India seems to be covered in heat all the time but tourists flock to a corner of the country to experience its weather and breathtaking scenery.
That corner located in the Himalayan mountain range are devoted to ice hockey and the younger generation is very much passionate about the 'other' hockey played on ice.
Although the sport was introduced two decades ago when the army officers started playing as a part of their winter activity, ice hockey was never able to reach heights .
Cricket and football were never a hurdle to the Ladakhi community as the sport became wildly popular soon, despite a total lack of equipment.
Ice hockey: Not a subject of many dinner table conversations
But the women out there have proved they love this sport too much to give up.
The Ladakh Women Ice Hockey Foundation is an NGO formed by the women ice hockey players to promote the sport and uplift the stature of women players in that region.
While all the players depend on foreign donations for hockey equipment and even go to the extent of borrowing it from the men's team, the women decided to come together and start an organization that would act as a platform for the players to grow the game.
Since Ladakh experiences winter for about two and half months, the players stay idle for rest of the year and play some other sport like roller hockey.
Not long ago, the young, passionate, and enthusiastic women organized a basic skating coaching camp to train young girls and built a natural ice rink on their own to solve the problem.
Pretty cool, right?
But success did not come so easily
Together as a group, the foundation decided to make an ice rink which was quite challenging but the passion for the sport did not let that come in between their objective.
While the skill of the players is important, it's easy to overlook the remarkable ice-rink that makes the game all possible.
"We care about this sport a lot. Someday our girls will also get to participate in the World Championships and a regular training is required for us to be able to do so," said Noor Jahan, who was awarded Asia's best goaltender recently.
The initiative to start this foundation was taken by Stanzin Dolker, who plays as a defensemen in the team along with assistant captain Tsewang Chuskit. The captain of the team Rinchen Dolma along with Kunzes Angmo who plays forward in the team and Noor Jahan constitute the five-member team who now look after 50 young girls in that region.
Not as simple as making a tray of ice cubes
It was quite a difficult task to prepare an ice rink on their own. The women got a big space in the middle of the town that was easily accessible for the kids to come.
They started with a bunch of shovels but since it was getting tricky for them to move them manually, they decided to take the help of a big machine.
Noor said, "Getting water in the area was difficult. So we gave an application to the Public Health Engineering Department for a regular supply of water. Soon they started sending a tanker with 3000 litres water every evening."
And then they started to make ice
They used to fill buckets and started filling the pool around 8 in the evening. The water would freeze around 10 at night and then they would add more water to create another layer of ice.
The women used to wait till 3 in the morning and add water for the third time. They made groups of three to four girls who used to stay overnight at the rink.
"You many think it is easy, but that was not the case. The moment a small amount of water would splash on your clothes, even that would freeze," added Noor who finished as the best player in the 2016 IIHF Challenge Cup having saved 193 shots from a possible 229.
Difficulties were many but the ice rink was a big hit
It was so cold that even waterproof gloves weren't of much help.
"We would almost freeze in cold but that did not kill our spirit. To keep our spirits high we would turn on some music, and continue the task," she said.
Ice hockey is generally considered to be the fastest game in the world and for a long time, women in our country were not considered competent enough to play this sport.
But now that they are participating abroad, all they need is to improve the sport these women are so passionate about.
Previously, they used to feel neglected and were not attended, but lately, foreign donations are coming to this foundation solely dedicated to the upliftment of women ice hockey.
"We have got few equipment and skates this year which we gave to the players so that they can concentrate of the game and improve their skills. We don't have to worry about borrowing equipment from the men's team before playing," said the ecstatic General Secretary of the Ladakh Women Ice Hockey Foundation.
There are already some impressive feats that the women have accomplished, but they still have a long way to go.
If this is how the sport of ice hockey is growing amongst some people, maybe we'll see India at a World Championship in future. It won't happen tomorrow but it seems like we are on the right track.
