Road Map to Khirsu

One of my office colleague owns a Gypsy and quite sometime ago we had planned to go on a drive in arguably the best and and the cheapest off-roader available in India.. the Maruti Suzuki Gypsy! We thought we will do the Ladakh circuit, but time is not kind to every one. Unfortunately, it wasnt kind to me. But hey I did trek in Ladakh last year: http://stok-chilling.blogspot.in/ Now the Key issue with the Gypsy is its tiny niggles to trouble you en-route, but since this one had already been to Shimla-Sarahan-Spiti and back route, it was a reliable beast to take out on another drive.

They Gypsy has a little bit of history with me. It use to be not driven much, especially after the Spiti trip, since my friend Hriday had a Fiesta as his daily drive. So one fine day I decided to take it out on a weekend drive out somewhere, while Hriday was suppose to be working hard in the field. So I go up to his place, so we could tow it to service station, since it refused to start. We thought it was the battery, only to realize that the whole electrics was screwed. Once out of the service station, it was straight sent to a specialist, who not only re-do the electrical's but also tuned the Gypsy so well that the mileage actually went up.

Once back from the workshop, about 2 weeks back, me and Hriday, decided we need to take it out on some exercise, to keep it fit. Over the weekend, we couldnt think of a better place than the rather much less explored Khirsu, Pauri, Uttarakhand. So all set few weeks back, I think it was the 18th Feb weekend, we decided to hit the road!! Quick decision to be honest. Because a day before, I was prepared to laze all weekend thinking Khirsu will happen later. But then, its always more fun when its spontaneous. By evening we decided we are leaving next morning. All set, I pack my backpack, and ready to drive next morning.

As per plan we were suppose to leave latest by 4.00am to avoid any kind of rush on the road and to hit the mountain roads, while its still early morning. But hell, do plans ever work? Hriday had a tummy upset and we finally managed to leave Gurgaon at 6.30am. Got out of Delhi with much ease, but with too many heavy vehicles on the road. While we were cruising, just before the Meerut Industrial area, the car started jerking and the engine died. We smelt something burning, got of the gypsy, opened up the bonnet, just to see that one of the wires had caught fire, due to a short circuit. In the process, the accelerator wire got burnt and jammed. After much of setting and jugaad we decided to pull the accelerator wire, so that we have a continuous supply of fuel to the engine, but yeah also constant speed. So somehow we manage to reach the main city and change the jammed accelerator wire. So we did, and luckily found a shop open at 8.00 am in the morning near Meerut City.

Next stop, we had our breakfast. Aloo parantha and chai, and we hit back the road. After much of haggling around the traffic, by 11 we managed to cross Kotdwara.

The last traffic jam we encountered on the way to Khirsu

Soon the traffic disappeared, roads cleared, greenery appeared and we were ripping apart the NH119

The roads just kept getting more beautiful and more winding

We challenged ourselves, to drive as fast and as safely as possible, and soon we considered ourselves to be in a Rally :P

After bypassing the Lansdowne, and climbing up the winding road, we stopped at a tiny, shack, for lunch. It was of a kind which people will ignore 10 out of 10 times, but somehow we wanted to eat there, because of its isolation. We were not disappointed, with the awesome, egg bhurji and buns he fed us with. We ate as if there is no tomorrow, relaxed a while and hit the road again.

Handed over the Gypsy to Hriday and took a small nap, even though the road was so bumpy.

our next biggest concern was to get fuel, since we had bypassed the Lansdowne route. We found it at Satpuli town, if I remember right.

After driving a while we felt we were lost, but stopped at a village to get directions, only to our relief that we were on the right route. But post this village there were two routes, one good road, longer distance route which would take us to Khirsu via Pauri and other the shorter, poorer (tan-aa-tan) route, as mentioned by one of the villagers, which would directly take us to Buwakhal and to Khirsu. Having this gem of a off-roader, how could we not take this tan-aa-tan road. Though the road was as good as no road, the views were gorgeous, and people wont realize what they are missing, until they take this road. Hardly any traffic, rarely a human, only us amongst the nature.

It was about 4.00pm, we reached Khirsu, and decided to stay at the rather expensive, but neat and clean, with hot water facilities at GMVN guesthouse.

The view, in front of us. Dont ask me what all peaks, we saw, Trishul, Chaukhamba, Gangotri 1, 2,3 and a few more, I dont remember the names now. But hell, the day wasnt clear, was quite murky so not so clear shots. What ever Hridays DSLR could get is the best we had, and here they are..

Soon, we ordered, pakoras and chai. In the mean time got fresh. The caretakers out there asked us what we would have for dinner and we gladly asked if we could get Mutton, but we settled for some desi chicken. Not bad eh!! And that was probably one of the best chicken i had eaten for long long time. Must have had trillions of rotis and tonnes of rice with the awesome dal and chicken gravy.

I decided to call it a night, whereas Hriday was up on the terrace taking some awesome night shots.

Next morning was bright, but definitely not the clearest to shoot the peaks, we still gave it a try though.

The massive Chaukhamba Peak

the panorama of the GMVN cottages

the left to right 180° panorama view from the guest house, the one above and one below.

Majestic Chaukhamba

Post our heavy breakfast which was rather late we decided to leave Khirsu by 11am.

We now decide to hit Srinagar, Uttarakhand, which was just 31 km from Khirsu and then take the more known Rishikesh-Badrinath highway. And once again we were cruising as if we were racing for our lives. What fun, what adrenaline and what thrill.

Soon Srinagar was in our sights

After crossing Srinagar, we halted at Kaudiyala for our lunch. As usual, we fed ourselves at Monal restaurant. Chole, Aloo obi, egg bhurji, yellow dal and roti, basic simple but AWESOME food. It was about 4.00 in evening we crossed Rishikesh, and got stuck in traffic again. Once out of it, some town close to Muzzafarnaggar had a terrific traffic jam. After spending about 2 hours to travel 1.2km, we cruised again. Only to get another minor niggling problem ahead of Modinagar on the outskirts of Gazhiabad. At a traffic signal, Gypsy refused to crank up, apparently the starter was dead now. Got out of the car out of sheer frustration and pushed it alone like a madman. Hriday in the driving seat, put it in the gear and took his feet of the clutch and volla the gypsy cranked. Now mission was to not let the Gypsy relax and always keep the gypsy in running condition. So no dinner stop. Soon, we were home. Time to relax and go off to sleep.

What a heck of a weekend!! Full of adrenaline rush, non-stop driving, the shear fun of handing a beast, which had no power steering, a real driving experience. Waiting for another one though..

Hope have not bored you much. Will be back with another one, hopefully soon enough!

Cheersss!!

Tanzeem Patankar