It was in last July when the call for a trip to Ladakh fell all of a sudden in S.Venkat Subrahmanian’s lap. His son had made all plans to bike from Delhi to Leh but unfortunately his friends dropped out at the last minute. That is when the 57-year-old jumped in enthusiastically and ended up clocking over 9,000kms on his Royal Enfield 350 Classic in 18 days!
“I never thought I could complete such a nerve-racking expedition at my age. But now I realise age is just a number and not a deterrent for passion. I simply followed my heart,” gushes Subrahmanian, who again went a second time this year. The biking bug, has obviously bitten him. He says now he just can’t wait more to explore.
On both the occasions, Subrahmanaian successfully scaled the mighty Himalayas, touching the war memorial at Kargil. “The war memorial is actually on the highway connecting Leh and Srinagar, just 6 kms ahead of Dras. During the second trip, I took the help of a friend in the Army and visited one forward post literally on the LOC. I saw in what situations our soldiers safeguard our country. They took me inside the bunkers and explained how things are operated, what safety measures they take. I even saw through a binocular the places where the Pakistani jawans are deployed. It was really an awe-inspiring moment,” he adds.
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Throughout his journey, Subrahmanian faced challenges; the toughest was to traverse the treacherous stretches of Joshila Pass and Pang. “The entire stretch was a dirt track without an inch of tarmac. When it rains, landslides and heavy snow are common. Every year, the road gets washed away and relaid. Thankfully, my 350 classic treaded the pocket efficiently, though I fell down once while crossing a stream in spate.”After spending two days in Kargil, Subrahmanian says, the patriot in him was awakened. “Safe in our respective homes we can only imagine how life can be in a harsh terrain that gets cut off from main land for over seven months, due to heavy snow. The temperature plummets to -20 or -30 and it’s not an easy task,” he says. The trip also let out the child in him as he enjoyed rides on the double humped camel in Nubra Valley.
“My first trip,” says Subrahmanian, “was a coincidence but now I opt to go and plan.”
If Subramanian’s travel story is true inspiration, aspiring young biker Vadivel Baluchamy’s that of grit and determination. A lover of bikes from childhood, Baluchamy was passionate about riding until a fateful road accident in 2012 in which he lost his left leg. After months of recuperation, Baluchamy found his passion for bikes to be as strong. “Friends and family advised me to go for a scooter. They all addressed me with pity and I wanted to change that,” says the 24-year-old.
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“Against everyone’s wish and words, I went for a bullet and started riding it with great difficulty. The initial months were extremely strugglesome. I felt incomplete without a limb and had to fight to balance the bike.”
Seeing his determination, fellow bikers encouraged him. Post-accident, he has taken part in half-a-dozen long rides, including the Enfield Rider Mania last November in which he clocked 2,500 kms in two days. “I have been doing regular long rides to get a hang of it and build physical stamina. I am planning to do a couple of record rides for Limca in future,” he says. “Biking is all about mobility for me. Just because I am physically challenged, I don’t want to get confined to the four walls of my house.”