Getting Leh'd : Crossing in to J&K

Riders getting Ready.
Photo Courtesy : Para

My phone's alarm started buzzing at 3.30am. Somewhere in the dream I was in, I kept hearing this annoying sound, and that pulled me out of my sleep. I sat up with a jerk on the bed, a disturbing habit of mine, which normally scares the hell out of whoever is sleeping next to me, but not Bala. I struggled trying to wake up the grunting boar (literally how Bala sounds when he's asleep). Seeing many of the other riders through the window, I saw they were already saddling up, and so I ran to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. There was no need to bathe, as I had smartly done it the previous evening.


Loading my hands & shoulders with as much I could carry, I made multiple trips up & down the 2 flights of stairs delivering the luggage near my bike. After which I placed it all on my bike, made sure it was balanced and secured it down with bungee cords. I wore my jacket and was ready to go. The time was 4am and we were already sweating more than a family of pigs. (Imagine how hot it must have been) We decided to start the first day of riding by going past a nearby temple, saying a quick prayer from outside. All I could think of praying was, "Bhagwan ek AC to dilade!!".

Our route today was to ride through Hoshiapur, enter Jammu and stop at Udhampur. The total distance of travel was close to 450kms. As I rode on, what was mostly clean state highways, I crossed a bridge over a small river. The sight was damn beautiful. A clean river covered by a blanket of thick white fog. A rare sight indeed. I was quick to stop the bike, pull out the cam, squeeze the trigger, pack it back in, and jump on the bike and start moving.

Tea stop!!
Photo Courtesy : Para

After around 75kms from Chandigarh, we stopped of a tea and biscuits break. Gogo tried his hand at a new career, "Chaiwala", which he was surprisingly very good at. Bala who loves his tea to be extra extra sweet & milky didn't enjoy the piping hot tea as much.
Feeling the heat catching on, we decided to move on. The next part of the ride was rather boring and was adding to my sleepiness. We soon reached near the town of Hoshiapur, a bit late and behind the group, slowed down by traffic and stops made by others. Here the first signs of frustration for our 10 minute late arrival was noticed. An overly irritated look was floated my way to question why we were late. Though I didn't mind the question, I did not like the expression, but told myself to ignore it.

The Talwar Sardar!!
Photo Courtesy : Para

Sweat dripping off Bala's face

Our tummies were growling, and we had to retrack a few kms as we had gone down the wrong road. A bit ahead, around 100kms before the J&K border, we stopped for some breakfast at a roadside dhaba. Here a localite, sharply dressed and carrying a huge sword, posed for some photographs with us. On the menu, was aloo paratha, egg burji and rajma. Like hungry school kids, everyone rushed to get a paratha, which was being made way too slowly. Seeing the crowd I sat, preferring to wait instead of fighting for the food. It was rather amusing to see how hunger could make people forget basic courtesy. Having already eaten atleast one paratha they still fought for the next one, completely forgetting those that were yet to take even their first bite. This was actually fun to watch & I had a hearty laugh in my mind. Once the rush for the food reduced, I got up, grabbed a plate and shared it with the 4-5 other guys who had also patiently waited.
The time was close to 10, with the heat getting worse, when we started our bikes again. The thing about driving/riding on roads in these areas is the kindness of strangers. On the road, you'll find many people carrying trays of cold water offering it for free to every traveler, just to prevent dehydration.

I was very surprised to see this kind gesture, something that no one even thinks of doing down south. Sleep started to hit me again and I had a close call with a truck while crossing a busy intersection. But that same incident had the side effect of jolting me back to life, wide awake. A bit ahead, Accident Bull aka Srikanth was desperately trying to find a bottle of oil to lubricate his engine. :-D He had infact accidentally forgotten to carry the spare can he had bought in Bangalore.

The entrance to J&K at Lokhanpur

As I rode on, I started noticing that the vehicles I was passing, and I couldn't help but smile. It was clear that we were nearing J&K border. It was a feeling of great joy as I finally crossed the border through the town of Lokhanpur. Just imagine, we had crossed into the northern most state of India on our very own bikes. Riding ahead around 20kms, we stopped for a quick lunch. This quick stop turned out to be a long one. Here we also met our friend, club member, and one hell of a rider, Avinash Varghese. Avi was on a ride of massive proportions. Having started at Bangalore, he had ridden through Kolkatta, Siliguri, Bhutan, Gangtok, Nepal, Lucknow, and his sights were now set on crossing leh all on his own as a solo rider.
After waving goodbye to Avi, I had a small bit of curd rice, wanting to eat light to avoid further sleepiness. My first mistake, as you will later find out.

The time was around 1pm, and the heat was unbearable. As I rode on, I could feel dehydration set in. Around 35kms from Udhampur, the group had stopped and were waiting for us sweeps to arrive. As soon as we reached, the lead asked the group to move. This had happened a couple of times already during the day, and this time I put my foot down. So what if the group had already reached 10-15 mins ago and had taken their break, we sweeps too deserved the same amount of rest. I got off my bike and immediately started hunting for some H2O. I had exhausted the 2L in my hydrabag and still felt extremely parched. Bala rushed and bought me a couple of bottles of water, filling them with electral (ORS). After gulping down the whole bottle, I felt slightly better, and so decided I was ready to move on.

Doing the sweep's job.
Waiting each time someone stops,
extreme heat or extreme cold!!

The next section would be the first ghats we would cover in this trip, and so, obviously people stopping for photos was natural. What that meant for us sweeps was that, despite the extreme heat, we had to also stop each and every time. At one such particular stop, our very own media bull took a long time to dig out his camera, take some snaps, keep it back and move on (I later had a word with Suresh, and asked him to repack his camera in such a way that it was quickly accessible). This stop literally killed me and was the final nail in the coffin. Further ahead we made a couple of stops, where me and a few other riders were very uneasy and wanted some rest. During the last stretch, the mix of extreme heat, dehydration, empty stomach and lack of sleep had caused me to start shivering, become light headed and made it extremely hard to ride. My eyes were unable to stay open as they were burning. Not wanting to take any unwanted risk, I stopped my bike, got down and rested against a rock. Bala, Rashith and Gogo stopped along with me. Seeing my condition, Bala gave me a crocin and asked me to close my eyes and sleep for some time. After 20 mins of very restless sleep, I felt a bit better and decided to continue. Finally, after what felt like 100kms (and not 30kms), and definitely a couple hours, we reached the army camp at Udhampur, where Anil had arranged for the night's accommodation.

The Dorm room at Udhampur. Reminded of College days again.

Here we had one large single room for all of us. The army guys came in and apologised for not having enough pillows, after which they arranged for snacks. Let me tell you, I didn't feel worthy of the treatment I got. Army folks sacrifice their lifestyle in service for our country, and they still treat us with so much hospitality. Its truly humbling. Teaches one what selflessness is.

Shaitan Bull with red lights!!

We had yet another failed attempt at fixing Subbu's Bike's Side stand. I tightened my Bike's brakes, lubricated the chain, fixed some new kickass tiger lamps with feviquick (thanks to Bala). Then grabbed a towel and headed to the common bathroom with Bala, Gogo for a nice shower.

The bathroom is a huge hall with a big tank in the centre. Showers are along the walls. While I stood under a shower, patting myself down first with the cold water, Bala filled up a bucket full of water and started throwing it on everyone. What a fun bath it was, and for all of you wondering, no, we weren't naked!!
Before hitting the bed, I had some good dinner, again served by the army guys. Finally, I would get a good night's sleep, and boy, did I sleep well!!