My first motorcycle trip to Himalayas
Often life gives you a kick in the ass to make you realize/appreciate some thing beautiful in life. In much the same way I got a hard kick in October 2004.
For past few months; my job and then team leader were giving me a hard time, so much so that I began to wonder why I was working in the first place. Spending 6 days a week 15-16 hours a day working and commuting, I was left with no time for any other activity apart from sleeping. All this was taking a heavy toll on my personal and professional life and it was high time I needed a break from all this. I needed some solitary time to reflect on life and lay back and not be bother by the “routine”.
Ladakh seemed like a place that fit the bill nicely, even though I didn’t have any experience in touring, I decided to visit the holy grail of motorcycle touring.
With high hopes I approached the reincarnation of Saturn (my team lead) for leaves. With over 20days of leaves left in my leave account, I was confident that I would get 12 days off easily. For a moment I almost forgot that I was asking the Saturn himself for a leave to visit heaven!
So Saturn a.k.a. my team lead after a big devilish laugh shot down my request, but I wasn’t ready to let this chance go and asked a couple of days off instead. Reluctantly the Saturn granted me my wish and I had couple of days plus weekly off.
With only three days for the trip, I was in a fix about what place I could visit. Since I couldn’t go to Ladakh, I settled for Manali. Mostly because I had never been there and while searching online the route seemed simple enough!
After returning from office at 3:00am it was time to pack and get ready for the first motorcycle trip of my life…