Where Were U on New Year's Eve?

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Where did you spend the 'New Year's Eve' -- the much awaited and much celebrated event, which people enjoy in different ways, at different places, most of the times indulging in fun and frolic, dance and dinners. And why not because the first day of the new year is the culmination of the festival season which starts with Ganesh festival, Navratras, Dussehra and Diwali and Eid in India (depending on which part of India you are) and with Christmas in the rest of the world. It is a day to celebrate and people all over the world do it in different ways.

I have also enjoyed the new years' eves in many different ways and at many different places during various stages of my life. I have fond memories of many of them but i can never forget the night between 31st December 1983 and 1st January 1984.

Ours was the last vehicle to cross the traffic check post (TCP) on the road leading to Changla pass -- the second highest motorable pass of the world after Khardungla. The Indian Army personnel donning the red beret, belonging to the Corps of Military Police (CMP), deployed at the check post, waved our vehicle to move ahead and thereafter dropped the pole barrier not to allow any more vehicles to undertake the upward journey towards the pass.
I had come back after spending a short leave at home with my family which included my parents, my newly wedded wife and my sweet little sister (who now is an ardent follower of my blog and whose comments are frequently found on my blog posts).

Having reported at my Unit Headquarters at Leh, i was further moving to my sub unit deployed on the Indo China border near Chushool. Since no dedicated vehicle was available for going to my company location, i had to take a lift in a vehicle which was moving from our unit to that location, carrying some supplies.

It was a Shaktiman -- a transport vehicle used for transporting troops or supplies from one place to the other-- popularly known as ' Three Ton' in the Army parlance. You can spot this vehicle, with a squarish looking bonnet having sharp edges with "SHAKTIMAN" written on the radiator mesh, plying on the Indian roads in cantonments etc. It is also used some times even in the form of a make shift school bus with chairs or benches fitted in the body of the vehicle, carrying wards of Army personnel. The vehicle has a small driver's cabin with a large body covered with tarpaulin which can accommodate a load weighing up to three tons, as the name suggests. Though the seat in the driver's cabin can accommodate three persons but in any Indian Army vehicle, only one person is permitted to sit beside the driver. The personnel of the CMP are meant to keep an eye on that aspect. They regulate the movement of Army vehicles at various places in the field as well, as at peace stations. In our vehicle, in addition to the driver, there were two more jawans from our unit who were sitting behind in the body of the vehicle.

The TCP was located at precisely the place from where the vehicles had to negotiate a steep zigzag climb to reach Changla pass. The climb takes a few hours, depending on the category and load of the vehicle -- lighter ones taking less time. After reaching the highest point ie., the pass on the formidable mountain range, the road starts its descent which goes down in to the valley on the other side. Both sides the TCPs are located at the similar locations ie., the start and end of the steep ascent and descent respectively.

As our vehicle was winding its way up, we could, at times, have the glimpse of the vehicles on the mountain slope, moving up in a convoy which had left the TCP before us.

Suddenly, our vehicle made a funny coughing noise and came to a halt. The driver got down, opened the bonnet, fingered some parts under the bonnet cover as per the drill taught to him and came back and started the vehicle. We resumed our arduous ascent once again.

After going a few kilometers further, the vehicle again acted in the same manner. The driver once again repeated the action and the vehicle again started its upward journey. The gap between our vehicle and those moving ahead of us, was gradually increasing, owing to our vehicle stopping frequently due to the engine problem. On the way we also met the convoy coming from the opposite direction.

The sky was overcast with thick clouds and in Ladakh one could never predict when snow fall would start, particularly during the winters.

Our vehicle drove smoothly for a few more kilometers up the slope and then again it broke down. This time the driver could not hide the embarrassment on his face. As he got down and went to the front of the vehicle to open the bonnet cover, i got down to straighten my limbs. As i stretched my body and looked up towards the top of the mountain range, i could not see any vehicles on the hill slope. We had wasted quite some time in fixing the engine problem while the other vehicles had continued their ascent and had gone out of sight. Moreover, the mountain tops were now all hidden under thick clouds and perhaps, it was snowing on the pass. The driver fixed the problem and once again we resumed our uphill drive. We encountered the snow fall on the way which kept increasing in intensity as we approached the pass.

By the time we reached the pass, it had grown dark and the snow fall was continuing. The pass had already received a few feet of snow as it must have been snowing there for quite some time. The driver halted the vehicle to give rest to the engine as well, as to check the recurring problem before we could resume our downward journey. The snow flakes were getting thicker in size every minute. There was an idol of Lord Shiva, installed in a small makeshift temple hut on the hill side of the pass. It was a custom that anyone crossing the pass would get down and pay respect to the Lord. I also climbed the steps leading to the temple and took a bow before the Lord's idol. Just then the winds started blowing hard and as i was coming down the steps, i was pushed back by the winds, flying snow flakes into my eyes. A full fledged snow storm was building up. As i reached and got into the vehicle, the driver dropped the bonnet cover and got behind the steering wheel. He started the vehicle but it did not start. He made many attempts but the engine refused to crank. He opened the door to get down to look up the problem again but the sheer velocity of the wind did not allow him to do so. I told him to stay back inside.

The snow storm was getting fiercer every minute. The visibility had gone down to zero. The very high velocity winds were making whistling sounds while brushing along the parts of our vehicle.

The driver looked at me with a helpless look on his face. I smiled back at him. The vehicle was not starting. We were stuck on top of Changla pass at the height of 17500 feet above m.s.l. There were two alternatives before us. First one was to leave the vehicle and walk down to the TCP, which would take another few hours, bearing in mind the adverse weather condition. Walking in zero visibility at night during a snow storm on steep hill slope could lead to our loosing the way and fall into some snow cavity. The snow covered hill slopes at times can be very deceptive, showing false surface and one could accidentally step into a deep cavity covered with snow, thinking it to be a level surface.

The second alternative was to spend the night in the vehicle and walk down to the TCP the next day. The risk here was spending almost twelve hours at a place where the oxygen contents in the air were very low, owing to low atmospheric pressure at that height. Also the high velocity winds were tearing into any object that stood there on the pass.

I chose the second one. Howsoever fierce the snow storm was, we were well ensconced inside our vehicle.

I asked the driver to see if the jawans sitting behind in the body of the vehicle were comfortably covered or otherwise call them into the driver's cabin. The driver opened the small window slit, provided at the back of the driver's cabin and shouted in local lingo. Both the driver and the other jawans were Ladakhis as our battalion had local troops. One of the nunnus (the Ladakhi boys are called so), shouted back that they were comfortable. The jawans always carried their sleeping bags issued to them. The back opening of the vehicle was also having tarpaulin cover, which they must have tied in place.

I was wearing the full set of my winter clothing, which included many layers of cardigans like string vest (a vest woven with thick cotton strings to prevent sweating inner wears clinging to the body, which can later cause pneumonia, once the sweat cools down), woolen vest, angola shirt, woolen jersey, coat parka with a hood and a balklava ie., the woolen monkey cap. I also wore snow boots with woolen socks and woolen pants with woolen under pants. Despite all this i could feel that while the upper portion of my body was feeling warm, the legs , particularly the knees were going numb with cold. The driver, who was also wearing the same set of clothing, also felt that our knees needed to be covered. He took out his sleeping bag from the box under the seat and we spread the same on our legs to keep them warm.

After some time, as i started feeling drowsy with sleep, i told the driver that we both could not sleep at the same time and would sleep in shifts, one person at a time. The purpose was to keep an eye that our vehicle, though, having sufficient height, should not get covered under snow blanket. I told the driver that we would open our side doors at regular intervals to jerk away the snow, which was accumulating outside, so that we could open the doors in the morning with ease. The driver told me that he had a kerosene stove in the vehicle which we could light for keeping the driver's cabin warm. The drivers always keep such things handy just to prepare tea etc., on long stretches of drive as well, as to warm their food on the way. I did not allow him to light the stove because, though, it would warm up the cabin but it would also burn up and deplete whatever little oxygen was available in the closed cabin.


The front windshield had become an opaque glass sheet, as the snow and frost had formed a thick film on it from outside. However, the side glass panes remained transparent as we were moving the doors off and on to keep the door opening intact.

After midnight the snow storm subsided. I opened the door on my side. It opened with a great difficulty as the snow had covered the space outside up to half the height of the vehicle. I had to literally push it with my feet, while sitting on the seat. I made an attempt to come out of the vehicle by removing the snow outside, again pushing it away with my feet. It made some opening for me to crawl out. A little more effort made the opening wider. I came out and had a look around. It was all absolutely calm. There was nothing else visible except snow all around. The temple hut of Lord Shiva had gone under the snow blanket. I dug my feet in the soft snow and went a little away from the vehicle and released my self, leaving a pale yellow hole in the snow, which was now shining bright under the starlit sky. Driver had also opened the door on his side. I went to the back of the vehicle. The jawans inside were snoring away to glory.

Both driver and myself came back into the cabin and closed the doors. We decided to catch some sleep now as the sky had become crystal clear, showing even the tiniest of the stars and there was no possibility of any more snowfall.

We woke up with the day break. I told the driver to stay back with one of the jawans and asked other one to accompany me. I took out my rucksack which, in addition to carrying my essential stuff, also had a packet of 'pinnies' (the balls made with the flour of 'moong' pulse, sugar, jaggery, dry fruits and many other nutritious ingredients, which my mother always prepared and gave me whenever i came back from leave. Two of such 'pinnies', if taken in the morning could see one through up to lunch time). I shared some of them with the jawans, before starting our ghost walk (in six feet of snow, one has to literally walk like a ghost lifting the leg high up before again digging it in the soft snow ). Though, the TCP was visible in the valley but it took us almost four hours to reach that spot. The snow cutters were on the job for clearing the road for traffic, which were expected to reach the pass by lunch time.

The TCP- in- charge told us that they had known of our getting stuck on top of the pass, as the two TCPs on the two sides remain in contact with each other to keep a tab on the number of vehicles sent and received by each of them. They told us that they tried to send a rescue party to help us come down from the pass but that could not go any further than a few meters due to the snow storm.

We were driven to the brigade headquarters where the Regimental Medical Officer (RMO) Dr. Maj Sharma carried out our routine check, like blood pressure etc. He smiled and said "Balli, though, i had written you off but you seem to have emerged as fit as the local Ladakhis"

We exchanged new year wishes, as it was 1st January and i left for my company location to celebrate new year with the jawans who were anxiously waiting for my arrival.

In the Indian Army, when an officer connects with the troops at such special occasions by attending the festivals, their religious functions etc., they are ready to die for you.

And wish you all a very Happy New Year 2010.

This post also forms part of series on my life journey. To read all the posts in that series please click here.