2015 Mahindra Monastery Escape

As it turns out, it is difficult to make your way through the haze of presumptions and biases when setting foot in Srinagar, especially when you’ve breathed in a metropolitan such as Bombay pretty much all your life. Fondly referred to as the ‘Paradise on Earth’, Srinagar takes shape of a dreamland whenever you begin talking about it. Images of meandering rivers, beautiful lakes and houseboats come to mind. And to top it all, it is in Jammu and Kashmir which makes it seem all the more outlandish and adventurous. Naturally, it made for a fitting kick-off for the Leg 2 of the 2015 Mahindra Monastery Escape.

The Leg 2 of the Monastery Escape took us adventure junkies in a convoy of expedition-ready cars from Srinagar to Delhi via Leh, Nubra Valley, Sarchu, Jispa and Manali. And while the mesmerizing route covered some of the highest as well as hostile motorable roads in the world and assured us Flickr/Instagram worthy pictures in abundance, it also gave me a chance to explore and admire a sizeable portion of Kashmir and soak in the magnificence of this enchanted land.

Having taken roughly a million photos while I was there, I managed to process about a thousand before discarding several more to end up with what you see on this page. I’ve also written a few words around them to relate to the situation and to confer some of those feelings, before they turn into a distant memory.

The night before the flag off, we were introduced to our steed – a blend of Mahindra’s existing and old cars including several Scorpios, XUV500s, a pair of Thar for us media guys and a lovely old Scorpio Getaway as backup. As keen as I was to get behind the wheel of the Getaway, I eventually wound up in a white Thar, which turned out to be rather good.

Nagin Lake.

Although it’s generally termed as a separate lake, Nagin Lake is a part of the famous Dal Lake, but unlike the latter which unfortunately has been eaten away by commercialisation, the tranquillity surrounding this place is a pleasant departure from the usual hustle bustle of the markets.

Not a bad view to wake up to, is it?

This was the first picture I took in Sonamarg. Not very well framed by any measure but it’s here primarily because it shows the undulated mountains and the serenity that usually surrounds this town. Also, this is the first and the only picture wherein our Thar is squeaky clean!

The Thar may have a menacing road presence elsewhere, but out here it’s no more than a tiny speck of metalwork with a soft-top.

One of the many stretches of tarmac that seemed to be going nowhere.

Tricky road conditions, bad weather and the poor wipers on this particular Thar meant that our drive from Sonamarg to Leh was quite eventful, with us having to pull over on the side quite often to give the windshield and the side windows some manual cleaning.

However, such hurdles quickly faded away every time the weather cleared up and gave way to skies so blue and full of puffy clouds. Add any typical Kashmiri backdrop into the picture and it made for a pretty spectacular view.

At this time of the year, it’s usually overcast and unpredictably rainy, but despite the uncooperative weather, the mystique of the site was undoubtedly captivating and rewarding.

During our stint from Leh to Sarchu there were times when beautifully paved roads just stopped, turning the otherwise stress-free journey into a chips-munching, slow-moving marathon. But as you would expect, one look out of the window is all it requires to take in the breath taking views this region has to offer. You can genuinely enjoy being on the road here and would perhaps even fight your way to take the wheel.

At around 9:30pm, after about 10 hours of driving, I sank into blissful sleep only to eventually be awakened by the call for an early morning briefing. Still giddy and keen-eyed, I walked out of my tent to have a look at Sarchu in blazing daylight. It was unreal.

Accommodation at most overnight halts included fairly big rooms, good food, enough parking spots for the convoy and in a couple of places, bicycles! For those who fancied exploring the locales on pedal power.

At places we made brilliant progress, stopping only to take photos where the backdrop demanded.

Speaking of backdrops…

The road towards Manali from Leh city is pure motoring nirvana. Arrow straight tarmac, long elevated corners and even cheeky little switchbacks, it’s all there.

On your way to Leh from Srinagar you will be greeted by the Kargil War Memorial which harks back to the war between the Indian Army and Pakistan back in the late 90s. Visited by frequent travellers, the memorial has a memento shop although the main attraction undoubtedly is the Sandstone Wall on which you will find the names of the brave hearts who laid down their lives for the country.

Wading through water crossings is something you ought to be doing to clear the mountain passes. The trick here is to wait for the car up ahead to clear it and then having a go at it with decent momentum.

Busy skies, massive drops and jovial locals are a common sight up North.

The grass-strewn surface here feels like Mars. Not that I have been to Mars, but the surface looks pretty identical to the one we have seen in the Mars Rover pictures.

The sheer vastness of More (pronounced ‘mo-ray’) plains is beautiful. There’s no other word for it. Flanked by mountain ranges on both sides, this magnificent stretch of road of about 40 kilometre falls in between Leh and Sarchu on Leh-Manali highway and it’s all flat. And although this area is uninhabitable and has no population at all, you will always find workers and massive JCBs toiling hard to maintain this beautiful piece of tarmac.

The evening light reflected amazingly on the plains, with the snow-capped mountains looming behind.

At places, we opted for the less travelled low road through the More plains. What followed was a mild dust storm and a convoy of dirty Mahindras.

Driving the Thar constantly over bad roads takes a lot out of you. I say this after hitching a ride in one of the backup vehicles following hours of jumping and bobbing inside the Thar. Having said that, the vehicle has a certain charm to it which is rather difficult to describe but easily experienced the moment you take the wheel.

Nestled at an altitude of well over 5,000m above the sea level, Taglang La is the second highest mountain pass in Ladakh, after the holy grail of motorcyclists i.e. Khardung La. However, in many ways Tanglang La is better as a visual treat.

It was here we came across an Australian nutter astride his Kawasaki KLR 650. Having ridden around a good chunk of Asia over the last few months, the guy set off for the descent soon after a quick chat with us lot.

The final stretch from Manali to Delhi turned out to be long and not very eventful. By late evening, we were in the capital city and checked in for the night and it was then I inevitably realised that of all things, life under the usual hustle and bustle of big cities is hugely restrained. Sigh.