Saturday, April 2, 2011

Road to Leh(2)- What you bring back?

Why do you go? - Road to Leh(1)



When you go, most of the times you come back ;)
And you do not mind bringing something back from the new place. So here is what you bring back from Leh.

What you bring back?

You bring back memories? – No

You bring back photographs? – No

You bring back sunburns, bruises, messed up motorcycle, torn clothes, swollen fingers? – No

What you bring back from Leh then?

Well, if it has to be one liner, you bring back ‘life’ in your ‘life’ from Leh.

However, when you go to such an amazing place, one liners always fail, you have to look into the details, you have to explain, express, feel, share, spread and just say it loudly because otherwise, the heart will fail the brain, your eyes would not be able to contain the mystical beauty of unheard and unseen places that appear after every turn of the road, on your way towards Leh.

Obviously, the road will be tough. You have to pay the price. The already costly petrol will cost you more. You have to drag your pillion, your bags, and your vehicle and not to forget, yourself too. You may even fall down in ice-cold water and realize later that you have made a mess of your whole body.

But you will feel rise of a man/woman/human inside you, who wants to fight and take that last step that makes you feel good in your head.

To reach somewhere, at least once in a lifetime.

To defy the odds, where none exist.

To win the race, where nobody is running because there are no prizes to be won.

You bring back an emotion that says, yes, nature is good; it is bad to spoil it. The softer side of your character might feel that bringing plastics to such places is bad because it makes the already difficult life of BRO [Brave-Border Roads Organization] and local people even more difficult.

You get to know people, [arguably] the most beautiful creation of someone sitting up there or down here. You remember the guy in Keylong who runs a bakery and calls it German Bakery, you feel good about the nice food you had at Koksar, and you bring back soil or stones from the beautiful More Plains.

You look at the boundaries [International] and wonder what is it that makes India and China two separate nations, if it was not for International Borders, people look the same and eat same things and even talk the same language.

You also bring back a feeling of patriotism because when you meet a soldier who has been married for 2 years and out of those two years, he has spent 22 months in a tent at the Kargil Hills.

Yes, you bring back nothing other than absolute bliss and pure happiness.

You bring back a promise of revisiting.

It makes you happy even after six months of your ride because when someone comes and asks you about your visit, you can feel the joy in your voice when you explain the blissful feeling of going to Leh.

Lastly, it gives you stories, stories about life, stories of life. It gives you an opportunity to be a story teller, the one who went to Leh.

After all, we all are living a story.


|लेह चलो|

6 comments:

नीरज मुसाफ़िर said...

मस्त पोस्ट। वाकई दिल को छू गई सारी बातें।

vicious said...

wow tarun ! i have always wondered what do i bring back each time i go somewhere taking a break from normal routine .. i had first thought that its the memories ..but soon realised that its not them ..
bringing back "life" to our "life "

Aniket Baheti said...

Leh i'm coming !! :)

Smita said...

Sigh!! I wanna go to Leh!!

Let the l'lle one add a couple of years in his life and then we will say Leh here we come!!!

Awesome post :D

Sharma, Nishit said...

Finally another post on Leh...with every post on leh my appetite is increasing...decide d date n details soon...it's time to say Dhak Dhak GO ;)

negi ji said...

awesome post