The Spiritual Junkies

41 Hours of Fun, 12 Hours of Biking Madness, 600 Kms clocked, 2 new buddies, Beer at 3 different places, riding on 2 most famous bridges of India, convincing a boy who had ran away from his home to go back and the River Side Peace & Tranquility….I could not have asked for more from our Rishikesh Ride !!!

The Ride started at 5:30 AM on Saturday 19th April from Delhi and ended at 10:30 PM on Sunday 20th April 2008…4 Bikes…5 buddies with 1 very very happy pillion !!! The heroes of the ride were Me, Negi, Dips, Chaddha and TJ(the Pillion)…We started from South Extension on a pleasant morning at 5:30 AM and soon were up and running, picked TJ (Dips’ Buddy) en-route and stopped at a Highway Dhaba for breakfast which included Butter-Dripping Paranthas, Hot Tea and loads of slow service to boot !!! The guy serving us had still not woken up from his deep slumber and we had to shout at him to serve food to we hungry souls !!! The best part was the guy cleaning the chairs in a very very slow motion, I lost my patience and jumped in-between to show him how to do it !!! but sadly he was least interested and nonchalantly walked away to my utter disbelief…

We started again with a promise that we would stop again at the next beer joint to refresh ourselves…there was a huge Traffic Jam on the way due to a Railway Crossing but we smart riders cleared it quite quickly and stopped at a beer joint but sadly there was no beer available…we didn’t lose heart and trusted the Government of India and the Beer Companies to clear the Liquor Licenses and to stock the joints with Beer respectively and soon our beliefs turned into reality and we saw a shop serving Chilled Beer and we hounded the shop and impatiently asked him to give us poor thirsty souls some chilled beer and he obliged quite happily and also giving us some Namkeen to eat it with the Beer !!! What amazing service in the middle of the Highway !!! we were soon done, our tummies flowing with beer and decided to go straight to Rishikesh without any long stops to save time…

By 1 PM we were in Rishikesh and headed straight to Shivpuri for Rafting…sadly due to some medical thingy I have been advised by my Doctor not to do Rafting but I was happy being a part of the Gang…clicking snaps and doing my non-stop blabbering !!! the guys soon finished with the haggling for the rates and started our descent towards the River Bank to get dressed up in their Helmets and Life Jackets and after loads of time wasting by the Rafting Organizers were soon rowing away to Glory !!! I picked up my excitement levels and soon headed to the riverside to sit on the rocks and do some soul-searching with the relaxing Water Sounds and cigarettes to help me concentrate !!! after relaxing for around 45 minutes I headed straight back to Rishikesh to eat a very late lunch at 5:30 PM and also to sit by the riverside again…I landed at the extremely famous “Chotiwala Dhaba” for a sumptuous lunch of a Deluxe Vegetarian Thali which consisted of 12 Food Varieties !!! Quite cheap at just 100 bucks…I met a old British Couple and chatted with them for another hour or so discussing myriad topics ranging from the Traffic & Pollution in India, Bike Rides, How British Tea is made and also the amazing food which we get here !!! it was a great time we spent and bid farewell and then I headed straight to the River side to observe the hundreds of people who come to the city and enjoy in their own different ways…there were so many emotions around me of devotion, despair, happiness and the bliss of newly wed couples…and amongst them was a kid sitting on the stairs crying profusely with his head covered up in a towel for some good 10-15 minutes…I just could not control myself and walked straight upto him to talk to him and to know what made such a young kid so sad…and the thing which rattled me was a bag lying next to him through which I suspected that he had possibly ran away from his home…it was tough convincing him to talk to me…but slowly he opened up and I got to know that he had a major fight with his Dad over his performance in an engineering entrance test to the most elite Engineering Institutes of India and he was so depressed and broken up that he decided to run away with just 130 bucks in his pocket and few of his clothes…I tried all means to convince him and cheer him up…at times throwing imaginary stories of people succeeding even after so many failures !!! he slowly and surely got interested and I succeeded in getting his Dad’s Mobile Number and was lucky coz he was in Rishikesh looking frantically for his son and had rushed from Haridwar for him…talked to his dad and broke the happy news to him and soon they met again…they both thanked me and I wished the Kid the very best of luck…felt really good to be a part of a happy ending !!! then to enjoy even further I took a Boat Ride on the River Ganges with so many cheerful kids around me playing with water and eating candies and soon got lost in the Irony of life !!! one kid so sad and a host of others playing away to Glory !!!
Then I was joined by the rest of the Gang who had a ball of a time while Rafting and they were also dead hungry and we were again back to the Dhaba where I had amazing noodles and the rest of the Gang gobbled up the filled-to-the brim Thalis in no time at all…Chaddha enjoyed his Lassi gleefully and all of us were on seventh heaven after the satisfying meal…then we started the task of finding a very cheap hotel for our night halt and succeeded in finding a decent room at 350 bucks each with Negi sacrificing himself to sleep on the floor !!! what an amazing guy…I would not be able to pay up for his sacrifice ever…Negi if you are reading this…YOU ROCK MATE !!! then me and Negi went to search for beer but our bad luck…it was the day of some meaningless elections it was a Dry Day so we decided to sleep without beers in our belly but me and Negi still had a drink !!! so what it was cane sugar juice…we still enjoyed our drinks for the night !!! then it was all the way TJ’s show for the next 1 hour before we slept !!! he was all over us with stories from the US about the good times he had at Mardi Gras in New Orleans and his other adventures undertaken whilst exploring some interesting aspects of the American Way of Life !!! all of us really got excited and while this was taking place Dips was fast asleep least interested in the lousy erotic shit we were raving about and soon we also decided to hit the beds to have a nice sleep before starting the day ahead refreshed for a long ride back home !!!

Morning was the usual…we slowly leaving our beds and getting ready before heading to another Dhaba to enjoy another bout of Paranthas and Lassi !!! then we picked up our bikes and headed straight to the Laxman Jhoola to ride our beasts on the bridge and scare people away !!! then we had a good long round of the city and seeing people all around ogling at our bikes !!! after riding on the Ram Jhoola and clicking snaps we headed back to the Hotel to pay the bills and picked up our stuff and hit the highway to start the ride back home…TJ bid us goodbye as he headed to Dehradun to meet his cousin there…once again our next stop was a beer joint only !!! we met inform of IIT. Roorkee and enjoyed street shop juice and snacks and went to a dingy bar for our share our beer and then a nice little cozy restaurant for our lunch…the fist non-vegetarian meal in 2 days…really enjoyed the food and started again…the heat was bad…and especially the dust on the UP roads made the ride quite arduous…but still the whole experience of riding drives all the troubles away anyway…and we all care little about the quality of roads and the dust…atleast I do !!! after that I again wanted to have some more beer and stopped at a highway beer joint but we were disappointed as the Beer was flat and warm…drank just half bottle each…Negi was really sad and agitated !!!

Then we had a long 100 kms ride and stopped at a Dhaba for tea and chips…the crowd at the Dhaba was so loud and boisterous that we could not even talk…the moment they left we were so relieved not to hear the cries and shouts of so many people at the same time !!!after that the first and the last mishap of the trip…my bike’s petrol got over without any warning and my bike was just dead...Negi the Great again obliged with some fuel from his bike and we started again towards Delhi amidst maddening Traffic…honking of vehicles and zillions of Marriage Functions on the way !!!

By 10 we hit the Delhi Border after a an extremely satisfying Trip…the trips had all highs and no lows to talk about…I got 2 new buddies in Dips and TJ…and lest I forget…Chaddha is my MBA junior and he has had a Bullet since year 2000 and this was his first Bike Ride !!! and I am damn sure he wont forget this in years to come…

The next ride which I would plan would be most probably to Jim Corbett National Park and I really expect atleast 7-8 riders the next time to multiply the fun and interact and make new friends !!!

You can view the pics of the ride at http://picasaweb.google.com/jha.nishant/TheSpiritualJunkies?authkey=To8K1b4_JKg and http://picasaweb.google.com/diptinder.chhabra/BullsOnParadeToRishikesh

Till then…Cheers & Safe Riding…Enjoy Life & Take Care….

Che would be back again on the road !!!