanak Lama. Seeing this the demon got into a rage and decided to kill Guru Nanak Dev.

One morning when the Guru was sitting in meditation, the demon pushed a large pathar (boulder), down from the hilltop, with the intention of killing the Guru.

The entrance to the hilltop

The route the boulder rolled along

The boulder gained speed as it rumbled down the hillside, but when it touched the Guru’s body, it softened like warm wax and came to a halt against Guru Nanak’s back. The Guru kept on meditating unhurt and undisturbed. Thinking that the Guru had been killed, the demon came down and was taken aback to see the Guru deep in meditation. In a fit of anger, he tried to push the boulder with his right foot, but as the pathar still had the softness of warm wax, his foot got embedded in it. Pulling his foot from the boulder the demon was dumfounded to see the impression his foot had just left in the stone.

The pathar pushed down by the demon, with the imprint of the body of Guru Nanak Dev and the footprint of the demon, is at present on display in Gurdwara Pathar Sahib.

The local Lamas hold this pathar sacred and offer prayers to it to this day. Amazing, isn’t it? :)

We moved further only to be amazed by the mesmerizing beauty Maa Nature has blessed this place with!

Magnificent hills all around, trees swaying all around, gentle streams by the side – it felt like we were all set to dance to ‘Suraj Hua Madham’ with the gentle breeze blowing away our sarees or dupattas :P . He he, I know it sounds filmy, but that’s exactly what I wanted to do right then – go there, run around, dance along with the air blowing my hair away! Aaah how romantic ;)

One of the streams we stopped by; at a place called Nurla

Another

The local folks had told us about this place called ‘Moonlands’ along the route – have a look yourself at how awesome the sand formations are!

You also find them modelling and walking on the ramp all the way – the flock of sheep I mean ;)

We had to bid our final goodbye to this picturesque route as we were almost reaching Kargil!

But not before we glanced upon the the Lamayaru Gompa (monastery) …

…. and got down for a bit here!

That’s it for now folks. You can read our experiences at Kargil here and be back for more tomorrow, because coming up next are pics from an equally enchanting route from Kargil to Srinagar and much more :)

Have a gr8 weekend all of you :) Cheers!

ETA: That’s my 400th post btw ;) I know I have crawled along to reach here from the last milestone , but still *patonmyback*