Getting High, And How?! | Genesis

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Day 1 – 16 June 2012

I had set the alarm to go off at 0630 in the morning. When it did go off, on the dot, I killed it – lazily, and tucked myself back to sleep. I lay there for well over an hour, until my mum reminded me I that had a flight to catch. Reluctantly, I stepped out from the comfort of my warm bed and got on with the morning duties.

I wonder if you have noticed how this entire thing was remarkably different compared to the day I had set off on my motorcycle trip to the Himalayas, a year earlier. Last time, I was up before my alarm, and went about doing my things hurriedly; while my mum carried a tense look all along. For all the trouble I have been giving her lately, I guess my mum favoured the idea of me not being around for a while!

Signing up for cycling some 560 kilometres in the Himalayas, over some unforgiving terrain in ten days may not sound much like a vacation for many. But for me, I was only doing what I love; albeit my display of lethargy in the morning might make you think otherwise! But you see, a last minute decision to not carry my bike along, and instead hire one in Manali meant that logistics got a whole lot simpler. Having already finished packing my bags a day earlier, I did not really have to do much in the morning. Add to top it all, my flight to Delhi was not until a little before noon.

And unlike last time, I had no apprehensions at all about the trip. After all, I knew well that we would be followed by a backup crew, who would take care of our food, stay and also mechanical failures, if there were any. So, you see – there was nothing to worry about. This indeed was a vacation!

The taxi arrived at my place while I was still reading the newspaper. I bade goodbye to my mum and got along the way. In spite of being lazy all morning, I was still the first one to get to the airport. Gurudeep, Akshay and Ramya reached the airport quite late. Once they did, they stood outside chatting with a couple of friends who had come to see them off. Gurudeep and Akshay, both were carrying their bikes with them. With each bike weighing about 20 kilograms after being packed, it was certain that they would have to pay a little for excess baggage and the check-in process would take a little longer. Even then, they did not seem to be in a hurry. Strangely, I was reminded of Shoib! Eventually, they did get in; and after an extended check-in process, we got our boarding passes. And in little time, were done with the security check too. We boarded the aircraft after a quick snack.

The flight to Delhi was rather boring. I read, and then reread the newspaper. Beyond that, I tried to catch some sleep. Two and half hours after leaving Bangalore, we arrived at Delhi. Upon arrival, the air hostess announced that the temperature outside was 42°C. Damn, that was hot! We had to wait by the baggage conveyer belt forever to collect our luggage. Just as we were done and about to leave, HT and Chandramouly joined us. HT had flown in from Chennai, and Chandramouly from Mumbai. With the entire team together, we stepped out of the airport.

A very warm wind instantly greeted us. This place was hot. Honestly, I think most saunas operate at lower temperatures than this! And I also wondered if birds in Delhi really have to sit on their eggs to hatch them! Our bus to Manali was at 2000, and we had plenty of time to kill. Initially, we had thought that we could visit a few places in Delhi before getting aboard the bus, but with the sun scorching over our heads, we dropped that plan. After a quick lunch at one of the stalls outside the airport, we hired a couple of taxis to get us and our luggage to the bus terminus. After a rather long drive, we were there.

We took turns in carrying our luggage inside. A lot of people kept looking at us as they went by. Perhaps, they were intrigued by the fact we were carrying so much luggage. The bus terminus was either being built, or renovated, so that meant we could not find any benches or seats. Knowing that we had a long wait ahead of us, we found a spot by one of the pillars in the foyer and settled down there. The ceiling fans were not working either and the Delhi heat was taking a toll on us. Every now and then, Chandramouly looked at his watch and updated us about any change in temperature. More about that watch in the later posts!

Apart from a walk outside to McDonald’s to grab a bite and another one to get a few bottles of water, we pretty much perched at that very spot. We just sat there yakking about everything under the sun. After what seemed like forever, it was finally time to board the bus. We had been immobile for so long that locating our bus was somewhat entertaining. But getting all our luggage loaded in the cargo area of the bus was not. Gurudeep and Akshay ended up paying a little extra as they were carrying their bikes. With everything in its place, we got into the bus.

It took the bus about half an hour to actually get out of the terminus. But once on the highway, we made good speed. As we got to the outskirts, the television in the bus came alive. And like it happens in all bus journeys (at least with me), it was the dumbest of all movies that was being played. I closed my eyes and let random thoughts flood in to my head, just so as to keep me distracted enough to not watch the movie. For the moment, it seemed to be working.

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Getting High, And How?! | The Butterfly Effect

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If you have had a conversation with me anytime during the past one year, I am sure I would have mentioned to you about my motorcycle trip to the Himalayas, with a couple of my friends. Of course, I would have made it sound a lot more dramatic than what I have written here, but that is beside the point! After all, at that time, it was, by far, the most amazing thing I had ever done and I wondered if I could do anything to better it.

Anyhow, taking all that time off for the trip meant that the errands at the workplace, and at home too, had piled up considerably by the time I returned to Bangalore. During the next few weeks, while I was still trying to figure out how to manage with the increased workload, a few friends planned an extended visit to Kerala – on the pretext of attending a wedding. Well, the plan included me travelling too, and I so wanted to join them. But with my current workload, I knew I would have to put in a few extra hours during the coming weekend, in order to afford the time away from office for a few more days. And honestly, I was prepared for it.

That is, until another couple of my friends made a last minute plan to ride to Hampi on motorcycles! Ah, now I had wanted to visit Hampi for a very long time, and to ride the place on my motorcycle was icing on the cake! So, we guys rode to the place that weekend, and I returned to office the following week – to a ton of work, waiting for me to attend to. The ride to Hampi meant that I had to cancel my tickets to Kerala. It was a little disappointing to ditch that trip, but then I had no one to blame but myself for it. And the fact that the schedule to get those tasks done in office got subsequently moved out – made the entire feeling a whole lot worse!

That weekend, while a bunch of my friends were having a ball in Kerala, I was wondering what I should be doing. That is when another friend asked me if I wanted to head out to attend a two day art workshop. To salvage the weekend, I agreed. Little did I know then, that it set out the wheels in motion!

The two day art workshop was so much fun that a couple of my friends who had visited Kerala at the time were jealous! Apart from having a good time, I also met a few amazing people at the place. One among them was a lady – MS, a writer, a movie-maker and more! Although at first I did not know that she was married, few weeks later, I met her husband – MB, an avid cyclist. We had a lot of things to talk about, because it was just about then I had gotten back to cycling regularly, and I was thinking of picking up a new bike.

At the time, I owned a full-suspension mountain bike, and had realised it was an extremely inefficient option for the city rides that I was doing. Since I had no interest to do any kind of downhill racing with the bike, I planned to pick up a new hybrid bike for city use. It was when MB asked me to reconsider my plan, and suggested I pick up a hard-tail mountain bike instead. To get a feel of the hard-tail mountain bike, he asked me to ride a trail with a Bangalore based bicycling group – ICycle.

In the coming months, I rode a few trails with ICycle. And riding with them, I got a chance to meet a lot more avid cyclists. All of a sudden, I was cycling a whole lot more than I was doing before. And pretty quickly, I had participated in almost all the trails in the ICycle kitty! And eventually, I did pick up a hard-tail mountain bike, as MB had suggested!

As I gradually increased the cycling mileage, I set myself a target to ride from Bangalore to Mysore during the winter in 2012. But pretty quickly, I raised the bar – and by quite a margin, when, I decided to get to Leh, and then cycle to Khardung La! Of course, this plan was as far-fetched, as far-fetched could possibly be! I had checked with a couple of friends, and they had tentatively agreed to join me for that ride. But over time, both dropped out – one, quoting financial reasons, and the other, quoting fitness.

Anyway, looking at me doing all this cycling, a friend was inspired and wanted to join me in one of the trails. She was pretty much new to cycling, so we decided to do the level 2 trail with ICycle – a ride to Nandi Hills. This was to be a repeat ride for me, but I was not complaining one bit. After all, I got to cycle, and had good company!

It was during that ride, I met a guy – Gurudeep. I was still cycling up Nandi Hills, while he was descending – for the second time! After a quick chat with him, I learnt that he planned to do three climbs, back to back, that day! I wished I had the stamina to ride like him! Anyhow, after that brief encounter we headed our respective ways.

A few days after I met Gurudeep, I learnt that he had ridden on his bicycle from Manali to Leh, the previous year. I instantly knew that bigger things would be in store for me if I stayed in touch with this guy. And that was exactly the case. Gurudeep was planning another ride from Manali to Leh this year; and to make it bigger than what it was the previous year, it would include a ride to Khardung La too! Ha, here was a dream opportunity that was being delivered to me on a platter! It took me less than two seconds to sign up for the eleven days ride! Of course, we would have a support vehicle following us for this ride, with a crew to back us up. Personally, I thought it would somewhat reduce the adventure quotient from the ride; but then again, I was not that confident of making this ride without backup.

Over time, there were others who signed up for the ride. There was Akshay, and his wife, Ramya. And then, there was this girl – HT, from Chennai; and lastly, there was Chandramouly from Mumbai. Over the next three odd months, we guys met up regularly and trained together for the Himalayan ride. Chandramouly though, trained by himself in Mumbai, as travelling to Bangalore was not an option for him. So effective was our training schedule that by the end of it, I was beaming with confidence, and I could barely wait to get on the flight and head out to the Himalayas!

So, this is my story of how it all began. It is truly remarkable that a lot of things fell in place at just about the right time. I only wonder what would have happened if I had not ridden to Hampi that weekend!

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