Did 860 kms to Bangalore in 14 hours, left next day for Mysore and stayed the nite in Gundulpet -lovely forest twisty stretches - here I am next morning at entrance of Bandipur-Muddumalai wildlife sanctuary (ex-Veerappan stronghold - spotted deer, bison, monkeys, peacocks, a dead snake - no elephants or tiger!)
a friendly doggy poses with me up the 36-hairpin climb to Ooty - great weather, highly overrated climb (I found the climb up to Kodai better)!
Me and my college roomie Randy (Maj Jasdeep Singh Randhawa) in front of the golf green in Wellington - beautiful place, fantastic officer's club, lovely weather, amazing rum-n-raisin homemade chocolates!
Bhai's battleground - the Wellington Golf Club - where he demolishes many buddha faujis and feels damn chuffed about it LOL
About to depart for Chennai - Randy's lil Sana tries her hand at bawa uncle's "dug dug" - that's Randy's Roadking in the frame too
a waterfall at Mettupalayam on my descent from Ooty/Wellington/Coonoor to the plains of Tamil Nadu en route to Chennai via Salem (lost my way and took a wrong 20 km detour at Kalakuruchi) - rained on the way - last 100 odd kms to Chennai was some awesome autobahn type road - yum yum!
sitting on a Police Bullet at the factory in Thiruvottyur - fauji Bulls in the foreground. Feels nice to bring Doppie back to where she was born!
Mouth-watering line up of "export" beauties for firang shores - chek out the ivory and gold one!
Dyno testing a Sixty-5 - our man is doing 110 here :) Saw the hand-painted pinstriping of the fuel tanks, rows and rows of shiny new engines, blocks being washed with a mechanised bottle-brush type thingy, etc etc.
Sivasankar and team hard at work on my bike late into the nite at Chennai - hi-flow export oil pump, servicing, some padding and a new cover for the seat, some muffler mods, and she was ready for the long run ahead all along the east coast
A late nite Biryani tastes better when u have a Bull ready to rock for the 2000 run km up the East Coast!
on NH5 just out of Chennai - my next rest day is 2000 km and 3 days away - lots of rain the first 300 kms - super roads though - stopped and took a refreshing nap by the roadside!
amazing 75 ft statue of Hanuman somewhere in Andhra Pradesh on NH5 - rice plates/meals are the norm for my daily single meal at night - stay light, ride fast!
just off the submarine base in Vizag - a short and sweet twisty road leading to the beach - one of the few cities I rode through instead of taking the bypass
Cresting a hillock overlooking the HUGE Chilka lake in Orissa - the last 2 days of hard riding have loosened my chain up a lot - get it adjusted/oiled before riding onwards (mistake)
sunset on the way to Bhubaneshwar - after refuelling left for "missile" Balasore at 7 p.m. - 200 km in under 2.5 hours at night all along the sea - fantastic road, still being made in patches - suitably sobered by numerous aftermath of big-vehicle accidents along the way - I think we guys need to come to grips with the good roads finally coming our way
Silky smooth roads welcome me to my home state - Honey! I'm hooooooome!!!! Leave NH5 at Baragoda (12 horses - Doppie has 10 more!!!!) and after a mammoth truck-jam on the Orissa/Jharkhand border, hit a heavenly twisty, wooded stretch to Jamshedpur
Goosebumps all over riding once more on my hometown roads after YEARS! This is Jubilee Lake in Jamshedpur (thats the lakeside cafeteria in the background) - used to train for the Nationals in cycling around this lake
In front of the Founder's (Jamshetji Tata) statue in the beautiful Jubilee Park - brings back memories of school picnics and Sunday outings - my home is just a few kms away
striking a pose in Jubilee Park again - those are the Dalma hills in the background which cradle the steel city - loads of wild elephants there - and poachers :(
Sacred Heart Convent School - my sis's school and mecca for Loyola boys ;)
the home I grew up in - waves of nostalgia and sweet boyhood memories - cricket on the front lawn, the mango tree on the side ....
Loyola High School - my alma mater (the nepali chowkidaar looks the SAME as when I passed out in '89 - and he remembered me!)
the quadrangle of my school with its manicured lawns and statue of St. Ignatius - we used to toss our tiffin grub in the air here during recess to see the cheels swoop in and scoop it up! The place which made me what I am today ....
The Trophy Cabinet in front of Princi's office ..... some of them won by me too :)
never thought I would return one day and pose with the Princi on HIS side of the table (my visits to this particular office were of a different nature - to put it subtly!!!)
the hallowed basketball courts - used to have assembly there and evening basketball practice with Fr Peacock - the site of many bloody battles against the goons from KMPM - very often with over-zealous dads getting involved too!
Ms Mitali Das - my Chemistry teacher - shocked to see me appear outside her class after 15 years!!!
Me and Zarine fuiji - who teaches the jr. kids at Loyola - she was shocked to see me - I think she still is (incidentally Dicky uncle, my fua, with 6 other guys, on 7 Jawas, rode from Bombay to Paris - 18,000 km - when I was 5!!!)
after a nostalgic 2 hours in Jsr, I leave for Ranchi/Ramgarh - beautiful hilly "jalebi" roads and dipping mercury
Me with my batch mate Maj Vinay Gera at the officer's mess in Ramgarh - we went to the market to buy chicken - and I had the dubious honour of choosing the bird which was on our plates a couple of hours later - very Jim Corbett what!!!
Vinay and Manu - this was our ill-fated "map reading" and route planning session - under the influence needless to say (details to follow!) ..... hint: in case of flood damage, choose the route CLOSER to the river ;)
after a well-dserved rest day in Ramgarh, I am ready to enter the dreaded North Bihar of Laloo and Shahabuddin - do I look nervous? Naaaaah!!!
A LONG bridge across the Ganga - left Bakhtiyarpur early and the dense fog/mist lasted nearly till noon - quite cold too. The locals have been surprisingly quite nice - confidence growing! (classic lull before the storm!!!)
CRASHHHH!!!!!! Heroic Doppie, with shattered hubs after a 90 kmph leap across a deep "ditch" on what passes for NH33 (lunar lanscape would be a disservice to our friendly sattelite), standing at Thana Bihpur railway station (one stone-mud building and a kacha platform) while I am busy making fone calls and trying to get me and Doppie a ride to either Siliguri or New Delhi .... depending on availability of parts (most stressful period of my entire ride!)
the rear hub - she carried me another 6 km to safety/refuge in this state - wot a bike! Board the Mahananda Exp to Delhi - Doppie in the sealed brake van me on the floor by the door unreserved with an old sadhu baba for company - he was going to Badrinath for a yagya and we spent the nite talking philosophy and spirituality!
Badly damaged front hub - many spokes ripping through here too - what I thought were stones flying outward were actually pieces of jagged aluminium from my battered hubs!
finally reached Delhi - here I'm with Maj Rajveer Singh Beniwal (Beni or Jumbo) resplendent in his winter tunic - no, he's not worried about me spoiling his dress - he's looking at his cute lil Tukki :)
the damaged rear wheel being worked on at John's Garage - getting my bike out of Delhi station was not a nice experience as on principle I refused to apply any "palm grease"
the damaged egg shaped rim and the new replacement wheel - Pappu helped me get a set of complete brand new wheels thanks to a kind soul who had gone in for mags - a word of advice buddy if ur reading this - stay away from NH33! ha ha ha
Pappu displaying the old and the new - that must have been some impact - he says that any other bike and ......
Finally my baby is all set for the mountains ahead - I start breathing normally again :) The cans of fuel I carried from Bihar are emptied back into her tank and we are a GO for lift off!!!!
Pappu, me and Kartik (a Royal Beaster) after a long day at John's garage - chek out the freaky paintings! Great job done by Pappu on Doppie .... she rocked in the mountains!
Beni with Tukki and me in Delhi cant - I was loaded with dry fruits for the mountains ahead - excellent roadside snack - loads of energy and heat - learnt something new and from here onwards always carried a plastic box full of badam, kishmish, and kaajus :)
With Beni, wife and kid before leaving - rest/repair day done, its time to soar into the Himalayas! About to start off for Ambala (the famous GT Road/NH1 - very high speeds with cars and drivers hopped up on testosterone!) Haryana Roadways blue lines vs our Expressway Volvos - care for a drag?!!!!!!!!
Timber Trail on the way up to Shimla - stayed the previous nite at a beautiful govt guest house in Parwanoo (luv the name!) Am in the Shivaliks now - lots of monkeys on the road, as well as pigeons (had a bird hit on my rhs mirror too!), and the bright sun/shade as u go around the mountain road takes some getting used to
its really cold now - this is December in the Himalayas - here I'm on the way to Kullu - nice shawls and very pretty women - those are chinar trees in the background ( the yellow leaves looked much prettier in real life )
morning start from Kasol (Israeli summer capital in India - even the menus are in Hebrew!) to the hot sulphur springs of Manikaran - most of the firangs have left for the winter capital - GOAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!
the Beas runs along a gorge above which the road snakes - did this "road" at nite (where I had a close encounter of the feline kind!) and morning and daylight showed me how stupid I had been!!
rocky overhang ahead of Manikaran on the way to Pulga - foto taken from a rope bridge very very high above the river below (how do they make these?!!!)
the majestic Himalayas on the way to Manali - lovely roads and what I've noticed is that guys here, born and brought up in the mountains, are great riders/drivers - amazing discipline - very rarely if at all will u find a moron cutting into ur half even on the tightest corners (well there was this one Baleno between Rampur and Mandi - obviously from the plains!)
the sign says it all - got goose bumps when I crossed the bridge :) This is the beginning of Ground Zero for bikers around the world - a pilgrimage like none other - why is Doppie moving forward....?!!!!!!!! ;))))
477 kms to the Biker Holy Grail - Doppie wanted to do it there and then - if I had petrol racks I might even have been tempted to give it a shot! Each name on this wall is etched in my subconscious, and I harbour a dream.....!
stopped here for breakfast on the way up to Rohtang - food was standard fare for me - rice plate/meals in the South and aaloo paratha/rajma chawal in the North - with one major meal a day (dinner) - preferring to stay light and slightly hungry when I ride (keeps u sharper)
the road up to Rohtang - black ice, snow-mud slush, streams across the road, no road, and amazing Himalyan vistas - feel like the "real" ride is just starting!
Doppie likes the mountains - and they liked her! Here I stay to the side and dont interrupt a deep subliminal commune between the 2 - its almost as if she's come home!
BRO guys have a corny but fun sense of humour - keeps a rider entertained!!! Other good ones "Be tender on my curves" and "Hold ur nerves on my curves" :)
After cresting Rohtang, went ahead in spite of BRO having officially closed the road down, just to see till where I can push - the snow is about 6 inches deep as she torques her way forward with the back end dancing merrily, opposite locking the front end liberally
still further - on the way to Khoksar - take off my gloves to feel the snow - maybe have a snowball fight with Doppie too while Im at it - the gloves are back on in about 47 seconds - something which would not have been possible at night - as I had to see where my fingers were going!!!
its very very cold now - rear tyre is dancing all over - breathing is getting more difficult (for me - Doppie is running fine - no air filter/carb adjustments needed - pulling like 22 horses!)
not a soul for miles so took my own foto - wanna get back into my helmet quickly - very very cold and the wind just adds to the numbing chill factor - but what a place guys - u and ur bike surrounded on all 4 sides by mighty towering snow covered peaks - u feel very small and very alone and also very close to God!
the Royal Enfield and the Himalayas - a match made in heaven definitely! U feel so alone when ur this high up, and ur so dependent on ur bike for survival that all you can do is trust her to take u to safety ..... and no matter how bruised and battered she herself is, she will do just that!
life's on a knife-edge at 14000 feet asl ..... u find urself praying often ..... with constant promises of being good here onwards! :)
coming back down (finally came across a BRO toli who promptly turned me around - these guys can smell/see bad weather!) Im panting as I climb up a little to take this foto
at Vasisht (1 km ahead of old manali) where I stayed the nite at Prem Lodge - nice place - the locals have hot water piped to their homes from the sulphur springs nearby
lazed the next morning window shopping in old manali - then did some biking/exploring and instead of starting back for Mandi decided to shack up at Kasol one more nite - the Beas had the bluest water I have ever seen in my life - awesome!
next morning decided to ride back to Shimla via the incredibly steep Jalori pass after Shoja - up the North face, which is mind boggling! Doppie + me+ luggage + 5000 m asl
finally arrive at Jalori Pass (reached 1st gear at quite a few places during the last few kms - ready to jump off if that too ran out - sorry Doppie!)
At J top (Jalori Jot) - 5 kms straight up! Then the descent via Anni, Luri, Theog, Kufri, reaching Shimla at nite and riding further to stop the nite over at sainik vishram griha in Solan (35 bucks!) - next day from the mountains to the desert!
Pine cone from Jalori Pass as a memento of Doppie's triumph - see a lot of cute rosy cheeked school kids trudging up - happily gigling and playing the fool - must be nice to have young fresh lungs and legs born to the mountains! ;)
sarson (mustard) ke khet on NH1 after Ambala en route to Delhi via Sonepat, Panipat etc - must make a mention of something here - every fuel pump in the North has an immaculately clean toilet for travellers on the highways - very nice! :)
Left Solan in the morning and headed back to Delhi and from there caught the NH8 via Gurgaon to Jaipur (initial plan was for a small detour to Alwar to meet another batchmate but he was in Jaipur on TD so the Pink City it was!) Here is a beautiful streaked typical desert sky at sunset during one of my fuel stops
me with college pals at the officer's mess in Jaipur - the mountains have been hard on my chain and sprocket and the teeth are badly scalloped and chipping off at the tips
Me and my batchmate Maj Ravi Singhal (Chiku urf CCD) sitting in front of Shivji's statue at the Birla Temple in Jaipur - all fancy hotels are made like forts here - at night while reaching Jaipur I thought I was seeing a typical Rajasthani fort till I would come close and see "Sun n Sand" or "Meridien"!!!!
spent a day shopping and sight seeing in Jaipur - here I am at one of the dwars - crazy traffic and weird one-ways - culture shock after the hi-speed run from Delhi on NH8!
hawa mahal ke samne - loads of sleeping/shitting kabutars, and the customary chaotic traffic!
Hawa Mahal again, I look tired ..... itching to get out of tourist central and back on the road again, engine roaring, wind whistling .... sighhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
Wake me up before u go go!!!!!
some fancy British building in Jaipur (as u can see I'm not much of a classic tourist - though it did look pretty!)
Albert Hall (I think thats the name) steps as we chill in Jaipur on what is going to be my last rest day before the last push home - bittersweet feelings wash over me as I realise that I cant delay the inevitable - my ride is nearing the end :(
Me and my biker friend/atomic scientist Vivi in front of his place in Ahmadabad where I crashed for the nite - the approach to ahmdbd esp after Himmatnagar was pathetic with lots of construction and diversions - compounded by nighttime - further compounded by tank going dry with me having to use the one bottle of fuel I always carried in my haversack - and to make matters really interesting I was on the wrong side of the road in pitch dark with huge oncoming trucks and I cannot keep my indicators on if I wanna open the fuel cap so I slosh fuel in at supersonic speed with my maglite clenched in my wildly gesticulating mouth!!
Secret Admirer! Doppie and Tushal's P180 meet up on the highway near Baroda - one has 20 kms to get back home, the other 500 odd :)
Chai-Sutta break b4 Baroda - Gujarat is heavily industrialised with tons of marble factories along the highway - and the fact that I cud not cross 80 without chain slip made for slow and boring riding thru the state
Me and a biker friend/auto journalist Tushal on NH8 somewhere just before Baroda where he teamed up with me and roade along till the outskirts - my sprocket is really bad now, chain slipping badly, at Surat with 500 kms to go a mechanic tells me I will be stranded within 100 kms - but I wanna nurse her back like this so I cut speed to around 80 and Doppie makes it back including a heroic climb up Khopoli Ghat just before Lonavla - DOPPIE IS THE BOSS!!!!!!!
In IronButt gear - ready for the next 200 kms - HEAVY/dense truck traffic - not fun (plus Im nursing Doppie's rear sprocket now so cant really leave them in my dust as usual)
In cruise mode on NH8 - discovered I can sing-along lustily inside my helmet accompanied by Doppie's meaty thump! Also helps me stay awake on some of the more monotonous stretches - I think I have a bad case of Himalayan hangover!!
Asta la vista baby! It was an awesome medley of man, machine, and tarmac, but its finally over as we head back onto the home stretch. Signing off now - till we hit the roads again!!!! P.S. If u liked the fotos/travelogue, please leave a comment :)
