Pune-Bangalore-Pune

Biking has come to be a part of life for me and my friend Philip. Nothing compares to riding through Incredible India! Riding makes me realise what a beautiful country India is – nature, cuisine and culture. Our confidence levels rise every time Phil and I do a road trip. This makes us dream bigger, making us plan and execute longer and more challenging trips. The Bangalore-Pune-Bangalore trip was conceived a month and a half before the scheduled date. I was praying hard that my schedule at college would not ruin the trip. I had decided though that what come may the trip would not be called off! We decided to continue with our practice of riding sans spare parts. Thanks to the dependability and loyalty of Phil’s pulsar 150 we have never had to deal with a breakdown. We aimed at doing 850 km from our home city of Bangalore to the city of Pune in Maharashtra non-stop. Both of us knew that this trip was going to be a race against time. We planned to leave Bangalore at 5:00 am, ride through the day and make it to Pune by evening. We got the bike checked and were confident that she would run like a dream just like she had on previous occasions. Little did we know that this trip would make us do things we hadn’t ever dreamt of doing!

Good morning Bangalore!

I got up at 3:45 in the night and left in half an hour to reach Phil’s home in time to leave at 5. It was still dark. I was riding the pulsar, the bike we were going to use for the trip. I was a few hundred metres from Phil’s house when I missed a twin speed breaker followed by a ditch. The breakers sent me flying and I hit the road with a crash. I knew it was a bad one. I managed not to fall but noticed a troubling sound from the front wheel as soon as I landed back on the road. When I reached Phil’s house we examined the bike and were horrified at what we saw. The front rim was jammed and refused to move. We were discouraged and forlorn. I wanted to kick myself. I’m sure Phil wanted to too. How could I miss the speed breakers? I just could not blame unfamiliar terrain. The bike was in no condition to move. The only solution was to leave the next morning or to get the rim straightened. That latter meant we could not leave before ten that morning. We were losing precious time. Was there anything we could do to save it? I gave my friend Charan a call. He’s one guy who is brilliant at being practical and quick decision making. Sure enough, Charan gave me a solution I hadn’t thought of. He suggested exchanging the whole wheel with another pulsar’s. The friends whom I stayed with had three bikes all pulsars. But there was a problem again. All three bikes were later models fitted with alloy wheels which had smaller wheel bases. Charan offered to give us his pulsar’s front wheel. For the first time I felt glad about the popularity of the pulsar. We removed the damaged front wheel and took it to his place where he gave us his wheel. Back home, by the time we fixed the spare wheel and left, it was past six. We were a little disappointed by what had happened but were ready for the road.

Bangalore not letting go….

We hoped and prayed the bike would do it without any problems. When we reached the outskirts of Bangalore I realised a wobble in the back wheel. When we got down to examine, our greatest fear came true. The back wheel rim was badly bent. So bad the whole tyre shook and revolved more like a chapatti less like a wheel. We realised it had happened at the same breaker hit that morning. I was worried the bend might affect the new tyre. The worst part was that all shops were closed that day because it was pooja day. This time we were laughing at ourselves- dont know because of frustration or the situation. The search for a bajaj showroom in that area did not yield anything. Help came in the form of a puncture repair place - the only shop open early that morning. The guy did not sell new rims but was positive that hammering the damaged rim would allow us to ride on. We were ready to take the chance. The thought ‘something is better than nothing’ was ringing in both our minds. The wheel was done. It was better than what it was and we decided to ride. My cousin Arul was supposed to meet us at Belgaum, 500 km from Bangalore. It was decided that Arul would keep a new rim ready for us in Belgaum.

Adios Bangalore

It was past 9:30 am by the time we left the city. We were relieved to leave finally. Better late than never… but this also meant we would have to ride at night, something we wanted to avoid. National Highway 4 was boringly smooth. We did not have any time to lose now. The bike was a source of concern but we decided to forget about it and enjoy the ride. The only things in our way now were the irritatingly incomplete flyovers dotting the highway. We stopped near Chitradurga for breakfast – Phil’s mom’s numero uno sandwiches and some pictures. Our destination for now was Belgaum. We hoped to break there for lunch and a rim change. The road turned bad between Chitradurga and Hubli. We lost time and patience as we trudged slowly on the dusty road.

The Best Of Karnataka

Once the bad patch was over, nature started rejoicing too. We came across some picture perfect scenery. It was the beauty that kept us moving… wanting to see more. The ride from Dharwad to Belgaum was till now the most scenic stretch - lush green farmland, blue lakes, clear skies and a light drizzle. It was a treat to all our senses. Phil called it ‘India at its best’. It sure was. We were able to move at speeds in excess of 100 kmph on this stunning stretch and made it to the city of Belgaum by 4:00 pm. My cousin Arul took us to two Bajaj authorised showrooms. Both showrooms were open but refused to take the bike in stating time constraints and the fact that it was festival day as reasons. Phil swore to himself that he would write to bajaj complaining against the showrooms. We visited a few spare part shops but were not satisfied with the spares they presented to us. We were tired and hungry and desperately wanted to continue riding. We finally left Belgaum at 7:30 pm after getting the chain tightened and an awesome lunch or supper - call it what you may.

Nothings gonna stop us now...

Nothing stopped us now. The road was by far the best we got. Good roads present riders with the risk of dozing off because of monotony. Both of us did feel sleepy at times on the trip but we stopped for a chai as soon as this happened. Entering Maharashtra gave us the added impetus to carry on riding non-stop…Kolhapur, Satara and finally Pune. Night riding was not bad after all! We were riding in the moonlight, the stars were out, the weather cool and the bike felt as good as new. We were looking forward to this leg of our trip because of the tunnels that dot the ghats before Pune. Sure enough...the tunnels sure were worth the wait. We entered Pune at 12:00 am after conquering the dusty, lorry filled ghats preceding the city. We had done it. The ride had not been smooth but we fought back. We finally reached our destination in Kalyani Nagar, Pune after stopping a million people to ask for directions. Pune with its poor city roads reminded us that Bangalore is not too bad! We had a beautifully furnished bungalow to ourselves, complete with air conditioned rooms, attendants and food. All thanks to Phil’s friend Vanessa, who’s wedding the next day, was the very reason for our road trip.

In Pune City...

We lazed around in bed till ten the following morning. Phil was going out with his friends to explore Pune and for the wedding. I was looking forward to meeting my friends from school. The day was fun and brought back many memories. The bike did not move. We gave her one full day of well deserved rest!

Both of us got back at midnight after a well spent and enjoyable day. We tried changing the engine oil but couldn’t because of lack of tools. We decided to get it changed first thing next morning. Our plans of leaving Pune at 5 did not materialise because we were awake having a long due heart to heart talk till 2 in the morning! We gave each other some important advice on the most important issues in life.

Pune Blues

We left our Kalyani Nagar accommodation by 6:00 the following morning. But just like Bangalore, Pune also refused to let go of us. We somehow managed to hit NH 7 leading to Hyderabad. We failed to realise who misguided us… truck drivers, helpful people or the cop. Call it lack of understanding or sheer misfortune – we hit the wrong road.

We had covered a good 20 km when we realised we were in Saswad village in rural Maharashtra miles away from the NH. We had no clue about where to go to reach the highway. Villagers were not sure either. Help came in the form of the 'Lonely Planet' book Phil had somewhere in the depths of his backpack. We couldnt believe the wonder of a book had the tiny village in it! We realised we were totally off track on State Highway 64 thinking it was NH 4. According to the book, we had to take a side road to the highway through Nasrapur village. We took this scenic route after a breakfast of traditional vada-pav, kachori and chai.

Need for Speed

We finally hit the highway at around 10:30 am. The wrong route cost us precious time but took us through some of the most beautiful transfixing scenery I’ve ever seen. I felt India has so much of unexplored untapped natural beauty. This particular stretch comes close to the hill stations of Khandala and Lonavala near Mumbai. Wonderfully wonderful! It was probably the best I’ve ever seen. It was sad that our camera decided to die out at this very important time.

Once we reached the NH we averaged between 80 and 90 kmph on the Satara to Belgaum stretch. The impeccable concrete roads made us go for miles at 100 kmph continuously. We entered Belgaum at 1:00pm and went straight to my cousin’s place for a sumptuous lunch. We took a rather long time there and left at 3:30pm. From then on it was like a race against time. We wanted to make it back to Bangalore as soon as possible. The superb road helped us reach a max speed of 115kmph. We don’t consider ourselves Rossis but speed definitely thrills! We had to cover the bad leg this time at night. It proved to be the most difficult stretch because of dust and poor visibility. We broke for tea at Harihar and continued after the stop with one break in between for dinner. The road after Chitradurga was smooth. The gigantic wind mills with twinkling lights lit the horizon beautifully. We made it back to Bangalore by 12:00pm.

Mere Desh ki Dharti...

The Bangalore-Pune trip made me realise that covering close to 2000 kms in 24 hours of riding on a damaged bike is not as easy as it seems. Call it clinical insanity or madness of youth. Riding gives us the ultimate thrill…breaking the monotony of living life in a city.
It also made me realise what an amazing country India is. Each state is a country in its own right because it is so strikingly different in language, customs, natural beauty and flavour. The colours of India are truly rich, vibrant and diverse.

The bike needed a complete service, chain, sprocket and rim change. She’s now set for the ‘Kashmir to Kanyakumari’ Road trip we plan to do with our both our dads in April ‘07. We hope to make it an epic journey across India. I can trust the pulsar for anything now. Thank you Bajaj.

f.r.i.e.n.d.s

I really don’t know how to define a friend. Maybe I do but I don’t know how to spell it out. I have many, everyone does, and we cant do without them (at least some of them). Sometimes it takes time to make friends and at other times it doesn’t. Isn’t it amazing to think of how we relate to them and they to us? And you know what I find fascinating? When I think of how two completely different human beings, who haven’t known anything about each other, haven’t seen each other, lived separate lives – one day come to share, talk and relate. At times it takes a while to get to know a person and to become good friends and at other times, it doesn’t. Doesn’t it sound like magic?! How two people know each other inside out? And trust and rely on each other completely? Life changes fast when such things happen.
Sometimes I wonder what I’ll do without my friends. I think of a situation when one fine day I get up in the morning and realize I’ve got no friends. Scary…. Isn’t it?! Maybe I’m too attached to them.
The sad part of this whole thing is the leaving part. I really don’t know why but I don’t believe in this thing of ‘friends forever’ which people so often say. Maybe because situations, other people and the twists and turns of life have always taken my friends away from me. Always. And it hurts when this happens. It might be more for those who are more attached to each other and less for those who are less but it brings life to such a halt. Don’t know why but it’s like the end of a chapter or the road coming to an end. A very smooth road! It’s worse if one person is more attached and one less and its even worse if its one of those cloooose ones. There are those who love making friends and have many and there are those who love making friends but have few! Guess the latter find it more difficult to let go when the times comes. And you know what? The psyching part is we can never know when it can happen. It can happen as fast as it started. When you get to know it, it’s like hitting a wall. The reasons can be many. Life might take them away to other places, they might be just there but not there (you know what I mean?) or they might even find love. But the truth is that those people will never again be able to share, relate to and talk again. It can also happen gradually when the fact that the magic is gone is quite apparent. This is like slow death.
For all those who are my friends let me tell you. Life is difficult without you! Don’t leemee. Be there for as long as you can. For all those who have been my friends but are now far away or busy or going away or just not there, I miss you. Wish I had you for life! I might not express it often or I might not have till now but I now am. I’ve had amazing friends all these 23 years of my life. They come, stay there and go but always leave their mark and I value those marks. Thank you for being my friend... A lifetime is not enough to live as friends.

date with the cops

I havent been able to figure out why Bangalore's traffic police like me so much. They seem to stop me so often. My friends move around all over the place sometimes without papers and none of them are stopped. God knows why!
ive had encounters that have turned into visits to the court on more than one occasion.
read the latest: i was on my way to yeshwantpur one morning with my cousin Arpit. We were going there to pickup his van that had arrived by truck from Mumbai. Checking was on and sure enough, the cops (one sub inspector and two of his subordinates) invited us with open arms after a signalnear the hebbal flyover. Ive become quite comfortable with them in these 5 years in bangalore and treated it as a routine check completely unaware of what was in store for us. Showed them all my papers and waited for them to tell us to go. The date had just begun. This was warm up phase, on the dance floor.
Shock 1:
'jembing signal'. we realised that we were being accused of jumping the signal. Arpit looked stunned! so was i but i thought they would let us go. But They Did Not.
I was told to pay 100 bucks as fine. I refused. By now, our friends knew we were could not speak in kannada. that was it. war broke out. Arpit lost his cool! being from mumbai he was unaware of bangalore rules. it was crazy after that. passersby changed to stoppersby. We knew we did not jump the signal and so paying was out of the question. The cops asked me for the key and i refused to give it.
Arpit pulled out his phone and took down the sub inspectors name and accused him of accepting a bribe. That was it. It was now two of us VS three of them and the public. I was seeing stars. was clueless about what was to happen. One thing was very clear though. We had rubbed the cops the wrong way and they were angry. Nothing was going the way i wanted it to.
Arpit was pushed by the cops and i was ready to see him slapped! thank God that dint happen! he did not budge and let them push him! sheesh...there was silence after this. A silence that told me that this was just the beginning of things to come.
Shock 2:
refusing to give key.
non-cooperation with the police.
creating a nuisance.
We were charged with all three and the fine amount? 400 rupees!the stars i could see were brighter now.
We decided that it would be best for Arpit to disappear from the scene. That he did. It was now my turn to speak. First thing: 'Saary saar', 'mistake saar', 'student saar'. He seemed to ignore me completely! it was like shitting on his face and saying sorry for it.
He responded to my apology. The response was calling up the nearest cheetah to toe my bike to the cop station. Sure enough. the cheetah dint come but a cop appeared from somewhere and asked me for the keys. This time i gave it to them. There was nothing to lose now.
Shock 3:
Pay fine in court.
The cops were still furious. They wanted Arpit back. I was bikeless now and couldnt even imagine what had happened. I was given a notice to appear in the metropolitan magistrates court. The subinspector disappeared from there to make his next kill.
I went and gave Arpit the news. We took a rick and picked up the van.
The cops had given us a memorable time. We now had to spend time at the court.

day1: Scene at 2nd metropolitan magistrates court, hudson circle, Bangalore:
hundreds of lawyers all over the place. people discussing cases, attept to murder, jail, fine, bribe... we saw it all.
We had to employ a lawyer. We had 2 options. We could either pay 400 bucks as fine and 100 bucks to the lawyer, get a receipt and get the bike OR we could fight the case of not having jumped the signal with the Bangalore Traffic Police. The latter would require us to come to court every month for the hearing and spend time and money (lots of both) on fighting the case. We would or would not win. The lawyer said it would take time - a year or more. It was time to decide. Arpit said he would fight the case. i said i wont. i dint have the time or the money. It was closing time by then. That meant we had to come neck the next day. It also meant that my bike - my sweetheart would have to stay with the cops.
Day2: My cousin Anant and i arrived at the court the next day only to hear that the judge was not there. We waited till 3 o'clock and finally were asked to accept the fact that we jumped the signal. This was the sad face of India's famed judicial system. We couldnt do anything to change it.

All the pictures you see have been taken on a nokia 3230 phone camera. They're not very sharp but definitely do preserve the trip for all of you to see! Here are some more... enjoy!

kick it....!
All you people who talk long stories about going here and there and doing this trip and that trip and planning and booking tickets.... just buzz off. Go take a walk around your house and then talk about trips you people.
If you're (yes you!) one of those people who have refused to go with me for a ride let me tell you im not going to be asking you to come with me ever again! You dont know what youre losing out on buddy. The truth is you can rarely plan out a trip. At least thats what i think. The more you plan it out the more difficult it becomes. Trust me. The best thing to do is to decide to do it and take off. Theres the almighty to lead you...
Just make sure your bike is rideable. If its not, make sure you know what to do if theres a breakdown. Thankfully that has not happened to us on any of our trips!
For those of you who think its crazy to take off on 2 wheels to distant places, give me one good reason why you think so. If im satisfied with your reason, you win and i'll do anything you want me to! Once you know what it is to ride under the stars and in moonlight with just the sound of the engine as company you'll know what it means. Well life is not always smooth and so its not always the moon and the stars. It can also be sun and rain... but you know what? the pleasure and satisfaction cannot be described in words!

All the posts from "Bangalore see u!" to "back" are from our (phil n me) ooty trip in june of 2006. Since blogs are reverse chronological, scroll down to the bottom of the page and start reading from there... happy riding!

back
We were finally dropped off at the check point by another truck (whom chacha stopped) after he realised that he was not going to move from that point till God knows when! we couldnt believe to be back!
this was just great... man! the bike still existed, the petrol was still there... nothing could be better... we bid goodbye to the cop and thanked him for keeping the bike safe and alive!
seeing the bike was like meeting a long lost friend! she'd spent the night at the checkpost all alone.... poor thing and you should've seen her when she saw us... she went all red all over!
we were back on the road before we knew it... we had nothing but bangalore in our minds now that there was nothing to stop us. Our bums tried their best to but we told them to shut their trap and so they did.
Mysore to bangalore now has roads that are probably one of the best in the region. They are scary at times but theyre awesome to clip on! and that we did.
Mysore-Bangalore was 1 hour 45 minutes. that was it. Our bums started to complain everytime we went into a 'bum'p! never figured out... guess thats why theyre called 'the bumps'!
that was one more awesome trip and probably the most adventurous of the lot...
wutsay phil? we asked for every bit of it.

funkture after funkture
half an hour down the road, we were woken up by the sweet sound of another funkture. bother! bother! now what?!
we got down again.... this time right in front of a phone booth. phil called up all his girl friends and settled down things.... one of them was closer to us in Mysore and he even tried asking her if she could come and pick us up.... obviously not! girls always have something better to do than picking up two guys stranded in rural tamil nadu.... dont they?
well...youre right. we started walking again! yes we did. trod for around 3 to 4 km again... feasted on bananas in between... its was hot mind u. no one in the world seemed to have pity on us. finally... finally.... an hp gas truck stopped. The driver 'chacha' and his aides willingly agreed to give us a lift to the check point some 20 km away. phil got into another interesting conversation about bandipur, mudumalai and wayanad with 'chellan', one of the helpers. He told us about resthouses in the area and things we could do and the like!
we were a little more than a km from the checkpoint when the truck suddenly stopped... we dint know why! everyone except chacha disappeared none of us knew where to!
oh no! again!! what in the world was happening!

ooty not letting go...
had chai at a kada opposite the bus stand. we had to take a bus to the checkpoint, some 2.5 hours away. we were just wishing we had the bike.
now was the time to inquire about the earliest bus that would take us to the checkpoint. The name was 'kakkinalli'. Neither of us were able to remember the name and thank God i stored it on my phone! had to keep looking at it everytime we had to use it!
Our man was in highest spirits that morning. i think the sun charged him up... whatever it was everyone at the bus stand knew that we were two romeos wanting to go somewhere but not getting the bus. we finally got into a bus after much debate.
Our bus started at around 6:30am. Phil understood that he could not reach home by 11. He desperately wanted to call all his girl friends to cancel the dates he had with them but the network prevented him from doing it.
the ride down was awesome. the valley looked gorgeous. and for the first time i felt like everything we went through during the night made sense.
well... looks like adventure did not want to let go of us! the bus stopped suddenly and we realised that the bus had a loose wheel about to come off! sheesh....
we started off again and half an hour down the road... foooosh! puncture! heavens... whst was happening man... we thought!! everyone got down and all the men (except us) crowded around the tyre giving puncture gyan to the driver!
nothing budged even 45 minutes after the incident. by now the women were lying down on mats on the road side and kiddies were happily playing. we were the only guys who were debating about the next best thing to do!! our options included walking down to the check point (which we later realised was 40 km far!), waiting for the bus or hitching a ride on another bus. nothing seemed to work. we did some serious talk too.
finally phil agreed to start walking... we walked down enjoying the road, trying our best to stop every vehicle that passed.... after what seemed like half the distance to bangalore, a bus stopped for us! oh man... the aches and pains were on....
but that was just not our day...!

passing through mudumalai...
off we went on the narrow little road that led into dark forest... we were too happy to get a lift and forgot about the bike. the driver seemed too keen to make conversation with phil... they shared everything from call centers to tuskers blocking the road. i sat mum staring into the distance. the forest was beautiful! lush green, fresh and unpolluted.
It was cold outside... real cold. cant expect it to be warm at 3 in the morning in the depths of mudumalai jungle afterall! the truck was cosy though! we were able to catch glimpses of deer, elephant and a hare on more than one occasion. It was awesome just being there!
We took a short cut to ooty. A narrower road that fewer vehicles take. Both of us dozed off on the way and reached the outskirts of ooty after what seemed like ages! paid 100 bucks to our driver and bid him goodbye!
there we were... standing in ooty at five in the morning. None of us knew why we were 300 plus km from bangalore, bikeless, hungry and cold! believe me its just the thrill of biking and exploring the unknown that keeps both of us going on these road trips all over India. Each of them turn into memories that we're glad we went through.
phil did his job and off we went to explore ooty in the little time we had! all on foot... charring cross, railway station, race course.. we saw it all before day break!! it was quite out of the world to see the sun rise in ooty! the nights adventure seemed worth it! every bit of it...

oh no!
we saw the road barricaded in the distance and realised it was a checkpost. A cop sprang out from no where and told us to stop. i thought it was a normal check. phil started to answer his questions and we were in for the first shock of the night.

An Indica going 20 mins ahead of us was mugged.... guess where? at the point where the strange tree lay across the road! we froze. God! it could've been us had we not stopped for dinner! the driver stopped seeing the tree and before they knew it they were cell less and gold less! the cop said he could not let us go any further. reason? it was not safe! we stood there... our brains racing ahead to ooty... the cop came to us and asked us for a hundred bucks. For what? to let us go. i wanted to hit the guy hard... you know where.

our man saw his boss coming towards us and said "ok ok.. go go!" we sped of like we were on an r1. too happy to be free again! bandipur was beautiful... even at night. i have no idea of how many wild animals there must've been all around us! we were reaching the kar-tn border and were expecting another checkpost. The time was around 2:45 am

Sure enough. I started to pull out my wallet when we reached the border. A young guy (not a cop) came to us and very normally passed shock No. 2 to us. According to rules, two-wheelers could not pass mudhumalai forest between 6 pm and 6 am. that was it. we stood there like statues unwilling to move! imagine even the cops had pity on us! they gave us chai and two options. we could either check into the nearby guesthouse and sleep till 5:30 or leave the bike at the checkpost and hitch a ride on an ooty bound truck. we quite liked the second one! after around half an hour we got a truck to ooty! jumped in and set off! this was probably one bad decision that would make us learn a lesson very soon...

Ooty here we come...!the pulsar, our faithful companion on numerous trips has never ever let us down. She required an urgent engine oil change before leaving bangalore. she had 700 odd kilometres to do in less than a day. we got that done at the local mechanics place. it was time... to leave the dust, the smoke, the traffic and the people behind.
trips are always exciting. its amazing to meet new people, new ways , languages and customs. I feel the real beauty of India lies in the people.
we had to hit the road to mysore asap. i think taking the koramangala - jayanagar - bsk road to mysore road was a mistake! but we hit the highway at 9:15pm. it was time to unwind! philip was riding and we started to clip pretty soon. reaching 80 to 90 with black visor helmets at night is difficult.
i could'nt believe blr- mysore road. its superb! accidents left aside;) the towns passed quickly... ramnagaram, ccd, bidadi, mandya.... whoosh! i took over in an hour. we reached mysore at around 11:30 and took a diversion towards ooty. Now this was the boring part. around 10 to 12 km of totally monotonous non highway road. both of us were mega bored.
We finally reached the road to ooty and made our first break at a roadside eatery. had tomato fry with rice... awesome! paid more for the food because our man the waiter thought we were angrezi speaking uth! had chai and that was it! i felt tired. and sleepy!
phil took over and i felt better! the road was narrow, lonely and not too good. it reminded me of M.P roads. It was cold and dark too. along the road, we came to a point where a tree lay across the road, blocking half of it. it looked very strange and artificial. time flew... and soon we crossed gundlupet and reached bandipur. I was excited!

bangalore see u tomorrow
It was around 5:00 pm on a boring friday evening. I was reaching the heights of boredom at office and desperately wanted to do a ride as soon as possible. Its something like wanting to pee but not being able to!
I had no idea of where I would be going and who I would be going with. I just wanted to go do something asap. Say bye bye Bangalore for some time.
Was all the more bored when i got back home at 5. But then God heard my cries! My one and only buddy Philip called just in the time of need! Our man called for something totally unrelated to the ride but when i popped the ride into his mind he forgot about what he actually called for! thats what is called a rider's mind you see...
Philip said he was all game for Ooty, which suddenly came into my mind from i dont know where!
The plan was that he would come to my place at Ejipura and we would take off from there after sapad. Things seemed to be working all of a sudden... we were on for OOTY! man.... awesome! i guess i said that too early... our man called back to say he had to be back at 11 the next day (sat) for some important work. but... once we're on theres no way it can be called off...thats a rule with philip and me.
Ss now.... it was ready, steady go....! We're coming ooty....