Ride from Pune to Little ROK(Rann of
Kutch) –Pune approx 1735 kms
Well honestly I had told myself that I will
give up biking after I ride to Ladakh , whenever that happens, and it did
happen in June 2011 when I did Pune- Ladakh-Pune 5800kms but the fact remains,
I have definitely reduced my bike trips but not given up biking. I feel a
little like Sachin Tendulkar who never played T-20 for India and has retired
from One dayers but still continues to play tests i.e. can reduce his appetite
for runs but cannot give it up so easily. Similarly, I don’t gobble up the road
miles like 7 years back, but still need to feed my system a few thousand road
miles each year and now I prefer only nice long rides and the occasional short
beach rides .Incidentally the Harley I got now is perfectly suited for any kind
of ride and road.
There is a biking club at my workplace in
Infosys and though I prefer riding solo or max with 2-3 guys, I happened to
join this Infy bike club called Bladerunnerzz. So one day I got a post saying- a ride to
Little Rann of Kutch is planned and I gave my name for the same. In the end
there were only 2 confirmed riders for this ride , i.e myself on the Harley
Iron 883 and yuvaraj with his wife on his Honda 250cc.
We met a day prior to our departure and I
suggested we start at 3 am on 22nd December instead of 6am which was
initially proposed. My reasoning for the same was that just a month before I
had done a solo 730 kms ride one way to my hometown i.e Pune- Nagpur and
reached comfortably by 15.30pm in the afternoon with ample time for r&r
(rest and recuperation). Also almost half the distance or even more can be covered
by or before 9am after which traffic also increases. Thankfully this was
accepted by yuvaraj and we bid our good bye’s and decided to sync up at
Sadanand hotel on Baner road and proceed towards Mumbai next day.
Day 1-22nd December 2012:- The plan was to ride to Ahmadabad and find accommodation there.
Initially Surendranagar was proposed, but later after we were six hours into ur
journey I suggested Ahmadabad as chances of finding accommodation to stay there
were better . I woke up at 2 am and I was ready but still there was no sign of
Yuvaraj’s call asking me to start from home. He had some issues with his saddle
bag to be put up on his bike, so we finally departed from Sadanand hotel at
3.45 am instead of 3am, almost an hour late.
It was decided that I will lead till we
cross Mumbai as I was sure of the route after which yuvaraj will take over.
Nothing new here, the Mumbai – Pune old highway way welcomed us with the usual
truck traffic on the slight winding roads. The only thing was, I expected it to
be really cold from Lonavala onwards, but to my surprise, it was not bad at
all. I took the Mumbra route from Kalamboli circle and the 16kms from here to
Thane are ridden with huge speed breakers but I was well aware of this from before
and we were going slowly but steadily. These 16kms took almost 25minutes but we
were doing fine. I used to keep an eye for yuvaraj via the rear view mirror. We
finally took our first halt after around 120kms slightly after Vasai creek for
some tea at a hotel called ‘Walton’ around 7.30am. The sun had woken up now and
the roads were straight as an arrow and we could go at double or even triple
speeds of our initial riding speeds when we started, so we were all smiles.
Here I told Yuvaraj that our next halt
could be Vapi in Gujarat and this was agreed and locked upon.
It was a fantastic ride, dead straight road
and before we knew it, we were in Gujarat, honestly, this was one more of those
times when I felt like God, an unbelievable 6 lane straight road with no speed breakers,
a clear sky and my butt on a Harley. Only people who have done this earlier can
appreciate fully what exactly I meanJ. We
had to only slow down only at toll booths and nothing else slowed us down.
There was a small comedy of errors at one booth, at one particular booth there
was no opening for 2 wheelers and we had to wait behind the 4 wheelers to get
ahead and were directed by one of the toll collecting guys to go to a different
queue. But there was no proper opening in the other queue too, and due to a
slight mix up, my front tyre happened to bump into yuvaraj’s bike rear tyre
very gently as he was turning and reversing. This subsequently led to him, his
wife and bike toppling from an almost stationary position. I immediately wanted
to help them to pick up their bike and in the hurry I did not fully press upon
my side stand and when I lifted my leg even my bike toppled along with me. My
bike weighs 275kgs i.e. 80kgs heavier than any Enfield or Bullet bike, so no
prizes for guessing what will happen when one misses to hit the side stand
fully and properly. It was a sight and yuvaraj was wondering how on the earth
did I fall, later I told him about the side stand episode and we had a good
laugh.
We approached Vapi very soon and I was swinging my neck left and right
to look for the restaurant in which I had excellent breakfast when I took the
same route to go to Ladakh a couple of years earlier. But unfortunately I could
not locate the same and as I kept moving ahead I realized that I cannot spot yuvaraj
in the rear view mirror when I approached a new Mc Donald’s on the highway at
Vapi. I called up yuvaraj and his wife told me that they are behind as their
bike’s tyre got punctured and they are getting it fixed. I then headed back
towards them after finishing some sandwiches I was carrying. Since it was a
tubeless tyre and got flat on the highway during daytime, it got fixed fast and
we were on our way again. We went 2-3 kms ahead and stopped at the Mc Donalds I
had spotted for refueling our tummy and a break and finally departed from Mc D
at Vapi around 11am. Our next mini- break was to be after another 120kms.
The roads were again excellent, in fact too good to be true, 6 lane and
refreshing like a beer on a hot day. I now took it easy and reduced my speed and
kept it in between 70-80kmph and was riding break free (without hitting the
brakes) and stress free. It was quite hot and soon we crossed Valsad, next Surat
and then spotted and halted at a Highway restaurant chain called ‘Sugar n Spice’
for some refreshments and refueling. We were around 200-220kms away from
Ahmadabad and it was 13.30pm by the time we left Sugar n Spice. So we figured
that we would easily reach Ahmadabad by 17.30 pm or even before , find a place
and crash. But unfortunately it is rightly said that man proposes and god disposes,
we were brought to a halt from our nice and comfortable cruising speeds and
from me feeling like God with a Harley motorcycle on a 6 lane super highway to
an Aam aadmi( ordinary citizen) of India. I could not believe it; we were stuck
in a jam on a 6 lane highway ahead of Ankaleshwar near Bharuch town. We thought
that that some big accident must have occurred ahead, and enquired with the
drivers of the other vehicles in front of us. But to our surprise, we were
told, this is an everyday affair as there is a river ahead and the bridge over
it is narrow and meant only for heavy vehicles, and light vehicles have to go
right and get onto another bridge meant for them. We actually did not
understand the logic, till we went ahead later and saw for ourselves what led
to this mess. Meanwhile we tried to squeeze in between the gaps left between
trucks and cars and via the extreme left most corner of the road to get as far
ahead as we could. But still we were stuck in the jam for around 1.5 hrs. Somewhere while trying to squeeze and move,
yuvaraj went ahead and I was left behind with no sight of him. Since I was at
the leftmost corner of the road and a small village shop was located just 5-6
feet to my left, I stopped for some tea and was more than happy to remove my
riding gloves, baclava, helmet and jacket as the sun god was literally frying me
without oil. After around every 15mins, I would get an opening as the traffic
would begin to crawl but then again a stalemate. Suddenly then I got a call from yuvaraj
asking me where I was , and I told him that I was almost right behind a board
which said the name of the village is ‘Mandwa’ and immediately vuvaraj told me
to cut across from the extreme left to the right , i.e. in short , take the
wrong side and move forward. I did exactly the same and finally by the time I
got out of the jam via the wrong side to the correct side of the highway it was
4.5 kms. Adding to the earlier 2.5 kms which we squeezed through earlier, the
jam was 6kms or definitely more but not less. Had it not been for the wrong
side solution, we would have been stuck there for a good 4-5 hours. I then just
ripped the accelerator, my hand never hit the brakes and nor did I ever come
below a speed of 90kmph. The road was so good that in half an hour or 30mins I
crossed 70 kms and we reached and stopped at Baroda. It was around 16:00pm. A
rider from the Bladerunnerzz group, Mr Rachit Rastogi met us on the Baroda –
Ahmadabad highway along with the most
tasty methi theplas + kaju vadas + another variety of Vada and chutney and
lastly a lot of steaming hot tea. Rachit suggested that we camp at his place for
the night and leave for Ahmadabad next day morning. This was unanimously
accepted by all three of us and in 10mins we were at Rachit’s independent
bungalow society behind All India radio (Baroda). Rachit’s house, reminded me
of my house at Nagpur, clear unpolluted skies, clean and big roads, trees all
around and very little traffic movement. Rachit and his parents were very
hospitable and I felt very comfortable even though I met him for only the
second time. I gave Rachit an unopened small packet of Satori from Chitale’s
hoping his family will like the same. The people of Gujarat and their
hospitality are really amazing. We crashed after having a nice homemade dinner
meal prepared by his mother.
Day 2: 23rd December2012-We started from Rachit’s place by 7.30am in the morning and
there was a slight change in plan. Instead of going directly to Little Rann of
Kutch, we were going to see Nalsarovar bird sanctuary which was quite close
from Sanand and Ahmadabad. Rachit and Vuvaraj had googled for directions and I
had to only follow. We decided to take the route via Sanand i.e. Baroda->
Ahmadabad( exit via Sardar patel ring road) and then Sannad and next
Nalsarovar. It was roughly around 170kms
kms. I thought we will make it real fast, but there was another surprise for us
in store. Till now, the road from Mumbai
to Baroda was almost all 6 lane and I thought the same would continue, but alas
, we found out that the Baroda to Ahmadabad 6 lane expressway does not allow 2
wheelers and 2 wheelers have to take the
old highway which is a 2 laner for most part and without a divider in between.
Well, we rode with disappointment along with trucks for company, they own the
road on a 2 lane highway, so obviously, progress was much slower than
anticipated. On this 2 lane highway, I
saw several camel pulled carts. Some carried people, some wooden logs and other
heavy material. I had never imagined camels to be such strong animals; this was
something new to me in addition to their calm and stoic external demeanor. Our
slightly slow pace continued till we reached Sardar patel ring road which is an
exit or bypass to Ahmadabad city and we carried onto Sanand. Here on Sardar
Patel ring road, I tried something, which I do rarely, when I saw a straight
stretch of road without any traffic as far as my eyes could see, I hit the
accelerator and reached my personal best top speed on 160kmph for a few
seconds, I could have taken it to 170-180kmph also, but I left the accelerator
when the speedometer’s needle hit 160kmph. My previous high was 140kmph only a
month ago while riding to Nagpur. Finally we arrived at Sanand and then took
the road to Nalsarovar. This road was again a very narrow one and under
construction, also being a Sunday, there were a lot of tourists. All along the
route, once can find new weekend housing projects coming up and lots of
resorts. One more peculiar sight here one can encounter is a new type of Indian
modified ( jugaad ) vehicle. The rear part of a Bullet is discarded and only
the engine and front wheel is kept and this is attached to a cart with two
wheels. So 6 odd people can cramp and this arrangement was used as a rickshaw,
am sure it would break the heart of Bullet owners to see their ride being
destroyed like this, the only saving grace being the cart was nicely painted
and decorated, so looked very colorful. Finally, I guess we reached the Nalsarovar
bird sanctuary at around 11am. We left our saddle bags on the bike itself and
gave the parking attendant Rs 20 for taking care of our stuff. It was really
hot, in the last 2 days one thought really persisted in my mind, if it is this
hot in December which is considered a winter month, how hot must it be during
proper summer months? Well I guess, I
would never dare to find this outJ. At
the bird sanctuary we were as usual hounded by guides and negotiated rates for
the boat ride which would take us all over the sanctuary to spot a plethora of birds.
We settled for Rs1900 in total for a 1.5 hr boat ride for 3 people. I must tell
you, in the end 1.5 hrs seemed like a never ending boat ride in a non-
motorized boat but it was like a national geographic experience. Our boatman
was an also a very patient man in his 50’s probably. The lake is very shallow
and one can clearly see the weeds which protrude out of the water and amongst
which nestle several different bird species, going from the very ordinary to
exotic migratory ones. The boat ride was a very calm and spiritual kind of
experience. There is also a mini island in the lake where the boatman takes you
if you want to have lunch prepared by the locals. I surely wanted to try the
local cuisine, but the boatman took us for such a never ending boat ride that
we decided against lunch on the mini- Island in the sanctuary. This sanctuary
is must visit spot, especially during sun set and sun rise. I found it to be a
really soothing experience, the boatman steering the boat with a tall bamboo
stick, birds chirping and flying all around, calm, cold and still knee deep
water of the lake. An ideal spot for
photographers, artists and nature lovers. After our boat ride ended, I had
tomato slices along with chat masala which a vendor was selling. It helped to
replenish the salts in my body lost due to the heat.
A narrow dusty road from the bird sanctuary
itself then led us to our next enroute destination called ‘Viramgham’ which was
around 40kms away. We fuelled up here and filled air in the tyres too ,asked
people at the pump for directions to Little Rann also called Chota Rann by the
locals. Little Rann was approximately
around 60kms away from the pump we tanked up at Viramgam. Our plan or target now was to find some place
to stay which was also not very far from Chota Rann and in the worst possible
scenario, if we do not find a place to stay close to Chota or Little Rann, then
return to Viramgam, which had decent places to stay. But honestly I did not
want to return back to Viramgam and hoped we find some place to stay close to
Chota Rann. I was told by Mr. Advait Lele, a acquaintance from Infosys , that
Viramgam would be the last spot for a fuel pump and mobile range too, he said
this from his experience when he biked down to the greater ran of Kutch a year
back I guess. Hence I was a little
worried especially about the fuel part, as my Harley’s tank is 12.5 liters and
with its 900cc engine, it’s obvious that mileage is that of a car. Anyway I was
carrying 4 liters of fuel, just in case there is any emergency, but as I
discovered later, there are several newly opened pumps on the way, so no need
to worry. Again even the village roads were excellent and we made good progress.
Finally after 23 odd kms, at a village called Mandal , which also had a fuel
pump, I stopped to ask for accommodation , since it seemed like a decent sized
village. But to my surprise, I was straight away told that there is no hotel or
guest house, hence no accommodation for us to stay, but there was a resort
ahead and also a hotel called ‘Toran’ and we could try our luck at these two
spots. The resort came first and it was
called ‘Rann Riders’, we went inside and it seemed like an absolutely nice
place with cottages and a mini stud farm( horses) present. Manjusha( yuvaraj’s wife) went inside and
enquired about availability, but the answer was in negative. As we again started
our bikes, we saw the tourists who were residing in the resort boarding jeeps
and preparing to leave for a desert safari, while we were on an accommodation
hunting safari. By the way, Rann riders also has a good website, just google
for it. As we proceeded , we were at Dasada village and I stopped to top up my
fuel again at an Essar petrol pump present there. The plan was now to go to ‘Zainabad’
village ahead and try our luck there and if we were unlucky again, then go
further to ‘Patdi’ village and try our luck again and by chance if we were
still without success, then return back to Viramgham village.
But in between this plan, there was still
hotel’ Toran’ to try our luck, and I was desperately hoping that , we settle at
Toran and not go ahead trying our luck which was till now eluding us and not
return to Viramgham in any case. From the Essar petrol pump at ‘Dasada’
village, this hotel ‘ Toran ‘ happened to be a stone’s throw ahead. Yuvaraj
stopped on the edge of the road itself and did not seem interested in enquiring
about accommodation at ‘Toran’, but I was keen, and I went inside. It was like
a dhaba, the guys present said that, they do not have rooms to stay, but have
some extra beds and we could sleep on those beds for the night. But as
yuvaraj’s wife was present, this did not seem like a good idea and I was about
to leave , when a tall and thin young
man dressed in clothes which a college lad would wear in a city came up to me
and asked me, if my bike was a Harley. I responded in the affirmative and he
asked what my plans were, I told him that we needed some accommodation to stay
and we have come to see the Little Rann of Kutch, but we are having a hard time
finding accommodation. He told me that, he could arrange accommodation for us
in his village and gave me the impression that he was a big shot in that area
although he seemed very young. He also happened to mention that, a Harley group
had come earlier to Kutch and he took them sightseeing, and that we could keep
our bags at the hotel, and go to the desert and later come back and pick up our
bags and then go to his village. I suggested, why not see the place, and if we
find it suitable, we could dump our luggage and go the desert then. He called
up his friend, who came on his bike and asked us to follow them. We again
crossed the Essar petrol pump and entered Dasada village and were negotiating
the narrow village alleys when he stopped in front of a huge gate and opened
it. It was like one of those haunted mansions or Havelis you see in Hindi
movies or the Zee horror show. The Haveli was huge but dilapidated with a Grey
hound dog inside barking at us. We were shown our room, it was huge and had
beds a sofa, some tables and chairs and an attached bath room which was bigger
than the living room + dining room combined in most city houses and was in
marble. So all seemed fine, we instantaneously agreed to camp at this haveli.
Yuvaraj asked the young lad about the money , and the lad replied in an
disinterested manner, telling us, give whatever you wish happily, or do not
give anything also, this was not done for money, but to help you guys and it
was his admiration for the biker’s spirit in us that he offered help. It was
around 16:15 pm and we still had another two and half hours at least before the sun set
and I asked my lanky host called ‘Shadab’ if he could show us the ‘little Ran
of Kutch’ or ‘ Chota Rann’ which we had come to see biking all the way from
Pune.
Shadab was pillion with me and our
navigator cum guide while yuvaraj was asked to follow us. We crossed a couple of more villages on the
way including Zainabad, and another resort called ‘ Desert courses’ which was
on the lines of the earlier ‘Rann Riders’.
Finally after crossing a few villages and some 24 kms from Dasada
village, a huge sculpted gate appeared and after this was crossed, we were
finally riding on the salt water desert plains of the Little Rann of Kutch. As
went ahead, we saw mountains of salt heaps on either side of the road for which
this part of the world is again famous. We rode along and now there was only
vastness of the land baked by the sun in sight as far as the eye could
see. The desert’s landscape had arrived and
for tourists like us, getting lost here was as easy as holding a piece of
paper. But Shadab told, me, don’t worry, I know this area like the back of my
palm, you just go deeper into the desert and we will be back safe. I trusted
him totally and we finally stopped, when I saw
huge cracks in the soil due courtesy the sun god for which this region
is famous to savor the moment and take some photographs. It was fascinating,
cracks all around you with not a soul in sight.
After a while I asked Shadab if we could spot the handsome chestnut
colored Indian wild asses which are also found only in this part of the world
in the desert. To my surprise, Shadab said ‘ yes’ you can and let’s keep
riding, go a bit deeper and try our luck. We did exactly that and stopped after
a few kilometers. Before I forget, it’s best to ride at slow speeds here, least
you topple because the soil is firm but not very firm. Shadab scanned the
landscape and told me, there is some cattle and huts of the salt pan workers in
sight and after 2 minutes, he said, look over there, it seems like a small herd
of the famous chestnut Indian wild Asses.
Immediately, all of us craned our necks in that direction, but it was still
difficult to confirm when I had an idea, my camera had a 12x zoom, meaning
objects will appear 12 times closer than they actually are, and I zoomed in on
the ‘things’ with 4 legs and ‘yes’, they were indeed the asses we had come to
see and that too in the wild. We again sat on the bikes and proceeded closer to
get a good view. These asses have a tendency to keep running if one chases
them, and hearing the sound of the Harley engine rumble in the ocean like
desert landscape, the Indian wild asses of Kutch in Gujarat, began to run. We
stopped chasing them after a while and the asses also stopped running, in the
meanwhile, we got some excellent shots of these beautiful wild asses. I don’t
know what came in my mind, after a while, I began chasing them on foot running
for around 5 minutes. Running on the cracked soil after the wild asses was
quite a memorable. After we had enough of the asses and the unique landscape,
we went a little more deeper into the desert to savor the sunset as suggested
by Shadab. Boy this was turning out to be a wonderful end to a day where we
watched the sun rise in Baroada and set in the Rann of Kutch. It was truly
mesmerizing feeling, a kind of feeling I always get when I go sea-side, the cracked
soil, a gentle breeze and nothing else. After the sun set, we decided to go back to
Shadab’s place and he was again leading, we went almost 6-7 kms into the desert
and Shadab was constantly navigating the
path I should take, later he also showed us stones painted in white and to
stick to them as they were pointers for any man in the desert so that he does
not lose his way.
We then explored Shadab’s haveli, his
grandfather was the Zagirdar of the area and in short he was like Royalty. The
house had guns, swords, and some exquisite paintings i.e. in short like a mini
museum. Shadab’s mother was also a very generous host, his father was abroad
for some work and currently only 2 of them along with the greyhound stayed in
the huge haveli. We had dinner at a local small restaurant and then while my
husband and wife riding companions went off to sleep, I went with Shadab to his
friends farm which had castor plantations or Eranda as it is locally known. I
was told that he and his friend owned more than 50 bighas of land individually
. We lit a campfire below the clear sky studded with billions of stars, the
kind you do not get to see in cities due to pollution. I enquired about what ever queries I had, heard what they had to tell, me, the way of
life in the village etc etc. I told them that, if I ever come next time to Rann,
I would carry some Rum, as it was the only thing missing in the setting with
some chill in the air, stars above, small shrubs of the castor plants and our
little camp fire. Fuuny, Rann and Rum also rhyme J. Then we again proceeded to have some late night tea and then
watched some TV, again, had some cold drinks and some more chit chatting,
before I told Shadab and his friends that I will call it a day and we will see
him next morning.
3rd Day 24th
December2012- By the time, we all woke up and were
set to go to the desert again for another couple of hours it was 8.30 or 9am.
Shadab’s mom prepared and packed some lovely breakfast for us to have in the
desert. I was carrying an unopened packet of bhakarwadi from Chitale’s which I gave aunty
and hoped she liked it as much as Shadab enjoyed riding my bike later . Before
we hit the desert again, we stopped some 100meters ahead to examine the salt
mountains. The salt crystals were hard and struck together to form a perfect
pyramid almost 2 storeys high. We climbed up, took pictures, and I even picked
up a handful of the rock salt crystals and got them as souvenirs of my ride.
The locals use bore wells to get water from
the ground and then it is dried and salt is left behind. Looks at nature’s behavior, Shadab told me
that the very desert which is miles and miles of cracks now is filled with
water during the rains and the locals use boats and catch fish, but once
monsoons are over, the sun god takes over and evaporates every millimeter of
water from the surface and what is left behind is this unique cracked landscape
which is like a giant never ending jigsaw puzzle. We then proceeded to the
desert again and enjoyed our photography session and breakfast. Shadab also
mentioned that, the path he got us to the desert was the reason we could take
pics freely and chase wild asses , else the usual entrance does not permit
cameras freely and foget chasing the asses as they are protected species, the
pride of Gujarat alsong with the Gir lions. Soon, as the clock ticked 11:00am,
I could see mirages in the barren desert landscape which tricked the eye 100%
to believe that there was a huge water body in the distance. Trust me it was
quite fascinating. We spent close to an hour and a half at the desert and the
next course of action was to hit the road and return to Baroda and camp with
Rachit again for the night.
We exchanged phones numbers and bid our
good bye’s to Shadab and his mom and departed for Baroda after a satisfying
time at the Little Rann of Kutch. I was behind yuvaraj and his wife was the
navigator and used her map fed cell phone to the hilt. Here we took SH-17 and
my god, let me tell you, it was brilliant again. We were at Baroda at by
17.30pm after travelling 200kms and our objective of reaching Rachit’s place before sun set was achieved.
We were again treated to a heavy round of tasty and authentic Gujarati snacks
prepared by Rachit’s mom. Then I sat pillion and Rachit took over my bike and
gave us a nice Baroda city tour. We enjoyed all the local food like Handwa, ponn
, kulfi, and other stuff whose names I forget. I also bought 5 packlets of
theplas, and khakras, some Gujarati bhakarvadi and one more namkeen type round
balls whose name I forget again to enjoy
back in Pune. We slept around 22.30 pm and the plan next day was to start early
and reach Pune which was around 550kms away before sun set again. Before I
forget, I must add, I really admired the resilience and courage of yuvaraj and
his wife riding double seat on his Indian Honda bike, nowhere did they slow me
down, a super effort and thumbs up from my side.
Day 4 25th December 2012- We left at 5.30 am I guess after having tea prepared by Rachit. It
was decided that the first halt will be after 200kms. Only thing which we were
worried about was the jam we encountered near Bharuch, but Rachit told us that,
there would be no problem as we were departing very early. Yuvaraj was ahead
and I was following closely behind, the road was again a 6 lane brilliant
highway which made riding a pleasure even though it was a little cold.
After sun rise, I went ahead of yuvaraj and
then remained ahead till the end. We had our last halt together when we were
some 300kms away from Pune. It was decided that we meet next at hotel Walton
where we had our first break when the ride commenced, but I could not spot it
and then got sucked up in the Mumbai traffic so had to keep moving. Some 50kms
before Mumbai, I had a novel experience again, I was happily cruising at controlled
speed and kept myself to the left of the road and was going smoothly when a
truck driver who was either drunk or did not see me or misjudged his timing
came from being parallel to me to hitting my right leg calf muscle with his
truck. I yelled ‘ kya kar raha hai’ meaning what are you doing when I gauged
that he is going to hit me which he did, but since you are reading this , no
prizes for guessing, I got lucky. The bike swerved more than 30 degrees left
and right for around 5-10 meters and I managed to control the bike and did not
fall. Well, definitely the skill of the biker and pedigree of the Bike is what
triumphed. The bike swerving experience
is not one which I would like to ever have again. All that remains of the
incident is a few scratches to my right calf leg muscle which will go away
soon.
I was a bit distracted after this incident,
but kept going, later my head began to itch badly, I guess the heat and sweat
and dust which was entangled between my hair , the baclava and helmet was to blame.
But I still did not stop, and kept going. There was a huge jam I had to
encounter at Thane and I decided that my final stop would be near Lonavala and
then directly Pune. I came back via Mumbra
again and stopped some 20kms before Lonavala for a beer. I got down,
first poured a whole bottle of water on my head till the itching sensation went
away. It was around 14:00pm, I finished 2 beers while chatting with the owner
of the wine shop and messaging yuvaraj to find out that he is at Kalamboli ,
around 1 hour behind me and then reached
home. On the way, I met another Harley rider who was on a street bob called
Rajesh Nambiar, we spoke for a couple of minutes and took leave.
I was back by 16.30 , in time to watch the
India – Pak T-20 game after breathing in a bit of Gujarat as Amitabh Bachhan
says in his advertisment. On this trip I finished 10,000kms of riding my Harley
in less than a year i.e purely riding and no biking to office which was quite
satisfying. I’ll end again by saying, a biker never dies, he just fades away on
the road and will wrap up by using lines which my uncles once happened to
mention to me—Kutch nahi dekha toh Kuch nahi dekha….not providing any Hindi
translation here!Wishing all of you a happy new year 2013!
Regards,
Parikshit Vaidya
9822474756
For a visual- photography treat of
the ride, visit link below
