Off the beaten track

Youngsters from Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai travelled to the remotest corners of North East India and Bhutan to experience nature at its best

We have heard a lot about youngsters heading to Leh and Ladakh on bikes. But the North East part of India has remained largely unexplored, but for 11 MBA students from Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai taking the unexplored path was alluring. After all, life is all about doing something ‘hatke’.

With a passion for biking, the group Exstremz formed in 2012 undertook a tedious journey to the serene yet treacherous journey across the foothills of the North East and the neighbouring countries. Ketan Agarwal, one of the founders of Extremez, reminicises the journey spanning over 17 days and 3,000 kilometers.

These youngsters who travelled to the remote and unexplored part of the country say that they wanted to experience adventure and also experience the difficult roads and the rocky terrains.

“In India we travelled to places like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim which is said to be the most calm and serene parts of the country. Perhaps, North East is always said to be the Switzerland of India. We ensured that we visit the most nature friendly parts.

What could be more rejuvenating than being in nature’s company? We also included Bhutan in our trip to know how our neighbouring countries are and understand the main difference India and Bhutan,” he adds.

Ketan who formed the group along with Ravi Tanna said that they started on their bikes on November 1st and came back on November 17th. “We started our journey on the November 1st from our respective cities and met at a common point in Kolkata.

We had hired the bikes from Himalaya Motor Cycle Adventure Club, Delhi. The bikes were of the latest models of Royal Enfield Bullets (Green and Black in Color). We all carried our driving license and other important documents. We also made sure that we had enough information about the routes and had done our homework with regards to our places of visit, accommodation, permits,” he informs.

“Our team members include Aditya Malpani, Anup Limaye, Amit Modi, Ami Mehta, Pratik Shangavi, Rohan Shekh, Roshish Bhaskar and Vatsal Gokani. We started on November 2nd from Jalpaiguri and reached Lachen. Lachen is the starting point of Sikkim.

We went to Gurudongmar Lake, Rumtek, Phuentsholing, which is the starting point of Bhutan, Haa valley, Trek Tigers Nest. We got permits from Thimpu to visit Punakha. We reached Bumthang and headed to Trashigang. From Samdrup Jongkhar, the end point of Bhutan, we started to Udalguri.

We travelled and experienced the places of Arunachal Pradesh and then came to Guwahati. Our trip came to an end and we went back to our respective places,” he shares.