Chapter 6: Delhi Biker Say Jhuley!

Pushing to get some air under the pony-tail - 2005

A Delhi Biker has either been to Ladakh or planning on riding to Ladakh.

Interestingly there is no actual destination called Ladakh. On the way there is a Zing-Zing Bar (with no bar of any kind) and you do end up in Leh. But there is no actual place called Ladakh. It’s the name of the region and the people are called Ladakhi not Lehi.

Hope you can see what’s happening. All it takes is one ride up to Leh and a Delhi Biker is an expert on Ladakh, the people, the culture, the monasteries. All dinner conversation eventually go via the Gata-Loops or More Plains and through the ‘La-La Land’. Baralacha-La, Tanglang-La, Khardung-La, Fotu-La, Zozi-La and so on.

If you’re not impressed it doesn’t matter, a Delhi Biker will not stop or slow down. He has done plenty of that at the Rohtang Pass mess.

Nothing like catching up with
fellow bikers in the middle
of nowhere

On and on about the landslide, the river crossing, the cold and the beauty and how they survived on Maggie and Old Monk. A Delhi Biker deep down believes he is the real Phunsukh Wangdu!

The unwritten rule is “Greater is he who has ridden to Ladakh before thee” Which means you could return from Ladakh after a life-changing experience only to have another Delhi Biker convince you that when he went, things were better and more beautiful.

“Too much commercialization man…when I went in 2012, things were not so busy!” 

Therefore I am more of a biker than you. 

A similar logic is applied to bikes.

“What? You went on your new Classic 500…of course you made it!"

"I went on my standard cast-iron beast!” 

Therefore I am more of a biker than you.

“You did Manali-Leh in what? Three days? Ha! I did it in one.” Says the now impotent biker.

Somehow just Ladakh is not enough. The people are mere props for the trophy shots. 

Usually sun burnt snotty kids waiting for their sweets you promised after the ‘candid’ photo. What matters are the poses in front of a cement slab that says ‘Highest’ something-or-the-other.

That golden hour on a nice ride - 4pm at Fotu-La

One way to shut up a Delhi Biker is if you have cycled up to Leh. Or better still you walked across. The most befuddling one is when couple of years back some Israeli’s (who else) decided to ride the double-humped camels from Nubra Valley (Ladakh) to Pushkar (Rajasthan).

I think they are still on their way.

A Delhi Biker will faithfully stay connected online as long as possible because the eerie silence and vast space up in the highlands can be unbearable. So he spams your page with the same fluttering prayer flags, snow capped mountains and BRO road signs you posted on his.

Yet there is undoubtedly a mesmerizing pull of Ladakh that one cannot define. It is a biker’s paradise not just due to its unparalleled beauty but it is a rare place that makes you feel like you are the first person to have ever gone there.

Going beyond Khardung-La has its advantages. Like this view. 

Even though hundreds of bikers ride up each season you are convinced you have discovered a new planet on earth.

The truth is, you are discovering something amazing about yourself.

Like an unfinished painting, forever being touched up, Ladakh is an artwork still under construction.

And as the hyper active Delhi Biker finds himself sitting still somewhere between Diskit and Hunder in Nubra Valley…there is a concoction of emotions brewing within.

Why am I here? Thought from Shanti Stupa

Careless in a timeless space

Like strangers out to identify their own lost face.

Who am I? And why is this place so intoxicatingly beautiful?

Who has any claim over it? Is it due to any man’s effort and duty?

How come we stop short of asking why does beauty exist?

Ladakh – causing existential crisis in Delhi Biker’s since the 80’s