Riding To Magical Mountains – Leh & Ladakh

Blog From 2015 –
Prologue:

DAY 1 : “A Journey Towards Our Dreamland Begins” -> NH8- Vapi- Surat – Vadodara – Godhra – Modasa : 600kms

DAY 2 : “The Most Unanticipated Episode” -> Modasa – Udaipur – bhilwara – Ajmer : 460kms

DAY 3 : “Miracles Do Happen….” -> Ajmer – Jaipur – Kotputli – 242 kms

DAY 4 : “Long Way Down…” -> Kotputli – Rohtak – Panipat – Ambala – Ludhiyana – Jalandhar – 600kms

DAY 5 : “In The Shadow of the Mountain” -> Jalandhar – Pathankot – Jammu –Patnitop : 287kms

DAY 6 : “Snow Capped Mountain” -> Patnitop – Anantnag – Srinagar – Sonamarg : 261kms

DAY 7 : “Into The Thin Air” -> Sonamarg – Zozila pass – Kargil war memorial – Kargil : 123kms

DAY 8 : “Tradition of Heaven” -> Kargil – Saspol/Saspul : 157kms

DAY 9 : “A View of the World’s Highest Motorable Road” -> Saspol/Saspul – Leh City- Khardungla Top – Leh : 140kms

DAY 10 : “Dry Day” -> Leh City : 0 kms

DAY 11 : “In the direction of Lonely Planet” -> Leh – Chang la pass – Pangong Tso : 170kms

DAY 12 : “Lonely Planet on the Edge – Salt Lake” -> Pangong Tso – Chang la – Karu – Upshi : 140kms

DAY 13 : “Day of S2 – “Suffering & Survival” -> Upshi- Rumtse-Tanglang la – Pang – Lachung la : 150kms

DAY 14 : “Fearless Souls” -> Lachungla – Gata loops – sarchu – Baralacha la – jispa : 140kms

DAY 15 : “The Last Pass” -> Jispa – Rohtang Pass – Manali : 140kms

DAY 16 : “The end of the beginning” -> Manali – Mandi – Chandhigarh : 140kms

DAY 17 : “Sleeping Beauties” -> Chandhigarh to Mumbai via Train

DAY 18 : “Mumbai – The Tragedy Day” -> Reached Mumbai

Finally me and my husband consummated most audacious ride of our life last season on “Saffy” and “Touro”… 18 days 8 states covering approximately 4500 kms, we were back to Mumbai meri jaan out of harm’s way and with heaps of learning’s

Hold on hold on Fine let’s make a short introduction about us and our Motorcycles

Thats US, About to conquer Ladakh (halfway through and posing at Pangong Tso)

Kiran Singh Desai : That’s me and I was riding “Bajaj Avenger 220” for this ride

Saffy : Saffy is name of my motorcycle who accompanied me

Sachin Desai : He is my better half and was riding “Royal Enfield – 350 Electra” for the ride

Touro : Touro is name of Sachin’s bullet who accompanied him

Now let’s elongate the above points :

Something about us

3 years back <2013> when I got hooked up, I never contemplated that I can even ride a bike or there is even something called as BIKE RIDE. Sachin bought his 1st bike that was bullet on 18th January 2013 officially, before that he was riding his brother’s Yamaha FZs and with Bullet our 1st ride was to tahmini ghat in the similar year and from there on this RIDING thing never stopped. We went for many rides ofcourse I always accompanied Sachin with his ride but somehow I never enjoyed being a pillion, I never felt good about being called as Co-pilot/pillion

I would always ask Sachin to lend me his bull for a ride and he never said No to me though he was afraid that it’s a heavy bike it may hurt me but Never No ..He always said 1 day ill gift u a Bike… Have Patience!! Naturally I never believed him because getting a bike for a girl in Indian society is always a tough thing.

One day while I was involved in my routine household work he gave me some keys and said “RIDE SAFE” I was like WHAT – mouth open. Tears rolling, expression less. He kept his promise of gifting me a bike and that is how Saffy was introduced in our family and as I got my favorite color “BLUE” so i named her “Saffy Blue – Like a Sapphire a gemstone

Just after a week I left for my Business tour and returned after a month. “Saffy” was patiently waiting for me to get her out for a ride.

One evening me and Sachin was discussing about the Bikes where he said “lets do Leh-Ladakh ride” definitely it’s a dream of every biker so I gave a positive nod to his decision and that was the day some 6 months back from our planned month “June “when we started planning about it with some of our close friends who were supposed to join us for our maiden ride.

Days went by and Sachin started saying me to take Saffy to my office. He wanted me to start a city riding from home to office and back (Airoli to Andheri ) ahhhh No ways, was what I said initially since I was too horrified to do a city riding because of bad traffic.

It was something 2 months from our planned date when I started taking Saffy to office and I still remember when 1st time I took her out in city I had my fingers burnt because I lifted up the gas burner which was wrongly capped by my maid. Still I wrapped up the band-aid and left for office with Saffy. It was feeling of alien where I was fully geared up with Jackets, Knee Guard, Gloves and people staring at me on roads and I could barely ride with confidence, but determination was 200 percent..

When I reached office I parked my bike, moved to my desk, Messaged Sachin and Mom that I reached safely. And that was the moment when I felt a feeling of Satisfaction and realised how badly my fingers were in a pain. I removed the Band-Aid which came out with my skin stuck to it. Never mind I was too happy to feel the pain at that time and then I understood Riding can actually make you forget anything and everything which hurts you. Wow I was feeling proud and nice of myself

One night when we were about to wind up with our dinner I said Sachin that I want to ride my bike for leh and I don’t want to be pillion, He was shocked because he knew I don’t know much about riding and riding on those tough terrains is not gonna be easy. What I appreciate here is he was petrified listening to my decision, but he respected it and said “we will talk about this later and in just 2 months I am not sure how is this gonna happen”. I just told him 1 thing that “I am not changing my decision, you are going to coach me up” I even consoled him saying City riding had changed many things in me, I feel more confident now…

Later we went for Rajmachi off-roading ride which is near Lonavala, approx. 150 kms away from Mumbai for actually riding on bad terrains and get feeling of Leh roads and basically it was also a kind of test for me to get approved for my Dream ride and GUESS WHAT I GOT THE APPROVAL..

At the end It was just 4 of us for the ride . 2 months and Leh ride I was excited, nervous, anxiety don’t know what but it was just one thing rolling around my mind “I WANT TO DO THIS”

People say Leh ride is a graduation ride. I think in just 2 months of bike riding lessons I leaped from 5th class to graduation and guess what I passed it with distinction

Thank you hubby for assisting me and everything u made me learn for this ride, and the most important one you trusted me and permitted me to get my bike for this ride.

Thanks to my mom, Dad, Aai, Baba for understanding our passion for bikes and approving us for this madness. It’s never easy for parents to give such permissions to their kids. Helmets off to our creator ..you Guys Rock !!

Something About Sachin Desai and Touro

Well about him I can confidently say that he is a Pro-Rider since he went for many rides previously and he had awesome tuning with Touro too . He successfully completed his Rajasthan ride and many other 4 days, 2 days, n number of 1 day ride with Touro so yes he knew maximum things about riding but still tell me one rider who doesn’t get anxiety, fretfulness, and tensed while going for Leh ride. Furthermore he was extra worried about taking me on this ride 😀

He is the only one who planned everything for this ride with the help of his rider friends

The route, spares, gears, riding shoes, chain cleaner, chain lube, gloves, warm cloths and what not we shopped for this ride everything was done by him and above all that taking an amateur rider with him.

Thats my Trainer, My support System, My Best buddy and My loving Navra (Husband in Marathi)

Many things to say rather write up in my Travelogue like riding on those single lane roads with just 2 months of experience where I never rode on single lanes, facing accident, bikes breakdown, riding without disc brake on dangerous ghats, riding without headlight, horn, indicator light riding on those minus degree Celsius, those snowy, slippery, stony, wobbly, foggy, tough terrains, almost frozen up in Tanglang la, Saddle bag stolen and what not J

In all the good times and bad the most essential thing is being together, supporting and watching each other’s back. Happyness with ‘Y’and Pain both go hand in hand. They are incomplete without each other, but to pass through the pain and go with the happiness is what is important at the end.

We made it !! We finally made it !! “MISSION “Mumbai – Leh Ride” CONQUERED !!”

A Journey towards our Dreamland Begins.

Day1: (Fri/Sat) – 12/06/2015 & 13/06/2015

Route: Airoli Ghodbunder Road – NH8- Vapi- Surat Vadodara Godhra Modasa

Kms 600

Have you taken the Warmies packets I shouted from the kitchen where I was winding up with the final cleaning of the stuffs, of course leaving all those mess in sink unclean for next 20 days would be stinky. Hurry up, its almost 10.30 P.M, Sachin said calmly.

He was too tired since he had a long day in office and it was just 15 minutes back when he returned from the Garage with the final checkup of Saffy my mistake, I intimated him on the last day that my bike is still not smooth and something is not going up well..

Finally packing up with all the things, we were all set to load our bikes at 11:35 PM . We went downstairs loaded our bikes with our respective saddles bags, Sleeping mats, Back pack and what not < a bigggg list Sachin will post it later about the stuffs we carried for this ride>

Packing time – One of the best thing while going for any Adventure

Luckily both of our parents were out of station at the moment so we did not had to see their tears however we called our moms and promised them to return home SAFELY!! And hanged up the call before hearing any vibration in their voice :-(Contradictory to Moms Our Dads they were proudly saying Happy Journey!! Enjoy the ride!! Keep the updates flowing; call daily whenever you get network and what not…

My Dad I could sense in his voice how proud he was to have me as a daughter and Sachin as Son in law. I was so happy to hear everything he was saying and sense the excitement through his voice. After finishing up with the calls my man went ahead with the coconut breaking ceremony and with all the heavenly blessings we were all set to WROOM the highways.

Proceeding with decent pace we reached Godhbunder road which was fully packed with the trucks which normally happens there at that hour of night. We were bit tired because I had the long day at work and Sachin managed to do his work as well as all the Bikes related things. So the dinner break in The Fountain helped us to refill some fuel in us and also helped us to get revitalized.

At 12:45 am one of our friend Dhanesh met us to wish us luck for the MOST ADVENTROUS RIDE of our life. We had a small chat and then we resumed with our ride.

While I was riding my mind was fully occupied with the thoughts about how we started our preparation 6 months back, me riding as pillion and in last two months I decided to ride by myself, and now we are finally heading off to our destination. Smile on my face, Wind on my face I said to myself Just want to make him proud for all the efforts and time he invested in me, in last couple of months

Suddenly somewhere near Daman it started raining heavily. We Quickly sheltered ourselves at a nearby dhaba. Had a cup of tea a power nap, still there was no sign of rains to end. Without waiting any more we geared up with our rain covers on saddle bags and Rain coats for us and was back on roads.

We were so immature riders that we didnt t even carried Tarpaulin (Tal Patri in Hindi) for our luggages, We did had the normal covers which we got while buying the saddles Bags however in a such bad storm and when you are heading to Ladakh, Tarpaulin would have proofed as blessing in disguise. The brutal rains made our luggages heavier as if it was lighter before

Night riding with rains and fogs was not easy and I was already nervous since it was my 1st longgggg ride on my bike and moreover we were dead tired. Extra concentration, alertness was required. 3 hrs of continuous riding and it was still raining hard.

We saw a beautiful sun Rise with the orange lining, at least we were happy to know that the dangerous rainy, foggy night is about to end.

We stopped for a chai and nasta break and of course sleep break for me .

Somewhere around 11.00 am in the morning it stopped raining, We stopped near roadside and got freshen up & brushed our teeth and hereon we decided to ride without taking much breaks.

We met few riders on our way who were also riding to Leh from Pune and they thought I am boy they started inquiring me – I said we are on our way to Leh. No wonder he was surprised to hear my voice and then from somewhere he caught Sachin and started Questioning that why are we not on same bike etc etc .

Around 3.30 pm we had a good heavy lunch of Palak Paneer, Paranta, Rice, Rose Lassi 2 glass each somewhere on the Vadodara-Halol highway

We were extremely tired and drowsy after our lunch break since we were riding constantly for 16 hrs, especially Sachin because he had just 15 minutes sleep yesterday night. I asked him to take rest after lunch but he said he is fine so we recommenced with our ride.

We would have easily made up to Udaipur since we were just 150 kms away and it was still clocking 4..30 ish in our watch but unfortunately SOMETHING HAPPENEDL.

I was riding behind Sachin and he was not more than speed of 50-60, where all of a sudden I saw that his bike getting skewed and smiling I thought he might be having fun to keep himself alert. Suddenly the smile on my face disappeared when I saw him getting completely imbalanced dashing his bike on to barricade on the left of the road, swinging 3-4 rounds and I was like Shit Shit Shit Shit ye kya ho raha ha, Shit Shit I was numb I thought tossing away Saffy but somehow with some left over courage quickly parked my bike at the side, yet no sense in my body came towards him, saw him, asked him. He was up standing till the time I reached him.

THANK GOD he was ok , Thanks to all riding gears, thanked every spirit in this universe, I saw his bullet which was still in a sleeping mode dashed in a poll. Thanks to the local people who helped us lift that heavy beast.

Headlight Smashed, Right hand side mirror broken, Fog light broken, Handle bar skewed… Damn it was big !!

I started the bike and Thank you heaven it got started < I really thought it will not>. We met our friend Shardul Tare

Later he told us he was chasing us for quite some time, just because he saw our helmets which were repainted by Sachin for that personal touch and we did shared the pics on Facebook before the ride and he definitely thought it would be us. Unexpectedly, unplanned he met us at the incident spot

I even heard him saying to Shardul that there was some small stone which came in between my tryes and that would be thereason of my slip

I even said Sachin to lets go back home and he angrily replied me saying If my bike wouldnt have started even then I would have made uptil Leh His determination gave my soul a positive flow

When you face such incidents the 1st thing is BE COOL DONT PANIC Since it was my 1st ride and I was too new to see something like that where you are seeing accident of a person you love the most believe its horrendous and you will definitely do something stupid like inserting your hand inside the headlight and trying to remove the broken glass pieces, I did the same stupid thing and then what BLOOD drop by drop from my index finger which was not agreeing to stop flowing. Sachin located first-aid in his saddle Bags and Shardul helped me tie band-aid around it and they were laughing saying GIRA MEIN HU AUR PATTI ISKO LAGANA PAD RAHA HA

He and his friend who was his pillion helped us taking to a local mechanic who made the handle bar straight but rest of things like mirrors of bullet were not available.

We thought to reach Modassa before the sunset so we waved bye to our friend and left. Still without knowing the reason behind the misfortune and without questioning him we rode for some kms. Sachin waved me to stop. I knew that he is going to answer my question < which I was not unknown of >

Yes I was right he said Arre yar meri ankh lag gayi thi(I slept for couple of seconds), my body gave up completely and when I came into my senses my bike was completely tilted towards left so I was unable to balance it

I hugged him and I thanked god that sachin was safe our bike is up and running what else we need 🙁

It all happened because of no sleep and our heavy lunch . We have promised each other for no more night rides henceforth…

At last after 22 hours of ride, we thought to call it a day. Quickly we found an accommodation and positioned our back on bed for some disgustingly needed rest.

1st day and Accident!! REALLY? I questioned Sachin while we were sleeping side by side and he said You know I was singing this song when I rolled Wiz Khalifa & Charlie Puth’s See You Again and we laughed like heaven

He was beside me what else I need god KEEP US SAFE and whispering our prayers.

I dont even remember when we both started snoring

8 hour of sleep to reenergize ourselves for Day 2.

Stay tuned

CHAPTER 2 – “DAY 2”

“The Most Unanticipated Episode”

Day 2 (Sunday) – 14/06/2015

Route – Modasa – Udaipur – bhilwara – Ajmer

Kms – 460

The clock started ringing at 5.30 am making me jump out of my deep sleep. I took a glimpse at Sachin he was still sleeping with his mouth open <Thank god he was right there!! Nightmares are bad  >

It was too hot even in the morning also, so to avoid the afternoon heat we quickly finished our routine, loaded our bikes and was all set to start with our new day.

We decided to have a heavy Breakfast so that we can skip the lunch. After some Paranthas with makkan blended in it, we were keyed up for some unstoppable miles to go

We reached Udaipur somewhere around 11:30 am and was searching for the bullet mechanic for fixing up the broken mirrors. After searching for almost 45 mints we were still on Square zero < Hell this Udaipur doesn’t have any bullet mechanic REALLY>. Suddenly we saw a local person riding a bullet. We waved him to stop and inquired him about a Mechanic who can repair our BULL. He asked us to follow him and dropped us till the Mechanic garage. Unfortunately the garage was closed.

He called his regular mechanic and explained him our scenario and asked him to help us to fix our bike. Thankfully he agreed and asked us to wait for 15 minutes so that he can come up till there and open the garage for us. We waited there for 20 mins and the person who called mechanic for us also stayed with us <We meet very less people who will invest their time without their benefits, true gentlemen he was INDEED> Meantime we 3 had a lip-smacking Ras malai from Bikaner sweet shop, which was just opposite from where we were waiting for person. <FOOD IS IMPORTANT – it releases stress BELIEVE ME:-D>

Randomly after some 25 minutes mechanic turned up and without wasting time he started working on the broken parts of Bullet. We thanked that man, exchanged our numbers and invited him to visit Mumbai with his Family and after saying “see you soon in Mumbai” he left wishing us all the luck for our ride ahead.

Our Touro got fixed by 2.30 pm and as soon as it was done, without killing any time we left for the highway to cover up some miles, since we were already behind our schedule and we wanted no night rides.

We wished and prayed to heaven that there should be no more uncalled incidents now. < But seems this was not the end of our trouble. And we had some more unwanted events waiting for us..

We were in process of crossing Bhilwara, the roads were fully packed with trucks somehow making way through it we were proceeding with good pace. We thought to at least reach Jaipur but god had a different plan for us woh kehte ha na, “Man proposes and God disposes.”

I clearly remember it was exactly the time of a sunset around 7.00 pm and we were riding with full swing, Sachin was ahead of me and I tried to overtake a truck from right 1st lane, I honked to let person know that iam overtaking, all of a sudden I realized that my horn wasn’t working my next action was to flash a passing light since the truck was about to get in 1st lane DAMN my headlight wasn’t working too. I applied brakes and thought to come from 1st lane to 3rd and see whats happening with Saffy, and then I realized that even my Indicator light is not operational…<HELL>

Sachin was riding ahead so I was unable to honk or blink or do any damn thing to let him know about my situation (Bluetooth Comms were missed) so he kept riding. I somehow managed to come from 1st lane to 3rd and stopped; I thought to buzz Sachin ASAP so that he don’t go much far away from me, as I took out my phone from my Jacket pocket what I see is my phone is switched off <I was petrified !!> (reason for my phones issue was due to its weak battery and i used all the remaining battery at the mechanic where bullet was operated just to kill time), It was so dark that I was not able to see a single inch of road ahead; I had to take a move since it was an isolated highway and stopping there for any longer time would have been unsafe.

I started moving ahead slowly <hoping to locate Sachin soon> after a kilometer I saw an indicator light blinking <aahhh RELIEVED> explaining the situation to him we came to the conclusion that this is not a battery issue as my bike is running well.

When we left from Udaipur we planned to halt at Ajmer and visit “Ajmer sharif chishti baba dargah” for our better journey ahead.

Now the REAL challenge was next 60 kms, by any which ways we are not getting mechanic here and any who we have to cover those distances without Headlight, horn and Indicator light. The only option which we had was passing through this another examination god wanted from us before actually riding on LEH terrains

“LETS DO THIS” I said to Sachin “BUT How”?

We got the yellow reflector which we fixed on my bike in circular manner so that any vehicle riding behind me can locate my bike clearly and there will be no visibility issue. For some kms Sachin was leading and I was following him <not more than 30 speed> as I acquired some confidence, I asked him to speed up a bit <still it was too boring to ride in 30-40 speed specially on Highways>

Later I realized that it’s good to ride ahead of sachin since our Touro had a powerful Headlight and best quality fog light which gave me excellent visibility of roads.

The sign board confused us about the Ajmer route so we thought to inquire to truck wala who was giving rest to his truck at the corner of the road. We went some 12 kms ahead when we finally realized that the truckwala misguided us. We travelled 12kms back yet again and took the right turn which leaded us to correct path.

Slowly and steadily covering up the distances made us feel like a tortoise who wins at the end and with the same determination we were moving ahead bit by bit holding our dreams with us of riding in mountains. What can I say about those hearthrobbing adrenaline rush that happened every time any vehicle overtook me.

All this was still manageable but who was aware that this unexpected ghat is waiting to fossilize us . Those few kms looked like forever to complete

<Finally we made it up till Ajmer SAFELY !!Thank you god >

We could have easily reached around 8.30 pm or may be before that however due to all the issues and the misguidance made us reach Ajmer around 10.30 PM.

Checked in to hotel at first site, had heavy dinner of some Chicken Curry and rice(Again some stress relieving :P), discussed next day’s plan and LIGHTs OFF <resting time>

We decided to go for darshan early in the morning, find a mechanic for my bike and at least reach “Rohtak”

We wished to cover good miles tomorrow and have a good start of day…. However trouble wasn’t ready to spare us

<Will there be end of our trouble. Let’s see what happens in DAY 3!!>

PS :- “Apologies we do not have much pics for initial days,  you will understand the reason behind this in our last Chapter !! “

CHAPTER 3 – “DAY 3”

“Miracles Do Happen….”

Day 3 (Sunday) – 15/06/2015

Route – Ajmer – Jaipur – Kotputli <242 kms>

Our Day started with the sanctified blessings of Ajmer sharif Chishti babaji. It was indeed a heavenly feel with so much of positive energy. It’s a ritual there, where if you wish anything you tie a Yarn and Chisti Babaji accomplishes it for you <you all can guess what, Me and Sachin would have wished for>

Returning back to hotel loading our saddles bags and without wasting much of our time and energy we whizzed to highway holding a thought in our mind to repair my bike ASAP because riding without horn and passing light is not so safe idea.

We were somewhere between Ajmer and Jaipur, where we found some mechanics shop not so big and great but somehow we thought to show Saffy and seek some help for her. By some means I had a feeling that our time is gonna be wasted here but let’s give it a try is what my mind said. The person who claimed himself a mechanic asked to take of the saddles bags which we did immediately.

1st he checked the left circuit then the right one then centre, I mean he took off Saffy’s seat and checked some circuit there after good fat 45 minutes he said “kisi aur ko dikana padega, jo part chayiye woh nahe ha mere pass” <Need to show some other mechanic the part which you need is not available with me>, long story short he couldn’t figure it out what was the problem.

I would have almost banged his head on the wall, but I controlled myself and after a sip of water we loaded our saddle bags back and left from the spot. Since the temperature was too high of our skull as well as of Ajmer <something around 36 degree> we thought to have a quick lunch break.

<Seriously biking has also done miracles on my short temper attitude. I had the nastiest crash few months before on NH3, Nashik highway while riding to Shridi only because of my appalling aggravation towards every tiny things, which has improved to great extent now>.

After some light lunch we were back on roads to at least reach our planned destination today <BUT NO riding is all about UNEXPECTED SURPRISES I should rather say SHOCK :-D>

We decided not to stop for any local mechanics and waste time; rather we searched a Bajaj service center after reaching Jaipur which would be more legitimate.

Sachin was leading since I was gun less to shot truck drivers and overtake them, as a substitute today Sachin was doing the needful for me,

STILL ALLOW ME TO SCREAM OUT LOUD that there were still some insane hopeless drivers who changed lane without concerning for which vehicle is arriving from behind. I was literally saved twice; riding on 60kmph on such a MAKKHAN (Butter smooth) tarmac let me tell you its BLOODY frustrating…

Riding without Horn and pass light, just imagine you are tailing a truck, the best part is left truck must be on 50 Kmph and Right one overtaking the left one with the speed of 51 Kmph <You will feel handicap !! Literally!!>

Finally we reached Jaipur around 12:30 and started searching for Bajaj SVC. People in Jaipur damn they will misguide you in every possible way till the end of their competence they will never answer you the exact thing. It took us another 45 mints to conclude our search <thanks to Bajaj mini accessories shop for helping us out>

Now the challenge was to find what went wrong with my bike. SC guys took 3 hrs to understand “ki bhai ahkir problem kaha ha” <What the hell is wrong with this bike>

1st they said that they will look after the issue tomorrow since it was“THE MONDAY” and they were short of mechanics and lot many bikes to complete. They weren’t ready to hear Sachin’s request and he called me and asked me to request them so that we can resume back. I requested NO actually I begged them to please help us out since we need to travel long way ahead <BEING A GIRL IS BENEFICIAL SOMETIMES>

Well they started with the work however from 1.30 to 4.30 we were still finding “Ki ahkir problem ha tho ha kaha” <Where is the problem?>

With all their attempts when we still got no solution then the manager gave us the alternative to fix the bike which was definitely not good for Saffy <battery alternatives are never good>… he said “headlight nhe chal rhe ha na direct wire join kar dete ha battery se 24 hrs chalta rahega bulb”<Manager said “Lets connect the headlight wire directly to battery in this case the headlight bulb would be on for 24 hrs>

The mechanic who was checking out our saffy wasn’t happy with the solution given by his manager nor were we since we knew the future consequences of it <Saffy doesn’t even have a kick start>.

The manager wanted to wind up the things quickly since our bike was taking more time than expected and other mechanics were also getting involved to find where the problem was….

Obviously we cannot ride without headlight and horn and moreover if the Service centre people are not getting the solution how will any other local mechanic would find one?

So we had no other option then to agree with whatever alternatives they suggested 

Sadly seating on bench and pleading to god I said “lets make this Leh ride a successful one please Babaji make Saffy ok” “enough of all the troubles don’t force us to lose our patience god” with all tears rolling out of my eyes”.

Suddenly I heard someone calling me it was the mechanic named “Rajan” who was working on my bike since the start I rushed towards him and he said the most miraculous unanticipated words “madam problem pata chal gya bike ka ek chotasa fuse gaya ha jispar plastic tape lagi hui thi uske wajah se fuse check nahe kar paya, barish ka panni jane k wajah se fuse udd gya hoga” <“Mam we found the root cause of the problem. There was this one small (Tube) fuse which was masked by the plastic tape by some old mechanic and that was the reason I was not able to locate this one. I think the rain water would have created the problem by making it way inside” >

Obviously Saffy never faced rain previously, it was just 2 months before the ride where we tested her and of course the rain thing said by Rajan was right.

I was blank I was happy I was surprised I was expression less I was ……. I felt the hard urge of crying out loud with all the happiness. I did not wanted to try those alternatives with my bike.

By 5.30 pm Saffy was done with her surgery, neatly dressed up and oiled. we carried extra fuse for her in case she needed in future. Now she was ready to face those rough terrains awaiting her.

The things which was just a matter of 10 mints took 4 hrs.

We were still happy that her operation was successful and she has been discharged from the hospital fit and fine   with no ALTERNATIVES

We thanked everybody out there at SVC who contributed their knowledge, invested their time energy to rectify my lady. Thank you guys thank you Rajan for finding the problem and solving it on time err lots of time..

We quickly got geared up and left from the spot since we did not wanted to enter Hariyana at night so we planned to take a halt at Kotputli somewhere on the Rajasthan border. Proceeding with the normal pace once again the thoughts encircled my mind thinking about those 4 hours we invested in SC to make Saffy able-bodied. She was STRIPPED in front of me with all her circuits out and ufff…..

God is around you always “MIRACLES DO HAPPEN” Seriously smallest things gives more pain which gets undetected compared to larger one which gets detected easily. Relate it to our lives and you will understand that the problems is always small we make it big. One central fuse gone the darkness surrounds you taking away light and happiness from your Life. RIDING DO TEACHES YOU MANY THINGS. 

Taking Shelter in some hotel in Kotputli concluded our dinner and prayed for better tomorrow.

<Yes we did had a better tomorrow – DAY 4 was tragedy free – but something will always be left over >

Saffy – how are you Touro?

Touro – I am fine now, but lots of weight on me how abt you?

Saffy : Feelinng better now, able to see and speak now

Touro – Lets not make anymore issues for our poor riders..

Saffy – yeah for sure! lets roll buddy !! 

I was soooooooooo happy that saffy was fit and fine finally —

CHAPTER 4 – “DAY 4”

“Long Way Down…”

Day4 (Tue) – 16/06/2015

Route – Kotputli –> Rohtak –> Panipat –> Ambala –> Ludhiana –> Jalandhar

Kms – 600

We got up early in the morning since Sun god was not so happy from last 2 days <34 – 36 degree in a stretch> thanks to Tang and Electral powder to keep us going in all down times. We also wanted to cover maximum miles possibly before 12.00 because after that we knew we would be forced to take frequent water breaks.

Ofcourse we were happy today since Saffy, Sacha Kaiee and Touro all was doing GOOD and yes we had to increase the count of kms and cover up with all our backlogs

After riding for some odd kms <approx 150> there is a bypass to Rohtak/ Rewadi actually it’s bisection from NH8 where you will exit NH8 and enter NH71, Haryana district. The roads from Rohtak to Panipat was so scenic that inspite of having burden in our mind about covering maximum kms we were literally forced to halt and take a photo break

Post 12.00 we took frequent water breaks, Sharbat and lassi break but the smaller one so that we keep ourselves hydrated &pour some water on our head and spill some on our jacket to avoid sun strokes

If by any chance you think that riding in Mumbai is difficult try riding or driving on Ambala & Ludhiana highways. Little off your mind & lack of calculation and you could be smacked by any running vehicle which approaches so cut to cut from behind you’re a** scaring hell out of you and if you really hold a good luck you will thank god every time a car passes you from left from right from behind almost touching your tail light compressing and forcing you to apply your brakes so hard that your brakes growl on you “handle me with care, it hurts” console them by saying no other option baby do you want to get admitted in a hospital AGAIN and your motorcycle will be quiet adhering your orders throughout your journey 

We got loads of service roads and bypasses from Panipat until Jalandhar. We had to slow down after every 20 kms because of diversions due to road constructions.

Jalandhar police were so excited to welcome us and eager to know our Journey. Firstly they addressed me saying “bhaisaab”and then when they came to know about us they started appreciating our courage and what not..

Actually there is a catch here. I was leading and Sachin was riding behind me when suddenly the group of officers asked me to stop. Frankly speaking I was nervous and worried and the reason behind the nervousness was “I DID NOT HAD MOTORCYCLE WITH GEAR LICENSE”. Yes I travelled all the way without license. A very legitimate reason to this was we had just 2 months with us while I made up my mind of taking my motorcycle to Leh and getting a proper license that to in Mumbai in such a short span wasn’t possible. So initially I was bit scared when they asked me to stop however they asked us nothing about our docs or license they were just eager to know more about us..<I WAS SO RELIEVED> By the way now I have obtained new license :P>

By 7.00 in the evening we started finding shelter in Jalandhar which was another hectic task. All the hotels were too expensive around 2000 INR to 2500 INR so we kept our search on and exactly after 30 mints we got a good hotel near old bus stop which did not blew out our budget too. However even after so much hurdle and bad roads and 30 mints waiting we were very happy since we covered 600+ kms today.

We checked in, freshen up and left for searching some authentic Punjabi Dhaba and wouu what a delicious dinner we had “makai ki roti, Dal makkani makkan maarke,bhenndi ki sabji, mirchi ka achar, Jeera rice and last but not the least Lassi” just in Rs 225-/ 

When we returned to our hotel we thought to pack up our stuffs in night itself however we were forced to plant our overloaded stomach on bed and give it some rest…and finally it was the most awaited snore time!!

We were waiting fervently for the big day tomorrow as we were about to enter the new world of mountains. Yes I was excited and I was equally overwrought since I never rode on such dangerous single lane Ghat ever 0% experience but I was clear that I have to make through my destination that passion and obsession to achieve the goal and flaunt all those trainings Sachin gave me in last 2 months, his efforts should not go wasted. Moreover I did not wanted him to suffer and get delayed because of me.

I primed myself & said it loud to my inner soul “Get ready Mrs Desai it’s SHOW TIME!!”

I remember the line Sachin said me once while training me to make “eight – 8” from my bike that “Always remember one thing it’s all about mind game even though your health and strength gives up on you, keep your mind under control never allow your mind to quit   and if u succeed to do so then there is never looking back you will easily achieve what u desire for”

<Day 5 is gonna be thrilling – 1^st time on single lane and horrifying trucks flashing onto you>

The roads in Hariyana were too scenic with very less Traffic – My all time fav Victory Pose !!

CHAPTER 5 – “DAY 5”

“In the Shadow of the Mountains”

Day5 (Wed) – 17/06/2015

Route – Jalandhar – Pathankot – Jammu Patnitop

Kms – 287

I woke up with the heavy head because of less sleep and all the earlier night anxiety. However after swigging a cup of green tea we were all set to rocket down the highway on those curvy roads, I wasn’t even able to munch my breakfast however I was forced to eat and drink plenty of water so that I don’t mess up with my health. Lassi made my day again.

Seeing the Jammu board anxiety once again encircled my stomach and the zig – zaggy curls too started welcoming us.

On the way to katra we came across a massive Shankarji ka temple which was located at the very start of the ghat section we stopped there to pray for our safe journey since the real picture would roll out now panditji was kind enough to come out and serve us Prasad and wave us good buyie & happy journey..jai ho Bhole Nath !!

Proceeding with descent pace on Katra road we too seeked darshan of Vaishnodevi from far-off and prayed for our wellbeing.

I was sure that single lane wasn’t going to treat me smoothly as other roads did and I was also ready for the challenge. But when I actually started facing it damn it was nerve-wracking.

I was so scared riding on those curvy single lane of Patni top that whenever i saw any trucks coming towards me from opposite lane I thought that it would dash on my bike hard and I would become so panicky that I would wobble pressing both the brakes durably <I always had this nightmare right from the day I started riding in fact even before that like whichever vehicle I am sitting in <let it be train or whatever> would be crashed by any vehicle coming from opposite lane and since I was riding now my mind started acting in different manner that my bike is crashed by a truck coming from a opposite direction, it was kinda phobia like>

I did not even knew to ride my bike by holding the handle by one hand and waving from another so that I can ask Sachin to stop for a while and tell him what I was facing. I had a different conception all together that my arms doesn’t have a stiffness, how can I ride it by one hand.

In fact even when I had the hard urge of itching on my face or back or shoulder, I used to halt at the corner, do the needful and then resume with my ride, and Sachin stopping for me somewhere ahead glancing at me angrily asking “why are you stopping again and again” and I could clearly see through his red angry face saying that I want to kill you   but my poor man had no other option to tolerate my nuisances and move on with it 

<Seriously I was so stupid at that time now at this moment I can ride saffy even when I am not holding her   But it is a saying that TIME TEACHES YOU ALL and that’s how your skills enhances>

After some more miles I started honking and blinking my passing light so that Sachin understands my signal and stop somewhere and yes my man did understood that something is going wrong with me since I was riding too slow.

He found a corner and parked his beast, I reached the spot 5 mints later and started explaining my situation to him <I was literally panting because of fear>

Sachin calmly said “Drink some water first” and then he explained me something which was like a finding a way in darkness. He explained me that “whenever you’re riding always try to keep an eye on the road your riding on and not on the trucks or any other vehicle coming towards you from opposite direction. Never measure the height of ghat by peeping from corner of your eyes to the edges it will frighten you. If you keep looking on trucks coming towards you I am not sure that person will dash on you but you will definitely end up doing so.”

<He knew it very well that I am even afraid of heights one more phobia  >

I adhered to what Sachin explained me and guess what it worked. Any truck coming towards me instead of watching those dangerous scary horrifying facades of truck,

I tried to reserve my eye on roads and kept moving ahead. Every time I ignored those trucks coming towards me and passing them easily without applying hard brakes my confidence raised and happily and slowly the things started getting bit easy.

We faced traffic up over the Ghats in patnitop but it was manageable, also I was learning to deal with half clutch thing while ascending so I was not that pissed off.

Also Special thanks to the Aunty who was in a car taking a break from traffic. She offered us a chai from their thermos and biscuits while we were exhausted with the jam and taking a rest..

Finally the scary evening was about to end and we reached our planned destination for the day “Patni Top” this was my 3rd visit to the land of Jammu but this time everything seems so different and adventurous. We checked in to same hotel where I stayed for last 3 times with my parents.

Seeing smile on my face Sachin asked me “Everthing alright” I said “More than alright – Happy I am to make up till here SAFELY” 

It was just 5.30 in the evening so we thought to take a small walk after our evening snacks. YES YES it was too cold out there <A sheer relaxation after facing 36 degree temp in last few days>

Ignore seeing me here !! look at the truck parked behind me !! doesnt it looks horrifying? Imagine your bike and this truck meets at one of the curve !! Wont you be petrified?

It was time to sleep in mountains in a chilly wheather !! Wuhuuuu !! Welcome to the Mountains !!

<A Confidence full DAY 6 where the single lanes became my best friends like never before. SINKING INSIDE THE MOUNTAINS>

Waheguru da Khalsa !! Waheguru di Fateh !! Gurudwara !! Somewhere near exiting Jalandhar –> Did not missed to seek blessing of every positive spirit we passed…

Jai ho Bhole Nath !!

Ignore seeing me here !! look at the truck parked behind me !! doesnt it looks horrifying? Imagine your bike and this truck meets at one of the curve !! Wont you be petrified?

CHAPTER 6 – DAY 6

Snowcapped Mountain

Day6 (Thursday) – 18/06/2015

Route  Patnitop  Anantnag  Srinagar  Sonamarg

Kms  261

Yes I was content with the wonderful sound sleep I got last night, my anxiety was at rest with high level of self-confidence. We woke up with fresh mind & awesome attitude   <Sachin was happy seeing me>

A good breakfast is all we need for a good start of a day so we were happy munching the egg half fry, bread toast and ginger special Tea. We loaded all the luggage quickly on our bike. I was pumped with extra energy today moreover I was so impatient to hit the curves today.

Yesterday night after Sachins lessons I got very few curves to cover before reaching our guest house so today I was dancing on Sachins head to wind up things speedily so that we can resume back with our ride.

Finally after paying our remaining amount we went back to our sweethearts and cleaned their Chain with help of cloth & lubed them with extra engine oil that we carried. <Thanks to Raju  hotel staff who washed our bikes. Saffy and Touro looked much cleaner now>

<Aahhhhh again we were so immature that we did not knew anything about Chain cleaner and Chain lube thing!! Otherwise we would have carried it too, but we grow and learn day by day>

All the staff waved us good luck and waving them back we WROOMed our bike leaving some dust in the air

Proceeding ahead we faced some traffic at the end of Patni top which was as expected since we already had the update about itI even remember the most hilarious thing when I was tailing the military van there were few soldiers who were seeing me and discussing about bikers world <I am sure they would be saying What an insane kind of people they are  > and one of soldiers amongst them even asked me to switch off my headlight since already so high today to which I replied The person ahead of me can locate me that I am fine and safe and when they heard my voice they asked excitedly tusi female ho(are you a girl)   All the soldiers saluted me in a flow I waved them back and bypassed the van. Of course I felt good about it  Sachin and i shared a good laugh when I said him about this episode

The jam took us 30-40 mints which made us bit tired. However all the tiredness vanished after seeing the 1^st view of Kashmir beautiful tall mountains capped with ice, clear blue sky lovely it was!!

Proceeding back to our destination which was never fixed. We stopped whenever we felt like and unquestionably it was another advantage of not riding in group. I gained some good confidence to ride on those heighted snaky roads of Srinagar <Sachin asked me to look only on roads and not down the valley while riding on those thin roads It did helped!!>

First the roads were too thin, second the dangerous trucks from opposite lane compressing you to the edge as if the roads are there property, moreover roads were broken at the sides; I tell you if broken roads go unseen and bit lack of calculation you will be down there somewhere in valley Dead so concentration very very important <Damn there should have been barricades may be they did not knew that I am visiting   >

I was happy that wouu we will be reaching Srinagar soon and I will see the most lovely sight of Shikara dal lake and everything but soon my happiness turned into wretchedness & I was almost about to cry after it took us approx 6 hrs to reach Srinagar in 38 degree Celsius HELL LOT TRAFFIC- just to cover a small distance.

Anyways we were happy that at the end we crossed Srinagar. We heard that the very next day Srinagar was closed due to Curfew thing or some-other political reason …

Thank god we made it today!!

We sat beside Dal Lake for 45 mints had ice cream some chat item enjoying the scenic mountains and lovely tranquil blue lake.

Before leaving the spot we were so garden-fresh that we did not even remember the painful heat and traffic which we faced an hour ago and this is how our human life is when we get good phase in our life after bad. We dont even remember the suffering we faced few time back as we become so busy in appreciating and welcoming good in our life. Moreover how will we appreciate and value “good” when there is never “bad” coming around 

We felt so content and relaxed that we were all set to cover some more miles for the day so we left from the spot after some rest to our eyes and soul. Moreover we had no mood to stay in that touristy place we have already started disliking crowded places. Rocketing our bike we targeted to reach Sonamarg <Absolutely no night ride in our mind>

The curls of Sonamarg was so buttery that I never rode so aggressively throughout my journey like I rode on those twisties (I rode like a BOSS ). Additionally we also wanted to reach our destination before sunset and avoid night ride, for a change Touro was left too behind to catch Saffy <Saffy was in full swing   well she was gaining confidence >

Dont know why but, my mind was with so much negative thoughts of riding in the night on those terrains, I even said about it to Sachin but he consoled me saying what if we dont get any place to stay in we would need to ride ahead, and dont worry about negative thoughts nothing will happen still I was praying god that we want no night ride we already faced the consequences before of riding at night..

Sun was already set with very dim light left and Sonamarg was more 25 kms away. Well its a saying that if you wish for something from bottom of your heart it does get fulfilled by heaven and something same happened with me.

I was rushing and hushing to cover up the distance, when I suddenly heard the loud, long and continuous beep from touro, stopping aside I saw from my rear view mirror Sachin indicating me to stop. I was mesmerized to see the view at the right side of the road snow capped mountains, clean orange sky, flowing river <for a moment I thought Sachin asked me to stop and enjoy the view> however that wasnt the case when I turned my neck to left I saw a beautiful hotel facing to those Snow Capped Mountains !!

Wowww are we going to stay here I asked like a 11 year old child to which Sachin replied of course, even god doesnt want us to ride in the night after a hard search it was the only hotel we found so far and somebody also said that there is no hotel until Sonamarg !! HAPPY ME and LUCKY US !!

Thank you god for not allowing us to ride at night; riding on those curls is very tough in gloom.

Before checking in hotel we had energizing evening snacks in there hotel section of Adrak ki chai and Parle G

From tomorrow we would have no phone signal to call anybody so We called our families intimating them that we are doing good and requested them to not worry about us since we will be powerless to call them from tomorrow and that line we will be back soon  before my Mom and I could start exploding in tears I hung up the call promising to call her back shortly.

<We were missing our families since It was already 6 days now and we had long way to go. Moreover the real journey would start from tomorrow>

Switching off the lights the things going around my mind <its our 1^st Pass tomorrow The Zojila Pass – 11,575 ft> Keep us safe god…WE HAVE TO DO IT

<That night in my dreams I was already home and sharing our adventurous stories with our families  > DREAMS ARE WEIRD 

2 innocent amateur riders into the wild:-)

Day7 (Friday) – 19/06/2015

Route – Sonamarg – Zozila pass – Kargil war memorial – Kargil

Kms – 123 kms

It was too chilly <10 degree or something> I peeped out of my blanket and what I see Sachin was all geared up loading our luggage’s <Seems he was trapped more with anxiety than me>. He signaled me to sleep some more and give some more relaxation to mind and my mind was screaming impatiently that “GET UP LADY – Today is the day for which you were travelling and planning for so long”.

The day has come where we start our actual adventure for which we equipped ourselves for 6 long months. “YES IT’S THE DAY TO CROSS OUR 1st PASS” <My stomach was hurting because of all anxiety >

I woke up and took a quick look from our room window about what my man is up to and I saw that he is pampering saffy and touro by cleaning there chains and lubricating them…lifting my eyes what I saw aaahhhh the view was mesmerizing truly a Snow capped Mountain and sky lined with Saffron shades, river flowing bit by bit…I felt so Refreshed and positive!!

Gearing up I went downstairs to show my real riding skills for our most awaited day <ou hu hu hu it was coldy cold>. Closing our eyes & remembering our parents and the entire goddess who helped us to reach till here we left for our destination.

Of course breakfast was important so we stopped for breakfast in a nearby tent with the scenic view somewhere in Sonamarg < Which was some 25 kms from our hotel>. We had a completely different & Delicious type of egg dish made by a person who was in 1st year M.A < handsome he was… >

We enquired him about the Zoji la route to which he said “darawana tho lagta ha chotisi road ha, par gabrane jaisi koi baat nhe ha ji.. ho jayega” (Of course it’s dangerous and it looks dangerous too, very thin road but no need to worry …it will be fine) < Adrenaline again> I wasn’t able to swallow in my breakfast, I wanted to get back to Saffy and face Zojilla ASAP.

Somehow I had my breakfast much faster than usual just to take in “Diamox” tablet to deal with Acclimatization thing.

<Please note whoever says that Diamox isn’t necessary for AMS is doing the biggest mistake of their life. Find ahead what happened with us even after taking Diamox>

Well every person sitting there in the tent wished us luck, we thanked them <I WAS IMPATIENT to take a move from Sonamarg and to meet our 1st Pass and I even wanted to give this adrenaline thing a rest!!>

Just before leaving from Sonamarg, after our breakfast

Hold your breathe Zojila is about to start

Riding for some 20 kms all of a sudden we got a sharp turn which was also 70 degree climb  with extremely rough and stony road , no sign board nothing at all and it was this “Shocking realization” that “The Zojila Pass” has started to which my mind said “Let’s rock these 11km.”

I somehow felt that my breath ratio was bit higher than usual may be due to low oxygen or cold or adrenaline or what don’t know. I wasn’t concerned about anything at that moment.

With full of alertness we crossed some heart throbbing roads <thanks to our newly fitted button tyres specially made for these kinda roads literally helped us immensely>

I did not even calculated how many times I saved myself and Saffy from skidding during that slippery pebbly water crossing <It was minor water crossing but I was new to it so for me at that moment it was heart attack kinda thing>

Mighty Zojila has just started and me riding on the middle of the road, Sachin appreciated saying that this is the correct way of riding on those loose roads. least he knew that i was riding in middle because i was afraid of the edges <height phobia>

After some 5 kms of our ride suddenly Saffy started to hiccup and within no time she went to dead stop. I tried restarting her but there were no life in engine. Sachin was honking on me so that we can move ahead instead of waiting on those clumsy place, screaming he said “You wanted to stop – WHAT HAPPENED?”, I gestured saying Saffy is not getting started.

This is where Saffy started to hiccup and when i applied brakes to let the truck go first it went to complete dead stop. When i tried restarting her nothing happened

We dragged Saffy to a corner where we could allow all the trucks to pass of and look into the matter <Sachin was cool as always, mind under control – THE MANTRA>. He checked few things and asked me to stop for sometime “let the bike cool, everything will be alright”

This is how Saffy stopped working and came to an complete halt

Obviously I was worried <Anybody in my place would have been worried > so many negative things going around in my mind “My 1st ride, my 1st dangerous Pass and this is what happening with Saffy, I think we have to load her in a truck, my ride is all over” Sadly raising my head when I saw Sachin he was happily clicking out the pics, writing on snow covered wall, enjoying the view which made me more angry

Pointing towards Saffy I asked Sachin to let’s try once. He tried to self-start her but she wasn’t in mood to walk on those stones. I closed my eyes in disappointment, praying to lord; Sachin tried again NOTHING, Shit what the hell has just happened…..SOMEBODY PLEASE SAY!!

This is what Sachin was doing after Saffy wasnt getting started ….aahhhh i will never forget this photo. I was seeing snow for 1st time in my life did not know whether to be happy or sad

<God I want to learn this thing from my man “HOW THE HELL WAS HE SO COOL – as if he knew the things will be back to normal soon just a matter of some time…>

After a while he tried starting Saffy by applying choke so that she gets initiated and Yes my lady did got started!! Aaahhhh, yes the moment of happiness, the sound of engine, Saffy is all alive seems even she was less on Oxygen, I hugged her, for a moment I thought I lost her but no, she was back and right here with me. She is all strong not like her rider but like her rider’s better half.

I could make out from Sachin’s face that he was upset not because Saffy stopped working in middle of mountains but because of me , he turned to me and started speaking which did not stopped for next 10 minutes……………

“You remember we discussed it right from the day one that this terrain is unpredictable and we can face anything and everything here!!….what if any lose giant rock comes rolling down in front of my rear and takes my bike and me to the edge of the Ghat throwing us down? What if some drunkard truckwala dash you hard? What if there is a landslide just when you are about to cross the way? Kiran there are many things that nature can do to us so this bike breakdown things are nothing in front of those. Don’t panic with such small things. Haven’t we discussed this before? if Saffy wouldn’t have started we would have loaded her in some truck and took her to some nearby mechanic, repaired and resumed with our ride…What so big in that? Things can go wrong here…..Why you have to raise your Blood Pressure every time? Can’t you keep your mind under control? You pray every time you start your bike saying “Ganapati Bappa Morya” Don’t you trust him? Don’t you trust me? Don’t you trust yourself? Don’t you trust Saffy – the lady who got you up till here all the way from Mumbai?”

TRUST YOUR MACHINE AND THEY WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON YOU!!

<This one line said by Sachin made a huge difference in my attitude throughout the journey> Well what can I say this is how you learn.

He was right and there wasnt any point arguing there, since I knew I was wrong. I just nodded saying “I am sorry” <which gave me hard urge to cry!! But controlling my tears we resumed back to kick off those left out treacherous miles.>

We did got some better patch to speed up till 40 kms at the end of pass however the best part was since we were going from Sonamarg to Zojilla we faced very little patch to ride on edges <which would have made me more breathless and height phobic>

Finally from far off when we saw a board which mentioned “WELCOME TO LADAKH, YOU ARE AT ZOJILA PASS – Altitude 11,575 feet”; guess what, we would have done –

WE SCREAMED we screamed so LOUD that it made echo of our voices returning it back to us

We stopped, parked our bikes at the side hugged each other tight and sobbed; yes it was the tears of happiness, the tears of achievement, the tears of all our hard efforts, the tears of those 6 months preparation, the tears to reach till here all the way from Mumbai, tears of our love, tears of being together through all hard times, tears of saffy & Touro making up till here, tears of …………….

We pinched each other making us realize that’s it’s a reality and seeing in each other’s eyes we shared a smile, wiped our eyes cleared our blocked nose and posed for a photograph “CLICK CLICK”

<This terrain has made me so emotional every small incident make my eyes fill with those salty water – Sometimes with happiness sometimes with sadness and sometimes with uncalled unexpected tragedies…Frankly I am such a strong lady who faced all the problems without shedding any tears right from school to college to my 1st job in fact even my marriage where “Singh and Desai” cannot be joined together.. but at the end everything concluded with the happy note in all my phases and the same is gonna happen with this first adventure of our life>

<I was done with this Crying thing Literally!! 2016 is cry free year for me I am done with my year long quota in 2015 while on this leh ride  >

The roads till Kargil was the complete mess, you could not go above 30kmph. The happiness gushed in when we saw a TAR road from far. Saffy and Touro was impatient to touch 100kmph on those tarmac.

On our way to Kargil we were awestruck by the sheer beauty of the place obviously we were compelled to stop there for some photography.

Visting “Kargil war memorial” and bowing our head there was must. As soon as we reached the memorial I started feeling restless I found trouble in breathing, bit of headache, dry throat, uneasiness, I was feeling something odd <Is it Acclimatization thing, but we did took Diamox> the same happened with Sachin but that was just for few minutes.

I asked Sachin to go ahead and take a look around the memorial till the time I would rest in the military camp <I did not go in because of all restlessness – Don’t know when will I visit the place again>

After 45 mints of struggle to get some sleep, and with dry throat which was constantly asking for water, I lifted my face up and saw Sachin coming towards me he looked bit sad after seeing the Kargil war memorial he sat for 10 mints without speaking anything. Later he asked my wellness and got a refreshing tea called “Kahwah”(Kashmiri Tea) from military canteen…which made me feel tad better.

We met few Delhi folks who were stunned talking to us. They wanted to make a small film about our journey; experiences etc (We felt like celebrity :P)… however since we were running so late, we apologized them and left from there assuring them to meet at Pangong or Leh city.

We had a chicken thali lunch at Drass <one of the coldest place in Ladhak region during winter and 2nd coldest inhabited place on earth> leaving from there we took a really long breaks in a nearby waterfall… Today I felt like a leisure ride <Sachin made sure to keep my mind & body relaxed after my 1st pass> therefore we were riding in much more soothing way.

We planned to stay in Kargil for the night so we checked in a hotel as soon as we found one. Since it was not so late in evening we thought to take Saffy and Touro to a nearby washing centre to get them a chilly bath <of course they were so happy to get cleaned>

Concluded with our dinner over the chilly rooftop. Packed our stuffs <while packing my things I realized that I have lost my pouch which had hell lot of my essential materials <sunscreen 50 SPF, body lotion, shampoo, SPF gloss, face wash, sanitizer, multivitamins tabs and what not> things without which a girl cannot survive… shit shit shit…

I had to buy it all again but where “can I find a medical store now” I asked Sachin sadly to which he replied – “Leh City” probably, Come on till then enjwaiee some Unhygienic “ness”

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE I LOST MY POUCH !! locate it in one of the pics !! <Even We came to know about this while going through these photographs  > we stopped here for washing our face with 100 percent natural water.

Day 7 ended up with good note and too much learning’s by Professor Sachin, my coach, my trainer, my love <3. Well we did not plan anything for the next day. We thought wherever we feel tired we would take a halt and relax ourselves.

Concluding Day 7 positively we went into deep and relax full sound sleep..<despite the fact that I was missing my cosmetic pouch  >

<DAY 8 would have no “Dangerous Pass” crossing but there are some passes and test of the carbureted machines.. we were all set to face some more zig-zaggy lanes>

PS: – <We did clicked some poses with the yummiest egg dish and the person who made it for us and also the better pics of Zojilla pass where we were blowing our noses after..haha. However reason for not uploading it would be revealed in our last chapter>

Mighty Zojila has just started and me riding on the middle of the road, Sachin appreciated saying that this is the correct way of riding on those loose roads. least he knew that i was riding in middle because i was afraid of the edges <height phobia>

This things is really scary, Zabardast Zozila again

CHAPTER 8 – “DAY 8”

“Tradition of Heaven”

Day8 (Saturday) – 20/06/2015

Route – Kargil – Fotu la – Namika La – Saspol/Saspul

Kms – 157 kms

The last night was divine and peaceful. We got up at 8.00 am<yes we were damn late for the day>. We got ready hastily and went down the stairs till the reception to give them their pending amount for the room & hotel.

As soon as we went down what we see is, the main gate of the hotel were locked and there were absolutely no one to help us. We checked their kitchen, terrace; free space still nobody was available so we decided to check their reception drawers for the keys. Lifting few registers, pens, notepads and calculators I located some bunch of keys, Sachin tried to open the lock and it worked!! BRAVO!! <Sometime watching “James Bond movies helps >

We decided to keep the pending amount in the reception drawer and leave a small note.

As usual Sachin went with his routine of cleaning the chain with a piece of cloth and lubricate it with left over engine oil for both the bikes while I was helping him out with tilting the bikes and loading the luggage’s. <ofcourse we were so immature in those days that we did not even knew that there is something called as “Chain Cleaner or Chain Lube”>

By the time we were serving our motorcycles we passed another 30 minutes of the time waiting for someone to turn up. Finally after seeing no one coming around we left from kargil to reach our next destination “Leh City”

<Hilarious thing was seeing me riding on curls, I kept my body so stiff even on turns that if I don’t turn my handle bar on zigzags I would go straight instead of turning to left or right, it actually happened so many times and then I ended up pressing brakes so hard giving a slight skid to rears. Definitely I did not knew how to ride on twisty <blame those 2 months experience> moreover I believed that if I slant my bike much I would end up skidding. Later Sachin explained me that we need to keep our body flexible while on sharp turns and now I understood how capable Saffy is with slants with those broad rear tyres.. SILLY ME  >

We frequently stopped for breaks and photography wow leisure ride it was except of few bad patches and crossing water bridges…It was good feeling of acclimatization, our body was responding positively these days.

When we started descending from Namika La, Sachin’s bullet started making some weird noise we stopped at the corner to see what the problem is? And this is when we met a group of riders <some 20-30 riders > and the admin of “Devil on Wheelz” website. These people assist Riders to ride with them after offering some packages. They enquired about our problem and called a person who was a mechanic travelling with them to help their fellow riders. The person helped us to clean the spark plugs after which our beast was feeling better and was ready to roll. Meeting good people is a destiny in those terrains.

We also visited “Lamayuru Monastery” since prayers are only thing that keeps you motivated in those mountains

We took a small tea break after some 157 kms <Least we knew our tea break would extend to night stay> We were just chatting around and our eyes observed the board which said “Home Stay”. “Sound interesting” Sachin said “let’s check this out since going to Leh would take another 90 kms so for tonight let’s stay here and leave early in morning” anyways I was missing home so I agreed giving a positive nod to him.

We inquired about the place which said some 1500 for night and fix charges for lunch 300-/ per head and morning breakfast would be 150-/ <UNLIMITED >

The place looked amazing & BIG where we noticed the actual tradition followed by ladakhi people. It was the family of five that includes Uncle, Aunty who were the owners, their son and his wife and their small chotu sa cotton baby J. They were so kind and sweet that we actually felt like we are back home J Moreover the most delicious dinner we ever had in our complete journey and that too in so tradition form <pics should say it all>. Sachin looked so content after his stomach full bhojan <food I mean >..

After having some “WE” time and watching some romantic songs on TV  <As we always do when we are home back from long day in office> we both proceeded ahead for our much needed nap to start our morning spanking fresh…

<Day 9 was another unanticipated day with unexpected Dust storm that blew our bikes and us off the road. Furthermore “A View of the World Highest Motorable Road” ended with another nail-biting mistake >

CHAPTER 9 – DAY 9

A View of the World Highest Motorable Road

Day9 (Saturday) – 21/06/2015

Route  Saspol/Saspul  Leh City- Khardungla Top – Leh

Kms  (140 kms) 39.6 km leh to khardungla

We had our delicious breakfast and a short chat with the family < we were stunned after hearing them speak each and every word in fluent English> hugged them & waving them bye <not good bye, we would like to meet them over again> and we proceeded for our next destination…

Enroute Leh city..Always got scared to see these rocks hanging above us

Just 20 kms away from leh city, we read the board saying JULLEY which placed smile on our faces. As soon as we were about to reach Leh, we faced something which was ridiculously dangerous, it was none other than the menacing dust storm which was gusting up the loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. We were not able to spot anything not even the things that were happening an inch ahead. We were stuck in middle of the road thinking about what to do next?

We decided to keep moving slowly and steadily where Sachin was leading us and suddenly he was plunged away from the road at the extreme left by the pressure of storm I thought he will fall, but he managed to balance himself and Touro <Thank god>

Somehow we managed to reach Leh city. The dust and sands were all over our saddles and us. We Checked into some hotel near to the old taxi stand, and it was time for us to ride on World highest motorable road Khardungla TOP  18,380 feet Which was 39.6 km from leh to khardungla so coming back again makes it 39.6 + 39.6 = 79.2 kms .

Yes I was nervous for reaching on the top and moreover after visualizing the morning Dust storm thing it was getting more adrenaline into me. We did not get time to have lunch after those amazing breakfast at Saspol. So what we did was we had some biscuits & later the tablet for acclimatization <i.e. Diamox> since we did not wanted to risk ourselves and carried as per our planning to reach our next destination THE KHARDUNGLA PASS

It was already 3.30 when we finally left for our target. Initially for few Kms the roads were narrow but butter smooth. It was fun riding out there but after few kms the roads went to bad and then worse.

Some riders who met us in a way asked us to return back, since the roads are very bad and dangerous loads of water crossing and what not, they tried to demotivate us till there last breathe, However Sachin and I saw each other, asked him to shut his mouth and left from the spot (I would suggest not to ask bikers about the road conditions, its not gonna be always good roads there and people are gonna pull you out of it, so in your life). Khardungla was actually father of all passes and highest of all so obviously it would be far-flung

It was 5.00 pm in the evening and we were still half way to climb where suddenly sachin waved me to stop. He said his bike is making unnecessary noise need to check <same as it was happening while on Fotu La pass>. He removed his spark plug which took 30 minutes, cleaned it and located it back to the place

We resumed with our ride & begged to almighty to avoid any more hurdles for tonight ATLEAST. The Sun started to set and the place started to get colder and colder.

Finally riding for some more time the board which said Khardungla TOP  18,380 feet  Highest Motorable road of the world was Visible from Far, I pinched myself and said This is it  We are here yuhuuuuuu !!!

I jumped out of my bike and started hopping and enjoying the moment. I looked for Sachin but he was nowhere to be seen before any negative things can pop in my mind. I turned around and I see my man coming towards me <My mind smirked and said to me Every time is not a tragedy time lady !! CHILL>

We hugged each other and lived the moment of being at top of the world

There were few soldiers there, who were so interested to know about our journey they also offered us a Beedi  and what more Sachin was happy puffing it and enjoying beedi at the world Highest Motorable road.. (We dont smoke regularly neither we do it occasionally, but it was fun to smoke Beedi on the highest Motorable road and quite a thrill specially for non smokers like us  )

It was almost dark when we decided to descend, We waved to the soldiers and left from the spot. While descending we met few riders who was fixing up the punctured tyres < Its indeed a pain in an a** for doing that work out there Poor Bikers>, we even offered some help as we were carrying some stuff for puncture related things, but they were having everything with them.

We completed, the bad patch before the sun set and now remains the smoother part. Loads of alertness needed since it was the dangerous descend and moreover no sunlight <Darkness seems to be too dangerous when in those terrains>

We thought to hydrate ourselves; somehow from our Mobile light we managed to open up the Saddle Bags<shit it was real bad cold> we found empty bottles in our bag <WTF no water>

Comprising with some hand full of dry fruits we continued with our declining thing. We were tired, non-hydrated, bad headache and more 20 kms to go <Oxygen deficiency and no water started showing up its symptom pretty soon>

Just we two on those isolated terrain in that some minus degree temperature struggling to finish it up. Even half a kms was painful at the moment

Somehow managed to complete those kms however AMS already affected us in some worst manner.

We found a shop and ran like a thirsty crow towards the person. Sachin slept there for some time and relaxed himself while in a hurry and upset about his health I broke up a sauce bottle  shopkeeper was kind enough to clean it up <for a change, a bottle of Aquafina costed us some 125 rupees (extra 100 rupees for Ketchup bottle)lol>

It was 10.30 in the night and we thought to go home (Sorry, its room, I always say it ) freshen up and came down for some quick dinner since we thought to leave for Pangong Tso tomorrow. <Unexpected things are part of life. You cant slash out that limb>

It was too cold what could have been better place than to be inside the Rajai. <Blanket I mean>

I dont remember what happened next..

When I unlocked my eyes I searched for clock it was 12:30 in the night, my lenses were hurting me inside my eyes, I still had the riding gloves in my hand and shoes unlaced, my head was hurting me hard, my stomach was asking for food, and my dry mouth and thirsty throat asking for some water, I looked for Sachin he was deep in his sleep snoring, I grabbed for a water and helped my eyes.

What happened next?……………………

<Still while writing Day 10 I can weep for an hour long  Love you BODY you did not gave up on us>

CHAPTER 10 – “DAY 10”

“Dry Day”

Day10 (Monday) – 23/06/2015

Route – Leh City

Kms – ‘o’ kms

I was incapacitated, no strength at all to even open my eyes, somehow located the watch ….it was 9.30 in the morning. I was happy that we survived the night but every part of my body was asking for food for some energy. I asked him to get something to eat <Our hotel did not served anything “Bullshit”> Sachin was on the similar stage however poor my man had no option to drag his body out and get some fuel he went downstairs and got some chapatti and omlette from nearby hotel

Without even brushing our teeth both of us were fueling up ourselves like a hungry dogs. Frankly saying I dint even had the energy to chew my food <the worst part was we did not even had the afternoon lunch the day before>

We saw each other with worry in our eyes and asked “Are we good”?

“Headache” we both said together. Sachin handed me a tablet of saridon after having the tablets we discussed and decided our further plan Sachin said “let’s drop the plan for today and see Leh city and leave for Pangong Tso tomorrow”

Saridon effect!! We felt asleep yet again!!!

Waking up <this time it wasn’t a painful wake. It was light, more relaxed one, no heaviness, no hurt in stomach> aaaahhh we were feeling good. We survived the night !! Wuhuuu !! It’s a REST DAY <Hi five>

We had lunch <WITHOUT ANY DOUBT> and soon after that Sachin left to trace some mechanic and get his bull spark plug cleaned. I was happy to embrace bed for some more time.

After some big fat 4 hours Sachin showed up and asked me to get ready <Its tym to Explore the Leh City>

We headed to Shanti Stupa first and………..Is it required to say that the place was mesmerizing? Every Corner of this place called Leh & Ladakh is marvelous and all the adjectives that you can add up here.

Shanti Stupa is a white-domed stupa. We prayed for our safe journey ahead and thanked him for the safe journey so far 

The panoramic view of the surrounding landscape is so attractive that you can fix your eyes on it and keep watching it for hours and hours.

Watching Sunset with your love and sipping hot coffee in chilly wheather <Insan ko life mein aur kya chayiye>   <What else a human being need in his life ?>

It was already bit darker when we left for Leh palace…I anyways wasn’t interested to see any palace but Sachin was keen for everything   so we made up there, posed and left

We wanted to purchase prayer flags and a magnet so we were loafing around in Leh Market. Purchasing tees with a tag line as “How I got to Leh’D” with a bike image was unexpected and good.

Market was so colourful and happening, loitering there was fun

Trying out some Momos there was not even a question. Our dinner ends with some chicken Clear Soup, Chicken Momo, Chicken Fried Rice, and leh ka local Beer 

Ending our day with lots of food <Seems like we were compensating for yesterday’s food: D> we felt asleep since we had another big day and 70 degree ascend tomorrow…

Yes we have got this straight and clear that FOOD is one important spice in your life 🙂

Remember I said before “<Unexpected things are part of life. You can’t slash out that limb> wait and watch what the next tragedy was? 

CHAPTER 11 – “DAY 11”

“In the direction of Lonely Planet”

Day11 (Tuesday) – 23/06/2015

Route – Leh — Chang la pass — Pangong Tso

Kms – 170 kms

We left around 8.00 for our next mission. I had a mixed feeling (Tensed for the pass and excited to see pangong – jo srf filmo aur google images mein hi deka ha, aaj usse rubaroo hone ka waqt ahya ha) <The place which was just seen in movies. It was time to see them from your very own naked eyes>

|| Hey Trouble – So We Meet Again?…||

Somehow troubles weren’t ready to spare us. Throughout the journey there was not a single day where our mind was on peace. It’s not always the heart. Sometimes your mind breaks as well and something similar happened, when we were all set to leave for our next destination “Pangong Tso” and next pass “Chang la”

We were so positive to reach Chang La in an afternoon and spend the evening sitting besides the lake having our time where least we knew that Saffy would give up on us..AGAIN !!

We were on a normal pace when Saffy got stuck in middle of road refusing to move even an inch ahead, in spite of giving a full accelerator the wheels were motionless.

<Sweat started accumulating on my forehead> “Start up Saffy we need to go – I don’t want to leave you”

<< Don’t know why but from the day I started my trip I had this negative thought in my mind and I even used to get a nightmare about it that my saffy is stuck in middle of snow clad mountain, no mechanic, no help and finally we see a truck and ask him for help, my saffy getting loaded into the truck, iam getting loaded and my dream of riding in some pass is busted >>

Sachin voice made me jump out of my thought….

He said immediately “There is a mechanic nearby I came here yesterday for my bull work, Don’t Worry we will get her fixed” Saying this he left to get a mechanic

After some 15 mints he got a person with him who was on his scooter. He slacked up some screw from the front wheel and asked us to follow him till his shop.

Without Disc break it’s tough to even ride a km and halt it just on a rear break. The person said that he is already involved in some other bike so it would take sometime to start up with Saffy somehow I requested him to be quick since we required to reach Pangong before sunset

The mechanic checked Saffy for a while and said “pump jam ho gya ha” he said that the oil wasn’t able to pass through the pump into disc break, which eventually jammed the wheels; long story short front disc brake was in a problem…

He took some fat 2 hours to change few things. Meanwhile Sachin got some breakfast since we did not wanted to repeat “Khardungla” episode.

The person who was repairing Saffy took 5 hrs to replace pump and pass oil through it of course he did some temporary setup to make disc work because the disc brake was not as stiff as it was previously.

Still we had to manage with it because we had no other solution and moreover the mechanic did not had the spares parts for replacing the calliper and Master Cylinder(The box which has break oil in it which did not passed it through).

Leaving from the spot it was time to conquer “Chang la” which was the steepest pass which we were about to face. Remembering all the heavenly power we left for our next destination <Yes we were damn late  >

We saw “Thikse Monastery” before climbing Chang La…because of time shortfall we did not stayed here longer!!

Moving on a decent speed we faced a steep ascend which made us realize that now it’s time to conquer Chang la.

I was leading whereas Sachin was behind me. Concentrating hard and moving upwards I thought to check for Sachin in my rear mirror – I found nobody. I was optimistic and thought he would chase me in a while so let’s keep going…after sometime I peeped back in my rear view as I was not feeling good about the idea of moving alone, I braked Saffy to the extreme left, pulled out the side stand and rested her < least I knew that the extreme left has the loose soil and the side stand would not be able to hold Saffy>

It was too late for me to understand this <Saffy was already lying down>, fuel dripping out of her, I looked around for some help “NOBODY”… “Jai Hanuman ji” was my word when I tried lifting her up and seriously I don’t know how I got so much strength in my arms at that moment <I have a weak hand &I never lifted her alone EVER…SERIOUSLY !!> I thought to seat over her and take her bit ahead at some appropriate place. When I was trying to do so I thought it would fall on opposite side Shit!! I was puffing hard, out of strength literally all due to low oxygen. In some way I managed to seat across tried to start her “SHE REFUSED” Lord what’s wrong now?

I tried applying choke and restarting her but even after many tries I failed. After some 15 mints I could see Sachin from far-off. I was happy seeing him coming up to me when I asked him about what happened “he said Touro was not able to ascend the 70 degree, I thought my clutch plate gave up however few bikers helped me by thrusting up touro and I managed to reach up here, Anyways Lets go !!.” Hearing him patiently I said in soft and low voice “Saffy not getting started”

Making a frustrating face he tried initializing her but she refused again and again. After some 15 mints I tried again and now the engine was in life..uffff !!

We proceeded further the roads ahead were bad <by bad I mean actually the real BAD>.

Fighting with all the problems when we finally reached the spot which said “HIMAK WELCOMES ON WORLDS THIRD HIGHEST PASS – CHANG LA – 17586 Ft. ” it was not less than the feeling of a warrior who never gives up

We were on some 17586 FT, one of the steepest ascends…Finally we were here. We bought some water <the nightmare of khardungla should not get repeated – Sorry iam repeating this Khardungla thing again and over again because that night we actually came out of death well, We will never forget that night  >

We visited the temple “MAY CHANG LA BABA BLESS YOU” thanked him for being kind to us and allowing us to stand here safely. We needed to reach pangong ASAP so posed, clicked and left. We did not expend too much time since we would be returning via same route.

People were too curious to ask us about our journey. There were few Mumbaikars who were too happy to find a “MH” tagged bikes 

After conquering every pass, the inner feeling was so emotional….Thank you my lord for making us so capable 

Since the climate was not that bad our body was supportive. Damn NOW comes the descending part <I HATE IT THE MOST> I can climb up easily but this slant down thing is a nightmare for me. <Rolling my eyes>

I far-sighted and uff it was way too far off for better roads to get nearer.

As soon as the Slant thing was about to conclude there was another challenge for us to face…<Uff this Leh is so unpredictable> WATER CROSSING <Yes my first ever dangerous water crossing> people also call it “PAGAL NALLA” lol…

I asked Sachin to go ahead and yes my man reached the shoreline safely. It was my turn now to show up all my skills of biking, though Sachin asked me if he can do me the favor but I wanted to do it myself so I waved him saying NO and entered the stream making the way through those stubborn pebbles. He was anxiously waiting for me to reach the shore <biting his nails> <He always do this whenever he is gets tensed >

At a point I thought I would fall but I MADE IT, high fived him and WOW I was feeling good   Sachin made a small video of mine crossing the stream <sharing it below>

Thanks to our Riding shoes which was water proof with superb grip to stony base. <that was the end moment shopping we did otherwise we were in plan to take gumboots thank god we did not go for it>

We asked few riders on the way about when are we getting the better roads. They said few more kms and the smooth roads are awaiting you..

I think some 40 kms up till pangong we rode like a WAIT WAIT actually not RODE but we WINGED with our bikes. LOL..

We were enjoying the feeling of reaching the worlds famous SALT LAKE. We were in love with the Twists, turns and roads, mountains, white sand <bikes and sands very bad combination. We saved our A** countless times> I even had a high jump with Saffy    <Damn I can’t say how horrifying that was   Don’t know how the heaven I was saved…lol>. Thanks to the rear broad tyres..

We wanted to reach before sunset however we knew we would not be able to make it. But being optimistic in those terrains is the only thing that keeps you goingJ. Got some small water crossing on the way and after that the board saying “FIRST VIEW OF PANGONG TSO” we ignored the board and went ahead to see the actual lake and not just the distant view of it..

Nahe Nahe poora Pangong dekna….Chalo agge !! <No No want to see complete view not just the distant one !! Keep moving !!>

It was something around 7.00pm Sun was about to say good buyie and we were there in front of this blue lake admiring it <This is what we call “Optimism”>   I slept and rolled on to the sand thanking heaven for giving us this opportunity to be here, to watch this heaven <Tears, Tears, Tears…..>

Least we realized that we have no accommodation for the night:-D. We rushed to inquire into few tents who were quoting the amount too high just for few hours so we decided to find some reasonable place and luckily we found one in just 500 bucks …<not too great not bad though>

Our Palace for the night – Isnt it Romantic ? 

Quick decision is so important seriously, delay in our decision and the tent would have gone to some other gang of boys who were even finding out the accommodation for themselves. So not wasting time 😉 we checked in and ordered for some geera rice, dal fry and papad

Concluding the day sitting near Pangong lake and having Jeera rice, dal fry with smile on our face, What else we need? Life fails to be perfect and struggle free but never fails to be beautiful….:-)

Finally it was the most awaited time to shut the day by snoring in that chilly tent. <I woke up couple of times since temperature was something in minus and keeping yourself hydrated & warm was important>

Gurrrrrrrrrrr !!!!!

<Btw I don’t snore that’s one is of Sachin’s !! huhhh !!>

Day 12 coming soon btw it was tragedy free   and that’s morning view of next day

CHAPTER 12 – “DAY 12”

“Lonely Planet on the Edge – Salt Lake”

Day12 (Wednesday) – 24/06/2015

Route – Pangong Tso – Chang la – Karu – Upshi

Kms – 140 kms

Some midnight conversation between us

******

Me (Kiran) – “Sachin thoda sarak na, mere kamar ke yaha pathar jaisa kuch ha, sone nahe ho raha” <”Sachin Shift a bit, there is some stone like thing beneath, not able to sleep”>

<Without even shifting an inch” like we do while travelling in local train and give space to 4th seater – EXACTLY SOMETHING LIKE THAT? >

Sachin – “Is it ok” <”Snoring Gurrrrrrrrrrrrrr Gurrrrrrrrrrr”>

Kiran – <Disappointed> “Arre yaar stop snoring now and for god sake shift”

Sachin – Gurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Gurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Fuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

*

*

*

2 hours Later……

*

*

*

*

Kiran – “ Sachin Sachin Sachinnnnnn”

Sachin – “Ha kya hua subah ho gayi kya” <jumping out from sleep>

Kiran – “Are you feeling cold?”

Sachin – “Arre yar nahe heater mein soya hu mein” <Angrily>

Kiran – “Shutapp, Sleep”

Sachin – “Wahi kar raha hu” <Gurrrrrrrrrrrrr Gurrrrrrrrrrrrrrr>

*******

We woke up something around 8.00 am and the weather appeared to be bit cloudy. We got a tent next to us which had attached rest room actually last night it was given to 5 boys who left early and so I was spared to use the public one   <itni khushi by god kabi nahe hui thi  >

Quickly we got ready and ordered for some delicious breakfast <Cheese omelette, toast and kadak chai>. It’s an excellent feeling to sip your garma garam chai in chilly weather with a breath-taking view in front of your eyes.

My blue lady and me enjoying the hot tea and blue view…..<Don’t see my dirty Riding shoes>

We were mesmerised by the sheer beauty of the place. It was 360 degrees beautiful and a panoramic spectacle. The crystal clear water, turquoise blue lagoon, cool fresh air, & magnificent landscape were tremendous. It’s very difficult to explain through words that we have witnessed and felt. It’s unimaginable and yes it’s a PARADISE.

Go little ahead of 3 idiots spot on the Pangong lake, and this part of Pangong lake will amaze you

Of course posing was without a shred of doubt so we posed we jumped we giggled we hugged and lived the moment with memories that will remain embedded in our heart till eternity.

Did not wanted to leave the heaven but it was the time to say them all goodbye   which is always hard.

Taking the same Route we reached the place from where the tough roads were about to start so took a small chai break and what we see “IT WAS SNOWING!!” <I said it before the weather was cloudy> we started to put on our rain jackets and resumed with our traverse.

This time the water crossing was so easily done 

It is tough infact very tough to ride when it’s snowing my fingers were numb, I was shivering but moving on was the only option. We reached Changla top visited the temple again and left quickly so that it’s not too late to reach our destination for the day since we planned our return journey via “Leh -Manali” and our next stop was Upshi.

Remember, I said Leh is Unpredictable, few more kms from Chang la top and it was bright sunny day <I was relieved and surprised…>

Successfully striking out another mission from our list we stopped for lunch break.

Refilled our tank in “Karu” and stocked up extra cans and bottles and proceeded to our next mission via Manali

With not so bad roads we reached “Upshi” and planned to stay there for a night.

Quickly we found the accommodation of course with no bathroom attached:-D <what can we expect in mountains at least we got the closed place to stay and not the tent>

After taking some rest for some time, we ordered for our dinner; luckily we were getting good food to eat everyday <dal, rice, roti, sabji>

After discussing the route for what are coming our way for tomorrow Sachin said that we need to cross “Tang Lang La – 17582 ft”

I was too over confident after finishing up so many passes successfully <But again I say “Ladakh IS SO UNPREDICTABLE” you will never understand what’s coming up your way>

Sometimes small tiny things are enough to suck up your blood and sometimes big giant thing will become a cake walk for you <Remember these lines, I am gonna use it again>

Without even a needle hint about whats gonna happen with us tomorrow we went for a peaceful sleep hoping for a better tomorrow <which became a Survival & Suffering day of our entire trip>

CHAPTER 15 – “DAY 15”

“The Last Pass”

Day15 (Saturday) – 27/06/2015

Route – Jispa – Rohtang pass – Manali

Kms – 140 kms

Have you ever slept like when you get up the next morning you feel like its your 2^nd birth, I mean seriously that night I am never gonna forget that spongy touch to your backbone after days of hard riding. Well I have no more words to express it anymore.

That morning when we got up, we were very relaxed since it was our last pass. If I remember correctly it was not less than 30 mints I was lying on bed in my thoughts taking quick recap of all those things we came across right from our planning phase, all those sufferings, happiness and everything we did to make up till here and now it’s finally the end.

There is saying “Smooth roads don’t make Skilful Riders!! AGREED!! But since we have already faced enough I was seriously something like this-

Bas Babaji ab aur excitement mat dena iss ride mein..ab bilkul boring bana do ji iss trip ko” (Oh God, no more thrill/excitment for this ride. Its time for this ride to get Boring.)” Famous dialogue from jab we met (bit modified though )

This was one of the epic moment in our ride.

Sachin asked me to stop the day dreaming and get set ready for the final patch.

We loaded our bikes and left to enjoyieee some lovely zig-zaggy patch. The day started smoothly with the delicious breakfast in Keylong with fantastic view.

I was actually enjoying the crisscross patches, since it was my fifteenth day so by now I was very well versed about how to handle single lanes and twisty.

When we found this hotel after days of sleeping in tent and on those stony base we were so happy as if we found heaven 

We stopped few times to get clicked and enjoy the nature since we would be back in our hectic lives soon. We jumped, laughed had best of our time..

we were so happy when suddenly something happened and believe me this was one of the heart throbbing suicidal thing that ever happened to me <I don’t know but still while writing my eyes got filled by tears and my heart rate increased suddenly, YES KIRAN SINGH IT’S THE NAKED TRUTH THAT I WAS IN THAT SUITATION SOMEDAY and I pray heaven that what I faced nobody should ever face specially in those terrains>

<BY THE WAY WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED THAT DAY SCROLL IT DOWN….>

We were in full swing continuously above 80kmph since the terrain was not that bad and we heard that Rohtang transit is always unpredictable with heavy traffic so we wanted to cover Rohtang La route ASAP and reach Manali before sunset.

While we were enjoying the curves to the optimum, obviously we were also forced to use more brakes. Rohtang pass would not be more than 20 kms away when I found that there is some serious issue with my front disc brake. I was able to apply it but as I was using it more and more I found that the disc brake lever can be completely pulled towards me and touching handlebar, which ideally should not happen. For applying disc brake just a finger or two is enough.

I got the hint that this is not going to work for longer time and might give up anytime. I raised a concern to Sachin about the same and our conversation went something like this.

***

Sachin :- What happened ? All ok ?

Kiran :- (In tensed voice ) I think there is some problem with my disc brake; I mean, I am able to apply brakes but I have a feeling that it would give up soon.

Sachin :- Damn !! Are you Serious? Let me check !!

(Kiran was waiting while Sachin took a small test ride of Saffy and returned )

Sachin :- Brake can give up anytime SHIT !! <In too much tensed voice> but we would not get any mechanic here and Rohtang is about to get started. What you think? can you manage to get through Rohtang? We would find mechanic ones we make it till manali.

Kiran – (Thinking) Kya yaar ? kya ho raha ha ye sab ? rone ah raha ha muje (What man ? whats happening with us ? I feel like crying man)

Sachin :- (Consoling and hugging ) Trust God ? Everything will be fine!

***

And we left to conquer one more challenge of our journey. It was very well clear that using disc brake frequently would completely destroy it leaving only rear brake for option.

I was tensed and Sachin was equally tensed since riding without disc brake in those terrain is suicidal but do we have any OPTION? The answer was big fat “NO” Rohtang route was noticeably very dangerous with very bad patch and dangerous ascend, water crossing (after Zingzing bar Rohtang water passes are the dangerous)

Just before starting to ride on Rohtang, Sachin asked me to stop and have some water. We even had MOMOs there, since whenever we both get tensed we like to eat and eat and eat a lot.

I was blank, I didn’t knew what to do but, I just so desperately wanted to get off this situation and with louder voice and full enthusiasm I asked my man to “lets do this too!”

We were making our way through the stony patch and moving bit by bit safely, but somewhere back of mind I was so terrified that “Hey you don’t have a disc brake and

you are riding at one of the dangerous patch in india ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?”

The worst thing while riding to Rohtang is tourist vans, they are so bloody rascals and heartless idiots that they wanted to reach everywhere without bothering who is on their way. It is clearly said that whoever is ascending let them ascend first and later you can descend since descending is not a big deal. But as I said who can teach these mindless jerks.

I was ascending one of the dangerous sharp left turn where suddenly one of the tourist van didn’t allow me to climb and eventually it resulted me and Saffy crushing to ground. I did apply the brakes but it was this shocking realization that my brakes were failed completely. I was still in trauma when Sachin came to our rescue he found that the left hand side footrest was dismantled.

Sachin picked up the bike and dragged it bit down to give side to other vehicles and to clear up the jam. That driver, moron did not even cared to apologize or step out from his van or whatsoever he just went off <I did not even expected> but I got a hard urge to slap him and there is when I understood one more good thing about myself that riding has worked as wonders on my short temper.

At that moment I had many things to think rather than thinking about that spineless driver. My bike was without brake and now the footrest, DAMN !! how Am I going to shift gears ?

I would earnestly thank Sachin for buying the foot rest at the last moment; In fact it was just 2 hours before onset of our ride when Sachin did few last minutes shopping which contained the foot rest as well.

We fixed it up sitting up there at Rohtang La, Sachin took out all of his tool box and started fixing up the things and he just took 20 mints to do so after which we resumed our ride knowing the heart thumping shock that Saffy is without disc.

Hydration brake after fixing up the footrest

The worst and toughest water crossing we faced was in Rohtang, added spice to it was Traffic jam. Making our path through corners was hopelessly chancy but again that’s is what motorcycles are for 

Somehow managing and balancing, we successfully crossed Rohtang La(Lasho ka ghar). There were so many vacationers enjoying and sliding on snows <I thought in mind go to Tanglang La and enjoy snow, then we shall talk F2F >

All guns blazing on tarmac road of Rohtang

Concluding with “Rohtang La” I got another heart attack when I realized that we gotta face this descending huge Ghat to reach Manali which was 35 kms. Frankly if you have the proper brakes it is one of the finest Ghat with better roads where you can swing your bike, but for me it was the toughest descending challenge to complete.

I never went above 10 kmph, I used engine braking most of the time and the funny part was I learnt the engine braking mechanism on that ride only. Woh bolte ha na “Worst situation teaches you many things”   Keep up your faith to go high and fly…

Still many times the rear wheel terrified hell out of me by giving me a slight skid when I forcefully applied it.

But somehow Ladies and Gentlemen we made it till Manali !! YES WE EVEN BYPASSED THIS TROUBLE OF OUR RIDE

Descending Ghat 

Sachin asked me to wait at the corner of the road till the time he will come searching some place to check in and also the transporter & mechanic from where we can transport our bikes.

I waited for almost an hour when he returned saying that he found nothing, nor the transporter nor the mechanic <My man looked so tired   but I smiled at him saying “We will find it all   Let’s get some beer   and he smiled back>

We checked in some hotel and concluded our day with delicious Punjabi cuisines and lots of beer   Sachin even appreciated me saying today I saw a different lady named “Kiran Singh” a fearless one she wasn’t the Kiran Singh who was struggling for life in Tanglang La with blue hands, who panicked easily, raising her Blood Pressure upon small things, what I saw was completely different Kiran, who was much more sorted, strong-minded, cool and determined then she used to be, happy to see good changes in my lady <3

I was so happy to get this appreciation from him, I mean throughout my ride so many people appreciated me, but to get appreciation from you mentor is the ultimate one moreover this was 1^st time he appreciated me in this entire trip

Shutting the day with positive hope that we would find a mechanic and transporter for our motorcycles tomorrow. We embraced the sleep.

Day 16 was “The end of the beginning” and it was time to say good bye to our beloved machines and companions for last 15 days.

CHAPTER 16 – The End of the Beginning

Day16 (Sunday)  28/06/2015

Route  Manali  Mandi – Chandigarh

Kms  140 kms

After amazing beery sleep we woke up somewhere around 8.00 am with happy and also somewhat sad thought that, now its finally the end of where we began our journey. There is always end of whatever you begin thats how the universe workflow is, but this riding thing was injected so deep inside us and mixed in our RBC which looked as if it is never gonna leave us at least in this birth.

We had delicious Paranthas and left to achieve target for the day since we had long way to reach Chandhigarh; moreover it should be hurdle less since we were in no mood to miss on our train.

First and most important thing was THE MECHANIC and unfortunately we found none in Manali. The spare (Master Cylinder) for Saffy disc brake were nowhere found, so we thought to locate a proper Bajaj service center and get it fixed faultlessly <did not wanted to repeat the same thing that Leh mechanic did with the brakes even after utilizing 5 hours>

Bikes ready for new day and I was all set to ride again without Disc break   horrible time it was..  But never give up on anything

I rode more 50 kms without disc Break and we finally located a Bajaj Service center in some small town between Kullu and Manali. We enquired couple of localities since it was Sunday and we doubted that the service center might be closed but thank you god that wasnt the case <if god gives you pain he also gives you solution to solve it>.

Seriously Bajaj Service center folks ROCKS!! They just took 30 mints to get the issue fixed of course without replacing master Cylinder as it was not in stock <still better than those 5 hours> I knew that they did a temporary thing again, which I will have to get it done once I reach Mumbai, but since it was just a matter of few kms we agreed upon not investing much time and leave for Chandigarh ASAP >.

Saffy’s getting medicine after suffering for 1 whole day 

The highway from Manali to Chandigarh was double lane which increased our difficulty level. We were not even able to go above 70 kms .

Luckily just after few kms somewhere around Mandi, Sachin located Gati Kwe transports from where we planned to transport our bikes to Mumbai, Also we did not wanted more surprises rather shock while riding in the dusk and then night, as we also had to catch train from Chandhigarh to Mumbai,

Needless to say we became bit emotional while transporting our companion for 15 long days, ofcourse we were aware that it was just end of our first adventure and there are many many more to come.

Waving bye to our beloved machines and promising to see them soon we left from Mandi. Now our another challenge was to reach Chandigarh station, Gati guys told us that there are bus services for the same but when we reached bus depot they said; there are no buses until tomorrow morning and furthermore you guys need to have prior reservation for the same <Now this was something serious>.

After running and inquiring for 3 hours we came to know that there is a cab service but it is way too expensive 5000inr something. Fortunately we met a Punjabi family who were in same situation as ours we all decided to share a cab and also the sum and this is how we reached Chandigarh bus centre at around 2.00 am SAFELY and SUCESSFULLY.

Rest of the night were passed sitting at the bus depot since our train timing was 11:00 am. Also our cab driver asked us to stay there since it is not safe to be at railway station during night. Bus depot was crowded even at that time of night and yes it felt safe too.

We are Talker I mean literally we talk so much, Our complete night was spent talking and discussing how our ride actually went, what we did wrong and all about it. In fact even now we have so many topics to talk upon that sometimes it goes till 3.00 am in the morning and next day we sleep only for 4 hours and rush for office   In short the night was well spent talking about our 1st adventure (Together on different bikes).

Day 17 was all about sleeping, sleeping and Sleeping without eating…

CHAPTER 17 – Sleeping Beauties

Day17 (Monday)  29/06/2015

Finally it was time to get back to home sweet home and in our normal routine. INFACT for people like us its so very important to get back to our routine life. We were actually feeling home sick after being out for 18 long days.

Some Pre-Photo Shoot before getting into train..

Some time pass and fun while we were waiting for our train from Chandigarh to Mumbai

Next morning when we got in train we decided to take some rest and then get up for our lunch however that wasnt the case, we directly got up at around 7.00 in the evening had some snacks and then slept again. We did promised each other to get up for dinner but by the time we woke up it was already 12.30 am. It was very clear we are gonna get no food so we slept again.

Next morning when we woke up there was this lovely Punjabi couple, their age would be somewhere around 50 or soThey laughed saying Roti Shoti khani bi ha ki sirf sona ha <Will you guys have food or only wants to sleep> 

Damn we were actually starving when we had delicious breakfast and bajiyas which made us feel so content.

It was more 4 hours and we would be in our LAND MUMBAI but that too ended up with the heart-breaking tragedyWAIT for Day 18 and last episode!!

CHAPTER 18 – “Mumbai – The Tragedy Day”

Day18 (Monday) – 30/06/2015

We went through 8 states for past 18 days, but the biggest tragedy happened when we were in our land. Literally we are laughing while writing this and even you might laugh while reading this but when we finally reached Mumbai around 2.30 pm <Borivali> we were standing near bust stop from where we were supposed to take bus till “Airoli”.

We ran to catch up our bus but, unfortunately we missed it. We were clasping for breathe, so Sachin kept the saddle bag down and we sat bit aside from our bag in shadow. The bus was scheduled after 20 mint so we ordered Bhel Puri and started eating it and here is when the tragedy occurred.

Our Saddle bag was stolen by somebody in less than 30 seconds. We searched it but we were sure that we would not be able to find it so we went to police station and lodged a complaint in nearby police station in Borivali which wasn’t helpful; moreover our 3 hours were wasted.

Camera, Riding gloves and many things were robbed. Actually we carried two cameras Nikon P520 was for Kiran and Pentax P5 was used by Sachin. When we got down from train Sachin kept his waist pouch and camera bag(Pentax)with him and kept Nikon P520 in saddle Bags which was stolen.

Thank god we carried 2 cameras otherwise we would have no memories of our 1st adventure.

But finally finally finally, after so many struggles we enthusiastically conquered. I passed it with distinction and Sachin passed it with merit marks (above 90 percent) not even a single fall in those dangerous terrains, in fact he had it when it was least expected : D, so is our life <It gives us the shock when we least expect it>

We came back with so many learnings, like do not ride or ride slow during dusky hours as lights are very tricky, you should have good 8 hours sleep before starting the

ride, learnt so many things about our bikes, about ourselves, our limits <Mentally, Physically>…too many things It’s a long list…

And last but not the least Big Thanks to our Mom, Dad for understanding our passion for bikes and approving us for this madness. It’s never easy for parents to give such permissions to their kids. Helmets off to our creators. You Guys Rock !!

Make sure whenever you go out from your home, remember one thing that there is your lovely family who is waiting for you to come back to them. Never invite anything which will harm you because that will ultimately hurt your family and believe me that pain is never ending one.

“MISSION “Mumbai – Leh Ride” completed successfully!!”

We used to say “Leh Conquered”, but actually you or no one can conquer Mighty Himalayas, you just have to go with the flow of Himalayas and enjoy them.

***Kiran Singh Desai & Sachin Desai Singing off***

***Hope you all enjoyed our story as much as we enjoyed and wept while writing it ***

Stay tuned for lot many stories from our Recent Kolhapur and Dandeli ride and many more adventure in coming future!!

Till then Keep WROOMing!!

Never stop wondering….never stop wandering….

Thanks a minion for reading our story 

Thanks & Regards,

Kiran & Sachin

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You can watch Leh & Ladakh complete series on below link – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxTU9Ewydu2cvDva2-9mLXqAH-NZX3E62

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