The Soldier And A 220 Million Year Old Story

THE SOLDIER AND A 220 MILLION YEAR OLD STORY

In the rugged mountains of Ladakh, roughly North East of Kargil and North West of Turtok, bordering the LOC with Pakistan, is  a place unknown to most Indians.

It is generally known as the  the Batalik-Yaldor-Chorbatla Sector. Desolate, windy, strewn with boulders and rocks, snow covered most of the time and home to Indian Army soldiers who guard these heights 24×7, rain, snow, shine. Also located here is the Chorbat La pass, the traditional border between Baltistan (Pak occupied) and Ladakh (India).

Chorbat La (La=pass), as such, is  located at an elevation of 5,064 meters (16600 feet) above sea level. Its coordinates are 34°45'0" N and 76°34'60" E.

The general area has strategic implications and any incursions from here can turn the flanks of the Siachin area. Infact certain peaks here were captured as far back as 1971 and many years later Col Sonam Wanchuk had got his MVC in this very general area in 1999.

But this story is not about the exploits of brave men who remain awake guarding us, while we sleep peacefully.

This story begins 220 million years back. What we now know as India was an island floating off the coast of Australia. Around that time , this land mass started to move Northwards. It travelled some 6,000 kilometres before it finally collided with Eurasia round 40 to 50 million years ago. 

Then, part of the Indian landmass began to go beneath the  Eurasian one, moving the Eurasian  landmass up, which resulted in the rise of the Himalayas. Fossils of sea and coastal creatures can still be found in the Himalayas, as it was once two coast lines that merged together. These fossils not only provide evidence that the Himalayas once existed on a coastline, but also information about climate change and plate movement.

Some 45 million years later after the Himalyas had been formed, I was tasked to proceed from Kargil to Chorbatla. We had been told to extricate a  young soldier, probably from Ladakh Scouts (memory; time has taken its toll). He was to be dropped at Leh, some domestic emergency, and the powers that be had found it worthwhile to divert us enroute, pick him up and do the needful. Anyway, it was a first for me to this place we call Chorbatla. We landed, rotors running - the soldier hopped on and off we went.

CLOSE UP OF THE FOSSIL

After alighting on reaching our destination (Leh), he came to me and handed me a small piece of slate like rock. ''Sir , this is for you. It is a 'fern fossil' from our post''. 

Yes, the proof that this area which is now the barren high altitude Ladakh region in the mighty Himalya's, was once forested and not much above sea level, is in the fossilised remains of plants, ferns and sea creatures which are found there.

These fossils found in the Ladakh region belong to the middle-late Eocene period, anywhere between 45-33 million years ago, as confirmed by scientists at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun.

 My prized posession, thanx to a young Indian soldier

NOTICE THE TINY VIENS AND SHAPES OF THE FERN LEAVES