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.
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