THREE PEOPLE IN A CAR

Himalayas, Yaks, Buddha and a Matiz

A Motoring Holiday to Ladakh

1989 – the year I cast my first route map for a motoring odyssey across India from Bangalore to Ladakh, on what was to be the trip of a life-time. I made the trip ultimately 56 motor able months later. You can drive into Ladakh only 4 months a year before the snows close in and hem it in completely. The drive to Ladakh, they will tell you, is reserved for hardy 4WDs and cannot take puny cars like the Daewoo Matiz. Of course, most of India does not know that the place exists, and we saw lots of that ignorance in evidence – the streets of Leh were swarming with Europeans with their backpacks and gulping in oxygen at the top of Himalayas.

We drove our Daewoo Matiz 6,000 kms from Mumbai to Ladakh and back in September 2003. Before the trip, the car was already battered and bruised having travelled 208,000 kms of India (in fact, all the States of India) in 4 ½ years, pumping out power from its overhauled 800 cc engine and on its 8^th pair of Bridgestone Donut Radial tyres.

The unexciting 1,450 km long drive to Delhi through Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana marked the beginning of one of the exciting trips in a lifetime. We left Mumbai at 900 pm, and as usual, we planned to reach Delhi in exactly 24 hours – drive through South Gujarat is highly trafficked 24x7, but we were keen on avoiding the lonely Udaipur-Beawar stretch at night, and more so, the road from Beawar to Jaipur is a death-trap at night. The Prime Minister’s grand vision of creating super-highways was being realized on the NH 8 as we beat rains and torrential traffic in wrecked South Gujarat highways. We were lucky that we did not get jammed for any inconsiderable length of time. 2 punctures and bone-shattering roads delayed us by nearly 2 hours. Work on the Vadodara-Ahmedabad expressway has been progressing at cycling speeds for the last many years, and we entered it through the town of Nadiad at 600 am the next morning and bulleted the last 45 kilometres to bypass Ahmedabad city, like the other cities of Vapi, Surat, Bharuch and Vadodara preceding it. There is a road from Nadiad to Himmatnagar on the Udaipur road that skirts Ahmedabad, but district roads do not inspire confidence. Luckily, the roads ahead in Rajasthan were much better and after climbing up the Aravallis near Udaipur, we made good speed till Jaipur which we reached only at 600 pm. Jaipur Bypass is definitely in the list of worst 10 bypasses in India – still incomplete and with melted tar rearing high enough to tear the car undersides, but it does save the trouble of driving through the city and some distance too. It was a relief to speed on the expressway to Delhi (last time, I did the 225 kms in 2 ½ hours), although some disciplining the cows and villagers will help calm the nerves, and decided to camp out for the night at the decent RTDC motel on the Haryana border at Behror, just 100 kms short of Delhi.

The Jaipur-Delhi expressway is a breeze, and we crossed Delhi State in just over an hour in the morning at 630 am, and started heading North along NH 1 or the GT Road as it is popularly known. Thank its straight and wide stretches – you need them to overtake long military convoys, especially the heavily-guarded ones where you are not allowed to break in anywhere. We whizzed past the Delhi-Lahore bus and tussled with Pajeiros, Qualises and Accents hurtling along at speeds of 120-150 kph. Turning off into NH 22 at Ambala, we entered Punjab and Chandigarh. The well-planned city that Chandigarh is, it could do with better signage for out-of-town travelers. Tank up fuel here; it will be the cheapest of the trip. NH 22 goes on up the exciting path to Shimla, Rampur, Recongpo (skirting Sangla, Kalpa and Sarahan) all along the River Sutlej to Sumdo on the China Border. We turned into NH 21 to slice through the Punjabi countryside lush with the waters from the Bhakra Nangal Dam.

You know you have entered Himachal Pradesh when you engage the second gear and leave the plains behind. The 50 km twisty mountain road from Garamoura to Bilaspur sensitises you to what lies ahead, and you are rewarded with splendid views of the River Sutlej meandering along the valley. Lorry convoys bound from Pathankot to Leh join us at Kiratpur and they were to be our only companions hereafter. Himachal has among the best roads in India, and we had no reason to revise our views. From Mandi, we commence the ascent to the Kulu Valley along the River Beas, far down below. The new tunnel at Thallout is awesome and at Aut, you look across the river at the road climbing further to the Jalori Pass. Kulu Valley never fails to greet you with its bracing winds and temperate climate – the apples were in full boom and the Beas bidding good bye to the last of the river rafters. From a single STD booth in Kulu 10 years ago, the Valley now buzzes with the rings of the Airtels and Hutches. We stopped at Manali – at 2000 metres above MSL, 2,000 kms out of Mumbai – at 600 pm. We were already facing a time overrun of sorts – but for the late departure from Mumbai, the miserable roads in South Gujarat, the 3 punctures and the failure to cross Delhi on Day 1, we could have easily reached Keylong beyond Manali on Day 2.

Manali is the last town to stock up on essentials and the next decent outpost of   civilization lies 500 kms ahead at Leh. The road from Manali to Leh is touted as one of the toughest road journeys of the world. Ahead of you lie the 5 highest road passes in the world, a seesaw of highs and lows of altitude and probably the most sparsely populated regions of India. From Manali through Leh to Srinagar, you can drive across 900 kms of bleak, forbidden and inhospitable high-altitude desert on the crest of the Himalayas, the average height of travel being 3500-4500 metres above MSL.  The melting snows in this region sustain the 5 rivers of the Punjab, besides the Indus. Once upon a time, you needed an inner line permit to travel beyond Manali, nowadays it is free country. For those who dare to wish to take the high road to Leh, but wish to preserve the sanity of their own cars, can take the jeep safaris – Sumos and Qualises who travel to and fro on per-seat basis.

Witness the lorry in reverse action – the amazing technique for heavier vehicles to travel the slush is to reverse into the mud, taking advantage of their rear wheel drives. Don’t miss the last petrol pump at Tandi, just before you cross the River Bhaga and enter Keylong. There is none for the next 375 kms! Although we were warned, we overlooked the fact, but then the Matiz trotted along in second gear for 500 kms on just 30 litres of petrol! You are advised not to try this, take along a canister of petrol, one for the road. Thank you, MPFI technology – had it been good old carburetors, my car would have gasped all the way and given up its ghost on its way up, the MPFI adjusts itself on the run to lean air atmospheres and pulls the car up seamlessly.

Here at last are villages and stupas, yaks grazing and people at work on the fields. Coast alongside the tributary till you meet the magnificent Indus River near Upshi. The last 50 kilometres into Leh is a smooth ride on flat ground.

Leh has one petrol pump, touted as the highest petrol pump in the world (one more is in the making). To rejuvenate vehicles after the beating they take, there are service centres and tyre shops. For cars, you have the old reliable – the Maruti Service Centre. We even located a spares shop who claimed to have stocks of Matiz timing belts, tensioner assemblies and all other critical components. If you fly down to Leh, you end up spending the next 2 days in bed acclimatizing to the high altitude and rarified atmosphere. We did not have to, having been broken into the last 2 days out of Manali, and were ready to go as soon as we arrived there. 

Dancing on the stones would be an appropriate statement of the all-night orchestra of the din made by their hitting the undersides of the car as we pushed our way ahead. Drass, which has the reputation of being the second coldest inhabited place in the world, was reached at 215 am, and just beyond at the Matayan TCP, we halted for the next 2 hours for the Zoji La to open. Sniffer dogs and frisking at 430 am, and then the mad scramble up to the top. Zoji la was the lowest of the high passes at 3500 metres, but the most treacherous; they told us that the timings of vehicle movement are regulated to those parts of the day when they think the wind velocity is lowest; else lorries are known to have blown off the cliff. Narrow road, glaciers close by, and the fall 2000 metres down – points with apt names such as Take Off Point, till you climb down into the Kashmir Valley at Baltal. What a contrast now, having left behind the barren nothingness and moving through deep green valleys full of streams and flowers. Sonamarg is the first town en route, which we reached at 700 am, where you can have the pleasure of languishing in luxury hotel rooms and cantering on ponies. 

Leaving Sonamarg, we had the misfortune of a lorry in backing-up mode shatter our front windshield, leaving me with a bit of glass to peer through. In this state, we lumbered into Srinagar which was 80 kms away.

 Once under the tunnel, and into Banihal and Ramban, you curve down excellent roads with enchanting views of the River Chenab, the deodhar-filled hill stations of Patnitop and Kud till you reach Udhampur. After Udhampur, near Domel (where you turn off to go to Katra-Vaishno Devi), the big nut on the left hand side of the steering balancing rod gave away thanks to all the bashing it took on the nasty roads all the way from Manali to Leh and on to Kargil and Srinagar, and we almost went off the cliff. Tying up the rod with nylon rope and later steel wire, getting the car under control for the next 30 kms down the steep ghats till we reached Jammu, was, well, quite a task. We sensibly took the bypass and drove into a Telco workshop where the jovial sardar fixed up the nut free, plus a steaming cup of tea! We reached Pathankot at 4 pm, but not before some anxious moments when it rained en route and e did not want to catch a cold when the water poured in through the front.

Pradeep Sabarwal, the ex-Daewoo dealer at Pathankot, took time off on Sunday, and had 4 men working on the car, rally-style. In 4 hours, they fixed up the new windshield, hammered together the broken pieces of exhaust, welded the damaged cross member, refixed the balancing rod, straightened the wheel rims and balanced/ aligned the wheels. We discovered that the lock nut of the front wheel had almost come off. 

Having relaxed for the rest of the night at a luxury hotel in Pathankot, 245 am the next day saw us speeding out, with the target of reaching Indore 1300 kms away by the night. The road to Jalandhar is in a miserable shape, and one hopes that they complete the double-laning work soon. Punjab Police has a dubious reputation to keep, and I was relieved of quite a bit of money, bribing our way through, never mind that we had committed no sins! After Jalandhar start the speedways of Punjab on NH 1, probably the best 400 kms anywhere in India. We flew through, barely noticing the towns of Ludhiana, Khanna, Ambala and Panipat beneath our windows! No wonder, we had covered the 500 kms to Delhi in 7 hours, when we reached the national capital at 1000 am. All the good work was rendered futile as we inched our way through unusual traffic jams, all the way from Azadpur through Rajghat and Maharani Bagh – imagine, it took us 4 hours to cross Delhi and reach Faridabad.

Route back to Mumbai was different – first the NH 2 from Delhi to Mathura and Agra, then the NH 3 all the way to Mumbai via Gwalior, Indore, Dhulia and Nashik. The expressway to Agra is splendid, and you can take a break at India’ s first MacDonald food complex at Mathura, which we didn’t. One wishes that they build an overbridge and close the level crossing before you enter Agra, and get the bypass road in better shape. We struggled through Agra’s terribly congested roads and took the road to Gwalior. Having gone on the same road 5 years ago, this one was a pleasant contrast – the PM’s Kashmir-Kanyakumari highway goes this way and double-laning on many sections is excellent – contrast with the one-lane roads earlier, twisting through the ravines of Chambal Valley. We encountered heavy rains on the way to Gwalior, and by the time we got there, the by pass road was under water and the roads jammed. With the locals cheering us on, we virtually swam across some terrible sections where one false step could mean thudding into a 10-feet hole. The road to Shivpuri was in a mess, completely pot-holed and impossible to drive after dark. We had to reluctantly halt at Shivpuri at 900 pm, after nearly 1000 kms on the road, but still short of Indore.

The road out of Shivpuri the next day was worse than the one the previous day, and we tottered into Guna with one more puncture and wheel rims bent into octagonal shapes. It had been raining heavily non-stop the last 2 days, and conditions became worse after Shajapur; we were trapped in long traffic jams near Dewas which we navigated out of using lots of driving skill and  sheer guts, to reach Indore (where the flood situation was worse) at 100 pm, where we halted for the rest of the day. Coming back to Mumbai from Indore was not a bad ride except that Madhya Pradesh retains its reputation as having probably the worst roads in the country, despite being neighbour to Mahasratra which has one of the best. We took the whole day to cover the 600 kms to Mumbai via Damnod, Sendhwa, Shirpur, Dhulia, Malegaona nd Nashik.

To cover the 6,100 kms, we took on 456 litres of petrol, not exactly frugal mileage at 13.4 kpl, but considering the road conditions – high speed on the highways, second gear in the hills – I would think it fantastic. Plus, one has to count in the fact that the battering meant bent rims, worn-out wheel bearings and misaligned wheels. Our perfect set of tyres was totally worn out. We had 6 punctures, the wheel nut almost came off, the grease completely leaked out from the axle shaft after the bellows were pierced, excessive play in the wheel meant some costly machining work and one of the distributor wires shorted out knocking off power. Not to forget the shattered windshield and the balancing rod that came off. We traveled across 11 states, and encountered several rivers – Narmada, Indus, Sutlej, Beas, Jhelum and Chenab.