Gypsy at Large

Siachen Glacier is far beyond what a common person’s imagination can conjure up. Even though the Indian forces have been braving against the formidable foe of weather and other extremities to hold on to the lofty mountains, when I told my mother that I would be heading to Siachen for a month long expedition being conducted by the Indian Army, her question was if it was in China? The question left me amused. The Indian Army personnel have been imposing the national will in those frigid heights and not many civilians are aware what it means to be at that height where chocolate bars freezes so hard that it has to be used as stepping stones. I was one of very few civilians, who were to get a chance to experience first-hand how Indian armed forces personnel are overcoming limits to human body at the world’s highest battlefield, even if for a short period of time. I undertook the journey in 2008 and after nearly a decade I am revisiting the journey that changed me. Pa...

The Gateway to Siachen Glacier Siachen Glacier : It was for me the experience of a lifetime: an eight-day trek up the Siachen Glacier in Jammu and Kashmir, once regarded as the world's highest battlefield at 22,000 feet where the guns have been silent since 2003 after an India-Pakistan truce. The 80-km trek from the Siachen Base Camp to Camp 3 and back by a 32-member group of defence personnel, military school students and journalists served to vividly bring out the hazards and pitfalls Indian Army soldiers have to face on what was also the world's coldest battlefield where temperatures dip below - 65 degrees Celsius. Getting bit of training at the Siachen Battle School Food goes stone cold as soon as it is taken off the burner, washing your face becomes a luxury, and drinking water smells of the kerosene used to melt the ice. Yet, the soldiers stoically endure this, serving for a minimum of three months on the glacier in a two-year ten...