Nomad's trial: November 2015

Friday 20 November 2015

Ladakh Expedition - Once in a lifetime Ride

Day 1 – Delhi- Manali- Keylong.

It was around 1.00am when we reached Delhi airport. Since the plan was revised, we asked the cab to pick us up at 1.30am instead of 8.00am so that atleast we have some 6hours buffer in our hand. Since there was no buffer in the plans, given the fact that it was snowing already & landslides can happen at anytime, anywhere. Pretty stupid isn’t it. :P.

We zoomed out of Delhi since the plan was set straight. No stops or deviations from the road until & unless we reach Manali. Arjun opted to be the shot gun and stayed awake, while others dozed off. Arijith's songs were soothing our tired souls.

We stopped for a tea break near some dhaba @ Punjab. I couldn’t sleep so asked Arjun to take five & slipped to front seat and we continued.

A shot gun is the one who seats in the front & keeps the drive accompanied & also keeps others grooving with his DJ skills :P

Sun rise in the countryside of Punjab was scintillating. Farm land en route gave us a pleasant feel with early morning breeze hitting our face. After an hour of drive we stopped for tea & the car was also to be changed due to registration issue. The owner of the travels, Manish Sharma himself drove the week old Innova. We stopped at some dhaba to fresh up & fill our tummies with the authentic aloo parata & lassi.

Authentic Aloo Parantha

Soon we entered the Himachal Pradesh. It was like home away from home for me. It was all hues of green quite similar to my home town Chikmagalur. We got to see one of the beautiful & quite big lake on our way, the Pandoh Lake. We could already see the snow clad mountains in the backdrop, adding on to our excitement.

Lake Pandoh

As we neared Mandi,we witnessed a waterfall in the banks of river Beas. And then uut of nowhere a tunnel appeared in the highway. We reached the kullu & it was time for our special lunch.

Aut tunnel at Mandi is one of the largest tunnel road in India stretching up to 4kms.

Kulu valley was again a bliss to see,love to visit during snowfall.

Waterfall near Aut tunnel

Aut Tunnel

Kullu Town

Manali was preparing itself for the winter & the snowfall. Landscapes were breathtaking, no wonder people opt this place for honeymoon: P. I would loved to camp at the valley, But our destination was to reach Keylong for the night.

It was around 6.30pm when we reached Manali. And the journey with Manish bhai & his innova was at end. From here the travels had arranged JK registered vehicle for us to reach Leh. One thing I learnt was, the registration of the vehicle does matters a lot here. We met shaym, a ladakhi driver who will be taking us to leh in his Xylo.

Bidding Adieu to Manish bhai

We had little time to roam around the famous mall road of manali& fill our tummy. We roamed &shopped for a while. And returned to the cab stand where Shyam was waiting for us. Arjun, Naveen & Deepak wanted to buy some special “stuff”, so they bluffed to bring food & went out. But lesser did I know that these buggers would waste time till 10.30. I was so pissed at them, 6hrs of buffer was all wasted meaninglessly.

And it was dark & had to cross the Rohtang pass, which is famous for its unpredictable weather, landslides& altitude of around 11,000ft. They had little idea of the danger we could encounter in this stretch. I was boiling with anger but managed to keep myself calm. Arjun did tried to justify but that only made me more furious.

Shyam had insisted us to halt for the night & leave early in the morning, in that way we could witness the landscapes in day light. But we opted to carry on for the night & ascend to the famous Rohtang pass begun.

Rohtang Pass

The Ascend- we could hardly hold our camera, it was freezing!!

Man!! For a while I thought, I’m gonna touch the moon in minutes that was the altitude. My eyes were shut for a while & when it opened, bloody Arjun was swinging, left & right in the front seat & Shyam was driving very close to the edge of the cliff. I was shit scared & checked on Shyam whether he’s in his senses or sleeping.

He was driving his freaking xylo like a stimulator or something, every time he took sharp turns close to the edge, my heart was in my mouth. Arjun was in his dreamland still swinging, left & right. I was struggling to keep myself up. The buggers were sleeping so peacefully as if we are on some sweet ride.

After some point I couldn’t keep myself up, so asked Naveen (who spent most of the time sleeping in this journey) to take the place of Arjun, so that both of us could rest for a while. We slept for a while before waking up at keylong for the final halt of the day.It was around 2.00am.

Our Driver till Chandigarh

That was an epic start to the trip...!!!

Tuesday 10 November 2015

Ladakh Road Trip - Where it all began

Well it’s quite obvious that people who heard of the great stories of Ladakh bike trip would add this place to their bucket list. Lately it has been in everyone’s mouth, thanks to few Bollywood flicks which have shown the beauty of ladakh. One would definitely dream of making that trip sometime. It was no different with us either. All of us being engineers, 3Idiots movie fueled more to the dream.

And after the wonderful night trek to Makalidurga, our NTE (Next Trip Elli) team was pretty high on josh & excitement. And as usual discussions were on for the next ride. Around 11.45pm DJ dropped the text in the group saying next destination Ladakh. During descending from the trek, DJ had hinted me of the Ladakh idea. The whole group was silent & I knew at that moment, only 3-4 of us would make it to the trip. Myself, DJ & DP were determined that we would make this trip, come what may.

There were many occasions where a ride of 60+ KMS were scheduled again & again & it never happened. And here we were planning for 3000+ KMS trip, but somehow I felt this plan will be turned to reality & ladakh which was yet to get in to my bucket list would be ticked off.

It was actually DJ’s convocation at Jaipur which triggered the plan. Idea was that DJ & his 2 friends would join us at Delhi & take it forward. Earlier when the plan was shared, it was only 7men trip & when I had a word with my MORONS team(for the courtesy of informing) they said, they would love to join. So it was 11 men gang now & plans were altered accordingly with lot of circus. Few of us booked tickets from Benagluru to Delhi & return ticket from Srinagar to Bengaluru as per the plan.

Due to the time constraints we laid the plan as below.
Benagluru to Delhi - Flight
Delhi - Manali- Leh in Car
Finally get our hands on Bikes @ Leh. Khardung la, Nubra valley, Deskit, Pangong Lake
Leh to Srinagar - Car
Srinagar to Bengaluru- Flight

But as it happens, there were drop outs as well, their reason seemed genuine though. I was left puzzled & panicked, everything was planned out & tickets were booked. Everything has to be altered now.
To make the matter worst, snowfall had started in Ladakh & news were that roads were blocked for days. The travels guy with whom we had agreed to book said those killer words when checked on him. “Sirji, snow fall shuru hain, abhi off season hogaya. Roads close hain, koi gaadi nahi jaa raha hain. Aapko agle saala tak intezar karna padega.”

This got me thinking, first people bailed out & now this. What the hell am I gonna do now??

I started to reach out people on websites who could update on the status of snowfall, roads & transportation. In the meantime plans were being revised, to roam in Delhi, or to visit kullu & manali, to take direct flight to Leh & what not. There were lot of doubts whether we will make this trip or not. If return tickets weren’t booked we would have dropped the plan.

Two days to trip day, I called another travels which was not reachable previously. His words got me of the foot & I jumped in joy. “Sirji, roads khula hain, app fikar na kare, aap sirf book kijiye. I checked on my mails, there were positive replies from bike rentals & DOW about the weather & bikes availability.

Everything was set, it was 6 men crew with a catch. Me, DP, Arjun, Naveen, Reddy & Sachin. But Arjun was only accompanying us to Leh & return to Bengaluru on the 3^rd day.

We boarded the late night plane to Delhi on 30/09/15 as per plan. It was the beginning of firsts of many to come. Arjun & Naveen joined us at the Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi.


DP, Reddy , Me & Vinay At Kempegowda International Airport.

Thursday 5 November 2015

Sangama, Mekedatu & Chunchi Falls

Celebrating Rajyotsava-2015 @ Mekedatu & Chunchi Falls

Don’t you think it’s quite weird that on weekdays we struggle to get off the bed even at 8.30am, but on Sundays you get up at 6.00am?

What the heck, I thought. And rolled back to bed, but hardly got any sleep. I started to surf through my FB, Instagram pages suddenly I realized it not just another Sunday but its Kannada Rajyotsava.

It’s on this day back in 2013 when I had trekked with my gang to deviramma hill, I was bitten by the wanderlust keeda. I still remember how I faced life n death situation when 3 of the fellow trekkers or should I say devotees standing on 4 inch projection of a cliff slipped & fell down into the steep & their body wasn’t visible. I just prayed that they are alive somewhere & at sight of ppl who could take them to the base for medical attention.

As I struggled myself to climb the wet & slippery rock, a man at his 40s offered his hand to pull me up. The memories are still fresh, I could hear my heart pounding & my stupid mind thinking that these are the last few minutes of my life. All my beloved ones & their memories flashed by leaving a tear in my eye & the regret of not owning a KTM.

Yes. Really, that was the biggest regret @ that time. Stupid isn’t it???

I was losing the hold of his arm further, I prayed to god to take care of my mom & dad. And hoping that 2 premium old LIC policy will help them big.

Suddenly I heard the man shouting!!! “Innod kai kodappa, bhaya padbeda nan idini” (Don’t be afraid, give me the other hand). He pulled me up & helped the other 2 guys as well. He offered us candies. It was only me & 3 other strangers who were struck in this situation. We helped our way to the top with each other’s support.

November 1^st 2013, minutes to sunrise I realized one thing. Life is a precious gift as we all know but how much time we’ve in it is unknown. So don’t cling to past, do what you’ve to do.

Love life, live life. Know that you are special.

Damn!! That was so philosophical of me. LOL

So I wanted to celebrate the day. We were in coorg last year but this time I had only a day in hand. So I checked with my gang, MORONS. Sureshji, the old man with young blood was free & Pradeep was anyway coming to my place. I just checked on him & asked to leave ASAP. Reddy was in his dreams romancing Kajal Agrawal, I dragged him to reality. And told him about how we two were always out on all Kannada Rajyotsava & this time it should be no different. He checked on his buddy Anil, whom he invited to hangout.

So it was 5 of us Sureshji, Reddy, Pradeep, Anil & myself. But the destination was yet to decide.

I quickly went through the bucket list in my phone gallery. Whenever I come across a beautiful place or anything interesting I just take a screenshot of it in save it in my gallery. It has to be short ride given the fact that we had less time in hand. So I chose sangama- mekedatu to be our destination.

What’s better way than celebrating Kannada Rajyotsava in lap of river Kaveri, Namma Jeeva Nadi.

Plan was to visit Sangama->Mekedatu-> Chunchi falls->Bengaluru.

We all gathered in my place & Sureshji joined us with his ride. It was around 11.40am when we left. We zoomed ourselves out of Bengaluru without facing much of traffic. It’s always thrilling & fun to go on a drive with Suresh Bhai. Man!! This guy got some crazy driving skills. He scares the shit out of you as well as the jay walkers & passing by vehicles.

Team Morons :P ;)

Like Pradi said he should be the driver of F1 team, Force India. He might have clocked a position on podium.

We had two breaks in an hour interval, one for the snacks & other for the tender coconut. It seemed like the milkshake during the snack break was not mixed well. Cuz Suresh Bhai was mixing the milkshake (which was in our tummy) well with his car skills. Everyone threatened him to be slow else, they would throw up in the car. With cracking jokes on balayya, huccha venkat & grooving we reached Sangama.

Sangama is the confluence of two rivers- Arakvati & Kaveri. This is where Arkavati merges with Kaveri & flows as Kaveri. Few kilometres downstream is where the river flows through a deep gorge which is so narrow that its only 10mtrs wide.

Sangama

Legend has it that a goat chased by a tiger, in desperation leaped across these gorges, which tiger couldn’t repeat & abandoned the chase. Hence the name Mekedatu (Goat’s Leap). Given the fact that the point where goat leaped is eroded & widen by river since then, one might believe that goat did take a leap. And it’s also believed that the goat was lord shiva in disguise. There are marks of hooves on the rock bed which are said to be of mythical goat.

We filled our tummy with veg pulao & yummy fish fries & we were ready to explore. To reach Mekadatu, one has to cross the river Arkavati, either by feet (if water level is less) or by coracle ride. They’ll charge you 50bucks per head (to & fro). Mekedatu is around 5-6kms from the other side of the bank. There are two ways here too, one can either walk the path exploring the forest & river bank or just board a bus, which shuttles between Mekadatu & Sangama frequently. First way involves risk of time & encounter of wild animals. We boarded the bus since we had less time in hand..

Coracle Ride

Crossing River Arkavati

Mekedatu - view point

We reached the view point, which is full of caution & warning signs. We had to descend from view point to reach down to the spot. It is a picturesque spot, with rock beds sculpted by the river. The water gushes out with great force.

Water gushing out in great force

Narrow Gorge

There were many mishaps in the past that has taken many lives in this very spot. The water is ferocious & the rocks are slippery, if one slips it will take a minute or two to drown them. But few people ignore this & carelessly walk on rock beds with high on alcohol inviting the trouble. This place suffers the same fate as any other tourist spots- the garbage,broken liquor bottles & plastics.

I always wondered why people had to be high on alcohol, when the beauty of the nature gets you high. These are the places where you need to be very sensible &cautious of ur every step & actions.

We explored the place for a while & took some selfies, groupies before we heard the honks of the bus which had returned to drop another bunch. We ascended our way back & boarded the bus. We crossed the banks & reached our way to parking. It was 5.50PM. We still had to visit the Chunchi falls. We speeded our way to chunchi falls. There are few hairpin curves which gives you a touch of fun & thrill.

The Hooves :P ;)

River Kaveri- Gorge

One has to take a left diversion while coming from Bengaluru, 10-12Kms before Sangama to reach Chunchi falls. It’s at distance of 5km from that diversion, passing through a village. We reached the place at around 6.10PM. It was getting dark already, the sun was gone. All the snack vendors were packing & leaving the place.

The guard there tried to stop us from going but our young man hardly cared & ran his way to view point. We swiftly followed him, there were nobody except us & 2 others. The falls was beautiful, the water cascading from a height of 100ft & splitting into two. We decided to descend & go near the falls. The falls was all milky but the downstream seemed to be polluted, or maybe it was just the mud. We clicked few shots, ascended & hit back to parking spot since it was all dark. Suresh bhai asked one of the vendor to wait for us to be back.

Chunchi Falls

We ordered omelettes for all, during this the guard joined us for a talk. The Guard blamed us for running down at so late & because of us he had to allow other two guys who were yet to return from falls. He said people die because of such stupidity & recently a zoom car involved in an accident killing one & injuring 5 others. If the guy had only listened to locals the car wouldn’t have toppled & he would have been alive. He also mentioned of another waterfall in the premises, had we reached early he would have taken us to that waterfall. We finished our snack & headed back to Bangalore.