Every bikers dream to visit
Leh-Ladakh on his/her bike and when one get opportunity, no one dare to leave
that opportunity, I was one of them to get the opportunity to rode Leh-ladakh
region on my RE-Classic 350.
Due to obvious reason,
decision was quite tough, as I have to manage my court dates and demanding
clients which planning etc all started early January of this year, more than
that and let me honest with you the decision was tough as I am timid by nature,
I remember early days of my childhood when my brother and sister used to tease
me to go and get a thing from the kitchen which was/is in far corner of my
house at Pukhrayan, Kanpur Dehat and due to no electricity (Still the same
situation of UP), place look like a haunted during night. Thus my visit to
Leh-Ladakh was for self-discovery and finding energy and courage within myself
and in this self discovery, my wife encouraged me, tough I never told this
reason to her or even I was also not aware about this reason, but I discovered
that reason during night ride between Leh to Drass when I alone was riding on
the road and all my team mates were far ahead of me.
In any case, 7 individuals
including me from different age group and from diverse field started Leh-Ladakh
ride on 13th June, 2014 from Indraprastha Park, New Delhi who hardly
know each other more than 2-3 rides. I think I was second eldest member of the
Group by age so gelling with younger generation was also a challenge because
after certain period of age and also due to chosen professional field, we
started putting ourselves in boxes or create an artificial cocoon around us or boundaries
and when one try to challenge you on that boundaries or trespass on coccon, either
you feel offended or humiliated, I may be wrong on this point of view. Let put
aside this discussion, till Chandigarh I did not feel any challenge as High Way
was smooth. For me the challenge started when we started riding towards Manali
on zig zag mountain roads, as I had never drove or rode on Hill Roads before and
it was my first encounter with the Hill Roads, going upward was easy for me but
going down ward was quite challenging and it drain out all your energy as one
has to concentrate on brake, clutch, side traffic etc along with maintaining
the speed with other members of group who, either born in Delhi or riding the
roads of Delhi since ages and know how to overtake a vehicle quickly while I
was hesitant on overtaking the vehicle by reading road side sign displayed by
Border Road Organisation, like If married, divorce Speed etc. In any case, we
reached near Aut Tunnel around 8 PM on 14th June and when 7 REs
entered into the tunnel, the thumbing sound of RE was just amazing which cannot
be described in words here and one has to experience it. As it was already dark
so we checked in one hotel at a place called Manala and started further journey
to Manali in the morning and in between we had interactive session with a Dr. who
rendered various valuable advices to us.
Next day we started riding
towards Rohtang pass which we crossed around 12PM in the afternoon when we crossed
it, it was already overcrowded, since we were very hungry so 4 members of our
group (Abhishek, Himanshu & Bajpai and me) stayed at pass and had 2 minutes
Maggie which got prepared in 20 minutes and cost us around Rs.200 per plates, i
think. Thereafter, we ended our day in a tent at Jispa.
Further journey onward to Leh
started on 17th June, sun was bright and wind was cold which is in
total contrast to each other, we crossed various loop roads and at top called Barlacha
heavily surrounded by snows, noble soul (Dr) has informed us that there is very
thin oxygen level and advised us not to remain there for more than 15 minutes.
At Pass, we stayed for more than 30 minutes by clicking photographs here and
there like monkey, God knows whether photographs are worthwhile or not?. After
crossing the pass, we were riding in valley surrounded by beautiful mountains
and reached Sarchu where we spent our night in a tin shed house.
Next day, our destination was
Leh, so we started riding, after riding on various loop roads, we reached at a
point and were waiting for remaining team mates, since we were busy on riding on
loop road so we had not bothered to see the sign board and when remaining
friend came they informed us that we have crossed Gata Loops. In any case, we
reached Karu and slipped into bed.
Morning was pleasant and we
started riding towards Pangong Lake and have to cross Changla Pass. The Ride
was really tedious as RE was not moving even on 1st Gear and seems
like someone has glued it on the road or I was riding on the Magnetic strip
when I enquired, I received the same response from my fellow riders as well.
The Journey has exhausted us so team decided to use buffer day at Pangong Lake.
On the next date, team decided that Tarique, Yashoda, Abhishek & Shehjad will
go to Indo-China Border and negotiate the deal with Chinese to get their things
back from India while we, three, (Himanshu, me and Previnder Bajpai) decided to
update the development of negotiation by team of 4 members to Government of
India, however, since Yashoda’s Yansh (Popularly known as Kansh) was not happy as
he was proud owner of various Chinese things so he throw Yashoda out of his
back and team was forced to abruptly terminated the negotiation with Chinese
authority, since fellas could not finalise the deal with Chinese so we decided
to return back to Leh. On the next date, when we were about to start, Tarique, suddenly
wake up from his sleep that his sipper bag is missing, we tried to find out it
everywhere without knowing what is waiting for us so we thought that Chinese
may have taken away. When we reached Tangse police post after crossing Chang La
Pass, Tarique find out his missing bag, sorry my dear Chinese fellas, we
unnecessarily suspected your integrity, you are not so mean, you are more
interested on grabbing boundaries. Without being aware about the bomb, we further
scaled down and when we reached near Karu, Our mobiles phones started getting sms,
messages, missed call alerts. So the news was that Ladakh Police has called
almost to every one’s home that so and so’s bag has been lost and our family
was worried about our safety and disparately trying to know about our where about
and safety. In the afternoon we reached Leh and after getting fresh, we roamed
in the market of Leh to rejuvenate us, as on next date, we want to add another
feather in our cap by reaching Khardung La Top which is 18380 Feet from Sea
Level.
Morning was not good for me,
as rear wheel of my RE got a minor puncher and being Sunday, no puncher shop
was open so it took us lot of time to get the thing repaired and meanwhile
Bajpai also get his LC repaired which got damaged during the ride, in any case,
we left Leh for K-Top near 12 PM and till the time, weather has taken U turn.
The moment we started ascending, shower has started and till the time we
reached South Pullu, shower turn into small snow fall. At South Pullu, we
stuffed our stomach with staple food “Maggie”, there we also meet Tarique’s
friend of Chandigarh, Pawan who was travelling to Nubra Valley with his friends.
Thereafter, we all started climbing towards K-Top while snow fall kept on trying
to hinder our way, but we were determined to reach top and we reached there. It
was an amazing feeling and that feeling I shared with my wife Shruti by making
a call to her as she was far away from me at Goa, just contrary to my situation
at sea level with lots of humid and hot weather at Goa. On K-Top, some punjabi guys
on Mahindra Thar has played hindi numbers so some of us including Bajpai danced
there and after staying there for more than 20-30 minutes, we started
descending and Pawan moved ahead to Nubra Valley and we safely returned to our
habitat at Leh.
Next day, we started riding
towards Kargil and around 10.30 AM crossed Magnetic Hill which could not get us
glued for more than 10-15 minutes and we moved ahead along with the Indus River
which kept on flowing some time at right and some time at left and kept on
riding by leaving behind beautiful mountains of different colours. When we reached
Tiger Hill Cafe on the National Highway we came to know that Zoji La pass do open
2PM to 7PM for traffic coming from Srinagar and 2AM to 7AM for traffic going
from Kargil to Srinagar so we decided to cross Kargil and night halt at Drass. We
reached Drass around 10PM at night and parked our vehicle near the Drass Police
Station. The Hotel, we checked in was of more than five star facilities and
there was an amazing fragrance in the room (Guys, it was just opposite ok) because
of that we all immediately fall asleep as we were required to cross Zoji La Pass
early in the morning. Before that while other team mate were looking for
accommodation at Drass, we interacted some rider who informed us that Road is
bad at Zoji La so visualising the worst, we prayed to God, but when we started
ascending in the morning, road was pretty well comparing to Chang La, Barlacha and
other passes which we have left behind and we were lucky to cross the Zoji La Pass
and reached Sonamarg by 7 AM. During this journey, I was riding very cautiously
as I was afraid of breakdown of my bike, as chain set of my bike was damaged
and bike was giving jerk on 1 & 2 gear. By the grace of god, we crossed
Zoji La without any trouble except some traffic congestion and muddy stretch of
around 2-3 KMs. The atmosphere and nature in Kashmere Valley and Ladakh Region was
totally opposite to each other, in Kashmere Valley, Mountains were full of green
and there was a fragrance in the air but I find people reserved, while in
Ladakh region, mountains were of different colour almost without any vegetation
but people were friendly, I may be wrong and I pray I be wrong. As Srinagar was
last stop for our home return and by that time, we, all, were tired and wanted
some time to get solace and peace, so team decided to stay at Srinagar for one
more days (personally, I was against the idea of stay at Srinagar for one more
day as I don’t believe in stagnation and believe in keep going (चरैवेति चरैवेति)). In
the evening we got opportunity to meet friends of Himanshu and shared our experience
with them, as they were our first target and god knows what they were thinking
but we keep on talking and talking until they started getting texts and calls
from their home. Next day, our morning was late as usual so we had our lunch
late at around 5 PM.
On the next day, we left for
our new destination, which we really don’t know, so we keep on riding interrupted
by some hurdle like a mammoth traffic jam near Jawahar Tunnel. By the 11PM, we settled
in Pathankot, despite of a tiring journey, all were happy of the fact that
Delhi is not far off now. On the next day, we started riding for our nest where
people were waiting for, however, Tarique’s Barbie (Guys FYI Please, Barbie is
Tarique’s bike name) refused to get along us due to hot weather outside and
wanted to go back at Leh-Ladakh Valley, but Shehjadi (Shehjad’s bike name,
please) did not bother and accepted no request of her and by force pull her till
Ludhiana, by the time Barbie’s hope of getting back to Leh-Ladakh valley was
tarnished so leaving aside her ego and on promise of Tarique that he will take
her to Ladakh next year, she started getting back to Delhi. At last, we reached
Delhi by 1 AM and when we entered into Delhi border, there was a sense of pride
and accomplishment which we wanted to share with our beloved ones by jolting
them from their fast sleep, some of my friends might have done this.
Concluding my blog I would
say here that this ride was not about exploring the Great Himalaya, but it was
about the exploring the possibilities, niceties, hope and love within
ourselves. This ride was about exploring the possibilities of lifelong friendship
because, the real test of friendship starts when other friend is in
difficulties, the real test of a friend at ride is at the last stage of ride when
we all are hurried to reach our nest. I would also like to add here that to
break friendship there could be number of reasons and we shall find mistakes in
everything but to hold the relationship, we have to put pressure on our mind, thus,
before breaking any relation, please recall those little niceties and
sacrifices made by other person. Don’t you think Life is beautiful? If you
think so, would appreciate your comments on this.
#biking #travelog
#biking #travelog
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