The Anatomy of Journey: Lite

The Anatomy of Journey (Lite) is a travelogue, a translation into words of a fifteen-day motorcycle ride into the Himalayan mountain range. It is a narrative about four restless, young men looking for adventure on the road. The novel follows their epic motorcycle road trip from Bangalore to Ladakh, over a total distance of six thousand kilometers and spanning fifteen days. The bikers discover an entire new world, riding from Delhi to Chandigarh to Manali to Leh – the capital of Ladakh. They cross five mountain passes, visit a beautiful, blue, mountain lake, and end up on what some call the highest motor-able road in the world, on one of the highest mountain passes – Khardung La.This is a journey into the romance of the Indian Himalayas, into the cold whispers of the Kullu valley, into the ancient trading route that connects Manali to Leh to Tibet and then to China over the Karakoram Pass.

Note: This is a condensed version of the original text - The Anatomy of Journey - which is a longer, more verbose version. In the past year I've realized that there are two kinds of readers of this book. One kind of reader enjoys the journey into the mind as much as the journey into the mountains, exploring the more philosophical questions with the same eagerness as the author. The second kind of reader is more focused on the travelogue, the road that leads to Leh, and he/she skips the philosophical chapters. To make it easier for the second kind of reader, The Anatomy of Journey Lite is an abridged version without the philosophical wonderings.