Nehchal Sandhu
JUST the other day, going through memorabilia collected during travels and accumulated in my cache over the years, I came upon a bramble stick presented to me by the headman of Turtuk, a hamlet of about 300 households on the southern (left) bank of the Shyok river in Ladakh. Distinctive it was, with a grip hewn out of the horn of a mountain goat, the shaft a thick wild rose stalk, and a ferrule fashioned out of brass recovered by melting spent rifle ammunition. Never used as a walking stick, it had remained amongst my prized possessions, only to be rediscovered now after nearly four decades.