The Comrades of the Ride were:
1. Dips aka Kenny on his Black Electra 4S
2. Tomar aka Chief Navigator on his Red Electra 4S
3. Che on The Mighty One
Tomar prepared an excellent map for us to follow, where he clearly showed us why he is the best Navigator around and with him in a ride there’s no way one can lose his/her way (Her…well we haven’t had any Female BOP riders but still for decency sake I wrote Her as well!!!). There was also exclusive part of this ride, with my Piston getting changed a week back I was advised to ride my bike slowly and not go beyond 50 kmph so I was to trail the pack…and this was a welcome change for Dips who has always seen me zipping past him during all our previous rides together!!! But I was worried as I hate riding slowly and even worse is trailing the pack of riders but I had no other option available anyway so I was ready for a 50 kmph ride!!!
We met at Leisure Valley Park at 6 AM on 21st Feb. and our new BOP Joinee Rohit Saini came to see us off with sleepy eyes and ruffled hair!!! But it was a great gesture from his part to come and meet us so early in the day…we started the ride at 6:15 AM and took the Gurgaon – Najafgarh Route and the weather was painfully chilly and all 3 of us were not at all prepared for the cold with just wearing thin jackets and summer gloves !!! we were riding & shivering at the same time for quite some time but finally we gave in and just could ride any further…at 7:45 we stopped at a Highway Dhaba for some much-needed hot tea & Paranthas…we gulped 2 glasses of tea before the Paranthas even arrived at the scene !!! The tea tasted much better than the best quality Scotch to us at that time!!! After the Heat-Therapy we started the ride again and rode for some 60 kms before stopping for another of Piss, Tea & Sutta some 1.5 hours later…
All this while Tomar was leading the ride and he was so bloody confident about the route that he didn’t check the way to Rakhigarhi even once!!!I am sure if me & Dips were there we would have checked it some 5-6 times by now…so much for our bad Navigation skills!!! At 11:15 AM we had reached Rakhigarhi and started looking for the excavation site and Mr. Wazir Chand who is the ASI Caretaker of the site, after checking with some 5-6 villagers we finally reached the site but was disappointed to see the site full of Cow-Dung cakes drying on the fields!!! Mr. Wazir was more than happy to see 3 Bikers all the way from Gurgaon who had come to see the site and offered us Tea & Chilled Water!!! He also showed us some documents about the history of Rakhigarhi & other Haryana Excavation sites which were a great source of information to us, we clicked some pics of the surreal place and then went off to check out the Prithviraj Chauhan Fort which was some 30 kms away in a village named Hansi, it was personally recommended by Mr. Wazir as he told us that that fort was one of it’s kind and was not to be missed as we would never come this far again…so we left the site and then the entire village was out to watch us & our bikes due to the loud thump it was emitting !!! We were demi-stars of the village with children cheering for us!!! It was a great site indeed with awestruck elderly villagers watching us with dreamy eyes while smoking away their Hukkas!!!
Enroute we found a Theka and by now you know BOP very well…we never miss an opportunity to enjoy Chilled Beer on Highway Rides!!! And this time as well we didn’t let this opportunity pass by and we stopped to enjoy a beer peculiarly named KAALA TEETAR (that’s Black Partridge for you)…it was really a potent beer with the 3 of us a little high after having just 1 beer…the Theka Caretaker Satbir was an amazingly knowledgeable person for his background…and that too on a daily dose of Punjab Kesari…he knew all about the intricacies of US Elections, Mumbai Terror Strikes, The Chand Mohammed - Fiza Love Affair and The Indo-Pak conflict…he was also glad to get himself clicked with the Desi Liquor in the Background !!! I also saw a Saunf (Aniseed) Local Liquor for the first time…I have had Sambuca but I am sure this one would be lethal…I also picked one small bottle as a souvenir for my liqueur Collection…
After the great discussion & beer therapy we rode to The Fort after parking our bikes just outside the fort and with 2-3 curious kids acting as guards to keep our bikes safe!!! we went inside and soaked in the History that was quite evident there but the place was in a big mess…no boards telling about the history of the Fort, no ASI Official and the normal scribbling of all sorts on literally on all the walls…but we still enjoyed the peace at the place and I imagined that the brave Prithviraj Chauhan and his partner Samyukta must have spent some intimate moments at this place!!! Visiting so many forts during my Bike Rides has been an utmost pleasure and a great education of the fabulous Indian History; have been to Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan, Tughlaqabad Fort in Delhi, Bekal Fort in Kerala, Leh Fort in Ladakh and now this one!!! And I am damn sure that there would many more to come…
After getting all soaked in the History Lessons we stopped at an extremely dingy & filthy looking Dhaba named MAUJI DA DHABA!!! We deliberated a lot but still went inside and ordered Chicken Curry (Half Kg….yes that’s the way they served it…) and Dal Fry…believe when I haven’t smelled a more yucky flavored Chicken Curry in my Life…it was bad…and it tasted even worse…and the Dal was no good either but still we ate the food as we were really hungry and had no mood to stop at another place…there were some amazing scriptures on the wall instructing people to stay quiet, Drink more & not to puke (there was a fine of Rs. 50 per Puke!!!)We left the place with our tummies filled but our taste buds adversely affected to start the ride back to Gurgaon…
We stopped once after riding for some 70 odd kms for a Sutta Break and I felt like crapping so off I went to the nearby bushes to relieve myself…and now let me tell you that shitting amidst the bushes is a heavenly experience and I enjoy staying close to nature anyway!!! I also clicked some amazing pics of a beautiful green insect through Macro shots…
After this relieving process I had to eat something so we stopped at a Haryana Tourism Restaurant to eat some good food for a change…I had a Burger & Cold Coffee and it was superb…after that it was once again a constant 45 kmph ride till we reached Delhi Border…and after entering Delhi through the Rohtak Border the same old story began…trucks & City Traffic all over!!! This is the story which is repeated every time we enter Delhi after a ride…be it through Ghaziabad, Sonepat or Rohtak…some things never change…
My bike was getting really heated up after the constant riding and I had to stop to give it a break and for me to have a Sutta…after the break it was me who led the pack till Gurgaon as both Dips & Tomar didn’t know the route well…so a welcome change to see the fellow riders through my rear-view mirror!!!
We reached Gurgaon at 9 PM…clicked the customary final pic outside the Ambience Mall and rode towards our homes…bidding goodbyes…congratulating each other on another ride completed successfully…that too with so much fun…
The High Pints of the Ride were some quotable quotes made by certain individuals…
1. Tomar @ 6 AM: “Yaar aaj subah badi thand hai yaar”…the best part being Tomar had woken up this early only once in the last 10 months !!! he was simply amazed to experience the early morning chill…
2. Satbir @ 12 Noon: “Jo Desi Daaroo peeta hai who Desi Latth ban jaata hai”…So any of you wanna become a “Desi Latth”???
3. Satbir @ 1 PM : “Pakistan ke bare mein aapka kya khayaal hai?”…we were shocked to hear this as we were in no mood to discuss politics after the Kaala Teetar Therapy…
The pics of the Ride:
Tomar’s Camera: http://picasaweb.google.com/sankettomar/Rakhigarhi#
Che’s Camera: http://picasaweb.google.com/jha.nishant/TheBOPHistoricExplorersRide?feat=directlink\
The solitary video taken by me while riding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YbLQJMRsXA
Che would be back on the road again…
Till then ride safe and have Safe Sex…
Hasta la Victoria Siempre…
Valentine’s Day…This day has become famous & infamous both at the same time…due to various curious reasons…This is the day for Lovers of all kinds…Old & Young, Boy & Girl, Boy & Boy and also Girl & Girl…There is one other relationship which many mere mortals don’t even dare contemplating & exploring…and that’s between a Man & his Machine !!! Now don’t get me wrong…I am not talking about a Dildo or a Vibrator!!! By Machine I mean a Bike!!!
After that we had a discussion about the next step of the ride…after following the Democratic Way of using a Popular Vote a unanimous decision was taken to move next to The Tughlaqabad Fort to follow the Historical Riding we are exploring full-on these days…the other options were The Mohit Chauhan Show at The Dilli Haat & The new Jhaag Lake…maybe we would do the lake some other time….
I was just playing with the 10X Zoom in my camera and spotted a couple sitting on the top of a Fort Wall quite a distance away, they were getting physically intimate and we joined the fun, I started to click some pics of their Valentine Celebration !!! soon everybody got excited and all eyes & thoughts were fixed on my camera screen…Arun didn’t let this golden opportunity go and got his Camcorder installed on the Tripod and started to make a Video !!! We also had some extremely interesting live commentary going on in the background!!! You can surely imagine what it would be…now every one of us is anxiously waiting to watch the video and have the same fun all over again!!! Jagmeet is literally dying to take a sneak peek!!! But I am sure Arun would take his time editing & pruning the Video and present a full-HD Format to us…we completely trust him to do that!!! He is a master after all…