In 1989, we had ventured into a Motor-cycle expedition to the mighty Himalayas. Below is the datewise itinerary of the expedition.
Participants – Arvind P. Choudhari, Syed Liyakat Ali, Subhash R. Kale and myself.
Period – From 2nd September 1989 to 16th October 1989, total 43 days.
Distance Travelled – 9,100 kms.
Area Covered – Western Himalayas covering Ladakh, the Pir-Panjal ranges, the Lahaul and Spiti Valley, the Kumaon and Garhwal Himalayas, the Thar desert and the Gujrat coast line.
Bikes – Two 250 CC, two stroke, single cylinder YEZDI bikes.
Target – “Khardung-La” – the world’s highest motorable road pass at an altitude of 18,383 feet above sea level.
Objective – Sports, adventure and exploring the unexplored areas with a view to know people from various sects and of various religions and to build up a sense of mutual harmony amongst ourselves.
States Through which travelled – Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujrat and Delhi (UT).
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02/09/1989
Started from Nagpur at 10:00 AM after being flagged off by Shri V. G. Bengali, Regional Manager, State Bank of India, Zonal Office, Nagpur. Reached Sagar (Madhya Pradesh) at 8:00 PM and halted for night. Our actual course of expedition was to start from Pahelgam (Jammu & Kashmir) onwards because it was here onwards that was challenging and real tough. As such, we had drawn up our expedition plan in such a way that we had to keep on driving during daytimes and rest only at nights.
03/09/1989
Started from Sagar at 6:30 AM and reached Agra at 5:00 PM. Halted for night.
04/09/1989
Started from Agra at 7:00 AM and reached Ambala at 6:00 PM. Halted for night.
05/09/1989
Started from Ambala at 8:00 AM and reached Jammu at 6:00 PM. Halted for night.
06/09/1989
This was the fifth day of our expedition and as per schedule, we had to reach Pahelgam, expedition’s actual starting point on this day. We started from Jammu at 7:00 AM and reached Pahelgam at 2:30 in the noon. We had completed the rather preliminary phase of our expedition without any difficulty or breakdowns. So far so good.
07/09/1989
Visited places of tourist interest nearby Pahelgam viz: Aru, Chandanwadi, etc. and returned to our camp at Pahelgam.
08/09/1989
Started from Pahelgam at 9:00 AM and reached Srinagar at 2:00 PM. Here, we had to face the CRPF Check Post who after a little searching and interrogation, set us not only free but also spread the message through their wireless to all their posts in the city that 4 expeditionists on 2 mobikes are in the city and they may not be stopped for checking. This eased our stay at Srinagar to a great extent.
09/09/1989
Visited local tourist places viz: Chasme Shahi Garden, Dal Lake, Hazrat Bal, Nishat Garden, etc.
10/09/1989
Visited Gulmarg (52 Kms east of Srinagar) and returned to Srinagar.
11/09/1989
Started from Srinagar at 8:00 AM and reached Sonmarg at 11:00 AM. Decided to spend the day there and pitched up our tent by the river side.
12/09/1989
Started from Sonmarg at 9:00 AM and reached Baltal (Gateway to Amarnath). Baltal is just about 8 to 10 kms from Sonmarg but the road surface was rough beyond extremes and it took a pretty good amount of our time. We found a small Army troop stationed at Baltal who were there to assist the pilgrims intending to go to Amarnath and as winter was approaching (in winter Amarnath becomes inaccessible due to snow), the troop was in the process of being evacuated. We parked our bikes in front of an Army barrack and trekked to Amarnath. It took us more than 9 hours to go to Amarnath and come back to Baltal. It had rained in the evening and when we reached Baltal at about 10:00 PM in the night, it was still drizzling. The temperature had dipped pretty low and we were in all shivers and trembles. The Army arranged for our stay in one of their empty barracks and provided us food and blankets. We spent the night there.
13/09/1989
Started from Baltal early morning but were force halted at the Check Post by Army who would not allow us to proceed further untill 2:30 PM. At 2:30 PM, we were signalled by the Army to proceed further and reached Kargil at 6:00 PM. Halted at Kargil.
14/09/1989
Commenced further journey at 7:00 AM from Kargil and at 1:00 PM reached Nimmu, an Army base, 34 kms before Leh where we obtained military permission for our venture to “Khardung-La”. One of our bikes failed and we were forced to halt there at night. The Army arranged for our stay at their base hospital and provided us food, bed and blankets.
15/09/1989
Morning we repaired our bike and proceeded further at 9:00 AM. Visited “Pathar Saheb” Gurudwara on way and reached Leh at 12:00 noon.
16/09/1989
Morning at about 9:00 AM, we set forward towards our target “Khardung-La” pass and achieved it without any major difficulty at an altitude of 18,383 feet. We had been through a sheer new thrilling experience of a life time. The temperature was so low that the water dripping from our water flask froze into ice and hung onto the rope with which the flask was tied in, like crystals. “Khardung-La” Pass is the world’s highest motorable road point where only heavy Army vehicles ply. We also saw the fabricated steel bridge constructed by the Army, supposed to be the world’s highest bridge and the gateway to Siachin Glaciers. Returned to Leh with a queer feeling of thrill, joy and victory. Night curfew was on in the city at that time but we had the military permission and the permission from the District Collector which allowed us to roam around rather freely and find ourselves some food.
17/09/1989
Visited places of tourist interest nearby Leh viz: palaces and Buddhist monastries at Shey, Thicksey, etc.
18/09/1989
Dropped our bikes at the garage for servicing and walked down a distance of about 5-6 kms to Military General Hospital where the Commandant-in-Charge of General Hospital, a Colonel from the Army Medical Corps had invited us for lunch. After lunch, the Colonel was kind enough to instruct his subordinates to drops us at the garage in an Army truck, which happened to be going in that direction. This arrangement came to us as a great respite because walking a distance of 5-6 kms in Leh could make anybody dead tired due to low oxygen level. Leh city is situated at an altitude of about 12,000 feet above the mean sea level. At the garage, we took delivery of our bikes and returned to the Hotel.
19/09/1989
Started from Leh at 7:00 AM and hardly had we travelled 100 kms when we realised that we were in deep trouble. The road linking Leh and Manali passes through two of the most dreaded Passes – the “Chang-La” and the “Rohtang-La”. Chang-La (in Ladakh, Passes are called “La” and therefore, Chang-La, Namikha-La, Zozi-La, Rohtang-La, Khardung-La and so on) is the world’s second highest Pass after Khardung-La, at an altitue of some 17,500 odd feet above mean sea level. It was here that we really felt difficulty in breathing due to low oxygen level and we were forced to remove the visors of our helmets in order to breath more comfortably. Manali is about 450 kms from Leh and more than half of this distance is completely barren and in fact this region is known to be the world’s highest desert. Also this region is totally uninhabited and we did not spot a single living soul. Our only relief was small Army bases at every 70 odd kms where we were welcomed and offered steaming cupfull of tea and biscuits by the Armymen. After driving the whole day, we could travel a distance of only 220 kms and at around 8:00 PM, we reached a place called “Sarchu”, which was just a small Army base and nothing more. Here again we were welcomed by the Army who gave us shelter, food and blankets.
20/09/1989
Morning we came to know that previous night the temperature had dipped into minus degrees. We thanked the Army for had they not provided us shelter and had we been forced to spend the night in our tent, we would have been done for with. The next thing that came down on us like a bolt from the blue was that we were running out of gas and the wilderness seemed to have no end leave apart our chance of finding a petrol pump. We approached the Officer-in-Charge in the hope of getting some petrol which would enable us to reach the nearest filling station, but they proved to be of no help as they had only diesel vehicles. We felt stranded in the middle of nowhere. Then one of the Armymen came forward and suggested that we should go to GREF (General Reserved Engineering Force) Camp, about 20 kms away from Sarchu where we had a chance of getting petrol. We had just enough petrol in our bikes which would have taken us another 40 or 50 kms. So we decided to give a try to this GREF Camp suggestion. At GREF’s, we narrated our plight to the Officer-in-Charge there. At first the Officer-in-Charge, who happened to be a Maharashtrian, was too reluctant to entertain us and did not pay any heed to our agonies but when we started talking to him in Marathi, he softened a bit and after a little grudge and hesitance, he allowed us to top up our fuel tanks. So, we proceeded further towards Manali and when we reached Rohtang Pass, the sun had set and we encountered thick fog at the top which rendered visibility to near zero. After driving about 15 kms downhill at a speed of less than 20 kmph, we came out of the fog blanket and reached Manali at 7:00 PM. It had taken us 12 complete hours to travel a distance of less than 250 kms. We slept tight that night in the warm, cosy little room of the Hotel, we had booked ourselves in.
21/09/1989
We spent the day at Manali visiting places of tourist interest in and around Manali.
22/09/1989
Started from Manali at 7:00 AM and reached Shimla via Kullu at 2:00 PM. Spent the rest of the day there and for night we booked a room in a Dharamshala.
23/09/1989
At 8:00 AM, we commenced our journey further towards Mussourie, but by 6:00 PM in the evening, we could only reach a place called Nahan. Nahan, nowhere in the tourist map of India, is a lovely little place situated amidst beautiful and densely forested hills. The serenity of the place is quite exquisite and it can be firmly recommended for holidaying or honey-mooning.
24/09/1989
At Nahan, all of us were feeling so good and refreshed that we wished to stay one more day there. But then fearing that we may fall behind our schedule, we unwillingly pulled ourselves to carry on our journey at 7:00 AM and reached Mussourie at 1:00 PM in the afternoon. Rest of the day we spent visiting places worth seeing within Mussourie.
25/09/1989
Covered places of tourist interest nearby Mussourie.
26/09/1989
Started from Mussourie at 8:00 AM for Nainital and at 6:00 PM, we reached a place called Kashipur in Uttar Pradesh. Nainital was still more than 150 kms from here, so we decided to break for the night.
27/09/1989
Started from Kashipur at 8:00 AM and reached Nainital at 10:00 AM. Visited places worth seeing at Nainital and returned to the Dharamshala where we had booked ourselves in for night.
28/09/1989
Started from Nainital at 8:00 AM. This was particularly a bad day for us as we had punctures and breakdowns which did take a good enough of our time. But still we managed to reach Delhi by 5:00 in the evening. It was here that the first phase of our expedition ended and we were very happy that we were able to stick to our schedule strictly. Our schedule, in fact, was pretty tight and did not allow us to spend days and time at our leisure.
29/09/1989
We spent the day at Delhi and visited Appu Ghar, Purana Killa, Jantar-Mantar, Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin, etc. We also attended to a few minor repairs, which bikes were in need of.
30/09/1989
Delhi onwards was to start the second phase of our expedition in which we were to travel through the desert region of Thar in Rajasthan. We started from Delhi at 7:00 AM and reached Jaipur at 1:00 PM. We stayed at Jaipur that day.
01/10/1989
We decided to give our bikes a wash and have them lubricated thoroughly. So we dropped our bikes at the Service Station and in the mean time visited a few places of tourist interest. Eventually, we set off further at 3:00 in the afternoon from Jaipur and reached Ajmer at 7:00 PM. We paid a visit to Dargah Sharif of Saint Moinuddin Chisti and offered prayers. We spent the night in one of the “Sarais” there.
02/10/1989
We commenced our journey further from Ajmer at 7:00 AM. Our next destination was Jaisalmer – “The Golden City”, through Thar desert. Since Jaisalmer was pretty far from Ajmer, we had decided to travel as far as we possibly could including night driving. Around 11:00 AM before noon, we reached Jodhpur and though our next destination was Jaisalmer, we could not get rid of the temptation of seeing the massive fortress of Jodhpur. It took our 2 good hours. By the time we reached Pokharan, we reaslied that the task was not as easy as we had guessed it to be. The road here was not wide and ran through sand dunes in straight stretches, disappearing in the seemingly never-ending weariness of the desert far ahead. The strong surface wind blew the sand off the dunes and deposited it on the road at several places rendering our driving a good deal difficult. By dusk, we realised that we would be any-where but near Jaisalmer. Still we kept ourselves pulling on and at 8:00 PM reached a small village called “Balesar Santa”. By now, we all had started feeling that we have had enough of our share of troubles and sternly wished to have no more of it. So we pulled off, had our grub and borrowed four “khatiyas” from the owner of a roadside sweet mart for night. We parked our bikes in front of the sweet mart and laid our khatiyas by the roadside. Despite being dead tired, we hardly could get any amount of sound sleep as the wind kept blowing sand and we had to cover up our faces with the blankets, which the sweet-shopper had provided us. Also, all the dogs in the village kept howling the whole night for reasons which we could not imagine of.
03/10/1989
In the morning, we all felt a bit heavy due to previous night’s sleeplessness. At 7:00 AM we started further journey and driving in the cool, soothing morning breeze, refreshed us to a great extent. At 11:00 AM, we reached Jaisalmer. There, at the Hotel, the Hotel Boy told us about a place called “Sam”, 50 kms away from Jaisalmer, known for its beautiful dunes and sunsets and sunrises. We decided to go to this place and spend the night there. We had our bath and bought some food-packs for the night. We were told that Sam was complete desert and it ruled out the very idea of pitching up our tent there as our tent required hard earth surface to stand fixed. So we packed our sleeping bags and the food on our bikes and when we started for Sam, it was 5:00 in the evening. We had to drive fast in order to reach there before the sunset. When we reached Sam, the sun had started setting. We quicky locked our bikes at the point where the road abruptly ended dead, hired camels and reached on top of a sand dune which was a little further away in the desert. From here, we could have a better view of the sunset. The sight of the smooth, soft dunes and the sun setting beyond that vast expanse was a sheer magic. Beyond expression power of words. We stood there dazed and enchanted. It was indeed so very mesmerising. When the sun finally set beyond the horizon, we returned to where we had locked our bikes. Then we walked a bit on the desert and found that it was full of bugs, lizards and other insects. Now we were in a fix as we had planned to spend the night in the open desert and with all those bugs and lizards, it seemed impossible. Then a tribesman came to our rescue and showed us a spot on top of a sand dune which he said was free from all bugs, lizards and snakes. We ate our food and went to sleep.
04/10/1989
When we woke up in the morning, we found that the weather had turned gloomy. The sky was heavily overcast and it spoiled the sunrise. We returned to Jaisalmer and went to see the fort. A little before noon, we returned to the Hotel, had our bath and started packing our things. At 3:00 PM, we commenced our journey further towards Mount Abu. We were travelling on a State Highway, which was in a very good condition and, to our surprise, was without any traffic. We enjoyed the driving and even after the night fell, we continued to drive. At around 2:00 in the mid-night, we reached a small village called “Lachri”. By this time, we were all dead tired and felt sleepy. So we decided to pull off. It was too late to unpack our luggage, take out the tent and pitch it up. So we slept under a tree by the road side.
05/10/1989
Started from Lachri at 7:00 AM and reached Mount Abu at 11:00 AM. We were looking for a suitable site to pitch up our tent when a local person came and took us to a Dharamshala, which was pretty cheap. It saved a lot of our trouble as we had decided to stay a day more at Mount Abu and every time we intended to go out, we would have to dismantle our tent, wrap it, load it on our bikes and again on returning, we would have had to unload, unwrap and fix up the tent. All this process indeed took hell of a time. We visited Achalgarh, returned to Mount Abu and saw a few places within Mount Abu.
06/10/1989
Visited Delwara temple and other places of tourist interest.
07/10/1989
From Mount Abu, we commenced our journey further at 7:00 AM. Our next destination was Udaipur and though there was a much shorter route, we decided to go via Ranakpur as we were informed that the Ranakpur temple was a replica of the Delwara temple at Mount Abu. At Ranakpur, we found it true, the only difference is that the Delwara temple is carved out of marble while the Ranakpur temple is carved out on stones. But the architectural design and the intricacy of the carvings were alike. We reached Udaipur at 6:00 PM.
08/10/1989
We decided to visit Chittorgarh Fort which was 140 kms north of Udaipur and was not in our route. We started from Udaipur at 7:00 AM and reach Chittorgarh at 9:30 AM. We had thought that at Chittorgarh, we would have a quick look around and return to Udaipur fast. But we liked the place so much that we spent more than 3 hours there and when we returned to Udaipur, it was 4:00 in the evening. We did not have much time so we paid quick visits to a few places of tourist interest and when night fell, returned to the Hotel. Here the second phase of our expedition ended.
09/10/1989
From Udaipur onwards was to start the third phase of our expedition in which we were to travel through the arid territory of Gujrat and the Gujrat coastline. We started at 8:00 AM and reached near Rajkot at 9:00 PM. We pulled off about 9 kms before Rajkot at a Highway Motel, had our grub and slept inside an empty truck which was parked there for night.
10/10/1989
We proceeded further at 7:00 AM in the morning. A couple of kms before Dwarika, one of our bikes failed and refused to budge further. From here we could see the city of Dwarika. The air smelt of ocean and when we looked to our left ……. there it was. The massive, roaring Arabian Sea. It was a pretty good distance away from the Highway and as such we could not hear the sea-waves’ thunderous passion to the land. A quaint new feeling of joy thrilled us. During the course of our expedition, we had continuously been through different geological terrains and varying climatic conditions. After about half an hour of meddling with the engine, we managed to start the bike and reached Dwarika at 12:00 Noon. The day being Dussera, we decided to give our bikes a wash. We found a roadside well, fetched rope and bucket from a nearby house and gave our bikes a thorough wash. Then we refreshed ourselves at a Public Convenience Centre and by evening reached the famous “Dwarkadheesh Temple”. There we performed the traditional pooja of our bikes. At night, we went to the seashore. The sky was clear and the moon was near full. We had never seen anything like this before in our life. The magic of the sight had taken us all over. The rhythmic splash of the waves was broken by an occasional crackling of a distant fire-cracker. As the night grew deeper, temperature dipped below and we started feeling cold. We returned to the city where “Garbha” was on in full swing at several places. We watched the dance for a little while and then went to sleep in the verandah of a Dharamshala.
11/10/1989
We left Dwarika at 7:00 AM. Our next destination was Sasan Gir, the National Reserve Forest for Lions. On way we passed through the Porbandar City and Somnath. At Somnath, we took a little time off our schedule and paid visit to the Somnath temple which we found was more picturesque as compared to the Dwarkadheesh temple. We reached Gir forests at around 5:00 in the evening. It was off-season and the forests were closed to the tourists. We felt very much deprived of the opportunity and our pleadings, what-so-ever, with the forest officials, did not allow us to enter the Sanctuary. Dejectedly, we proceeded onwards and reached Junagarh at 7:00 PM.
12/10/1989
Started from Junagarh at 7:00 AM and reached Baroda at 6:00 PM. Halted for night.
13/10/1989
The rear wheel of both the bikes had gone a bit out of alignment and needed immediate repairs. So we dropped our bikes at a garage and visited a few places of tourist interest. Here, the third phase of our expedition ended.
Lost the diary……. But on 14th we left Baroda. 15th we reached Warud and stayed there for a night at Late Shri Subhash Kale’s native home. 16th we reached Nagpur completing our 43 days, 9,100 kms expedition successfully.