Back from the Dead - June 7-8, 2008

After four months of hibernation in the outskirts of an unknown village in Germany, the motor gods have taken mercy on yours truly :)

30th May 2008 ... another tedious day spent in the lab when i get an e-mail from a friend who is on a short trip to Paris - "I am coming to Germany....what are you doing on the weekend"

And so it began....plans for a road trip were put into motion. I wake up early on the morning of the 7th to take the train to Hannover to meet Gajju. We catch up over coffee, waiting for the rental terminal to open ... and are then off in the Merc C220 onto Berlin. A lot of firsts for me there...first time in Germany ( Big moment :) ), first time in a left hand drive, first time in an automatic...and the first time in a Merc.

Now there are not a lot of things you love about Germany. Before perfecting the art of signing, I spent a lot of days sputtering in broken English trying to make people understand what I need. The novelty for cooking your own food dies down quickly, but instant pasta cannot satisfy my taste buds day after day. I finally took back to reading, an activity I had almost given up in college, and ended up finishing the first 10 book sof the Wheel of Time ... because that was pretty much all I did in my spare time here. And i have been reduced to driving a bicycle (Oh how the Mohamed weeps for me!!!)

However, Germany does have a few upsides. You have a Ducati showroom on the walk back to the dorm, amazing beer, very cheap car rentals and the autobahns!! Also, let us not forget that the Germans are brilliant when it comes to cars. For this particular trip, we chose the Mercedes C220. Given that my last car was a Maruti 800 that could legally drink in most continents, this car blew away my mind. It took me some time to adapt to the feather touches required after my dear old Maruti 800 and we had a few nervous moments in the city but as soon as one hits the autobahn ....

Then there are the highways...After my last experience lets just say that this was surreal. The view wasn't bad either with green fields spotted with windmills. Oh ... and you have sections where there are no speed limits.....which is where you start to appreciate the German engineering. Now i am no Jeremy Clarkson, and my experience with cars is fairly limited....but this car responded to the slightest touches of the accelerator and stuck to the road so you never felt out of control. Even at speeds touching close to 200 kmph, you would feel absolutely at ease.

We finished the 250 km trip to Berlin fairly quickly and after a nice lunch decided to go around Berlin. Now, given that this was a fairly last minute plan, none of us had any idea of what to do in Berlin, and my previous visits to the city had been spent lazing around and fooding in the capital. So, we randomly decided to head on to Postdamer Platz and see from there. Luckily for us, most of the places I remembered from my earlier trips ... the Parliament, the Hauptbahnhof(train station), and a few more were nearby so we ended up having a nice evening roaming around.

We checked into a hotel nearby and a few hours later headed off to explore some more. Gajju was jonsing for some Indian food as a result of which I had butter chicken and Nan after forever!! A couple of more hours were spent in vain looking for some interesting places....after which we retired for the night. Oh...and I spotted a Bugatti Veyron.

The next morning we headed of for Hamburg for the last leg of our trip. More amazing highways...220kmph...more windmills....awesome car...slow down i spot a cop car!!!....and we were in Hamburg without incident. More Indian food , The biryani this time, and we had a couple of hours to kill before i had to take the train and Gajju his flight. So we ended up spending some time roaming around Hamburg harbor...which sadly turned out to be an old peoples hangout. So we decided to spent the last hour enjoying the car and the music before we parted ways. Now if you have Steppenwolfs "Born to be Wild" to be playing while driving on the motorway, that is pretty much bliss. But soon, the music stopped and I said goodbye to the car, and started the tedious train journey back.

Germany was looking bleak for a while...but things are shaping up now. Following up is a possible 2 days 2000km road trip covering 3 countries ... :)

PS In other news, Rahul is up and about now, there are rumors that the Mohammed may have found a buyer, and my driving permit is about to expire here ... which means i might have to go to one of their Farschule's or driving schools....such blasphemy !!!

Alvida, Jan 19-20, 2008

I hate goodbyes. However, the time had come to say goodbye to the Mohammed. I was supposed to fly to Indore on the 21st, and would not see the Mohammed again. So began the plans for a grand send-off for my mate. A four day road trip was in the offing, and after contemplating various scenarios and destinations (including Chennai, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Gurgaon et. al.), we decided on a 2400 km track that would take us to Mumbai-Pune-Goa-Mangalore-Bangalore-Pune-Mumbai. Manegable :)

However, the road trip was to be jinxed like none other till date. With people backing out as the date grew closer, on the night of the 16th, it was just me, Ankush and Rahul. A four day road trip also meant the Mohammed was in for more upgrades - A new pair of side lamps to ensure better night-visibility, and, finally, a tool box. 17th was spent in gearing up for the trip and the night was spent working in the lab. I finally came home around 3 am and went to sleep thinking of the highway and the beaches that we were meant to hit in Goa the next day. 18th morning - I wake up to see an SMS from Ankush who had gotten some very urgent stuff at work and could not come. Not a good start... and then the batteries to my phone died. I went for a final check up of the electrical and other essentials to Moolchands and was trying to get in touch with Rahul. Thats when i find out that Rahul has been in a hit and run with a mini bus and is sitting in Sion hospital. So that pretty much canceled my plans for today i thought. We (Me and Alakh) reach Sion police station to collect Rahul and his bike, who was largely unhurt if you ignore the big burn wound on his palm and the fact that he was hit by a MINI bus. Anyways, not only did Rahul insist on continuing with the trip, but he would also not consent to the taking of a single bike. So we took his Enfield for some quick repairs and collected it that night. Work kept bot of us up that night too and finally around 10 the next day we managed to take off.


The original road trip was planned somewhat like this -
Day 1 - Start off from Mumbai - 500 Kms to Belgaon on the NH 4 and take the diversion to Goa - 100kms.
Day 2 - Start from Goa, take the NH 17 till Mangalore 350 Km and then take the NH48 to go towards Bangalore - 350 Km
Day 3 - Start from Bangalore and target Pune 850 Km (Ambitious but doable)
Day 4 - Spend some time in Pune with friends and head for Bombay 150 Km

However, the loss of a day made this trip ... well ... almost impossible. Taken into the fact that we managed to start off from Panvel at 11:30 in the morning was not helping either. SO we decided to go to Goa and see from there. Rahul had a bandaged left hand but was at ease and we were literally flying, averaging over 90 Km/h. With one stop for lunch, a refueling stop and one to adjusts Rahul's ignition timing (how can we not have a stop for that :) ), we made good ground, reaching Belgaon at 6 pm in the evening.

Now i have been on many rides before, but the pure rush from driving in the beautiful countryside for 7 straight hours was ..... nirvana. Both of us were completely drowned in this rush and decided at 6 to head for Bangalore instead, which was another 500 Kms. Now I know, normally faced with a choice of Goa Vs Bangalore, any person would choose Goa ( I mean come on ) But well...this was not about the destination, it was about the ride, the glory (don't laugh!!! There are circles where this is treated with the utmost respect !!) and the people. So...we headed for Bangalore.

The one thing we had not considered however, was fatigue ... We both had slept badly, and the dense night meant that the beautiful countryside that generally kept one distracted was nothing but a pitch black canvass now. I vividly remember imagining the black and white strips on the divider as another lane, and suddenly remembering that I was going at over a 100 Kmph. This incident prompted a quick stop for some very strong and sweet chai. We kick started again - and thats when it all went to hell..

The NH4 - which is a almost empty 4 lane divided highway all the way in Maharashtra, suddenly gave way to a bumpy tattered highway in Karnataka. Repair work meant that complete sides of the highway had been cordoned off and one frequently encountered diversions that had us driving on the wrong side of the road. From averaging over 90kmph to 30-40kmph .... bleah. We managed to make it to Ranibennur around 10:15, and discovered for the first time what it was to be in a town where nobody spoke f=your native language. After 15 minutes of charades, we finally managed to give the order in a dinghy restaurant for some dal - which was oil with a few traces of dal, tamatar masala - which was oil with some masala and no trace of tamatar and rotis. At 11, we called up people in Bangalore letting them know that we would reach the town around 4 am, so that they be prepared with food and stuff :D

We were informed that the highway had bad diversions for the next 10 kms (Note : never ever trust a distance metric which is given in round figures like 1, 10, 100). We headed off cautiously as even our combined headlights were seemingly inadequate as the diversions were never marked.

Then it happened - we encountered another such diversion - this one however, was on a puliya(bridge over a small canal). I swerved to take the other side, and was just checking to see if Rahul had followed, when I saw him driving straight into the ditch. For an instant, everything stopped. I remember going blank and then suddenly panic struck. I parked my bike beyond the bridge and ran to the ditch, which was at least 25 feet deep. I slid down the steep sides to find an unconscious Rahul at the base. He finally gained consciousness and amazingly was able to sit up after some time. I left him at the base and went up to the highway to try and flag down a truck. Given it was 12:00 in the night in the middle of nowhere on a comparatively deserted highway, I should not have been surprised that most truckers/cab drivers ignored my furious hand waving and shouts for help. The stupid people at the end of the emergency number only spoke in Kannada and cut me off. Finally after 15-20 mins, i managed to flag down a truck. I went into the ditch again and helped Rahul stand up again !!! None of the truckers were willing to get in the ditch, understandably so, given that it was 12 at night in the middle of a lonely highway. With some effort, me and Rahul reached the steep wall of the ditch and Rahul somehow managed the strength to crawl up a few feet with some help before the truckers could reach down and pull him out.

We were out...but still in the middle of nowhere. The truckers were nice people, but were not willing to get involved in the whole police scene - and in hindsight, can't really blame them. The next town was 4-5 km away, so i gathered our bags in the front and made Rahul sit on the back and slowly started on to Devangere. The man had just fallen almost two storeys, and was clearly in a lot of pain. Luckily, there was no major bleed and the other bleeds seemed to have stopped for the moment. We made our way slowly to Devangere, which took us about a half hour. The truckers were following us all the way to make sure we did not miss the nondescript exit for the town. I kept broaching up random topics, trying to make sure Rahul remained conscious. His first coherent comment - I remember distinctly - was, "How are we getting my bike out of the ditch !!!". @#$@#%@%@.

We entered the town at around 12:30 and were taken to Bapuji hospital by an autorickshaw. Needless to say, the hospital was a disaster. What could be expected in a government hospital in a small town ... but given Rahul's condition - a disaster. After a painful physical, administered by an unsympathetic doctor, we admitted Rahul for the night. I had called for reinforcements from Bangalore - Rahul's brother, Sunnet and Pranky, who had started off and would reach Devangere in the morning. It was a long night, especially for Rahul, who, despite his throbbing back pain, had to make a number of transfers from a gunnery to the bed and back. How can a hospital have a gunnery which is a foot higher than all their beds, I can't understand. At four, finally all the tests were done, and there was no major immediate concern. We settled for the night, but could not really sleep. The events of the night kept flashing in my mind...

Finally morning came, and reinforcements were here. We left Rahul with his brother to hunt for an ambulance to take him to Bangalore. Rahul and his brother left in the ambulance around 12:30, and then came the task of dealing with the police. After hours spent first toiling with the locals and the police to carry the bike out of the ditch, we discovered that had no legal recourse to take, even though the highway had no signs indicating the end of the road. After hours of bs, we had had enough!!!. A bribe to the local police station, and we were off with the bike, which was to be couriered. I had not slept in 36 hours, so was planning to catch a quick nap in the cab before we left for the next 300 kms for Bangalore. At the courier station, it was discovered that I could send Mohammed with Rahuls bike for almost no extra cost. If this were to be, this would be my list moment with Mohammed. This was not the great send off I had imagined, and was contemplating the 300 km trip, but the events of the last 24 hours finally drove some sense into me. I said my goodbyes to the Mohammed with a last ride in the town, and we were off to Bangalore in the cab around 6 pm.

I reached Bangalore at 11 when we met Rahul at the hospital. Investigations had revealed a few fractures - some minor fractures in the spine in the middle back region, a fracture in his nose bridge, and a two fractures in his cheekbones under each eye. He also got a good earful from the doctor, to whom he was boastfully re-encountering the events of the last 36 hours. I guess he was high on pain meds at the time, as he seemed too cheerful in the morose company he was in.

After a late night dinner (We had not had anything the whole day), we crashed for the night. The next day, finally rested, we spent some time with Rahul, who was definitely looking better. I took a flight back home the next evening to Bombay, packed my stuff and headed home to prepare for Germany.

Its been more than three weeks now since the fateful night. In time, we could see the rash stupid decisions made in the rush of hormones and in the pursuit of short lived glory. At the time of the accident, we had been driving for 12 hours straight, after a night when both had not slept too well. We would have been in Goa, having fun, had we stuck to the original plan. And even if the accident had been avoided, we would have had to drive for something like 16-18 hours to make it Bangalore. Looking back, there were many moments in the trip when there were indications of exhaustion, letting us know we were stretching the limits too far. I guess what we take from this is the satisfaction that this could have been way more serious than it turned out to be - and that the next time we embark on a road trip (and I guess we both know we will again...someday), we would be wiser.

For now, Rahul is on bed rest in Bangaore. He might have to go some surgery, will definitely not be riding a bike for some time to come and is selling off his Enfield. The Mohammed is still parked in Bangalore, and will be hunting for a new owner in the future. i am in Germany, and I walk 40 mins everyday to work in the friggin cold :(

The world as we knew it has changed.....but we will be back :)

For now, its Alvida

Kihim, New Years 2008

It was that time of the year again. With no money and no other plans, at 5 in the evening everybody was stumped. When things degraded to the point of a movie at home, the men rebelled. Within an hour, supplies (Sigdis, coal, tons of chicken, and some other veggie crap) were stocked, a car was hired for the weak hearted, and six men left on bikes for Kihim (yes...again!!!). The group consisted of me and Aashwit on yours truly, Rahul and Ankush on his Enfield 500, and Dubey and dubey on his new Enfield Machismo 500. The presence of the new bike ensured that atleast one of us had to stay below 60 kmph on the way ... which also led to a new revelation - Slow moving graphics induce sleep!!!

We finally reached the beach at the stroke of midnight, and got the campfire and barbecue going. However, the festivities were interrupted by the local police who were not swayed by the offerings of some delicious kebabs and asked us to move out at around 2-2:30. The party then shifted to the resort...type...thing where we had made reservations for the night. They say the party went on into the wee hours of the morning, for more information please contact any of the other partycipants.

As morning dawned, we were greeted with a flat tire on the machismo. After about an hour, which is the time it took to remove the tire, the drive to the village 4 km's away to the puncture-walah to get the 3 holes in it sealed and then refitting it, we hit the beach. Seems though that all the action was already over. People had kicked peoples asses in football, some people had gone para-sailing (I tried but apparently the wind was not strong enough at the time to support my weight :( ) and in all most of them were ready to head back. So while people ate, we spent a lazy hour in the sea, and then headed back for Bombay around 3 pm. The slow journey (60 kmph cap) led to the discovery of a hidden dam .... well it was on the side of the road which apparently I had missed on the 6 trips i had made on this stretch, with four of them in the last year itself. Any ho, a half hour learning how to fish from thee locals there and playing with the "gulail" (Reminds me of the good 'ol days in Choithram :) ).
Possibly the longest i ever took for a 100 odd km journey ever (over 5 hours). Also, probably one of my last journeys with the Mohammed. We shall be parting ways at the end of this month, and I am sad :(

K&N Air Filters

Its another quaint saturday afternoon. Yours truly is at work (bleah!!!!) when suddenly inspiration hits -

3:30 p.m. : Call to Rahul - Move, we are going to Pune to get the air filters

4:00 p.m. : Air filters are in stock. Shop closes at eight. Loads of time.

4:30 p.m. : Me and Ankush are ready to go...waiting for Rahul

4:40 p.m. : Rahul calls watching movie...climax...20 more mins of waiting

5:15 p.m. : Meet at Eastern Express Highway and take off (2:45 left)

6:00 p.m. : Refuelling and equipping ourselves with safety material (Helmet for Ankush)

6:40 p.m. : In lonavala - break for a cream roll :)

7:30 p.m. : In Aundh, Pune

7:45 p.m. : M.G. Road, no access by bike, switching to alternate mode of transportation

7:55 p.m. : In the shop...heaven...greeted with a Hayabusa, an CBR 600 and a 600 R1

8:30 p.m. : Mission accomplished .... finally kicked out by the owner.....best half hour spent ogling ever...

9:00 p.m. : No place to stay for the night, decide to goto Apache and make further plans

10:30 p.m. : All the fond memories of Apache over the years have been ruined....the perfect blend of floyd, audioslave, led zepp and .... has been replaced by incoherent death metal. Devide to watch a movie

11:30 p.m. : Movie starts (Lions or Lambs....or something like that)

1:30 a.m. : 2 tub full of popcorn down .... YAY

2:00 a.m. : looking for a place to stay near pune station

2:15 a.m. : no place available, asked to check in Somvar Peth ... unanimously declined (Pune reference...please adjust)

2:30 a.m. : watch 2 hookers making the deal with 2 other guys while waiting for Rahul to finish on the phone

3:45 a.m. : Lonavala...heavenly tea...f*%$ing freezing out there....regretting not buying those gloves at Planet DSG

5:00 a.m. : Home sweet home...watch Australia make minced meat of the Sri Lankans

6:00 a.m. : Zzzzzzzzzz

An almost-visit to Dream Sporting Gear, Oct 2007

To all those who follow Mohammed's escapades, let me bring you up to speed with the latest shenanigans. The Mohammed, after a very uncharacteristic streak of almost no visits to the mechanic or costly repairs, finally showed some of its old colours and demanded a new set of sprockets, drive chain, accelerator cable, front tyre and front and rear rims. For those of you keeping track, the magic number hovers dangerously close to 57.

Anyways, after a long time, a week came along when I was not forced to work/study all weekend long, which meant it was road trip time :) However, the "October Heat" effect severely limited the options of feasible destinations. Therefore, we (Me, Rahul and Piyush) decided to pay a visit to the Dream Sporting Gear, a well known super bike dealer and accessories store in Pune (again!!!!).

We kicked off at about 6:00 pm on Saturday, and courtesy of a shoddy job on the accelerator cable by Mr Moolchand, had to take a stop and fix it. For three engineers, we did not do an all together bad job, and by 6:30, we were on our way.

We reached Pune around 10, stopping on the way only for fuel for us (chocolate fudge in Lonavala) and the bikes. Driving on a moonless night was a new experience, and the familiar scenery suddenly seemed eerily hazy and mysterious.

The visit to Pune prompted an impromptu gathering of old college mates (Daddu and Chawla) at a place called Toons on MG Road. The events of the night contain explicit material not suitable for children/family/anybody else who does not already know and have therefore been censored.

Note of Caution: To anyone who is planning on a visit to Pune, keep in mind that all eating/drinking/hangout joints close down at 11:30 pm sharp, courtesy of some new legislation (#^$%^$%#$)

We planned to visit the store on Sunday afternoon and then head back. I went and met up with some more old friends from school and although this was fun, the true purpose of the visit still remained. I drove down to MG road only to find that the store was not open on Sundays :( (One would think that we would have made a simple phone call to find this out before driving almost 200 km to the place!!! oh well) And to top it all of, the rest of the guys had managed to cajole the owner, who had come to make a delivery, to let them in for a little while :((. I shall not elaborate any here say details here, other than the fact that it was OUTSTANDING ( more :(( ).

After a lazy afternoon of watching India loose to the Aussies, we decided to head back to Bombay. After a minor hunt for getting a mechanic for Rahul's Enfield, and picking up Himanshu(who I had accidentally bumped into in Pune), we were off. Another stop in Lonavala for dinner, and back in bbay by 11:30 pm.

PS: I am fast running out of places to visit. Any suggestions (involving a good drive and a half decent place) are most welcome.

Kihim, August 2007

Its been 52 weeks to the day when the Mohammed accepted me as its caretaker. Its been a long and VERY EXPENSIVE journey, but one that was worth every second.

The last few months have been very dull for the prophet. Alas, this humble caretake was burdened with a hectic schedule. The Mohammed did go out for a breif tryst to Nashik, but sadly, I was down with an upset stomach to go along :(.

So, to celebrate out first aniversary, I first took Mohammed for a make-over, and had its disc pads replaced and disk pistons cleaned. We (Me, Rahul and Himanshu) planned to leave around six and head out to Kashid for a day of lounging at the beach. However, a late night ensured that none of us was ready before 10 in the morning. Already late and eager to get out, we stromed off to the highway - but it was not o be. Mohammed threw up a tantrum 5 kms down the road the the chain came off from the front sprocket. Although it came back on after a lot of coaxing, we did loose precious time, and it also meant another visit to the mechanic.

While the Mohammed got irts chain tightened, we went of to pick another bike for the trip. Sadly, this one did not have any rear brakes, which meant more time at the mechanics. Finally after an hour at the mechanic, which also included a frantic search for some lost keys, we headed out for Kashid at noon.

Things were not realy looking up with these initial setbacks as we had to be back in Bombay around 7. We had initially set out for Kashid, which is about 140 kms from Bombay, so even if we had no further delaya, we would get at max an hour at the beach - but no one was backing down now. The weather was perfect for an amazing drive - clowds hanging low and blocking out the sun with heavy rains from time to time. We made good time and were in Alibagh at around 2. After consulting some locals, we came decided to go to Kihim, a more seculed beach with cottages all along the coastline and and more importantly, just 15 minutes away :). I have memories of staying in Kihim with cousins from a long time back, when I couldn't tell the difference between an automatic and manual transmission even :P.

We had assortment of pav based mini meals (misal pav, omlette pav, bhurji pav...you know the rest) topped off with some sparkling wine. After that was time for some fun in the ocean. I remember a lot of my trip to Kihim the first time, but forgot some of the finer details, such as Kihim being a very rocky beach. It seemed like a few minor rocks here and there, but a few cuts later it was evident that was not meant to be. So we ended up splashing around in the shalow waters till it was time to leave.

The drive back was fun, and apart from Himanshu having a minor slip, everything went off smoothly, and we touched Mumbai at 7.

An ideal anniversary present for the Mohammed, who seems to have gone into a prolonged pampering mode, and would need a new sprocket soon :)

Pune....Again, July 2007

Slick roads, wet clothes....The wind trying to blow us off the road!!!! The cold creeping to my special places :P

It began on Saturday morning at 4:00 am, when yours truly begins looking for a bike to partner the Mohammed due to a last minute ditching act.
4:45 - all possible resources have been exhausted, and a tough decision lies ahead. We had to leave Zooty behind, sad as it may have been our last attempt at a road trip together in a long long time.

Me and Dubey started off at 5, driving down a now very familiar route. The rains gods had been merciful and we actually managed to make it to Lonavala without getting drenched. The roads were wet and slippery and, for once, we were forced to enjoy a nice slow drive.

Lonavala was a sight to behold, what with the clouds cutting off the green mountain tops, and small hidden waterfalls appearing after every bend in the road. By the time we crossed Lonavala though, we were both sleepy(a night out before a loong drive is never a good idea!!), wet and cold. And then the wind started - It would come in fiery bursts and would literally try to drag us off the road. Amazing weather to be driving in, and certainly kept both of us awake.

We landed in Pune around 9 and landed at Vikas's and Mayank's. We had to leave early the next day so we spent the day holed up in their apartment, catching up and talking about the good old times, and courtesy of Mayank, the food kept on coming. With ice cream floats, and bread omelets and bhindi ki sabzi and chai and then some...the only thing i missed out on was the frozen chicken kebabs :)

We headed out for Bombay in the morning, and were again treated to some awesome weather. It looked like a lot of people were in an adventerous mood, and we were greeted with herds after herds of splendours and pulsars with people heading onto Lonavala . Lonavala itself was flooded with people, and a 2km jam on the highway did not help. Although it did give us an opportunity to examine and mock the new generation of hippies and desi dudes who took the opportunity to come out during the jam in all their splendour.

The Mohammed was as fiery as before, although it had lost its roar after the makeover. My first drive in almost 10 weeks, but hopefully that ststistic would change now that I have graduated(Yay me!!!) and do not have profs. looking forward to hunting me down :).