Delhi To Leh- 100 Rupay Jeb Main : If This Is Paradise, I am Better Without It.

Now we were amidst huge peaks covered with snow which never defreeze. One can see huge black mountains but in a second look, one would realize they are glaciers painted with pollutants. Pollution created by us can affect places we can’t even imagine. It destroys the beauty we couldn’t even see.

The roads were getting bad. Water from the melting glaciers was making the road slippery, filthy & muddy. Even a 25km drive was taking hours. It was frustrating. No vegetation, no humans, only a few bikers who can be seen now & then.

Every biker who passes from the road gives a thumb up to the other biker. A very crazy tradition which I was absolutely unaware of. With every biker passing by with a thumbs up, I asked my friend if he knows them. He smiled & said that I would know them too. But then the tradition infected me too. Every worker working on the road also waves at you. Amazing. It is probably the spirit of adventure they wave at, not u or me. it is the same spirit which unite nationals of different  nations  among  this killing terrain.

Then we reached Sarchu which is half way between Manali-Leh. I was getting impatient. The monotonous terrain & lack of oxygen & time consuming bad roads - they all were making me extremely depressed. When we got down at Sarchu for a Police Check, I was fuming & the target was everything around. What made the situation worse was the knowledge from the Hawaldaar at the post that the road ahead was going to be even worse. Leh was now 252kms away & I had to reach there before I die. The beautiful terrain could no longer hold my attention. But since no one dies of boredom, I survived.

Amongst all these depressing issues, I saw a sign board which said “Welcome to the Paradise on Earth”. Yes we had touched Kashmir. The Kashmir I had seen in magazines was so different from the one I was experiencing now. Believe me, it was no Paradise but a scary hell & the devil was doing everything possible to make us stay there forever.

In the very next curve, we found a bridge broken & hanging midway. It was a big bridge & repairing could have demanded at least two days. What irritated me the most was people saying around “all this is common here”. Well now those common thing s were going to take away my precious two days. But then as they say “ no one stops bikers” we saw a group of bikers pushing each other’s bike through a ditch near by to reach the road on the other side. We followed them & saved out two days from getting wasted.

 It was there when we met a small group of three bikers from Delhi & became friends instantly…...

Delhi to Leh : 100 Rupay Jeb Main – Tandi to Jispa( I proved my smartness again)

It was 5 o’clock in the morning and we could hear the army trucks moving out of the camp. We felt so ashamed of sleeping till late. A peaceful breakfast at the officer’s mess & we left the comfort behind at 5:30 a.m. Next stoppage was a petrol station few kilometers away from Tandi. The precious one as the next one would be available after 365kms. If you miss this one, you will be out of fuel in the middle of a desert. It was 6 in the morning and the station was locked. Unlike other filling stations, this one remains closed at night till the owners come at 6:30 in the morning.



Meanwhile we met a middle aged man who had come in a fragile looking 120 cc bike & cans & bottles for petrol. A yellow flag “ Om Namah Shivay” written over it. He was a part of a bike rally which starts from Jaipur to Amarnath shrine every year. He has been a part of this rally for the past 11 years. People can be so incredibly crazy. The road ahead took us to an unseen journey among beautiful & rare terrains & absolutely breathtaking sceneries. We could also see some amazingly planned villages & small monasteries.



On our way, we had to cross several natural springs ‘nalas’ as they are called. Some were very light & could be crossed while still riding the bike but some had such force that we had to get down from the bike & drag ourselves through the water pressure. I was almost about to get swayed with the flow a couple of times. We were all drenched in water up to our waste. My feet had started freezing. I was advised to keep my fingers moving so that they could continue to feel & do not freeze.



We had crossed Kelong & were somewhere between Gemur & Jespa, when we saw an extreme high spring flowing over the road. We could also see few bikers drying themselves up on either side of the spring, I had already given up. There as no way we could cross that gigantic spring. But my friend said it was possible. I didn’t wanted to risk my life so I got down & stood at one side to see what was coming up next. He got off the bike too, with full throttle, he got into the water. The next second I could neither see him or the bike, but we could still hear the bike roaring. Two bikers from the other side jumped into the water & pulled the bike & the rider out. And there they were on the other side of the spring, water dripping all over. Now that is called being courageous. I was happy to see both of them alive.

Oops! But now it was my turn. Well I might sound like blowing my own trumpet but girls have always been smarter & so am I. I waited for another couple of minutes till I could see a truck approaching. Got a lift till the other side of the spring. SIMPLE. You don’t always need to have courage. Sometimes even brain also saves. I could see all the bikers smiling at their foolishness & my smartness

In the middle of all these brave acts, we found two Australian cyclist crossing the same spring on their cycles. Now that’s called being extra courageous. We all clapped for this undying unfazed spirit of adventure.



We took an idea about the road from those bikers & moved onnnnnnnnnnnn………….

Delhi to Leh: 100 Rupay Jeb Main :Manali –Rohtang-Tandi(107kms of mud, rocks & no oxygen)

The room was familiar. Last year, on my runaway trip to Manali, this guest house was my escape & the same Room No 205 was my haven. When I woke up next morning, it felt as if I never moved out of that room. That I never went back to Delhi. That I have always been there. That I always belonged to that bed & that cozy smell of wet woods. Never felt so secured & safe as I did rolling under those white sheets & velvet blankets.

But then to taste the adventure, one must leave all sources of comfort & simply plunge into the stream of impossibilities which then turn true. I was as fresh as I was when we started from Delhi. No pain, no tiredness, I had started tasting adventure. My friend wanted me to rest that day as it was my first long route experience. But I was getting impatient. I had seen Manali several times but this time I wanted to go beyond & see more.

We carried an extra can of petrol & started for Rohtang at noon. It was bright, warm & sunny. As we moved up, the clouds became very heavy. Rohtang has never been fair to me. Previous two experiences had been deadly but this time I had to win. There were fresh landslides at different places. Mud till the knee & sometimes even above it. Dangerous narrow roads. Traffic on both the sides was still, yet all bikers were somehow moving. I had to walk several meters with the luggage as the bike had to appear lighter to cross the swamp. Those few meters made me so tired, exhausted & breathless as if I had been walking since Delhi. The clouds had settled on the ground. Zero visibility & killing chill & there I encountered snow for the first time. I have been to many hill stations but could never see snow. On one side of the road, there was a huge chunk of snow, black & white. I touched it, kicked it. It was exactly same as the snow in the frost freezer. Or like the ones “Chuskis” are made of. We had crossed Rohtang & those dense clouds too. Two of my dreams were already fulfilled.

The terrain had entirely changed. There were only rocky mountains around & almost no habitat. We had no idea about our next stoppage. The landslide at Rohtang road had taken up a lot of time. It was going to get dark soon. We stopped at Khokhsar to sip a cup of tea & get an idea about the road ahead. The ladhakhi guy at the tea stall advised us to go to Tandi. It had camping sites & an Army Transit Camp as well. It was almost dark when we began to see a well constructed colony from a distance. White lights & shelters made of plastic & tin. It was a transit camp. With few approaches we got a permission to spend the night at the transit camp. So we night stayed with almost 600 soldiers from three regiments in a transit camp. And what a camp it was…………………….

Delhi to Leh: 100 Rupay Jeb Main (departure morning) : G.T Karnal Road: Worth a Chapter

It was still pretty early on G T Karnal road, when I realized that people of my city appeared to be more health conscious than I thought they were. People of all ages & genders were walking, running, jumping or working out on both sides of the highway. It also made me realize the grave unavailability of community parks for these health conscious people who had to come to a highway to take in fresh morning breath.

Next was a filling station with semi-naked attendants. We had disturbed them pretty early. But arn’t they supposed to be serving 24x7. Next was the most atrocious thing one can do. The cruzer had to undergo a pollution check before we move ahead to stranger destinations. The poor guy responsible for the check was sleeping in his 5x4 cabinet with only loose underwear on. Must be really deep in his dream that we actually had to stuff ourselves in that cabinet, shake him well to get up & do the needful. He must have cursed the infiltrators the whole day.

It was getting cloudy. The roads were all wet. As if the rain was preceding us & guiding us towards the hill

Next stoppage was for the breakfast. The only Mc Donalds on G T Karnal road, opposite famous Cheetal Dhaba near Kurukshetra. So what is so special about a Mc Donald’s outlet? Well a Mc D corner in city matters nothing but a Mc D corner in be wilderness means a lot. It somewhere symbolizes modern day civilization. God knows, when will be the next “Aaloo Tikki burger be available?

We were almost going to miss it, when I saw the familiar “M” hiding on the other side of the half built flyover. Nice complex with other familiar food outlets like Subway & Sagar Ratna and some swans floating around. But only Mc Donald’s could offer food for early travelers like us. We even took an advantage of Mr Mc Donald sitting outside his own outlet & went inside to see how those egg muffins were made. We were probably too fond of infiltrating.

Newly arrived books, looking through the closed glass doors of those book shops. As if they wanted to come along. Break free from those glass cages & runaway with us to the real world. It was then that I decided to write a travelogue when I return.

Witnessing pollution coming from all big & small industries, we reached the famous city of Chandigarh. I had never seen this city before but had heard a lot. Well planned city, where sector 2 comes after sector 1 & not sector 10. So well planned, that every round about has a liquor vendor for sure. It surely shows the effect of joyfulness of the state over the state government. The traffic jam was very similar to that in Delhi.

The lunch was at Punjab- Himachal Border. The journey on plains was good but the difficult time was ahead……..

Delhi to Leh: 100 Rupay Jeb Main (departure early morning)

For all those who know me & my fondness for running away, would also remember my last “ Runaway trip to Manali”. It was almost the same time of the year, when I could not live the city life anymore & had to run away to destinations unknown. This year, it was again full of exhaustion . frustration piled up since one year. Working for weeks back to back, no fun, no time for oneself & absolutely no existence.

I am a Sagittarian. a traveler by soul. Vacations for me are not as they are for you : mere pleasure time. Traveling for me is like Oxygen is for you.

This journey was absolutely unplanned, as all my trips are, but yet it was exceptional from the rest. The trip was planned by my destiny. It was almost as if someone wanted me to visit specific selected places of His choice. The most beautiful places out of beautiful ones. The trip made me question my own limitations & the height of courage

I cannot move ahead without telling you about someone who made this ‘Best ride of my life’ possible. Someone who made me realize that I have much more substance in me than what I thought I had. For all the curious ones, who would be eager to know the name: ok! I am not telling

But what I am going to tell you now is the beginning of the journey. Slept early the previous night. As we wanted to start the journey early. It is always advisable to complete the journey of plains before its noon.
4 a.m, Day 1 is when we started from my home. Not much of luggage. A saddle bag on the cruzer, two separate bags for us & one tent.

Again the curious ones must know that in this trip, I was strictly a pillion rider. The Delhi roads seemed to be so calm at those early hours. Had never seen them such ever before. Gurgaon to Dhaula Kuan, to Azaadpur mandi to G.T Karnal road- it took us less than half an hour.

Hey , would like to digress here. Anyone interested to know the story behind “100Rupay Jeb Main” ? Well, for the curious ones, this was the only amount I had in my wallet in the whole journey. I was never able to withdraw any money from my account, nor did this “100 Rupay” got spent. Thanks to my notorious bank who bluntly refuses to give money even if you hang on to an ATM for hours. Again I m not going to disclose the name, but what I am going to disclose is that we must get back to our track, our travel tale. Which will now resume in the next day coverage…………………..