The ride finally begins...

Day 2: August 2, 2008  Chugging along...

The next day was quite uneventful. We were just waiting for the train to reach its destination, which was to be our starting point. My uncle, whom I call Sathu mama, met us at Nagpur station and gave us a packet of tasty homemade dinner. Incidentally, we travelled with a CRPF and an army officer posted in Jammu and Srinagar! We were still undecided on our route and whether we could go through Jammu thanks to the Amarnath protests. The conversation with them was not of much help! One more night and we would be in Delhi, our co passengers gave us directions on leaving the city. The plan was to get the bikes down and ride to Ludhiana the same day. We were to meet my dad, mom and younger brother there.

Day 3: August 3, 2008 New Delhi – Sonipat – Panipat – Karnal – Ambala – Khanna - Ludhiana

It was the first time Philip was travelling up North. He seemed to like the green paddy fields, the birds and the rustic huts all around. We caught a glimpse of what seemed like a highway and yes, that set our pulses racing. 

The adventure had started.

Nizamuddin, a part of old Delhi arrived around 10am, half an hour late and we were down in no time. We drew stares yet again because of what we were carrying – strange looking luggage to the normal train traveller – saddle bags and tank bags. I went to the luggage van as Philip stayed behind with the luggage and saw that the bikes were down before I reached. I was glad to see no visible damage and got the attendant to sign on my luggage receipt. Some people have an interesting way of demanding money. They appear friendly and say “Khane peene ke liye kuch de do, badhiya hoga”, which means give me something so I can buy something to eat and drink, brother. They also try and inquire what you do just in case it’s a sting operation. If they do that with me, I gladly tell them I write for a living and on asking me what I write I reply, “articles”, and if they begin to feel I’m a journalist, they appear to be extremely cautious. A cop who asked for ten bucks even asked me not to write about him in the papers!

It took us over an hour to get the bikes out because of some address and identity issues and by 11:30 we were ready to take the bikes out. Petrol was no issue because the attendants in Bangalore seemed to be fine with petrol being in the tank! We removed the packaging outside the dirty Old Delhi station, loaded the luggage and were all set. Delhi was hot.

We were out of the station into Old Delhi and hit GT Karnal highway straightaway.

The ride had started… we were riding on the roads of Delhi. After tanking up and a quick luggage check we proceed to leave the capital. The traffic and heat were slowing us down but at around 12:30pm, we left the city limits and were on the road to Panipat. The highway was excellent and so was the weather. We were hungry and thirsty and stopped to experience our first dhaba lunch in Panipat. It turned out to be a great start with fresh mutter paneer, dal fry and roti washed down by lassi.

I could not do more than 50 kmph for 300 more kilometres because I was running-in my new engine. We cruised along crossing Sonipat, Kurukshetra and Ambala. The ride was lovely and when I look back, very beautiful indeed. It rained on the way and we had to stop to wear rain pants and take the tarpaulin out. This was our first date with the rain - our companion for most of the trip!
 
We cruised into Ludhiana at around 8pm, we had had a good start and I enjoyed riding on those roads at 50 kmph. We reached the place where my dad, mom and brother were staying and the feeling was an amazing one. We unloaded, washed up and went to Tandoor Restaurant for dinner. It was great chatting with dad, a biker himself, about the route, our preparation, and his rides on his 1967 Jawa 250.

On your marks, get set, go!

The trip to the North has been an adventure in every sense of the word. I enjoyed each moment of it and am back with memories that make me wish biking earned me money for life. I’m going to try my best to share it with you here.

Once upon a time not very long ago, two men decided to leave the city where they lived to go motorcycling to a far away land. Let’s call them Philip and Steve… They were known among friends to take off on crazy rides to nowhere. Riding gave them a sense of freedom very few other things could and listening to the sound of their engines thrilled them to no end. This time round, they were going to be thousands of kilometres away for close to a month. Some just didn’t seem to understand what they were doing, others thought they were insane, made fun of their dream and thought they would come back midway - a few others stood with them at each step…

Day 1: August 1, 2008 Bangalore – New Delhi

The day for us to leave had arrived. We had spent the last couple of months collecting information, money, and supplies and preparing our bikes for the ride. In order to gain a day of leave, both of us were working on the 1st and our friends Abhilash and Rohit left their respective places of work and went to Yeshwantpur railway station to get the bikes booked on the train to New Delhi.

Back at home, my room looked like someone had ransacked it – clothes, spare parts, biking gear, bungee cords, tarpaulin and documents all over. I was ready by the time Philip came home. Poojitha was there to help me find my missing passport (which she did) and even though the train was to leave at around 10:20pm, we squeezed into an auto and left for the station by 6pm.

We were a little concerned when we couldn’t find our bikes at the station and at the end of a frantic search, we found both booked, packed and ready to be put on the train. Poojitha, Philip and I spent time chatting about our plans for the immediate weeks over bread omelette, took pictures and before we knew it, our train arrived on to the platform. There it was #6249, Yeshwantpur – Nizamuddin Sampark Kranti Express. After usual arguments with the parcel van loading staff our bikes were loaded in and to our relief, the compartment did not have any other parcels to damage the bikes.

We then went on with our own luggage to our compartment. Anant, Rohit, Andy and Jay arrived to see us off – thanks guys. It was time for us to leave on a trip we had only dreamt about. I did feel a little sad to leave for close to a month but now no emotions could stop us from going! It was a little difficult accommodating our luggage but we finally settled down quite comfortably. Co passengers wondered why in the world we were carrying helmets on the train. In case of emergency, I said! We spent some time chatting and crashed for the night.