Once a year they gather to savour the mountains. Have been doing it for the last ten years in a row. Students, housewives, doctors, property dealers, techies from the south and even the NGO types. Some are regulars but newer addicts join the fold each year to fuel a passion which gets its thrills from skidding on black ice at 15000 ft high Himalayan passes, having a breakdown on a snowy mountain road with not a soul in sight or just hurtling down steep mountain tracks without applying brakes. It's the country's premier motorsport event – the Raid de Himalaya. And,it's drawing crowds like never before.
So, when I got an opportunity to get a ringside view of what compels ordinary householders to put their life and limb in jeopardy and turn into Xtreme adventure buffs, I joined the gang. Hopped onto the relative safety of a SUV and tracked a motley collection of motor sport enthusiasts, participating, organizing, conducting, rescuing, stewarding, judging or tending to those injured along the trail of the 'Raid', as this unique car rally has come to be called.