#Drass - 2nd coldest inhabited place in the world, with Tiger Hills on backdrop, Ground zero during Kargil War, eye flashing scenic beauties.It was my own call to stay here for a day to learn more about Kargil War and ppl around. But whether its fortunate or unfortunate I got stuck here for next 5 days as if road towards Zoji la pass is blocked because of heavy rain fall n Rock slide in Zoji la pass. To be frank my first impression here was bit confusing because I can see most of the ppl in Kashmiri gown with long beard, even I saw young dudes with europian look with anti fit trendy attires. But that was an false impression, amazing & very helpful ppl here. On Sept 1st after 3 hour long spend in Kargil War Memorial, late afternoon I checked in at a home stay here, I got room for dam cheap & decent enough for less than 500, during dinner I met Arijeet , solo rider from Delhi came to Leh via Spiti Valley, very active companion he is. Next day the road towards Zoji la was blocked becase of bad weather condition, hell lot of demand for rooms here, owner started selling it for 10 times the price, even he asked me & Arijeet to share the room, we were comfortable with each other, our friendship got stronger as if the stay got extended to another 5 days. During this stay we made an healthy relationship with many localites here. Even if there was no network n no no communication, we never felt we are in stranded situation. One day we were discussing on our plan to move forward, in between Mr. Fahd a stiff man of late 40s interfered n we introduced each other, discussed lots of things, in between I frankly asked " Aap Kargil War ke time ither ka moholla kaisa tha" he replied " Is Drass ilaka mei hamesha shelling hotha tha aur humara beebi bache safe camp mei hoga aur hum faugion ko saman bichwane keliye goda dethe the aur military truck chalatha tha" Also he told in a proud manner "hum ko is bath ka garve hai ki hum apna mulg keliye kaam kiya hai " he also told “ Ither gaddhari karne wale ko hum zinda nahi chodthe” I have optimum respect for this man.Another day we got late to have dinner even in home stay dinner will stop by 9 pm. So we went out whole Drass was off, but we saw a small hotel where the light was on, I saw an Old man sitting there whose name is Anwar, I asked “ Uncle Kaana kuch milega “ he replied with a sad face “ Sab kuch kali hogaya beta, Chai milega abhi “then I replied “ Koi bath nahi Uncle chai aur bun deejiye “ immediately he responded “ Rukko beta Roti aur bhurji baanatha hu” and he called his wife to make roti & burji, we felt bad for disturbing this old ppl late night and told “ Aunty uthna buk nahi hai bun kaffi hai” quickly she came out n adviced like a mother to her son “ Betta buka aur kaali ped kabhi bhi sona nahi chahiye aur hum kisi ko kaali ped sone nahi dunga, roti banatha hu aap log kaake hi sona “ After this, this place was our regular food corner, even we use to experiment different dishes in Aunty’s Kitchen, like that Arijeet made Sukka Maggi/Maggi fry.. now it’s a receipe in that Hotel situated a block before Drass Police station, Aunty’s Mutton Rohan Gosh with rice,, really its finger licking taste !!One of our best time pass companion was this local boy of almost 20,name Shakeel, he is very active, has knowledge about each n everything in this world, but very talkive. Once we were Discussing on some topic in btwn Arijeet asked him, why cant he continue his study & get a nice job in city instead of working here, ten he replied “ Roz ka roti aur makkan keliye yeh job kaffi, meine naukri karke 2 saal mei 4 acre kaa zameen kareed liya hai aur saath mein 25 bediya bhi, Iyise naukri karke hi mera bade bhai ne Xylo kareeda hai tourist taxi keliye, “ also he told “ Is gaun ka sukoon aapka shehar mei nahi milega, Shhukkar hai Is gaun mei bhi mei tourism bad raha hai ” he told in a very committed manner” Abhi humara ek hi maksath hai, Behan ka padayi who bhi Srinagar mei ek pvt school mei, uskeliye hum bhai log bohath rupayee jama karke rake hai” was wondering where was was I at his age, very much spoiled brat, bunks classes, don’t have any aim in life. I feel pitty of myself. Now we know nook and corners of Drass very much, over 5 days in drass, we never felt we are stranded, we enjoyed every moment, even if the climate was very much freezing we never hesitated to come out even at night to cover scenaries, Kargil War Memorial was our second Adda here. There are so much memories here, the ppl here, the Kargil War Memorial and whatever I learned about Kargil War.
