The Setup

I'll start by being honest. I was not most interested in this ride. Most of all because my most frequent long distance tourer, Nilu, was missing from this ride. Then, Nishant was also absent. I was more interested in visiting a new place like Bhutan or Nepal or North East. With the number of tourists heading to Leh increasing heavily, it was not that big a challenge as it used to be. Mind you, its still not easy. But the ride did turn out to be a very memorable one. Quite adventurous.
The final tally of riders included:
Gyananath Moshahari - Hero Honda Karizma
Vihans Gupta - Yamaha FZ-16
Mrinal Doley - Bajaj Avenger
Mrinaljeet Dutta - Bajaj Avenger 200
Rohit Saini - Royal Enfield Electra
Ajit Singh - Royal Enfield Thunderbird
Saurabh Khanna - Royal Enfield Electra
Diptinder Singh Chhabra - Royal Enfield Electra

The tally would have surely been more had we allowed another comrade Aasish Francis to join us, who was traveling with a female pillion. Aasish, I'm very sorry to say No to you. Guys, I'll get back to you someday on this one.
The start was not encouraging. Monsoons had just begun and there had been news of heavy flooding even on NH-1 near Ambala. Moreover, our plan of going via Srinagar was disrupted as news of violence and curfew came from the Valley. Parental pressure was mounting to postpone the trip. We knew that any postponement would mean cancellation of the trip. Even if the trip would somehow happen later, the riders would not be the same and that would not promise the same amount of fun. Our planning was very meticulous. We were to touch all the major points through very adventurous routes.