On a chilly afternoon in Leh, Hyderabad-based adventurer and biking enthusiast, Pruthu Mehta, was with his biker friends and casually browsing social media on his mobile when he suddenly got an alert ‘Article 370 revoked’.
Though he was looking forward to the trip, with almost every detail taken care of, suddenly, Pruthu’s senses warned him that something would go wrong with the trip. His apprehensions would all come true and in no time, too.
The grand, ineffable plan
The 40-year-old Pruthu had started his road trip on his bike from Hyderabad on July 24, via the Nagpur-Jhansi-Delhi-Jammu-Srinagar-Leh route. His friends, Deepak Gupta, Rohit Mishra and Akshay Jain, joined him in Delhi.
But when he got the notification of Article 370, his friends and he were naturally in a dilemma, not knowing what will ensue. “All the prior special permissions we had obtained to visit unexplored areas around the Indo-Pak border got cancelled. We even waited in Leh for four days, hoping that the authorities will give us permissions, but they didn’t because of the tense situation. It was very disappointing because it got our itinerary completely haywire,” shares Pruthu.
Massive traffic jam on Manali–Chandigarh highway.
The saga of getting lost
Because Leh is a thickly populated town with several camp houses, managing food and accommodation during their four-day stay wasn’t difficult for Pruthu and his friends. And even during those four days, as they awaited permissions, the four bikers managed to explore a few picturesque locations amid tight security, including Nubra Valley, Pangong Lake, Tso Lake, Sarchu and Siachen Glacier.
But while riding around exploring new terrains, the four went almost 120 km ahead of their planned route. Eventually, the quartet reached a 1,000-year-old village called Lingshed, probably even making history given they were the first group of bikers to reach that village. But then, the drama unfolded.
The ordeal of a revoked Article
“By the time we reached Lingshed, it was late night. Somewhere along the way, we realised that we were lost. And it was very scary because it was the border and we were aware that anything could happen,” explains Pruthu.
Luckily for them, an officer of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force spotted them struggling to find their route. “He led us to his camp and helped us find accommodation in a temporary pandal for Amarnath Yatra pilgrims. Later, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) jawans cooked and served us food, and the next morning, we were escorted back to Leh in an Army convoy,” recounts Pruthu.
Warning: road block ahead!
On their return from Leh, Pruthu and his friends had to take the Manali-Chandigarh highway as the Manali-Srinagar highway was closed post the Article-370 announcement.
And as all vehicles in the area had just one route to take, it led to the hill roads getting jammed with huge trucks and cars. Pruthu and his friends were stranded in the traffic snarl on those roads for around 12 hours. “But it was a nightmare of an experience! Needless to say, just the jam on those roads exhausted us completely,” recalls Pruthu.
The trip of a lifetime
Despite all the unforeseen problems of their otherwise well-planned trip, the memories of this one road trip to the hills might never leave Pruthu.
