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Prologue:
Year 2010:
I was in Bharuch for an audit and one of my best friend also happened to come to Ankleshwar (near Bharuch) for an audit. We planned for an overnight get-together at Ankleshwar. The next morning we decided to go to my guest house and so we left Ankleshwar and headed straight for Bharuch on a TVS Star which was borrowed from one of his client. As we reached the highway, we saw a sign which stated: Left for Surat and straight Bharuch. Now the sign had great significance for us because that day was a Valentine’s Day and my Valentine had come to Surat. He first looked at me, then at the sign and then asked me if I wanted to go and my reply was pretty obvious. We took a left and went for Surat. I took the driving from that turn. Yes it was my first road trip on a bike. And boy o boy what chilly climate it was! Our bones had frozen to the core. I enjoyed it like heaven and that was how the tourer in me was awakened. It was as if I had tasted blood and there was no looking back then. Oh yes and despite going to Surat, I couldn’t meet my valentine as she didn’t pick up my call (it was 8am after all). But anyway due to that missed call, I transformed into a tourer. Of course, a special thanks to my friend’s guts that he took the risk of his life allowing an infant biker to drive first on an unknown highway. After we came back to Mumbai, our home, Mitesh introduced me to xbhp.com. And the first blog that he showed me was Rachit Da’s(Rachit Kohli) "Ride to Ladakh" and instantly something inside me started craving to go to Ladakh on a bike. I never had any plans of buying a bike for a long time but yes before I even completed primary schooling of biking, I was nurturing a dream of visiting Ladakh one day. A special thanks to Rachit Da for giving me the dream. A dream that would one day change my destiny.
Things changed drastically during the middle of 2010 and I ended up booking the R15 on 15th Nov, 2010.
Year 2011:
News came in of upgraded R15 and I waited for the new one and finally got my hands on her on 17th Nov, 2011. That day, deep inside, I made up my mind that I would visit Ladakh in June 2012 anyhow. My Best friend and myself, had only one obstacle and that was finance. But I was hell bent on turning every stone around to make Ladakh 2012 possible.
Year 2012:
Spent my study leave in gathering information for the trip (which I will post later on). Also prepared a 27day itinerary for full fledged Ladakh sightseeing. My best friend managed his finances, did his shopping and revamped his bike too. But unfortunately, my finances got messed up and I had to break the sad news to My best friend that I wouldn’t be able to visit Ladakh and he immediately said, “no probs, next year full fledged…” He then tagged along with some xbhp friends and left on 8th June, 2012. I was happy for him but at the same time broken from inside because this trip was much more than a trip to me. Then my audit manager told me that I had to go Brazil for an audit so I thought maybe there was something in return given by the Almighty.
Turn of events:
Morning of 29th June 2012: Audit Manager calls me with news that Brazil audit was postponed for a month. I went to the other audit manager and asked him to give me work as Brazil was postponed and he gave me work which I was not keen on doing. So I JOKINGLY told him to give me a leave of one month. He then told me, by evening he would give me the details of the work. I agreed and came out of his cabin. As soon as I was walking towards my cabin, I started taking my own joke seriously. Since finance was not an issue then, I had a great chance of doing Ladakh in 2012 itself. Of course, it meant I had to go solo. I was both scared as well as excited at the prospect of solo Ladakh. I called up two of my best friends and both said what I wanted to hear: “Go ahead..”. My best friend gave the right push required and all apprehensions of solo trip went away. I then spoke to my audit manager. Initially he disagreed to give me leave but then when I used my persuasion powers (basically emotional blackmailing), he said, he would need to take permission from the partner of our firm, which would happen only on Monday. I called up our partner, took an appointment from him and met him at his residence (sometimes knowing the boss personally helps a great deal). I met him, told him everything truthfully and also explained him why I had to meet him at his residence and couldn’t wait till Monday. He then agreed but subject to other partner’s approval (under whom Brazil assignment was entrusted). Finally got the green signal from office on Monday. I was allowed only 2 weeks though. But I had already planned to make landslides in Ladakh, helping out accident victim on road and staying with him till his family came over, to cover up for an additional week that would go in the trip. Did all the shopping on Tuesday and left for Ladakh on Wednesday i.e. 4th July, 2012. Yes within 2 days my life changed downside-up. 2 days before, I was unsure whether I would be going to Ladakh and here I was, leaving for my dream ride. It was quite heavy for the feeling to sink in and on the first day toe I was not able to come to terms with the fact that I was actually going for Ladakh.
During the time when talks were going on in office for leave, I casually told my mom that I might be leaving for Ladakh in a couple of days. Mom took it as a joke then and was counting on my office to deny leave. On Sunday, I seriously broke the news at home and also told them that I would be going solo. As soon as I said solo, it was like a cloudburst at home. But I managed to convince them and finally was able to get a reluctant “yes”. Couldn't thank my parents enough for being so good to let me fulfill my dream all alone.
The only reason why I was able to leave solo was My best friend. Lot of things I directly borrowed from him and the greatest help was his constant guidance from his first-hand experience. This trip would’ve never been possible without him. He was the greatest offline help possible all throughout the trip.
Also there were inputs in initial stages from Rachit Da, Vishwas Ji and all the blogs on xbhp.
Thank you all, for the inputs.
Dream!! And dream big!! Maybe the dream won’t be fulfilled as planned but you never know when God surprises you. My dream was to do this ride with my best friend and I had nurtured this dream since 2 years but ultimately He changed the pieces of the puzzle and within a span of one month, me and my best friend both got Leh’d albeit separately.
One thing I learnt – ‘Dreams are seeds of reality’.
Mazak Mazak mein, I guess I have written a lot. Thanks for bearing with such a long introduction.
Not many pics though but here is something for the teasers:
Year 2010:
I was in Bharuch for an audit and one of my best friend also happened to come to Ankleshwar (near Bharuch) for an audit. We planned for an overnight get-together at Ankleshwar. The next morning we decided to go to my guest house and so we left Ankleshwar and headed straight for Bharuch on a TVS Star which was borrowed from one of his client. As we reached the highway, we saw a sign which stated: Left for Surat and straight Bharuch. Now the sign had great significance for us because that day was a Valentine’s Day and my Valentine had come to Surat. He first looked at me, then at the sign and then asked me if I wanted to go and my reply was pretty obvious. We took a left and went for Surat. I took the driving from that turn. Yes it was my first road trip on a bike. And boy o boy what chilly climate it was! Our bones had frozen to the core. I enjoyed it like heaven and that was how the tourer in me was awakened. It was as if I had tasted blood and there was no looking back then. Oh yes and despite going to Surat, I couldn’t meet my valentine as she didn’t pick up my call (it was 8am after all). But anyway due to that missed call, I transformed into a tourer. Of course, a special thanks to my friend’s guts that he took the risk of his life allowing an infant biker to drive first on an unknown highway. After we came back to Mumbai, our home, Mitesh introduced me to xbhp.com. And the first blog that he showed me was Rachit Da’s(Rachit Kohli) "Ride to Ladakh" and instantly something inside me started craving to go to Ladakh on a bike. I never had any plans of buying a bike for a long time but yes before I even completed primary schooling of biking, I was nurturing a dream of visiting Ladakh one day. A special thanks to Rachit Da for giving me the dream. A dream that would one day change my destiny.
Things changed drastically during the middle of 2010 and I ended up booking the R15 on 15th Nov, 2010.
Year 2011:
News came in of upgraded R15 and I waited for the new one and finally got my hands on her on 17th Nov, 2011. That day, deep inside, I made up my mind that I would visit Ladakh in June 2012 anyhow. My Best friend and myself, had only one obstacle and that was finance. But I was hell bent on turning every stone around to make Ladakh 2012 possible.
Year 2012:
Spent my study leave in gathering information for the trip (which I will post later on). Also prepared a 27day itinerary for full fledged Ladakh sightseeing. My best friend managed his finances, did his shopping and revamped his bike too. But unfortunately, my finances got messed up and I had to break the sad news to My best friend that I wouldn’t be able to visit Ladakh and he immediately said, “no probs, next year full fledged…” He then tagged along with some xbhp friends and left on 8th June, 2012. I was happy for him but at the same time broken from inside because this trip was much more than a trip to me. Then my audit manager told me that I had to go Brazil for an audit so I thought maybe there was something in return given by the Almighty.
Turn of events:
Morning of 29th June 2012: Audit Manager calls me with news that Brazil audit was postponed for a month. I went to the other audit manager and asked him to give me work as Brazil was postponed and he gave me work which I was not keen on doing. So I JOKINGLY told him to give me a leave of one month. He then told me, by evening he would give me the details of the work. I agreed and came out of his cabin. As soon as I was walking towards my cabin, I started taking my own joke seriously. Since finance was not an issue then, I had a great chance of doing Ladakh in 2012 itself. Of course, it meant I had to go solo. I was both scared as well as excited at the prospect of solo Ladakh. I called up two of my best friends and both said what I wanted to hear: “Go ahead..”. My best friend gave the right push required and all apprehensions of solo trip went away. I then spoke to my audit manager. Initially he disagreed to give me leave but then when I used my persuasion powers (basically emotional blackmailing), he said, he would need to take permission from the partner of our firm, which would happen only on Monday. I called up our partner, took an appointment from him and met him at his residence (sometimes knowing the boss personally helps a great deal). I met him, told him everything truthfully and also explained him why I had to meet him at his residence and couldn’t wait till Monday. He then agreed but subject to other partner’s approval (under whom Brazil assignment was entrusted). Finally got the green signal from office on Monday. I was allowed only 2 weeks though. But I had already planned to make landslides in Ladakh, helping out accident victim on road and staying with him till his family came over, to cover up for an additional week that would go in the trip. Did all the shopping on Tuesday and left for Ladakh on Wednesday i.e. 4th July, 2012. Yes within 2 days my life changed downside-up. 2 days before, I was unsure whether I would be going to Ladakh and here I was, leaving for my dream ride. It was quite heavy for the feeling to sink in and on the first day toe I was not able to come to terms with the fact that I was actually going for Ladakh.
During the time when talks were going on in office for leave, I casually told my mom that I might be leaving for Ladakh in a couple of days. Mom took it as a joke then and was counting on my office to deny leave. On Sunday, I seriously broke the news at home and also told them that I would be going solo. As soon as I said solo, it was like a cloudburst at home. But I managed to convince them and finally was able to get a reluctant “yes”. Couldn't thank my parents enough for being so good to let me fulfill my dream all alone.
The only reason why I was able to leave solo was My best friend. Lot of things I directly borrowed from him and the greatest help was his constant guidance from his first-hand experience. This trip would’ve never been possible without him. He was the greatest offline help possible all throughout the trip.
Also there were inputs in initial stages from Rachit Da, Vishwas Ji and all the blogs on xbhp.
Thank you all, for the inputs.
Dream!! And dream big!! Maybe the dream won’t be fulfilled as planned but you never know when God surprises you. My dream was to do this ride with my best friend and I had nurtured this dream since 2 years but ultimately He changed the pieces of the puzzle and within a span of one month, me and my best friend both got Leh’d albeit separately.
One thing I learnt – ‘Dreams are seeds of reality’.
Mazak Mazak mein, I guess I have written a lot. Thanks for bearing with such a long introduction.
Not many pics though but here is something for the teasers:
. It is a great achievement for a rider who had no bike till end of 2010. 
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