I was received by Bagh Singh the school driver who took me to Doda by car. This was a 5 hour journey on scenic roads. We passed Patni top a popular hill resort.

Ms Sabbah haji is the Director of Haji Public School and I have known her for the past five years. The more I read about the school the more my desire to volunteer in the school. Finally I decided to do it this year.

The town of Doda lies on the River Chenab and the drive till there is beautiful.

At Doda I was met by Mr Salim Haji, Sabbah’s father, who had kindly stayed back in Doda so that he could accompany me. Sabbah knew I had never sat on a horse before and was a bit scared of the journey to Breswana. There is no motor able road to the village and one has to walk or go on horseback for a steep 8 km climb on the mountains.

There was no way I could walk uphill so it had to be the horse ride. Only thing which I was dreading in this trip.

My children had told me that I could do it because I really wanted to.

So here I was : a volunteer at age 59 when all the volunteers are normally in age group of 24-35.

The bonus was that Salim Buai is wonderful story teller and he made the mountains come live for me.

The wind and my hair!

We drove over to Prem nagar where we  crossed the Chenab on a swinging bridge.

The Chenab was in full flow

The bridge from top.

The chenab

We crossed over the river to the other side and waited for our horses near a water mill

The water mill and the family which looks after it

The horses arrive!

This was the trail on which we had to go. I’m following behind.

Shaban leads my horse as I told him I will sit on it only as long as he holds it

My horse ride

Terrace farming on the mountains

The places we passed on the way

The mountain houses

The mosques in Kashmir are very oriental. Ive been told its because of their proximity to the Silk Route.

The hills!

We reach Breswana …. this is the village mosque

The Haji house where I was to stay

In case anyone is interested in volunteering it should be because you love to interact with children, know how to communicate with them and are willing to live a spartan life in the hills without any external entertainment. Also that you are physically fit to live 7,500 feet above sea level and your knees are fine.

http://www.hajipublicschool.org/

You can check out the site

But I didn’t so I got a chance to test my strength, my fitness and my will power.

These are pictures of my return journey on 19th July 2016.

One goes up by horse but since its steep and dangerous for both rider and horse we had to walk down the 8 km, with a short 30 min jeep journey.

We left at 7.30 and reached Premnagar by 12 noon.

Our luggage getting ready to go down by the Mule Service

A last look at the lovely mosque which is in between the Haji Public School and House

Goodbye to Vishvesh and Shomashree who are staying on in school. Nidhi was coming down with us

The mule train is on its way down.

Mr Saleem haji lent me his walking stick so that my poor ole knees wouldn’t be strained

It was a lovely morning for our walk downhill

Missing these hills

The path may seem simple but it wasn’t! ask my kness!

Mountain girl Sabbah Haji had reached before us as she took a short cut which was too steep for us to negogiate.

And sooff we went

Zubair Sir and our escort walk ahead of us

The walk downhill was tiring but so beautiful

A stop to refresh with water from a mountain spring

Nidhi and I negotiating the hill

Definitely not easy

Many children walk for an hour or so to go to Haji Public School and avail its world class education

The return party with the kids going up

Wild mushrooms on the way

I loved the mountain village cowsheds of leaves and twigs

It took us 1 and 1/2 hours to  reach the stage from where we take a jeep. Exhaustion writ large on my face.

After the jeep ride we stop for a while in Humera’s paternal house. Freshen up and have water and then get ready to walk the last leg of our journey which is another 30-45 minutes

A paratha break with Sabbah and Nidhi. We aren’t very far now

The path strewn with rocks from when the Chenab flowed much higher is scenic

We can see the Chenab

Mud mud ke naa dekh mud mud ke

Kids must be wondering why Im making such heavy weather of what they do so easily

At Premnagar

Sabbah pointing out where we came from : High up on those hills hidden in the clouds

and now the drive to Jammu another 5-6 hours depending on traffic

some videos of the walk

So after a two month stint as a volunteer teacher in Haji Public School I return home.

One of the best experiences of my life.
I would advocate volunteering there to teach these children but only if you are physically fit, mentally comfortable with staying away from the city lights and dedicated to teaching and making a difference in the lives of these children

http://www.hajipublicschool.org/