Never say no to a Ladakh Trip-by Sonal Jain

Every time I heard about Ladakh, my soul would hop into a virtual dreamland and, my heart would wish to witness this dreamland. 

I probably come from that group of people who saw Ladakh in the Movie 3 idiots for the first time and, I do not mind giving them credits for increasing my hopes about the place. 

 

This Ladakh trip seemed too good to be true. But what’s more interesting is the process of having a conversation about the trip. It started with negotiations, permissions, then planning, and much more. 

 

How did it begin?

As part of my annual visit to my maternal grandmother’s house, we all were in Karnataka. My brother was in the hostel all this while but had a short break in July-August. My elder cousin started a conversation about the Ladakh bike trip. He was looking for a trip with his friends and asked my brother if he wanted to join. 

All this conversation happened in front of my dad. He immediately showed interest and agreed to their plan. They were ready to send both of them alone for the first time. Knowing how difficult it is for parents to send children on a bike trip to a tricky terrain like Ladakh, it was a surprise to all of us when parents agreed at first pitch itself.  

'You wait for your turn'

On the other hand, I felt such a pain in my heart because Ladakh was my dream. Seeing someone else in my family witness it before I could, felt like an ache in my heart. Jokes apart, I was happy that my brothers were planning the trip, and my parents said we would visit Ladakh soon after seeing their experience.

Amidst all this, I was only manifesting it to the universe and hoped that I would get to witness the magic of Ladakh very soon. 

 

Manifest your wishes 

Universe heard my prayers-

After the phase of discussions, we all came back to Noida. In my head, all I knew was these two brothers of mine were planning the Ladakh trip. Suddenly in mid-august, the cousin who planned the trip had to back off due to some reasons. 

So his younger brother, another cousin of ours, was roped in for the plan. He didn’t seem to have much experience of riding a bike but, the Ladakh tour had to happen somehow. 

 

Later, they started looking for an SUV tour for Ladakh. It was my ray of hope thinking maybe this is my answer to the prayers. I thought of giving my luck a shot and, right after it got decided both the boys are going for an SUV tour. As I observed the process of finalizing the plan, I quietly went to my dad, put on my babyface, and asked him- Can I also go for the trip?  

The moment right there I was waiting for his answer, my mother also sitting beside him, my brother sitting confused about what is he going to say. You also want to go, he asked? I slowly nodded, he said GO. 

It may sound very cliché but, this was my moment that screamed- 

'Jaa Simram Jaa, Jee Le Apni Zindagi' 

My moment of Joy

 

Why was this an Important Affair? 

Here is a part of the story that I want to share. I have always loved to travel,     and I have also been lucky to see a few places in India since childhood. A good   quality camera came into my life much later. 

The passion for photography came as a blessing because it only added to my   interest in travel. 

My camera, my partner.

But almost all my travel places have been covered with my parents or my family in general. I am a person who believes that if I am getting to travel, then my purpose is served. I do not want to burden myself into thinking why solo travel or travel with friends was not present in my life yet. 

'Going to live this trip fully'

I consider myself lucky because I get to travel. No other reason hampers my enthusiasm and love for traveling. I believe in counting my blessings rather than complaining. It helps me with a positive outlook and immense gratitude for this life. 

But this Yes from my parents made me happy but a lot more emotional because I was about to experience something new for the first time. They say some FIRSTS are always splendid. On this trip to Ladakh, I was about to experience a tour with strangers. Interestingly, it was the first alone trip for my brothers too.

 

My cousin runs a business and is elder to us, so he has had business trips earlier but not a personal solo trip. My brother was also going to experience his first alone trip. It was kind of perfect because none of us had the experience of traveling without older members of our family. 

So we planned to make the most of this Ladakh trip. We began preparing our gadgets, reading about the places in our itinerary, planning the videos to shoot and constantly smiling while scrolling through videos on Instagram thinking this is going to be us in next few days. 

A blast of emotions-

All this, I explain today, might seem a little over-done than usual, but this was not as ordinary as it seemed. That night I only had dreams of reaching Ladakh and living it fully. 

 

In my heart, I felt gratitude for the universe. My face had a big smile and, my eyes had happy tears that no one could see. In my head, I began the planning of our trip.  

 

This is the part 1 of my Ladakh series. I wish to unwind my journey slowly because it is truly a special one. All I can say is, when someone said, never say no to a Ladakh trip, they were right. In the upcoming blogs, I will also give my itinerary details and explain the entire journey in depth and detail.