Is it worth it?

Travelers and in particular, motorcycle travelers like me, take a certain amount of risk while going to little known destinations, where roads exists only on paper, where people and vehicles appear after a long interval, as if to say, there is still life on this planet and where one can actually hear the faint whisper of the wind, reminding you, that there is not a soul around for miles…

However, is it worth it?

You might be wondering why I am talking about this today. Well this question was asked by Vaibhav to Salil; after Salil posted in his Sach Pass travelogue, that he saw a PWD (Public Works Department) worker being killed by falling rocks, when he was trying to clear the road to Sach Pass.

Vaibhav (Kurtrules): But sometimes it makes me wonder, that us at BCMT take so many risks, traveling in adverse conditions to some of the remotest areas of the country …. i mean god forbid, it could have been any one of us in his place …. Salil, i ask u, was all you did worth the risk? You were on top of sach pass, but the day before all this had happened … No doubt in what u were feeling

While the question was put across to Salil, I couldn’t help but ponder over it. After all, I too have been to the same area (Sach Pass) and was in fact riding back alone from Bhugotu to Bhanjraroo on that day, to arrange for a pickup for Varun’s motorcycle.

While I can not even dare to imagine how my family would react, if something was to happen to me. I guess my worst fear is, when I think about something like this, what if I fall into a gorge where my motorcycle and body isn’t visible and there is no one around who has witnessed the accident as I quite often travel alone to such remote places. In such a scenario, my family wouldn’t even know if I am dead or alive!

At the end of the day, knowing I could end up condemning myself and my family to such a fate, do I fee it is worth it?

While I would dread to be in a situation like this, I can not help but say, yes!

The urge to go to such remote places and to tour on motorcycle, often alone, comes from within me. It is not something I do to earn a living or fame, it is not something I do to earn bragging points, no one forces me to do it, and in fact no one can even force me to not do it!

I do it because I wish to see places which exists only in the faintest of whispers, where mankind hasn’t managed to reek havoc, where people help others not for monetary gain but for the satisfaction that comes from helping someone, where I can experience what complete silence is all about, as the wind stops momentarily and I try to make some noise, just to check whether or not I have gone deaf!

It is this urge, which keeps me going and the hope, that at the end of the day, everything’s going to be alright…