Dreams

If you can dream it, you can do it.

I have read it many times, don't know if that is true or not. Still, what I am trying to do is, write down my dreams, small and big, trivial and important, material or spiritual, all that I can recall. Actually, lately the list has become so long that I am no longer able to remember it. And when, after some time, I just recall it, am so sad to have lost so much time and have not done anything in the direction of fulfillment of that dream. And so it happens, every few days and the days and weeks go by.

I don't want to let the life go away, slip away from my hands like this anymore and so this attempt.
For one second, just remember the last time you went for a holiday, a vacation. Not to your parents or in laws or any relatives place, not for the wedding of your cousin. A real holiday, to any outstation. How good it was, how did you prepare for it, how did you feel when you come back. You feel rejuvenated and have so much of enthusiasm just after that . Slowly, in the mundane daily routines, that goes away.


I have always felt, not actually did anything for it till now. That, we can always have a fantastic life, enjoying and happy days, everyday. Achieving the goals and targets and living life to the fullest. But, we generally get damper and damper. And that has nothing to do with the bad day you had in the office today or if you had a small dual with your spouse or that someone in your family is not keeping well or it was the worst traffic in the last few days you faced today or anything else. With time we keep on getting such things in our everyday life andare not generally able to keep up with the level of enthusiasm. Until you get a dose of motivation.


I have had these doses of motivation a few times in my life. The professional training is the most effective thing, I feel, to boost your inner self, to lift up your enthusiasm to live life to the fullest and to get motivated beyond compare. But, the professional trainings are generally conducted by the company one is employed in. I haven't come across anyone who would have done it on one's own. Although, I think it would be a good investment if we can do these trainings personally and have your family members also take these trainings.

Anyways, the other good way is to read a good book. Books are the best companions of a man. As they do the same thing to a person, be it a good time or a bad time in one's life. I haven't been reading anything good for long now, and I can't even remember how long. By good, I meant, something that would give me good motivation.

Rather I was reading the travel books, if you know. All sorts of travel books I was reading and buying. Am happy with the collection I have now, they are a continuous source of information for me and have already started helping me in planning my trips.

Anyways, the dreams, I want to live many a dreams, a few might not be possible but still, there is no harm in dreaming. And if you dream for moon, you will at least reach starts, as they say.

What is required to be done, is to move towards achieving your targets, fulfilling your dreams, everyday. One step at a time, but still always be focused towards them and never loose the enthusiasm.

And what happens, is that, in a small bout of household works, a couple of bad days at office, s small illness of wife, kids homework, the Mumbai film fare award show at the night, and scores of other things, which are short timed, take a lot of our mind. But, we never return back to the same state of mind, the willingness to fulfill the dreams.

So, what we need is a continuous dose of motivation. Everybody needs it, and by every body I mean you and me, all of us.

Proposed ride plan I to Leh - June'2008

Proposed plan to Leh II - June 2008

I was still thinking about the rest of the days...when new plans sprung up. I had time this weekend and so I thought about covering Spiti Valley as well. Atul and Haider were also thinking of covering Spiti Valley this time but told me to so on the way back and when I spent some time reading and looking at the maps and trying to create the travel itinerary, it seemed a perfect thing but the other way round, i.e., on the way to Leh and not coming back from Leh.

The spiti valley side would allow all of us to acclimatize better, as almost all the places are between 3000-3500m en route and by the time we reach Sarchu, we would be staying at 3000+ for many days. The thought looks good, on paper as well.

So here's what we have thought now :

Day 1, 14th June, Saturday : Me riding from Delhi to Chandiagrh, Atul and Haider in train, starting from Jodhpur for Kalka.

Day 2 : If the train is on time, which generally is not more than an hour late, we should be ready to go by around 10-10:30 AM from Kalka. If so, our destination for the day would Jeori. If the train gets delayed, and we are starting at 12 or 1 in the noon, then also we would plan to atleast cover till Narkanda which is around 5 hrs from Kalka.

Day 3 : If we have made it till Narkanda only, start early and go to Sangla valley, may be to the last point ahead, Chitkul villabe before border and then go towards Rekong Peo and sleep if possible in Kalpa. The Kinner Kailash manjar from there is out of the world. En route, don't forget to fill your tank at Powari, as that is the last filling station for the next 200+ kms till Kaza.

Second Take
If you somehow stay at Chitkul, stay at Raj Guest House, shouldn't be hard to find.

Day 4 : Kalpa to Tabo : Ride safe, reach Tabo, if possible, via Nako , try to stay at the Tabo Monastery.

Day 5 : Tabo, start early, go to Ki Monastery and Kibber village, high up diversion from Kaza. Then come back to main route, ride till may be Losar or so. Rest for night, tomorrow is a big day.
Second Take
Do visit Dhankar, am hearing a lot about it these days. I don't know if a short stay at Kaza would be possible or we would have to devote a complete day there, lets see how it works. Ki must, Comic, the highest inhabitation village also looks very appealing, all on this route.

Day 6 : Leave Losar, cross Kunzum La, keep your eye focused and you would see the road(so called) to Chandertal, go thru the rough terrain of 12 kms and back after having the fantastic vies of Chandertal, leave towards Gramphoo. Hope everything is fine with everyone's bike, if not we will have to go towards Manali from Gramphoo. Else keep riding towards Keylong from Gramphoo, and take the night halt on the need basis. Probably we shall be at Sissu when the day breaks.

Day 7 : Sissu to Sarchu, After Sissu, the route is already discussed below, it would remain same. We shall cover from Sissu to Sarachu, around 141 kms for the day.

Day 8 : Sarachu to Leh.

Day 9 : Rest Day at Leh, also apply for permits to visit inner line areas, well its a Sunday, so we have to see, if thats possible or not.

Day 10 : Considering, we didn't get permits on Day 9, we shall be applying for them today, also we might go to rafting on Zanskar river. I want to do III or IV rapids and not II or I.

Day 11 : Leh - Khardungla - Diskit - Hunder

Day 12 : Hunder - Panamik - Khardungla -Leh.

Day 13 : Leh - Sarachu

Day 14 : Sarachu - Manali

Day 15 , 28th June 2008, Saturday: Manali - Delhi

This leaves us with a buffer day, during the whole trip, might decide to halt at Chandigarh and come back on Sunday.

Proposed plan to Leh I - June 2008

It seems, there is a vacuum in the life, with a sense of doing nothing for long kind of feeling. This is where am trying to do something to say to my self and look up in the mirror with some pride.

Well guys, the ride of a life time is going to start on 14th June'2008 as per the plan as of now. The leaves have been sanctioned in the office and the preps have started, although a lot of prep is still remaining, but am pretty much hopeful that I shall be able to complete most of it before leaving.

This trip of a life time is a motorcycle ride to the most magnificent place on the face of earth, Leh, the capital of Ladakh region. The route to Leh is the most remarkable in the earth and has the highest roads in the world, so if everything goes fine, I shall be riding on the worlds five most highest roads.

Just for the sake of understanding, Nainital, Manali etc all are around 6200-6300 feet high above the sea level, while the roads which we are talking about here are at the height of 17000-18000+ feet from sea level, so you can understand.

The problems that happen at such height : primary one is that oxygen is less and the body requirement is not fulfilled so the body is uneasy. If you take it coll for a day or two, the body gets acclimatized to the less oxygen intake and then you would be good to go running around.
Initially, they say, if you see a fantastic cliff, stand on a mountain top and want to shout "I am the king" from there, or just want to run away for nature's call, don't do it. Shouting, running, getting excited and pretty much things you wouldn't want to do at those heights. Be it a fantastic situation or be it your motorcycle is down, keep your cool and that will see you through.

Do prepare carefully and comprehensively, this is where I am doing the same - my preparations.

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And of course these are the details of the riders...

1) Prem Arora - 34, Bajaj Avenger 180 cc, 16.5 bhp, First time hill rider from Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

2) Atul Mishra - 30, Hero Honda unicorn, 150 cc, 13.5 bhp bike, had been to Leh on the same bike once in June 2007 is from Benaras(modern day Varanasi). Check his photos at http://atgemini.spaces.live.com

3) Zeeshan Haider - 30, Bajaj Pulsar , 150 cc, 14 bhp bike, had been to Leh in June 2007, is from Kanpur. Check out his photographs at http://picasaweb.google.com/haider.vogue

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So the current plan is :

	Day	Height	Place	Distance	Total
	Sat 14/6		Delhi
			Chandigarh	280	280
	Sun 15/6		Chandigarh	0
			Pinjore
			Mandi
			Kullu
		2,050	Manali	290	290
	Mon 16/6		Manali	0
			Palchan	10
		2,530	Kothi	5
		3,320	Marhi	24
		3,980	Rahtang Pass	12
		3,200	Gramphoo	11
		3,140	Khoksar	5
		3,130	Sissu	13
		3,160	Gondhala	15
		2,573	Tandi	10
		3,350	Keylong	8	113
	Tue 17/6	3,350	Keylong	0
			Gemur	18
		3,142	Jispa	7
		3,400	Darcha	7
		3,820	Patsio	14
		4,892	Baralach-La	31
		4,253	Sarachu	32	109
	Wed 18/6	4,253	Sarachu	0
			Brandy Nallah	20
		3,950	Takh	13
		5,065	Lachlung La	20
		4,630	Pang	24
		4,703	Moorey Plains	24
		4,500	Debring	30
		5,360	Tanglan-La	10
			Rumtse	32
		4,100	Gya	3
			Miru	14
		3,384	Upshi	14
			Karu	11
			Thiksey
		3,505	Leh	36	251
Rest Day- Permits, etc	Thu 19/6	3,505	Leh
	Fri 20/6	3,505	Leh
			Khardungla	40
			Diskit	38
			Hunder	8
			Sumur	40	126
	Sat 21/6		Sumur
			Hunder	40
			Diskit	8
			K-Top	38
			Leh	40
	Sun 22/6		Leh
			Chang La
			Pangong Tso	150
	Mon 23/6		Pangong Tso
			Spangmik
			Leh	150
	Tue 24/6		Rafting on Zanskar River
	Wed 25/6		Leh
			Pang
			Sarchu	251	251
	Thu 26/6		Sarchu
			Keylong
			Manali		222
	Fri 27/6		Manali
			Chandigarh		290
	Sat 28/6		Chandigarh
			Delhi		280

14th June 2008 : Delhi - Chandigarh ( 280 kms) The first day of the ride, it is still plains, so we plan to leave early in the morning and reach Chandigarh before noon, 12 O clock.

15th June 2008 : Chandigarh - Manali (290 kms) We plan to leave again early in the morning by 5 am, so that we can enjoy the landscape en route to Manali, the hills I guess start around Swarghat, and its a fantastic ride after that. If we are able to leave as per plan early, I think, we should be in Manali by 2 O clock. My heart
is to find a place for night stay outside the Manali city, towards the Rohtand pass, and if possible towards palchan or Marhi, which would cover half the distance between Manali and Rohtang pass.

16th June 2008 : Manali - Keylong (113 kms) This is wherw the real ride starts, the route, to start with where we cross the Rohtang Pass, which means , pile of dead bodies. It is something around 13,400 ft, we cross over and after feilling up at Tandi, the last petrol pump before Leh, which is still 365 km far, we take a break at Keylong, the largest town in route to Leh.
I plan to complete this Manali-Leh , 471 kms stretch in 3 days, so as to be able to enjoy the complete ride at leisure and click photos whenever I feel like. I hope, I shall be back to this region many more times in future, but none of those trips would be like this first one and so, I do not want to run hastily and cover distance just for the sake of it.
So, leisure and enjoy the beauty of the route every step is the ultimate plan.

17th June 2008 : Keylong - Sarchu (109 kms) This would again be a leisure ride , not much distance to cover, a lot of beauty to be nestled and kindled along the route for this part as well.

18th June 2008 : Sarchu - Leh ( 251 kms) This as I have heard and read is a fantastic ride. Pang, the fantastically looped Gata loops, the most exciting Moorey plains, where you feel like ripping, although it is still dangerous. Hopefully would reach Leh before the sun sets, the last 60 kms is almost plain where you can maintain 60-80 kmph.

19th June 2008 : (Rest Day, apply for permits, look for rafting tour operators) So, now living at 3500+ m, take it easily, don't rush around for anything. Take the complete day easily and only go and get the permits for Khardungla, Pangong Tso, other inner line places.

20th June 2008 :
21st June 2008 :
22nd June 2008 :
23rd June 2008 :
24th June 2008 :
25th June 2008 :
26th June 2008 :
27th June 2008 :
28th June 2008 :