The last road trip

4 guys of highest possible intellectual level group together and plan a gypsy safari to Leh and laddakh. I knew from the beginning (i cant believe i didnt know that there is a nn in beginning. i havnt checked the dictionary still. trust mozilla. that tells me why i got those exceptional scores in english during school) that it was not going to be a picnic. none of my last few trips have been picnic style. A normal trip is much harder. I mean frankly i dont know what to do on a normal trip. see things? that hardly takes a look. what else. See all the four intellectuals are single these days so the trip had to has its share of unexpected turn of events to keep them busy which it had and now it looks like that we liked it too.

Star Cast:

John "nny gaddar" (Cheeta J): 'saale haramjaade beh****** maa******, teri m********'. Thats john for you. When he is normal, he can be found asking for paracetamole in a hardware paints shop. Seen doing his early morning Tandav here below. To get his temper right for the day.














Babbar (Sher. Babbar Sher): ' itne mein hi thak gaya cheete.....abhi to september mein rally mein bhi jaana hai. udhar road bhi nahi hogi. Aur itni jaldi jaldi mat su-su kar...der ho rahi hai gaari chalani hai'















Bansal (Cheeta B): Sab dekh daalo















Myself (John says write Boris 'chaddi' Becker)















John and Bansal were pestering Babbar with requests to set up a road trip to leh for sometime. Babbar told me *off the record that the requests were slowly turning into threats of kidnapping (i know its the wrong word but it kind of fits) babbar in his own gypsy and making him drive all the way to leh and laddakh. Babbar relented when he was told that he will taken to Shimla and manali and will be forced to spend a day and night each on the mall roads eating Rs 7/- softies. I know he hates those kind of tours. Thats how Babbar was forced to take a holiday from work and made to research possible trip plans.

So we had a 18 day plan, a 15 day plan, a 12 day plan and a 9 day plan. Cheetas (John and Bansal will be known as Cheetas from here on). Cheeta J and Cheeta B were of the opinion that Cheetas can always do a 12 day plan in 9 days. How? Simple. No sleep. Looked like a decent one to me.

So this is how our plan looked like on paper:

Day 1 Delhi - Manali (570 Kms)
Day 2 Manali - Sarchu (230 Kms)
Day 3 Sarchu - Leh (260 Kms)
Day 4 Leh ----------------------------- Get permits + Local sightseeing

Day 5 Leh - Khardung La - Panamik (Nubra Valley) - Siachen Base Camp (get permission) - Leh (185 + 185 + 40 + 40 = 450 Kms !!!) (Overly Optimistic. If we get permission for Siachen Base Camp, then on the way back might have to stay at Diskit/Hunder, that adds 118 Kms for next day. Screw it.)

Day 6 Leh - Pangong Tso - Leh (170 + 170 = 340 Kms) (Add another 80Kms if one wants to go to the 'actual' highest motorable pass Marsmik-La) (This place deserves 2 days actually)

Day 7 Tso Moriri (Korzok) (210 Kms) (Carry extra fuel)
Day 8 Tso Moriri - Tso Kar - Sarchu - Keylong (342 Kms)
Day 9 Keylong - Manali - Delhi (118 + 570 = Kms)

I have been to earlier road trips with babbar and hes one of the few drivers I can totally trust. I mean I dont hang on to the door handles and press my feet againts the floor. Its hard for me to sleep in a moving thing (trains are ok. the reference frame takes care of the moving problem. thanks albert. einstein for those who dont know albert on a first name basis. Haaiinn) but with babbar i generally i manage to get some sleep.

Babbar was training his gypsy hard for the road trip ahead. He made a few trips to Gurgaon in the gypsy to get the feel. We also got the feel. The bums didnt really feel right after those short drives to convergys to eat paranthas. but one of the Cheetas was happy doing these regular sorties to Convergys to eat paranthas. There is so much to see there :-) . Must be. Even we had feelings but some of us are more honest and daring. No?

So once we had decided on the duration, rest was easy. We packed our bags with whatever we could think of would be required during the safari and off we went. The bags remind me of something now. Have you seen someone carrying a suitcase on a trekking trip. Total disregard for backpacks. Backpacks suck. While I was loading my sucking backpack in the gypsy I came across a suitcase nicely packed and placed at the back.

To be contd.......