Day Four
It was drizzling at Sarchu when we got out of our tents the next morning. Our driver said we should be on our way as it might snow at Taglang La pass which would block the roads. After a few steaming cups of tea, breakfast and not to mention pills for headache, pills for nausea and pills for indigestion we hit the road. Today we would be reaching Leh, a journey of 248kms that would be covered in 8 hours. The roads here were atrocious and we had to take numerous diversions. At Lachlung La we decided to test the off-roading worthiness of the Endeavour and got off the roads onto hurriedly prepared 4 into 4 trails that crisscross the mountains. Slipping the Endeavour into low range 4 wheel drive mode, we effortlessly climbed the steep muddy and slimy hills until we would hit the main road and then repeat the process. We drove over high mountainous grasslands, streams and immensely steep hills spilled with sharp stones that could have done great harm to the undercarriage of the car. The Endeavour skidded sideways and backwards all the while moving steadily up, just as an ice-skater doing her routine workout. This is what we call ‘pure offroading’ and the thrill of that experience hasn’t left us till today.

The climb to Taglang La pass consists of a series of loops, 21 in total. Driving through these hairpin bends is a task and it is always helpful to have a navigator to watch out for traffic coming from the opposite direction. On one of the loops out of the 21 is a small shrine made of a plastic tarpaulin and bricks dedicated to the memory of Biddi Baba, a truck handyman who perished at the same spot a few years ago. Legend has it that Biddi Baba still visits the place at night and aids any truck or vehicle stranded in the vicinity. We paid our respects to Biddi Baba, whom the mountains devoured.

A strange phenomenon occurred while on the climb to Taglang La. There was a sudden loss of power. Ashok checked the gradient, which was not steep either. Why was the car not pulling then, Ashok enquired, revving up the engine? We noticed the engine amber light on the dashboard glowing ominously. I have never noticed that before, said Ashok. Black fumes started emitting from the exhaust. We thought something was seriously wrong. The idea of our car breaking down at 16500ft above sea level and 175 kilometers from the nearest town, Leh, quite frankly did not thrill us. I was sure nothing could be wrong as I flipped the pages of the car’s manual furiously to know more about the amber light. “Ashok, as per Ford’s manual, there’s a problem with the exhaust system”, I said. What kind of problem, Ashok asked agitatedly. The manual doesn’t say much, I replied. Meanwhile, Sharmaji, who was quite all this while, broke the silence in the cabin and said in an assuring tone, “nothing’s wrong, it will be fine in a while as we start descending.” We were later to learn that the black fumes were unburned carbon, which usually happened when a car ran out of oxygen at extreme heights, resulting in a severe drop in engine performance. This phenomenon soon became a regular feature during the trip, whenever we reached a pass.

The landscape before reaching Taglang La is rather dramatic and unlike any one might have seen. Flanking the road on by both sides were rocks of gigantic proportions which over the course of time by some strange occurrence had taken the shape of dilapidated sand forts, with thin jagged and pointed peaks that reached out into the azure sky. The whole scene conjured up images of desert forts that were once gran-diose but now lying in ruins.

Taglang La on an elevation of 17,582 ft, the second highest motorable mountain pass in India, was freezing cold and windy that day. It was so windy that on one occasion I came perilously close to being blown away by the wind, and I weigh a good 70kgs. Ashok had to grab me from being blown over the edge of the mountain. That would have meant a shrine dedicated to me.

At Pang Ashok hands over the reign or rather the steering wheel of the Endeavour to our driver Sharmaji who until now was a mere passenger and assumes the duty of a full-time travel photographer. Ashok had for the past three days been doubling up as a part time photographer and a part time driver. He would intermitantly poke his head and some time the body up to the torso out of the SUV to capture some of the most scenic beauties of Leh.

A few miles out of Pang we go offroading yet again, this time over a dry river bed at the edge of which stood a mountain of green and brown partly covered in a sea of mist. It was like driving on the highway to heaven, seldom have I seen such a spectacular landscape. This surely had to be the place where god himself resided. As we neared Leh the heavens opened up and the green mountains gave way to stark ravines. The roads here were simply fantastic, bordered by overhanging cliffs to one side and a flowing river on the other side. We drive through tiny villages, Bedouin like camps and flowing streams. At a small town called Upshi, we stop to pay a mandatory tax of Rupees 70 to the local government. Leh was just 35kms from here, after four days on the road, we were almost there. The closer we get to Leh the starker the terrain turns into. If the Russian spacecraft Luna 9 had landed here by mistake in 1966 instead of the moon, the astronauts I am sure would have still thought that they hand landed on the moon. Such is the terrain. But the surprising thing was that there were flashes of greenery here and there, a very bizarre landscape indeed. Leh itself is a quaint city, and yet immensely beautiful. Surrounded by hills, much of the city’s landscape is dominated by the Leh palace which now stands in ruins. We drive through the hustling and bustling Mall road towards Fort road where our Hotel was situated. I noticed that more foreigners can be seen in Leh than Indians. For a brief second, I felt like an outsider in my own country. After checking into our room at Hotel City Palace, I took a quick shower and was ready for a walk in the town. Ashok decided to rest; he was a bit tired driving most of the way. The markets in Leh have a lot to offer in terms of Tibetan artifacts, antiques, Kashmiri carpets, wall paintings and pashmeena shawls. I had never window shopped so much in my life. Jaded and hungry, I make my way to a Tibetan restaurant and ordered the special menu of the day, trout fish with mashed potatoes, French fries, salad and beer. We had made it; we had traveled over 1100 kilometers in four days, over killer mountain roads of surreal beauty, and landscape that only god could have created. We were finally in Leh.

I didn’t know that dreams do come true. For long I had dreamt of a road trip to Leh, of traversing the treacherous and ethereal mountain roads of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, and of driving through the clouds into the Kingdom of Heaven; although knowing deep in my heart that it was never to come true. But come true it did and that too with a bang. I can never thank Ashok enough for inviting me to join him on the journey of a lifetime, a road trip from Delhi to Leh.

To be concluded…