Sunday, June 28, 2009
What a long strange trip it has been.....LADAKH
My story about my ride to the roof of the world.
This was one long awaited trip of my life. I think if not everybody,most of the people while growing, would at least have once or more dreamt of one such trip.
Riding to Leh-Ladakh on motor bikes. Bikes........mountains.....snow all around....heaven....
This time when I was thinking of life as a passing thing, had thought of many things which can be done to rejuvenate myself. A long 10-12 days trek to explore the Himalayas on foot. A long 4 week mountaineering course in the Himalayas. A group organized trip to the Himalayas, Leh-Ladakh in SUV's , etc.
Nothing materialized for me, trekkers with whom I wanted to go, didn't want to take me along, as I had no experience. Almost 2 months ago, I was able to zero in to going to Ladakh on motor bikes. This got into my mind as Shail, my younger bro, who had now shifted to Jodhpur, had last year only bought the new cruiser in town, the Bajaj Avenger. I had ridden it, and me and my wife, both loved the ride. It was extremely comfortable for ride, is a heavy bike, at 152 kg unladen weight, the curves used to feel very smooth with a pillion as well.
So, the final decision was, that I shall be going for the the Ladakh region on the motor bike. I applied for 2 weeks leave in April itself. The leave was to be during the June'08 month.
The route to Leh region is generally closed for around 8 months. The snowing in that region is heavy and the BRO(Border Road organization) maintains the roads, clears the snow off them, opens the roads around June 1st-2nd week and maintains them upto 15th Sept.
Vital stats for the ride :
Riders
Prem Arora on Bajaj Avenger 180 cc, 2007 model from Delhi
Atul on a Honda Unicorn from Benaras
Haider on Pulsar 150 from Kanpur
Travel Duration : 14 days
Total Distance Covered : 3027 kms
Major events : One bad fall in a river near Srinagar.
: Firing near Hazratbal dargah, while we ere there
Night Halts : Hoels, tents, town houses, govt guest houses, etc.
Total Fuel expenses : Rs 3600/-
Rest all(food, hotels,bike repairs,etc) : Rs 4400/-
Trip preparation : Rs 25000/-
Trip Fun : Infinite
While you go through this, all the photographs are in small size. This is because, the first page doesn't take too long to open up. To show enjoy the photographs, you would need to click on them. Cheers...
Day 1 : Delhi - Chandigarh
Day 2 : Chandigarh - Simla
Day 3 : Simla - Bhawa Nagar
Day 4 : Bhawa Nagar - Pooh
Day 5 : Pooh - Banjar
Day 6 : Bajnar - Sissu
Day 7 : Sissu - Sarachu
Day 8 : Sarachu - Leh.
Day 9 : Thiksey, Hemis and Bike repairing
Day 10 : Leh - Mulbekh
Day 11 : Mulbekh - Sonamarg
Day 12 : Sonamarg - Batote
Day 13 : Batote - Chandigarh
Day 14 : Chandigarh - Delhi.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Mumbai Terror Attacks
This is dire situation for India. The terrorists showing too much aggravation and willingness to attack on the face. This is something very new which hasn't been seen yet in India.
The terrorists want to threaten you, challenge you on your face and then want to hog the lime light for long durations, rather than a single suicide bomb blast. In this, create a hold up situation and then try to hold ground for longer durations.
I think, there are many things India would need to do to face these new challenges.
1) As an individual, I always oppose the US foreign policy, especially the last few years when they have been the reason to have thousands and thousands of civilians killed in the middle east region. Still, as a country, they have been able to resist any future terror attacks and did give the terrorists night mares after having bombed US cities. As a country, US has been able to instill confidence in their countrymen that they are capable of handling any such attacks and can curb, handle them very efficiently.
So, now, India also will have to take this positive stance for any kind of terror activities. Our politicians shall have to stand up to take decisions and own them. Indira Gandhi did the operation BlueStar, she faced the aftermath of it, but still stood ground, she owned it. She had the grit and confidence to go ahead with it. I am not saying it is justified or not, but our netaji's need to have such confidence to take decisions, which is already endangered.
2) The police force currently is working on the pace of electricity department or any other for that case. That is, there is no difference between a person working in police dept or and electricity or water supply deptt.
We need to create a dedicated force to combat terrorism. Which should be equipped with latest gadgets, equipments and trained in combating terrorism. They should be trained in war fare activities and are governed by dedicated individuals. We need to have a different way of functioning.
3) The media should have some regulations. In this case we saw, the ATS chief is wearing the helmet, the bullet proof jacket, talking on the cellphone live on the news channels. The attackers must be watching everything sitting inside and it can fairly be imagined that this might have helped them.
The terrorists want to threaten you, challenge you on your face and then want to hog the lime light for long durations, rather than a single suicide bomb blast. In this, create a hold up situation and then try to hold ground for longer durations.
I think, there are many things India would need to do to face these new challenges.
1) As an individual, I always oppose the US foreign policy, especially the last few years when they have been the reason to have thousands and thousands of civilians killed in the middle east region. Still, as a country, they have been able to resist any future terror attacks and did give the terrorists night mares after having bombed US cities. As a country, US has been able to instill confidence in their countrymen that they are capable of handling any such attacks and can curb, handle them very efficiently.
So, now, India also will have to take this positive stance for any kind of terror activities. Our politicians shall have to stand up to take decisions and own them. Indira Gandhi did the operation BlueStar, she faced the aftermath of it, but still stood ground, she owned it. She had the grit and confidence to go ahead with it. I am not saying it is justified or not, but our netaji's need to have such confidence to take decisions, which is already endangered.
2) The police force currently is working on the pace of electricity department or any other for that case. That is, there is no difference between a person working in police dept or and electricity or water supply deptt.
We need to create a dedicated force to combat terrorism. Which should be equipped with latest gadgets, equipments and trained in combating terrorism. They should be trained in war fare activities and are governed by dedicated individuals. We need to have a different way of functioning.
3) The media should have some regulations. In this case we saw, the ATS chief is wearing the helmet, the bullet proof jacket, talking on the cellphone live on the news channels. The attackers must be watching everything sitting inside and it can fairly be imagined that this might have helped them.
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