KOCHI: At 67, P Madhusoodanan has an insatiable thirst for adventure and travel. He firmly believes that travel is the only way one can enrich oneself. So, on August 7, he took his Karizma and hit the road from Kerala to Ladakh, a dream ride to a much-awaited location. After traversing 8,951 kilometres and 24 days on the road, he returned to Statue Junction, on Saturday, the very place he started the ride from. His voice carries the exuberance of having witnessed the splendour of the mountains in the most glorious way.
“I prepared for three months. But, the untimely rain and hostile climate made the path treacherous, passes became inaccessible and were closed intermittently,” he recalls. But even when the odds were stacked against him, he was able to tick off all the destinations he wanted to ride to, except missing out on the ride to Pangong Lake. Braving treacherous, snow-clad and slippery terrains, Madhusoodanan is back from the big adventure.
For this former KSEB engineer, travel and wildlife photography remain a passion, a passion which saw him travelling far and wide. A five-time state champion in wrestling, Madhusoodanan says seeing Ladakh on his bike was one of his biggest dreams.
“You need to be prepared to travel, especially at this age,” he says. “I kept the ride under wraps, didn’t even tell my relatives. Because people might try to discourage someone riding at this age,” says Madhusoodanan who did his Kerala to Kashmir ride in 2012.
There may not be another bike ride to Ladakh, he says. “But I want to take my wife Pushkala see the Pangong lake. The place is just heavenly and I want her to experience it,” he says. For Madhusoodanan, travel is an emotion. “Everyone should travel. That is the only way you can grow. And for me, to feel the emotion of the place and understand the place better, you need to travel solo,” he says.