I really admire your motorcycling spirit. It's people like you who make it special. Like some once said, "four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."

Keep it up.

Sumit Bro...Stumbled upon this thread today....what a revealation...Amazing....beautiful pics and nicely written logs....also your bike looks very beautiful......

one of my most favourite Leh thread...

^^ Thanks guys
I am nearing the end of depicting my trip. Will try to complete the logs soon.
Here is next day's log:

14th July 2010
Day 11 Rohtang Pass - Manali: only 50kms covered and the whole day under the sun...

Last night wasn't a good night sleep at all. As I mentioned it was damp, soggy, very cold...I might have slept only for a couple of hours and it was more of wait till the morning. At 5:30/6 am as the sun came up I woke up, collected my things from tent and walked till place where the bikes were parked. The other guys Nirman, Jai had already woken up. As I mentioned I had hit off really well with Jai and Nirman. We three were gelling well and it was nice to be with a good company after being almost on my own from last 10 days.
Asked the shop guy to prepare some breakfast and tea.
But first as the last day it was time to "freshen" up obviously it was to be done out in the open .

We had tea and some breakfast and decided to move to the landslide location because we wanted to be the first one to be crossing once the debris is cleared by the army guys and state authorities.
My bike again refused to start It was probably because of the cold weather again. After several tries bike started and we were ready to go.
But before that we wanted to click some pictures of all of us who spent the night on Rohtang:

That's Jai, Jai Bachchan (as he says for himself: the only male Jaya Bachchan )


Nirmaan, He is an aspiring model cum actor. His looks are indeed good


The person on the right is Vasudeva, also from Bangalore.


Yours truly and Jai


My tired puffy eyes perfectly describe that I hadn't slept at all last night

There were some more group photos which due to my camera settings got screwed
After the photo clicks we started moving towards the landslide location. The site was about 1 km and I couldn't believe seeing thousands of people stranded some of them had been there from last 4 days.
We somehow reached right to the end of the pileup and saw the whole scenario. The tanker was just swooped through the narrow road into the valley. There were so many people stuck, waiting on the other side too. The first thing that comes to mind is that how have they been managing from last 4 days and if at all the debris clears up which side will be given clearance?


We could see the debris still coming down from above. We parked the bike at a distance and took a walk to get a clearer view of what's happening and above picture says it all. The crane was trying pull the truck out but all in vain. The more it was pulling it more it was digging into the lose slush.


People waiting

People were telling that there is a lake in the mountain just above the site which is causing all the trouble. Also the moment the authorities would clear the debris more start gushing down from the lake...
Last day they told that some bikers were able to cross (probably those were the bikers whom I met on Keylong in the restaurant) and just as the oil tanker was crossing slush just swooped the tanker off.

The army had also come and tried but they also couldn't pull the truck up. They were of the idea that the tanker should be let go and the authorities should concentrate more on clearing the debris which I thought was sensible thought considering the fact that there were thousands of people stuck for so many days in the middle of nowhere. But the oil tanker was owned by very influential person and wasn't in the mood to lose his expensive tanker.
According to the speculations he was so influential that the Himachal Pradesh government had got a call from Delhi central government that no matter how much effort it takes, the authorities have to get the tanker out first before doing anything else even if the people have to stay there for more time.
Don't know how true the speculations were (it looked to be true) but I was so disgusted because of this. The efforts to save tanker were too much.
Just for wealthy powerful man's greed so many people have to suffer the worst. For god's sake there were women stuck there and one can imagine how hard it would have been for them to be there for 4 days..

There was no shade around and direct sun was too much handle.


From left to right anticlockwise: Jai, Parag, Nirmaan and Raju guide


Views were still amazing


People who were on cabs had found out an alternative solutions. Leaving their cabs they had put there luggage on the horses and took the hiking route


The team from Bangalore had also done the same thing, they had hired the bikes from Manali and they had called the bike owner to collect the bikes. They took the hiking route and left from that place. Of course we, the Chandigarh guys (Jai and Nirman) and me, didn't have that liberty as the bikes were ours Only option is to wait till the road is cleared.

The source of all the slush coming down. That rock in the middle is about to fall off any time and it did after sometime.


The sun was pounding too much for the people to take evasive actions . That's Parag

Soon, well not that soon; the time wasn't getting past that fast, it was afternoon and we started to feel hungry. There were some snack sellers out there but soon they ran out of all they had, there were so many hungry people there
Fortunately while packing I had kept just the thing for a scenario like this and that was dry fruits I had couple of packets of cashewnuts. I knew these wouldn't satiate the hunger but still it was better than having nothing. Also while leaving TsoMoriri I had bought biscuits, just to get some change out of 1000 rupees note, which I never ate and kept in my jacket pocket. Lucky ain't it
I had some and gave it to others too. The truck drivers invited us to the top and started chatting with us.


There were some more riders who joined us, one of them was from Israel and it was nice talking to him with his broken English
He told us that guys and gals back in Israel it is mandatory to serve 5 and 3 years respectively and understandable from the conditions in Israel.
He showed us his army knife which was just super handy. The knife had all the things just like the swiss knife but it looked more deadly than the swiss one.


The person in the middle is the Israeli guy
While we were trying to spend time somehow, the authorities were trying to figure out how to save the tanker.
They had already tried explosives too to clear up some debris to pull the tanker out.
They had brought another crane to in turn pull the crane pulling the tanker. The slush kept coming down from the top. We started get worried and looked more like spending another night at that place itself and it would have been worse because the shop guy who gave us shelter last night had closed his shop and moved taking the hiking route. On top of that we were soon running out of water too.

People were getting agitated and they were all chanting for the tanker to be let go into the valley and clear up the slush. But I guess there was one more problem in letting go of the tanker and that was there were too many waiting at the bottom of the pass (as evident from the below picture) and tanker would fall very close to the people if not on them...


People waiting on the other side and the tanker was stuck above them.

There were many foreigners too with us and they were also pretty frustrated with all the mess caused due to just one very greedy man's oil tanker and that too which was empty. I asked one of the tourist who was from Georgia that if something like this would have happened in his country what would the authorities have done regarding the tanker and he simply said "they would have let the frigging tanker away and not caused the tourists and people so much of trouble and clearing the mess would have been completed in a matter of hours". Well this is the very difference between India and America ain't it?

There was another news that came freshly that a person had passed away waiting for the road to clear up. Hearing that wasn't nice at all. May the person's soul rest in peace...

Also we heard that there were a movie shooting going on just at the bottom of the Pass and film stars Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai are there. But I wasn't that much concerned as we had much more serious issues in front of us.

By 3 o clock (don't remember properly) they were able to pull the tanker but not fully. They somehow were able to pull the truck and place just beside the slush flow so that the tanker doesn't go down. It seemed that more slush was also not coming down. So now it was time to clear up the debris from the road. Things suddenly started looking good and we also prepped ourselves, put on our riding gear, started our bikes so that we can cross first because the moment a heavier vehicle start passing there was a possibility the slush would come down again.

As soon as they cleared the slush the authorities started allowing the vehicles to pass but from the other side
They allowed a couple of jeeps so that they push the slush away so that the bikes can pass. The slush was still of the height till my knees on both the sides. The bikes started coming from the other side and the guys were having really hard time crossing the slush. They were panting like anything cause the bikes would just not move with the clutch alone, they had to push the bikes and also their pillions were pushing the bikes from behind. All the people standing there were screaming and charging the riders to cross, it was so electrifying and magnificent.
Seeing and hearing all this I thought to myself, this is it this is test for myself, I can't fall down there is nobody with me to push the bike. Though I had people with me but as the saying goes "Every man for himself" because everybody had his own bike and himself to take to the other side.

Nirman came to me and said to me to just go flat out while crossing and asked me not to worry coz we all are in this together. That gave me a little confidence. First one to go was some bullet guy and then it was Rajan started, then it was Parag and then it was me. It was certainly the most punishing few meters for me and my bike. I was just using all of my strength in knees along with doing the half clutching but the rear tyre wouldn't just move. Everybody else were shouting screaming trying to pump all of us to cross safely.
I finally crossed the slush and was on the other side and I just took a sigh of relief that I successfully crossed probably the last hurdle in my trip. One by one everybody crossed the slushy area and continued coming down. While coming down I saw one KTM on-off road bike going up and one BMW 1200GS too. I thought it wouldn't be hard for them to cross the problem area as these bikes are meant to be for such kind of terrain. Alas I can't watch them cross and I just waived at them and went ahead.
I couldn't take any picture of the ordeal we went through crossing the slush...

Reaching the bottom of the pass we all regrouped and parked our bikes and noticed that we have parked our bikes right next to the movie shooting location. We just thought why not go near and check what's happening. As we were walking towards the services buses of the stars, we saw two very familiar TV personalities walking by us and they were Roadies fame Raghu and Rannvijay.


I could hear youngsters screaming from behind for them while they were walking.

This movie was none other than the flop movie "Action Replay".
We went near the buses and there came out Aishwarya Rai, first thing that comes to my mind is she is really tall and beautiful. And the came out Akshay, seeing him I just couldn't recognize him thanks to his retro style clothes for the movie.
I tried taking pictures of them but people there told me not to take out the camera as the security guards of the stars will snatch my camera and keep it. I was very much happy to keep my camera with me as the camera contains my priceless pictures from the trip and risking that would be out of the question.

We stayed there for some time and decided to move ahead as we wanted to reach Manali before dark and spend the night there.
There were people enjoying para-gliding. Took one picture...



We had some food in the nearby restaurant and continued ahead. At this point of time Rajan and Parag went ahead on their own and I was left with Jai, Nirman and raju guide who was bringing the bikes used by the Bangalore team back to Manali.
We decided to be together and stay together in Manali so that we can save some money. I agreed as Manali can be very expensive as I saw in our last trip. Raju guide told us that he can get us rooms for cheap and which will have proper parking place too.

We slowly started towards Manali. Was very tired to click any pictures but managed to click one on the way. And decided to call it off for the day and just reach Manali and rest.


We reached Manali went to the hotel suggested by Raju guide, parked our bikes, checked in. Took bath and prepared Maggi noodles which Jai and Nirmaan had been carrying along with a stove and everything else
They told me that what I went through was nothing compared to what they had faced while touring Spiti thanks to JP construction company who have just dug up the roads and had not taken care of it. Nirman asked me about my plan for the rest of the trip. I told him that my next stop would be Chandigarh and then next day Delhi as I have to parcel my bike too and need one day for it.
Jai and Nirman invited me to their house which was in Chandigarh only and this way I would save some more money and also I will get a chance to meet their parents. I thought it was a good idea and I agreed.

Deciding this we all went to sleep. Chandigarh was around 300kms from Manali and I thought it should be a relaxed one but least I knew that still some more surprises installed for me .......

My Blog Post:

Visit my flickr album for better quality pics (selected ones): http://www.flickr.com/photos/sumitplall/

15th July 2010
Day 12 Manali - Chandigarh

Next morning we woke up, packed up our things and were ready to start our way back.
But before we started took some pictures of the bike all covered from yesterday's mud adventure






Jai and Nirman's bike's welding had broken and they wanted to get it fixed. I started before them and they would catch up with me after fixing it. After some confusion and miscommunication between us we got late and it was afternoon and we hadn't left Manali.

We were just riding by the river (don't know the name) and we saw a lot of camps for river rafting. Once we thought of going for it but it would need 8 people and also we couldn't have left our bikes and luggage with the camp guys and go for rafting. So we decided to continue further...
We saw river bank which was shallow and one could go into the water and may be have a bath
Both Jai and Nirman wanted to take a dip and so we parked our bikes in shade and went in. Well not me only those guys I was more happy being beside the river and enjoying the view and taking pictures.

Nirman and Jai

After having a nice time spending time beside the river we packed up things and continued ahead onloy after a photo of Jai on my bike which he so direly wanted



We crossed the big tunnel that comes on the way (I am again not able to recollect the name), again took pictures and continued ahead.




As we were coming to the planes it was getting hotter and hotter by every kilometer
We stopped on the way to have icecreams and as usual pic time






It was almost evening and we were still 100kms odd away from Chandigarh. Suddenly we discovered a puncture on Nirman's bike's rear tyre. They had a spare tyre tube however it was losing air slowly and we didn't want to change the tube and waste time. We just filled in air in the tyre and continued ahead. Every 10 kms the tyre would lose air and we had to fill in again. Like this we continued for some more time till we reached a junction where Nirman suggested a shortcut to reach their house. It was getting late (8 pm) so we took that route. By now the tyre wasn't holding air for even a minute and only option was to replace the tube which would mean taking out the rear tyre, replacing the tube and putting back the tyre which obviously meant long time before we get going again.
It was very dark but good thing was I had the emergency LED light with him which one could have hooked on his head while working. All thanks to Sunil sir who gave me those.
As Nirman and Jai took out the old tube from the bike it was perforated and had to be changed. The inner lining of the wheel was poking the tube and apparently even if we put a new fresh tube inside it would also get punctured. But we expected it to hold up till we reach Chandigarh. I was thinking about the disadvantages of not having a tubeless tyre...
There is this one more problem my bike was also not holding much air and I needed to check air in my bike too frequently. We put back the tyre and fitted it to the bike. It was 11 o clock by now.
We started again but as expected the tube gave away again, we filled it again and continued.
Soon the tube was again to not holding up air and we had to stop. We were around 20 kms away from Jai's house. The only options was to leave the bike there only and take a cab or call a friend of Jai and pick us up. Since my bike was also losing air and the luggage was too much to carry three of us along with the luggage was not possible. We left the bike in a near by house.
There was some dispute between Jai and Nirman and we decided against taking the cab and they called their friend to pick us up.
After about an hour Rajeev, the friend, came and we slowly we reached Jai's house. I met Jai's mom, sister; they greeted me into their house. Jai's mom prepared nice parathas for us to have. It was already 2 o clock and we were so tired after the sort of adventure we had with the punctured bike
We slept after late dinner. Next day I wasn't sure if I want to head back to Delhi or stay back, as suggested by Jai to stay with his family next day. My flight for Bangalore was on 18th and I had three days with me and 250 kms more to cover. Also I needed one day to decide for the packaging for my bike.
I thought I would decide whether to stay or go the next day only. So this day also didn't go as expected but yeah enjoyed every bit of it....
Since my journey is coming to an end and not much to write as it was usual home coming, hence I'll be clubbing the rest days events in one log.

sumit...this is has inspired me a lot...i was always double minded on doing Leh ALONE this year...but now I will never think of it..

BTW im from Bangalore ..is it possible for us to meet??

^^ Thanks pal

16th July 2010
Day 13 Chandigarh - Delhi

I woke late the next day as I was undecided whether to stay back or head to Delhi. Jai's mom had prepared nice parathas for us and she was insisting that I should stay with them. If I stay back I would be having virtually one day to pack my bike and board the flight for Bangalore on 18th and this might not be sufficient as I wasn't sure how to send the bike whether on train or through some courier service. Also 18th would be Sunday and wasn't sure if the train parcel services are open on sundays or not.
I decided I would stay with them till lunch and then I will leave so that I have 17th which is a Saturday and will be able to parcel the bike either way.
Finishing breakfast I asked Jai if I can get my bike washed before starting. He took me to a near by service station where I got the bike washed. Bike's chain was REALLY lose by now and the service guy said the links have to be removed since he can't tighten it anymore and he didn't have the tools for it. I thought let me get to Delhi and then I can take care of it in Bangalore itself.

Came back, took bath and told Jai that I'll be leaving after lunch telling him the constraints I have for the bike. We all had lunch and shared my photos with Jai and Nirrman.

I said thanks and goodbye to Jai's family. Jai came with me on his bike to guide me till the route to Delhi. I filled petrol from the city, said goodbye to Jai too, it had been a pleasure being with those guys for the last two three days. It is true that hardships bring people together no matter from what origin they are. I met these guys two days back when we all were stuck due to the landslide and here I am leaving Chandigarh having two friends and sweet memories.

Feeling satisfied with the events, good or bad, happened on the trip I was thanking God I am able to complete my trip successfully. These last 250kms odd kms will take me closer to home and it will all be good. However that feeling was short-lived. As I was passing the Chandigarh-Ambala section there was too much of traffic at one point and I slowed down and was at the right side of a passing truck. With giving any signal the truck started coming towards the right and I had no where to go as I was right next to the divider, I braked hard and I was very sure that I would get out of the truck's way before it closes right in. But I don't know what happened I didn't get out of the way, the truck's right sharp edge hit bike's handle bar and threw me off-balance. Got hit from the left and went banged the right foot peg on the median in the right. Miraculously I didn't fall of the bike, my feet were off the foot pegs and the bike was careening violently first left to right and then right to left after hitting the median.
I somehow held on the bike, I didn't want to fall down right in the middle of the road with the heavy traffic coming from behind. It was really fortunate for me to somehow be on the bike and get to the side of the road away from the traffic.
I stopped and for a minute couldn't believe what just happened and a sigh of relief that I escaped from what could have been a near fatal accident. That highway probably kills more people than probably the Himalayan terrain...

I had pain in my right ankle and in my left hand, The pain was bearable I knew there is nothing major in either of the places. I checked my hand and I saw a little chunk of the flesh was chipped off from it, it was just a superficial injury. I wasn't wearing the riding gloves since it was very hot, goes to show how important the riding is. The main source of pain was my ankle which had caught in between when bike hit the divider. Good that I had worn the hard army shoes which saved my leg quite a bit except for the twist in the ankle. .

I checked the bike, left side the mirror had dislocated along with the lever and on the right side the rear brake lever had come off from the frame that holds the master cylinder and the brake switch. This meant the rear brake wouldn't work at all for now.


The torn left grip of the bike's handle. Looking at it I was lucky that I escaped with a minor injury

I tried recollecting of what just happened, whether it was my mistake or something else. One thing was it was my fault that I ended up on the right side of the traffic along with the heavier vehicles but the other part I couldn't understand how the truck hit the bike when I was safely decelerating to get out of truck's range. I vaguely remember there were couple of cars behind me and there's a bleak possibility that the car behind hit me from behind which is why I couldn't get off the truck's range. I don't know what happened and will never know...
I was shaken a bit and was in double minds whether I should parcel the bike from Ambala only or continue ahead to Delhi with no rear brakes. In my last trip to Leh we had actually shipped the bikes to Bangalore from Ambala only through Gati services. But there were quite serious damages to the bike while transporting so I decided against it.
I stopped at a tea shop, gathered myself up checked myself and the bike and I continued ahead to Delhi slowly. I was thinking this just happened probably me being relaxed too much after the trip where I was cautious all the way and said to myself not to take any thing casually. As they say in Hindi "सावधानी हटी तो दुर्घटना घटी" (The moment you are not cautious accident will happen)

By 7:30pm I reached Delhi and I called up my friend Nitin to see if I can stay with him at his house for next two days or not. His house was going through some renovation and hence there was no possibility that I could stay there and so was I searching for a neat hotel where I can park my bike safely and spend the next two days. Nitin told me to look for it in Karol Bagh area. I was searching and the bike started giving troubles and now it showing sign of tiredness after the hardships that it has gone through. I finally found a hotel, parked the bike, checked in, and crashed for the day as it was already late. The hotel room charges were 1000/- per day with AC. It was very humid in Delhi or at least I was feeling it that way

17th July 2010
Day 14 Delhi - parceling the bike


Next day I woke up and first thought of checking with the train schedule for booking the bike but the direct train to Bangalore had already left for the day and it was only next day early morning (5:45AM) I could have booked the bike. This would have meant that I should pack the bike today only and leave the bike in the parcel office so that they can put the bike in the train. For doing all this I should be present in the morning otherwise there is a high chance that the parcel guys might not put on the train that day, once the bike is booked it is up to them when they put it on the train. It is always better to book the bike on the train in which you are also traveling so that you can keep an eye on the bike handling and other things.

I called up the courier services (including Gati services) and almost all were asking for a No Objection Certificate from the local Police station so that they can ship the bike to Bangalore. Getting the certificate was out of the question but still I went to the Karol Bagh police station. They obviously didn't agree for it and I came back. Time was running out for me as it was 11 o clock already.

I called up Gaurab (xBhp member: MG_biker) since he is from Delhi only could give me suggestion as to how do I go about it. But Gaurab wasn't in Delhi at that time. He gave me two contact numbers of Delhi xbhp members: Shivansu and Dipankar.

By this time one of the Gati Services guy, Anoop, had called me up and told me that Gati will ship my bike without the certificate, the only thing required is a hand written document stating that I am the owner of the and the bike is not stolen. He asked me to come to a specific point in Delhi so that they can pack the bike and book it for shipping. I had no idea where the place was and wrote the direction that he gave me.

I called up Shivansu and told him that I am also an xbhp member and just completed the Leh trip and I am in this dilemma. He understood my problem and told me that he had some work and finishing the work he will come and meet me and take me to the place where the Gati guy told me to.

By afternoon 2:30pm (i guess) Shivansu came to the hotel where I was staying.
This was the first time we were meeting but didn't seem like it because we share the same passion called Biking
In short span of time we talked about Bikes, tours, and everything related to bikes
He greeted me for successfully completing the trip and we were off to the place as told by Anoop (Gati guy)
After some calls to Anoop we were able to locate the Gati office. I still don't remember the place or the route to the place

The gati guys asked me to take out the petrol from the bike and do the other formalities for booking the bike. Meanwhile I was talking to Shivansu and also showed him the pictures that I had clicked on the trip. He liked it a lot.

While the Gati guys were packing the bike Shivansu gave so many valuable suggestions how to cover the bike parts so that it doesn't get damaged in transport as if it was his own bike. It was such a nice gesture from him. I am obliged to you pal.

Also I was impressed with packing used by Gati people for the packing. I would recommend other guys to contact Gati and specially Anoop for shipping their bikes from Delhi. He is a nice guy to talk to and will do his job properly. His contact details are:
Name: Anoop (Gati Services)
Phone: +91 95400 58547
However read below how and in what condition I got my bike when it reached Bangalore and then make up your mind for giving the bike for shipping through courier services...

That's Shivansu in the center giving suggestions to Gati guys for packing the bike. At that's his Yamaha R15 parked beside my bike.

Finally we were done with packing and they took the bike inside but not before a picture


From left: Anoop (the Gati Guy), Shivansu, and yours truly

All this while my other Bangalore riders (Santosh Nfs and team), who took the same route as mine and had met me in Leh while getting the permits, had also reached Bangalore and were in the same dilemma as mine for shipping the bike. I suggested them to contact Anoop only and they did. They were able to ship the bike through Anoop on Sunday although it was a holiday for the Gati office but still Anoop made arrangements so that their three bikes could be sent.

The total bill for somewhere around 3000/- and they told me that the bike will reach Bangalore in 5 days time. Shivansu had some other work too in the evening hence he told that he'll drop me some place close to my hotel and push off.

We said bye to Anoop and started towards my hotel. Suddenly Shivansu (or it was me? Don't remember) got a call from Anoop that we have left some bike related document in the office only. But it turned out to be just the pollution control certificate which already expired. We asked him to not to bother about it.

Shivansu dropped me at the place and wished me luck for my rest of the journey and also for my bike to reach Bangalore safely and asked me to inform him for safe arrival.

We said goodbye and I was relieved that bike parcel thing is done and the only thing left for me is to board the flight for Bangalore next day.
Once again thanks to Shivansu for helping me out. I owe this one to you pal
I called up my friend Nitin and told him that my things are done now. He said he will come and pick me up in the evening for an outing in Delhi

An evening well spent with Nitin and his friend Sumit (that's not me another friend Sumit, Sumit Sood). Three of us went to Connaught Place, had nice food and came back.
So just one day to go and then I'll be reaching home. I slept and next day just spent the day in the hotel only. I booked a cab for going to the airport through Just Dial services. They charged some 400/- odd for the cab from Karol Bagh.

Boarded the plane at 08:30PM and reached Bangalore at around 11:00PM and reached my home by 12:00. My brother was in US on the official trip, no one was there to welcome me
I was happy that I successfully completed an eventful yet satisfying trip which I had always dreamed of.
In the end I covered probably a little more than 3000 Kms in 14 days. I was just wishing that my bike reaches Bangalore safe and sound without damages although that is highly unlikely with the way these transport guys handle the parcels let alone the bikes...

Went back to work on Monday having greeted by my manager and colleagues, showed them the pictures I took.

So after 5 days (on 22nd July 2010) I got a call from the Gati guys that the bike has reached Bangalore and the guys are waiting outside my house for me to receive the bike. But I was in the office at that time and couldn't have come early but they insisted that they have clear off the delivery of the bike at that day only. I had to rush out from the office leaving early and I received the bike with a flat rear tyre and couple of damages to the bike. The most concerning damage was a missing left foot peg from the bike, the foot peg were aftermarket pegs and without it the whole set needed to replaced and the other damage was a dent in the exhaust which too was irreparable. Luckily I found the missing footpeg attached in the bike itself in one of the swing-arm nuts. But still it was unusable because whoever removed the footpeg, dropped all the smaller parts which hold the footpeg in its place.
I scolded them for it but they said they can't help me out in this as they are just the delivery boys for Bangalore. Also they said why didn't I send the bike through train services which is much more reliable.
They gave me a contact number for the guy in charge of transport but he shrugged me off saying I need to send an email to another person by the name Ajay Tyagi ([email protected]). I took the pictures of the damages and sent all the details but it's been 10 months now and I am yet to receive any communication from the guy. And I guess I shouldn't be expecting anything from them too. Such callous behavior and work from the transport companies. Here are the pics of the damages:





I somehow got my footpeg fixed but the dent in the exhaust is still there and might not be able to fix it.

Anyways can't help all these things and this will not sadden me much and take the joy away I had in the trip.

So this is how my fabulous and one of the most memorable trips of my life ended with lots of incidents some bad but most of them were happy moments that I experienced in the trip.

I hope I was able to narrate my story clearly and was enjoyable to the readers.
Wouldn't suggest anybody to go alone in the trip. I was very lucky to be not stuck anywhere nor did I have any unfortunate incidents with me.
Next time it won't be a solo trip as next time I will be with my brother who is very interested in making his debut ride in the Himalayas and probably I'll accompanied with my pillion, my beloved wife.

Till the next time Ciao
Hope you enjoyed this whole trip log. Thanks

My Blog link: The Touring Diary
My Flickr link: Flickr: Sumit!'s Photostream

Awesome Writeup and Superb Pictures.. (Suppalike in FB ..)

Lets meet up sometime in Bangalore..

Great Going !!!
The entire write-up is simple and nice.You were very elaborate and detailed, simply loved it. The pics too do the justice, and i hope you would share a few here....

Thanks guys

Post travel experience...

World is really small, well it has become small, thanks to technology.

I would like to share a very emotional incident that happened this weekend.

A small background first:
This is regarding this Himalayan trip where I had visited Kargil and a village near by named Akchamal.
I had taken several photos of the place and had shared those on flickr.com

Two months back:
On my flickr album I had got a comment on following photo of the village akchamal:


"Chhod aaye hum wo galiyan"
Actual photo: Chhod aaye hum wo galiyan | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I had got comment from a flickr member. Following is the conversation I had with him on flickr:

As you can see above I had shared some pictures with him if by any chance he will be able to handover the photos to the kids though I thought it would be a long shot. I had decided to handover the photo myself to the kids when I next visit the place which would have taken a lot of time may be a year or two.

Cut to this Weekend:
I was checking my email inbox when I spotted a message on flickr. It was from the same person, Iftikh, I opened the message and read it. Reading that message was a feeling that I cannot express in my words. For me at least it was very emotional. I showed it to my wife as well and told her the whole timeline. She also felt my emotions and said world is really small...

Following is the message from Iftikh:

The thought that my trip actually brought happiness to other people too overwhelmed me and thought of sharing it. World is really small, I now realized.
I am really happy that the photos will reach their destination.

Indeed its a small world, and thanks to WWW its getting closer.
Must have been thrilling for you to hear that the pics would reach the kids..

Yup the feeling was so fulfilling and the fact that I captured the photo of brothers of the person, who is going to give the photos to the kids made it extra special

3 Hours and I'm done reading this. I wish there was more. Loved the way you expressed so meticulously.
Solo and falling 5-6 times and escaping a could be worse accident. Inspirational.
Good Luck in al your future endeavours.
PS: You know how to work it behind the Lens!

Loved every bit of ride...

Thanks guys. Your appreciation makes it all the more wonderful. Glad you liked the trip and my photos.