vikasb
Vikas Bhadauria
Prologue:
It was a sleepy afternoon of July'15. Weather was so hot & damp that even breathing hard was an effort enough to put you to sleep. Especially when your belly is full after a sumptuous meal and your muscles were too relaxed to bother about supporting your body weight.
I was half sitting, half lying on the couch, daydreaming about a motorcycle ride in the Himalays when I received the call from my Dentist and my riding buddy, Dr. Manish Kansal.
Like me, Doc was also frustrated to the core because we haven't been on any ride from last 3 months and wanted to break free out of routine life.
After a call which lasted about an hour and half, we reached to conclusion that it's not the right time to head for the mountains because of incessant rains and multiple landslides happening in Himalayas. It was decided that we will break free as soon as the weather permits.
During our endless discussions in coming days to pick a destination, We came across 'Chanshal Pass' which was a very less visited destination and both agreed on this. Since we were making a plan for atleast 5 days to a week, we decided to add 'Chakrata' for our first stop in this journey as we both have not visited Chakrata yet.
Slowly and gradually, after endless Googling and many sleepless nights planning for the ride, we finally had a satisfactory Itinerary and the route to follow.
Itinerary:
Day 1: Ghaziabad - Chakrata (Night Stay in Chakrata)
Day 2: Chakrata to Rohru (We will try reaching further if we have enough time till sunset)
Day 3: Rohru to Chanshal Pass and back to Rohru by Afternoon (How wrong I was even to think about it, which I realised later)
Day 4: Rohru to Sanjoli/Shimla (We didn't want to go back from the same route)
Day 5: Shimla to Ghaziabad
The Team:
As Mazrooh Sultanpuri rightly said:
"Mein akela hi chala tha, Jaanib-e-Manzil magar,
Log saath aate gaye, aur karvaan banta gaya ..!!"
By the time I and Doc finished the planning, I was bubbling with excitement and have already started to tell people in my office and riding community about this ride. Although a lot of people showed interest but only a handful were serious about joining the ride.
After a number of last minute 'Nays', we had a final count of people who would be going with us for sure.
It was a team of 7 members out of which, 2 were from entirely different age-group and background.
1. Your's Truly (Vikas Bhadauria) - Working in a MNC in Gurgaon, I am from Ghaziabad.
2. Dr. Manish Kansal - A dentist by profession and a biker by heart. Dr. Manish hails from Ghaziabad.
3. Prashant Bains - Working in a government agency, Prashant was also from Ghaziabad.
4. Praveen Gullaiya - Praveen works in my office and resides in Delhi.
5. Rohit Kumar - Like praveen, Rohit also works in my office and resides in Delhi.
6. Deepak Gupta - Deepak ji is a businessman and a well known person in riding community in NCR region. He resides in Delhi.
7. Gurdeep Jaggi - Gurdeep ji met us through facebook and was riding with us for the first time ever. He was an avid rider in his college days but gave up riding. This was his first motorcycle ride after 20 years. he's a businessman and hails from Faridabad.
It was a sleepy afternoon of July'15. Weather was so hot & damp that even breathing hard was an effort enough to put you to sleep. Especially when your belly is full after a sumptuous meal and your muscles were too relaxed to bother about supporting your body weight.
I was half sitting, half lying on the couch, daydreaming about a motorcycle ride in the Himalays when I received the call from my Dentist and my riding buddy, Dr. Manish Kansal.
Like me, Doc was also frustrated to the core because we haven't been on any ride from last 3 months and wanted to break free out of routine life.
After a call which lasted about an hour and half, we reached to conclusion that it's not the right time to head for the mountains because of incessant rains and multiple landslides happening in Himalayas. It was decided that we will break free as soon as the weather permits.
During our endless discussions in coming days to pick a destination, We came across 'Chanshal Pass' which was a very less visited destination and both agreed on this. Since we were making a plan for atleast 5 days to a week, we decided to add 'Chakrata' for our first stop in this journey as we both have not visited Chakrata yet.
Slowly and gradually, after endless Googling and many sleepless nights planning for the ride, we finally had a satisfactory Itinerary and the route to follow.
Itinerary:
Day 1: Ghaziabad - Chakrata (Night Stay in Chakrata)
Day 2: Chakrata to Rohru (We will try reaching further if we have enough time till sunset)
Day 3: Rohru to Chanshal Pass and back to Rohru by Afternoon (How wrong I was even to think about it, which I realised later)
Day 4: Rohru to Sanjoli/Shimla (We didn't want to go back from the same route)
Day 5: Shimla to Ghaziabad
The Team:
As Mazrooh Sultanpuri rightly said:
"Mein akela hi chala tha, Jaanib-e-Manzil magar,
Log saath aate gaye, aur karvaan banta gaya ..!!"
By the time I and Doc finished the planning, I was bubbling with excitement and have already started to tell people in my office and riding community about this ride. Although a lot of people showed interest but only a handful were serious about joining the ride.
After a number of last minute 'Nays', we had a final count of people who would be going with us for sure.
It was a team of 7 members out of which, 2 were from entirely different age-group and background.
1. Your's Truly (Vikas Bhadauria) - Working in a MNC in Gurgaon, I am from Ghaziabad.
2. Dr. Manish Kansal - A dentist by profession and a biker by heart. Dr. Manish hails from Ghaziabad.
3. Prashant Bains - Working in a government agency, Prashant was also from Ghaziabad.
4. Praveen Gullaiya - Praveen works in my office and resides in Delhi.
5. Rohit Kumar - Like praveen, Rohit also works in my office and resides in Delhi.
6. Deepak Gupta - Deepak ji is a businessman and a well known person in riding community in NCR region. He resides in Delhi.
7. Gurdeep Jaggi - Gurdeep ji met us through facebook and was riding with us for the first time ever. He was an avid rider in his college days but gave up riding. This was his first motorcycle ride after 20 years. he's a businessman and hails from Faridabad.
