Every trip has a story.. I hope to pen down this story as it unfolds...
So here is how it all began.. Three friends were idling about in a flat in Koramangla and suddenly one of them (Manish aka Cheeku) suddely brings up this topic of making a trip to laddakh. And soon all of them get into the thick of it. As Vishal (aka Tarzan) and Cheeku get all excited about it, I was busy taking a video.
After almost a year, I suddenly stumbled upon the video on one of my backup discs. I uploaded it to youtube and thus the story started all over again with a mail. For the next 2 days as the conversation picked up pace and there was a flurry of calls to and fro between Bangalore and Delhi, there were several exciting twists and turns.
All of us decided on a deadline to checkwith our workplaces and confirm availability of leaves. I was the only person who was open for any date after 20th of June. On the verge of changing jobs, I had manged to squeeze out a 15 day period before I joined a new organization. So understandably I was most excited about making good use of this time and kept pushing the rest for the trip.
Here comes the first twist, Vishal after having shown a lot of optimism dropped out on the 13th of June. But then enters Rahul (aka bak****), and there could have been nothing better than having a person from Jammu to accompany us. Rahul was full steam into the plan and we started discussing the finer details of the itinerary and stay. Naturally good with numbers, he came out with the fact that the flights from Leh to Delhi was costlier that that from Delhi to Leh and Deccan flight was the most suitable to our needs. The return journey has to be by road so that we can enjoy the picturesque Kargil-Srinagar route. Of course his inclusion in the trip also added a stop in Jammu (where his family stays), but he sold us out describing the beauty of Srinagar and Jammu which we cant afford to miss, having gone so far. So we were all Ok with the return route via Kargil, Srinagar and Jammu on the way back to Delhi.
Now here comes the next twist. Enter Umang (aka Kida) with his inherent capability of creating turmoil even in the calmest of situations. Since there would be four of us now, we can make the trip all the way up and down by road. The trip would be in his car and even volunteered to drive most of the distance. But according to him, the route via Manali was the most suitable and we should spare a day or two in the beautiful Manali valley. So we went ahead and finetuned the itinerary according to this new plan. The route was researched (including details like the availability of petrol bunks on the route) and we set another deadline to confirm our participation in the trip. But as betted by most of our other friends, Kida ka kida jaag utha and we realized we cannot take his car. Cheeku was clear his car was certainly not an option. Any way, Kida seemed unsure about the leave from his workplace and soon there were again a flurry of concalls to work out back up plans.
Booking a taxi for the whole journey appeared quite expensive and the last weekend (14-15 june) ended without any concrete plans. There was more to come before the week ended, Rahul informed that he may have to spend that particular week at his home because of an emergency in his family.
While this was happening, SOS were sent out to serveral other important personalities.. that included Radhasisir (aka Randa).. who sadly replied from Malaysia saying he wont be back by July 1st. Dilip who stays with me, was already in a soup having exhaused all his leaves and wanted to save the rest of his leaves for his brother's marraige scheduled latter in the year.
So there we were again, quite unsure if this trip was going to take off or not. Cheeku and Me were still hoping that Rahul and Umang would still manage to join us. Just to make sure that we dont fall back on our intentions, we decided to go ahead and book our tickets (one way). Thats how the situation is right now....
But I am having a feeling we are going to Leh anyway :)
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