How I got Leh'ed

In a nutshell...It all happened one drunken night...alcohol is one of the greatest stimulants of the creative juices... and coupled with the fact that my project was ending, me and my equally notorious 'out of work' friend decided to make this trip.
So with bags packed for about a month we left our cozy homes and unpaid bills and landed up in Delhi with nothing more than eager anticipation to get Leh'ed, the tickets and bookings be damned.
Apart from the obvious turn-on of the arduous trip through majestic peaks and succulent valleys, capturing the same on camera was a major thrill.... maybe we would get angles that no one has managed so far!
The preparation was not anything to write home about... it was the usual game ... but reaching the first base was the clincher... once you have reached the first base then making a touchdown is not a big deal (I mean how difficult can it get?)
Well the first leg was easy but then it was all uphill (literally) with at least 5 passes to cross…and boy was the ride rough and smooth in bursts…just when you thought that you had conquered one peak, then rose another majestic one… the whole journey was one overwhelming experience… you didn’t know where to look …you were surrounded by such beauty….certainly God was taking his time when he was creating this one!
Before starting on this ride, like a proverbial expert, I had thought I would finish it off in one day with a few hours to spare…but even before halfway through it I was tired… I was tired of the overwhelming feeling …tired of being so inadequate in front of such majestic beauty… tired of anticipating the climax. I was not sure if I wanted to continue… I wanted out… I chickened… I was not sure anymore if I wanted to be Leh’ed ;)
But then once in, you cannot opt out… it’s a one way ticket… so I geared myself and shrunk deep down in my jacket...peeping out once in a while to see if it was really there or I was hallucinating.
As soon as darkness fell, the ride became even bumpier… God’s sense of humour! And to make matters worse, we lost our way in those undulating trails and kept going around in circles. By the time we reached anywhere closer to touchdown, we were battered, bruised, exhausted, looked like something that the cat had dragged but our spirits were high… we were more than excited to get a first glimpse of what we had heard was one of the greatest. The high it gave me on was almost enough to make me breathless on that snowy night… or it could actually be the low oxygen content in that thin mountain air.
Well, what can I say, the first time was not good enough for me … the build-up makes it inaccessible. You would want it to respond to you, but like all first timers, I fumbled my way through it… the pressure just makes it stressfull…that and coupled with a brain freeze, closed road signs and snow all over.
Untill next time, and I will make sure that it is the season of love and not some harebrained wild goose chase up sinewy mountainous track. And yes, will take care of the brain freeze next time. So I will be Leh’ed nice and proper in the old fashioned way, eh…what.