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Journalism of Courage
Against the backdrop of the nine-storeyed Namgyal Palacebuilt by king Singge Namgyal five centuries ago modelled on the Potala Palace in Lhasa,Tibetthe usually busy Leh market looks deserted. Not far from the main market,people have gathered at the Chowkhang Gompa monastery to pray for those who died in last years flash floods.
Apart from the main market,places around Leh,like Choglamsar villageone of the worst-affected areas where hundreds lost their livesalso reverberated with chants.
A few days after the floods,Dorjey,who earlier worked with tourist agencies,applied for a bank loan and bought a taxi. Since last winter,Dorjey and his daughters have been staying in a prefabricated room in Solar Colony,which was set up to rehabilitate the victims. Dorjey and others received Rs 2.45 lakh from the government and additional food supplies for over three months,but Dorjey knows that wont last. The government has done a lot for us,but we didnt get all that was promised to us. They gave us prefabricated houses,but no one came to ask us if we needed more help, says Dorjey.
But his daughters now want to go home. This is the tourist season and things are looking up for Dorjeyaccording to official figures,Leh had 63,000 tourists till June this year and estimates are that the figure will cross the one-lakh barrier by the end of the season. Now,he can pay back his loans,get his daughters into a good school and build a house of his own.
For people in Leh who rely on tourism for their livelihood,the months from June to September are when they can earn some money. Starting November,the roads to Leh remain cut off from the rest of the country for six months. Surviving these winter nights,when temperatures drop to -20 degrees Celsius,is tough.
In Leh town,houses are being built and new roads are being laid. But there are hardships. I lost everything I had in the floodsmy house,money,everything. I am worried about my son. I want him to become an officer but I dont have money to send him to a good school, says Motup Dolma.
While Leh awaits its tourists,people in some of the remote villages around the town say they have nothing to look forward to. I have nothing but this field. I used to grow barley,apples,apricots and other vegetables in my garden and fields and sell them in Leh. But now my fields and garden are buried under huge rocks and mud. It will take ages before I can get anything done here. I hear that construction is going on in Leh and that people there get help from outsiders. But we have nothing. How are we going to fill our stomachs? Cant the government provide my son with a job so that he can earn bread for us, asks Deachen Spaldon from Nimoo village,where the flood struck a day before it came to Leh.
