The Trip Of Life- Enchanting Leh Ladakh on bike..

Hi.. It’s been a while since I wrote something. There was nothing worth to be frank. Life was monotonous.. Things were going from north to south all day. I had to run as hard as I could to stay where I was. Had the worst year in 2018 and things hardly turned better in 2019. But as usual since I am too lazy to worry about my past or future, I survived.  Salute to my better half for bearing with me and sailing along. At some point of time I reached a point where I felt it’s the end of the road. I never had the strength to dream and never believed I could do anything on my own. Then slowly realized I have to fight back. At least try.. The roads as I always used to say has been my second home and have seen all my emotions. If it is on my bike my BUD it’s even better. So the plan was on. The trip of life. The trip I ve been dreaming for twelve long years and it couldn’t have come at a better time. A SOLO trip to the biker’s paradise Leh-Ladakh. Delhi to Delhi round trip of 3400kms. Travelling always opens your senses and perspectives, which was the need of the hour. I had to have a fresh start. 

Since I have been planning the same for quite a long period, the itinerary was always ready. Did lots of research and came up with a plan. Vani’s friend Arun gave valuable feedbacks and chipped in at every point of the trip making things easier for me. But still doing a SOLO was in itself a challenge and it didn’t go well with most of the people I knew and met along the trip. A rough plan was chalked and I started. Finally.. Butterflies tinkled my stomach as I sat in the plane to Delhi. I pinched myself several times to make sure it was real. By the time I reached my sister’s place at Noida, my bike had already reached as I had parceled it a couple of days earlier itself. Picked my BUD and did some final purchases for the trip. The day before I started to ride, I couldn’t catch my sleep in the excitement of what’s to come the next day.  The good thing about this time of the year was that sun would be up as early as five in the morning and stay bright till eight in the night. So I could make the most of my days.  Google helped me find way out of the city. During a trip it’s not the destination that counts, it’s the memories that fills your soul that counts. In that sense everything from as small as a bird to the forts I passed by were of importance to me. The roads were good and I eased along enjoying the morning breeze and my most favorite golden light of the rising sun.  I suddenly saw something moving in the middle of the road and to my surprise it resembled a monitor lizard, it was yelling in pain as it seemed that it was run over by a car. The well aligned boundaries of roads formed by eucalyptus trees couldn’t cover the beautiful fields on either side of the road. During my breakfast break met a foreigner, and then some mallu bikers. The idea to carry water bag paid off as the scorching heat dehydrated me faster than I imagined.   The plain open roads flew past fast and I eventually reached Amritsar. The arch at the entrance was quite a scene. Golden arch shined bright from a far distance. I had to reach Wagah border by 5.00pm to see the border retreat ceremony. After keeping my luggage in baggage counter available there, waited in queue. The sight of Indian flag flying high and the sound it produces in itself is enough to give you Goosebumps. I had to stand almost for two and half hours for the function to start and mind you that was after riding bike for almost 9-10 hours. But the excitement in the air filled my heart and quenched my pain. After the function I rushed and found a hotel near Golden Temple.The site of the temple in the night was mind blowing. Though few Sardars restrained me from taking pictures of the main shrine, I couldn’t resist my instincts. The selfless volunteering by the Sikhs is just amazing and worth praise. They clean even the top most point of the shrine and provide 24/7*365 days free food through their magnanimous kitchen. They even have free shoe and baggage counter.

The good thing about Punjab traffic is that you can follow your heart and no one cares a shit. There is nothing called road sense or traffic rules. It was as if the same are not meant for Punjabis. In order to exit the city and find way to Patnitop my next destination, I asked a riksha wala for directions and in a jiffy he popped my false pride that I knew Punjabi. I hardly understood a word he said. Again Google to the rescue I found myself moving. The heavy summer rain made things even harder for me.  In a few hours’ time Reached Pathankot. The name always strikes hard as the bruises of the terror attack remains in almost every patriotic Indian’s heart. Moving forward a sign board created a lump in my throat.. Kathua.  A few kilometers ahead took a right turn from Samba (wonder if the samba of Sholey is from here). It’s not a big junction and there is every chance you may miss it. The landscape suddenly changed and it was quite welcoming as I enjoyed the lush green forests and the army camps instilled safety assurance. It is advised to fill petrol before Samba as there are hardly any filling stations till Udhampur. Met the straight road highways again at Udhampur.  The winding roads that provided a blissful view of the valleys made the rest of the journey beautiful. The houses in the valleys resembled colourful aquarium pellets sprinkled on a green carpet. Came across many bridges on the way and the sight of a flyover with a passing train was worth the watch. The last 20 kms of hilly roads that lead to Patnitop was also mesmerizing and by then the hot sun gave way to chilling cold. The roads reminded me of the movie Bajrangi Bhaijan. 

The next destination was heaven on earth, Srinagar. Last days ride through the rough patches of road had enlightened me to reduce the tyre pressure and it worked. The bike became steadier and provided awesome balance. I had already heard of a tunnel near Patnitop  so travelled all the way in the wrong direction just to see India’s largest tunnel of 9.2KMs. I must admit that it was one of a kind experience. The ghat roads between the rocky mountains and a river flowing miles below which hardly had space for one big truck was filled with hundreds of it. Wise men had said earlier that it’s always better to start early ride slow and reach safe and it proved handy. Even though I bunked almost all the traffic blocks by the virtue of being on a two wheeler, the unlimited traffic ate a lion’s share of my day. Being Amarnath season the roads were guarded by armed forces on either side. The same view continued as I zipped past beautiful highway to Srinagar. My list of surprises continued as I went past the sign board of Pulwama and we wouldn’t believe that this heavily guarded place was also attacked. The next hoarding that caught my eyes was URI-119 Kms. The shock of these hoarding were relieved by a few shops which arouse the cricketer curiosity in me. Went past some bat factories where I would have got original Kashmir willow bats but due to the difficulty of carrying it along the trip I intentionally skipped them. Since I had only a few hours of the day left I could cover only the Dal lake, the must go place in Srinagar. It was a dream come true moment for me as I had been there almost a hundred times in my dreams and this time I got to be there for real. The enchanting waters are a masterpiece in itself. The mountain view, the birds, the floating vegetation and markets in such floating lands all provide a life time experience and we really feel the depth of the keerthichakra song “khuda se mannath hai meri, lauta do jannath voh meri”. The funny fact was that the very same lake which was buzzing with tourists would freeze completely in the winters.  Thanks a ton ( hope I won’t get hit in the head) to Mahesh for an unforgettable stay at Srinagar.

The ride through the Himalayan valleys started with my journey to Kargil. The road to Kargil was closed till 2 PM. So spent a lot of time enjoying Soanmarg, a beautiful place enroute. Please make sure to fill your pockets at regular intervals as the probability of finding ATMs and that too in working condition here is low. Even after all the time I spent, I reached my first real road test destination, the Zojilla pass early. I had two options to reach top. Either wait in queue and ride through road or cut the queue and climb to the top taking an off road route.  Since this was a once in a lifetime experience I opted the latter.  Beautiful roads, flowers and chirping of birds and my first encounter with ice filled mountains made my ride enjoyable and I reached Kargil easily. En route I had planned to visit Kargil war memorial but as there were no sign boards I missed that. So as soon as I reached Kargil, I rushed to see the Pakistani border. Thanks to a local man renting binocular I could see the border up close and as he explained things I clearly understood why it was so hard for our brave soldiers to fend off the Pakistanis during the Kargil war and how easy was it for them to infiltrate our borders. The road from Kargil to my dream destination Leh was amazing. It kept changing colours from gold, red, green , grey and for one wearing a cooling glass even more colours.

Soon into the ride I realized that the oil from back shocks had drained and had to be dead slow the rest of the ride and couldn’t enjoy the sceneries. Had to spend a couple of days at Leh longer than I had actually planned to get my bike fixed. Though I got my bike fixed at a local workshop by an international jugaad, I would desist from doing any major repair works from leh unless you own a bajaj or RE. Making most of my time at Leh, I went to Nimmu to try my hand at rafting. Had an awesome experience of 16 kms rafting which took almost 1.15 hrs at a cost of Rs.2000/head. The best part was that I could capture the whole fun in my go pro and it got even better when I got to get down in the chilling waters of the river which gets frozen in winters and hosts the Chadar trek. By this time of the trip itself I had come across many brothers from my part of the world and the accidental meetings sweetened the journey. Reached hotel after covering Magnetic hill (which hardly had anything attractive) and Sangam (the meeting point of two rivers).

The next day got to experience the wonderful hospitality of Malaichami Sir, Sriraj bhai and Varun bhai of ITBP Leh, who helped we to keep my excess luggage during my Nubra and Pangong Trip and once again thanks to Arun for introducing them. They were so selfless and caring that they treated me like their own brother. Words are not enough to explain the gratitude. Started the day by taking permits to Nubra and Pangong and then after covering the architectural masterpieces of Leh, the five storied shey palace and the nine storied Leh palace(the point to note is that these monuments are from the other century where our forefathers were not born) went to Hall of Fame. Before going further into that the Budha Temple in the Leh Palace needs a special mention as I have never come across a quieter and peaceful place in my life ever before. The statue of Budha overflowed with positive energy. Now back to the Hall of fame, this place is a must visit place in Leh as it throws light into the hardships our brave soldiers have faced during our testing war times and how the brave sons of our mother land fought with valour to enable us sleep peacefully at our homes.  A copy of letter written by a 22 year old soldier to his father brought tear in my eyes. It reminded me of a board by the BRO (Border Roads Organisation) “ The biggest gift you can give a soldier is being an Indian worth dying for”(slightly edited, but the gist is the same). On my way back visited Guru Pathar Sahib Gurudwara and the view of the setting sun from the mountain nearby was mesmerizing. 

 I could start my trip to Nubra only by 1 pm the next day. The much anticipated Khardungla pass was on cards. I was going to live my dream of riding my own bike through one of the highest motorable roads of the world which I have been longing since the day I got license.  I had to pay the price of spending more than 20 mts at Khardungla top and skipping my lunch as I had a severe headache coupled with vomiting as soon as I reached the police check post down the valley. ( key info: do not spend more than 20 mts at khardungla top unless you have oxygen cylinder, rented bikes from other states are not allowed). The ride ahead was fantabulous. The route to Diskit passing the plains and mountain ghats in the pink light of setting sun was an unforgettable experience and a small waterfall en route was icing on the cake. 

Was surprised to see couple of Chennaites and a bunch of Mallu bros whom I had met the previous day at the very same hotel where I stayed. After a brief visit to the Hunder sand dunes and filling my frames with double backed camels in their natural habitat, I headed to Pangong. Covered Diskit Monastry and Mytreya Budha temple on the way. BRO have done a great job by maintaining the roads in immaculate condition at most of the places. And they entertained throughout the trip with their eye catching quotes (Please don’t gossip, let him drive and be gentle on my curves were just some of them).

The never ending straight roads through the river bed made illusionary effects.

I felt as if I was staying at the same place as the sceneries hardly changed even after miles. The clouds etched stories on the valleys and it even resembled a human face at some point of time. Pangong lake is famous for its rare existence as it is a salt lake and the stories of its formation and existence is mind boggling. Enjoyed the serene view of the lake, took a photo on the 3 idiots fame scooter and settled at a local home stay.  Later on to the night, the sky was filled with a million stars and the freezing cold didn’t deter me from filling my soul with the sight. Since the road from Pangong to our China border was very bad, I didn’t try it and that left me with only a small distance to cover the next day.  So I took time for photo shoots with my bike and documenting the impeccable beauty of the serene valleys. The Changla Pass en route was by far the toughest one I encountered in my entire journey so far with almost no road and dangerous curves. 

So my days at my dream destination were nearing to an end.  Though unwillingly had to bid farewell to the wonderful place and friends I created along the way. Driving from Leh to Manali you have to carry petrol according to mileage of your vehicle as there is no petrol bunk covering around 350 and odd kilometers from Karu to Keylong. It is also advised to carry eatables and water as the excellent roads hardly have any eateries. As I zipped past the serene views, the road suddenly dipped into a gorge.  As I headed further, Met Jagath Bro and Rahul bro on the way and it made sense to travel with them as they had already been through this route on their way to Leh. And the decision paid off as they played a big role in helping me get through a big river crossing formed by the melting ice.  Saw lot of guys struggling to cross the same and even saw a guy falling from his Enfield. It was here that I Met Muflin and Jabbar bro. After a night’s stay at a temporary shelter at Zing Zing Bar surviving the subzero temperature, we headed to Manali together. I never knew that there won’t be any network connection till we cross Jispa (mind you that’s almost 200+kms from karu). So couldn’t call my better half that day and by the time I could contact her the next day she was all tensed and all I could do for a couple of minutes was to node my head and apologize eventually. By that time we had almost covered most of the bad roads and another river crossing which was tough but the experience of last day’s crossing made it easier. The roads lead us through enchanting landscapes and it varied from barren lands to lush green valleys with waterfalls and finally to the snow mountains. Just like any other pass the roads were very bad and this time it was even more dangerous with steep valleys and slippery muddy roads. The last two days ride proved to be tough and I realized that actually it was enough to ride from Manali to Leh to get best of all the experiences the entire trip had to offer. Negotiating the slippery roads and never ending fleet of Military trucks which reminded of the lakshya song “kandhon se milte hai kandhen”, we reached Rohtang Pass top only to be welcomed by a long traffic queue and countless tourists who crowded the entire place. Again being on a bike helped us to get past the traffic soon. The highlight of the day was a Himalayan vulture, an endangered species and the sight of it flying was a royal treat.  We stayed at a place arranged by Muflin and the local cuisine they served for dinner eliminated the stress of a long day’s ride.  The longest of the rides I had in my entire trip was saved for the last day. I covered 600+ kms and drove for more than 14 hours. The roads were very bad till Bilaspur and then it’s just plain straight highway. The burning heat kept reminding me that the holidays have come to an end. Though Delhi roads were confusing and filled with hectic traffic google granny helped me reach back to my sister’s place at Noida accurately.

 I had a couple of days in hand to hang around in Delhi before I headed back. So I met Arun and also parceled my bike back home (Things work at Nizamuddin railway parcel office only if you bribe. Or else it will work, but may take days). The trip provided me endless memories I could cherish for my lifetime and no travelogue can ever cover the entire emotions and events I encountered. The motive of the trip was clear and the overall experience quenched my thirst and filled my heart for a fresh start. Learned a whole lot of life lessons which gave me enough strength to put the past behind and move forward. I take this opportunity to thank all the people who stood their ground to support me, be it my family, or the people who helped me en route or even my colleagues who filled my place at office.

With a reassurance that dreams can actually be fulfilled if we persue hard enough, I dare to dream again, a new dream, a new life.

Word of the trip :- Ebullience- The quality of being cheerful and full of energy….

The perfect weekend...... Trying to write about a journey I had done a year ago. Some of the photos were lost and hence couldn't be included.Also apologies in advance for the floppy editing. My gadgets gave me a tough time in the end.

It's quite fascinating how technology affects our lives. Few years before I would have never imagined writing a blog without even touching  a keypad and  here I am clicking photos in a DSLR transferring it to my mobile wireless and writing my blog by voice command. But nothing replaces the joy and satisfaction of writing.. (switching to my keyboard) Writing has always been there for me. Be it a stupid diary or a travelogue. I ve always enjoyed every bit of it and I had made my mind to write one big travelogue, the one in a life time thing. I had a trip on the cards, a small one just about 8500 Kms covering almost the central India and the magical land, the biker's paradise- Ladakh. Everyone called me a lunatic. But I had my reasons to believe. But any how that didn't work. The daily chaos was eating up my head. The pressure was about to burst. But then came the plan. Thanks to aniyan for the monstrous bike and Vani for letting me do it inspite of her concerns. Before I knew I was back in the saddle doing my favorite task- riding..

On 23rd the MAD cousins had planned a mini get together at thrissur and cldnt afford to miss it coz I hadn't seen many of them for years together. Also Vani would get an opportunity to meet them. Had a nice evening there. The plan was set. Drop Vani by car on 23rd, attend the get together, head to kumbakonam on bike, temple visits and to chennai. Quite simple you know.

Photography and riding has always been my passion but left behind in the daily monotonous routine. It was time I regained them. Bought a camera again. It came to my mind the old ad featuring Ajay Devgan " khoob jamegi rang jab mil betenge teen yaar....aap me aur black piper club soda...." Me, bike and cam.

I had not biked for long except the daily office rides. So took it nice and slow. Started by 11. The moment I started it started pouring. At the petrol pump after feeding my gentle giant his tummy full I geared up with my rain coat and started. The perfect start for  my perfect weekend.

Visiting kumbakonam was on the cards for some time. For the time to change in our favour we ve to please the gods and it was long due. So headed that way. The road was pretty bad till Palakkad and the pouring rain did little help. As I reached Palakkad- Coimbatore border, climate eased a little. The surroundings changed serene. The lush green paddy fields and the rain clouds kissing the western ghats etched a beautiful picture in my mind. The 650 CC machine eased at 150 Kms/ hr and munched miles in minutes. Though I was not in a hurry, the familiar roads and the barren highways took me to Salem pretty soon. A few Kms past Salem I took a deviation heading kumbakonam.

The flora and fauna changed again. Large umbrella trees guarded both sides of the road. I could feel the warmth of the good old villages.. All were gazing at my gentle giant with amuse. Lights started to fade in the horizon and my eyes also felt dizzy. As usual to my practice I parked the bike on the roadside safely and started to size off on the bike itself. Oblivious of the surroundings I fell asleep fast. I was woke up by a man asking if he could help and even offered me a cup of coffee. I politely rejected him and thanked him. Upon asking, I told him my plan. Before I could finish he took his phone dialed someone and told..."hi.. My friend is coming there. Please do the needful." I was kind of surprised. I am a complete stranger to him , meeting him for the first time yet he calls me a friend. I felt good about it. There can be an angle of marketing or taking advantage of my situation in this as whosoever he called will obviously get paid. But I would like to see the sunny side of it coz before heading to the place I had made several calls to people who I claimed I know but they hardly bothered to help and here is a complete stranger calling me a friend. Isn't that what you call a helping hand from God?.

By 8.30 I reached kumbakonam and the guy who was on the other end of the phone picked me and arranged for my stay. His name is Shekar and I would like to call him Anna. He was a very humble person and promised me to take me to the list of temples I wanted to visit and a few other near by ones. Next day sharp 6 am I was ready and so was Anna. He was waiting for me downstairs. And without further delay we started the day tour.

There's long distance between me and temples and any knowledge related to it. So what all information I am about to share here is the bits and pieces I could learn from my conversation with Anna. The first temple in the list was Suryanar koil. But instead he took me to an another temple. It is customary to visit this temple before visiting suryanar koil he said. I was seriously impressed by this guy. For a normal autowala he gets paid for the kilometer he covers, but this guy took it as his responsibility to do it the proper way. He said that the temple is of Pranayeswarar and Mangalyam kakkum mangalambikai. Which means it gives long and happy married life. Well that's something everyone would wish for.

Then we headed to Suryanar koil. The hero of the temple was 'The Sun'. Less supporting role by Guru and casting the remaining 7 Grahas. It is believed that the position of these Grahas decide your journey of life. So it is good to clear any misunderstandings we have or infact they have for a happy life. The temple was crowded being a holiday. Waiting in the queue, I cld see a lot of people playing dummy gods. Panning my eyes past them i saw a machine with drums and plates and a motor. Why would such a thing be in a temple I wondered. Suddenly it started playing.. Its just that the temple orchestra is automated. Quite an invention I thought. Having spent long time in this temple we had to rush to our next destination. Anna had agreed to complete the list on the same day and we headed to our next destination. Unlike the TamilNadau I ve seen, Kumbakonam is all green and full of agricultural activities. But one thing I noticed was that all the ponds I saw were empty and dry. I didn't quite get it how agriculture was still thriving.

While I slipped in my thoughts, Anna took me to the next temple. He introduced the deity as Sukran- the Finance Minister he went on explaining, this guy is responsible for your financial well being. With wealth comes beauty. So he looks after your fashion also. Both together attracts a good partner. So he is responsible for a beautiful life partner and the pleasures associated with it. Well I cldnt ask for the last part as I already had that. But being financially well off is always a priority right.

Moving on .. the next in line was Kathiramangalam- Vanadurgai. A small durga temple with a serene atmosphere.We generally believe that someone's bad eye has affected us or someone's jealousy has brought us down. She is said to cure such conditions.

Anna, being a man born and brought up at Kumbakonam, had all things sorted. He knew all the places in out and took me to the next temple in a jiffy. The Raghu & Kethu Temple. The Naganatha Swami Raghu sthalam had a story behind it. At the time of extraction the holly amruthu, devas got the opportunity to taste the amruthu first. An asura disguised as a deva, got hold of the same. But Lord Vishnu being the referee caught him red handed and spanked his head with a spoon. The asura split into two, one with snakes head and human body named Raghu and other with snakes body and human head - the Kethu. and eventually they were unable to taste the amruth. The idol of Raghu at the temple had a specialty, at the time of abhishekam the milk turns blue while poured on the idol. The temple was quite big and a testimony of ancient architecture. We were getting late as the first half of the day was coming to an end and we had two more temples to cover.

The next was Ayyavadi. The main prathishta was a goddess also called a Prthigadevi. Anna explains that the goddess is in roudra bhavam and has a fearsome bird's face. In order to keep her calm, the temple hall and places near the statue is adorned with rudraksha chains. And hence there is no offering of light or sound. It is believed that she wards off black magic and keeps us safe. Coming out of the temple the atmosphere was serene and offered great peace of mind. There saw a tree with five different types of leaves. as if someone grafted them together when it was small, but anna clarified that the tree is like that. Sometimes natures marvels are none less than magic.

Rushing to the next temple, the Uppiliappan temple, also known as Thennal Thirupathi, the elder brother of Thirupathi Venkatesa. The temple is known for keeping family relationship stronger and happier and that's why may be I saw a couple heading out in their traditional wedding outfit after the wedding rituals. At heart wished them the best for an eventful life ahead. In Kerala, elephants are an integral part of temples. But there I didnt come across one so far but here. The elephant was trained to bless people and collect their tokens of appreciation in cash and kind. The cash part would go the mascot and the kind part- the eatables will find its way down her throat. With a cheerful note our first half of the day came to an end and Anna left me at the hotel for a power nap.

By 4 PM we set out to finish our second leg of the day and reached a small temple with main prathishta of Siva. But the star of the place was Sani Bhagavan. Among the navagrahas Sani has an important place. He can take us to the pinnacle of success and in a jiffy turn the tables around. He can show us both ends of life. Generally sani prathishta is seen as single and adorned in black clothes. Here he is with whole family of two wives Maha Devi and Sreshta Devi and their sons Kulikai and Mandi. Since he is with family, here alone the idol is adorned in blue clothes. Family always brings colour to our lives and even for gods there are no exception. Here also I saw the automated drums and understood that its part of their age old customs.

After visiting one more Vishnu temple near by we headed for the Pattiswarar temple. The journey was a bit long one but it was the best part of the day. Anna took me through a short cut which covered the greenery of the village in full. This part of the village had sufficient water and hence cultivation also. Saw a man sitting near a fully ploughed field resting after a full day's toil, a cow farm and so on. I was actually jealous for the fact that while we get all the adulterated foods and polluted air and water these people get all so fresh. The route kept amusing me as I came across an ancient mosque in the land filled with temples in all size and shapes. I closed my eyes recollecting my day well spent as anna glided through the nature's hairpin bends.

Pattiswarar again a Siva temple also known as Thenpuriswarar, had typical gopuras and the site of sparrows flying into them in the backdrop of setting sun's golden light was quite a spectacle. The next and last of the list was Thirusakthimutram yet again a siva temple but with a specialty. Here, goddess Parvathy is seen hugging the Siva idol/lingam. The temple priest explained the history of the temple and he believes the temple is more than 2000 years old and it substantiated the weak and old look of the structure. The story behind the idol goes something like Parvathy and Sivan were separated some how and Parvathy did penance and the power of her penance made Siva to appear before her but his power was even stronger and he appeared as a hot glowing light. Afraid of the sight or by the pleasure of seeing him, she hugged him tight there by calming him down.

The day was coming to an end.Sun left the scene leaving
his masterpiece painting in the cloud clad sky. In the backdrop of the temple and the setting sun, anna explained the stories of the temples we visited. All along the day anna accompanied to all the temples, stood in queue to buy tickets , carried deepams and instructed when and where to light them. More than a driver he sincerely meant to help me I thought. As time had come for us to part ways I sincerely thanked him and paid more than I promised. As I emotionally expressed my happiness of all his good gestures throughout the day, his reply left me in splits. He said " Its nothing Sir, hadn't I come, you would wander here and there not knowing where to get what and where to keep them thereby wasting time. I had to finish the trip by evening".... I was totally speechless.

The whole thing about the temple visits was simple belief. Its not that I am a die hard devotee or something. An opportunity to ride bike, travel and the belief that these temple visits would bring happiness and good fortune were good enough reasons and I believe, that the stronger the belief , more likely that it turns out true. I started my journey home bound the next day thanking all the people I came across the trip who selflessly helped me. This again is the best part about travelling. A complete stranger can sometimes offer a better warmth of a relationship than your closest of closest friends/relatives. Meeting new people and knowing their part of the world gives a very different insight about life. In few minutes time I reached the highways and my destination in a few hours as the speed battle continued. Along the way I came across some really tempting signage, and trust me if I had a slight opportunity I would have cashed in but alas, I was just a couple of kilometers from home. Every beautiful journey has to come to an end and this was no exception. The sun bid farewell with my eyes on the horizon, looking out in the expectation of hitting the tarmac soon .

                                          

The Kulu-Manali Experience

The good thing about tours is that you forget all your daily worries, timeline crunches  and just live free… and when you are with friends…the blessing from above…you find the time flying past.…. And that’s the very thing I enjoyed on my first voyage to kiss the Himalayan valleys…. The kulu-Manali treat…

                Normally I find it very difficult to open my eyes at 8.30 in the morning even after 3 rounds of alarms on a working day. But strangely, on the day of my start of the journey I woke up at 4.30 all alone without any alarm and reached railway station at 5.45. So much for the early waking.. my train was at 6.40…. So an hour at the Chennai Central watching the silk saree adds… that really was a bad start… anyhow managed to find a seat and slowly slipped to a nap. The next thing I hear is the announcement that the Duranto express to Hazrath Nizamudhin will leave from platform 11 in a few mts…Oh gosh…I dnt even know where the platform was. Somehow I managed to aboard the train and it left the station as if it was waiting for me.

 Sitting inside the ac cabin it felt like the train is floating above the rails… and it floated past dry barren wheat lands and reached Nizamudhin at 11.30 the next day.

             

                       You know its always nice to be with your family and ur loved ones… and that’s exactly what was awaiting me there…  Ammini oppol,ettan, kids and sailaja vallyamma….they ve always been there when I count my family and  so it was nice to c them and that too at their place..Got a whole day for the never ending chit chat… and left there by 3 the next evening. Back to nizamudhin station and finally my comrades Hari and Rajesh or in other words “badasab” arrived after a horrible train journey running 5 hrs late… then soon we found ourselves in janasadabdi to chandigarh and that I should tell u is a very good train. Like I said , with friends time fly… we reached chandigarh before we knew and there ,one more friend joined.. Vinay. We went to his place at kalka.

                         Everything was planned by us until we encountered our taxi driver the next day. Mr “Pulunthan”( that’s what we named him). Its really a wonder how he fits into an indigo and he can hardly turn the steering coz it will hit his belly.. Needless to say we keralites in front of Punjabis will look like a sheep standing next to a bison..   We started our rest of the journey in the Indigo with Pulunthan… The roads were covered on top with some beautiful trees with violet and yellow leaves.. Thus began the dream journey…

                       We left the planning to pulunthan as he wld be more familiar with the place. So he said its better to fix base at Manali and see places there and then head to maclaudganj, jammu and back to kalka via chandigarh.  So as planned we went straight to Manali . On the way we saw a valley and it looked like lights sprinkled or like water drops on a mirror illuminated by a yellow light. Then pulunthan said that we were crossing Kulu. We skipped the place as it had nothing more to offer than the manali.

Reached manali by night and arranged a room and dosed off. The one good thing about travelling with badasab is that adequate sleep and food is always guaranteed.. So the next day there was no question of getting up early.

The next day we left the hotel at our ease. At first to a nearby temple and there, for the first time in my life I saw a Yak… In our school days we were taught Y for Yak but had never seen that. So it was nice. Then we headed to Solang Valley. Though we had the opportunity for some adventure sports like skiing, paragliding and all we preferred not to cut our own neck with a blade. The main attraction at the place is a Shiva temple right at the foot of a small waterfall in a snow clad valley. The car could take us only 2 kms short of the place. So for the rest we had 2 options, either by foot or by horse and trust me the smell of the horses stink….So we preferred to walk the distance.

 Well… for someone spending 17 hrs on chair or sort of  and the rest on bed, walking the 2 kms was never an easy task. Moreover we ran out of oxygen because of the altitude. But nothing mattered much as the place was so serene and it felt like heaven (Seriously I don’t ve any previous experience of visiting the heaven… bt in my imagination). Finally made the 2kms walk and the scene of the ice and a tiny fall of water which gets sprinkled in the air and never made the ground made me stand like  paused .  

The unexpected walk made us all hungry and then came Maggie to the rescue. In that cold weather, the hot Maggie felt like the best food ever had in our lives. Once we wiped the plates off we went for our first encounter with the ice. We enjoyed the place and headed back after the Shiva darshan. After lunch we had a quick nap and then in the evening we went to a park near by filled with Christmas trees and we ended up in a river or rather a stream. After that we headed to the local market. As we walked past making some window shopping we noticed some gorgeous street dogs which were really photogenic and lot more other gorgeous photogenic beings of which I am not supposed to mention here

In the market we saw a budhist temple and some festival was going on there. Walking past that, we slowly made our way to the room as we had to leave early the next day. Next day to Rohtang pass…. Puluntan’s car wouldn’t go there and so he arranged a sumo for us instead. On our way we rented some ice suits and boots. We paid around 3k for that and we got a guide as a complimentary gift.

There we had one more option other than walking and horse ride.. the quad bikes. But we let the miser in us take the guise of adventurists and preferred walking again, and this time for 4kms. The steep ice mountains never mattered to the guide and he easily covered the distance while we were still climbing. At the top as we looked down the roads appeared to us like rivers and the snow clad mountains filled our frames.

Again after the Maggie rescue we started our skiing lessons on skiing board or sticks whatever u may call them. We never made that task but we indeed did some butt skiing and that was really good….;-)… after an hour of excitement we planned  our way back . On the way down I saw a quad biker and wanted to take a photo of mine on that.. So first took a couple of photos of him to impress and then asked him to take mine.

 The ride back was awesome, with an off road drive down the hill to avoid a traffic block , the hanging bridge and the narrow road between the flowered apple trees all made that worth.

The next day we headed to an another shiva temple and then to maclaudgangh. This temple had a specialty that even though it was amidst the snow clad mountains, there was a 24/7 supply of natural hot water. The phosphorous content of the water is supposed to be the reason for that. 

The road to maclaudgangh was again awesome. The ghat roads with turns every now and then and risking our way through hairpins which if missed will land us in a river way down… The other side of the valley had wheat fields which looked like waves in the river and some beautiful house at some un imaginably precarious places. We came down the hill and went side by side with the river and then we stopped by for the most wonderful thing that happened to us in the tour, Rafting…. It certainly was a delightful experience to pierce through the dead cold water 

with one hand held tight on the ropes and the other holding our friend’s. Though we got all drenched up in ice cold water we enjoyed every bit of the ride.That day we halted in a hotel on our way and the next day we paid a quick visit to the Dalelama’s place at maclaudgangh and went straight to Jammu. Actually we had no time to c Jammu as such, bt it was part of a technical planning by  badasab. So made our quick visit to a temple there and had our halt for the day at Pathankot, Punjab. The fact that we had to return to our daily lives haunted us like anything. The return tickets of both Rajesh and Hari were not confirmed till that night. The next morning, Rajsh bai’s ticket got confirmed bt Hari had to take Tatkal. Should we call it fate, I don’t know but Hari got 1 out of the 5 available tickets  by tatkal. After that we headed back to kalka through chandigarh and on the way  just paid a visit to the rock garden and rose garden at chandigarh.

The dream run was about to end in a day. Again back to the work life, parting ways with our friends, the very thought of it broke us all. But it was obvious that it has to happen… One fact was again proved that friends are the greatest blessings we receive in our lives and I am glad that I have a bunch of them. Each moment spent with them were made into memories which no time can erase… and I thank them all…just for being there….