leh trip - summer 2009 - desi

8/14/2019 Leh Trip - Summer 2009 - Desi

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A Balleh of Riders getting Lehd(20 June 3 July, 2009)

There are many words forpass in the English-speaking world. In the United States, thesouthern Appalachians more commonly use the wordgap, andnotch is often heard in New

England. Scotland has the Gaelic term bealach (anglicised "Balloch"). In the Lake District ofnorth west England, the term hause is often used, although the term pass is also common one distinction is that a pass can refer to a route, as well as the highest part thereof, while ahause is simply that highest part, often flattened somewhat into a high level plateau.

The Ladakhis call it La.


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A New DelhiB ChandigarhC ManaliD KeylongE SarchuF LehG KargilH Drass

I SrinagarJ JammuK LudhianaL New Delhi


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Prologue

The old man was re-living some dangerous days 10 years ago.

When the mortars fired, windows burst 5 miles away..

Within days of the Pakistanis arriving, this town was cleared by the Army. I kept comingback once a month. It was heartbreaking to see people die..

I could not recognize my house when I returned. One of the outhouses had been completelyflattened..

You can see the bunker if you want. Om Puri and some other actors spent 3 days therewhen they came to Drass to research the Kargil war & the firing started..

We trooped down towards the bunker. I was the first to enter, gingerly going down the stairswith a torch in my hand. I half expected to feel bats flap against my face when the torchcame on. The room was small, maybe 6 feet in length and breadth. When all 11 of us haddescended into the bunker, there was barely place enough to move.

I have inherited a touch of claustrophobia from my mother, so I came out in a hurry. Thewind bit into my face as I came out of the door and lifted my face to stare at Tiger Hill.

The hills of Ladakh rose around us. Great, misshapen monsters, each uniquely scarred fromcountless years of erosion by the unrelenting winds. Further into the distance, ice-clad peakstowered even higher. Not a speck of vegetation could be seen on the hills. Even the lushgreen valley contrasted strongly against the barren surface of the hills.

As we rode towards Drass, one of the road posts proclaimed: FROM NOW ON, YOU AREUNDER ENEMY OBSERVATION. You could imagine a pair of binoculars or a rifle with atelescopic sight trained towards your head. I recalled the Army observation posts that I hadseen several times on the road to and from Kargil and the lonely vigil that the soldiers had tomaintain in the bitter cold, and felt like waving at the imaginary enemy on the hill. Prudently,I stayed my hand.

In the meantime, Viswakarma had checked the air valves, tuned the engines, greased thetransmission, tightened the brakes, pumped air into the tyres, fixed some electricalmalfunctions, topped the engine oil, and tied the bags. We were ready to go!

The heavily layered bikers mounted their machines and one by one the comforting roar ofRoyal Enfields filled the air. With each rev, the excitement of another day of riding rose anddrove out memories of war. The old man waved at us as we rode out of the hotel. Soon wewere back in the hills, the sun yet to rise, and the prospect of fifteen exhilarating hours ahead.


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Viswakarma Tender 21, a Tamilian born & raised inDelhi, uncomplaining, hardworkingand one of the best mechanics I hadever seen. Without him, we wouldhave never made it. Loaned to us bythe guy who had rented us the bikes.

HillMan Hailed from Himachal. Mostcomfortable in the hills and thoughtnothing of taking the road less takeneven if it was 45o steeper! Alsooccupied in building a portfolio ofphotographs in impossible poses foruploading on Bharat Matrimony!

CheerLeader This guy had long wavy hair like awoman and talked more. He was thelife of the group, keeping all in splitswith humor laced with barbs. CL had abiking license, spent all of ten minutesriding during our trip and thankfullylived to regret it!

Don Small and quiet, this little guy fromAndhra didnt look like he was anature lover, much less willing tosurvive an arduous bike ride. Onewondered what he was doing in adistinctly North Indian crowd. Butwhen he wore his glares (& kept themon through the night) and

determinedly hopped on to the back ofa bike, one could make out that hewould complain the least. When Donspoke his one-liners, one could hear

DON-don-don-don in the background,in true Bollywood style


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LampPost Tall, lanky and Mr. Responsible.LampPost hailed from a Marwarifamily settled in Nepals plains formore than a 100 years. LampPost wasour banker, maintained the finances,served as squadron leader to the pack,

always lent a hand to help and ingeneral played a very stabilizinginfluence on all of us.

YoungDidi She didnt like being called Didialthough it seemed natural to the restof us! She fussed over us, made surewe ate well, laughed at everything wesaid you get the picture. Extremely

vivacious and outgoing, YD lifted ourspirits at every step

KingKong KK was YDs hubby. Short & explosive,KK was a true leader of men by thetime we were halfway through our trip,people referred to him as KK-ji. KKliked his comfort and single-handedlyraised the service levels of all therestaurants that we visited. KK wasalso a fearless biker and we found ittough to keep up when he really gotgoing on his mean machine!

YoungTurk YT rode a bike for the first time EVER,a couple of days before our trip began.A few days later, YT was heard sayingthe bike has become a part of menow! YT had trekked up and downUttaranchal, stayed 3 days on a raft

floating down the Ganga and lovedwater (that he cant swim is anothermatter). YT probably rope-climbeddown his bed every morning! Quick &resourceful, YT knew more aboutKashmir than the rest of us combined


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Sardar Sardar is my batchmate from collegeand the guy who had brought us alltogether. He was most unlike anySardar I had seen, and not justbecause he was fully bald! Sardar wasvery soft spoken, thoughtful and

immensely modest. You get what Imean. Sardar & YD were siblings. HM,CL, Don, LP and YT (collectivelyreferred to as the Baccha-party) hadfinished college a year or two backand joined the same company whereSardar had worked for 8 years.

HyperGirl My wife. She would have enoughopportunities during this trip to loseher cool driven by the bad roads till

Rohtang La, dangerous night drivingtill Keylong, personal safety issues onthe road to Jammu and many more.HyperGirl also made sure she gotenough anecdotes from the localLadakhi populace to fill her nextresearch report!

I Narrators advantage, no nickname! Ihad done several long distance bikerides, but never in the hills and wasriding an Enfield for only the secondtime. I didnt know a soul on this trip,except Sardar, when we started. So Istarted the trip with someapprehension and ended with theconviction that I could not have founda better group to ride with.


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Day 1 Royal Enfields derailed by a Royal Challenge Signboard

Sardar had directed me to Jeetendra Motors in Delhi, which was the source station for thebikes. A couple of guys had reached there and Sardar would arrive with the rest of the gangshortly.

Lugging rucksacks and attracting more than a fair share of curious stares, HyperGirl and Iarduously made our way through Hauz Khas and almost ditched our trip then and there afterover an hour of search that kept us moving in circles within a 200 metres radius of the shop. Iam penning this travelogue, which means we did find the shop.

HillMan, CheerLeader & YoungTurk had reached. We met and shook.

Jeetendra turned out to be a big, business-like Sikh who promptly began churning out papersfor me to sign. It appeared that not only was I signing blanket indemnities on a stamp paper,but the bike was being sold to me for the duration of the trip! I looked sideways at YoungTurkwho shrugged. YoungTurk was in charge of documentation.

This is your bike, said HillMan, after the signing ceremony was over. Its the best bike of

the lot a 2006 model. The rest are 2003 models. HillMan, I had noticed, spoke seldom andslowly. Maybe people from the hills conserved words to conserve oxygen.

Sardar had selected Thunderbirds as the gear & rear brakes are on the same side asconventional bikes, unlike other Bullets that have the reverse order. The last thing any of uswanted was to end up sliding down a slope, frantically pushing down on the right anddiscovering that we were changing gears instead! While I had done plenty of riding trips, Iwas riding a Thunderbird for only the second time. To no surprise, I needed HillMansassistance to start the bike the first time.

Sardar was getting delayed as he was facing some traffic on his way to the shop and thedelay was getting Jeetendra worked up. I tried polite conversation to calm him down andasked him about whether he organized trips as well. Seemed like I had massaged hisgrandiose ego.

Absolutely sir, he boomed. I organize trips to Ladakh, Kashmir Valley, Uttaranchal andRajasthan. Big groups require a lot of service. For example, I am going to loan a hundredbikes to a bunch of tourists from UK after you are back. They will require 3 jeeps just to carryspares, at least 5-6 mechanics, 3 doctors, reservation in hotels etc. Its a huge order.

But where would he manage to get a hundred bikes?

There are many of us sir. Whenever there are large contracts, we pool our bikes together.You think the bikes you are hiring are mine? he clarified.

Sardar soon came with Don and LampPost pulled up as well. LampPost was wearing glares,and with his natural good looks and tall frame appeared exactly like the stereotype pseude,flashy Delhiite. I inwardly groaned. Thankfully I would be proven completely wrong.

It appeared that we were taking 5 Thunderbirds and a CBZ. Since YoungDidi and KingKongwere joining us at Manali, one bike would be ridden by Jeetendra till Chandigarh, after whichViswakarma would take over till Manali. No wonder Jeetendra was getting worked up on ourgetting late. He would have to return from Chandigarh to Delhi in the middle of the night!


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But why a CBZ? I asked Sardar.

Yaar, YoungTurk doesnt have much experience in biking, so we wanted to give him alighter bike.

Actually, said CheerLeader, he has all of 3 hours of experience, when he test-drove

Sardars Pulsar from Gurgaon to Delhi two days back! And some more news for you, hedoesnt have a license either!

Delhi to Ladakh without a driving license! That will make a great book title! and we alllaughed and got ready to set off. It was 5:30PM, we were a couple of hours behind time.

------------------------------------

4 hours had passed and 2 of those had been spent in getting out of Delhi. As expected, itwas very hot till sunset, and sunset in these parts was only at 8PM. The hot summer windwas strong and I kept the helmets visor firmly down.

I was racing ahead, trying to make up for lost time. HillMan and YoungTurk were not far

behind. YoungTurk, for all his inexperience, appeared absolutely fearless. CheerLeader rodebehind YoungTurk to mitigate the license risk for CheerLeader had a license but wasntconfident enough to ride!

The bike felt wonderful, the sound was intoxicating and at 100 kmph, the engine chuggedcomfortably. I had to control myself to not speed faster. We stopped at a dhaba for someauthentic Punjabi fare, which was really delicious.

- Gleaming machines at the DhabaSardar mentioned that we werentactually going to Chandigarh, but toa small town on the outskirts wherehis aunt & uncle lived. His relativesapparently owned a mansion thatcould accommodate all of us for anight.

Now we all go ahead and soon wewill cross a Kingfisher signboard,said Jeetendra ponderously. Afterthat the road splits, and we shouldtake the road NOT going toChandigarh.

Unfortunately for Jeetendra

United Breweries had replaced the Kingfisher signboard by a Royal Challenge board. Not many had paid attention to his latter statement.

We left the dhaba after 10PM. Again, I was faster than the rest, and was soon wonderingwhere the Kingfisher signboard was. HyperGirl berated me for driving so fast that we missedthe sign altogether. We came to a fork one saying Chandigarh & the other Amritsar.

Stop stop stop, HyperGirl yelled over the engine and I moved the bike to a grassy plot in-between the fork and prepared to wave the others to stop as well. Needless to say it was


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pitch dark and I thought the bright shiny indicators of my Thunderbird would signal to ourgang that they should stop there. First day of biking, the nights chilled air and eyes ONLY fora Kingfisher board - all the other bikes just whizzed past us and took the road TOChandigarh. Jeetendra, coming in last, also whizzed past us, only that he took the road TOAmritsar. And here we were two helpless souls, waiting in the dark, our mission totally un-accomplished. Jeetendra however stopped a few yards ahead having noticed us, and turned

back to the fork.

Utter confusion followed. I revved up and started chasing the rest. It took me several minutesto catch up with Sardar and LampPost. Sardar was able to reach HillMans cellphone (one ofthe last times our cellphones would work).

HillMan tried stopping YoungTurk he flashed his lights, overtook Turk and tried to stop himthree times. But YoungTurks first time on a CBZ was way too intoxicating for him to noticesuch small distractions and he rode on and ignored the flashing lights ALL three times.

It appears that YoungTurk is so thrilled with his first biking experience that he is not going tostop till he reaches Chandigarh! said HillMan wryly as he joined us. Sardar was eventuallyable to get through CheerLeaders phone - Where are you guys? Weve just crossed a

Welcome to Chandigarh signboard!

We came back to the fork where Jeetendra joined us and debated on what was to be done.In the midst of the debate, I looked up and saw Don still wearing his glares at 11PM. Thatshow the nickname Don came to stick!

We had better move on, theyll make their way from Chandigarh, said Jeetendra finally, andwe left.

All the confusion ensured that we reached Sardars relatives place past midnight. They livedin a small town-in-the-making in a new colony with high walls and security. Understandablythe security guards were concerned as 6 bikers zoomed past right up to the house. As weparked, a guard ran up, looked at us and then bellowed Veerji (Sardars uncle), who arethese miscreants at this hour?While Sardars uncle did his bit in explaining that these worn-out bikers were unlikely tocause harm, the guard appeared to take only little comfort with this explanation, and turnedto go promising to himself that he would keep an eye on us. It didnt seem to deter him thathe was the size of Rajpal Yadav, while some of those amongst us could have equaledPuneet Issar!


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Day 2 Garmi and Chabeel

As we were leaving Sardars relatives place the next morning, his uncle recounted a storywhere he had traveled from Delhi to his home around 3 years ago, in winter and high fogconditions, where visibility was not more than a few feet.

At the end of it, it turned out that he had taken the same time as we had the previous night!

- As we leave..

On that encouraging reflection of ourriding abilities, we left their place andsoon were onward to Manali. We had290 kms to go today.The sun was searing down againtoday. However, we believed respitewas only 25 kms away, where thehills began.All of a sudden, we encounteredsome youths providing water to

thirsty motorists. I stopped, as did allof us, and took two glasses of whatturned out to be scented Lassi. Theyouths kept refilling their jugs from atent that seemed to have anunlimited supply. I looked

expectantly at LampPost to fulfill his responsibility of banker and pay the lassi-servers but hegulped his glass down and revved ahead.

Duh? I took out my wallet and asked a youth how much.No sir, no need, this is just like that, he said and went away to feed someone else.

Sardar came upto me and explained- tis a festival of Sikhs calledChabeel in this part today. On thisday, people make makeshift tentsalongside the road, keep water inice buckets and serve water / lassito all passing motorists. All free ofcost! Wow! I later read that Chabeelwas a grand langar, organized onthe hottest day of the year, inremembrance of the martyrdom ofGuru Arjan Dev.

We steadily chugged on and the hills began. It was soon apparent that the heat would grantno respite till evening. The sun beat down mercilessly. HillMans appetite for Chai was soon

- Chabeel


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evident and we were making several stops. We were getting really delayed and it didntseem that we could make it to Manali by sunset.

The scenery, however, was breathtaking. We were riding alongside the Sutlej and the roadwas excellent (little did we have an inkling of what lay ahead over the next few days).Occasionally, we would catch a view of towns in the valley. We passed close to the Bhakra

Nangal Dam Indias largest dam and got an excellent view of the gushing waters from adhaba on the way.

HillMan appeared to feel completely at home amongst the hills, for he soon overtook the restof us and happily wound his way along the hills taking steep turns with aplomb. YoungTurkwarned us to keep our jackets out as temperatures would fall rapidly after sunset. ThankGod! How many hours to sunset? was the universal response.

Bike trouble struck. HillMans bike had a brake failure while overtaking a truck on adescending road and he somehow managed to come to a halt. Viswakarma set to work. Welost another 30 minutes.

As the sun came down (around 8PM) and the shadows lengthened, the population became

sparser. The river was now on its own amongst high mountains rising and falling on bothsides. I had been to New Zealand a year-and-a-half back, but this scenery was even morebreathtaking.

- Dusk: on the way to ManaliAs predicted, the air became muchcooler. Turk and I had gotten aheadof the rest when HillMans bike brokedown. By 8.30PM, YoungTurk and Iwere close to Kullu, when YoungTurkgot a call from LampPost.Where have you guys reached? Weare 9 kms from Kullu.YoungTurk stopped his bike andlooked up to a milestone thatread 12 kms to Kullu. Turk was leftwondering that if these guys were 9kms from Kullu, where on earth washe? Kullu and Manali seemed to bemoving targets, getting farther awaythe closer we got.

YoungTurk was a little nervous now. The road to Manali from Kullu was pitch dark andwinding through hills. Civilization came up every 5 kms or so, but this was still Turks first rideon a hilly terrain. One would think he would ride slowly. Not Turk, he simply speeded up!

A little past 9PM YoungTurk and I entered Manali. At the entrance the local cops stopped us.Sir, you need to pay Rs 100/- environmental tax per bike, before entering Manali.

As sincere tax-paying citizens, we dismounted and decided to wait for the others. When thecop did not see us moving towards the payment counter, he came up and spoke to us in alow voice, Sir if you think Rs 100 is too high, please pay at-least Rs 75 per bike.


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HyperGirl almost squealed in disbelief, I didnt know taxes were negotiable!We finally paid Rs 50 per bike and moved on.

Our hotel was well located at the end of a wood and beside a stream that flowed like a mini-rapid. YoungDidi and KingKong had reached the hotel earlier during the day and werewaiting for us.

There remains a small tale to be said before we end the day. It turned out during dinner thatno one had any stock of liquor. So KingKong and I left to search out some. We reached aliquor shed close to the hotel, but the shed appeared to be closed.

Hey, no, the shutter is slightly open! said KK and ran to the shed. I squinted and itappeared that the shutter was open all of 6 inches from the bottom.KK bent and yelled, Hey Brother, can we get something?A disembodied voice replied, Closed.Hey well pay well, just give us half a bottle of whisky.

Tip: Never say die if the friendly neighbourhood liquor store appears closed!

And lo, an exchange happened under the door and we all managed to get a couple of pegsdown that night. Just like college days.


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Day 3 A Traffic Jam!.. and a Narrow Escape

Next morning, I received an SMS from a cousin that went: I am in office on a Mondaymorning and cant help think about the two of you amongst the beauty of the hills. I wish Ihad my leave sanctioned.

He would have felt better had he known that we were about to face a traffic jam!

We had reached Manali the previous night, after having created two records over the lasttwo days that we werent proud of. We must have taken the longest time ever from Delhi toChandigarh on the first day and Chandigarh to Manali on the second. Today we weredetermined to do a better job.

Sardar had pointed out that we should start early, to beat the tourist traffic towards Rohtang.Dutifully, no one woke up before 8.

- The stream next to our hotelIn the morning, Manali lookedbeautiful. Our hotel1 was right next

to a stream that appeared to havethe force of a Level 4 river-raftingexperience, with a green hill gentlyrising beyond and snow-cappedpeaks in the distance.

Turk had already been to themarket once (Turk always roseearly) and returned with theencouraging news that the traffic toRohtang was already a kilometerlong.

Viswakarma had been up for thelast 2 hours to check the bikes

thoroughly. Soon we all trooped out and met for breakfast.

KingKong Omlettes anyone? It appeared as though a no would surprise him. KingKongregularly wolfed down 3 eggs a day.

Already YoungDidi had shown her ability to care for her flock. She flitted from one to theother, making sure each was well fed. I was realizing that Sardars legendary reputation forhospitality was hereditary.

The cool weather, after two days of heat, lulled us into inactivity. We must have taken a lazy

hour to finish breakfast and a further hour-and-a-half to tie the bags to the bike with thebungee cords. A special note on KK and Didis rucksack it was twice the size of the largestrucksack that we had! Fixing it to the bike took a minimum of 3 bungee cords.

Tip: Bungee cords are most essential & very efficient in tying luggage to a bike.

1Hotel Dreamland, good location, large rooms and good service. Tariff: Rs [1500 ] ($ [30]) per room per

night


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We were on our way by 11:30. Or, to be precise, crawling on our way.

KingKong, who had been to Manali the previous year, informed us that traffic to Rohtangbegan as early as 5AM. A plethora of cars, trucks and buses moved slowly up the narrowroad to Rohtang. Chai-wallahs had adapted to the situation and offered tourists cups of teaon the way. The tourists were free to sip through the tea while their vehicle was moving and

leave the tea glasses on the roadside, wherever they finished drinking. The chai-wallahs hadtheir own network to collect empty glasses along the way. Most innovative!

Rohtang is around 52 kms from Manali. Luckily the initial traffic fell away and we racedahead for 15 kms or so. We stopped for a break at some dhabas located on the bank of astream. The water flowing down the stream was ice cold!

When we left the dhaba, traffic started in earnest. We used all city driving tactics to weave inbetween the traffic and move ahead. But we were nowhere in the clear as the road steadilyworsened. Soon, all semblances to a road completely fell away.

I think we must have all cursed under our helmets (and CheerLeader more vocally). Rohtanghad witnessed very high snowfall this year (later people told us that this was the highest

snowfall in the last 20 years). Snow was melting all around in the hot summer morning (yes,hot !). The road had completely cracked up.

After good roads all the way to Manali, we were traversing steep 40 degree inclines, hairpinbends, narrow mountain roads filled with potholes and boulders strewn, for the first time inthis trip. Trucks emitted black sooty smoke into our faces, SUVs splashed mud as theyovertook (of course these were easier to handle than large trucks trying to overtake an SUVon an incline, that you are already trying to overtake, and a mini-bus hurtling down the roadfrom the opposite side) and horns blared all around. At some stretches, the pathdisintegrated into huge rocks. My inexperience with the Enfield started to show as I tried toweave through the rocks. HyperGirls navigational efforts were of no avail. I wasfalling..falling..Crash!

When would this end? The loops went up and up. The snow alongside became thicker andthe chill started biting through my fingers. Soon I could hardly feel them as I continued towind up slush, paths filled with pebbles and huge puddles. Our shoes were soon soaked as Iineffectually tried to work my way around the water.

- Rohtang La

Then suddenly we were over the top.Welcome to Rohtang! said KingKong, whohad got there first.

I looked around the Rohtang La, the first ofmany passes we would encounter. In terms

of height, Rohtang La was a measly 3890meters, which would be our average heightfor the next several days. The hill on my leftwas perhaps a third covered with snow, butit was already far more snow than I had everseen. I could spot YoungTurk climbing up ahill. YoungTurk seemed like a youngerversion of me he wore only a shirt in the

cold with a couple of buttons open.


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What a road man! Is this how its going to be! exclaimed the others as they wound to astop next to us. I completely left off steering and let the wheel go wherever it wanted to go,said HillMan. I made a mental note of how to ride an Enfield on bad roads.

Tip:While riding a Thunderbird (or any Bullet) on bad roads, leave the steering free

and let the wheel go wherever it wants to go

Soon we had all clambered over the snow. The baccha-party was throwing snowballs ateach other and one landed SPLAT on my face. A first for me again. I retaliated with vigor.

There was a large tourist crowd on the pass. But this was the last time we would see acrowd for several days. We revved up and started moving, and after a turn were completelyenveloped in silence.

The route down from Rohtang was thankfully better than the way up. We had taken all of 4hrs to travel 52 kms to Rohtang, and it was 4PM by the time we left. Still, we had only 64kms to go to Keylong, no traffic ahead and four hours of daylight left. Should have beencomfortable, or so we thought.

- Fork: Kaza & LehAs we began the climb down fromRohtang, the complete lack of traffichit us. Soon, it was just themountains and us all around. Theoccasional truck would force us toflatten against the mountainside as itpassed and kicked dirt into our faces.The road showed no signs ofimprovement and neither did ourspeed. Suddenly, HillMan andYoungTurk pulled ahead when theyreached a fork it appeared to havedivined on them all by itself that oneroad led to Kaza and the other toLeh. I say divined since there was nosignboard at all. YoungTurk and

HillMan had done much googling and had even memorized when and where such forks lay.

10 kms ahead, at Khoksar, I was ahead. Local cops stopped us to register the vehicle. I wasoccupied with balancing the bike & putting it on its stand (quite a task for me!) and askedHyperGirl to do the needful.

As she walked into the cops office, the cop took one look at her and said, Why have you

come? HE should have come. It appeared that the cop was all set to take a bribe and didntwant to ask for one in front of a lady. Talk about twisted chivalry!

The others, who pulled in after we had left, had a more interesting experience. LampPostwent in to register. The cop said, Show me all your driving licenses.

LampPost saw YoungTurk pulling in behind him and quickly tried to divert the cops attention.Sir, ask me any details, I have all names, addresses, bike registration numbers etc.


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CheerLeader also came into the room. CheerLeaders networking abilities are legendary. Hestarted with a Sir, how do you spend winters in this place? Doesnt it snow?

Suddenly the cop put down his pen and stared at CheerLeader. Ive seen you somewhere.CheerLeader didnt bat an eyelid. Many people have told me that. Have you ever been to..and he mentioned the name of the village in Uttaranchal where he hailed from.

Cop: Havent I seen you smoking somewhere? Do you smoke?CheerLeader, flustered, Sir! I never smoke! LampPost tried very hard to control his laughter.

YoungTurk pulled ahead of the rest and soon caught up with me. Darkness had fallen. Theroad was getting more treacherous a narrow mud and gravel road along a mountainsidewith a steep drop to the river below. Visibility was very poor as the bikes headlamp was notstrong enough to capture the road ahead effectively.

Turk overtook me and stayed just ahead yet again, he was in a situation where he wasriding in the dark on the mountainside and he wanted to be sure that I could help if he hadtrouble. I had cut my speed down to 10kmph and HyperGirl was closely tracking the road aswell. Disaster almost struck twice as we almost rode off the cliff and just corrected course intime. Then Turk tried to ride around a large water puddle that covered the entire road and

fell!

Thankfully for Turk, the bike fell to his right, away from the precipice. Turk was left delicatelybalanced on a narrow base of mud, inches from the precipice. I turned around a corner andsaw him standing on the edge. It was, as Sardar later put it, an intense moment.We got the bike across the puddle and it took ten minutes of kicking to get the bike started.

I saw an army vehicle coming from up ahead and waved my hand to the driver Brother,does the road get any better from here?He replied in what was to prove to be the stock response of anyone in this part of the world.The road is ok sir. Its as good as the road that you have been coming on.

The night that had begun on a perilous note, had one silver lining. I spied a truck ahead andquickly overtook it. I decided to stay just ahead of the truck, so that its headlights would aidme. A thousand blessings to the nameless truck driver who didnt try to speed up andovertake me but dutifully stayed behind for 15 crucial kilometers. I managed to pick up somespeed and soon pulled into Tandi, the last petrol station before Leh, some 8 kms fromKeylong2.

The petrol station had closed (or what did we expect at 9PM?). We met some guys in a carthere who had been equally optimistic of getting petrol in the thick of the night in the middleof a mountain. Turk and I swore about the inevitability of having to cover this 8kms twice overthe next morning to fill petrol, when the guys in the car exclaimed Hey its not 8 kms toKeylong, just 7! I need show no further proof than that exclamation to drive home how badthose roads were!

We requested the guys in the car to stay right behind the bikes. Another 7 kms of weavingalong the mountainside, during which we had to cross a large flock of sheep what the devilwas the herder doing with his sheep at 9:30PM on the mountainside?! I was never happier tosee a building as I was on seeing the first buildings of Keylong. When we stopped near themarketplace, the relieved look on YoungTurks face spoke volumes as well. Twenty minuteslater, the others drew up.

2No more petrol till Leh, around 365 kms from Keylong


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The other 4 bikes had maintained a single file right from Khoksar, with KingKong leading theway. They had made good time on the way, no doubt due to KingKong setting the pace! AsYoungDidi mentioned later, she had to make KingKong slow down several times, causing KKto yell back once in frustration, How much slower can I go!

Dinner3

was spent recounting harrowing tales on the road and needling CheerLeader on hissmoking days before we crashed for the night.

3We stayed at Hotel Chandrabhaga a good stop for tourists. While pilfering of petrol cans was known in

these areas (due to scarcity), tourists told us the hotel was safe. Rooms were comfortable and tariff wasaround Rs 1200 ($ 25) per room per night


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Day 4 - Bara-Laccha Paratha

Imagine a superhighway at 5350 meters above sea-level. Snow on all sides, neatly shoveledto both sides of the road to allow vehicles to pass. Imagine a frozen lake, reflecting sky blue,surrounded by white mountains.

Baralacha La was the most incredible pass that we would ever see on this trip.

We all struggled to rise out of bed on Day 4. We had a short drive today, just 115 kms toSarchu, where we would put up at tents. All websites had advised that we would make the

journey in 5 hrs.

Given our excellent track record till date, we were sure that we would make it in not less than7 hrs. Sardar said we should leave at 7AM. Someone tentatively reminded us we were yet tofill petrol and the pump wouldnt open before 8AM. Relief on all faces, an extra hour of sleep.Then I suggested that only 3 of us needed to go to Tandi, carrying the petrol cans. Morerelief all around!

The next day, HillMan, YoungTurk and I left, a little after 7, back to Tandi. As I drove on the

terrain that had caused us so much pain the night before, I saw an ancient Bajaj Scooterstubbornly bouncing and making its way ahead.Someone was riding a Bajaj Scooter on these roads and I was complaining?After that I didnt crib, even to myself.

The petrol pump owner was, well, out to make money the pump apparently filled 3.5L ofpetrol in a 3L can! I kept quiet.. after all he was really doing us a favor by maintaining a petrolpump at these heights.

- As we leave KeylongThe rest of the gang was wellshowered and dressed for the day,when during breakfast HyperGirlswore that she had never seendrivers as bad as those drivingSUVs on the road to Rohtang, whenLampPost stated that those wereamongst the better drivers he hadcome across. In Nepal, as hedescribed, slowing down nearhairpin bends was consideredalmost sacrilegious and drivers inthose Himalayan ranges had everyturn and twist memorized in theirminds, so that they could blindly

overtake even trucks that occupiedalmost the entire road.

We returned, the bags were tied and we were ready to leave by 9AM.

The road out of Keylong was as bad as the road incoming had been and, except for HillMan,Turk and me, all the others were getting a first sight of the road that they had survived theprevious night. I almost saw a cloud of collective thanks rise towards the Heavens,interspersed by a promise of a visit to Vaishnodevi or Tirupati!


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- Tough roads as we leave Keylong

Snow had melted all over the hillsideand there were several mini-waterfalls with the water gushingover the road. On 2-3 occasions

HyperGirl had to get off the bike so Icould safely get it across.

KingKong was unfazed bywaterfall-infected roads. Hesimply ignored them and rodeacross

HillMan was too excited by thesight of such roads to listen toCheerLeader pleading behind tolet him get off the bike.

- Turk playing rescuer

YoungTurk played rescuer (thiswas a role he was to play severaltimes during the trip). He wouldtry to roar across, get his shoessoaked, and then get themfurther soggy to help HyperGirlcross the water, as well ashelping others bikes to getacross

We came across a gora who hadcrossed the water coming in theopposite direction and was soakingthe sun. His companion was walkingup the waterfall on the mountain.Hi there. Are you guys going toLeh?Yes we are, the rest of our group is coming up. So you seem to be enjoying the sun.Not really. Whenever we come to a waterfall crossing the road, my wife doesnt want to gether shoes wet. So shell climb up the waterfall, find a narrow spot, jump across and climb allthe way down!

And you guys are going to find a worse situation after Jispa. In that waterfall my wife had towalk three-fourth of a km to meet me! I was like waiting for half an hour!

So we negotiated and slid and cursed our way down the hills till the roads started getting alittle better and we reached Jispa.


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Jispa is a small town, around 25 kms from Keylong and an alternative stop to peopletravelling to Leh. We had decided against staying at Jispa as the single hotel, Ibex, chargedexorbitant rates4.

There is nothing much in Jispa. One hotel, another HP Tourism lodge, a few houses and abeautiful river. Jispa is located in a valley, with a few small farms on the side of the road.

One got off the road, walked across a small farm to reach the river. The river wound its waythrough the valley and into the mountains ahead. Very beautiful and exactly like our mentalpicture of Kashmir had been (though we were still in Himachal Pradesh).

Within a minute of reaching, HillMan had reached the river, stripped to his underpants andjumped into the water! Just as quickly he shot up and ran out, and stood shivering .

Soon we left and the rise to Baralacha La began.

Baralacha La. Of all the Las that we were expected to encounter Rohtang, Baralacha,Nakeel, Lachlang, Tanglang, Khardung, Zoji Baralacha sounded like the bleakest of themall. You (or rather I) could close my eyes and imagine snowswept inhospitable mountainswith an Arctic wind blowing across (right out of a scene from Where Eagles Dare) and 11

riders struggling to navigate through snow and ice, with frostbite setting in.

My imagination going into overdrive. We had decided to stop once at the entrance to thePass.

HillMan never left an opportunity to get his snap taken and soon CheerLeader was clickingaway. The ongoing joke was that he was getting an album in place to send to prospectivebrides or upload on www.BharatMatrimony.com.

You know what this guy makes me do? When we reached a huge puddle in the middle ofthe road. I yelled at him to stop and let me cross on foot but he simply rode across the waterand soaked my shoes completely. Then he tells me to get off and take a picture of himcrossing the puddle again! This guy is crazy!

But clearly, CheerLeader & HillMan were made for each other, as I saw CheerLeader strike adangerous pose on a rock for HillMan to click, with an arm and a leg stretched over theedge over the chasm.

- The road to Baralacha La

We got going, with around adozen kms to go before the top. Iwas well ahead of the rest as westarted doing the loops. Themountains were breathtaking.Snow covered every inch of theirsurface. An impossibly unmarred

road stretched ahead and the onlysound we could hear was thesteady chugging of the bike. Islowed down, trying to look inevery direction at once to see

4Over Rs 2500 ($ 50) per night. Keylong

was 50% cheaper


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what neither of us had ever seen before.

We turned a corner and our collective breath caught in our throats. A lake stretched justbelow on the right. The water had completely frozen and the ice reflected the blue of theclear sky. Wow! We had to stop and really internalize the moment (blame MBA jargon!!). Icouldnt take my eyes off the lake but we finally had to move on, reluctantly.

- The frozen lakeThe mountains seemed untamed.The snow was dense.. I recalled thehotelier in Keylong telling us that thearea had witnessed the highestsnowfall in the last 15-20 years.Incredibly, the snow was clearedneatly on both sides of the road. Thesnow seemed so well behaved!..was the only term that came to mind.I recalled books I had read aboutavalanches and mentally told myself

I was lucky to see this beauty andsurvive. You could almost seeancient civilization amongst thesemountains and frankly, I wouldnthave been surprised if we turned a

corner and came upon an igloo. Then my eyes would fall on the tarred road in front of meand the feel of civilization returned.

Too soon for my liking, we reached Baralacha La. We knew we had reached from a brokensignboard.

We stopped for a breather and silently stared all around. HillMan rode up and moved ahead..clearly he wanted his private spot to inhale as well. We left soon after, as HyperGirl felt itwould be safest to get off the peak quickly, before we were hit by altitude sickness. As we left,we crossed HillMan, who had already climbed a small mound and was posing with his handsspread out for the pre-marriage album! They waved us ahead.

Driving down the mountain, we suddenly came across another large slush caused by meltingsnow. I tried riding across, the wheel twisted and I fell.

I rose, painfully I had hit my knee somewhere and tried to raise the bike. No luck.HyperGirl lent a hand and we heaved the 150kgs deadweight in front of us, up. Then we triedto push it out of the muck. No luck.

There were 3 trucks that had queued up behind us. The driver of the first took a long look at

us, drove by and vanished around a corner. The driver of the second didnt bother lookingand kept going. Thankfully the third guy was more humane and sent his assistant to helpmove the bike.

We shoved. We shoved again. The bike didnt move. Brother, the trucker asked, Whichgear is the bike in?For a minute I refused to believe that I had made a mistake like that. But I had! I moved thegear to Neutral and the bike moved easily out of the slush.


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Soon after, we reached a village called Bharatpur. Bharatpur was cold and very windy thewindchill factor made it seem far colder than Baralacha La had been. Soon we wereshivering uncontrollably. Thankfully, the dhabas in Bharatpur were large airtight tents withbeds within kept along three sides. The tents served as a rest area for travelers, as well as asleeping point for truck drivers.

We went inside the tent welcoming the warmth and collapsed on the bed. Within ten minutesthe others had arrived.

Do you know what these jokerswere doing? said YoungDidipointing at HillMan andCheerLeader. They had slept off atBaralacha La!

What??!!

Well we were waiting for the rest to

catch up, said HillMan in his slowspeech, a tad sheepishly. Thatsafter his photo session was over!CheerLeader interrupted. Haan sowe were lying with our backs to amound waiting and we must havedozed off, finished HillMan.

You guys were sleeping holding each other! retorted YoungDidi. Well it was cold, saidCheerLeader defensively.

We have discovered a new dish, said Sardar. Its called the Bara-Laccha paratha.Laughter all around. Hey, bring a Bara-Laccha paratha, chimed CheerLeader to the dhabaowner, who looked bemused.

The tent was so warm that we took an hour to get out. Surprisingly, the dhaba served roti,dal and sabji all websites had told us that we would get only Maggi on the way. YoungTurkhad no time for the niceties of the tent however, and went out to walk up a snowy hill nearby.The rest of us, tired after the bumpy ride from Keylong, semi-dozed till it was time to go.

All except YoungDidi of course, who kept a hawk-like eye till each of us had eaten his fill.Don! You arent eatingDon always considers his food very deeply before he eats, observed KingKong. And it wastrue.. Don ate little and always seemed to think before he popped in a mouthful.

- HM and CL: sleeping at Baralacha La !!


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We left at 4PM. The road waseasy now. We stopped at a lakeon the way Turk had seen thelake first, stopped his bike andliterally leapt down the hillside toreach the lake! This was probably

one tempting waterbody in our tripthat HillMan did not take a dip inbut this was only due to oureagerness to take Sarchu while itwas still daylight.

We reached the tents of Sarchu by 6PM.

- Serene lake on the way


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Night 4 Night Without End

All the websites had advised

You WILL experience Acute Mountain Sickness at Sarchu AMS is dehydrating. Dont drink alcohol

Oxygen is scarce. Dont exert or the AMS will get worse

Within minutes of reaching Sarchu5, KingKong and LampPost had left to obtain alcohol. Therest of us were busy kicking around a deflated football.

The tents that we had booked were actually located around 6km before Sarchu. Immediatereaction Well have to travel 6 kms more tomorrow!Understandable, because we were required to travel over 250 kms the next day. After 2 daysof struggle to travel 115 kms each day, our concern was real.

HyperGirl and YoungDidi hit the restrooms almost before we parked the bikes. They returnedwith a bemused and relieved look on their faces.

What happened? asked Sardar. All well? Loos are clean?YoungDidi, The loos are really good actually.Oh so you expected a hole in the ground and a mug of water? said Sardar wryly. Nowonder you look relieved!

I had moved towards my tent. I wanted nothing more than to raise my feet off the ground andrest a little. The cold was biting. Sarchu was located in a valley with mountains rising on bothsides. The long road in the midst of mountains was very picturesque. But the mountainswere a little distance away on both sides and the wind could pick up speed. Temperatureswere in the single digits.

The tent was actually a large cube, with room for 3 to sleep. 2 rugs and a blanket had beenprovided for each inhabitant. At the rear, a flap separated the washing area where a Westerntoilet had been erected with a bucket of water. Quite hygienic and comfortable under thecircumstances.

CheerLeader wanted a party that night. I.e. alcohol. Never say die KingKong and LampPosthad approached the manager.Where do we find some alcohol?You can go to the police station, 6 kms down the road.What? Heeeeyy do you want to get us arrested or what?Oh no sir, what I meant was that alcohol is sold just next to the police station.

Dubiously, KK and LampPost left to try their luck. YoungTurk joined them he couldnt staystill and HAD to explore the area.

CheerLeader had gotten hold of a deflated football. Soon we were standing in a circle kickingthe ball across. Each time I ran behind the ball, I told myself that I was going to repent. Eachtime, the ball was too enticing.

Turk, LampPost and KK soon returned. Success! a bottle of whisky!

5We stayed at Golddrop, one of the many organizations offering tented accommodation at Sarchu. Charges:

Rs 1300 ($ 26) per tent per night. As it turned out, the tents were comfortable but not very airtight


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Dinner was served at 8PM. Whisky was poured into glasses. A glass was placed beforeCheerLeader, but he declined?What? You were the one who wanted a party. You wont drink? I said incredulouslyNo I dont drink actually, said CL.He is only a cheerleader! exclaimed Sardar.

Sardar wasnt feeling too good and had only half a glass. KK and I downed 2 pegs each.True to the websites, the alcohol was quick to take effect.

Guys, tomorrow we have to leave by 6AM, said Sardar, who always planned ahead.Ok. Were anyway crashing at 9:30. No one needs to have a bath tomorrow, saidLampPost.What about bodily functions? I hope we get warm water. KKGuys, I joked, save time and complete the bodily functions tonight so that we can leavetomorrow early. :-)Oho!!!! Dont say such things while we are eating!

We hit the sack at around 9:30PM. HG and I had exhausted the drinking water in our tent, so

we asked KK and YD for some water and they gave us a bottle.

It was to be a long night for everyone. The tents were not airtight. Wind crept in and played draughts around our feet. I dont believe I slept more than 2-3 hours. I couldnt breathe easily and had to breathe

through my mouth like a fish. Soon a gentle headache settled around my temple HG couldnt sleep well either. She had trouble breathing and had to sit up several times KK and Didi had actually, unknown to us, given us their only bottle of water, in the

thought that they would crash and not wake up till the wee hours of the morning. It turnedout that they managed not a wink of sleep and YD ended up counting the number oftrucks and bikes passing by to entertain herself. Needless to say they had parchedthroats with no water.

HG and I were so terrified of the thought of leaving the blankets and going to the loo thatwe didnt touch the water that we had borrowed!

Turk developed a fever overnight LampPost and Don puked their dinner out the next morning

- Thats me in the center!The next morning, a sorry lot of people peeked out oftheir tents at 5:30AM, completely covered from head totoe and only their nose showing. We found out thattemperatures had dipped to 70 in the night. Water in anearby drain had frozen overnight. We clicked picturesof the frozen drain for posterity.

Viswakarma had been up since 5AM to get the bikes inshape. He had done a lot of work the previous eveningas well. Today morning, even he looked under theweather. He complained that wind entered his tent allnight, and made it too cold to sleep. Viswakarma hadbeen on this route with Jeetendra several times, so hedid not have any acclimatization problem. But the coldhad been too much to bear.


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On the way back, well do Leh to Manali in 10.5 hours like Jeetendra did in a jeep, saidHillMan, as we were tying the bags to the bikes.

How could Jeetendra have done that. It is simply impossible! Even in a Jeep! said Sardar.I was with Jeetendra when he did that! said Viswakarma in a deep voice. For anunrelenting 10.5 hours, I gripped my seat, eyes closed and prayed hard! Jeetendra has

amazing control he just flings the vehicle across a curve and maintains tight control!

Wow. 10.5 hours from Leh to Manali? We had reached Sarchu in 20 hours, had a full dayahead and no idea whether we could manage to reach Leh by the end of the day asscheduled.


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Day 5 The Bikers have Landed!

We managed to leave the campsite by 7:30AM. The road heading out of the campsite, intoSarchu and beyond was good and I was racing ahead.

Today we had to travel 260 kms and cross 3 passes. One of them, Tanglang La, at 5359

meters was the second highest pass that we would encounter (the highest being beyondLeh). Literally a tall order!

If you hadnt noticed, our riding discipline as a team was improving. We had stopped almostevery 30-45 mins on the way to Manali ostensibly because HillMan couldnt stay away fromtea! We had started late from Manali and paid for it by the night-driving experience toKeylong. We had managed to leave Keylong in time, delayed only by the necessity of gettingpetrol at Tandi. We had left Sarchu by 7:30AM.

However it was a very ill lot that was leaving from Sarchu. LampPost, HillMan andYoungTurk did not look good. Viswakarma was dozing off behind Sardar. Even CheerLeaderdidnt look his normal ebullient self.

- Strange mountainsSarchu is the crossing point fromHimachal Pradesh into J&K. Theroad out of Sarchu was good. Thevalley extended for around 20 kms.The mountains were bare ofvegetation and it was amazing howdifferent a hill was from another.Erosion had shaped each hill verydifferently. Great structures of whatseemed like packed sand jutted outfrom the side of each hill it wasnothing like we had ever seen before.Snowcapped mountains rose beyondthe barren hills.

Soon, the Gata loops - 21 Loops inthe hills that would increase ouraltitude by 1.5 kms in the space of adistance of 21 kms - began.Winding roads rising higher andhigher are every riders delight andthe roads were good as well. We

crossed the occasional truck passedby, invariably carrying fuel andpainfully groaning its way up theroad. I often wondered how thetruck drivers had the patience to dothis time and again, and that too atthis speed!

- The Gata Loops


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Atop the Gata loops is the Nakee La and had entertainment of a different kind to offer us. Afew dozen Army vehicles and trucks were parked alongside the road and over a score Armysoldiers stood in a line on the side of the road taking a leak. Some discipline . I think theywerent too pleased to see a woman pass at that very moment .

The rest of the ride was a breeze and within 3 hours of leaving Sarchu, we had crossed

Lachlang La.

I think after Baralacha La, all of us had a sense of anticlimax at Nakee La and Lachlang La all of which were at roughly the same height (Nakee La was just a thousand ft lower) but hadfar less snow. Lachlang La was still a great sight and we didnt hesitate in clicking pictures.

But all of us were eager for the More Plains ahead. More Plains was a stretch of around 40kms of plains at a height of 4250 meters. Every website had sung praises of the drivethrough the Plains.

The descent from Lachlang La was tough, but not nearly as tough as the roads we hadencountered till date and we were hardened veterans now. We were now encounteringother biking groups mostly foreigners who were riding singly with a guide in front and a

jeep at the back carrying essential equipment. Despite each of us having pillion riders andour luggage loaded onto the bikes, we were able to overtake these bikers!

- Looking for Turks keys

YoungTurk was well ahead of thephoto clicking crowd. YoungTurk,despite his ill health, retained his zestfor speeding. However, it was to bethe day of ill omen for the CBZ. Itstarted with a truck coming up theslope and Turk had very little spaceto maneuver his bike on the very

narrow road. Forcing himself to stayclose to the wall of snow, Turkskidded on the wet ground, andluckily fell on the wall of snow. As wereached his bike, we saw himpeering into the snow.

It appeared that we had had anunusual problem at hand - while Turk was unhurt, the bikes key ejected itself from theignition and had likely fallen into the snow

Soon there were 11 of us crawling on hands and feet peering all over the hillside and theroad looking for the key. After several minutes, our hands were frozen stiff.

Then a voice of common sense spoke. Could the key have fallen on some part of the bikeitself? said YoungDidi.Lo and behold, it was!

At this point, CheerLeader decided it was time to put his driving license to some use andasked YoungTurk to ride pillion with HillMan while he drove the CBZ. Since it wasCheerLeaders first driving experience on a mountain, most of us gingerly stayed closebehind. Our concern turned out to be justified.


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Within about 10 mins of driving, CheerLeader was zooming down the hill on the descent,when just ahead of another big waterfall, he braked too hard and headed right towards asandy patch, skidded in the sand and fell with a thud. Luckily he wasnt hurt except for a fewscratches. But the CBZ had taken a hit. The entire headlight assembly had broken.

Viswakarma turned out to be not only our mechanic, but our resident doctor as well and

tended to the scratches that CheerLeader had taken. But there was nothing much he coulddo to the CBZ except tie the headlight assembly to the bike and hope it didnt fall off till wereached Leh. YoungTurk was back on his mean machine.

I was ahead of the others when we hit More Plains. At first sight, the plains seemed similar tothe area around Sarchu mountains on both sides and road winding ahead. However, thePlains would have more surprises to show.

Roads in this part of the world were managed by the Border Road Organization (BRO).However, some of these roads were still designated National Highways. KingKong wasntquite sure how BRO dovetailed with NHAI. His father had once worked with NHAI and hebelieved that NHAI maintained tight control of National Highways.

But not the ones near the border, I had argued once. BRO will be the sole authority ofroads near the border, chimed in Turk, whose dad was in the Indian Army.

That seemed to be the case for most of our journey. BRO had conceptualized a project Project Himank which was to improve the roads from Manali to Leh. Project Himankengineers had also installed humorous signboards along the road.

Be Slow Around my Curves.With Whisky, Driving is RiskyDont Gossip. Let him drive.

When I noticed the latter sign for the first time, I mentioned it to HyperGirl and YoungDidi.Yes I noticed! I have no time to gossip at all, only time to warn KK of the next pothole!chimed Didi, who appeared to take the matter seriously.HillMan looked at CheerLeader. See what the signboard says! Dont talk so much!

We dissolved in laughter. CheerLeader retorted, You know how this fellow drives? Suddenlyhe spots a shortcut across a hill. He leaves the road and takes the kachcha raasta. I will beleft screaming behind him to stop.. but he does just as he pleases! HillMan was grinning.These guys were truly made for each other.

I had noticed on bad roads that whenever a Himank apology signboard arrived, the roadwould soon improve. BRO appeared to be doing a lot of work on the road at More Plains. Wecame upon a sign that signaled a diversion. The diversion led off the road into nowhere!

We drove off the road and seemed to be going on and on and on without ever reaching theroad. An army truck ahead drove straight on the plain. Soon we figured that we didnt havethe foggiest idea of where the road was, and decided to turn back. On the way back, wemanaged to spy the road and joined it, but this incident was to repeat itself. Frequently, aHimank signboard would announce a diversion, workers would wave us off the road and wewould drive on the plains and try to work our way back to the road again.


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- More Plains at 4500 meters

This went on and on and on and soon the magic of the More Plains seemed to be wearingoff. At one point, we faced a sandstorm and HyperGirl and I had to stop and lie low with ourfaces covered till the storm passes.

I finally stopped the bike and decided to wait. Where the hell where the others? It was 3PM.

YoungTurk and KingKong soon caught up but there was no sign of the others. Not findinganyone, the enterprising Turk left the road and climbed a nearby mountain to try and locatethe rest!

We soon stopped a truck, which informed us that our friends had been stopped by anotherbiking group which had a tyre puncture and needed the expertise of Viswakarma. It was agood hour and a half later that the others pulled up. No one was in a mood to talk. TanglangLa was ahead and everyone on the road, including a biker passing by a few minutes ago,had warned us that the road was terrible till well after Tanglang La.

------------An hour later, I think we all had the same thought in mind. Those who thought Tanglang Lawas tough, needed to do the road to Keylong and cross Rohtang La!It seemed that we had been there and done that. While the road to Tanglang La was tough, itwas manageable, after what we had gone through. Again water flowed all over the road butseasoned bikers that we were, we rode across the water with aplomb. Tanglang La was

higher than any pass we had crossed so far and colder. I was regretting having not boughtbiking gloves.

Good biking gloves are a great investment, KingKong told me later. A pair costs Rs 750/-.The gloves will have ridges for you to be able to grip the handle well, as well as a wolleninterior to keep you warm. I saw the price and did not buy. Big mistake. The leather gloveswe have now (which we had bought in Manali) do not allow us to grip the bikes handleswell.Which was true. I could not grip the accelerator properly and had taken my right glove off.


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- The road down from Tanglang La

The road down from Tanglang Lawas deceptively good for the first 10kms. Then it deteriorated rapidly.Water from melted snow flowed over

the road at regular intervals. Theroad had disintegrated into potholesand mud and the bike skiddedalarmingly at regular intervals. Mybrakes were beginning to give metrouble on the descent. However,this was daylight riding. The roadwas non-existent, we took time, butmade it down the mountains by 6PM.We reached Rumtse, a village 80kms from Leh.

Overheard from KingKong, after we had crossed Tanglang La: Yaar the bike wobbles once Icross 60 kmph !!!!!----------------------

Brother how is the road to Leh from here?The road is ok sir, as it has been.Would we never get better answers?

We left Rumtse at 6:45. Websites had advised that the last stretch to Leh would be prettystraightforward. For once, the websites had underestimated the road. The road wasamazing! KingKong zoomed ahead, YoungTurk overtook me and soon HillMan moved aheadas well. The road and the scenery was so beautiful that I was unwilling to move faster..despite the need to cover most of the 80kms before 8PM.

What an incredible road! Without a blemish, it curved and wound its way amongst the hillsand the landscape of Ladakh. The raw beauty of Ladakh hit us - the riverbed of the Indusbelow us and great mountains rising on both sides. The valley was definitely far more fertilethan the hills and signs of greenery in the valley contrasted sharply with the barren hills,where not a blade of grass grew. Truly a cold desert.

The road was now interspersed with Army camps. Army houses had barbed wire fences withsandbags on the sides. Leh was still 250 kms from Kargil and the Line of Control Imarveled at the discipline of the soldiers at such a distance from the LoC. Always in a stateof preparedness, always ready for battle.

On the way we crossed several villages. In each, children would run out on the road and holdout their palms to the bikers to do a high five! At first, none of us understood what the kidswere trying to do and just waved. Later I hit every outstretched palm, and there were several.

Except for 3 bikes running out of petrol on the way, the ride was uneventful and we reachedthe hotel by 9:30. Finally, we had reached Leh !!


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Day 6 The Closest We Got to Self-Actualization

When would you want breakfast? the hotelier6 had asked the previous night. Whenever wewake up! was the unanimous response.

What a pleasure it was to wake up late, without the thought that a day of riding was ahead!

HyperGirl, however, still appeared to have breathing troubles at this altitude and could sleeponly by 5AM or so. She was still sleeping as I washed up and headed for breakfast.

I could hardly recognize the group that had assembled for breakfast. All,- in clean t shirts and without 3 layers of clothing- clean-shaven- clean!

- A clean bunchWow you really look damaged,said someone to me. It was true Ihad neglected to cover my face andpalms or apply any sunscreen on

the way. The skin on my nose andupper side of both palms waspeeling off entirely.

A long leisurely breakfast later, thehotelier took our names andaddresses and went off to make thevarious inner-line permits that wewould need to obtain to roamaround in these parts. But, like mostthings in the country, this was aform filling exercise and a farce.While the Army was supposed to

scrutinize every person who crossed certain routes in Ladakh, no one really checked.Getting permits didnt even require a proof of ID or address.

Then someone asked, Are we really going to get back to Manali in 2 days?

The return plan originally was as follows: we would leave Leh in 3 days from now (Day 9)and make it to Keylong in one day. The next day we were supposed to reach Manali whereHG and I would catch a bus to Chandigarh and catch a flight back to Mumbai the followingday.

None of us had any hope of being able to make it to Keylong in one day from Leh.

KingKong looked at HyperGirl and me. Guys, if you could take one additional day off, wecan return via Kargil and Srinagar. The seed was born!

6We stayed at the Siala Guest House. Cheap (Rs 700 ($ 14) per room per night), excellent service and

highly recommended. Hotels in Leh charge predetermined rates that are determined based on the class ofhotel. In Leh, hotel rates for each class are mentioned on large boards placed on the main roads


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The discussion would go on over the next 3 days. It went like this:

- If we wanted to return via Manali, we could go to Pangong Lake on Day 8. Rumtsefell on the way, we would return to Rumtse and not to Leh and leave from there backto Keylong. This would save us 80 kms on Day 9

o Rumtse had no accommodation. Plan unviable

- Leh to Srinagar was 434 kms. Normally people did this in 2 days with a stopover atKargil, which fell midway. If so, could HG and I catch a bus from Srinagar toChandigarh and make our flight?

o No dice. No buses from Srinagar to Chandigarh. Buses went via Jammu andit would take too long

- Could we do Srinagar in one day and reach Jammu the next?o Turk, who knew these parts, said that the routes could be closed for hours to

allow Army convoy movements. Didnt seem possible- Well just try to reach Keylong in a day

o Collective groan!I think all of us were too enamored with the thought of returning via Kargil. Finally, sometimethe next evening, we would take a decision to return via Srinagar and try and make it toJammu in two days.

Anyway, today we wanted to take it easy. All we planned to do was to visit a Buddhistmonastery Likir - that was located 40 kms away on the Kargil road. We left after a leisurelylunch, around 3PM. The CBZ required some surgery for the headlight assembly andViswakarma had stayed back. YoungTurk was riding behind HillMan today. The road wassupposed to be good and we expected to reach in an hour.

- Ladakh landscapesFond hopes. The road went on andon. We were soon close tocompleting 50 kms and there wasno sign of the monastery! The roadwent along the Indus river and thescenery alternated between drymountains and the river valley.

Everyone we asked for directionssaid, right ahead. After some time,we discovered a road going off thehighway into the hills that had asignboard reading Eco Palace.Apparently, visitors to these partswere to solve cryptic codes such aseco-palace decoding to becomeLikir monastery crossword geeks,

try your luck (we, as ordinary mortals, asked a passerby vehicle for directions)

Soon we had left the highway well behind and were rising higher and higher.

KingKong tried to do a HillMan and took the bike off the road to try a shortcut. The bikestalled and Didi had to get off and push. KK made it up the shortcut on his own and Didi hadto puff all the way up. KK must have received an earful that night!


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Suddenly the road turned a corner and there were great arches across the road withsomething written in Ladakhi, the local language. Wonder whether it said welcome or keepaway! We spied the monastery and collectively drew our breaths.

For it was an amazing sight. The monastery appeared like a fort, a lonely and austereoutpost of humanity set amongst the mountains. A wall surrounded the monastery, which

rose within. The valley below was a rich green with tall trees thickly strewn and meadows ofgrass. On the mountains immediately adjoining the monastery, there were stone houses thatseemed to be growing out of the rock!

- First sight of the monasteryWhat do people do in such a Godforsaken place? I wondered. Then Icorrected myself. Where else couldsomeone hope to find God, if nothere?

We parked outside the wall andwalked inside. A tall prayer wheel

greeted us, after which we walkedup the path and climbed the stonesteps to the entrance. Themonastery was like a self-containedfort. It contained a school inside,people lived either in the monasteryor in the stone houses beyond, foodwas grown in the valley and wholefamilies lived here. The monks,

dressed in brown and saffron flowing robes, taught the children and did their prayers. Theprayer rooms and the shrines had closed for the day we had reached after 6PM but wecame across a monk who explained how things worked here.

Did he stay here for all 12 months?No it was not possible. While some people remained, most left for the nearby towns in winterwhere it was less cold. Here, snow would cover every inch of the land. Growing any foodwas impossible and getting supplies to the monastery was difficult.

Truly a difficult existence.

As we were mounting our bikes,YoungTurk asked CheerLeader toexchange places with him. Man,how do you ride with HillMan! At hiswhim he simply leaves the road and

rides up a hill! Arre, I am used tohim now! Why dont you ride withSardar. We left by 7PM and ournext stop was at the confluence ofthe Indus with the Zanskar river.

Disaster struck. The drive chain ofSardars bike unraveled and fell off.

- The confluence of Indus with Zanskar


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True to Murphys law this was the first time this trip that we had left Viswakarma behindand this had to happen. LampPost tried for a while to get the chain on the teeth again, but tono avail. The fixing pin had broken.

Guys, said KingKong (man of action!), lets try this. One of you sits on the bike to balance itand I will ride behind and use my foot to push the bike.

Hey, cmon, thats not possible on this kind of a road, LampPost protested.Ive done it plenty of times. LampPost, you leave right now with Don and get Viswakarma. Inthe meantime, we will try to move ahead and save time.

HyperGirl, in the meanwhile, tried reaching the hotel over phone (cell phones work near Leh)and was to discover that day how dealing with people with IQ lower than 10 felt like.

HG: Hi, is this Siala guest house?Receptionist: ahhhhh madaaaam, this is yyy speakingHG: Hi yyy, need a favor. We have a problem. One of our bikes has had a breakdown and Ineed to reach Viswakarma. Wld you know if he is in his room?Receptionist: Yesss madam, let me see. (pause) I cannot find him in his roomHG: Do you know where the bikes were parked last night? He might be there repairing one

of our bikes that we had left behindReceptionist: Yes madam, let me look for him (pause) ohh madam, if the bikes are withyou, how will I identify where you parked them last night?

Aaaarrgghhh!!

In the meanwhile, HillMan mounted the damaged bike and KingKing started to push. Within aminute, it was evident that this wasnt working.

KK exclaimed in defeat, The sheer weight of this bike! Its much easier with 100ccYamahas!Ok lets try something else. This was the ever-enterprising YoungTurk. We have two ropes,well tie the damaged bike with another one and tow it!Good idea! I can tow and HillMan can drive the damaged bikes! Can you carry bothHyperGirl and YoungDidi?, he asked me. Sure I could.

- The towing adventure starts!YoungTurk was to sit behind KK(turned around) and hold the ropesso that both were evenly slackenedor tightened. KK kicked his bike on.

Push push! and the rest of uspushed HillMans bike till the two ofthem got moving. Right ahead was

a steep U Turn and they negotiatedit successfully.

DON-don-don-don, This is morethan an adventure. He would notsee most of it, but his words werealmost prophetic.

Ive spoken to Viswakarma and he


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is waiting, said HyperGirl in an exasperated tone (how she got the receptionist to find him isanother story), and LampPost left with Don. The rest of us moved slowly behind KK andHillMan.

Slowly and steadily, KingKong moved around the curves. He seemed to be doing well andHillMan was slowly getting the hang of how to time his brakes with KingKong so as not to

stretch the ropes. Turk was trying to guide him and balance the ropes.

Then as KingKong negotiated a curve, Turk screamed, Stop! One of the ropes hadsnapped.

One rope left. It was past 7:30 and the sky was rapidly darkening (If you hadnt noticed wewere never to break our record of reaching our final destination on any day before dark Sarchu had been the only exception so far). We looped the remaining rope twice and startedoff again. I moved ahead of KingKong to try and help him anticipate the turns ahead. Thecurves stopped and we were in a valley and on a straight road. I could calculate the distancebetween KK and me by the length of the shadow. As we moved through the valley, I noticedto my amusement that KK had picked up speed again. The guy was riding at 40kmph!

Now what? KK was blinking his lights at me. I slowed down. We heard three voices yelling atus in unison as they passed Sardar is no longer behind us, he has stopped!. Not anotherbreakdown. I wheeled the bike around and zoomed back the way I had come. Ten kms laterI spied Sardars bike beside a Gurudwara on the way.Had Sardar suddenly turned religious and gone in to pray that we would all reach in onepiece?No, Sardar had not become religious in the middle of the night, we discovered much to ourrelief, but was trying to see if he could an extra rope.

I wheeled around again and headed on. How fast had KingKong gone? I speeded up andsoon crossed 60 kmph. KK had really turned the accelerator. It took me almost 15 minutes tocatch up with them.

We didnt have to go too far ahead from there as LampPost came up with Viswakarma.

What an experience man! exclaimed KingKong as he got off the bike. Clearly he was veryexcited by the challenge of the towing experience. Each time I heard the squeal of HillMansbrakes, I knew I had to brake as well. At every turn, I could go neither too slow nor too fast. Isuspected that not being able to go too fast would have been really difficult for KK.

An hour later, we were back at the hotel. An 80 kms ride and we had done the trip in 7 hours!


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Day 7 On the Worlds Highest Motorable Road

Khardung La. ~5600 meters above sea level and the highest motorable road in the world. Allof us were kicked about the plan for the day.

An additional sweetener as well the journey was only 40 kms. So we expected to be back

by 2PM. I think we took this with a large pinch of salt, given the adventures we had faced.But today would prove to be easy.

Leh quickly fell away as we rose into the mountains. Each mountain was unique in itsstructure and the extent of erosion it had faced. We went fast, weaving our way up the loops.KingKong and Turk vied for the first spot, while Sardar patiently brought up the rear Viswakarma was with him.

In an hours time, we reached anArmy checkpost. South Pullu readSardar. Our local South Pole! Thatwas reason enough for everyone toclick a snap of himself at this

checkpost.

The road was steeper from here.Long stretches were filled withrunning water from the melting snow

but by now we were experts atcrossing without getting our feet wet.Soon the now-familiar sight of snow-covered hillsides came alongside.There were several vehicles on theroad Army trucks, trucks carrying

oil, tourist jeeps and other bikers.

I turned a corner and exclaimed, Look at that! A couple was bicycling up the hills. Each wascarrying bags tethered to their bicycles on both sidesand pedaling furiously. I thought about how we hadfound it difficult to undertake even the smallest physicalactivity in these oxygen-scarce mountains and shook myhead in wonder.We had encountered other bicyclists as well during our

journey from Manali. One of these bicycles had a carrieron a wheel that was welded to the bicycle frame througha connecting rod. I later heard that these cyclists took 2-3 months to cover the distance from Manali to Leh.Remarkable stamina.

Then we turned a corner and had reached Khardung La.It was an awesome feeling. We had created a personalrecord that we were really proud of.

YoungTurk wasnt satisfied with such smallachievements. He was going to climb a hill and reachthe highest point on Khardung La as well! I was all set to

join them when YoungDidi called me urgently.


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HyperGirl had not taken well to the height and sudden ascent. She was looking pale anddizzy.

Youd better take her down. But notwithstanding Acute Mountain Sickness, a snap at thisspot was a must. HyperGirl mustered all her courage and smiled vigorously at the camera.We left immediately.

- At Khardung La

The others had a wonderful time forover 2 hours at the peak. The sightof the snow was too much to resistand soon everyone was at the top ofthe hill. The entire side of the hillwas snow covered. HillMan just hadto slide down!

Dont! Dont do it! yelledYoungTurk but HillMan had a deafear when he was in this mood. He

lay down and slid! And that set offthe others. While KK videotaped,each of them lay on their backs andslid down the hillside, coming to resta 100 feet down.

DON-don-don-don, This is madness.

And his point was made when it was KingKongs turn and he simply couldnt bring himself tohalt sliding. He seemed to be heading to the edge when LampPost leapt on top of his movingbody and managed to bring him to a stop!

While HyperGirl and I reached the hotel at 2, the others had lunch at South Pullu (pleasenote: the cafeteria there serves some lip-smacking parathas) on the way down and reachedthe hotel by 3:30. All of us crashed for an afternoon siesta. For once, the day had gone asplanned!

That night, as the cheerleader said, we had to party!

In the evening, in groups of twos and threes, we went around the market and found Internetcafes to establish contact with the outside world. By now, people were finding it difficult tocalculate which day of the week it was. It seemed like we were in a world of our own.

By 9PM, 6 of us had hit a Tibetan restaurant and the agenda was clear.Hey, what beer do you have?

Sir, we have only one beer Godfather.Godfather??? What beer is this? sputtered KingKong.Sir, well its a strong beer, said the hotelier helpfully.You can get this beer on the outskirts of Gurgaon, said LampPost. But I have never tastedit!We didnt seem to have too much of choice and ordered a bottle to test. It turned out to bequite good and soon more bottles hit the table.

Tip: Godfather is great! Especially the 8% alcohol version.


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The others also came in by then and seated themselves around the table. Spying an emptychair next to me, I asked HyperGirl who had just entered, HG darling, please sit with me.The others roared and HG made a beeline for the chair on the opposite end of the table. Noway, yelled CheerLeader. I have never heard him speak affectionately to you so you haveto sit with him!

No one appeared hungry and the menu card was passed from hand to hand. Finally YD hadhad the menu and taking charge as usual, gestured for the waiter and asked the rest if theyhad decided what to order.

DON-don-don-don from a cornerYes we have decided, not to order! The others roared.

We had finally decided to take a break from biking and had organized two jeeps to take us toPangong Lake the next day. Pangong Lake was supposed to be extremely beautiful, a 134kms long salt-water lake at 4250 meters! Two-thirds of the lake was in China.

Something which is 134 kms long should be called a sea and not a lake! said I. How doesa lake that is snow-fed become salty? asked HyperGirl. No one had an answer. I guess it israin fed and the rock must be salty, ventured Sardar.

Pangong Lake was known for the changing colors of the waters. At different times of the day,the colors would change. People normally stayed overnight at a hotel near the lake to viewthe sunrise and sunset colors. Unfortunately, our stay at Leh was too short to permit that.

We finished our drinks and dinner and crashed by 10:30. We would have to be out of thehotel by 6AM the next day.


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Day 8 HillMan takes a Dip again

Its so easy to leave early in the morning if the bags dont have to be tied to the bikes! By6:15, the SUVs a Qualis and a Scorpio had left the hotel. Turk, KK, Didi, HG and I werein the Qualis.

- The Pagal Nala, as we crossThe route was 160 kms long andwould take over 4 hours. It wouldtake us past another pass, Chang La,that is as high as Tanglang La.Nearer Pangong came a streamcalled Pagal Nala. True to its name,the water flow in this stream wasabsolutely unpredictable and a tricklecould rapidly mushroom into a gushof water without warning. Travelerson the way back from Pangong hadbeen known to be stuck on the

wrong side of Pagal Nala for hours,only to return the following day. Onlythe day before, we were told, over100 SUVs had covered 130kms+

from Leh, only to have to be turned back from Pangong thanks to the Pagal Nala.

KingKong and HyperGirl both had pronounced symptoms of travel sickness. KK had perchedhimself firmly in the front seat and popped in an Avomine. HG soon followed after a fewsharp turns and bounces.

I really dont think people were toointerested in the scenery today. OurSUV had fallen largely silent as KK andHyperGirl tried to sleep. The guys inthe Scorpio had turned on the CDplayer and were occupied in Ladakhimusic. The CD was exhausted but theyhadnt had enough and Sardarborrowed YoungDidis cellphone toplay the stored music. The driversstopped at a couple of Armycheckposts on the way to show ourpermits.

I quickly realized that a bike was far

more preferable on such roads than anSUV. The SUV didnt try to slow downon bad roads as the driver didnt have his balance at risk. Consequently, the rolling motion ofthe vehicle was irritating to say the least. Of course, we made better time than on a bike.

KK, soon after we left Leh and stopped for a short photo-session break declared very firmlythat we would stop at 8 AM for breakfast. The SUV driver turned around to give him the badnews, that there was not a drop of water or food to be had till we reached the next pass,Chang la and even there, all we would get is some tea served by the Army.

- Sharp contrast between the hills and the valley


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- At Chang La

Chang Las peak was well coveredwith snow and the cold waswelcome as it seeped through thegloves and jacket. We went inside

an Army tent after a while. Turk ofcourse had gone off to climb a hill.

Chang La was a training ground forArmy soldiers, who wouldsubsequently be posted at theSiachen glacier, one of the bleakestand coldest Army stations in theworld. Soldiers remained at theglacier through winter, guarding theoutpost against an intrusion. Earlier,as I had read, hostilities werewithdrawn through a tacit

agreement in winter as both sides withdrew to the warmer valley. However, the Kargil warhad originated in winter and Turk informed me the Army wouldnt slacken its watch duringwinter any more.

An Army soldier was standing at a counter inside the tent and serving black tea to all tourists.We soon began chatting with him. He had returned to Chang La after two years at Siachen.HyperGirl recalled that, while every other posting in India is for 3 years, Siachen alone is for2 years. He spoke about temperatures falling to (50) in winters accompanied by very heavywinds. We exchanged glances and recalled a night of only (7) at Sarchu. YoungDidi askedhim about how he felt about his stint at Siachen. Without hesitation, he declared That is justliving hell, madam

We left Chang La and bounced down the mountains. By 10:30, the contours of Pangongwere visible. We were driving along a mountain with a deep valley below, which seemedscoured! There is no better word to describe a valley through which water had once passed.The sand was white and literally strewn with stones. The stones were rounded as you wouldexpect after years of erosion by water. Was this an extension of Pangong that had dried up?

Soon we had our first peek at Pangong, which was to tantalizingly come and go as the roadcurved its way around. The translucent blue-green color held our attention and as the vehiclereached a spot above the lake and began the descent to its shore, the sheer size of the lakeahead was awe-inspiring.


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A few minutes and a few photographs, we trooped to nearby tents to get some food. Theonly food that we had had all day were the biscuits offered at Chang La. YoungTurk tookKKs camera and was off for a walk. Hey have some food and go, you havent eaten sincemorning! yelled Didi after him but he wasnt going to stop for such frivolous distractions.

We were really hungry and hogged. KK fixed the dhaba owner with a glare whenever therewas insufficient curry on the table, which arrived immediately after. After a cup of tea each,we were all set to explore the lake.

- HillMans dip at PangongSir can we leave? said the elder ofthe two drivers who had brought ushere.Leave???

Sir you dont know when the PagalNala will start acting up. We shouldleave immediately. Lots of driversget stuck and you dont want that tohappen.

We finally negotiated half an hour oftime from the drivers and set offwalking along the lake. And as weshould have expected HillMan wasdown to his briefs before you could


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We left shortly and reached Leh around 5PM.

The next day would be a long one. We had decided to try and make it to Srinagar in a dayand Jammu the next. HyperGirl and I would take a bus or taxi to Chandigarh. We had to beon our way by 5AM the next morning.

KingKong and I left to fill up our petrol tanks. At the petrol station, KK asked the attendantwhere he could get a bike wash done.What?, I exclaimed. What for? You think were going to have a clean ride back?Yaar I dont feel good when I get on the bike.What about loading a dirty rucksack on a spotlessly clean bike?Oh no, I got the rucksack and its cover cleaned as well.So KingKong got his bike sprayed clean before we left Leh. It didnt show when he reachedDelhi!

We had to hit the sack by 8PM, to have any hope of waking up early. As it turned out,between the waiting time at the restaurant and packing, none of us slept before 11PM.Tomorrow was going to be a tough day indeed.


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Day 9 Chapter of Accidents

Notwithstanding the late night, everyone was up in time. H

leh trip - summer 2009 - desi

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