Getting Leh'd : The dreaded Zojila

Paddling around Dal lake

The day started similar to one at home, I woke up and got off the bed close to 8am. The rest of the gang had woken up much earlier and head out to see the beautiful dal lake. Dal lake has a huge number of house boats, where tourists can choose to spend the night. Apart from this, smaller covered boats, called shikara can be hired to take a round of the entire lake. Post 7.30am, the floating market starts off. Merchants paddle up next to your shikara and show off their items for sale.

The sweet Ice cream like desert

Somehow managing to get Bala off the bed, we left the room at 8.45. As we headed off for our round around the lake, Subbu called to inquire about Para and his bike. Since Para was without a working phone connection, as soon as I saw him in another shikara, I asked him to get back to the hotel ASAP and take his bike to the service centre.
We made our way around dal lake, where the first merchant we entertained was selling a sweet ice cream kind of desert. It was amazing, and I loved every bit of it. Another boat joined us, and this guy was selling saffron. I bargained with him and finally purchased 3gms @ 100Rs per gm. This particular merchant was very persistent in trying to make the sale to Bala & Gogo as well. As this was happening, on the left, another boat pulled up trying to sell some jewels.

The beautiful Dal Lake

After spending around 45 mins at the lake, we got back to our hotel room. I quickly packed my bags & then left to fix my bike's bent foot pedal. Struggling through the jam packed & confusing roads, I landed at the Royal Enfield Service centre, PCS Automobiles.

The dirty fuel filter.
Photo Courtesy : Para

Para was already there getting his bike fixed. The mechanic had pulled out all the fuel, taken out the fuel filter and was busy cleaning it. After cleaning, the orange coloured petrol had turned black with all the dirt form the filter. I went ahead and bought a new foot pedal rod and proceeded to fix it myself, instead of going through the lengthy process of making a job card. Vik & lawyer had gone off to find some good veg breakfast nearby, waiting so that the rush at the service cleared cleared before getting their bikes fixed. I went in search of some fuel cans, which would come in handy later.
After finding the cans, I reached back the hotel, but Para dragged me back to the centre as he wasn't confident on the work done. There the mechanic gave us the old Indian solution of hitting the fuel pump if it refused to start. A frustrated Vik was telling me about Subbu's reaction of them wasting time trying to get veg food. Both had valid points, Subbu wanted to leave early as we had the dreaded Zojila pass to clear, while Vik went to eat food only because the mechanic was busy. This ignited a discussion between Vik and me. We discussed about the swap of runners the previous day, and I suggested that Subbu would definitely have had his reasons for it. Along with this we also spoke about the trip, about rising frustrations and about keeping an open mind.

Saddled up and ready to go

After all the bikes were fixed and ready to go, we rushed back to the hotel, saddled up and left together. I was the last to exit the gate, when I noticed a group of 5-6 Royal Enfield bikes heading left. Knowing that the correct route was towards the right, I chased down the bikers thinking they were part of our group. It was my foolishness not to check whether they wore the club arm bands, and instead I caught up with them till I could see the number plates (They were all DL registration). Realising that they weren't with us, I turned around and was racing ahead to catch up with the group. After going around the perimeter of the huge lake, I found them waiting for us, understandably frustrated that we were already delayed. I tried to explain, but was told I should have been smarter. Fair enough, indeed, I should have been. It was already 12.30pm, and I perfectly understood the lead's hurry to cross the feared Zojila pass.

The humbling mountains

The first Snow capped mountain
Photo taken from my photography page.

We barreled along amazing stretches of clean beautiful roads. Soon, we were nearing Sonamarg. The beauty of the place increased 10 fold. This is also where, we first glimpsed snow & snow capped mountains. My smile was ear wide and my face seemed to be glued that way. What a feeling it was, pure joy & amazement!! Ahead, Naveen had stopped to adjust the bungee cords holding down his luggage. Taking the opportunity, Para and me took a few quick snaps. The roads are such that on all sides are tall mountains, and one has to look straight up to see the sky. The sheer size of the mountains is truly humbling and being so close to them reminds how small we really are. As we continued, we reached a bridge around 4km before Sonamarg. Subbu had just paid the toll for all of us, and as soon as Bala and I reached, signalled that we move on.

The Bridge before Sonamarg

Now, Subbu's plan as we later found out, was to ride ahead 4 kms to Sonamarg and then stop for lunch. Not knowing this, an irritated Bala had a harsh word with Subbu about giving a break for the sweeps too. Subbu contained the situation well, and calmly told Bala about the stop ahead. At Sonamarg, while having lunch, it became clear the cause of the misunderstandings so far. Twisted tales and truthless rumors had been spoken within the group, causing all the distress. In a discussion, instrumented by Suresh, the air was cleared and the group dynamics improved to some extent for the remainder of the day.
Soon after leaving Sonamarg, we noticed a military vehicle, sirens blazing rushing off in the opposite direction. We later would find out that this was due to the militant attack which happened not very far from there. As the climb started, the roads became worse. We reached a section which had lorries struggling to climb. A steep climb with a lot of loose sand. I was getting excited as I felt my skills would be tested. The dreaded Zojila was nearby. I crossed it without much difficulty, but to my sore disappointment, the roads started to get better and better. We finally reached a tile section of the road, and also our first water crossing. This was the top of the Zojila pass. Now, every year, people who have gone past Zojila, have had some sort of a breakdown, and it didn't disappoint this time either. Para's bike stalled on him again. We tried to follow the advice given by the mechanic and started banging away at the sensor. But it didn't work, infact nothing we did worked.

The alternate road to Zojila

The only challenging section

Me at Zojila top

Towing Para's bike

During this time, Suresh had started to experience to symptoms of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), and so he and his Employee, Vishnu (the nickname earned by Vishnu for his dedicated service to Suresh) made their way down the pass ahead of the group. Having spent all our options, we tried to stop a few passing trucks but they were full and couldn't hep. Plan B was to make use of the tow rope Bala brought. Needing a strong rod to pull the wright, only Bala's and my bike could do the tow work as we both had fitted Leh carriers.
Subbu asked Anil to lead the rest till Drass, and the four of us (Subbu, Bala, Para, and Me) slowly moved on towing Para and his bike. Bala towed for the first section, and then my bull did the heavy lifting. I had to keep coordinating with Para, as each tug on the tow cable, could potentially pull my bike down. If Para didn't brake quick in enough, the cable could get tangled in his front wheel. We stopped at a beautiful riverside to let the engine cool down. Sitting down near that river was very peaceful and heavenly. One amazing place to stop. Complete isolation.

The River of Serenity

The beautiful colours just before sunset

The kind truckers who helped us in our time of need

The road was straight and almost perfect. I was towing Para at a speed of 80kmph, surprising Bala by almost overtaking him, when we reached the settlement of Mughalpur. Here we spotted two trucks and requested if one of them could transport the broken down bike till Drass. The driver agreed to the task at the rate of Rs. 1000. He pulled out a wooden plank and using it as a ramp, loaded the bike into the cement bag filled truck. While waiting for the truckers to leave, the sun was nowhere to be seen, but there was still lots of daylight. Looking at the watch, I realised it was already 7.30pm and was taken aback with all the lighting. But in the next 15 minutes, it had become pitch dark with no light anywhere. We followed the dusty trail of the trucks, the roads turned bad and were full of potholes. An hour later, we had reached the Drass army camp, located 5kms before Drass. The rest of the group had gone ahead till Drass town and were waiting there.

The Bear that scared us the most!!

I got off the bike and approached the gate sentry. I stated my name and asked him about the accommodation booked at the transit camp. To my horror, the sentry told me there wasn't any booking in my name, but there was one in the name of ATG Planning for 15 people. I begged him to consider that it wasn't a coincidence and that group was us, but he wanted more proof. In this time, Anil & Gogo had left the others and also reached the camp. Not finding any mobile network at the camp, I borrowed Anil's BSNL phone and along with Gogo head towards Drass town to call my contact in the Army. I got in touch with him, got the details and returned. Just as I had anticipated the booking of ATG Planning was indeed for us. The whole confusion was simply put my fault. Though I had been told by Shridhar prior to the trip to obtain the booking info, I had forgotten to do it. Checking into the camp, we gathered at the dining room to have some food. Here, the officer on duty, told us of the dangers at night, BEARS. He told us, that once the lights went off at 11pm, not to open the door for anyone till 5am. Its common for the bears to knock on doors, to try gaining entry and ofcourse feed on the buffet of humans inside. After hearing this, we tried to sleep, but with Bala snoring sounding like a Bear itself, Gogo and me were even more petrified. What if the bear outside heard the bear (Bala) inside and tried to enter?? Around the same time, we even heard sounds of something hitting the metal walls of the room. I still don't know how and when I fell asleep that night, it was scary as hell!!