To be very honest, I usually ignore anything which talks about creating or maintaining a chain of any sorts. I have already skipped enough such message chains, blog chains and what not and I would have skipped this one as well had not the theme of it caught my attention. Add to that the fact that was coming from a rider, I had to give it a serious look. Why I highlight the ‘rider’ part here? Well that’s because the people I have come across and have become friends with because of this common passion called riding or those who are riders in the real sense, I have always found them to be been one of the most honest, dependable and wonderful lot I have come across.

So when Freya tagged me for this one, I had to give it a serious look. So here I am, sharing few of my happy moments 🙂

1. I had always loved travelling but had never realized it until the first college-trip to Sikkim happened, way back in 2007. It was there where I had my tryst with the mighty Himalayas. It was love at first sight and there has been no looking back after that. The best part, the mountains continue to work their magic on me and the course of my life and I am way too excited about what do they have in store for me.

2. They say, love is the most beautiful thing to happen to someone. Ask me that. In my case, love changed everything about the haphazard and rudder-less life I was living. It was nothing but fate that the two of us who had nothing in common and lived hundreds of kilometers apart met and fell in love forever. This photo was taken some time during one of my numerous trips from Silchar to Guwahati, an over-night bumpy bus journey which I made every-time I had enough money for the tickets

3. Even though I had been on two-wheels for quite a few years when I moved to Bangalore all I had done in the name of riding were small bursts of 40-50 kilometers. So when I was finally on my own with nobody to stop me here, I actually started riding. And as they say, all it takes is one ride. That’s perfectly true. After my first ride to Mysore, there has been no looking back. I knew this is what I really enjoyed. This is what I wanted to do again and again. This photo was taken when I was at one of the most exciting parts of  the ride. Standing next to anything related to Tipu Sultan, the emperor about whom I had only read in school books or seen serials on the TV was beyond anything I had ever expected.

4. With more and more travel came the wish of capturing the vistas. I was being served my P&S until it was stolen from inside the house one early morning. I was heart-broken but with time the love of photography took over and with enough encouragement from Ruchi, I finally took the plunge into DSLR photography. The ride so far has been exciting.

5. I had been dreaming about riding to the Himalayas, riding to Ladakh sine quite some time before the mountains finally called me in the summers of 2012. After days of riding when I finally saw this board welcoming us to Ladakh, let me be honest here, I had tears in my eyes. It was that strong a feeling for me and I am sure, many others can relate to me.

6. Over the years when all I did was dreamt of riding to Ladakh, the majestic Pangong lake had always lingered in the dreams. The ever-changing colors of the lake, from blue to green to gray. So when I finally found myself on its banks, being ecstatic was natural (I know it doesn’t show in the photo ‘cz I rarely manage to smile as soon as a camera is pointed to me :p )

7. The picture above speaks for itself, doesn’t it? 🙂 🙂

8. Of all the passes I have crossed, the Hampta pass will always have a special place. The passes I have crossed before this has all been crossed on two wheels. While those to me were special to in their own way, reaching a-top a pass on foot, after days of walking is something I will always cherish. More so when it’s the first time. The happiness is very much on my face here, even though I was dead tired.

Here are the guidelines for the eight photos of happiness bloghop:

• Tag me in your post.
• Link to the creator of the tag. Ariel Ward from Ariel’s little corner of the internet
• Show off your own 8 photos of happiness and have fun picking them!
• You can add a little description of the photos or just let the photos speak for themselves. Easy!
• Tag others. Essentially, spread the happiness and make the world a better place!

And the tags are…

Jighisha
Kat
Katie
Ankur Sharma

Take it up guys, it’s fun… 🙂