Passing by the great Himalayas:

The much-coveted trip to The Great Himalayas embarked on with a zeal to conquer it.. today I’m back home after the 9 days lasted journey concluded, raising a question in my mind: “was it the journey that was exciting or the end???”. One thing for sure, the trip bestowed us with memories that are never to cease. It is impossible to take pictures of everything that came across, we took some of the pictures in our minds, these vivid images are now very close to our hearts, that personal and yes inarticulate to explain. Conquering the Himalayas was utterly foolish, we just had a glimpse of it. Leave conquering, we just passed by. Ultimately it was our ‘will’ that assisted us to return home triumphant.

There were a lot of first time experiences, like, withstanding the -10 C temperature, smoke coming out from your mouth without clinging on to a cigarette, seeing and touching the snow (which later on turned to be ‘oh!! no more snow plz!!’). And finally but never the least; coming to the most exciting part of the trip was to hire an Enfield from Leh (Ladak) and riding it all the way to Nobra Valley. Yes, we took the Royal Enfields over the worlds highest motorable road. JIHAHAHAHA!!

This trip was not all about enjoying, but also about acknowledging the brave souls (the brave sons of our motherland) who spend their today's for our tomorrows. Subsequent to the long drive commencing from Delhi to Manali, Manali to Leh and spending 3 days at Leh, we took NH 1 D to Kargil – Drass(world’s 2^nd coldest inhabitable place). From Drass then to Srinagar. At Drass, we paid tribute to those brave souls visiting the 1999 Kargil war memorial. We were taken aback by and awestruck of admiration for the uncomparable bravery displayed.

All this possible and accorded to us as the finest engineers in the subcontinent came under one umbrella: the ‘BRO‘ (Border Road Organisation). We are from the bottom of our hearts thankful and indebted towards the mastery BRO has shown in road making.

Next, about the people of Ladak. They are living examples of the ‘Light of Asia’ (The Great Budha). It has been long since that I have seen people who are ready to help with purity in mind. So caring and loving they are, they are living dictionaries to the words love, care and help.

My friend Anas should be busy calculating the expenses that came across. Deepu would have started with editing the pictures and videos taken. Bahul would come up with a detailed write-up of the trip.

This trip was about facing reality head-on, adding discipline to life and closely examining the good people in this world. Learning by travelling is an inimitable experience. We have savoured the same.