As We Step Out- Parenting, Unschooling, and more

I - The plan "What amazing pictures dude! When are we going to Leh?" A discussion I have encountered on countless occasions, whenever someone in our group would come across pictures from somebody else who went exploring Ladakh. Excitement would build up and that would trigger a splurge in everybody's eagerness to make this happen.......for a few days! Ultimately, we would settle down with the usual one day rides and the more frequent weekend breakfast 'rides'! This routine continued for a few years, and we made peace with the fact that this dream ladakh ride would happen for us 'someday'! This was about to change last year (2021). During one of our usual catchup rides, a dear friend - Rayhan again sparked the same conversation all over. We had been through this enough number of times to simply brush it off saying, "sure, why not?', and leave it at that. However, it was different this time. Rayhan was determined to make it happen soon; enough of wa...

 II: Bengaluru to Delhi - Man and the Machine Days passed by, and excitement started to build up as my travel date got closer and closer. I already had all the tank/ tail bags I intended to carry. Got the other essentials in terms of the ride and protection from cold and rain. Got the Xpulse serviced, switched to fully synthetic engine oil, and got spare clutch cable installed.  It was going to be my first time shipping the bike, and my first individual interaction with the railways. Was a good idea to get some first hand information on how things work here, and I knew just the right person to reach out. Called Saquib, and as expected, got a detailed step by step account of how the whole process would flow. Saquib has done this on multiple occasions on his previous rides, so this was valuable information. Things looked good, I was prepared, I was ready to go! The day was finally here! The train was scheduled to depart at 8PM, the plan was to reach the parcel office as early as...

  III: Entering J&K After effectively putting in a litre of fuel in the tank, I finally set off for my dream ride. I had to look for a petrol pump to fill up the tank so that I can be on my way. I asked the locals, and was told to follow the road through which I exited; it would take me to the main road and the petrol pump would be right there. Reached the main road but the petrol pump was no where to be seen! Would have continued for possibly a km more, and the engine started knocking; I knew what was coming. Hoping to see a petrol pump very soon, I continued, being very, very gentle on the throttle, applying the 'lift and coast' technique as much as I could. The bike could not go for long, and soon it stalled. I did not want to damage the fuel pump, so I did not push it after it failed to crank in one or two attempts. I saw a gas pump on the opposite side of the road. Parked the bike on the side and walked over. I was told the nearest petrol pump is 1.5 - 2 kms ahead.  I...

After getting a good nights sleep, I was all ready and excited to enter Kashmir. Mounted all the luggage, had a chikki and I was back on the Xpulse. The plan was to head towards Srinagar and onward to Sonmarg today. As I left Udhampur, was welcomed by beautiful vistas, like the below, and this really got me excited for what was in store ahead! The closer I got to Srinagar, I started coming across more and more of military convoys crossing the highway. Whenever there was a big convoy, the military would literally block the traffic to side of the road, for the convoys to pass un-interrupted. And these blocks would last from as low as to 2 minutes to more than an hour! During one of such long blocks, a family in car approached me and picked up a conversation. These convoy blockages were completely new to me, so I asked them if it was a regular phenomena - and indeed it was. What this meant was that the locals simply could not plan their travel/ commute etc reliably since you never know ho...

 Sonmarg was indeed an incredible place. I discovered that a lot of activity happens here around April and May - Skiing, Snowmobiles, etc. A few treks as well. Hmmm, lot of things to be planned with the family! It was going to be a long day, since the plan was to reach Leh. So I decided to start early in the morning. I was up and ready by 6 AM. And that was a big mistake, since I clearly was not ready for what was coming. Up until now, it was cold. But pleasantly cold. Sonmarg itself got extremely cold late in the evening, but nothing that I cannot handle, I thought. However, today was different. The winds were heavy and extremely cold. BRO was working on making the Zojila Tunnel to ensure 12 months connectivity to Ladakh - currently there is no road connectivity in winters under the snow. That meant numerous deviations and extremely bad roads. Google maps too got confused and started showing random directions, so I turned them off. The cold winds, along with the difficult terrain,...