Wow! None of us ever dreamed of visiting Leh again. July 2007 trip was a feast for the eyes and my mind was blown away by the cloudy, snow covered mountains. The travel, food, people, place, serene and ever-changing panoramic views soaked deep within me, were calling me back. Somehow the timer had started during my last visit and was counting down, provoking an unsettling urge to take a break from work, to just be, in a quiet place or perhaps get away from everything.
I was thinking about visiting the Yin of the mountains this time, something had to be planned. Naren got engaged last December and had promptly planned an Andaman & Nicobar Islands trip for his honeymoon; no question of cramming up with the newly weds. Meanwhile 8Km away at Media Tek, a trip plan was in progress with all sorts of places being thrown in having subtle reference to Massage*. Bharat called me to know about my willingness to join a trip to Goa. I was more than happy to respond and told him that I was ready to go anywhere, hinting that a bike trip tagged would be great.

Missing Leh

Few days later Bharat asked me if I was ok to go to Leh again, more or less like asking a kid if he wants candy. He knew the answer from the start, but was doing a formal revelation about the trip and the probable members. It was great news coz until now the trip was just an idea. I too revealed the news to a couple of my friends at office. Nanda was eager to jump in but was not sure about the time, his mom and dad were flying down for some pooja in Kerala, none the less I kept him posted.
In couple of weeks it became clear who were coming (Bharat, Karthik and Tanmoy) and by now we were bouncing ideas about ways to reach Leh. Karthik Anna wanted to touch almost everything between Delhi and Leh. Last year we had covered the Manali-Leh route and Jammu-Kashmir-Leh was logically obvious to me. I promptly mailed the details of the latter route, gathered from one of my colleagues Narendra who had recently returned from a fortnight trip to Jammu and Kashmir. Sadly the route was dropped considering the exhausting milestones, along with the prevalent tension about cross border shelling in Kashmir. It turned out to be a good move as transfer-of-land-to-a-Hindu-trust related clashes were in full swing and also, the valleys are not that scenic between Kashmir and Leh compared to Manali and Leh (reported by other visitors we met in Leh).