Posted:
Rajeev Khandelwal's Ladakhi trip
NAMRATA BHAWNANI, Mumbai Mirror | Dec 25, 2011, 10.49AM IST
In 2007, two of my college friends and me took a trip to Leh. They were my seniors and we had struck up a close friendship during out stint at St Xavier's college's hostel. I wasn't married then, but they were and we decided to do this one trip together.
It was May and the Leh road had just opened. I purchased the white car specifically for this camping trip. It's a pick-up truck with a commercial vehicle license plate and we were the first to enter the Leh region.
We pitched our tent and camped in no man's land. We wanted to climb a rocky mountain and decided to keep going till we reached the peak, not realising how tough it was going to be without mountaineering equipment. Four hours into the laborious climb, we got separated.
They had phones, but I didn't. I waited on top for an hour, screaming and calling for them. I figured they'd climbed down and so I started to descend, which proved to be far riskier than the climb. I rolled down part of the way, with loose stones and pebbles proving to be a hazard. It took three hours to reach the bottom.
When I finally saw them clambering down much later, I was so relieved. I am fitter compared to them as my dad was in the army. As we finally regrouped and drove ahead, we got stuck in a snow storm. For five-six hours we couldn't move, and the temperature had dipped below zero. Finally, a bulldozer arrived and pulled us out.
Both of them are Christians and one would pray while the other helped maneuver the truck through what you could loosely call roads and highways. They joked that they would never take such a trip again even though they enjoyed the adventure. I've taken a similar trip with my wife, and she cursed me too because she suffered from severe headaches and nausea at an altitude of 19,000 ft. But ultimately, she was thrilled with the adventure too.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
