Day 1. Bhains ki Poonch, Shekhar ki Mooch! : 15th May 2010

The Toyota Leh Jayenge campaign started in real earnestness as per schedule. The excitement of days, culminated in an early start. Bags were packed, everyone decided to hit the shack early except me as I indulged in watching a hopelessly placed Australia outsmart a poised Pakistan, who stumbled at the winning post. That was the Cricket ICC World Cup T20 Semis in the West Indies. It was a match that kept me on the edge and therefore from sleeping early. Nonetheless, I did mange to get up early and ready in time for the 5.30 am pickup by Shekhar. I dreamt of the glorious panoramic glory of Leh and its surrounds as I am sure every other member of the team did!

It was barely sunrise and as I waited outside with bags packed, Shekhar arrived, 10 minutes late as he had to put together breakfast for the first leg. Next halt was at Vijay’s and after a farewell from the respective spouses, we ended up picking Nisheeth before we finally hit the road. Sitapur was the first halt and Vijay was entrusted with the first leg of driving the gorgeous Fortuner which looked absolutely stunning with all the sponsor logos adorned on its exterior, make it look every inch a Leh Jayenge Rally car!

Prayers said, bhajans playing and some leg pulling to start with had us traversing the 125 odd Kilometers in good time. Maigalganj was the first halt where the famed gulab jamuns were ready and waiting. Amidst the zillion flies that infested the shop area, we still devoured two each. This was supplemented by the aloo tikki which is a specialty too!

And while we licked our fingers over a cup of tea, Dr Anand who was aware of our trip, thanks to the media, happened to stop there too, with his family, en route to Nainital and wished us well, It’s a small word alright!

By now the music had changed from the solemn bhajans to some old classic Hindi numbers and Ghazals from Jagjit Singh which we nostalgically sung along. The road so far was a mix of good patches and undulated stretches caused by the road widening process on the highway. But Vijay deftly handled the prized Fortuner and made it to Shahjahanpur in good time. Just before however, we had a very fast reflexing Shekhar almost jump out of his seat next to the driver, when we overtook a buffalo hitched to a cart. The buffalo swished its huge tail targeting Shekhar’s moustache which fortunately was secured behind the window glass but the reaction it evoked from Shekhar was that of incredulous surprise and bewilderment! After a few sandwiches and some breakfast snacks, and sharing the SMS’s that kept pouring in to wish us luck, we had Nisheeth take over the wheel for Leg 2 of the day, which was till Moradabad via Barielly, Passing through UP towns is nothing short of a drivers nightmare, The roads are narrow with speed breakers thrown in for good measure, which appear without warning, besides the plethora of bullock carts, rickshaws, trucks that prefer to drive everywhere but the right side, and not to miss the two wheeled maniacs who attack you from all sides like the meteors from outer space. While Nisheeth was waging his Star war on the road, he kept cursing the rest for a raw deal as he had a harrowing two hours of nail biting moments. And this was just the beginning! He had chosen to take the wheel when he did and mockingly told us that Vijay had tricked him into doing so! Not that we believed him and while a couple of closed railway crossings added to his misery, we chose the oddest times to ease ourselves to stop and start. It was then decided that the Dostana would be fair and Jahanpana Vijay though feeling sorry for Nisheeth took him on a circuitous route to his nephew’s residence where we were invited to have lunch. By now the befuddled Nisheeth was at his wits end and refused to touch the wheel once parked in Moradabad. While we could not help laughing at the ‘Naught Kid’ getting a taste of naughtiness, we agreed that a cyclic pattern for driving would be followed on day two, Divide each days sector into four and allow each one to take the wheel by rotation. Sounded perfect, but Nisheeth still felt he had got a raw deal. We convinced him that the first session on the 16th was all highway so he finally accepted the laid system, While all this was happening on a lighter note and the 6 hours just flew in mirth, a little more salt was rubbed when I took over the wheel after a sumptuous lunch and hit a majority of straight highway stretches.

The music had now changed to some old Hindi numbers from yesteryears and added a bit of nostalgia again. By sunset we stopped at Baghpat for a quick cup of tea at a roadside restaurant and Shekhar took over the wheel. We were a couple of hours away and were relieved to reach Karnal. The local dealership offered to help by cleaning up the car while we checked in and did a super job. All credit to Toyota for networking with their dealership en route and offering quality support. Mr Sandeep Chakravorty of Globe Toyota should get credit for a great job done,

One of our very young well wishers who has traveled to Leh 4 times by road from New Delhi and who has been a source of information and resource for this trip, messaged Vijay trying to catch up with us. While she also follows our Blog ardently, there was this glint in Vijay’s eyes which Nisheeth did not like. Recently the press had covered this young friend chatting with Nisheeth, sharing her Leh experiences with him but had since not gotten in touch. And the fact that she was doing the needful with Vijay, had Nisheeth turn green! Who said there was anything wrong with going green??!! But Nisheeth being the environment friendly guy he is stayed that way! All this was the spice for Day 1.

After checking in at the Jewel Hotel in Karnal which was comfortable, we ventured out to a Dhaba close by, for dinner,
( Zhil Mil ) which turned out to be much below expectations. Incidentally there were THREE Zhil Mil’s right next to each other. So we took the option of going to the most crowded, which was the logic for the most popular Zhil Mil. But we were tired and hungry so managed to eat well. The throng of inquisitive youngsters at the Dhaba, the Hotel and pretty much along the way, wherever we stopped, had us sharing the USP of this adventure trip which fascinated them.

The Fortuner has been performing as expected and all of us enjoyed being behind the wheel, the vagaries of traffic and road conditions, notwithstanding!

We turned in after dinner and looked forward to the next leg tomorrow, the 16th of May 2010.. But not before I had put our Day 1 experience on the Blog.

Incidentally Nisheeth was entrusted with the central accounts for expenditure incurred which he capably handled.
A quick recap of the stretches and time covered on day 1 reads as under:

• Lucknow to Sitapur: 80 Km, 1 hour 30 minutes. Road still under widening interspaced with rough patches.
• Sitapur to Shahjanpur: 80 Km, 1 hour 30 minutes. Road conditions good but two track highway.
• Shajahanpur to Barielly: 80 Km. 1 hour 30 mins. Road conditiond fair but driving through Barielly a nightmare as there was no bypass.
• Barielly to Moradabad: 90 Km. 2 Hours. Road conditions good but HEAVY vehicular traffic and multiple railway crossings.
• Moradabad to Meerut: 120 Km. 1 Hour 30 Minutes. Road Conditions excellent. Highway. Going through Meerut however was arduous and city traffic painful.
• Meerut to Baghpat: 50 Km. 1 Hour. The road, a state highway was decent but traffic was consistent. Passing through Baghpat though was complicated as we had to negotiate narrow crowded bazaars and streets.
• Rohtak to Karnal: 80 Km. 1 Hour 30 Minutes. A mix of excellent highway though partly under expansio