MISSING Czech botanist in Ladakh - more info

machadinha

ps Just leaving another note for Tichym, who I don't feel knows India very well: If Srinagar and surroundings is another place you need to check out, you should also be aware of the situation in Kashmir, for your own personal safety. See for instance http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/KA_DIS.htm . That site can be a little heavy on the danger side of it all, which doesn't mean it's not true. Don't let it scare you off, but it's definitely something to be aware of.

More generally, India can be quite a blast on the senses under the best of circumstances. So take some time there to acclimatize, and keep your head together, take it one step at a time. I mean after all that "Go over there now!" I wouldn't want you to be completely lost there, won't do anyone any good. And, of course, bear in mind that you may just end up with zero.

pps Thanks for that description of your friend's travel mode, that's kind of what I figured. I reckon putting his photo up on some more travel boards won't hurt you. You'll find a couple of the major ones if you follow the "links" link in my signature. There should be any number that specialize in Himalayan trekking too, but I don't know much about them, googling will help you (I know there are a number of German ones, for instance, that seem pretty active). Keep in mind the web isn't always a friendly place, so you may have to deal with some stupid remarks, best to ignore it. Especially the "Why are you so late" response is to be expected, although your explanation sounds perfectly reasonable to me, but as you can see it had me wondering too. And then there will be the "He should have looked after himself" and blabla responses, again, just ignore it.

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tichym

Thank you for your ideas and the encouragement. There is not much new info. Through the embassy we are trying to establish a direct way how to talk to police. I got answer from Rimo Expeditions in Leh - willing to help, thanks for the tip.
Although not very probable, we are checking whether he made it to Dehradun, he planned to go to herbarium there. I will put a message on more travel forums as suggested, with a link to this forum - it cannot hurt. Lastly, reward flyer - I have seen a picture of one somewhere on indiamike, to use as a template. Could somebody navigate me? In what languages the text shoud be - hindi, ladhaki?

machadinha

That thread you're looking for is here: http://www.indiamike.com/india/india...=ryan+chambers

No advice on what languages to use for the flyer, others hopefully will. I guess English, Hindi, Ladakhi and Urdu. (There are other regional languages spoken in those areas, but this should cover the main ones.)* Now to find someone to do that for you... maybe some of his university pals? Is there an Asian languages department there?

* Other languages listed by Wikipedia would be Kashmiri, Garhwali, and Kumaoni (for Uttarakhand). It notes that Urdu, not Kashmiri, is the official language of Jammu & Kashmir. I reckon the other three might be minor languages here, so if so, don't go out of your way on them.

<cross-posted with Capt. below>

capt_mahajan

If the flyer is going to be distributed only in ladakh, I would suggest it should have:

-A single A4 page flyer in all these languages, Hindi, English and Ladakhi* . If there is place for a fourth language, Urdu. (At least the 'headlines')

-Prominent display of large clear photograph and prominent mention of reward.

-Contact telephone number preferably in India (Embassy? Friends?)


*on languages, Ladakhi has (to the best of my knowledge) no seperate written form, and is largely/wholly written in the Tibetan script.


PS: I can help with the Hindi. At a crunch, Urdu too, though my written urdu is very rusty.

tichym

Thanks,
Draft of the flyer is attached. I do not think there is space for more than two languages. Numbers, currency, photo and phone numbers will be understandable to everybody. What the local people in Leh and the villagers would be able to read? Tibetan script? Thank you in advance for the translation to Hindi.

Attached Files

MISSINGxsmall.pdf (64.3 KB, 128 views)

tichym

Here is the .doc file with the text only

Attached Files

MISSINGxtext.doc (20.5 KB, 49 views)

tichym

According to the info from embassy, Leos Klimes stayed in hotel Khayul in Leh after all. However, reportedly, he left Leh on September 20 for Kargil ( I have to look where it is, somewhere close to Pakistan border.)If this is confirmed, there is no reason to continue searching in the Leh area.

capt_mahajan

For languages, see my earlier post. Can't say which two languages will be best. Many here have said English will be widely understood.

I seem to be having some trouble getting the Hindi script into word for an attachment, so, if I am permitted to bend the forum rules a bit, here is the Hindi translation of your word document. I hope you can enlarge the text after copying it elsewhere.

Note, I also hope my (understood) pronounciation of Klimes as "Klimace" is correct. That's how I have written it in Hindi.

(Post edited, translation sent by PM)

tichym

thanks a lot capt mahajanfor your work. However, instead of the Hindi text I see small rectangles. I have seen this problem problem before, do I miss some alphabet set? If I copy and past small part of your text, do you see Hindi:
जानकारी देने

capt_mahajan

I see Hindi.

In any case, I have PMd you the text, lets take it on PMs.

Am editing the Hindi out of my earlier posts here.

PS: Far from an expert, but I think it has something to do with your machine accepting the Hindi (Devanagri) script.. you can set things for that, IIRC.

tichym

The time window for Leos is getting narrower. On Sept 20 he left for Kargil and at the beginning of October he wanted to spend about a week in herbarium in Srinagar, but he did not arrive there. Than he wanted to continue to Dehradun to herbarium again and leave the country on Oct19. The police department in Kargil and the army are involved.

capt_mahajan

tichym, hope you got my PM (Private Message) with the translation.

Btw, Kargil is a district as well as a town (Kargil town is the capital of Kargil district).

Kargil town, IIRC is about 200 km from Leh.

Its a large area.

PeakXV

Here is a link to an article in The Hindu of a trek in that region. It's got place names & talks about 500 old year trees(botanical interest), permits etc. - you never know what information will help(& quickly)!:

A Secret the Himalayas hold

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tichym

I got the message, thanks. I am still dealing with the rectangles
As I understand they ment Kargil town (he went by bus). Well possible he continued to Zanskar region.
Yes the area is still big. But it is smaller than originally, and we hope that the info from check points will make the area even smaller.

PeakXV, thanks for the link

machadinha

Glad you're narrowing it down, Tichym. Done a lot of work for the past week, I think.

On those Hindi (and other Indian) fonts, I know little about it, but it can be tricky. I know WinXP offers many of them as standard fonts (that you probably need to install first, should be on the installation disk); Win 98 doesn't, I think, and I struggled forever to no avail to get it to work. There are programs that are supposed to help you in this, but it never worked for me.

So in short, if you can't read (see) it, maybe try on another system.