The Himalayan Odyssey

My desire to ride in the Himalayas had taken birth a decade ago when my friend Ashwin spent 16 days there on his Pulsar 220, more so as he had published a book about his experience. However, work and family had always prevented me from making the effort of planning the expedition. Moreover, my current profile kept me within the office, unlike earlier when I was travelling to all nooks and corners of India. The pandemic drove the final nail on the coffin of my dreams.

Two hectic months at work leading to the launch of new Volvo trucks in India and I was convincing myself that I deserved a break. Now that I was living alone for a year and people had got bored of Covid scare, I was toying the idea of spending a week alone in the Himalayas. Like the monk who sold his Ferrari, I was wanting to do some soul searching.

When my colleague requested me to join him to Udaipur for a meeting with a road contractor, I instantly clubbed it with couple of other pending works with the Ministry in Delhi. I called up my friend, Ravikiran, in Delhi to inform him that I would be there for a day, and we could catch up if time permits. He had already planned to go to Leh for the Dasara weekend, and he invited me. It appeared like the universe was conspiring to turn my dream into reality.

I had already packed for the 2 days official trip. Just before leaving to the airport, I stuffed a jacket and a pair of gloves, just in case the Leh plan works out. One the way to the airport I called my friend and asked what the plan was. There was no plan. He had just booked his ticket to Leh – what to do there and how to return was not planned. We had Friday and Saturday with us. We had to return on Sunday, as I had to attend meetings on Monday.

My flight to Udaipur was via Mumbai with a 6 hrs gap in between. I landed in Mumbai by midnight. I went to the Lounge and started checking for flights. Within an hour I had booked the flight from Delhi to Leh, return from Leh to Chandigarh (as Leh-Delhi was ultra-expensive) and rescheduled my Delhi-Bangalore ticket from Thursday night to Monday early morning. My friend booked a hostel in Leh and the train tickets from Chandigarh to Delhi.

Now that we were sure to go, we started enquiring on what can we do in the 50 hrs that we get to spend in Leh. All of them laughed at the idea. For one, you need atleast 10 days to visit all the good places around Leh. Two, you need to acclimatize for atleast 24 hrs as you are jumping from zero to 11,500 ft – high chances of Acute Mountain Sickness. That left only one day for us. We tried all permutations and combinations to squeeze in two of the best places around Leh – the Nubra valley and the Pangong lake. But everyone advised us against it – Nubra can’t be covered in a day and Pangong was too cold to go on a bike.

We decided to try our luck. Now that the tickets were booked, there was no looking back.

Udaipur and Delhi meetings went well. Thursday night, I was sitting in Ravikiran’s house in Delhi trying to finish all the pending work – we had decided not to carry the laptop to Leh, first time in several years I would be completely shut-off from work. Ravikiran was travelling in Mumbai and he reached only by midnight. We had decided to carry only backpacks and we stuffed two pairs of clothes in. Done with the packing, we slept for 3 hours and the got ready to catch the 05.30 flight. As we spotted the snow-clad mountains from the airplane, we also caught the mobile signal from China!

The moment we landed in Leh, we were asked for Vaccination certificate. As I had taken my second dose only the previous week, I was asked to get a RTPCR done. We finished the formalities and were out o the airport by 7. As the weather was pleasant @ 1 deg, we decided to take the 6 km walk to the town. The town was still sleeping as we reached the main market. We found a breakfast joint and had stuffed parathas and hot ginger lemon honey tea. 

We walked further to our hostel. We couldn’t get our bunk beds as we were early. So, we dumped our bags and started the tour. We purchased a pair of thermals and better gloves, just in case we need it. We checked out a few bike rental shops and hired a RE Classic 350. We filled the tank and decided to go on the Kargil-Srinagar stretch. This was relatively flat terrain and the chances of AMS was lesser.

Few miles on the NH1 project Vijayak constructed by Border roads organization, and we were at the Hall of Fame – a museum to commemorate the sacrifice of all the soldiers who laid their life during the Kargil war. We decided to come back in the evening for the sound and light show here. As we rode further, we could feel the extent of Army’s presence in the area – both sides of the roads had army establishments.

We stopped frequently to take pics – the landscape was changing very fast: from the scenic Indus river to the bald mountains, flat and curvy roads, the Magnetic hill… 

We finally reached Sangam – the confluence of Indus and Zanskar river. We sat there for some time. I made a mental note to go on the 26 km rafting when I come along with family later.

We decided to ride along till 3 pm and then return – people had warned against driving in the dark: 1) it is dangerous 2) it is too cold. We reached Alchi monastery located in a deserted village. As we rode through, we felt like we were on the sets of a Hollywood zombie movie. When were reached the monastery, we found some civilization and also a restaurant. The monastery, like all other monasteries in the area were old and in ruins, had several avatars of Buddha. I sat down with my eyes closed enjoying the peace. But soul searching was not a five minute exercise – I got up and left. Hungry as we were, we gobbled Thupka and Chopsuey.

We rode back non-stop. As the sun was going down, we could feel the cold – specially at the fingers and toes, despite wrapped in gloves and shoes. It was dark when we reached the hall of fame again. We were too tired and shivering. We decided that we would not be able to do another bike ride the next day.

Somehow we entered the open air theatre and settled down to watch the sound and light show. It was a true account of how the Kargil war was fought – we had only seen glimpses of it in Border, LOC, Lakshya and Shershah. This was a no-masala version and it pepped us up from within. Our soldiers have dared all this adverse environment and protected us from enemy invasion. And we were giving up after one day on the bike?!

As we walked out of the show, I told Ravikiran. “After a good night’s sleep, I will be ready for our next ride.” Before handing over the bikes we made a quick visit to Shanti Stupa. On the way to the hostel, we found a Punjabi restaurant and ate hot rotis and paneer. The moment we reached the hostel, we found our bunks and tucked ourselves under the thick quilt. It felt heavenly. We were in deep sleep in an instant.

We were up by 6. We could feel the ice-cold water as were brushed. We decided to go for a walk until the bike rental shops open. I dared to step out only with my flimsy T-shirt and shorts; the plan was to jog and sweat. We went to the Leh Palace and returned. Not a drop of sweat. Instead, my fingers were turning dry and stiff because of cold. 

There was no hot water in the hostel. The josh of the army still fresh on my mind, I decided to take a cold shower. This was not new to me – I was used to taking cold showers after the morning jogs in Pune winters at 6-7 deg. 5-6 deg lesser should hardly make a difference. I was so wrong. The moment I turned on the shower, the cold water hit my head like needles of ice. In 15 seconds, I felt my blood had frozen and brain had stopped functioning as I felt dizzy. By 60 seconds I had gotten used to it. I had a proper bath, felt super fresh and walked out with teeth chattering. I got into my thermals, regular T-shirt and jeans, jacket on top, two pairs of socks, two pairs of gloves and a monkey cap. I told Ravikiran: “Let’s go to Khardung la!”

For the climb we decided to hire the RE  Classic 500. Khardung la was only 40 kms. But we were to gain 7000 ft altitude en route. It was one of the most satisfying rides of my life. All the efforts put in just for a short visit to Leh became worth it, just by this one stretch. We were riding with tower mountain on one side and abysmal valley on the other. Although the landscape was not snow clad yet, it was so fulfilling just to soak in the glory of the hills, the sun on top, yet the temperature hovering around zero, the eyes trying to capture every bit of the paradise…

Only when we reached Khardung la, we spotted snow. There was a huge crowd trying to take the pic beside “Highest motorable road in the world. Khardung la 18380 ft.” Of course, it was no longer the highest – it was surpassed by Umling la. But who cares! We were on top of the world with couple of degrees below zero, in the midst of the Himalayan mountains and valleys…

We went a bit further to find a less crowded yet snow covered place to spend some time. And the new decided to ride back – Nubra valley was too far ahead, we couldn’t have made it in a day.

Once back in Leh, went on the Manali highway. That is when we realized that Leh was not just a small town that we had seen the previous day. It was more developed along this highway. We visited the Shey palace, the “Rancho school” or rather the SECMOL, Thiksey monastery. 

It was dark when we returned to Leh. We did some customary shopping for “Ladakh” branded T shirts, Kesar, Figs etc… from the main bazaar.

Next morning, we went on a walk again, with an intention of trekking to the hills. We crossed through the countryside and reached the foothills. Sat there in silence trying to detach from the race we had been living. The early morning sun, cool breeze, the backdrop of the mountains, silence all around… was very serene for meditation. On the way back we entered a villager’s house, went into their backyard and plucked 5-6 kgs of apples from the tree – the freshest and yummiest I had in my life. 

Back to the hostel, we got ready and left to the airport, again by walk. We took a detour to visit Zorawar fort on the way.

The airport was crowded. Yet we made it comfortably into the plane and landed in Chandigarh. We had 4 hours for the evening Shatabdi to Delhi. We visited the Rock Garden – 40 acres of rock architecture within the city. 

We boarded the train and reached Delhi, where it was raining cats and dogs. Cabs were not available. We somehow made it home by metro, auto and walk.

I repacked my bag, slept for 3 hours and left to catch the early morning flight. I was back to my office routine Monday morning. But the 3 days spent in the Himalayas would be cherished forever. Neither had I sold anything, nor had I become a monk. But this was the much-needed break that I had longed for, and it had me embarked on the journey in pursuit of the right perspective of life. A giant first step had been taken.