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.