Next day we started the steep uphill ride towards Lachungla. Thank God it was only 7 km. Anju rode along with Gagan to reach the top before anyone else. As the road was extremely bad to Pang we decided that all remain in close contact with each other. Unfortunately, Anju who had been riding extremely well fell on the downhill stretch. We all thought she had a sprain, but we later found out that it was a multiple “rotational” fracture. With a tear in her eye, she slipped into the car. She went for some medical aid to the Dispensary in the Army Camp at Pang. However, Gagan, the group leader accredited her with having successfully completing the trip. The journey continued towards Morey Plains and Debring. Morey Plains were extremely beautiful and gave us a lot of opportunities to click many photographs. Regretfully, the wind was against us and the plains were like an uphill ride. The day was painful and tiring. The trip was taking a toll on Vijay. It was his sheer will power that was keeping him going. It was probably this reason that he did not want to attempt Tanglangla and was even prepared to undertake an extremely long (200 km) detour. We all wanted to do Tanglangla and prevailed upon him. We decided that we would ride up to Tanglangla and conclude our ride there. After all it was only a downhill joy ride from Tanglangla to Leh. We would then take our coach to Leh via the long detour.
| The Accident As we cycled round the corner of the hillside of the Lachung La-Pang road, there was the scene we were dreading to see. Anju was lying in the slush, obviously in pain with Yogen holding her swelling ankle in his hands. He kept repeating “She fell down…she fell down”…poor guy was in shock. He then looked me in my eye “Vijay….(I was ready, my mind racing to the availability of first aid…doctor….heptr evac….)” he said “…..take a photo”(!!!!!!!)…man, Yogen had never lost it….I burst out laughing and turned to get the camera. |
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