“We are just walking out the door.”
“Lies! Damned lies!”
“Arre Motor took time to wake up.”
“And you did not? If I remember correctly, and I do, you woke up last!”
Me to Aman,
my conscience to me.
“The journey has just begun!”, exclaims Spiderweb, his sleep laden eyes incapable of masking his excitement. We now head towards Srinagar, or so goes the folklore. For Spiderweb and I have decided to take a detour - a decision that will ruffle many feathers. Just the day before, Google Maps patiently charted our course through Dhaula Kuan, on to the Ring road, straight to Azadpur, on to the NH1, to Panipat, to Ambala, to Ludhiana, to Jalandhar, to Amritsar and finally, to Pathakot. The astute are probably screaming at this page, reminding us that we could head to Pathankot directly from Jalandhar, as the crow flies. We will inform them that we are aware of this fact. But the Golden Temple, nestled in the heart of Amritsar, lures us into its aura. We must be in its presence. It is a calling; one that we dare not ignore.
But there are sacrifices to be made - for the biker troupe from Pune awaits our arrival in Srinagar. Our misdemeanor will disrupt their schedule, one that is bound by commitments to bread, butter and perhaps a portion of mayo on the side. Satyen, the original conspiracist of the Leh dream and our tie to the civilized world, tries desperately to change one mind - for only one changed mind at either end would lead to an amicable compromise. They say the mind is fickle; they say it wrong.
Spiderweb and I will stick to our bastard plans. Bastard, for neither he, nor I, will take discredit for the evil.
Facebook update: Journey from Delhi starts now! Aman to join our troupe today!
02 June at 04:16 via Text message
We encounter an exhausted Aman. His social commitments kept him up late, our social misdemeanor of assuring him a timely start got him up early. 1am was our firm commitment. 4:16am was our irresolute start - one that would deprive Aman of the Zs. As we approach him at 5am, I silently pray he isn’t a connoisseur of violence, for if he is - now would be the most opportune moment for him to practice the art. A few hours into the day and he will have enough reason to pull out our guts and grease his chain with it.
Aman now leads us; for In a senseless act of cultural bias, we assume the Punjabi would know Punjab better than we. This, despite his blatant confession to the contrary for neither he has ever been to Punjab. He rides at a comfortable pace. I follow second. Spiderweb and Motorbreath seem to be at peace with each other as Spiderweb tails us… for now.
The ride today seems ordinary. We’ve been riding for more than a couple of hours I reckon. The road and its vehicular denizens haven’t posed any challenges. We’ve been largely ignored. Aman, overcome with exhaustion from a sleepless night, begins trailing. I fall back to stay with him, Spiderweb takes lead, Motorbreath comes in second. But before we can get too comfortable with our state of being, Punjab hits us with all its verve, like the vivacious damsel that takes your breath away; a light bounce in her spirit, a buoyancy in her stride, a naughtiness in her smile. The abundance of gold in Punjab’s fields, the simplicity of its very being are intoxicating.
As we break for a quick chai, Aman offers us home made parathas. I clean them out. We spend several minutes looking skywards as fighter jets own the ether. The sight of a majestic machine tearing through the skies never gets old. Grain-laden trucks awaiting entry permissions witness our awe.
Facebook update: Punjab!!! 230km done today. Panipath, Ambala done. Headed to Ludhiana.
02 June at 07:23 via Text message
Leena Sabharwal oye paape !! stop by for patiala peg ji
02 June at 18:05
Leena Sabharwal are you alone ke there are other bandhus..
02 June at 18:08
Facebook update: Home made parathas, achaar, garam chai n fighter jets in the sky. Divine breakfast in Punjab :)
02 June at 07:42 via Text message
Sagar Raikar, Divya Misra, Rachit K and Saurabh Bhatia like this.
Honey Misra i want it :(
02 June at 09:46
Satyen Poojary Was this on the road by the bystanders or...?
02 June at 09:50
Satyen Poojary Was this on the road by the bystanders or...?
02 June at 09:51
Satyen Poojary Was this on the road by the bystanders or...?
02 June at 09:51
Alankar Misra On a city road by a civilian! Christ!!
02 June at 09:59
Alankar Misra Oh he was jus randomly doing it for his own amusement. Wasn't a show!
02 June at 09:59
Satyen Poojary He he he :) there will be more!
02 June at 09:59
-Rajni Taneja- I want it too:-(
Ur forgetting Lassiiiiiiii...
02 June at 10:54
Rachit K superb
02 June at 12:51
Shweta Nadkarni yummmmm....enjoy !!
02 June at 17:16
Sujan Shetty like
Rang De Basanti
02 June at 18:34
Mandar Bhandare enjoy enjoy have everythin you can lolz :P
02 June at 22:47
Dinesh Samtani Awesome is the word for it!!
03 June at 00:57
Facebook update: Sardarji balancing moving RX 100 n singing while standing on seat! Bless punjab :)
02 June at 09:38 via Text message
Saurabh Bhatia likes this.
Tushar Jadhav oye balle balle...
02 June at 10:03
Sagar Raikar oye aho aho.....
03 June at 00:47
Rohit Upadhyay Chak de fatte..gaad de khilli...subah jalandhar..shaam de dilli.
^^Hope i got it right :D :D
03 June at 09:45
As we break a second time, sleep gets the better of Aman. He befriends slumber while seated in a chair. I am to be impressed by his ability to snooze in precarious positions when, at one point in the trip, he trails off while sitting upright with no back rest to support him. We use this time to recharge our phones which, in our haste to do nothing in Delhi, we have neglected to do. As Aman awakens, it is now time to convince him to redirect to Amritsar for it is now that he is most vulnerable and completely at our mercy. Had we informed him of our deviousness a fraction of a day earlier, it would have been the last we heard from him. Aman resists our attempts to digress but there’s little he can do. Ten minutes into an argument, he gives in and charts out the shortest route for us to get to our destination following discussions with informed confidants. We assure him that we will push our riding skills to the max to minimize the detour time in a bit to get to Srinagar in time to join the Pune troupe.
Facebook update: Heading to golden temple n wagah border then to pathankot! Making the most of speed n time!
02 June at 10:12 via Text message
Tushar Jadhav likes this.
Ritesh Tiwari Shabash ! bike tour...?
02 June at 10:14
Alankar Misra Yes!!
02 June at 10:14
Satnam Singh Vohra God Bless n God Speed
02 June at 10:31
Tushar Jadhav ride safe dude, dont do much ripping.
02 June at 10:43
Rachit K lovely..!! am sure.. the heat must be killing u..!! its just a matter of sometime.. soon u will b chilling to death.. ;)
02 June at 15:08
Facebook update: Nussi! 80 odd kms from Amritsar. Total today: 400km!
02 June at 12:24 via Text message
Tushar Jadhav likes this.
Nitin Manore great.this is early now.spend the time fruitfully.
02 June at 12:32
We ride hard with straight stretches of road aiding our progress. As we enter Amritsar, we lose Aman to the traffic. We wait for him for what seems like eternity. A phone call, and we realize he is not behind, but before. The Punjabi really does do better in Punjab. We snake our way through the streets of Amritsar - a place bubbling with visual contradictions wrapped in the elegance of simplicity; a sense of calm, a purposeful peace. A well-meaning comment from me regarding the antiquity of the scape, perhaps ill-represented, strikes a wrong chord with Aman for he interprets it to be disrespectful. I make a mental note of being more cautious of the words I choose. We ride for several minutes, asking for directions, finding our way into a mezzanine parking space near the temple. Pushing and shoving our steeds into place in the overpopulated space, we consider options with regard to our luggage. We are advised to carry our luggage with us and leave it at the counter of the temple. My tired hands can barely unhook the bungee chords. Spiderweb comes to my rescue. As we drag our now tired minds, bodies and souls out of the parking area, I feel an unfamiliar sense of peace come over me.
And just like that, we strike gold…
Facebook update: Golden temple, Amritsar :-)
02 June at 14:55 via Text message
Saurabh Bhatia likes this.
Veeral Joshi jo boleeeeeeeeeeeeeeee so nihaaaaaaal...
sasriyakaal
02 June at 15:01
Tushar Jadhav so thts 1st destination done.... . congratz
02 June at 15:10
Rachit K vow..! congrats.. Vaiye guru da khalsa.. Vaiye guru di fathey..!! enjoy the golden temple..!
02 June at 17:19
Dinesh Samtani Enjoy d golden moment!!!!!
02 June at 19:10
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