Life is OUT tHERE!: April 2014

bombay delhi manali LEH and around to Exploring The Vastness, The Greatness the lands of the Lama's

The Land where our brave sacrificed

The Land thats been on record the coldest inhabitant place on earth

The Land that can kill you with frost bite and heat stroke

The Land that has the highest Dessert with the only place on earth with two hump camels

The Land that mesmerizes at every breath..

It all started with the BIG thought of riding to the worlds highest motor-able road - " the Khardung-La Pass" some few years back. The germ had been seeded and was only growing eager and desperate.
The next was saving big to buy a Bullet for the trip, it was always a dream to buy a Machismo500 which was almost there but could not come true due to lack of patience and vision..
Had taken a cheque of FULL amount to the dealer to buy the Machismo, but typically, was denied and was asked to wait for 8-10 months.. 'To Wait' and Me dont go together unfortunately.

So Finally, the patience reached its brim and desperacy at its peak..

Decide to quit, from the corporate job, the mundane life.. A decision one of Best Ever..

Had all train and flight bookings done 90days in advance, it was the independence day for our nation and for me in some sorts, the day 1 of the trip..

day 1 :

bombay - delhi via Rajdhani Express, probably the best train in our country, the attendants in the train are more courteous and respectful than the "educated trained in flight attendants - WAITERS" to me..

Day 2 :

Delhi.. good old dilli.. trip to dilli is never complete without a walk around CP and thick shake at Kaventers

thick Shake @kaventers, Canaught Place, a must have when in Dilli

After a day well spent site seeing Dilli was time to head for Manali and towards the Objective of the trip.
Wish Dilli walle were also as good as that the city is, the city has so much character, history..
but, as they say, the good comes with the bad, i guess here it is the attitude of the people

towards the ISBT for over night bus to Manali

Day 3 -4 :

were spent acclimatising, trying the Bullet for the First time, riding around in Manali.


there's always a first time for everything, this was mine. the first time handling a RE, and YES!! this was definitely "love at first Ride" making me more sure than anything else, to have one, however long a wait it took..

Blowing their Trumpets.. Old Manali

It was a good day, Blessed by DeviMata, the weather had got better to head out

this was just a beginning and glimpse of many such Bridges to be crossed

the Gateway, Milestones to thru the routes and stopovers to Destination called "LIFE"

the mighty Rohtang La after the cloud burst

This was the reason to spend 3 days in Manali, there was cloud burst, wiping the roads off. People already enroute were stranded without any food water sanitation for 18hours, just at the mercy of nature to allow them to move any further. I was lucky to have escaped the wrath of nature..
Started from Manali at 0400hrs in a wet weather and apprehensions nervousness about how the weather would be ahead, since Rohtang-La had to be crossed before 0800hrs as the roads shut down for a few hours.

Rohtang Pass (Hindi: रोहतांग दर्रा) (Bhoti: Rohtang , lit: pile of corpses,^[1] due to people dying in bad weather trying to cross the pass) (altitude 3,978 m or 13,051 ft),^[2] is a high mountain pass on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around 51 km (32 mi) from Manali. It connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh, India. source - wikipidea

The other side of Rohatang, Just like a mother who pampers and loves a child after she calms down of all the anger she has within..

where it comes from, where it goes. no one knows, it is nature it just flows

Just as we crossed RohtangLa, on the other side of the pass, the weather and nature dramatically changed, couldn't believe what we just came thru, it was literally Heaven thru Hell..

Next brief halt was Keylong.. to refresh, tank up at Tandi, eat since had nothing to eat since 0400 in the morning, stretch ourselves, cool down the engines, catch up with fellow travellers along to share their experiences.

People were there from all over the world, retired couples from Europe riding on RE for an adventure holidays, teenagers on their bikes venturing out with the adventure spirit.. some guys on their 150cc motorcycles from Chennai, Tamilnadu, Bangalore and other far away places..
Man, I thought I was crazy to venture out alone, looking at these guys around put me to shame, why did I not venture out earlier.. Looking at the European retired couples, was thinking our oldies whenever want to venture out on a "Holiday", only place they can ever think of is around some temple or some holy place..

Anyways, coming back on road heading towards Sarchu, the over night destination onwards LEH.. and this is where AMS hit me, and hit me bad, real bad.. just dint know what was happening, probably could have lost my life in that ignorance..had it not been for the Indian Army medical post that attended with all the care and concern - true to its tradition and motto " service before self". looking at my condition, Was suggested to return to lower altitude and not proceed ahead towards Leh. But having travelled that far, and with determination hit the road onwards the worlds highest motorable road..

Lesson # 1: Always do your homework and be prepared for the terrain you are to visit..

the camp at Sarchu.. which is put and removed every 6 months


The ROOM with a eh.. eh.. view? but, nevertheless, was good and comfortable for the night stay and not to mention the hospitality of the guys there..

post AMS, was just desperate to reach Leh.. and in all the rush missed taking and recording anything between sarchu to leh.. probably the biggest mistake of the trip, but a great learning.