The Chemist at Kargil

Image attribution: Saurabh Lall, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I carried a small laptop bag on my shoulders, in which I carried essential stuff such as my rain gear, pyjamas, patka (a small turban), water bottle, slippers, towel, mobile phone charger, toothpaste and toothbrush, besides my bike's papers, during the recent long motorcycle ride to Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. By the time we reached Kargil, after having ridden through Kullu, Jispa and Leh, parts of my shoulders and back had become stiff. So, I made a mental note to acquire a fuel tank bag or something similar for the next trip whenever possible. However, I needed immediate relief for my back and shoulders. So, I set out in the evening to look for a chemist's shop to buy pain relief spray. I rode for several kilometres without finding one, from the hotel on the outskirts into Kargil town.

I stopped to ask for directions on the way at a grocery shop operated by a little girl, who said she had no idea when I asked if there was a medicine shop in the vicinity.

A few kilometres ahead, a board pointing towards a side road said, "District Government Hospital." So, I turned off the highway onto that road and rode on for a few minutes without finding what I was looking for. At another grocery shop I stopped at, I was told I would find a chemist's shop a little way ahead on the same road, and indeed, I did.

The young couple who owned the chemist's shop operated it, and I wondered whether it was the only one in town. It was chock-a-block with customers, including a few uniformed men of the Indian Army. I watched as one soldier described the symptoms a colleague was suffering from, and the chemist promptly provided a few tablets, capsules and a bottle of cough syrup, along with instructions on how to consume them. It made me wonder if there were no army doctors posted at Kargil.

When my turn came, the chemist explained that an ointment would provide more prolonged relief than a spray. He laid out tubes of three such ointments on the counter and recommended one as the best. I took his advice and bought the ointment. It stood me in good stead the rest of the way through Srinagar, Banihal, Amritsar and Chandigarh.

The next time, I shall try to remember to carry pain relief ointment in my medicine kit.