[aaggoswami]

@SS-Traveller:
The picture in which the small kid has one hand on dash, is the kid laughing or crying ?
I appreciate the courage you have to do this trip with small kid.
But call it trust worthy maruti peace of mind factor.

We too have Nov 1992 M800. We have done Mahabaleshwar to Vadodara in one day.
This car is simply fantabulous. Did Vadodara-Goa-Vadodara trip too in this car.
But the real point is this: 8 Leg drive.
Dont underestimate the car or overestimate human power. I was at one corner once.
It was not a problem with me ( I am myself 90+ kgs and with good physique ), but my cousin strained his back.
Best done by person who have experience and more mental strenght than physical.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

...is the kid laughing or crying ?

Good question! That's my daughter, and she was 2 years and 3 months old at that time. I would presume she was laughing , mainly because if she was crying I would have been busy placating her and not taking pictures!

[rapidsnail]

Awsome. I apperitiate your effort to scan and put a decade old trip memories, and we had black base number plates then. I had forgotten this, my poor memory.

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Just remembered that a few days after coming home, both the rear leaf springs broke within a week of each other. The Gods looked after us well on the trip.

Dearest Brother , It was good to read about your trip. I wanted to tell you that I have been travelling on this road for last 28 years. Every year we go to Sri Hemkunt Sahib which is about 30 kms before Badrinath.
We are group of about 150 members from Mumbai. We start our journey from Mumbai by train upto Delhi from Delhi by buses. 1st halt at Rishikesh Gurudwara, 2nd halt at Srinagar, Finally bus journey ends at Govindghat.
All these years not a single year has gone without we getting stuck on the road due to landslides, sunken road,boulders fallen from hills etc.Onece we had to stay put in Govindgaht for 8days at a streach. All we were doing all these 8 days was get up in the morning and relax in the shops in the vicinity of gurudwara. At last road was cleared and we proceeded to Rishikesh .In years back up to 1981 or so taking your car to Badrinath was very very rare all used to trval in buses. It started in after roads improved after 1992 or so.Now we find cars like Honda CRV, Honda City, Once a lone Honda Accord was seen in Govndghat Gurdwara Parking lot. Now we find youngsters on motorbikes traveling from far as Nagpur and even Mumbai,even road getting blocked is becoming rare. After few couple of years even gate system of allowing only one way traffic from Joshimath to Badrinath will be one away with, work on this is in full swing for the last 10 years on this road.

[SS-Traveller]

Thanks, Iqbal, for sharing the information. Yes, it was only a very brave soul who would venture there in his own car in the 1980's. We had done a bus trip back then (1984), and I was forever smitten to drive in the hills myself. Unfortunately, I have never been to Hemkunt Sahib or the Valley of Flowers, even though I have travelled across Govindghat a few times. Now, with a bad back, I really don't know if I'll ever be able to trek that far, but that trek is definitely on my wish-list. Maybe someday...

[harishnayak]

Thats a great feat achieved by you on a 800 , I see the fuel indicator on empty on one of the pictures so was that a malfunctioned meter or you were low on fuel on such a drive.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by harishnayak

I see the fuel indicator on empty on one of the pictures so was that a malfunctioned meter or you were low on fuel on such a drive.

Nothing so serious . Just the ignition turned off!

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Nothing so serious . Just the ignition turned off!

Ah, the good old days when fuel gauges used to go to zero with ignition off!

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

Ah, the good old days when fuel gauges used to go to zero with ignition off!

Was it just in the good ol' days? My Swift's gauges all go to zero with the ignition off. So did the gauges on my Zen. The Accent's fuel gauge keeps showing the fuel level. So did the Indica's.

I guess this varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Funnily though, the Accent's speedometer registers zero with the ignition turned off, when it's rolling.

[gearhead_mait]

What to say! Travel of the earlier days always remains a charm and makes us nostalgic. Seeing the condition of the roads and with a 2 year old child, it was surely a hair-raising experience. Nothing to comment on your driving skills but surely this drive was different than the one's you made with hàwkonfour and TRO.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by gearhead_mait

What to say! Travel of the earlier days always remains a charm and makes us nostalgic. Seeing the condition of the roads and with a 2 year old child, it was surely a hair-raising experience. Nothing to comment on your driving skills but surely this drive was different than the one's you made with hàwkonfour and TRO.

It's been almost 9 years since I posted the travelogue, and a little over 17 years since we undertook that trip. I was new to the forum, and new to the vBulletin format. As you can see, the text and photos are not aligned, and the description is not detailed. Yet, that was one of our many trips at a time when I hardly understood computers and the internet. The details of that trip, however, are deeply etched in my mind due to a certain sentimental angle to that trip.

My mother loved the mountains - one of the reasons why I had become addicted. She was ailing for some time, and even though she wanted to visit Gangotri at some point in her life, high altitude travel was medically not feasible for her. We had been egging her on to get better, following which we would take that Gangotri trip. Sadly, she passed away in July 2000 of acute myocardial infarction. The trip was undertaken in her memory.

If the journey to Gangotri was arduous for the car, the leg going to Badrinath was physically far more taxing for us. A landslide after Joshimath meant that we had to leave our car at the GMVN TRH Joshimath, take a shared cab to the point where the landslide had occurred, trek across 3 km of mountain trails with our daughter on my shoulders, and then take a bus from the other end to carry on to Badrinath. On the way to Joshimath, there was another steep, narrow stretch which the car refused to climb at one go after I had to stop for oncoming traffic; I had to reverse down about 500m to a level patch, gun the engine in first and make it through.

Our M800 (a 1996 carburetted 4-speed model, with rear leaf springs) had performed beyond all expectations, and since then I have had a huge amount of respect for the capabilities of the little car in the mountains. Folks in the Himalayan regions have equal respect for the M800 (and its later versions, the Alto), and there are hundreds of thousands of these vehicles performing amazingly in all kinds of altitudes and terrains, being driven by some amazing people too, as you found out for yourself.

Ever since encountering that road to Gangotri, I've always wanted a 4x4 with a low range transfer case, just so that my family does not have to get out and walk every time we encounter a treacherous patch in the mountains. But my dream only came true 9 years afterwards, and I truly appreciate the guts of anyone that dares to take on those roads and altitudes in little cars, as you did.

Here's one more photo of 3 generations together, on the banks of the Bhagirathi river - my MIL, wife and daughter.

[gearhead_mait]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

It's been almost 9 years since I posted the travelogue, and a little over 17 years since we undertook that trip. I was new to the forum, and new to the vBulletin format. As you can see, the text and photos are not aligned, and the description is not detailed. Yet, that was one of our many trips at a time when I hardly understood computers and the internet. The details of that trip, however, are deeply etched in my mind due to a certain sentimental angle to that trip.

My mother loved the mountains - one of the reasons why I had become addicted. She was ailing for some time, and even though she wanted to visit Gangotri at some point in her life, high altitude travel was medically not feasible for her. We had been egging her on to get better, following which we would take that Gangotri trip. Sadly, she passed away in July 2000 of acute myocardial infarction. The trip was undertaken in her memory.

If the journey to Gangotri was arduous for the car, the leg going to Badrinath was physically far more taxing for us. A landslide after Joshimath meant that we had to leave our car at the GMVN TRH Joshimath, take a shared cab to the point where the landslide had occurred, trek across 3 km of mountain trails with our daughter on my shoulders, and then take a bus from the other end to carry on to Badrinath. On the way to Joshimath, there was another steep, narrow stretch which the car refused to climb at one go after I had to stop for oncoming traffic; I had to reverse down about 500m to a level patch, gun the engine in first and make it through.

Our M800 (a 1996 carburetted 4-speed model, with rear leaf springs) had performed beyond all expectations, and since then I have had a huge amount of respect for the capabilities of the little car in the mountains. Folks in the Himalayan regions have equal respect for the M800 (and its later versions, the Alto), and there are hundreds of thousands of these vehicles performing amazingly in all kinds of altitudes and terrains, being driven by some amazing people too, as you found out for yourself.

Ever since encountering that road to Gangotri, I've always wanted a 4x4 with a low range transfer case, just so that my family does not have to get out and walk every time we encounter a treacherous patch in the mountains. But my dream only came true 9 years afterwards, and I truly appreciate the guts of anyone that dares to take on those roads and altitudes in little cars, as you did.

Here's one more photo of 3 generations together, on the banks of the Bhagirathi river - my MIL, wife and daughter.

Attachment 1708080

See, so many memories popped out of a simple conversation! Loved reading through each line of your experience. Its a shame that your Mother was not able to make the trip, but surely some of her memories were revived during the trip as she was attached to the mountains as well. Thanks again for sharing such wonderful memories. The picture of three generations together reflects the bonding you share. Cheers!