It was around three O’clock and we have still reached our first water stream. Till now, our main focus was to enjoy the scenery, take photograph, and enjoy each and every moment of our journey. But in this we forgot one essential thing, our “tight schedule”. We actually were very slow as compared to what we should be covering till then. Our aim was to cover till Sarchu before it gets dark. As per our instructions, we were not supposed to ride in the dark. The main reason was that in dark, if by any chance, some land sliding is there or some rock came down the mountain, there will be no chance that we could survive. Plus, Sarchu was the only place where we will be getting a tent for a night halt. No other place will provide us with accommodations. We enquired from other riders, and were told that there was a hell lot to cover. Plus in between, there was another pass that was to be covered. Baralacha la Pass, which was 13,054 feet above sea level. As per our last Rohtang Pass experience, I was sure, if we get the same road as we got in Rohtang, we are screwed. But we had no other option other than to face it. So, we decided to gear up and cover it without stopping. We all were exhausted, talked a lot till now, so there was neither mood nor situation for more chatting. We started our bykes and Vroom Vroom, we well off. Best part of heavy cc vehicle is it can carry a heavy load, and still runs like hell. No more stopping, no more photo session, just talking with the winds. Dhyani kept asking me to give him control, as he was just sitting at the back seat since five in the morning. But I was too stubborn to listen to him. Sometime I get this crazy fits, and once it’s decided, it’s decided. No more turning back. All I wanted was to see how much I can stretch my limits. So all I said to Dhyani was to gimme some more time. Luckily, the rest of the road was newly constructed. We rode like thunder on a nonstop one hour long ride on a long and wide lane, with smooth curves.
In between, we took one halt to fuel our stomach. It was a small canteen made of just plastic cover near a lake. It was a heavy windy region, but as we entered the canteen, it was quiet calm. We sat and checked out the menu. It was pathetic. All the canteens till now had the same things, chocolates and egg maggie. We had no other option other than to eat the same thing. We all were tired and exhausted and we can look at it in each other faces. Didn’t even felt like eating at all, but we had to fuel up. We didn’t even eat all of it, and came outside. I was damn tired. Just wanted to lie down somewhere, but no place, so sat on my byke and stretched to the back seat. My back was aching, my thighs were numb. My stomach was aching because all I ate since morning was a lot of egg Maggie and few chocolates.
All day, I was sitting on my byke, and was having problem in digesting my food. We were told not to stuff ourselves with more food, just have sufficient amount, but when I am hungry, I can’t resist the temptation. I was half lying on my byke when Siddhu called me up to take some pictures. The view was amazing near the lake, so even I didn’t want to say no to it. We took some snaps, when suddenly, a Sumo entered a scene. We turned back and saw two ladies coming out of it. Siddhu was overjoyed, and told me to check one of them out.
Out of surprise, one of them was wearing one piece. We were all covered with jackets and sweatshirts and there she was, standing in a windy cold region, trying to pose for a picture, and at the same time, was holding her skirt kind of dress as the heavy wind was playing games with her. All I can think was if Marilyn Monroe was alive and saw her, she would have committed suicide. Anyways, we still had a long way to cover, so we sat on our beasts and rode off. Dusk was approaching and we still haven’t reached Baralacha la Pass. We had to increase our speed more, but the road was becoming dangerous, but we managed. I gave Dhyani the control, and agreed to sit on the back seat. While approaching the Pass, I was damn tired, my back was hurting and a new thing started. My head started to pain. Earlier I was ignoring it, but the more we were approaching the Pass, the more intense it became. For some time, the surrounding view was relieving. What a beauty. We were on top of a mountain, and the sun was about to hide into the mountains. Dusk was never so beautiful. Huge snow capped mountains on one side, and few rocky mountains on the other, with an orange sky. My headache was getting intense but this beautiful scenery was distracting it a bit. I thought of taking a picture of it, but it was too beautiful to capture in a frame. Beautiful things don’t ask for attention. The only thing I can do was to enjoy and feel each and every moment of that scene. For a moment, my headache was gone, or maybe it was there but I was way too much awed in that moment that it was not affecting me. Maybe this is known as living The Moment. But it didn’t last long. My headache increased and when it reached extreme, I had to stop. Later came Sidd and Ujjwal, and were scared when Dhyani said I am not feeling well. Sidd asked me the reason, but even I was not sure, because I was the only one who was facing that situation. Sidd and Dhyani concluded that it could be some kind of mountain sickness and advised me to take some meds. Even I agreed with them, and swallow two capsules. I didn’t wait to recover and was back on track. It was getting dark, but the road was again smooth. We passed Baralacha la Pass in no time, but due to lack of time, didn’t took pictures, but carried on, on our track. While coming down, I thought that the meds are showing their effect, as my headache was still there but not intense, but backache was increasing exponentially. But there was no point of complaining about it. Everyone seemed exhausted but no one was complaining. All we can do was to cover the distance as soon as possible, reach Sarchu, and rest our bones. I was slowly punching Dhyani’s lower back to ease him from pain. After sometime, I again convinced Dhyani to give me back the control, and as usual, he got convinced. Now it was his turn to punch my lower back. Damn it was relieving, but not effective. We were speeding up as much as we can as it was getting dark. Half an hour later, we reached at a plateau region. It was already dark, and was not able to see anything apart from Siddhu’s byke tail light. I was at my limits, but was managing it somehow. Far ahead, we saw some light bulbs, continuous on both side of the road, in a
straight direction. WOAH!!!! What a relief. We finally made it to Sarchu. Reaching the region, I came off from the byke, and stood straight. Literally I can hear my back making funny sounds. But a small satisfaction was there, with all my pain. Finally, we made it. As I was walking to the entrance, a foreigner came up to me. He was holding a high resolution DSLR camera, with a camera tripod stand. He shook my hand and was so happy to see us all. He didn’t even knew proper English, but all he said to me was, “congratulation! Finally you made it. Amazing.” We met him the first time, but he was so happy to see us all, for no reason. All I can understand from his expression was what an achievement we had made, and he was there to appreciate it. He showed us his tent and invited us to meet up for dinner. We went to negotiate about the tent, but they were not ready to reduce the price. We were getting 1200 per two people, but it was way too much for us. In the end it was decided that we can’t afford it. My heart broke, but we had to move forward for a cheaper accommodation. I was not ready to even sit on that byke but what the group decides, is what is to be done. I was ready to pay any freaking amount for a bed, but it was too late. We moved forward in search of a much cheaper tent. A kilometer ahead, we found some more tents. I requested Dhyani to take this one. This was a much cheaper place as compared to the previous one. We got one tent, where all four can stay, with dinner for all of us in just 400 bucks, but it didn’t look as comfortable as the one we left. Dhyani and Siddhu went to arrange for some mutton, for dinner, while Ujjwal and I went inside the tent to set all the mattresses. We unloaded our luggage and jerry cans and placed them inside our tent. I was hell tired and even my headache was not totally recovered. All I wanted was to sleep. I thought that the reason for my tiredness was because I was way too much tired, plus I might have caught cold. I was lying down, shivering at one corner when Siddhu and Dhyani came up, and called us for dinner. I stood up, and ran outside. My stomach was hurting as I was not able to digest all the egg Maggie, and it came out. I ran out and started vomiting. After throwing up, I came back, and crashed at one corner. Dhyani came up and asked me if I am alright. I was shivering, nodded and asked for a band to cover my ears. I didn’t felt like eating and asked him to continue. I was down and within no time, BLACK OUT.
In between, we took one halt to fuel our stomach. It was a small canteen made of just plastic cover near a lake. It was a heavy windy region, but as we entered the canteen, it was quiet calm. We sat and checked out the menu. It was pathetic. All the canteens till now had the same things, chocolates and egg maggie. We had no other option other than to eat the same thing. We all were tired and exhausted and we can look at it in each other faces. Didn’t even felt like eating at all, but we had to fuel up. We didn’t even eat all of it, and came outside. I was damn tired. Just wanted to lie down somewhere, but no place, so sat on my byke and stretched to the back seat. My back was aching, my thighs were numb. My stomach was aching because all I ate since morning was a lot of egg Maggie and few chocolates.
All day, I was sitting on my byke, and was having problem in digesting my food. We were told not to stuff ourselves with more food, just have sufficient amount, but when I am hungry, I can’t resist the temptation. I was half lying on my byke when Siddhu called me up to take some pictures. The view was amazing near the lake, so even I didn’t want to say no to it. We took some snaps, when suddenly, a Sumo entered a scene. We turned back and saw two ladies coming out of it. Siddhu was overjoyed, and told me to check one of them out.
Out of surprise, one of them was wearing one piece. We were all covered with jackets and sweatshirts and there she was, standing in a windy cold region, trying to pose for a picture, and at the same time, was holding her skirt kind of dress as the heavy wind was playing games with her. All I can think was if Marilyn Monroe was alive and saw her, she would have committed suicide. Anyways, we still had a long way to cover, so we sat on our beasts and rode off. Dusk was approaching and we still haven’t reached Baralacha la Pass. We had to increase our speed more, but the road was becoming dangerous, but we managed. I gave Dhyani the control, and agreed to sit on the back seat. While approaching the Pass, I was damn tired, my back was hurting and a new thing started. My head started to pain. Earlier I was ignoring it, but the more we were approaching the Pass, the more intense it became. For some time, the surrounding view was relieving. What a beauty. We were on top of a mountain, and the sun was about to hide into the mountains. Dusk was never so beautiful. Huge snow capped mountains on one side, and few rocky mountains on the other, with an orange sky. My headache was getting intense but this beautiful scenery was distracting it a bit. I thought of taking a picture of it, but it was too beautiful to capture in a frame. Beautiful things don’t ask for attention. The only thing I can do was to enjoy and feel each and every moment of that scene. For a moment, my headache was gone, or maybe it was there but I was way too much awed in that moment that it was not affecting me. Maybe this is known as living The Moment. But it didn’t last long. My headache increased and when it reached extreme, I had to stop. Later came Sidd and Ujjwal, and were scared when Dhyani said I am not feeling well. Sidd asked me the reason, but even I was not sure, because I was the only one who was facing that situation. Sidd and Dhyani concluded that it could be some kind of mountain sickness and advised me to take some meds. Even I agreed with them, and swallow two capsules. I didn’t wait to recover and was back on track. It was getting dark, but the road was again smooth. We passed Baralacha la Pass in no time, but due to lack of time, didn’t took pictures, but carried on, on our track. While coming down, I thought that the meds are showing their effect, as my headache was still there but not intense, but backache was increasing exponentially. But there was no point of complaining about it. Everyone seemed exhausted but no one was complaining. All we can do was to cover the distance as soon as possible, reach Sarchu, and rest our bones. I was slowly punching Dhyani’s lower back to ease him from pain. After sometime, I again convinced Dhyani to give me back the control, and as usual, he got convinced. Now it was his turn to punch my lower back. Damn it was relieving, but not effective. We were speeding up as much as we can as it was getting dark. Half an hour later, we reached at a plateau region. It was already dark, and was not able to see anything apart from Siddhu’s byke tail light. I was at my limits, but was managing it somehow. Far ahead, we saw some light bulbs, continuous on both side of the road, in a
straight direction. WOAH!!!! What a relief. We finally made it to Sarchu. Reaching the region, I came off from the byke, and stood straight. Literally I can hear my back making funny sounds. But a small satisfaction was there, with all my pain. Finally, we made it. As I was walking to the entrance, a foreigner came up to me. He was holding a high resolution DSLR camera, with a camera tripod stand. He shook my hand and was so happy to see us all. He didn’t even knew proper English, but all he said to me was, “congratulation! Finally you made it. Amazing.” We met him the first time, but he was so happy to see us all, for no reason. All I can understand from his expression was what an achievement we had made, and he was there to appreciate it. He showed us his tent and invited us to meet up for dinner. We went to negotiate about the tent, but they were not ready to reduce the price. We were getting 1200 per two people, but it was way too much for us. In the end it was decided that we can’t afford it. My heart broke, but we had to move forward for a cheaper accommodation. I was not ready to even sit on that byke but what the group decides, is what is to be done. I was ready to pay any freaking amount for a bed, but it was too late. We moved forward in search of a much cheaper tent. A kilometer ahead, we found some more tents. I requested Dhyani to take this one. This was a much cheaper place as compared to the previous one. We got one tent, where all four can stay, with dinner for all of us in just 400 bucks, but it didn’t look as comfortable as the one we left. Dhyani and Siddhu went to arrange for some mutton, for dinner, while Ujjwal and I went inside the tent to set all the mattresses. We unloaded our luggage and jerry cans and placed them inside our tent. I was hell tired and even my headache was not totally recovered. All I wanted was to sleep. I thought that the reason for my tiredness was because I was way too much tired, plus I might have caught cold. I was lying down, shivering at one corner when Siddhu and Dhyani came up, and called us for dinner. I stood up, and ran outside. My stomach was hurting as I was not able to digest all the egg Maggie, and it came out. I ran out and started vomiting. After throwing up, I came back, and crashed at one corner. Dhyani came up and asked me if I am alright. I was shivering, nodded and asked for a band to cover my ears. I didn’t felt like eating and asked him to continue. I was down and within no time, BLACK OUT.
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