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.