HIMALAYAN ODYSSEY 2009

 
 
My Trip!
Back... Back to the crowded cities, back home, back to work, back to routine, back to this desk and computer... physically at least. Mentally to be honest I am lost - drifting searching and trying to find a spot to anchor. Head feeling light and too many different thoughts pulling me in different directions - focus on work, get back in the groove AND the yearning to break free, to go back out in the open and to find the elusive meaning.

Woke up this morning feeling lost and disoriented wondering what time breakfast was (had to make it myself btw) and had to be reminded about my office timings. I could barely recognize the bloke in the mirror.

When I left for this trip, everyone thought that I would / should change and hopefully would get a larger picture than I currently have. I have always been a pretty simple straight forward bloke (pretty boring in fact) with really no perspective beyond my immediate environment. Just being going through the years like a horse with blinders - keeping running on the same path and doing the same things. Through the trip nothing really changed and my overall focus was on really just going through each day and completing the ride safely, doing the basics and leaving everything else in the background. On reaching Delhi the feeling really was of relief on completing the ride in one piece, of not quitting and of being able to complete NOT one of achievement or a momentous life changing event.

However with each passing day it’s all starting to sink in. I guess the pressure, the stress and the joy of being on the bike for the last 2 weeks really did not give one the time to reflect on what exactly was going on and to understand or experience consciously the changes and the environment around me. I find myself a changed person - not drastically but definitely in small ways. Also I have taken some small steps towards understanding myself, what drives me and what’s important to me (really tiny steps given my primitive mental status and the long journey required to get to being defined NORMAL). I am going to try and put on paper exactly what I am feeling and thinking right now and try to structure (job hazard) my thoughts into something meaningful and useful

First of all why did I do this? Not sure - I was the guy who could never ride a bike when I was in school / college. Always protected and had a car and had very basic experience with bikes (most of which was falling!). I bought a bike in Jan 2008 - a Black Royal Enfield Thunderbird against a lot of opposition and of course doubt. Learnt how to ride the bike decently well and learnt to enjoy riding. However the non rider / wannabe rider tag kept gnawing at me. Did the Mumbai - Pune and some other highway rides but really did not leave with any sense of achievement or belonging. But I enjoyed the bike, loved it in fact and loved everything it symbolized to me - power, freedom, expression, fear. The question really was to prove to myself that I am a good rider, have nothing to fear and can do what most define as one of the toughest rides on a bike. Basically it boils down to an ego thing - guess that term defines a lot of me and drives a lot of me, and also just the want to ride and to break free. Then came the other reasons - a first real vacation in years, the feeling of getting away, being close to nature, exploring our beautiful nation, etc; All of them valid reasons, but not really the reason to go riding up in the mountains and to go on the Odyssey. There are probably easier and better ways of achieving the secondary reasons but they were reasons nonetheless.

What did I do? Went for the Himalayan Odyssey - a trip to the top of the world - Khardungla and then more. Loved the Royal Enfield Tag "The road to salvation was never a straight line" - that`s literally and figuratively bang on. As I told the Big Bosses (RE Boys) you can’t have dumbasses like me just get off our asses and go for this ride, the RE guys definitely need to strain out people like us (otherwise they end up spending most of their time picking us up and changing our handlebar`s ;)). But well on the flip side I did complete it didn`t I, I guess if you believe it and want it, it will probably happen. Maybe the Big Bosses know something I don`t or didn`t till about a line back. The Trip (that`s branding btw!) took us from Delhi - Chandigarh - Manali - Keylong/Tandi - Sarchu - Rumtse - Leh - Khardung La - Tso Kar - Keylong - Kaza - Kalpa - Narkanda - Parwanoo - Delhi. That`s just the headlines - how can one forget the passes Rohtang (pass for tourists and traffic jams and dirt), Baralach La (the one mothers will use to put bad riders to bed "so jaa nahi to Baralach La bhej dungi"), Lachulung La (easy for some but not for me) & Tanglang La (bad roads). And the tiny stops in the middle of nowhere with just dhabas (meaning hot food, hot water/tea and shelter from the winds for 30 minutes) - Khoksar, Bharatpur, Pang, Upshi, Losar amongst others. The ride took us from the plains of Delhi, Chandigarh, to the first twisties (borrowed term) enroute to Manali, through cold and miserable roads and passes on the way to Keylong and Sarchu, magnificent more plains and never ending nervous Gator Loops, beautiful tarmac roads though colourful mountains on the way to Leh, the off-road fun stretch where no road was supposed to be there but we ran through it, the most beautiful straight roads through valleys and green patches with snowcapped mountains keeping guard on the way to Kaza, the winding roads along the raging Sutlej, the hilly regions and greenery (a sight for sore eyes used to bare rocky mountains) of Kalpa and Rekong Peo and finally back to the sweltering heat of Delhi.

It’s really difficult for words or even pictures (especially for me given that I have none on account of a lost camera) to really express what we rode through and what we went through mentally and physically. There were times of exhilaration - when you managed to complete a ride in one piece without falling and achieved what you had set out to, feelings of extreme loserness - when you realised you are not the rider you thought you were and people are zipping around at twice the speeds weaving circles around you, the feeling of insignificance - when faced with the beauty and the size of the landscape you were riding through, the fear - on patches of roads and through rides where you felt you would never make it and felt that you just didn`t belong (wanted to drop the bike and just run), panic - when you fell and got up first checking yourself then your bike and finally the gear to ensure you are all in one piece, the feeling of camaraderie - when we managed to push each other to do things which alone I doubt we could have achieved.

You also learnt along the way - started to travel more lightly and pack more smartly. Ensured that the key essentials (namely warm gloves, monkey caps, and socks) were placed in handy locations to ensure that you made yourself warm as soon as reaching your destination and proceeded to have a cup of tea and darned everything else. Finally understood why people love rum - savior in cold weather and cure for bad throats (and it does not matter if it`s a Bacardi / Old Monk or the Black Bull - in the cold it all tastes the same). Figured that when push came to shove you can take a dump anywhere and the smells and the crap dissipates in the face of the feeling of relief that overcomes you, how the basic bed and hotel room or the dirty plate or the crap looking water does not matter when you are exhausted/hungry and want to sleep eat or drink and you can do so anywhere and in any environment, how anything hot tastes great in cold weather (especially combined with pyaaz and mirchi), how you are not supposed to have a bath when temp is below a certain threshold otherwise you will spend a good amount of time just getting over the shivering, how clothes don`t get dirty in cold weather (or maybe you need to believe that), how its important to brush even though no one is smelling your breath (otherwise the helmet can get really claustrophobic) and more importantly how you should let yourself and your mind go - get crowded with too many thoughts and you will fail or alternatively be too focused and you will fail to enjoy the experience.

We all started out as a bunch of strangers sitting around a circle listening to the first briefing telling us what to expect and what not to expect. Of course I personally don`t like taking instructions and don`t like people telling me what to do - always used to being leading and not really listening (that`s something that changed in a fortnight). People from all over the country speaking in all languages and sticking to their city groups and pals. But that changed over the course of the trip. We all got to know each other better and realised at least in some ways how we were the same or different. Made some pretty good buddies along the way - these are the guys (you guys know who you are!) who really pushed me to complete this journey especially when I just wanted to let go, who shared their experiences and made you realise you are not going through all this alone and there is plenty of company (misery loves it!!). People from whom you learn and realised what riding is all about - sticking through thick and thin with your buddies, not taking things for granted and always covering your ass (read use your gear!!), throttling on corners (twist of wrist - ch 1), look where you want to go (target fixation is the technical term), never f*** around in the shit (i.e. avoid brakes when you most want to use them), opposite lock and throttle (to be honest only to be used by the people at the pinnacle of motorcycling), and lastly just enjoy the ride man, enjoy the freedom and enjoy the open road (the minute you stop enjoying the fun is replaced with fear which screws you up). And of course we partied hard (I was good at that at least) and got loose with the booze (no women sadly).

Lastly what I have learnt and gained? The biggest thing was that you and you alone define what you can or can’t do. I fell on the very first day and wanted to just get up walk away and sell my bike (for the sake of the dear and near ones- at least that’s the excuse) but I picked myself up, refused to let anyone else ride it for me and chugged along in slow motion (at least for the next 15 kms after which I guess it got boring). I wanted to just leave the trip mid way as I believed I was not having fun and enjoying the ride - you realised its all in your mind and whether you live in fear or enjoy the moment is a choice that you make. I continued for ego, friends and the feeling that if I don`t do this now I will never do it again and I would probably not be able to ever face the people including me who I will let down by leaving. Also learnt how you should never get cocky or it will come and bite you back on your ass (read second fall). You also realised how little you can get along with and how the basics of food shelter and clothing are really what one needs to survive and what one really cares for - the rest is just frill and is something you won’t even remember or care for when you have bigger and better things to do. It’s only when you are engaged in meaningless and crap activities that suddenly the frill becomes the reason for it all - if you get my drift. How strange people in the middle of nowhere truly and genuinely care for you not out of any monetary or other selfish reasons but for the simple reasons that we just look out for each other - period. How the feeling of being on the open road in natural beauty in the middle of nowhere is a truly liberating experience - making you realise that we were not meant to be locked up (that`s exactly what we have done to ourselves) - We are meant to be Riding on the Open Roads !!
 
Written by - Mr. Arun Kumar Saigal
Photographs by - Mr. Harshman Rai