How we got Leh'd... Day 6

We lift up a bullet to load it in a truck at 16000ft above sea level!

First of all, I promise I would try to keep this blog as short as possible. Please note: This ‘try’doesn’t guarantee that this would be short… Apologies!

After about 10 hrs of the biking on the day 5, we all slept like wooden logs. After getting fresh (in fresh air) in the morning, we had breakfast at the guest house and left from there. Anticipating that the snow on the mountains would be still in one piece and we wont have to face water like the day before, we had decided to leave early.

The way back was nothing different than the previous day, brilliant display of colours! Camera was with my pillion rider, and I was enjoying the ride. Then there was the previous day’s water patch, where everyone had to keep the foot down. Well, same spot but as we had anticipated the water was pretty less. After the spot, there was a mountain hike which would take us to the highest point in the journey-Chang La (17000ft above sea level) In the hike, at a place there was lot of loose pebbles, and flowing water. This sent off the alarm in my mind to be cautious. After covering about ¾ of that patch we noticed there was something wrong with our companion going ahead of us. Both of them had got down from the bike and pushing it! Well, nothing wrong with the scenario, if it was on the flat surface. In this place, even if we walked about 200m uphill, we would gasp for breath. But these two had to push the bike uphill. By the time this all went through my head, my bullet hit an unstable pebble and went haywire. Me and my pillion both went flat on our tummies, kissing mother earth. I remembered the guy back at our Leh guest house, telling us not to keep foot in water. And here we were, not keeping the foot in water. ‘Only’ the foot!

We got up, picked up our bike, which felt suddenly like a metal sponge soaked in water; kicked the engine On and went on till our companion to see what was wrong with their bike. They had flat tire. When enquired about the repair shop to a passer-by, we got to know that there are two shops. One ahead in the journey, and other back in the village we came from. We had a discussion there, and finally came up with 3 point plan.

1) Try to get the tire off the bike. Two of us would go back, get is repaired. This one got dismissed and we couldn’t get the tire off, due to insufficiency of the tools.

2) Leave the bike at that place, hike a vehicle. Go to Leh, give the key to bike guy and tell him that it’s punctured- Can be possible…

3) Put the bike in a truck, take it forward to the repair shop. Get it repaired and travel to Leh. Yup we save craziest for the last…

We saw a truck coming our way, we waved it down to stop. To our surprise it was already loaded with a car, which had refused to start. There were two military guys also in the truck. We asked them what should we do, they said, lets load the bullet in the truck. Yeah the craziest one got a go ahead…finally, after spending about 15 mins and few hundred calories of us 6 people, we were successful in loading the bike and two travellers in truck. After they left, we stopped for a while to get our second air and started tailing them.

The journey ahead was peaceful, means without many incidences… Suddenly I got to see a bird, which I was trying to capture since day 1, at roadside. Immediately I turned off the roaring engine of the bullet (thanks to the manufacturer for providing with the engine off switch). It was a stroke of my luck that the bird didn’t get offended and fly off, and got to take a pic. When I tried clicking second pic, another bike passed by and the bird took off. But I got at least one pic of it…

Through the same turning and twisting road, we reached back to place called Karu, where we had aloo paranthas for breakfast the previous day. We got the bike down from truck, and took it to the bike shop. This shop seemed like having symbiotic relationship with puncture shop few paces away. This shop takes out the tire, then you have to take the tire to the puncture repair shop, bring it back and this guy fixes it back in the bike. Anyway, after we got the bike and ourselves fixed, we left for yet another monastery nearby. This was just like every other monastery, with one difference. This one had a museum. We visited the museum and left from there discussing about the monastery, museum, our day so far and so on.

By this time, the bike journey started taking its toll on me. I started having a bit headache and started feeling tired. Journey back from Karu to Leh felt a lot longer than it had on previous day. A question which comes to my mind almost every time riding the bike, started surfacing again, have I lost the way? But then thanks to my pillion, my head kept on thinking on good lines and soon (1-1.5 hrs) we reached back in Leh. In between we had taken a stop to confirm we weren’t the first, because we didn’t have the guest house keys with us. When we reached the guest house, we saw two of us six already in the porch of the guest house. They had been ahead of us by about 20 mins, and funny part was they didn’t have keys with them. As we were back in Leh, mobile networks started working and so our news relay to the relatives, that we were back in city.

After getting into the guest house, 4 of us told no to continue hiring bike for next day, and it got decided that we would return the bikes. We all freshened up, had some rest and left for returning the bikes. Our pillions decided that they would rather walk a little, seeing the shops and places. So we three riders left with bikes. There is no memorable trip without incidences and coincidences… Again, there was one more such ‘incidence’. Two of us reached the shop, but third one was nowhere in view. I called him up to check where is he, and to my surprise he said he doesnt remember the route. So I tried to guide him, but he couldn’t reach the place. Suddenly I got a call from him, saying the bike wouldn’t start. His voice-Full of panic! That’s coz he was the same guy, whose ride got punctured. I told him not to panic, and told him to tell me exactly where he is. I almost ran to him and saw he was completely tired using the kick over and over again. I tried the kick once or twice and then told him, it wouldn’t start this way. So we put it on a slope – Old trick, works almost always! We took the bike to the shop, returned it and left for the hotel to have dinner.

At the dinner table we got to know the plan of the next day. We had hired a cab to roam around for next two days. After the dinner, we roamed in the market place for some time, visited some street-side vendors, had a brief walk and returned to room. We had planned to play cards, but as soon as we got into room, everyone started stretching their legs and spreading on the mattresses. We cancelled the plan saying we need to save energy for next day and dozed off…

How we got Leh'd... Day 5

We try out Bullets, Ladakhi chai and meet a film star!

Statutory Warning: this is a real long blog. Please read at your leisure...

The day started as usual by gazing clear blue sky, decorated with white clouds and lined with snow capped mountains... And of course as usual not being the first one get ready completely. Well, wasn't the last one also. That was my first day of riding a Bullet (not technically, the day before we got bikes from hire shop to guest house, but i dont count that as a ride); so completed all the things as quickly as possible.

With all the biking gears on; helmet, neck warmer, jacket, hand gloves, goggles etc; we got onto the bikes. My pillion rider didnt have any experience in riding a bike, which was something which i just couldnt place whether good or bad. Good - I love bike riding, Bad - I love photography. Our landlord told us to leave early, as Dalai Lama was visiting Ladakh. He told there would be some traffic build-ups, diversions on the way, so if would be better if we could pass through that area as early as possible.

We left from the Guest house, fed the bullets till they were full and started the journey towards Pangong Lake. On the way, there were people lined up on both sides of the road, to welcome the Dalai Lama. Talking about the road; it was a straight line of black tar, extending into brown landscape, decorated on both sides by the people in colorful attire... A view of the lifetime!

In just 35km of our drive we reached a place called Karu. We stopped there for breakfast, Had Aloo Parantha, fruits and tea. Just after Karu, there is fork, one road going to Pangong and other to Shimla. We got onto the one which was significant, and continued the journey. Again a long patch of tar but this time lined with some greenery. After quite some kms, we finally reached foot of the mountain and thus unit of distance became mountains again...

While in the Ghat road, something weird happened. I felt the mountain just beyond the valley is closing in on me. Trying to shake off the fear of being disillusioned because of deficiency of oxygen, i tried to concentrate on the road. But i just couldnt ignore the approaching mountain. Fortunately we made a stop, for capturing good captures. I took a deep breath and started wondering about the earlier experience. Finally the analytic part of the brain sprung to action and told my scared self, 'this is all just because we havent experienced this before. We havent experienced riding besides an empty field, we just think when we ride, things beside the road are supposed to go behind. Now that the mountains are so far, and we dont have vision of anything going behind, relatively the mountains are closing in on us.' I had to agree to the logical explanation and took time to take a look at the breath-taking beauty of the surroundings.

Before going forward, some words of caution which i got from a fellow traveler back at the Guest house. 'Dont put down your foot in the water. Stop the bike before pool of water on the road, no matter how small it is, think of the way before going forward and go on it. If by mistake you had to put your foot down, after crossing the water immediately stop and change the socks. The water is freezing cold!' This is where i learnt one of the learnings - never trust a pond of water on road, no matter how small it is...

Keeping this in mind, we were going at a leisure speed, taking looks and pics of the surroundings. This is where my mind played another trick on me, smaller one this time. The road felt like an infinite loop (...engg term) with continuous series of bends. It didnt even seem to have any incline, nor any end. 'Seem to'!!!
After we came down from hill, we suddenly hit the reality. There was a patch on the road, on which most of the tar had flown away with water. Hence only part that was holding that black line together was a patch of pebbles, rounded off to smooth edges by water. Thats when the thought of the person back at Guest house hit me. He had told me to try and not put the leg down in water. Well, the thought was a li'l late in hitting me, coz by that time something else had hit me, and grounded me back. I had kept foot in water, and Gosh it was ice cold! It seeped through the sewing on my shoe, entering the socks letting my feet experience the 'temp'. Somehow i rode through the patch, and after the patch was over we stopped to change the socks.

With a little experience earned the hard way, we cruised on slowly towards the peak of the mountain - Chang La, 17586 ft above sea level. After reaching there celebrations, photoshoot, tea etc followed. After a little rest, we started down the other side of the mountain. With almost similar experiences as of while coming up. Only difference being, the control needed this time was much more than on the other side. At the foothold of the mountain, we saw a beautiful white patch in between a green landscape. We could recognize it to be the frozen lake only after reaching within a 400 m radius of it. Just at the looks of it, we were all at the height of euphoria, jumping all over the lake. Well, not literally..walking would be perfect word. But even at that speed, one of the footstep sounded *creak* and in an instant we were off the lake. Getting your foot soaked by the cold water is one thing, but getting yourself entirely under the frozen lake? No way!

Then there was a long stretch of awesome road, breath-taking mountains, clear blue sky, snow white clouds..usual stuff!
After much of Left-right-left-right-left finally at a bend we had to stop because of a military convoy passing through.What a scene that was! The road was just about to end, so decline was up ahead. Could see at least 5 km of road ahead, all taken up by the military trucks... Waited for about 15 mins, once all the convoy had passed, we started again. This time we saw one more addition to the beauty. An horde of sheep grazing on the landscape full of grass.
Finally we reached another small villa in the mountains - Dangtse (or Tangtse). There we searched for a guest house; ended up literally as guests at one of the house. We rested our sore backs there for some time and left for Pangong lake. Just beyond the villa, the road leading to lake, there was a dramatic entrance marked by two majestic mountains. They stood there like faithful guardians. In just 35 kms of road, we saw clean tar road, rugged cement road, the tar roads flanked on both sides by white sand dunes, and of course at the ends of the sand dunes, the mountains. Never seen such variety of nature packed together!

At one of the turn, the board said first glimpse of the lake 1 km away. We were happy thinking we are this close. But, as the board specified 'first glimpse' turned out to be the turn from where descent started and we really had a 'Glimpse' - A small part of the lake peeking from the edge of the mountain. After 5-6 km of descent we finally reached the lake, and gasped with the look of that sheer beauty. Again a rich combination of colours: royal blue waters of the lake, marked by the brown outline of white snow-capped mountains, and beyond that, again clear blue sky decorated with white clouds... Photogenic!

After spending about an hour (and about 100 photos) at the lake, we thought we better leave. Sun was just about to set. So we waited to see the addition of the red colour to the collage. As soon as sun took the leave for the day we 'sayonara'ed the lake because we wanted to come out of those 'check-post' mountains before it was dark. The ride back was almost as smooth as  towards the lake. Except for the part where finally it became dark and headlamps were turned on. In that travelling glow everything turned psychedelic! The white sand turned almost yellow in that light. All the brown earth and mountains faded into black. The bright blue in sky also started showing steady defeat under the advancing dark, the fight only holding up in the west with red splashes. I had to pray real hard not to get lost in all those colours and stay on the road. And i think i did good, coz i have lived to tell the tale...

Once we were back in the guest house in Dangtse, we started talking to our host family about the place, their living, and of course: about shooting of '3 idiots' This was the time when we got to know that the chief of the hosts was a school teacher. And he taught the only Ladakhi dialogue from the film to Amir Khan. We also met both the sons of the house- Elder, a ice hockey player; younger, still in school. The elder one showed us his ice gear and told us his stories, which you need to hear from the resident directly, to feel them... Younger one brought an album to show us which had pics during the shooting of the film, and that was the eureka moment for us when we finally figured out that the kid was part of that film. We had some pics with our little filmstar, and by the time that finished, the host presented us with Ladakhi chai. It was yummmyyyy! Quite rich and buttery...but delicious indeed. Some more talked followed and by then we were called in the kitchen for dinner.

After the dinner, all the rush and hush from whole day started taking its toll. We were slowly drifting into sleep. The host got all our beds ready, with proper warmers and everything. Just to be on safer side, the pillion riders took Combiflam and got into bed. Sleep was just waiting to take over to make ourselves ready for the long ride back to home we came from i.e. Leh. Yeah, nice hospitality and good atmosphere does that to you... Makes you feel home...

How we got Leh'd... Day 4

We visit moonland!

One of the main things i clearly felt in the trip, we slept well. In fact so well, i got up at about 6 in morning.

After getting up at 6, first thing i did was, grabbed my cam (technically, third. First thing was i brushed my teeth. Dont ask second one!) and went out, thinking i would be able capture sun's ascend. But alas, the sun was very up in the sky already, its rays being yellowish white instead of red of the morning. After clicking few pics, i came back inside. The Guest house owner had seen me going out, and also my face while coming in. He told sunrise there happens at about 5:15. After that, i lost the hope to take an sunrise pic for rest of the trip. Later when i told this thing to the guys, one of them suggested me to take sunset pic and publish it as sunrise. 'Sunset ya sunrise, sun is orange that time. And who would be knowing which is east in the photo?' Those were his golden words...

Once i understood that my feeble try of photoshoot was vain, i went back to sleep. I thought i slept for 5 mins, but when i woke up, it was 7AM. One of the person was already ready to go. In the next few days we discovered that this was his nasty habit of getting ready before everyone has woken up. Anyway, driver was going to come pick us up at 8, so we got busy in getting ourselves ready.

Once the driver came, we got into the omni (maruti 1000, for those who dont know) There was a little quarrel over who would get to seat where. There is seat in omni which is literally back-to back with driver. The lucky ones with weak stomach got to ditch that seat. As i am kind of lucky with my tummy, i got unlucky with my seat.

During travel, i noticed one clear distinction. In whole journey, falling is closely related to the roads. Either you will fall for the roads, or you will fall on it, if you are not careful enough. Such beautiful contrast! Black tar in the gray/brown desert, surrounded by brown/white (snow covered) mountains, looked over by clear blue sky, decorated by pure white clouds! It was feast for towns person like me who hasnt got chance to look beyond 100-200 mtrs because of the structures blocking the view.

We reached a point called Magnetic hill. A sign there says, 'Park your vehicle in the marked area. Put it in neutral gear and watch your vehicle get pulled against Gravity' We didnt try that, our driver said something like 'this road's inclination has been increased. We wont be able to see the effect that board says.' Therefore, some more photoshoot followed.

From there, we left for what the driver said, 'the moonland'. This part of the road, was the part for which you would fall for. We saw a union of two rivers - Indus river and Zanskaar river.  Till that time we were way up on the hill and we were looking down to the river. Soon the road took us downstairs, almost to the level of the river. There we were, mountain on one side; river on the other. Beyond the river, more mountains. They stood there, as if guarding the river and the road. In some places, the road was cut through the mountains. There was enough space for truck to pass below the mountain. If there was someone foolish enough to stand on the truck, would be squashed to the mountain...

After a while, the road again took us up the hill. After crossing a mountain, (i am feeling like making new measurement unit for distance-mountain) we saw what is famously known as moonland. As usual, we were talking in between us, 'Moon pe aisa hi hota hai kya?' 'Pata nahi re, main kabhi gaya nahi' 'Arre aisehi hota hai, main last week jaake aaya' etc etc etc. Honestly speaking, i dont know whether it looked anyway like moon... Moon looks white! This one, it was clearly yellowish brown. Anyway, didnt want to discourage the driver, so kept all my doubts to myself.

On crossing one more mountains, we arrived at Lamayuru monastery. Like all the monasteries, this was also kind of secluded, silent. Only sound to be heard was made by visitors (includes humans, animals and birds) and wind. But this silence made me feel calm. This is one of those places where you know your place. How small, insignificant, you are in front of whole wide world.

After roaming around and in the monastery, we started from there back to Leh city. On the way back, we visited one more monastery at a place called Alchi. The special thing here, is that it has got 2 floorey tall buddha statues and century old paintings. No photos allowed here! This monastery has 2-3 temples also. While walking to one of the temple, we saw apricot tree. There were lot of unripe apricots, and it tasted bitter sweet n sour. Our kind driver got handful of them for our request, and on the way back to the car we each had almost 6-7. Being unripe, the seeds inside weren't ready, so we couldn't eat it. Near the parking, i saw a poster, having something written in Ladakhi. I asked one of the person about it, he told 'Do not throw garbage out, Keep area clean etc' is written on it. I jokingly said, if that was for tourists, shouldn't it be written in english? He straightened another poster, hanging with just one cell-o-tape holding at bottom corner, and showed me. That was english, 'These are made by school kids', he added.

On the way back for Leh city, we stopped at few good points (like nice bridge, nice curves of roads obviously, nice hills etc) clicked pics, chit-chatted- the usual trip stuff.
Once back in Leh, we told our driver to take us to bike rent shops. Found a shop, rented 3 Bullet Classics for 800/- per day. Then we went to a restaurant nearby, started discussing about the next day plan, had dinner, went back to guest house, played cards, listened music etc etc. And like the last day, i slept off thinking of clear blue sky and the mountains...

How we got Leh'd... Day 3

We all get down with oxygen deficiency, and find shelter in an unknown tablet

To be clear, this 'unknown' tablet, was as yet unknown only to me... Most of the mountaineers know about it.

When we booked cab in delhi, we had no idea that we would experience a trial take-off dash before getting into an actual plane. I swear to god, we hadnt told that cab driver that we need to reach the airport in shortest possible time. But we also forgot to tell him that we need to reach in minimal possible 'incidences' Anyway, we left in the cab; and believe me, it took about half an hour to travel that 22 km. That half an hour was enough to put us in wide-awake state for next 2 hrs.

We reached Delhi airport, and to my surprise, the guard didnt let us in... He said it was closed till 12AM. So we stayed out for about 15 mins. After what seemed like another half an hour (different than the previous half hour); we entered the airport. Thinking of checking in, and relaxing; went to the check-in counter. Alas...even that was closed. Two of my friends spread a bedsheet on the floor itself and slept off. One of friend, doubting over the strength of his digestive system, hadn't eaten in the roadside restaurant (well, big word for that place). He had some sandwich and coffee at airport, and had to feel full with that.

At 1, the check-in counter opened. As expected, we were first in the line, and first ones to check in. First mistake, we got all seats in one row. Well...we didnt realize this until we got into flight. After check in we thought we would do security check, and go in to sleep on more luxurious seats. We went in, saw those long seats usually you see on beaches, decorated by beautiful girls on it. I dont exactly know the name of it, but i remember it. We caught six of those, spread out on it. That was second mistake. The area where those seats were, was virtually unoccupied, except for 2-3 who were in stalls. Hence, too cold to occupy. We didnt feel the chill, till we settled in those chairs. Me, i slept off easily. But my other trip mates didnt do well. There was a TV in front of us, which had some weird 'Power Prash' advertisement going on continuously. This added on to their dismay.

Finally, our 4 hour wait came to an end. We boarded the flight. I, putting forward the reason of having camera got the window seat. Well, unluckily, got a wrong window. The sunset was visible from other side of flight. After about an hour of flight, captain announced that we are flying over himalayas and Rohtang Pass. This is where we realized our mistake of not taking all window seats. As soon as captain had the above announcement, almost all the passengers left their seats over to the window to get a peekaboo at the grand creation of the nature. For few seconds after that, i was just able to hear clicks of cam and gasps at the view.

After few ice laced himalayan peaks and few barren peaks we had an awesome view of the Leh city. A lush green patch right in the center of the barren lands - courtesy Indus river! From within the greenery, rose a long line of asphalt. That Single line of tar visible from way above made us realize that the aerial journey was about to end. Everyone went back to their seats. Then a surprise came in. The plane didnt just land on the run way, it encircled the mountain just behind it; then aligned it to runway and touched down. We just barely got time to appreciate excellent maneuver by the pilot, and we were stunned by the sheer simplicity of the small Leh airport on the backdrop of the magnificent mountains, clear blue sky and pure white clouds.

We came out of airport, booked a pre-paid taxi. We told the driver, Tashi, to take us to a Guest house. He did so, and to our pleasant surprise; this guest house changed whole definition of 'a Guest house' i had in mind coz of Delhi experience. In fact i felt many of the good hotels would lack the cleanliness and hospitality we received here. We kept all our luggage in the rooms allotted to us. By this time almost 2 hours had passed away after getting down at airport. Whatever reserved oxygen we had in us was used up, and we started feeling oxygen deficiency; more commonly known as altitude sickness. We were sitting idly and talking. My personal experience was difficulty in talking. Tongue became heavy, it was difficult to pronounce the words. God Promise, we weren't drunk!

This is when one of us took out from his bag, a tablet 'Diamox', scientifically known as Acetazolamide (courtesy Wiki). Each of us took in one tablet, and not liking this feeling drunk without being drinking state, slept off.

When i got up after about 2 hours, i was feeling fine. Except one of us, who kept on sleeping, all of us were feeling fine. We all termed Diamox as savior and went out of guest house into the garden. Sat there gazing at the nature, playing cards, waiting for the last guy to get up and get ready.

After he woke up, we left for the monuments in Leh city-Leh palace and Shanti Stupa. First, at Leh palace, which was right at the top of a mountain overlooking Leh city. The structure wasnt any special. Looked almost like those made by LKG-SKG kids by putting cubes together. We found out what special was, after we got onto the palace. (Onto = terrace...) A panoramic view of whole Leh city..right in the center of mountains..sun planning to disappear behind the mountain..clouds closing in onto the setting sun... Just perfect scene! But unfortunately we had to wrap up and leave for next point. Our driver told we need to go back before dark.

After about half an hour's drive we reached Shanti stupa. As the name tells, it was complete silence there. Only sound was that of the whispers of travelers and sound of the wind. A nice big statue of Buddha stood at the center of the wall in front of entrance. The circular wall was covered with pictures and some letters (chinese/buddhist/ladakhi). After taking a round around the stupa, we got down the stairs. Just before leaving, i just turned and gasped. Whole thing was lighted up. It was looking pretty on the onset of the setting sun's darkness..

Just out of Stupa, there is a cafe. We went there, had Lemon tea/Ginger lemon honey tea etc etc. From there we came back to pavilion and had delicious dinner made in the guest house next door. Went back to bed while thinking of altogether how many mountains i saw today. They say counting sheeps helps you to sleep. In my case, it was mountains that helped me... :D

How we got Leh'd.... Day 2

We get a gift from the nature in Delhi...


Second day started a bit late n lazy in the train. We got up at about 9, and i thanked god that i did so. The morning essentials took very less time as there was not much queue there. One of my trip mate has a nasty habit of getting up early (before 6AM-everything gets classified early); he got caught up in the queue that time...


The problem with travel in the train is, the night travel passes quickly. And the day travel creeps, as if to compensate the accelerated time of night travel. On top of it, we didnt have any means of timepass in ourselves. Finally one of us brilliant minds got down at a station and got a deck of cards. This at lease made the time passable in day travel.


Well.. Finally the train journey ended. We had thought that we will keep our luggage in Cloak room and roam around in the city. When we reached the cloak room, we learned from the guy sitting there that we need to put locks on each of our bags. So, two of us went to buy locks, and 4 remained behind to fill the form. We had just 15 mins window, as the cloak room was gonna close down from 5 to 6 for tea break. Again owing to Murphy's law; the guys who had gone hunting for locks didnt come back withing 15 mins. So there we were, with 6 new locks, filled form thinking whether to wait for an hour. Obviously everyone was against it, so we went out and found a guest house to put our bags.


After keeping bags there and locking it, we went to nearest Metro station-Indraprastha. At Rajiv chowk (another metro station), we changed the line from Yello to Blue, and got down at Chandani chowk. From there we went on foot to Lal Killa. Nice place to view, specially during evening, in the orangish hue of the sunrays... Due to lack of the time, we left from there after just a visit in the outer garden of killa.
From there we went to Jamia masjid, but as most of us were wearing shorts, thanks to weather of delhi; we couldnt enter the masjid. But from outside also, it looked magnificent! Visibly similar to the lal killa, stone structure..Made from similar red stone, this one also looked even better in the evening rays.
With little time left to spare, we had to leave for the next place in line. This time we got an auto to India Gate. Problem: had to take 2 auto. Even bigger problem, driver of the auto in which i was sitting seemed a li'l pissed off. Honking and hailing he took us to the India gate. We got down, only to find the other auto going ahead of us. When asked about it, our driver said this side entrance is closer. Our local guide was in other auto, so we had no other choice but to trust him and start walking.


After a few steps, got a glimpse of this structure. Bathing in the halogen lights, this one stood tall, demanding for attention. All three of us took out whatever camera we had with us (phone/camera) and clicked it. A funny thing happened, just as my friend was clicking with phone, he got call from other guys, and he couldnt take the capture.. :D


By this time, we had started thinking, thank gods that we wore shorts. It was really hot, even at about 8PM. Hearing this thought, he decided to play trick on us, and rain poured down... There was a huge uproar in the crowd near India gate. Being a mumbaikar, my first reaction was to take cover. After taking cover, i noticed that the uproar in the public was a collective sigh of joy from everyone. And unlike me, almost all delhites were running towards the rain.

After few calls back and forth, we finally caught up with the other group. We neared the India gate and noticed one other thing. Rain on our side of gate was much less than on the other side. Believe me, it wasnt 'Grass is greener on other side' thing. Much of the rain was bouncing off the gate. That was the time when 'size' of India gate dawned on me. Felt tiny in front of it!

One of my friend, Gaurav, mentioned about this (obviously on fb) "Roaming around in the sweaty by-lanes of Old Delhi, you wish the climate should have been better. And then when you reach India Gate, it starts to rain. The ambience kicks up your mood and then the anticipation of what's coming up sets in. You can't possibly wish for more Gaurav."

The rains didnt show any intentions of stopping or even slowing down. We put every electronic item in a plastic bag and started back for our guest house. Back at guest house, got freshen up, and got out for dinner. Statuary warning: If you are worried about hygiene, never ever go to eat in hotel near Nizamuddin railway station. Well, if you dont give a damn about the hygiene, you are welcome to eat anywhere. So, praying to strengthen my digestive system, i finished the dinner, and went out to book a cab to go to airport. Our flight was at 5AM, so we decided that instead of staying in the guest house, we will stake out the night at airport itself. So we booked the cab and went back to the guest to pack bags.

Unlike yesterday, second day went on pretty smoothly. Or rather we were getting used to accept whatever he throws at us. Still thinking what remaining 10 days will bring to us, we packed the bags...

How we got Leh'd.... Day 1

We almost kiss a car on its bum...


First day of the trip... And that too one of the longest and farthest trip ever... Even the one of the scariest... On top of it, what if something happens which makes heart skip a beat?


We decided to hire a cab from Pune to Panvel railway station to catch the Rajdhani train. Cab started from one of the colleague's place. Then picked up 3 of us on the way, mine being 3rd pick up. After picking up the last one, we started onto the Expressway.


Few things to mention, we were planning this trip for about a month or two including booking of train tickets from Panvel to Delhi, almost everything was ready. We had started our journey on Saturday, which i thought maybe it is so, for ease of catching the train. But the real reason came out during the journey from Pune to Panvel. The person who booked the ticket told us, he booked the tickets for saturday; to avoid travelling on friday. Reason being it was Friday, the 13th...




As expected, we all laughed away the matter. Then everyone started on whatever they have heard about Leh Ladakh- What to see, Do's and Dont's, Where to stay, How to roam etc etc. The cab driver being kind of good speaker, joined in the conversation with his knowledge to add. Everything seemed to go on very perfectly. And being on Expressway, we were a bit relaxed also, as there was not much traffic. But as the Murphy's law goes, something had to go wrong...


On the Highway, the person driving in front suddenly stopped the car. Thank gods, that the road wasnt much slippery and our driver was very much in control. Our car stopped with a screech. So did the other two cars behind us. And after hearing the brake's sound, the car in front started showing an indicator that it has to take a right turn! As we were cursing the driver in the front car, my friend who booked the tickets said, 'good that i didnt buy ticket for yesterday..if it was yesterday, we would have smacked right into that car!' That broke off all the tension of situation. And we continued the journey, rather peacefully.. And also reached station with a little over 20 mins to spare.


One of my tripmate was going to join us directly on the train station. He was coming from New Mumbai. He came just 5 mins before train. He also had another story of his. He had booked a cab. The cab driver called him up and told that the cab has broken down, and thus will be late at least 20 mins. For him to wait for so much time was equivalent of missing the train. So he got his bags, got on the road and hailed the first cab he saw. He said luckily the driver was good, and he got him out of almost all the traffic jams without breaking much sweat, because of which at least he was able to reach the station. Or he was definitely a goner...
Moral of the story: We got into the train, 'Just in time'


So after two 'incidents' we embarked on the journey. First day got over, giving us chills of the thoughts 'till now this much, what more to come..' and thrills of the thoughts of all the photos, discussed plans etc...

Long long way from home part 2

Another day..Another bike trip..Another 'eventful' bike trip..
Venue-Pune Airport
Reason of travel-Friend's marriage reception

Well..It all started on previous evening with a thought that i have the flight at 8:30, which needs me to reach airport before 7:30. And as i have to travel on unknown road, i left early, at about 6:45. With my nokia's automated girl telling instructions, it wasnt really tough to find out a place as large as airport. So moral of the story, i reached there before 7:30.

Thats when first 'event' struck.. I check for my flight on the list, its there alright.. But wait, why is it scheduled at 9:30? I check my ticket, and damn! It really Is at 9:30.. So my thought was well its not too tough to spend about an hour on airport, correct? Wrong! Even the checkin window had not been opened, let alone the shops. So i thought, anyway, now that i am here, can't do anything but wait..

Second one: Finally the checkin window opens up and puts up the number and destination of the flight. Yeah the number is correct, and the destination is also.. huh? Hyderabad? I booked ticket for B'lore.. The lady on the counter told me that the flight is going for b'lore only, with just a li'l detour and halt at Hyderabad. Li'l! Now was the time when i had started praying like Kareena in Jab We Met, 'bhaggu ji, thats enough for today, dont you think..' I dunno whether he didnt like me calling him Bhaggu, or he didnt agree with me, but more was yet to come.

After above two, when i went for security check in. I sent my bag through the X-ray scanner, and myself went through the probe. Usually its the bag which comes out winner in the race, not this time. This time, my bag brought a police man with it. He said there are tools in the bag (Wham..Third one) I remembered, i had given my bike for servicing, and forgot to put back the tools in the bike after servicing. he gave me two options, keep it in Check-in luggage, or throw it. I opted for third one, went out of airport to parking lot; kept the tools in the bike and came back again to get new boarding pass, and second round of probing... This time, again i won the race with my bag. There was one small tool, which had fallen out of its league making its way into my bag. I was faced with 3 options this time. Two suggested by the police guy, one of my own. I opted for the second option provided by the security, and went on ahead to Boarding Gate.

Once near the boarding gate, i remembered that i need to call my sis and tell her that i was gonna be late to her home. So i dialled her number, only to find no network on my cellphone. Only silver lining was, i had another sim with some balance in it. So i called my sis with that number. The second call went to network operator of first sim. And even that got fixed. So now i had two sims and two phones; except both the phones were drained to about half the battery.. Letting Bhaggu take over from me, i boarded the flight, and slept for straight 3 hrs in it.

So, this is how i reached b'lore. Frankly, after so much 'fun'; journey in the city was pretty lame. Anyway i roamed around in city, met relatives and friends, specially the one for whom this all began. And yeah, how can i forget.. There was one part of the journey, which wasn't lame. Return to airport part.. The driver of the cab i had booked, drove approx 35-40 km through evening traffic in about 30 mins. And thanks to that, i reached airport just in time to catch the flight back.

Flight landed 10 mins before time on Pune airport. Still it was pretty late, about 10:45 in night. I came out of airport, and thanks to one of my niece, playing on my phone, my trusted guide was off the hook. In other words, i was on my own. Well, not too bad either.. Nice cool weather, a bike with more than 3 quarters of tank full, and a self-proclaimed travel enthusiast.. Dangerous combo.. So, finally i left from airport, only after trusting my own memory to calculate return road. It took a full 5 mins for that... :D

Mind didn't completely betray the trust. Well at least till the halfway, till it was still on the 'road'. Somehow it started wandering after that. And i took a left instead of right. Or was it right instead of left??? Arrrrrr.....

Anyway..After that, after travelling about 5-6 km i realized that i had taken wrong turn and started wondering where i would end up now. Think! Yeah this road leads to a place which is about 10 km form my house (This discovery came from a milestone on the way, and Not the Brilliant mind in which was was somewhere else!) Well not too bad, i can still get home today itself - thought the brain. Whats so hurry - argued the mind. Shut up both of you - that was me..

Well thats exactly where i made a mistake. Brain, being obedient, stayed silent. Mind, doing what its best at, kept wandering. This time i reached an intersection from where i can go back home even without looking at the way. But again i took a right instead of left and went on ahead. This time, i came to know about my mistake pretty early. But since it was a highway, had to go 3 km to take a simple U turn. As i am here to tell the tale, its needless to say that i finally reached home, after travelling a whole of 15 km more than normal distance.

After going through all this, or reciting all this.. Is there going to be any change i my old habits of getting  lost or having 'eventful' trips.. Well i pray to bhggu, not to let that happen.. It would be just too boring...