Once the travel bug bites you, believe me fellas there’s no antidote for it.
It is also true that most uncanny odysseys happen inadvertently.
We have been planning our recreational trip, i don’t know may be for ages. Yes, i am talking about the most coveted trip of Indian fauna “ A TRIP TO LEH LADAKH.“ Years passed by but every year we faced conundrums viz. of vehicles, cash, weather, etc. The biggest of all was vehicle as we know the journey is topsy-turvy so we needed an off-road vehicle. Two wheeler choice was discarded as no one wanted to get knocked out. Journey was about 700 km and there was also a problem of weather as God is unpredictable you never know when he ‘d get cosy with you so prevention is always better than cure. In my opinion four wheeler ride is safe, secure and not so languoring also there is a bonanza of music. As mountains without music is like ship without a rudder, a pizza without cheese, last but not the least Rajma without chawal. Somehow we managed an off road vehicle and we got our asses ready for the kickass adventure.
I had devised a master plan for a week before that what i am gonna pretext in front of my parents . 2 days before when adrenaline was at its peak, they asked me where i was going ? I said i am going to attend my friend’s wedding. They said it’s not imperative to be a partner in someone’s melancholy, who in this whole freaking world has ever been happy after marriage. Stay here and do justice with your studies. But I was resolute because if not now than never. Somehow I managed everything and started off to my friend’s house. Had I said that i am going to Leh, may be i ‘ld not have been able to reach kullu. Well, as Eminem says “You can do anything you set your mind to.” I reached his home and started giving a final touch to our plan.
We registered our vehicles and got an online pass for Rohtang and Lahaul-Spiti. I started collecting all the gizmos and gadgets for trip. Night before our excursion was not quite pacific as i was (not really) kinda on 7th cloud and was pondering about the valleys, canyons and checking out the routes , roads on the map that i had made with exact time and distance calculations.
Everyone was up @6a.m. and we started loading our car at 7a.m. approx 8a.m. we took off for manali(as our first stay was supposed to be @manali). Monsoon season is not really cordial as we know and INDRA DEV was delirious. We were moving along the river (Beas) and it seemed like it rained cats and dogs in the Himalayas. We reached manali in the evening . We all were exhausted so we stayed @kothi heights to hit the sack. Next morning we wanted to start off early but weather was not quite cordial with us. It was drizzling. So we delayed our journey by 2 hours.
Somehow we started for rohtang (Gateway to Lahaul) but before Rohtang we faced a long long traffic jam of about 2 3 hours because a truck was struck in the pit and Jcb was trying very hard to pull it out, after long travail, finally road was opened and we set off again.
We wanted to stay @keylong but there was a heavy landslide so we had to end up in kokshar (coldest place in Hp).
2. Next day was also not quite friendly because it took 4 -5 hours for excavation and a long long caravan was waiting the other side so army was already up there and they tranquilized everything without breaking a sweat . Now our calculations, our homework was of no use because everything was so unpredictable. So we left it all to destiny and started everything again with a raucous.
Going through the canyons , mountains laden with snow, roads b/w the valleys , river along the road, journey was quite enthralling , Everything was so unreal. We were feeling like the people in the fairytale’s land. We decided that we ‘ld stay @sarchu (it is the beginning of leh) and was quite far away from keylong , We saw the “Tandi” (the confluence of Chandra and Bhaga rivers ). Here originates the river Chenab. We saw the uncanny lake “Suraj Tal“ (source of Bhaga river) the source of Chandra river is the majestic “Moon lake” also known as Chandertaal (which is in lahaul).
It is believed that Tandi is the place where Draupadi (Pandava’s wife) died. So here is the temple of her. Last but not the least we felt on the top of the world when we crossed the one of the highest cross road pass “Baralacha Pass”. Around 6-7pm we reached @sarchu and decided to crash out there .
Sarchu is situated 4290m above sea level so it was inevitable that atmospheric pressure is so low there some of our players felt asphyxiation there and somehow we managed to get 2 rooms there and we all were very voracious. I came out of the blue and said I’d make Pulaw for everyone as i was a rookie in cooking but quite good at pulaw. We had our rice, stove, kerosene with us so it was not really a hard nut to crack. About 2 hours had passed but there was only fragrance of spices & boiled rice but no pulaw because it was not cooked really. I added more &more water but all in vain as it was taking too long (I forgot that we are far away from sea level and here atmospheric pressure is too low so cooking rice in a pan is like chasing a wild goose) 1 more hour passes 2 out of 5 members had slept without my banquet and 2 others ferociously said enough now give us what you had cooked they (including me) ate food in compulsion and threw half away as it was very grotesque to eat that Pulaw !
Well, after every night dawn comes and everyone was ready in morning after cursing (2 of them) me. Our car was not starting up may be engine was too new for that cold after an hour and a lot of work it started again and we started all out again. It was literally unreal going through those canyons with colossus mountains deserted road where no one was seen except oil tankers
But we kept moving along with Sufi music, we saw the gataloops where too many turns can even make a case of nausea.
Our next stop was Ladakh because we were going to take our pass for exploring all the places (viz. nubra valley, pongTso Khardungla) from there and we wanted to do that next day so we kept moving. When we reached there it was like different place from the other world a serene place giving a touch/glimpses of Buddha. Monks, monasteries were the things of a perfect picturesque, soothing the chaotic mind.
No hurry , no hanky-panky everything was @ its place. So when we reached the office which is in the market and was just about to get our pass a disaster took place that added insult to our injuries.
The person who was to about to issue the pass asked us whether we had the entire requisite documents and we nodded our head but then he said the person who is the owner of the vehicle must be here or the registered member of R.C. should be here because last year a conflict took place @ladakh b/w some tourists and taxi owners and they furbished a story that from that time rental vehicle (viz. zoomcar , rental cabs) are not allowed here or the owner of the vehicle must be present otherwise they(taxi union) won’t let your vehicle to enter in the valley or the picturesque points. We were gobsmacked after hearing all this because it had never happened here or never we had heard all about this (Later we came to know that he was befooling us). We were crestfallen and all were in despair because it was such a coveted trip and the place that really mattered for us in the whole enervating odyssey was no more for us. We decided to return but then we all thought we have come here facing such conundrums now we are returning without even exploring anything, without having a taste of anything. We are not like that and right then we saw military’s camp and we all together shouted Hell yeah ! “Mission Kashmir.” We can’t go empty handed. We came and we must return with the enthralling memories not with the despair. Our friend who was driving the car was @first apprehensive because he knew that if he turned to took the vehicle to Kashmir he ‘ld put all of us in jeopardy. We all were kinda afraid too because 2 months ago a tourist was killed by stone pelters . But whole the young blood in the car shouted (boasting) “We ‘ll see them. We all are ready for Armageddon, this time whether us or they”. We all thought that a life without a risk is a life not lived. Moreover the biggest support, “Army” was by our side so what was there to fear about ???
So, From magnetic hill we all shifted a gear to Kargil.
The view along the road was just like a fairy-tale island or an obscure place. It was so stupendous that we all were flabbergasted. There were hardly few vehicles but we saw army’s juggernauts when we were near Baltal (amaranth yatra’s inception place). The view was so scintillating People were jostling to get on horses, planes etc . We hardly snapped ourselves at the picturesque places because there were troops who were acting as stymie. But i must say the places were so enchanting so exuberant that they resuscitated us.
Through the canyon we reached Srinagar. At dal lake we hardly took 2 or 3 pictures because we were having corn there.
Day 5: The return
We came via Pathankot . There were long traffic jams because too many tourists were there. But somehow we all reached our home safe and sound. This was the most uncanny, quirky and prepossessing odyssey of my Life.
So here i am culminating my excerpt of J&K. I must say one should drop all the vacillations, if’s , buts’ and just visit J&K once. Because there is a saying “If there is Jannat on earth, it is J&K.
( Have too many videos 'll post the link soon)
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