Toughest roads holds the best lessons`

16 July 2022, we reached Kardungla pass at around 7:30 AM, the second highest motorable road was the aim of our trip, victory lasted for a couple of minutes we took photos and had to make way to many others who were reaching the snow-clad mountains to celebrate their Kardungla, in reality, hundreds flock each day to reach this height and yet a distant dream for many.

Sometimes I don’t think of it as a victory, Kardugla is not a road less traveled, it does not stop anyone to be there, she sits there with arms wide open to anyone who wishes to be there, but Kardungla has a lesson for everyone – Destinations are a final page of all our journey but everything worth remembering happens during the journey, this is one such.

Soon after Kardungla, we started from Leh to Pangong Tso lake, for whatever reason it is I had no idea about this lake or the route to this place, Avinash did, and that sufficed.

The ride started smoothly and all good should end soon so did the good roads. We were driving through a valley, and during this time I was endeavoring the never-ending beauty, the cool wind, bright sun, and clear view, and there were no signs of rain I could imagine myself sitting there for ages and still not getting tired of the landscape and while I felt glad to be there, mountain ranges put forth a hairpin curve which immediately took a 40 Degree slope upward and all this happening on the road that has not seen tarmac. Our classic 350 with mine and Varsha’s combined body weight of 140 Kgs, luggage of 20 Kgs and Bike weight of 185 Kgs did her best to drag us up but she lost breath, Avinash drove past like he never saw so much of details on road and stopped to look back upon us. I had by then anchored my foot on the slippery road but the load was dragging the bike backward, Varsha got down, it is quite a task to get down and start walking when the air is thin. I started the bike again, It fired up and I was able to make it up, Varsha got back, and as we drove I looked up to the infinite spiraling hairpins ahead of us, from the valley the view of the roads curving its ways like the largest snake on the snake and ladder board is quite a site, still determined we carried on.

Minutes later there came the next hairpin, this time road was mushy and even before I took the turn I asked Varsha to get down and walk, it happened on the 3rd curve also, Varsha was getting tired and I was getting impatient, it was frustrating when every time the bike you thought can take you to any heights stops beforehand, Avinash was getting disheartened too, I still continued. Now unlike the hairpin, the road was getting steep, Bike had to stay in 2nd Gear to gain speed, which was taking a lot of petrol, next pain curve! The bike stopped, and Avinash did not pass through, he was already ahead.

Once I was through, I signaled Avinash to stop, I told him “it is getting tougher to go on, chances of going through the entire stretch with so much weight are getting troublesome and I will have to return back to Leh and catch up with him 2 days later on a commonplace”.

I believe now that the tired part of me would have come to that decision and the frustrated part of me topped it.

There can only be one lesson from a trip, the more I think of that day, the meaning gets clearer each day, Avinash’s decision could have been anything, later through the trip I learned that he even thought for a moment to drop the plan to Pangong lake and return with us and take a detour which if happened I would have a forgotten the entire day by now

But to this day his words resonate true value of support and confidence especially when you are far from everything and middle of nowhere. He said “Let's continue, I’ll help and push the bike if it stops, I’ll follow your bike from here on, let’s not turn back now” I’d have considered it a mere word of confidence if it was anyone other than Avinash. Though highly disheartened by the events that led me so far, his words indeed help me gain confidence.

As we started I took another look at the never-ending loops, I remember thinking that this must lead to a mountaintop from where the ride should be smooth to the valley again and I was coming to face another Curve, though Avinash and Nisha had their helmets on we could sense them looking forward to us, I did not want them to stop and take help already.

The bike stopped again; Avinash helped to push

There is no going back now, I decided I should keep the bike at its best speed to give it enough drag to pick up speed while taking the turn even the little finger’s slightest touch on the clutch turned off the bike, though all this was in my mind all these time, it failed every single attempt, this time there was a very little margin to stop, we were gaining altitude and getting down the bike was becoming a very tiring job, here came the next hairpin curve, pushed the bike as fast as I can which is just above 25kmph took the widest possible curve, left the clutch and accelerated I can feel the pressure of the accelerator cable pulling and hitting the end of it, the bike slowed down to 10Kmph, Varsha told she’ll get down, I prayed the best I could, gave an extra push to the bike by running the legs, what felt like an eternity went past, the bike did not stop this time, there was relief from all end. I celebrated.

This repeated, roads turned from bad to worse, yet the bike went on, we could see road construction going on, from where we had to slow down and even stop, yet we continued, as we got to the peak clouds were gathering, the bright day was getting cold, the air was getting thinner it was getting darker, we raced through and here again, it started to snow. But we are almost at the peak, I have now almost forgotten the tense moments of the bike turning off, am getting excited by the snowfall, the first time ever in my life am seeing a snowfall, just like rain, just like the bright sunlight that we had an hour ago, white snowflakes rained down just that it was getting my fingers numb. I took the second glove that I have and started driving, soon we reached the mighty Changla, again a place I’d never heard of yet there were a lot of people gathered to celebrate this landmark, we all stopped taking photos, Varsha is doing well and so far. We all got off the bike to experience the bone-chilling cold we rubbed our hands I was trying to keep them as warm as possible I can feel my little fingers going numb while driving, we spoke of how cold it is. Like sore dust that gets stuck into our eyes which leaves us with a rather blurred vision, I took a second look, though the site was very clear anyone there took a second look at this girl, a thin tall girl wearing just a dress that reached till her thighs, long hair she wore sunglasses and high heels and no sweaters, she walked like she is getting into an interview, the bitter cold didn’t matter – Instagram and Snapchat must have.

There was just one thing in the mind of onlookers, “she is definitely cold and does not want to show it”

Military personnel advised us to drive down to the valley as the snowfall was increasing, It might cause roadblocks and make roads slippery. We started down, with no more troubles some uphill drive just the slippery snow-clad mountains we drove smoothly sometimes we could see sunlight, spreading through the valley, dry road, Avinash is no more behind me, and Varsha and myself are no more worried, we raced through the road and stopped at a beautiful creek cold water flowed it was surrounded by a lush bed of grass and tiny flowers.

We could have missed this adventure today if it was not for Avinash. It just took a few words of encouragement that kept us moving, for me Changla had more to offer and more to remember.

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