Ride: Nilagrath to Drass
We slept late last night, Sonamarg and Nilagrath have much to enjoy and see… only if you slow down, take a walk and enjoy the peace and quiet. From a car or bike, it is nothing more than a blur on the way ahead. We were glad we were stopped by the guards from going on to ZojiLa yesterday. We woke up early, to be greeted by a beautiful sight:
People were on their way to places…
Breakfast was a cuppa chai and some biscuits…
Of course, it took us quite some time to pack up and load the bikes. Weather had decided to play dodge with us by the time… uh oh!
That sight we saw was more than terrifying. It meant that we should expect severe rain or snow high up in ZojiLa. Absolutely not a good sign. Some people warned us against going ahead in such weather. You can’t challenge locals, or military personnel who have spent a lot more time facing the dangers. We stayed put till noon.
Yes, we were getting bored but more than that we were anxious to pass through. Another day wasted would mean trouble for further plans. I decided to talk to the gate guard instead of soldiers and shopkeepers. He was surprised we were still here. Get out of here if you want to cross over. NOW!
“If you wait, be prepared to wait for another two or three days. Maybe… just maybe it may clear up tomorrow, but if it snows, abandon all hopes! You have a lot of trucks going in the same direction as you… they will help if you have trouble. Right now, just leave.”
I ran back to the room. Within minutes we were on our way.
Just as we were climbing a steep turn, my bike’s engine died. No amount of kicking was working. The neutral indicator light was not working. Nor was the brake light or indicators. I feared the worst… battery had given up its ghost. But trusting God, knowing I wouldn’t be left without hope, I turned off ignition and disconnected all visible wires to check for a short circuit. Checked the fuse. It was blown. Good! Battery must have been saved.
Put in a spare fuse, it blew as soon as I turned on the ignition. Ah ha! A short circuit. Wait… had I not pulled out all the wires before? Shit! Unplugged the phone charger right near the battery. Put in the last spare fuse. Turned on ignition. *poof* … profanity followed.
Sumedh suggested I unplug the horns. I thought I had done so already. Still looked again and found one wire — detached from the plug but sticking to the exhaust pipe… the insulation had melted away, bare copper sticking out. BINGO!
Asked Yogesh and Shrenik to dig out insulation tape from the toolkit and proceeded to plug in all the other wires, fixed the insulation on the horn and realized I had moved it downward just while leaving from Nilagrath, so the wire was touching the exhaust pipe all this while — this was my own doing. It was fine till we were riding more or less easy road. As soon as we got on the steep roads, engine heated up, melting the insulation and shorting the whole circuit.
Kept all the tools back, breathed a massive sigh of relief and rode onwards. Within minutes, we were going to experience the most dangerous road we had ridden so far…
My first reaction was not of fear or terror… but a very respectful intimidation. Mother Nature was in a foul mood, we were cold and starting to get wet from the constant drizzle. Visibility was fine if we kept our speeds less than 20kmph, it was dark… much darker than the photos show. (I need that incident light meter next time!)
More than the rains and darkness, what terrorized us more was lack of any… I mean *any* sort of protection on the edges. It wasn’t like the fall was insignificant. Perhaps only superheroes drove here. I remembered words of one soldier we had met a little while ago — “it is madness to ride a motorcycle here, in this weather”. Yes, indeed it was madness!
