It’s not the first
thing you think of when you think – India. In fact, it may not even
be amongst the first ten things you think of. And yet, there are
those who love it and devotedly look forward to it in India. No,
we’re not talking about snowfall! We’re talking about
self-driving across the subcontinent.
Not the American way –
with trailers and a thousand miles of black road, shimmering in the
sun! Here, we take SUVs and pack off across several kinds of roads –
the dirt, the stony, and the wet and yes, the shimmering strip of
metalled black. To give you a short glimpse into what we’re talking
about, we decided to write about our last self-driving trip that
began at Shimla and meandered its way through Spiti valley to finally
culminate in Leh, the nerve centre of Ladakh.
Self-driving is an
extremely rare indulgence in India owing to the technicalities
involved – in today’s travel industry, we remain a leading
customised service provider for this form of leisure travel. Here’s
what it takes for a visitor to take a car and explore the country on
their own – a specific vehicle that’s either a 4x4 or a 4x2,
depending on road conditions, that comes with an exclusive 1N –
yellow tinted number plate. We add several other features to the
setup – for starters, a state of the art walkie-talkie communicator
for driving in regions without telecommunications access, backpacks
fitted with oxygen cylinders for extremely high altitudes (especially
necessary if one leaves the vehicles at a certain point and chooses
to trek or ride a bike for some distance), and a substitute driver
from our company who can step in for you in case the fatigue seeps
in. Before beginning, however, there are several mandatory procedures
that need completing – since cars have certain components which are
non-insurable (e.g. headlamps), a set of pictures of the car are
attested to by all parties at the time that the cars are handed over
which is then followed by a complementary demonstration on driving
ethics and rules in India.
After we had put all
these things out of the way, the bunch of driving enthusiasts decided
to step on it. Driving for about 6 hours every day, the set of six
vehicles reached the banks of the Sutlej, after passing through
Narkanda and a mandatory halt at Reckong Peo, and stopped for two
nights at Kalpa – at a lodge nestled within sprawling apple
orchards. The mythological cosmos of the town is humbling – while
many would suggest waiting to watch the tip of the Kinnaur Kailash (a
mountain in the Kinnaur hills that resembles the Mt. Kailash) change
colour with the ebb of sunlight, others would find deep meaning in
sitting with the chanting monks in the evening. In ways both visible
and imperceptible, both Hindu and Buddhist thought have arrived at a
confluence of sorts in Kalpa.
Our next stop was at Nako
monastery in the tiny town of Nako – another small but symbolically
relevant stop in this part of the Himalayas. At Nako, beyond the
soaring willows, lies the mystic Nako Lake – believed to be a site
where the Guru Padmasambhava pronounced several principles of Tibetan
Buddhist faith. For Buddhists, the site remains one of mystery and
belief – even the caves in the hills surrounding the lake are
believed to be places where great penance and meditation gave way to
great knowledge. The road from here went further up the altitude
towards Kaza – a route that is lined with famous monasteries like
the Tabo monastery and the Dhankar Gompa.
At Kaza, for the first
time perhaps, can one find comfortable lodgings – given the nature
of the terrain and the niche popularity of self-driving and biking in
the subcontinent, most lodges in region provide bare minimum services
which are a far cry from the comfort of more popular tourist
destinations. To travel here, and especially to drive in these
mountains, the discerning traveller must look to both love the
excitement of the terrain as well as persevere with it.
The Banjara Retreat at
Kaza gave our eager drivers some time to unwind – hot water bags
found their way into beds and time seemed to slow down with the hot
shower baths. With some fresh dinner, everyone took to the night
since the next morning was going to be another long day of driving.
The road to Jispa goes through the Kunzum pass – the mouth of the
beauteous Spiti Valley –which means that the highest altitude along
the road could go up to 4555 meters before descending to about 3142
meters at Jispa. There is the option of taking a slight detour to
Chandra Tal – the celebrated lake, famous for its still reflections
of the moon on a full moon night, which rises out of water from a
hidden underground source and lends its banks to campers every year,
from all parts of the world.
The Padma Lodge at Jispa
has both tents and buildings to house its guests – with the Bhaga
River flowing right by it, we decided to take a day off to simply
soak our feet in the river, walk on the river bed and try and catch
some fish. We followed this up with taking a walk through the town
and the nearby villages in order to get a sense of what life is like
here – with scarce supplies of many essential goods and a lack of
diverse vegetation. Taking to the road once again, this time we
headed straight for Leh via Sarchu, with drivers taking turns at the
wheel.
Leh brings to memory
everything cold – its climate marks it out as one of the rarest
such terrains in the world. Our driving enthusiasts, after a couple
of days of acclimatisation, decided to ride higher up into the
Himalayas, on our Royal Enfield bikes, to the picturesque Nubra
valley. After stocking up sufficient water and food, we took the
Khardung La pass, riding along the banks of the Shyok River, to enjoy
the cosmic splendour of a silent desert at 10,000 feet above sea
level. A visit to the looming Maitreya Buddha statue was followed by
some more mountain biking. The Nubra Valley is home to one of the
rarest animals on earth – the Bactrian camel – and we even
managed to arrange a ride atop these unruffled beasts.
Once back in Leh, part of
the group decided to take the route south to Sokar village – tucked
away inside Rajauri, this village is gradually gaining a reputation
for being a great camping spot. We provided tents to the campers –
what followed was a couple of nights of revelry with no one but
ourselves around. This journey opened up, for us, a number of
stimulating ideas – self driving allows a degree of freedom that
other forms of travel don’t. Enthused into making more creative
itineraries using unexplored cultural destinations along these
routes, our team is now on the prowl.
Since regulations on
self-driving in India require specific marked vehicles which are only
available in Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore, we’ve decided to open up
all these regions to exciting self-drive options. In the coming
weeks, we’ll be taking the road from Jaipur to Jaisalmer in
Rajasthan and the scenic Konkan route from Bombay to Goa and onwards
to the Nilgiri hills. So, if your heart’s racing already, you know
where to find us.
