Prologue - The Plan is hatched!
Sometime around the end of 2012
For the past few months I had been reading quite a few travelogues. And, the majority if these were of road trips to Ladakh. The landscape, the journey, the adventure - everything was awe-inspiring. Somewhere, deep down inside me, even I started harbouring the dream to go to Ladakh. Yes, the place seemed like a Wonderland, at least in the pics! For the next few months,all I did during free time in office was read Ladakh travelogues, and more travelogues.
In mid Feb '13, somehow a plan was made to go to Manali. Me, my Brother and his friend - we three decided to leave early on Friday morning and return by Sunday eve. I had never driven in the hills, and this was supposed to be the first time I was going to be driving in the mighty Himalyas. I was scared and excited. But, all this changed at the end of the trip. Driving in the hills is probably the best experience you can have if you love driving. And, loved it, I did! 3 days later, I thought I had experienced it all - driving on the best and the worst of roads. Driving continuously for hours at a stretch and covering around 550 Kms in a day. But, I wanted more!
For the next few days, i started drawing up an imaginary itenary in my mind about going to Ladakh in my own car. But, slowly as reality seeped in - I realized that I probably needed a bigger car, not necessarily a 4WD but definetely with a high GC. Even if I did manage to reach Leh in my own car, it was too big a risk for me. The fear of being stranded in the middle of nowhere was a little too big. Also, the underbody hits my car took and the replaced link road at the end of the trip due to the mild potholed roads near Kiratpur Sahib(mild as compared to what I have seen from the videos of the Leh-Manali highway) wasnt very confidence inspiring. So, slowly it begain sinking in that I probably wont be able to take my own car to Ladakh.
Inspite of the handicap of being without a capable enough vehicle to reach Ladakh, the love of the sceneries I had seen of Ladakh was way too big to overcome. I just had to go to Ladakh. Suddenly, one fine day (20th Feb) Rohit pinged on Whatsapp, about the drop in air ticket prices to Leh. This is how the conversation went about in the group (reconstructed and shortened from whatever I can remember):
Rohit: Leh ki tickets sasti hain.
Arun: kitne ki hain?
Rohit: Check on makemytrip, around 6K
Me: Kar lein kya?
Rohit: haan kara lete hain.
Me: kab ki karaani hain:
Arun: waapsi ki kara lete hain?
Rohit: 29 July ki kara li maine.
Me: Ok me also booking.
Arun: Me also booking.
Me: Booked for 29 July
Arun: Booked for 29 July
Rohit: Abey tumne sach mein kara li? Maine nahi karayi.
Me: Doesnt matter, I am going now:
Arun: Yeah, we are going now.
Rohit: Ok me also booking.
And, 15 minutes later we had 4 people who had booked return tickets from Leh to Delhi. This is how the plan to Leh was finalized. A little later, Arun, called Saif and Amitesh and booked their tickets too. Plus, he also roped in another of his friend from Pune.
So, 7 of us - Rohit, Nidhi, Me, Arun, Bhavna, Amitesh and Saif were going now going to Ladakh ... err.. coming back from Ladakh, we still had no idea how we were going to reach there. No leave approvals from office, no consultation with the families - we had out of nowhere booked flight tickets from Leh to Delhi in the heat of the moment.
Next part - People backing out, doubts, Uttrakhand floods, excessive rains and all the madness that preceded the journey.
For the past few months I had been reading quite a few travelogues. And, the majority if these were of road trips to Ladakh. The landscape, the journey, the adventure - everything was awe-inspiring. Somewhere, deep down inside me, even I started harbouring the dream to go to Ladakh. Yes, the place seemed like a Wonderland, at least in the pics! For the next few months,all I did during free time in office was read Ladakh travelogues, and more travelogues.
In mid Feb '13, somehow a plan was made to go to Manali. Me, my Brother and his friend - we three decided to leave early on Friday morning and return by Sunday eve. I had never driven in the hills, and this was supposed to be the first time I was going to be driving in the mighty Himalyas. I was scared and excited. But, all this changed at the end of the trip. Driving in the hills is probably the best experience you can have if you love driving. And, loved it, I did! 3 days later, I thought I had experienced it all - driving on the best and the worst of roads. Driving continuously for hours at a stretch and covering around 550 Kms in a day. But, I wanted more!
For the next few days, i started drawing up an imaginary itenary in my mind about going to Ladakh in my own car. But, slowly as reality seeped in - I realized that I probably needed a bigger car, not necessarily a 4WD but definetely with a high GC. Even if I did manage to reach Leh in my own car, it was too big a risk for me. The fear of being stranded in the middle of nowhere was a little too big. Also, the underbody hits my car took and the replaced link road at the end of the trip due to the mild potholed roads near Kiratpur Sahib(mild as compared to what I have seen from the videos of the Leh-Manali highway) wasnt very confidence inspiring. So, slowly it begain sinking in that I probably wont be able to take my own car to Ladakh.
Inspite of the handicap of being without a capable enough vehicle to reach Ladakh, the love of the sceneries I had seen of Ladakh was way too big to overcome. I just had to go to Ladakh. Suddenly, one fine day (20th Feb) Rohit pinged on Whatsapp, about the drop in air ticket prices to Leh. This is how the conversation went about in the group (reconstructed and shortened from whatever I can remember):
Rohit: Leh ki tickets sasti hain.
Arun: kitne ki hain?
Rohit: Check on makemytrip, around 6K
Me: Kar lein kya?
Rohit: haan kara lete hain.
Me: kab ki karaani hain:
Arun: waapsi ki kara lete hain?
Rohit: 29 July ki kara li maine.
Me: Ok me also booking.
Arun: Me also booking.
Me: Booked for 29 July
Arun: Booked for 29 July
Rohit: Abey tumne sach mein kara li? Maine nahi karayi.
Me: Doesnt matter, I am going now:
Arun: Yeah, we are going now.
Rohit: Ok me also booking.
And, 15 minutes later we had 4 people who had booked return tickets from Leh to Delhi. This is how the plan to Leh was finalized. A little later, Arun, called Saif and Amitesh and booked their tickets too. Plus, he also roped in another of his friend from Pune.
So, 7 of us - Rohit, Nidhi, Me, Arun, Bhavna, Amitesh and Saif were going now going to Ladakh ... err.. coming back from Ladakh, we still had no idea how we were going to reach there. No leave approvals from office, no consultation with the families - we had out of nowhere booked flight tickets from Leh to Delhi in the heat of the moment.
Next part - People backing out, doubts, Uttrakhand floods, excessive rains and all the madness that preceded the journey.
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