Hi there,
Coming back to my childhood memories it was until July1969 that I was in Leh studying in the government primary Juma Bagh just below the Namgyal Tsemo hills on its west side. Perior to that I also studied at the government primary school Saboo staying with my maternal aunty.
Once, I and my cousin Wangyal Tsering were prepared for song and dance sequence to be performed before the Ven’ble Kushok Bakula Rinpoche the head Lama of Ladakh which we did at the then ‘Debitu’ venue in Leh. The chief guest seeing our performance gave rupee ten each. I don’t remember the year but we were prepared by Ba Rahim Malik the veteran Urdu teacher.
I also remember once we ran away from our school in Saboo village by hiding our school bags under a boulder and came to Leh from ‘Tere e Rong’ or the southern gorge of Leh town where we met with army ‘Shaktiman’ truck that brought us near present petrol station. In Saboo my maternal aunty was really worried were the children had disappeared? Later, being informed by passers-by that they were seen heading for Leh?
At this stage of my life I was utterly left own my own I wonder what my father was doing. Anyhow, boys in Ladakh have all gone through the same process of nurturing which meant complete freedom.
Once, I remember I was playing near my father’s office near ‘Shagaran’ or present L.B.A shopping arcade; accidently he happens to come out from his office and saw me and asked me to come to his office when I went he was listening to a commentary on All India Radio, about the landing of first human on moon and when Neil Armstrong placed his first foot on the moon he cried aloud that made a new history for the human kind it was really interesting to seemy father so excited on that day which was July 1969!
At another occasion I saw my father standing before a mike and introducing a ‘Bharat Natyam’ dancer who wanted to perform her dance in Leh near the garden opposite present Galden Inter- Continental Hotel. It was really curious that during that time too there were adventurous young souls who wanted to experiment with their fancies? This too was in the year of 1969, I was probably in class fifth by then. Bye for now.