TEXT: PUNEET NICHOLAS YADAV
PHOTOGRAPHS: SANJEEV VERMA, PUNEET NICHOLAS YADAV & HIMANSHU JOSHI
It is March 21. Elsewhere in India, many must have been waiting eagerly to witness India take on Pakistan in the ICC World T20 Cricket match. We are in Turtuk, a tiny hamlet perched atop a mountain overseeing the Shyok River in a remote corner of Ladakh’s sprawling Nubra Valley. There are many cricket lovers here too, but today is not the day for the game played by gentlemen. Instead, children and old men alike have gathered on the ground to watch the Game of Kings – Polo.
A part of the Baltistan region in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province till 1971 when the Indian Army captured this village, Turtuk has stridently preserved the traditions that link it to its Balti roots. Polo is an inseparable part of this tradition.
In fact, the word Polo too may actually have its origins in the Balti language- a dialect of Tibetan- since Pulu in Balti means ‘ball’.
For the Balti people, especially those in Gilgit and Chitral, Polo is the ‘Game of Kings and King of Games’.
Unlike the world-renowned three-day Polo Tournament in Baltistan’s Shandur Top played between the best teams of Gilgit and Chitral, people in India and abroad are only now discovering the month-long polo tournaments in Turtuk since this village had been cut off from the rest of the world until 2010 owing to its militarily sensitive location on the Indo- Pak border.
But for the people of Turtuk, these diplomatic and military hurdles mean little. Each year, on March 21- the first day of the Balti New Year called Navrozthe best Polo players of Turtuk
Youl and Turtuk Faroul- the two parts of this village connected with an old, rickety wooden bridge, gather for a match at their polo ground situated at an altitude of over 9300 feet.
The preparations for the match begin months before Navroz. Polo ponies (aged between 1 and 3 years) are purchased around December-January from Zanskar and Changthang for amounts ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 and brought to Turtuk.
The players then train these horses for polo over the next three months and feed them a diet of buckwheat, wheat and lentils soaked in water for five weeks to help the horses gain stamina and stealth.
Once trained a polo pony may fetch up Rs 60,000 though players rarely agree to sell. The size of the polo teams differ from one match to the other but with a minimum of four players and matches are played for 40 minutes with a 10 minute break after the first half.
Children from the village usher the polo ponies along with the players to the Turtuk Polo Ground and are responsible for taking care of them during the break.
The match in itself is quite a revelry unlike the polo match at Shandur Top which has been known for its roughness that often leads to violent altercations between the players and even fans of Gilgit and Chitral. There is of course the harmless cheering and jeering but nothing that could raise tempers.
A band of three-four local musicians sits at one end of the polo ground with shehnai, gabi (flute), duff and dadang (drums).
Each time a team scores a goal, the musicians play local folk tunes apparently to cheer the team that scored and to tease those who failed in defending them.
The Legend
Legend has it that some four centuries ago, two Turkish invaders – Chuli and Yangdrung – scoured the high mountains of Karakoram around Baltistan looking for a territory to conquer. The duo had their eyes set on a famously impregnable fort strategically built in the centre of a steep mountain with only one entry manned at all times by the fort’s guards.
Climbing up the mountain to the fort gate was not an option – the guards would notice and foil the attack. Chuli and Yangdrung decided to climb the back of the mountain and then descend down to the gates assuming that the guards would not anticipate such an attack.
The plan worked but when the two entered the fort they found no residents, not even guards.
Just an old lady sat next to a huge bell which she was to ring vigorously in case of unexpected visitors of attackers. They quizzed the lady for the whereabouts of the King and his people and were told that everyone had gone to the mountain opposite the fort for a game of polo since it was the first day of their New Year – Navroz.
Seizing the opportunity Chuli and Yangdrung plotted a plan to capture the fort. They waited for the King to return from the match and on first sight shot a fatal arrow that pierced the ruler killing him instantly.
The two Turks anointed themselves as the rulers of the fort. The fort and the area around it came to be called ‘Turtuk’. Today, barely recognisable bastions of the fort remain. But polo has become an inseparable part of Turtuk.
