Sagar Puranik’s Ladakh ordeal: Shady hotels, hospitals & sleeping at railway station

A 15-day recce for shoot locations in Ladakh, turned into an ordeal of sorts for actor-director Sagar Puranik after he and his team found themselves stranded due to the cold wave recently.
‘WE HAD TO SLEEP IN THE RAILWAY STATION’
“There was a severe cold wave throughout North India and we were also affected by it. We had booked flights to travel from one destination to another, but due to low visibility, they were cancelled.So we booked a train, but that too, was delayed by 10 hours. That night, my team and I slept in the railway station! Even there, we weren’t able to see past 50 metres,” recounts Sagar. He adds, that the initial stay too was filled with challenges. “It was a wild ride from start to end. The cabbies drove recklessly, it was scary. We even stayed at shady hotel rooms there,” he says.
‘I HAD TO BE HOSPITALISED DURING THE TRIP DUE TO THE EXTREME WEATHER’
“While on the recce, I had a bad cold, so my lungs were not operating at full capacity. I suffered from acute mountain sickness and had to be hospitalised because I needed oxygen. In the extreme temperature of -18 degrees, we could not even use the heater as it would combust any available oxygen. All the clothes and blankets in the world couldn’t save us from the cold at night,” he tells us.