Prologue - The Ride of my life

Three years had passed by and I hadn't kept my date with Ladakh. For most of 2005, I was relatively rooted, wasn't flitting from a job to another, happy doing commendably good work and also managing to hit the road once in a while. But the monkey of course still sat on the shoulder. Making me wonder again and again, am I good enough to plan and pull this off?

At another level again, I had made a promise to myself that I am going to get there this year at least. So, while the passes opened up north, I was trying my hand at magic. Trying to convince myself that it was all in the head, trying to motivate some other guys who indicated that they wanted to ride along that Ladakh was justifiably possible, trying to figure out what exactly a certain tentative sponsor had in mind.

While group after group hit the road, I was reading the updates and getting more and more restless. Finally I took a call and decided to ride alone if need be. And put together the money I would need. Then came the question of getting a month off from work, so I announced it and also got the go ahead {what happened after I got back was another story}. Naturally, I do not even have to talk about the support I got at home. My parents have always known, how I look at the road.

The usual delays happened when it came to AP10R 8691, and I had almost decided to ride to Bangalore or Nagpur and get it roadworthy, but then somebody high up at RE intervened and I could get it serviced properly {so I thought at least}.

Meanwhile, the clock was ticking relentlessly and I was running the gauntlet of "When are you going and when are you returning?" both at office and home, so finally I decided that hey, wtf, I will ride alone.

Sadly, however this meant that I was now not in a position to ride out all the way from Hyderabad, considering that I was already a week or so behind schedule. So I was denied the "Full Monty", and it was time for me to create history, load my bike in a train.

Sob

Finally, with a week or so to go for the train to leave with me, my steed and my dreams, I posted up on all the groups, as usual in my own patented style of bad verse,

To Shangri La

Let reason's lust
lie ravaged in dust
as I set out for rhyme
far from all material grime.

In me may mornings find
a dew-fresh, new-born mind
free from history; to believe
in the beauty that sunbeams weave.

In me may winter evenings goad
a want to try and hoard
the gold of the setting sun
and youth to make dreams get up and run.

In me let nights light
hurricane lanterns that fight
a battle aiding the moon
helping along the unknown's ruin.

Yes, let me try
to find a reason through rhyme.



I also have this bad habit of getting too caught up in telling a story, to tell it straight enough. So let me ramble a bit more and give the credit for help and support where it is due. Adrian, Prashanth, Aman and Jojo deserve a big "Thank You" for being of immense help in their own way. And I need to make special mention of course of Ram and GR {and Bhabhi}, for being always around, for letting me bounce my rants about "stages in life" off them and of course adding some of their own.

Entraining, Detraining, Gearing Up.

Getting the bike ready for the journey to Delhi was a new experience for me. My father came along with me for moral support {I think he was also along to ensure that I do really book it in the train}. The usual haggling happened at Secunderabad station for getting the bike packed and then the porters in charge ended up packing it in dirty sacking though I would have willingly paid for new. Then the guy in charge of giving me the bill {okay, ticket, okay, whatever} decided to come up with a calculation where the figures weren't adding up, and whatever I say, he wouldn't budge from his calculation. Meanwhile Seshu {he was also a constant source of help and advice all the while} called up and dropped in at the station and said that the guy is clearly overcharging us.

I decided not to get into an argument because my father would get inconvenienced and I wasn't too keen on landing up at Delhi to find that the Indian Railways has delivered the bike to Kanyakumari.

We finally got the bike into the Station, got the sacking marked with the destination and the train number, I befriended the loading porter and then I said bye to Seshu and headed back home. I had 2 odd hours for my lunch and to of course also pack up.

Naturally, at the last minute, I realised that I hadn't bought batteries for the camera, so I called Pawan and he kindly bought the batteries and even came to Vikrampuri to give them to my brother. The usual hour of madness ensued thereafter, I somehow managed to finally decide on the number of pairs to carry, and then packed everything into a canvas backpack and my Cramsters {yeah they are good enough for a train journey too}.

I reached the station 2 hours before the train was to leave and then almost panicked when I did not see the Bullet anywhere. By the by, however, I traced the bike and even found the guy who was to load it. But before they were to load my Bullet, the same guys loaded up some other bikes onto Godavari Express and it was really scary, how they first loaded the bikes and then threw almost everything else that they could fit in, higgledy, piggledy.

My bike however was packed in a relatively empty parcel van and the porters assured me that it will reach Delhi safe. Meanwhile, my parents and younger brother came to the station and after the usual advice from all of them, I was finally moving, even if it was in a train.

The actual journey itself was uneventful and I mostly slept or again went through my checklist while the usual passengers asked the usual questions and I gave the usual answers. The train arrived at Ghaziabad and the moment I landed on the platform, I found Sibu running towards me, his usual dapper self and must say it was nice to meet him again. But Sibu being Sibu, of course had forgotten to get any petrol with him.

Ha.

We got the bike out, pushed it to the end of the platform and then I whipped out my swiss knife, cutting off the sacking and was pleasantly surprised to see that it had suffered absolutely no damage. We were to now get out of Ghaziabad Station and try our hand at borrowing petrol from somebody. But I remembered that the packers {Thank God for Hyderabadis} had not emptied the tank fully in their own farseeing wisdom. So we strap on the Cramsters, one kick and I am all set to ride in NCR.

The short cut Sibu had in mind was almost ankle deep in slush {it was raining heavily in Delhi the day before I reached}, so me and bike slipped and slithered a bit with Sibu hanging on for dear life. We finally reached Sibu's place in Ghaziabad around 11.00 to be welcomed by a lovely power cut, had a candle light dinner of food we had picked up on the way, talked late into the night and somewhere around that time, Aman called and we fixed up a meeting in Karol Bagh the next day.

Delhi's traffic is really out of this world. I mean this seriously. I haven't seen this many gifted people { auto drivers, bus drivers and other relatively saner people} intent on sending poor a biker to heaven, anywhere else in India. Also, I was pretty well confused by Sibu's peculiar navigating skills and when I ask him if he was sure about where we were headed, he glibly answered saying, I have never been to Karol Bagh.

Strewth, what a codger the lad is.

Gearing up for the road

Finally, somehow we managed to reach Karol Bagh and then also managed to find a place where they fit the panniers. Turned out that the concerned Gents have a mechanic type parked in front of the shop. The pannier cost Rs. 650, the mechanic divested me of Rs. 60. I must say though that Karol Bagh is pretty impressive, its a market where the technically as well as window shopping oriented can spend an entire year. By the by Aman came over and I must say he made a grand entry, Ray Banned and fully turbanned. His 350cc Standard was also pretty impressive, with a huge petrol tank, the cruiser kind of steering handle and footrests mounted on the carrier.

Aman took it upto himself to cross check what all I was carrying, and we bought some clutch plates, extra Bungees, etcetera, etcetera. Meanwhile Sibu was getting bored, so I decided that it was time for all of us to have lunch and then Aman suggested that we eat at some famous place {need inputs from Aman on this}.

Bellies full, some time to kill and lots of riding talk to catch up with, what will bikers do? We found some pub just besides and then it was time to have some Beers. To my questioning about his Ladakh experiences, Aman just jotted down the entire route in a diary then and there. And I was like, does this guy know how brilliant he is? I mean, I forget the distance from Hyderabad to Pocharam in a week.

Finally, Sibu got too bored and Aman suggested that I get to his place in Gurgaon with him and also that we go to the Royal Beasts meet on the way. So it was another round with the Delhi traffic for me which also I managed to survive. The Beasters meet was pretty cool, Karna greeted me warmly and a couple of the Beasters told me to be careful when it came to the actual ride and that it was raining up there.

Then we set out for Aman's place, where we had another intense discussion about Ladakh, biker egos, people who wouldn't ride even when they can and so on, while I invited Aman over to the south and then we both crashed.

The next day was spent at Lamba Automobiles {my bike was missing a beat every now and then and I wasn't also sure about the clutch}. Aman guided me to Lamba Automobiles' garage and there a mechanic advised me to change the clutch plates and keep the original ones as a spare. Then, me and Aman hunted around and got a nice set of Hella Horns, bought some more Bungee cords and so on and on, till I started wondering what Aman would be thinking of me and so we went to buy the final things required for my sojourn, gear for survival in sub-zero and hurricane conditions, from Azad Market. There's this huge shop in Azad Market {all of three levels in fact} which sells, jackets, gloves, balaclavas, boots, socks, underwear and God only knows whatever else. We however could not get a proper winter jacket here {within my budget}, nor could we get a proper pair of winter track pants. So finally I bought an ordinary Duckback raincoat {upper and lower}, a set of gloves {recommended by Aman}, a Monkey Cap, a high-alti sleeping bag, two pairs of woolen socks and a jacket that looked pretty impressive but was nothing but a windcheater. All this has been painstakingly typed here for a simple reason, gentle reader. There isn't much by way of gear that you will get cheaply or easily in Delhi, according to my own novel experience. So before you hit the road when you head out to Ladakh, better go to your own Cantonment wala market {in Hyderabad we have one called Lal Bazar}, chances are you will get almost everything you need {including Snow Shoes} at a far lesser price than what you need to pay for in Delhi.

Else, send an e-mail to Aman.

So finally, I bid goodbye to the Prince of Ladakh, who instructed me about the fine art of tying luggage onto panniers in Azad Market itself and then gave me directions to reach Sibu's place. I was supposed to hit the road at around 5.00 the next day and reach Manali by evening, but as I wanted to meet the Road Survivors, Aman also called and told about my plans to ride through Chandigarh at around 11.00 to Jassi.

Evening traffic is not exactly meant for a biker, even here in relatively bucolic Hyderabad. And this is Delhi, New Delhi, the capital of India. So 10 minutes after leaving Azad Market, I was for all purposes completely lost, with Ghaziabad as remote as Mars now. Naturally, I also got stuck in at least 4-5 traffic jams and a couple of four-wheelers kindly tested how strong the newly acquired panniers on my bike were. Finally, I gave up and called Sibu and the lad came and rescued me, taking one hour to reach wherever I was, catching a Bus that according to him seemed to go as slow as....umm, my brain does when somebody talks about software or finance.

I still had some more chores, needed to buy some film and also needed to draw money, so we hunted around for the same for an hour, then had some lovely Paranthas {just 6 odd bucks each} and then finally reached Sibu's place to once again be greeted by lovely darkness. I tried packing all my stuff in whatever way I could and then gave up at around 1.00, tired and dehydrated by all the hard work of the last two days. I must admit sleep wasn't easy coming, what with the proverbial butterflies in my stomach and of course the entire checklist of spares, medicines, cash, etcetera, etceteras kind of doing a merry go round in my head. But, I was still like, at least tomorrow, finally I will be on the road to Leh!

Yahoo!!