ASIANOVERLAND.NET SYDNEY TO LONDON  DAY 118/30: SRINAGAR, KASHMIR TO JAMMU,  INDIA

“17 October, 1980

Early bus to Jammu. A few more were calmer than the last bus trip. Valium did the trick.

Night train to Amritsar.

Bag slashing created havoc but the little Indian bastard got sweet f... all. Hah hah!

Everyone super uptight.”

The nightmarish drive back down the Himalayan mountains from the Kashmir Valley to Jammu didn’t seem as bad as the drive up, partly because we’d all done it before, but also because valium and other relaxants were taken to ease the pain and fear.

At the time of the partition of India, Hari Singh, the ruler of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, had not made a decision about the future of his state. However, an uprising in the western districts of the state (now in Pakistan), followed by an attack by raiders from the neighbouring Northwest Frontier Province, supported by Pakistan (Operation Gulmarg), forced his hand. On 26 October 1947, Hari Singh acceded to India in return for the Indian military being airlifted to Kashmir to engage the Pakistan-supported forces, starting the Kashmir conflict. The western and northern districts presently known as Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan passed to the control of Pakistan, while the remaining territory remained under Indian control as the Indian-administered union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Upon arrival at Jammu, it was confirmed that Top Deck Travel had allocated our bus Knackers and driver Gary Hayes, to remain in India for eastbound overlands, so I will have to arrange local transport from India into and through Pakistan to Jordan and Jerusalem.

One final mention of Gary Hayes, who was the most hard working and diligent driver I ever encountered. On occasions, the punters would ask Gary Hayes questions.

But Gary Hayes had an answer for everything:

“Don’t ask me, I’m only the Driver!!!”

Yes, it truly was the same answer to every punter question. That was another reason to admire Gary. He had a very clear view of the driver’s role and the tour leader/courier’s role. The driver’s job did not include talking to the punters. The courier’s job was to talk to the punters, starting with how we were going to get through Pakistan to Turkey and Jerusalem, without our double decker bus.

We’ll take one step at a time. The first step is to get onto this train at Jammu railway station, where we’ll have a lovely night train ride back to Amritsar, another beautiful Indian city.

Except that when we cram onto the overcrowded train at Jammu (the first class spots on the train roof are already full), the train carriage is absolutely pitch black, full of sweaty, touchy feely locals.

Suddenly there is a scream. From Corrie. And more screams. Corrie’s money wallet including passport, has been slashed from her neck by a local with a knife. In the pitchblack, screaming chaos, we try to work out how many money wallets and passports are missing. Guard them, keep your hands on your passports. We cannot get through the border into Pakistan tomorrow without a passport!!

Corrie’s money wallet might be on the floor somewhere, but the train carriage is so crowded and dark that it is impossible to kneel down to get a hand anywhere near the floor to feel around the floor and check. Finally, one of the punters says she can feel something with her feet. Thankfully, Corrie’s money wallet and passport are retrieved. After a period of black chaos, the train engine started, the lights came on, many of the locals vanished, so we could now breath out, and some of the tension eased, until, finally, we moved out of the Jammu train station.

With no bus and 18 punters, this overland seems like the trip from hell. We haven’t even left Jammu! And we have to get through India, into Lahore in Pakistan, and all the way to the south of Pakistan, to Karachi, if we can’t find another way through Iran or Afghanistan.

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