Our Travelogue

"I can't see anything Shweta. Is it just me or somethings wrong?" She gradually woke up yawning, rain lashing on the windscreen. "Turn on your wipers, you dumb ass" she shouted suddenly awake like an owl. How the hell are you driving without wipers. Ahhhh. Now I realise. Actually the wipers are broken. She started shouting again. I told you, not to get this stupid jeep. something or the other is always broken on this piece of shit. She soon realised her mistake. She had crossed the line. I am sorry, she exclaimed. I didn't mean it that way. Your jeep is not a piece of shit. This is how we began our road trip across western ghats in Karnataka to Goa and and finally the coastal belt of Karnataka. (By the way, my Mahindra MM 540 is about 14 years old, but it is not a piece of shit). With minor speed bumps like headlight not working, fuel tank coming off (I am sure Shweta will tell you these were terrible things), we had a pretty good trip. The dense forests of western ghats were scary at times, beaches of Karnataka were quite relaxing and the party scene in Goa is uncomparable. Next, we planned a trip to Ladakh. This time I took my trusted old Yamaha RX 100. Yes, I have a knack for things rusty and old. (Shweta is shouting from behind, tell them how old is this trusted old). Ok. ok. So my dad bought this bike in 1987. So, its about 22 years old. But there are memories and feelings associated with this bike and I completely trust it. It has never let me down. After a thousand arguments from friends and family about the bike being unsafe on such a journey, about bike being too old, we somehow managed to escape. As soon as we were in the mountains, there was a big grin on both of our faces. He he. We are doing it, exclaimed Shweta. You know you are a freak Rubal!, she said smiling. I know. And you'll become one soon. So we were smiling and giggling, having a good time and there was suddenly a bump. With increasing altitude, our heads started to bang. The smile gradually disappeared. We were still 100 kms short of the day's stop and driving was proving to be difficult.. We stopped by a lake and did some breathing exercises. I am not kidding, we were sitting on a rock next to a lake doing pranayama. Ya, it's funny when I think about it now. But it did give us some releif to reach the day's destination. To our surprise, it got worse by nightfall. Shivering in our tent we somehow spent the night. There were moments when we thought of returning from here. Amazingly, the first ray of sun in the morning gave a refreshing feeling. With the sun our confidence also got higher and brighter. Soon we were acclimitised to the environment. Rest of the journey was notheng less than bliss. Colossal blue lakes, one of them streching right upto china, local people; sweet and nice, desert in the middle of snow capped mountains, double humped bactrian camels, yak cheese and butter tea. The list is just unending...