FAT, Part One

During October, we embarked on a ten-day adventure known as the Forward Area Tour, or FAT. During the FAT, the College takes its students up to the Northern border with Pakistan or the Northeastern border with China. I chose North, so off I went to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. J and K is well-known as the site of many skirmishes between Pakistan and India, and as one of the highest battlefields in the world.

We began our trip at midnight with a three-hour bus drive down to Sulur Airfield to pick up an IL-76 transport aircraft. This would set the tone for the entire trip, 75% of which was spent on broken-down buses driving hour after hour over even more broken-down roads. Eventually, we reached the airfield to meet our plane. I'm not sure what the safe load on an IL-76 is, but we were certainly pushing the limit. About 200 of us were squeezed into the airplane with all of our luggage. Sweat and muscle cramps were served throughout the flight...

We made many stops along the way to drop off groups which were going to other areas for their FAT, and also to make sure we didn't go over three hours without a tea break. Our first stop was in Bagdogra, Gateway to the Northeast.

Zul (Malaysia), Naeem (Afghanistan), Tim (UK), Siti (Fiji), Riva (Indonesia), Jeff (US), me, and Lanka (Sri Lanka), with Ahmed (Saudi Arabia) in front...parting ways at Bagdogra.

Phady and I get ready to re-board the aircraft. Note the refueling going on behind us...very safe.

Our next stop was at Srinigar to drop off another group. This was just a quick stop, though tea and samosas were given yet again.

Ali (Oman), Amin (Afghanistan), Ruwan (Sri Lanka), and I waiting at Srinigar.

My group was the last to be dropped off. Finally the FAT was ready to begin. Our first night was a quick stay in Chandigarh. Chandigarh was designed entirely by a Frenchman who based the city around an orderly grid with huge avenues outlining each sector. It is the only large Indian city I've been in with orderly traffic. We did some quick shopping and went out to eat in the city before bedding down for an early wake-up call.

Group photo in Sector 17, the main shopping area in Chandigarh.

The next morning we arose early to catch our plane to the first stop in the forward area, Kargil. Kargil sits at over 9000 feet of altitude, and was our first exposure to the high altitude locations we'd be visiting for the next week. The air was crisp and clean, a rarity in India.

Me and Riva

Posing with the An-32 that flew us in.

Me, Raj, Wahi, and Gangs at Kargil.

Me, Verma, Riva, Mishra, Ughandar, and Gangs get ready to mount up in our Gypsies.

From the airfield, we prepared to move on to our first outpost, high in the mountains overlooking Pakistan.

More to follow...

September Posts

As a bit of housekeeping, I realize that I forgot to put up any posts during September. First I have some photos from a trip to Kurumba Village, a local resort only thirty minutes from Wellington. Kurumba is a nice, quiet place tucked into the forest and almost makes you forget you're in India.

Left: Enjoying the pool Right: Resort room


Left: Natalie looks uncertain about a traditional Keralan lunch Right: Kurumba monkey

Alex and the Chews enjoy lunch.

Left: More monkey Right: View of the valley from the resort

Another September event was a birthday party/cocktail party hosted at my house for fellow American, Tera Jackson.

Shamim, Vikas, me and Chris

Ki-nam considers his drink options.

Vanessa, me and Hilde

Me, Vikas, Dave and Jeff

The Ladies: Top row-Hilde, Tera and Jazna Bottom row-Shuvra, Vanessa, Min-hee and Lisa

Tera blows out her candles.

Finally, some pictures from hiking to the highest point in the Nilgiris, Dodabetta Peak.

On the trail in the woods.

Group photo at the summit.

View of a tea plantation on the path.

Summit view

Ghost in the Machines

I stole these pictures from my friend Chris. While we were out of town, the locals celebrated a fairly unique ritual. During this ritual, or puja, Hindus pay homage to Vishwakarma, the great architect of the universe. To celebrate, the faithful clean all of their machines and offer gifts to Vishwakarma. The machines are elaborately decorated and basically given the day off. Our drivers took this day to gather all of the vehicles and celebrate.

Here all of our vehicles and the drivers' personal mopeds are decorated with an appropriate offering on banana leaves in front.

The drivers; Diso (Singapore), my driver Pinto, Chandran (Chile), Alexander (Australia), and Anand (RAF)

Traditional puja.

Charlotte (Australia) helps spread sandalwood paste.

Holy tuk-tuk!

Kochi

For our third term break, I went down with the Fernandez family (from Chile) to the coastal city of Kochi. Kochi is a lovely seven-hour drive from Wellington over bumpy roads and the worst highway bathrooms on the sub-continent. Fort Cochin is the old part of the city which used to be a European settlement. First we walked through the old Jewish market district, called Jew Town. The neighborhood is full of old European-style buildings which now house souvenir shops.

L: Street in Jew Town - R: Dutch palace

From there we walked up to the waterfront which is full of fish mongers and old-school Chinese fishing nets. These large canti-levered nets don't really seem to be in use for much other than tourist pictures now, but at one time they were a state-of-the-art fishing technique. We paid some of the fishermen to take pictures and operate the net.

Fresh fish on the waterfront.

Pulling the ropes on the fishing net with the two Joses.

Group photo: Jazna, me, Jose, little Jose, and Gaby

Chinese fishing nets.

We then found St. Francis church, where the Portugese explorer Vasco de Gama was originally buried.

And I was very excited to see my first snake charmer in India.

After two days in Kochi, we drove an hour south to the town of Alleppey. From here, you can rent a house boat to spend the day on the lake and traveling through the backwaters. Unfortunately, the holiday weekend saw hordes of visitors to the area and there were no boats available. We made a call to classmate who happened to be from Alleppey, and his dad managed to hook us up with a premium boat which happened to be owned by the south Indian cinema actress Revathy. Apparently she doesn't use the boat much, so they rent it out occassionally. Anyway, the boat was very nice, had air conditioning, and we enjoyed a relaxing overnight cruise.

Our boat in dock.

Locals on the lake.

Hanging out on the sun deck.

We bought some prawns from a passing fisherman to eat for dinner.

View from the helm of the boat.

Fresh fish for lunch.

Dawn coming up over the lake.