Four days after the Winter Solstice on Dec 21 is 25th , the day of the return of the full sun…as I walked sleepily down to the safari counter at 5.30 am, this geography lesson was the lamest sundry thought my brain had ever cooked up in a long time J ..what else do you expect when you sleepily reach the safari counter at 5.30 am and are trudging back towards the main road in about 2 minutes with long faces..?
Just as dawn was breaking the day 2 of the ride started with disappointment (no safari till 8 am,) …and disappointment solved by kpher Jugadgiri. Quietly with only tea estates giving us company on both sides of the road, we sat down at the stools of a tea shop. The owner was not one to be hurried up without a good reason and quite obviously we did not look like reason enough for him to rustle up some quick tea,
Kpher jugadgiri and the tea shop owner's reason ARRIVED in the form of Jani – he came thundering down the road on his bike, long flowing hair on a big frame, with news that Bapu had done some 'Jugad' and 2 Gypsies were ready for our safari. Grinning in those wee hours we drank up to his health and were soon inside the Park !
How very 'different' this Khaziranga topography was and no wonder it was ideal home for the Rhinos…no dense jungle…flat land with trees and long tall grass. The first spotting I could manage was quite frankly just a fat ass of moving animal….The second looked like a huge rock sitting on 4 legs next to a pond..almost as if carved in lifeless stone with the only life around in the shape of tortoise's basking under the sun and a big herd of water buffaloes with horns spanning many meters wide grazing nearby. Rest of the safari was just the silence….we did see a few elephants grazing which jumped our nerves for a second only to be slapped down by somebody pronouncing that they were tame vehicles used for the elephant safari …so much for our wild life adventure!
By the time we got dropped back at the dormitory, kphers were loading their bikes, Doniv was in search of a Barber to become the next shakaal after Pravo. The rum cake was the sole reminder that it indeed was Christmas! The goats nearby got to eat some of the cake and were soon tripping about drunk. Nicky's surprise Christmas gift was the highlight of the morning - Her mom had given St Christopher pendants for all of us and like nice little children we closed our eyes in a small prayer to St Christopher, the patron saint of travelers.. hey Nicky I still have it in my wallet though Im missing this year's travel out with all the gang.
The ride for the day was ready to start and the bikes faced and rode towards Johrat leaving just a couple bikers behind. Biju who was tailing me had a rush of adrenaline and overtook and I only realized that I was now the defacto tail with Biju shooting ahead. Now I really don't like to be the solo tail so Biju just had to be stopped right away as his adrenaline might carry him over from Arunachal to china. Opening full throttle I waved down the Mallu bhai …stop dude or do you want me to kick you! Suddenly from somewhere Biren materialized as well with a "why do you guys make me ride like this, damn it! " look. It seemed that all had stopped for breakfast a few kms back ..no wonder Biren eyes had this stern look - do you guys mind stopping this race to China//Head back..Follow my lead..OK.
We were chastened with all the unsaid words, I was preparing a lecture for Biju on the ride back to the breakfast joint, a small hotel next to the highway and meekly took our chairs. Food was attached without asking for rates and got a hefty bill…the biggest breakfast bill Ive seen on a ride. After some bargaining it was reduced a bit.
We were late and the plan was to reach Dibrugarh were Biren had booked his friend Krishna's lodge for us. I was cheated by the attendant of a few hundred bucks at the petrol stop at the Johrat bypass ….disappointment …disappointment… The sunset was looking to set at scheduled time at 4.30 and there wasn't enough time to ride into Dibrugarh in daylight and nighttime riding was risky proposition on the heavy night traffic road. Now where to go ? Hotel…maybe…we checked out a highway hotel which turned out to be expensive and the next option was what we all love to do "Camping".
A dry paddy field off the highway was chosen as the camping site and the tents were pitched just in time before the dusk set in. SatRao, my shitmate and Biren the one who spoke in the morning with his eyes were my tentmates …the tarpaulin was spread for the shaam e mehfil and dinner in the shape of dal and rice were ordered from a small highway dhaba to be picked up at 8.30 PM. Two bikes rode down …with Biju as my pillion through the mud trail to the highway..to the dhaba was fun to ride …Biju and me stopped at the Dhaba, the other bike went in search of Ciggies and were nowhere to be seen. Biju maharaj maroed France main Chance gulping down 2 pegs of rum with 2 fish fries as shopkeeper broke his head to find vessels to pack our food. It was tricky to carry the hot food on the bikes but we did do a good jugad and reached back without scalding ourselves with the hot food or dropping it by the roadside J ..so you see from the morning gypsy jugad, to this, we were really getting into the riding groove…its getting almost like romancing the roads again…lets eat maadi and retire for the night…lots more jugads coming up tommorow
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Day 4 - 24th Dec 2007
Am I in Haridwar ? that's the first thought on Christmas eve morning as I woke up to "Om Jai Jagadish" aarti . Bewildered I turned around to stare into the face of my bedfellow ..argh..i could not have gone to hardiwar with him! I closed my eyes to get some perspective and opened them again to full reality , this was the same dingy hotel and orange bulbs in the daylight…shit! the aarti rung out again , what is it ? and as my ears followed the song more closely ..Before I could investigate further , the rest of the gang too was being woken up by the same aarti. It had the same effect on some others. In no time we were up and ready to go. The aarti of course was going on regardless in gaps of a few minutes!I came out to investigate and ran into Pravo minus hair..shakaal avatar , if not Haridwar this could be Tirupati where Pravo donated his hair I laughed to myself but we both followed the noise trail which led to a peacefully sleeping Bapu amidst the loudly ringing alarm of Om Jai Jagadish Harein…
That's how the day 4 but the day 1 of the actual ride started ! It will end pretty peacefully as you will read on to know but for now I was amidst a crackling bazaar , next to titli , under the glaring scrutiny of passerbys who circled like a pack of vultures watching as bikes were getting loaded. The 5 riders from Royal Rhinos led by Imu had already declared their intention to ride with us upto Khaziranaga to apparently 'learn a thing or two of riding from us".Do I know any better than them? I thought..Nah…they better watch Jani only… Karen bid us adieu and we were on our way.
Being on the saddle after several months , after Uttaranchal this was my first big ride, felt really odd.. The only way out of the initial squeamishness was perhaps to take it real easy so I kept at a peaceful pace following a Royal Rhino biker out of Guwahati town A small ghat section road full of potholes and loose gravel was laid out before us. I felt a slight wobble in the rear wheel and ignored the premonition to my long break from riding. I was wrong and I found the rear tyre had less than required air at the first petrol and air group stop and needed to be tended to. This was my first "wake up and be alert , you are on the road now my dear" personal alarms.
Paranthas at a roadside hotel in a small town made for breakfast and Sobba bike repair routine was continuing as a perpetual exercise as he took off in search of a welding shop along with a Rhino and Pravo. SatRao was his funny self and turned up with a new asset - a Page 3 goggles which perfectly fitted inside his balaclava and his helmet. We still see him sporting it in his office parties and sometimes 60kph Blore meets ;-)..Approving smiles to him, Paranthas and lots of tea later, we slowly started riding towards Khaziranga leaving behind the tail who waited for sobbas welding appointment to be met.
The landscape had changed to paddy fields, an occasional thatched huts with ponds upfront. This was the real Assam I used to see in some of the Assamese movies telecast every Sundays at 1.30 PM when I was in school. We entered a district head quarters called Payong from where the Rhinos bid us bye and returned back to Guwahati. The ride had begun to sink into me by then and I was almost leaving city life behind but still wasn't quite alert as a rider outght to be.. Bapu and I became the interim tail as Sobba had yet to catch up. At one point Bapu stopped to take a leak and the others were out of sight before he finished his business. The simple joy of ripping wiped away all doubts as Bapu and me raced up a small climb uphill, right at the periphery of Khaziranga forest . The gang was spotted parking at a view point shelter with hoardings of Khaziranga festival. From the view point we could spot some deers (no rhinos yet) and had to be satisfied with the human Rhino (Sobby who had caught up by then) in his white and black leather riding gear closely resembling a real one. We hit the road again after a short snack stop.
I was still a bit dull but getting into the groove. Lead Jani kept sighting animals literally where none were visible to our naked eye (especially to my bespectacled eyes) and we stopped often to follow his gaze. Water buffalo was the first one.. I could just see the water but was too wary to admit so nodded in the affirmative ' yeah yeah I see it too' . Next one I saw i.e. a rhino pair in a field about 200 meters from the road. Vinod and Pravo where the brave ones who got close up shots but were alarmed when the rhinos ear was straight and pointed which indicated its intention to charge….We rushed back to our bikes and dispersed quickly when a passer by in a jeep informed us that Sec 144 was imposed in the area and a gathering of more than 4 people would get into legal trouble. Next spotted was a mother and a baby rhino just a few meters from the previous rhino sighting followed up with a rhino sighting on a "Welcome to Khaziranga national park" hoarding J.
It was just 6 PM but it was dark already and the search for accommodation led all to a dormitory with a lawn in the front, Jani took out his Video camera to capture the Full moon. Biju, Sanju and me went off to check on the morning elephant Safari but unfortunately elephant safari was sold out and we were told to go on a Jeep safari which would have to be arranged only in the morning. Biju and me then went in search of a Cake and some Limbu / Khanda. Could not get the Cake but khanda and limbu were bought in abundance from a nearby hotel where we also got a free earful of tiger attack stories. The gang meanwhile had settled in for the night with a small booze session on the lawns…I had my dinner and it was quite surprising but was so sleepy so early in the night.. and that's what I did.. sleep . There was no Om Jai Jagdish Aarti and I remembered id forgotten to tell bapu to switch is alarm off for tomorrow morning. I needed to stay grounded in Assam you see J
That's how the day 4 but the day 1 of the actual ride started ! It will end pretty peacefully as you will read on to know but for now I was amidst a crackling bazaar , next to titli , under the glaring scrutiny of passerbys who circled like a pack of vultures watching as bikes were getting loaded. The 5 riders from Royal Rhinos led by Imu had already declared their intention to ride with us upto Khaziranaga to apparently 'learn a thing or two of riding from us".Do I know any better than them? I thought..Nah…they better watch Jani only… Karen bid us adieu and we were on our way.
Being on the saddle after several months , after Uttaranchal this was my first big ride, felt really odd.. The only way out of the initial squeamishness was perhaps to take it real easy so I kept at a peaceful pace following a Royal Rhino biker out of Guwahati town A small ghat section road full of potholes and loose gravel was laid out before us. I felt a slight wobble in the rear wheel and ignored the premonition to my long break from riding. I was wrong and I found the rear tyre had less than required air at the first petrol and air group stop and needed to be tended to. This was my first "wake up and be alert , you are on the road now my dear" personal alarms.
Paranthas at a roadside hotel in a small town made for breakfast and Sobba bike repair routine was continuing as a perpetual exercise as he took off in search of a welding shop along with a Rhino and Pravo. SatRao was his funny self and turned up with a new asset - a Page 3 goggles which perfectly fitted inside his balaclava and his helmet. We still see him sporting it in his office parties and sometimes 60kph Blore meets ;-)..Approving smiles to him, Paranthas and lots of tea later, we slowly started riding towards Khaziranga leaving behind the tail who waited for sobbas welding appointment to be met.
The landscape had changed to paddy fields, an occasional thatched huts with ponds upfront. This was the real Assam I used to see in some of the Assamese movies telecast every Sundays at 1.30 PM when I was in school. We entered a district head quarters called Payong from where the Rhinos bid us bye and returned back to Guwahati. The ride had begun to sink into me by then and I was almost leaving city life behind but still wasn't quite alert as a rider outght to be.. Bapu and I became the interim tail as Sobba had yet to catch up. At one point Bapu stopped to take a leak and the others were out of sight before he finished his business. The simple joy of ripping wiped away all doubts as Bapu and me raced up a small climb uphill, right at the periphery of Khaziranga forest . The gang was spotted parking at a view point shelter with hoardings of Khaziranga festival. From the view point we could spot some deers (no rhinos yet) and had to be satisfied with the human Rhino (Sobby who had caught up by then) in his white and black leather riding gear closely resembling a real one. We hit the road again after a short snack stop.
I was still a bit dull but getting into the groove. Lead Jani kept sighting animals literally where none were visible to our naked eye (especially to my bespectacled eyes) and we stopped often to follow his gaze. Water buffalo was the first one.. I could just see the water but was too wary to admit so nodded in the affirmative ' yeah yeah I see it too' . Next one I saw i.e. a rhino pair in a field about 200 meters from the road. Vinod and Pravo where the brave ones who got close up shots but were alarmed when the rhinos ear was straight and pointed which indicated its intention to charge….We rushed back to our bikes and dispersed quickly when a passer by in a jeep informed us that Sec 144 was imposed in the area and a gathering of more than 4 people would get into legal trouble. Next spotted was a mother and a baby rhino just a few meters from the previous rhino sighting followed up with a rhino sighting on a "Welcome to Khaziranga national park" hoarding J.
It was just 6 PM but it was dark already and the search for accommodation led all to a dormitory with a lawn in the front, Jani took out his Video camera to capture the Full moon. Biju, Sanju and me went off to check on the morning elephant Safari but unfortunately elephant safari was sold out and we were told to go on a Jeep safari which would have to be arranged only in the morning. Biju and me then went in search of a Cake and some Limbu / Khanda. Could not get the Cake but khanda and limbu were bought in abundance from a nearby hotel where we also got a free earful of tiger attack stories. The gang meanwhile had settled in for the night with a small booze session on the lawns…I had my dinner and it was quite surprising but was so sleepy so early in the night.. and that's what I did.. sleep . There was no Om Jai Jagdish Aarti and I remembered id forgotten to tell bapu to switch is alarm off for tomorrow morning. I needed to stay grounded in Assam you see J
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Day 3 - 23rd Dec 2008
Romantic Illusions of a ride are one part, the other basic foundational rule when on the road is what we bangaloreans refer to as the adjust maadi phenomenon with the pride of place and emphasis on the prefix swalpa .. This night however was getting to become a jaasthi(more) adjust maadi types...With Sobbbas bhickeying in the background, poor me was trying all kinds of yoga poses inside the sleeping bag to get warm… No roof above and a water body, dew soon began settling on my sleeping bag making it heavy and me pretty much cold…the visions of the morning sun kept my sleep deprived brain sane but with imagination was running riot nevertheless …the slightest sound in the water threw up Pirates of the Caribbean movie visions and water creatures arising out of the Brahmaputra…the sound of boats passing by brought along loud whispers of attack plans on our ferry anchored close by and me turning into Orlando Bloom's father cracking awake from a fossil to face the pirates…man to octopus human…ok… somewhat man to mammal like creatures on the river bank…three of them who even snored like humans with the leader's head cloistered in a smelly crown. It couldn't be so closed my eyes tight trying to shake off the fertile imaginations of a sleep deprived brain and cold body and turned the first one to realize it was Sobba Singh ..the crown was his two smelly shoes as pillows…following my ear to the snores, the next two were ID'ed as Jani and Sanjeev ! Goooood Morning…60 kph!
The first respondent was Satish…and he was to become my ever so loved treasure dump hunt companion and this would be his first treasure dump site inspection hunt without me. A good site found and job done, it took some time to wake up the others with the mightiest effort going into waking up the leader of the sea mammals. The river was engulfed in fog and the ferry crew were ready and set sail as soon as we boarded. The leader of the crew was the owner of the ferry and while I was chatting with him about his business model and cost of operation, Nikki summoned for the Christmas morning ceremony for cutting the rich in rum cake baked in Mumbai and brought to North East to have us reel under rum effects.
Passing small islands en route the ferry over misty waters, we made our first halt for the owner of the ferry to attend to some business where we tried to get some tea and failed. The next stop was supposed to be an island to see the endangered golden langur's which was cancelled as the fog made the sailing difficult and we were not in a mood to wait for the sun to come out. Soon back at the starting point of last night we made payments and bid adieu to the ferry crew and lugged our sleeping bags and mats to the main road in search of a commute to Phalton bazaar. A mini city bus was flagged down and we managed to cramp ourselves in between the rows of the seats with the sitting commuters staring up at us as if we were aliens descended from Pluto. Only Sat Rao was in comfort zone and the rest were looking somewhat under pressure…It was soon clear why when we reached sun city and the pressured souls ran off to find toilets. From then on, it was a easy day and I rested along with others from Bang Gang and caught up on precious sleep lost in Pirates land last night while some others went to get their steeds ready for the next day's ride at Sharma's garage.
At around 10 AM, Biren came to check on us. He was supposed to stay with us overnight lest his in laws emotionally black mail him out of the ride at the last minute. Biren and me went shopping for a new pair of shoes for his first long ride which had him tense and excited. I visited the ATM to draw money for Biju , Sanju and myself from our respective cards and pins and on my way back also bought a memory card for my camera which turned out to be a good decision though slightly more expensive buy.
Back at the hotel, everybody was here and there. Biju was there at his new in-laws place – the Kerala Bhavan. Jay was here watching the elections results in his home state. I wanted to sleep before the Royal Rhinos joined us for the evening. Rest who were at Sharma's returned and by evening all the bikes were lined up on the footpath with Sobbas bike still being fixed by Vinod.
The Rhinos arrived exactly at 7PM. Gaurav and few others excused themselves owing to bike repairs. The entire bang gang was escorted by Imu and his fellow club members to the scheduled meeting point. It was on the roadside where their other members were waiting. After an introduction round they were pondering on what next and somebody came up with the idea of having tea at a joint close by. I was tailing Imu who along with one more guy was leading and I soon realized that the entire pack riding behind me was missing. After waiting for them for sometime we decided go in search of them only to find them parked on the roadside. What happened was that Biren's bike wanted to stay back in his home state and had a flat and much of the time was spent in fixing his puncture and this time was used to have a cup of tea from a near-by bakery. Imu's next POA was to take us to an Antique bike and car collector near by. It was a short ride and his collections were lined up as soon as we entered the neighborhood. There were old cars parked in the entire street till his small thatched small house. It was such a fantastic treat to watch varied collection of bikes and cars at a place one least expected under no shelter …not to be missed for anything. The collector was an employee of Assam Electricity Board and his goal was to set up a museum to display his collections. Photo Ops and chit chat later, we headed back to Suncity to an unchanged humdrum. Sobba's bike was still being fiddled around and the balcony overseeing the street was occupied by the Gaurav and others.
We bid bye to Rhinos and went to the balcony where the food was served. The chicken at least was out of the world and just when I was going to dig into my plate a sudden commotion downstairs had us all on alert. What followed next reminded me of the new years eve at Landmark Inn during our previous anniversary ride.
By the time I reached downstairs the shutter was down and 2 guys were captured by 60kph and Sanjay was walking like Gabbar Singh prowling and growling. Apparently while Bhabi was walking up the stairs four guys misbehaved with Mrs Gabbar who raised her voice and chased them along with the hotel guys who managed to catch 2 while the other 2 escaped.
Sanjay came to know about the whole incident and vented his anger on the caught twosome. I was half frozen to see him beat the shit out of these buggers as they passed the blame on the other 2 who escaped and told us that one of them was just a driver and the other had just accompanied them… The one who posed as the driver took us to the car parked on the roadside and called owner, a call which was promptly disconnected by the owner post which he asked us to keep the Keys till the owner came for it himself. Sanjay and Biren who had gone to lodge a police complaint came with an Inspector - a short funny guy with a big stomach - and his 2 constables. The first thing the constable did was to slap the 2 of them..as if Sanjay's beating wasn't enough. He boasted about his efficient Phalton Bazaar police and not a single bomb explosion in the area in spite of threat by militants and took the two back with him. All our bikes were parked inside the hotel compound and strict instructions were given to the security guard to keep the gates closed. It took sometime for everybody to get back to normal and assemble for the ride debrief. My deprived taste buds eyed the chicken plate which I had left as the high voltage action packed thriller incident ensued. Debriefing was followed by food packets distribution to be carried along which would last us for the entire ride.
What started off as a dull day ended up with pure bambaiya style action for honor… So there you see, its never what it seems like at 60 kph…and thank god now it was time for what we set out for …hitting the road…escaping the phalton bazaar madness was number one on my agenda and I suspect everybody else's as well …adjust maadi..ok da…so much jaasthi adjust not ok da
The first respondent was Satish…and he was to become my ever so loved treasure dump hunt companion and this would be his first treasure dump site inspection hunt without me. A good site found and job done, it took some time to wake up the others with the mightiest effort going into waking up the leader of the sea mammals. The river was engulfed in fog and the ferry crew were ready and set sail as soon as we boarded. The leader of the crew was the owner of the ferry and while I was chatting with him about his business model and cost of operation, Nikki summoned for the Christmas morning ceremony for cutting the rich in rum cake baked in Mumbai and brought to North East to have us reel under rum effects.
Passing small islands en route the ferry over misty waters, we made our first halt for the owner of the ferry to attend to some business where we tried to get some tea and failed. The next stop was supposed to be an island to see the endangered golden langur's which was cancelled as the fog made the sailing difficult and we were not in a mood to wait for the sun to come out. Soon back at the starting point of last night we made payments and bid adieu to the ferry crew and lugged our sleeping bags and mats to the main road in search of a commute to Phalton bazaar. A mini city bus was flagged down and we managed to cramp ourselves in between the rows of the seats with the sitting commuters staring up at us as if we were aliens descended from Pluto. Only Sat Rao was in comfort zone and the rest were looking somewhat under pressure…It was soon clear why when we reached sun city and the pressured souls ran off to find toilets. From then on, it was a easy day and I rested along with others from Bang Gang and caught up on precious sleep lost in Pirates land last night while some others went to get their steeds ready for the next day's ride at Sharma's garage.
At around 10 AM, Biren came to check on us. He was supposed to stay with us overnight lest his in laws emotionally black mail him out of the ride at the last minute. Biren and me went shopping for a new pair of shoes for his first long ride which had him tense and excited. I visited the ATM to draw money for Biju , Sanju and myself from our respective cards and pins and on my way back also bought a memory card for my camera which turned out to be a good decision though slightly more expensive buy.
Back at the hotel, everybody was here and there. Biju was there at his new in-laws place – the Kerala Bhavan. Jay was here watching the elections results in his home state. I wanted to sleep before the Royal Rhinos joined us for the evening. Rest who were at Sharma's returned and by evening all the bikes were lined up on the footpath with Sobbas bike still being fixed by Vinod.
The Rhinos arrived exactly at 7PM. Gaurav and few others excused themselves owing to bike repairs. The entire bang gang was escorted by Imu and his fellow club members to the scheduled meeting point. It was on the roadside where their other members were waiting. After an introduction round they were pondering on what next and somebody came up with the idea of having tea at a joint close by. I was tailing Imu who along with one more guy was leading and I soon realized that the entire pack riding behind me was missing. After waiting for them for sometime we decided go in search of them only to find them parked on the roadside. What happened was that Biren's bike wanted to stay back in his home state and had a flat and much of the time was spent in fixing his puncture and this time was used to have a cup of tea from a near-by bakery. Imu's next POA was to take us to an Antique bike and car collector near by. It was a short ride and his collections were lined up as soon as we entered the neighborhood. There were old cars parked in the entire street till his small thatched small house. It was such a fantastic treat to watch varied collection of bikes and cars at a place one least expected under no shelter …not to be missed for anything. The collector was an employee of Assam Electricity Board and his goal was to set up a museum to display his collections. Photo Ops and chit chat later, we headed back to Suncity to an unchanged humdrum. Sobba's bike was still being fiddled around and the balcony overseeing the street was occupied by the Gaurav and others.
We bid bye to Rhinos and went to the balcony where the food was served. The chicken at least was out of the world and just when I was going to dig into my plate a sudden commotion downstairs had us all on alert. What followed next reminded me of the new years eve at Landmark Inn during our previous anniversary ride.
By the time I reached downstairs the shutter was down and 2 guys were captured by 60kph and Sanjay was walking like Gabbar Singh prowling and growling. Apparently while Bhabi was walking up the stairs four guys misbehaved with Mrs Gabbar who raised her voice and chased them along with the hotel guys who managed to catch 2 while the other 2 escaped.
Sanjay came to know about the whole incident and vented his anger on the caught twosome. I was half frozen to see him beat the shit out of these buggers as they passed the blame on the other 2 who escaped and told us that one of them was just a driver and the other had just accompanied them… The one who posed as the driver took us to the car parked on the roadside and called owner, a call which was promptly disconnected by the owner post which he asked us to keep the Keys till the owner came for it himself. Sanjay and Biren who had gone to lodge a police complaint came with an Inspector - a short funny guy with a big stomach - and his 2 constables. The first thing the constable did was to slap the 2 of them..as if Sanjay's beating wasn't enough. He boasted about his efficient Phalton Bazaar police and not a single bomb explosion in the area in spite of threat by militants and took the two back with him. All our bikes were parked inside the hotel compound and strict instructions were given to the security guard to keep the gates closed. It took sometime for everybody to get back to normal and assemble for the ride debrief. My deprived taste buds eyed the chicken plate which I had left as the high voltage action packed thriller incident ensued. Debriefing was followed by food packets distribution to be carried along which would last us for the entire ride.
What started off as a dull day ended up with pure bambaiya style action for honor… So there you see, its never what it seems like at 60 kph…and thank god now it was time for what we set out for …hitting the road…escaping the phalton bazaar madness was number one on my agenda and I suspect everybody else's as well …adjust maadi..ok da…so much jaasthi adjust not ok da
Day 2 - 22nd Dec 2008
Drained after a day spent assembling men, machine and their parts for 60kph's juggernaut I am sitting staring into the Brahmaputra wondering how the river got its name, trying to make sense of the theatre of boorish lights on its waters – shapes which would disintegrate as quickly as they formed.. Alone in this corner.. lonesome to the accompanying bikers.. I jumped seeing a thick floating tree branch mistaking it for a floating dead body. I'd be lying if I said I am happy sitting here with nature et al! but ideal to describe this strange day at the best place to start …the beginning …
Day 2 had dawned amidst frantic noises…honks of rickshaws that made my ears curl up inside and the sight out the window that made me want to transport back home like in Star trek The dingy hotel corridors was depressing, something which I truly came to hate when we returned after the Arunachal trip but more on that later. The familiar Kerala Bhavan was chosen for breakfast and the day's programme was bike health and maintainence. Sanjay bike tyre was missing treads (simply put was as bald as Sanjay), Pravo's horn was missing and other bikes had minor/major problems. Gaurabh had networked before we arrive and a local bullet Mechanic was already lined up. I picked up Vinods 500 and rest of the bikes having problems was driven by those whose bikes needed no immediate attention.
A roadside Sharma's Garage with an adjoining New Sharma Garage was the destination with mechanic/owner Raju in attendance. While SatRao accompanied Raju to fetch the required spares, rest of us except Kareine headed back to pick up other ailing bikes. On our way back we passed few bulleeteers who seemed to be on a recce of some kind. We returned to find Kareine, SatRao and even Raju missing. After sometime Kareine popped up with few locals following her. She had been off exploring and had made friends with locals and this fan clubs mushroomed where she went. Kariene, to her credit is a one of a kind smiling chatter box – a chatter box who has lived in India for a decade and knows to speak hindi and has even studied Hindi at some university! That's more than what I have done with Hindi. She rode from Delhi to France on a bullet! That's more than what I have done since I haven't even been to France if you don't count stop over's at Charles de Gaulle'.
Meanwhile the bulleeteers whom we crossed on our way to the garage came back and parked their bikes near the Sharma garage and looked like conspiring against us. In my mind I had begun mapping their course into membership of 60kph as guwahati's local bullet club. The leader of the group was a small guy with side burns matching the nepali Kukri and a small goatee. This one started moving slowly and apprehensively towards us, introducing himself as Imu. Since we dint bite him rest of his gang too joined him. They were in fact from a local bullet club called Royal Rhinos and turned out to be bunch of sweet people who were of great help in the coming days. They invited us to their meeting in the evening which we declined because the steeds, receiving other members arriving in would take much of the day and the evening was planned on the river but we promised to meet them the next day evening at around 7PM. Now to find out how these Rhinos found us – the leak was Raju, the mechanic, who was part of the group and had passed on our info to them.
Now I must say we are very organized thanks to Gaurabh. His 2 walkie talkies were used for many trips between hotel and garage. During one of the trips, we met the Mumbai gang who had just landed. It was good to see Nikki, Doniv and the Ugalae's. With them we proceeded for our nth visit to the garage. At the garage Kareine received an early new years greeting from a local school going girl which I thought was a very sweet gesture. We came to know about Pravin missing his flight at Delhi.. grrr... Sanjay and Bhabi along with Jay had reached the hotel. At about 7.30 PM we headed back to the hotel and everybody was looking forward to the cruise on River Brahamaputra.
It was back to Kerala Bhavan for dinner though this time we ordered in. With our sleeping bags and mats, we got into many autos and just when the caravan was about to start Sobba Singh along with Ian were spotted parking their bikes in front of the hotel. Couple of them stayed back to give them company and then to bring them to where the rest of us headed - banks of river Brahmaputra for the much awaited ferry via the booze pit stop. The girls had a surprise in the form of Santa caps with our names written on them! What an idea…everybody parked themselves in the ferry and I found a corner to myself …the lonesome corner I started off this day 2 with
In the background though Sobba Singh had changed the environment with his loud guffaws . Its always good to see this sweet big guy. All the riding had turned Ian into a charred local. Warm hugs later, everybody settled with their daru and plastic glasses. The different colors of liquor called for a round of photography and as the ferry started sailing. The entire heavy load of 60 kph was too much for the worried owner who was guiding the navigator so he wanted few of us to shift to the rear. That was tough because everybody wanted to do a Kate and Leo on the front but the owner did not want a Titanic at his or any cost. It took quite an effort to divide us.
It was an amazing experience sailing on the mighty Brahmaputra and the darkness added to the overall experience. Soon we shifted to the roof top to continue the booze session and Sobby began relaying his experiences of riding wth Ian and Ian in turn was sharing his experience of riding with Sobba. The Ferry reached the bank on the other side and anchored for the night. A quick inspection to check for wild animals we continued with the booze session and quick dinner from the Food packets later many of us settled down under the roof ensconced in sleeping bags. It looked like everybody would call it a day but none of us realized that Sobba would start Bhickheying and one Vicky in Delhi started hicking (Read Hiccup). Sobba would interject with his "aree beta Bhickheyyy" and an ocean of hysterical laughter would follow like an ocean wave more stronger than Brahmaputra. The milieu was similar to the first night at Gauravs Pad during our Kutch ride. What followed after that night is history and everybody was excited about creating history again in Aurnachal.
Sobba was still bhickeyingg and I was shleepy but could not find a roof to sleep under so settled at the front side of the boat in the open. The laughter and Sobbas bhickeying was the last thing I heard ….
Day 2 had dawned amidst frantic noises…honks of rickshaws that made my ears curl up inside and the sight out the window that made me want to transport back home like in Star trek The dingy hotel corridors was depressing, something which I truly came to hate when we returned after the Arunachal trip but more on that later. The familiar Kerala Bhavan was chosen for breakfast and the day's programme was bike health and maintainence. Sanjay bike tyre was missing treads (simply put was as bald as Sanjay), Pravo's horn was missing and other bikes had minor/major problems. Gaurabh had networked before we arrive and a local bullet Mechanic was already lined up. I picked up Vinods 500 and rest of the bikes having problems was driven by those whose bikes needed no immediate attention.
A roadside Sharma's Garage with an adjoining New Sharma Garage was the destination with mechanic/owner Raju in attendance. While SatRao accompanied Raju to fetch the required spares, rest of us except Kareine headed back to pick up other ailing bikes. On our way back we passed few bulleeteers who seemed to be on a recce of some kind. We returned to find Kareine, SatRao and even Raju missing. After sometime Kareine popped up with few locals following her. She had been off exploring and had made friends with locals and this fan clubs mushroomed where she went. Kariene, to her credit is a one of a kind smiling chatter box – a chatter box who has lived in India for a decade and knows to speak hindi and has even studied Hindi at some university! That's more than what I have done with Hindi. She rode from Delhi to France on a bullet! That's more than what I have done since I haven't even been to France if you don't count stop over's at Charles de Gaulle'.
Meanwhile the bulleeteers whom we crossed on our way to the garage came back and parked their bikes near the Sharma garage and looked like conspiring against us. In my mind I had begun mapping their course into membership of 60kph as guwahati's local bullet club. The leader of the group was a small guy with side burns matching the nepali Kukri and a small goatee. This one started moving slowly and apprehensively towards us, introducing himself as Imu. Since we dint bite him rest of his gang too joined him. They were in fact from a local bullet club called Royal Rhinos and turned out to be bunch of sweet people who were of great help in the coming days. They invited us to their meeting in the evening which we declined because the steeds, receiving other members arriving in would take much of the day and the evening was planned on the river but we promised to meet them the next day evening at around 7PM. Now to find out how these Rhinos found us – the leak was Raju, the mechanic, who was part of the group and had passed on our info to them.
Now I must say we are very organized thanks to Gaurabh. His 2 walkie talkies were used for many trips between hotel and garage. During one of the trips, we met the Mumbai gang who had just landed. It was good to see Nikki, Doniv and the Ugalae's. With them we proceeded for our nth visit to the garage. At the garage Kareine received an early new years greeting from a local school going girl which I thought was a very sweet gesture. We came to know about Pravin missing his flight at Delhi.. grrr... Sanjay and Bhabi along with Jay had reached the hotel. At about 7.30 PM we headed back to the hotel and everybody was looking forward to the cruise on River Brahamaputra.
It was back to Kerala Bhavan for dinner though this time we ordered in. With our sleeping bags and mats, we got into many autos and just when the caravan was about to start Sobba Singh along with Ian were spotted parking their bikes in front of the hotel. Couple of them stayed back to give them company and then to bring them to where the rest of us headed - banks of river Brahmaputra for the much awaited ferry via the booze pit stop. The girls had a surprise in the form of Santa caps with our names written on them! What an idea…everybody parked themselves in the ferry and I found a corner to myself …the lonesome corner I started off this day 2 with
In the background though Sobba Singh had changed the environment with his loud guffaws . Its always good to see this sweet big guy. All the riding had turned Ian into a charred local. Warm hugs later, everybody settled with their daru and plastic glasses. The different colors of liquor called for a round of photography and as the ferry started sailing. The entire heavy load of 60 kph was too much for the worried owner who was guiding the navigator so he wanted few of us to shift to the rear. That was tough because everybody wanted to do a Kate and Leo on the front but the owner did not want a Titanic at his or any cost. It took quite an effort to divide us.
It was an amazing experience sailing on the mighty Brahmaputra and the darkness added to the overall experience. Soon we shifted to the roof top to continue the booze session and Sobby began relaying his experiences of riding wth Ian and Ian in turn was sharing his experience of riding with Sobba. The Ferry reached the bank on the other side and anchored for the night. A quick inspection to check for wild animals we continued with the booze session and quick dinner from the Food packets later many of us settled down under the roof ensconced in sleeping bags. It looked like everybody would call it a day but none of us realized that Sobba would start Bhickheying and one Vicky in Delhi started hicking (Read Hiccup). Sobba would interject with his "aree beta Bhickheyyy" and an ocean of hysterical laughter would follow like an ocean wave more stronger than Brahmaputra. The milieu was similar to the first night at Gauravs Pad during our Kutch ride. What followed after that night is history and everybody was excited about creating history again in Aurnachal.
Sobba was still bhickeyingg and I was shleepy but could not find a roof to sleep under so settled at the front side of the boat in the open. The laughter and Sobbas bhickeying was the last thing I heard ….
Day 1 - 21st Dec 2007
Ive been mulling the 'how' of the Arunachal travelogue. This trip was a mini personal milestone. I learnt to practice a trait which has been alluding me for quite a while
- - to be alone without dwelling on solitudes' permanence or its punishment…to travel 'light' - -
Simply put the loneliness of the first few days of the 3 week road life laid the ground work for its final capture. Without getting in any deeper and boring my fellow bikers, here is the story of 60 kph Arunachal riders as I saw it then..
Day one dawn of Anniv ride found me in deep sleep at a time when the rest of the Bangalore gang was en-route to the airport. I was lulled into complacency the night before when Biju replied "yah we are already on our way to the airport" to an SMS I forwarded to him from Air Deccan - " Passengers to Guawahati flight should reach the airport 2 hours prior to departure" . So when Biju called at 4 AM from the taxi, I was still in bed. A fast forward through the morning routine had me waiting to enter the airport at 4.30 AM only to find that the Bangalore population had beaten me to it! Half the population was flying out and the other half seeing them take off! Long queues of vehicles, haphazardly parked cars or taxis with disembarking passengers, grr ...I should have reached earlier but did not thanks to Biju ignoring my sms as a prank! I realized then that a reputation of a prankster is worse than that of a pornstar ;-) I can never be the latter since my vital stats rule it out and also because I don't want to give competition to my dear friend Biju..
Biju, meanwhile was calling incessantly, my emphatic "please I swear Im here" did not seem to convince him. I had to be in sight of the Bangalore gang by 4:50 or I would be made to shoulder the blame for every bizarre thing that happened while we were on the road... including French Prez antics with Bruni...That's too much of a torture for 25 days so I ditched the effort of getting off respectably close to a trolley AT the airport and decided to walk TO the terminal with all my luggage. Sack, saddle bags in military design and my helmet piled onto my frame, I looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando. By the way I was gasping by the time I sighted a trolley it's evident that I was anything but…Arnold had become good ole Shivajinagar inside me. This luggage would be a topic of discussion till Kolkata.
Bangalore gang was sighted soon thereafter. Satish reached AFTER me (please note the emphasis on After). Alin and Srini had come to see us off and we were finished soon enough with the airline formalities and a payout for 10kgs excess luggage...in the air on time. At Kolkata airport we decided to do some cost saving. While offloading some of check in luggage to our cabin baggage , I mused to Sanju "this time the excess luggage could be more than what it weighed in Bangalore". Sure enough! Kolkata weighing machines showed 19kgs excess! .We were not about to pay that especially after the effort of shifting off some into cabin baggage so argument followed but we still had to pay for 10kgs…and yeah I was to be blamed for the excess baggage or so they said!
We got the first whiff of North East in the airport which proved to be a breezy past time The region's young women dressed like Western hippies were wafting around and this pastime accompanied us into the plane to Guwahati too! The landing and exiting out of the airport was quick and soon we were packed into two pre-paid taxis heading towards Palthon Bazaar, about 45 minutes drive to a hotel called Suncity, named after the more famous sister in South Africa. No amount of fancy narration can take away the sheer crassness of the place – the full extent of which hit me when we finished the ride and came back to stay before our return flight but more on that later ..For now not even Biju's delighted yelp at sighting a Mallu food joint Kerala Bhawan could take away the visual pollution overdose. Located as it was very close to the railway station and the bus stand, it was noise and madness. We got the real taste of it on the subsequent day though today being a Sunday it was quieter. To ensure we got some sleep at least we sought and got accommodation at the farside and got a 4 bedded room with a portable TV, a view to commit suicide for and a 100meter sprint to the bathroom i.e in case in a hurry. Gaurabh was missing and our sleuths found out that he had eloped with a "foreigner woman" .
Who was this wild card entry???
Just then Gaurabh made his entry and tagging behind him was the surprise in the shape of a French package… Kareine … a biker who had rode to and back from Cheerapunji with Gaurabh. Meanwhile Assamese brother Biren who had left his family to chill at their maternal home while he combined a pleasure motorcycle holiday announced that all bikes had arrived and were accounted for. In fact Sanju, Biju and Satish's which had come through a private parcel had already been picked up by Biren's cousins! Effficient! We broke up into two groups –One fanning out towards Biren's cousin network across Guwahati and we headed to the station.
Very little casuality to report . Vinod's bike which Gaurabh picked up had a bent handle (it resembled a café racer) and Nikki's bike which Kariene picked up had a broken speedometer glass. My scratch free Titli was happy to see me and roared to life after couple of kicks, Biren meanwhile had a panic look and sweat on his brow as his did not respond to kicks.. "Bishu Mera bike start nahin ho raha hain re… Pahle tho aisa nahin hua".. Bishu (Bihu is name of a festival) brings good tidings to the Assamese and so me too brought good tidings to him "Relax , , its just sulking after a long layoff , push it into action" (as if I knew anything! About bike mechanics) No show except for more sweat coming out of all parts of Biren..Hmm ..Bishu got down to help and found the petrol cock was off. Time to hand over to the experts …one kick from Gaurav and the bike was vrooming and Biren's smile came back and his sweat dissapeared. By the time I reached hotel via a petrol bunk, the feeling of the exciting days of the ride ahead had already started to sink in.
Biju had already established his Mallu connection with the Kerala Bhavan owner Sunil. Appam was recommended by Biju and the recommendation was honored with due respect. I made my Chetta (brother in mallu) connection which was not strong as the Mallu connection but would do.
Brahmaputra boat cruise was next on the agenda and the bikes headed in that direction after a brief stop over at a wine shop. The teetotaler in me told not to be sober and I picked up a bottle of port wine myself. After bargaining with the ferry guys, we settled down for an hour ferry ride for 250 bucks. Atop the ferry wooden platform afloat on the Brahmaputra, the ferry had along with us anchored in the middle of the river after a short cruise. Sobba who was enroute from Delhi riding along with Ian from Australia called Gaurabh to update his status. Wine, booze and plus a little bit of chit chat and it was already time to go back to Sun city but not before dinner.
Food at Sakhshi hotel was not interesting as was the incident which could have been one rocker event provided Kariene had played ball but she chickened out. Here is what happened, an elderly man drunk and looking for cheap thrills sitting behind Kariene started elbowing her suggestively . Kariene , the epitome of French sophisticate politely asked him to refrain to no avail. Gaurav who was sitting next to Kariene pitched in for her when the guy did it again. This time the message was taken seriously and he tried to pacify the big Gaurabh who looked imposing. Gaurabh wanted Kariene to take action now and punch the guy where it hurt most. Kareine ruled it out outright much to our disappointment deprived as we were of an entertaining day end action. But not ones to hold a woman's choice against her, we bid each other good night knowing for sure that the action awaited us the next morning would far outdo any punching session …
- - to be alone without dwelling on solitudes' permanence or its punishment…to travel 'light' - -
Simply put the loneliness of the first few days of the 3 week road life laid the ground work for its final capture. Without getting in any deeper and boring my fellow bikers, here is the story of 60 kph Arunachal riders as I saw it then..
Day one dawn of Anniv ride found me in deep sleep at a time when the rest of the Bangalore gang was en-route to the airport. I was lulled into complacency the night before when Biju replied "yah we are already on our way to the airport" to an SMS I forwarded to him from Air Deccan - " Passengers to Guawahati flight should reach the airport 2 hours prior to departure" . So when Biju called at 4 AM from the taxi, I was still in bed. A fast forward through the morning routine had me waiting to enter the airport at 4.30 AM only to find that the Bangalore population had beaten me to it! Half the population was flying out and the other half seeing them take off! Long queues of vehicles, haphazardly parked cars or taxis with disembarking passengers, grr ...I should have reached earlier but did not thanks to Biju ignoring my sms as a prank! I realized then that a reputation of a prankster is worse than that of a pornstar ;-) I can never be the latter since my vital stats rule it out and also because I don't want to give competition to my dear friend Biju..
Biju, meanwhile was calling incessantly, my emphatic "please I swear Im here" did not seem to convince him. I had to be in sight of the Bangalore gang by 4:50 or I would be made to shoulder the blame for every bizarre thing that happened while we were on the road... including French Prez antics with Bruni...That's too much of a torture for 25 days so I ditched the effort of getting off respectably close to a trolley AT the airport and decided to walk TO the terminal with all my luggage. Sack, saddle bags in military design and my helmet piled onto my frame, I looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando. By the way I was gasping by the time I sighted a trolley it's evident that I was anything but…Arnold had become good ole Shivajinagar inside me. This luggage would be a topic of discussion till Kolkata.
Bangalore gang was sighted soon thereafter. Satish reached AFTER me (please note the emphasis on After). Alin and Srini had come to see us off and we were finished soon enough with the airline formalities and a payout for 10kgs excess luggage...in the air on time. At Kolkata airport we decided to do some cost saving. While offloading some of check in luggage to our cabin baggage , I mused to Sanju "this time the excess luggage could be more than what it weighed in Bangalore". Sure enough! Kolkata weighing machines showed 19kgs excess! .We were not about to pay that especially after the effort of shifting off some into cabin baggage so argument followed but we still had to pay for 10kgs…and yeah I was to be blamed for the excess baggage or so they said!
We got the first whiff of North East in the airport which proved to be a breezy past time The region's young women dressed like Western hippies were wafting around and this pastime accompanied us into the plane to Guwahati too! The landing and exiting out of the airport was quick and soon we were packed into two pre-paid taxis heading towards Palthon Bazaar, about 45 minutes drive to a hotel called Suncity, named after the more famous sister in South Africa. No amount of fancy narration can take away the sheer crassness of the place – the full extent of which hit me when we finished the ride and came back to stay before our return flight but more on that later ..For now not even Biju's delighted yelp at sighting a Mallu food joint Kerala Bhawan could take away the visual pollution overdose. Located as it was very close to the railway station and the bus stand, it was noise and madness. We got the real taste of it on the subsequent day though today being a Sunday it was quieter. To ensure we got some sleep at least we sought and got accommodation at the farside and got a 4 bedded room with a portable TV, a view to commit suicide for and a 100meter sprint to the bathroom i.e in case in a hurry. Gaurabh was missing and our sleuths found out that he had eloped with a "foreigner woman" .
Who was this wild card entry???
Just then Gaurabh made his entry and tagging behind him was the surprise in the shape of a French package… Kareine … a biker who had rode to and back from Cheerapunji with Gaurabh. Meanwhile Assamese brother Biren who had left his family to chill at their maternal home while he combined a pleasure motorcycle holiday announced that all bikes had arrived and were accounted for. In fact Sanju, Biju and Satish's which had come through a private parcel had already been picked up by Biren's cousins! Effficient! We broke up into two groups –One fanning out towards Biren's cousin network across Guwahati and we headed to the station.
Very little casuality to report . Vinod's bike which Gaurabh picked up had a bent handle (it resembled a café racer) and Nikki's bike which Kariene picked up had a broken speedometer glass. My scratch free Titli was happy to see me and roared to life after couple of kicks, Biren meanwhile had a panic look and sweat on his brow as his did not respond to kicks.. "Bishu Mera bike start nahin ho raha hain re… Pahle tho aisa nahin hua".. Bishu (Bihu is name of a festival) brings good tidings to the Assamese and so me too brought good tidings to him "Relax , , its just sulking after a long layoff , push it into action" (as if I knew anything! About bike mechanics) No show except for more sweat coming out of all parts of Biren..Hmm ..Bishu got down to help and found the petrol cock was off. Time to hand over to the experts …one kick from Gaurav and the bike was vrooming and Biren's smile came back and his sweat dissapeared. By the time I reached hotel via a petrol bunk, the feeling of the exciting days of the ride ahead had already started to sink in.
Biju had already established his Mallu connection with the Kerala Bhavan owner Sunil. Appam was recommended by Biju and the recommendation was honored with due respect. I made my Chetta (brother in mallu) connection which was not strong as the Mallu connection but would do.
Brahmaputra boat cruise was next on the agenda and the bikes headed in that direction after a brief stop over at a wine shop. The teetotaler in me told not to be sober and I picked up a bottle of port wine myself. After bargaining with the ferry guys, we settled down for an hour ferry ride for 250 bucks. Atop the ferry wooden platform afloat on the Brahmaputra, the ferry had along with us anchored in the middle of the river after a short cruise. Sobba who was enroute from Delhi riding along with Ian from Australia called Gaurabh to update his status. Wine, booze and plus a little bit of chit chat and it was already time to go back to Sun city but not before dinner.
Food at Sakhshi hotel was not interesting as was the incident which could have been one rocker event provided Kariene had played ball but she chickened out. Here is what happened, an elderly man drunk and looking for cheap thrills sitting behind Kariene started elbowing her suggestively . Kariene , the epitome of French sophisticate politely asked him to refrain to no avail. Gaurav who was sitting next to Kariene pitched in for her when the guy did it again. This time the message was taken seriously and he tried to pacify the big Gaurabh who looked imposing. Gaurabh wanted Kariene to take action now and punch the guy where it hurt most. Kareine ruled it out outright much to our disappointment deprived as we were of an entertaining day end action. But not ones to hold a woman's choice against her, we bid each other good night knowing for sure that the action awaited us the next morning would far outdo any punching session …
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