I am sure all three of us ( Ramesh Prabhu, Nikhil Prabhu and Self) would not be able to avoid cliches whenever we get to talk about this once in a lifetime trip. Because the emotions the journey evoked at various points and sometimes in combination, were of the surreal; that of fundamental questions of life; of ethereal beauty; of timelessness and then again of a populace left behind, fighting to catch up; of peace immortal, an existance with a reality incomprehensible to us city dwellers and yet of a disquiet. But above all, the arguments that raged in my mind, ranged between the incredulity at the full splendur of nature unleashed, to questions of the dark history such landscapes endured and then about the perhaps unsurmountable odds the human spirit is locked horns with… This was for about 2/3rds of the the trip… Ladakh.

We started on 13 of August, 2006 from Greater Noida, stopped at Kullu overnight, crossed Manali and Rohtang Pass on our way to our next night halt: Sarchu… an unmentionable campsite. An early start from Sarchu (and we needed no persuation for the waking up early here) got us into Leh late afternoon. We spent 4 nights at Leh and one night in between at the Nubra Valley town of Diskit. From Leh we would leave each morning at around nine and return by 7pm, visiting significant places within 150 km one way driving distance… these trips took us to Thiksey, Lama Yuru, Pangong Lake and Nubra Valley.

Midway through the trip we changed our original plans and decided to return via Srinagar and Jammu while crossing Kargil and Dras on the way… and that gave us this terrific time at Srinagar….

So why is this once in a lifetime? The reasons were different when I started out… but now that I have been there, I know that if I ventured to Ladakh again, I might not have the heart to return.

I have loaded a few quickly selected pictures on to my link at MSN Spaces.