It was a boring Financial Management lecture on a nice morning of 5th June 2010 but with a happy ending. We did not have any lectures the next day which was Sunday. I was so relieved & had a big smile on my face while leaving from the lecture with a thought of sleeping till late tomorrow morning after almost 3-4 weeks coz it had been one of the utmost hectic stretch of my life ever since last few weeks on account of vital assignments at workplace, Rajashthan expedition for a colleague’s wedding ceremony, an extended bike ride hardly few days ago etc. Hence tomorrow was going to be my much anticipated & well justified buffer day for relaxation. After all, I had no plans for tomorrow in any case.
As I got out of the lecture & walked towards my bike, Pranav (one of my close friends) walked up to me & said we can go for a small ride tomorrow. I nodded courteously even though I had virtually no intensions of riding at all tomorrow morning. I told him I’ll update him if I’m going anywhere & he can accompany me.
Reached my office later in the morning & met a lot of friends there. It was a Saturday so no much work at office, hence did nothing phenomenal apart from wholesome time pass with Mukund, Shruti, Saurabh, Sonia, Ronak, Pratik etc. It was somewhere past 2.30 – 3.00 pm when Najju (one of my bestfriend’s who was normal back then but now a touring maniac like me) called me up & we had the subsequent conversation. (English translation represented in brackets)
Najju: Kya kar raha hai saale?
(Wassup idiot ?)
Me : Kuch nahi yar, time pass chal raha hai.
(Nothing substantial, just time pass)
Najju : Kal kya karne wala hai, free hai?
(What are your plans for tomorrow? Are you Free?)
Me: Ha (Yes, Although somehow I had hints that the consequences of my simple yes to the above question of Najju are not going to be so simple)
Najju: Main aur Nikhil (Najju’s best frnd) Shirdi jaa rahe hai tonight.. On bike. Tu bhi chal, mazaa aayega.
(I’m going to Shirdi on bike with Nikhil, you too join us)
Me: Kya baat kar raha hai yaar, sahi hai.. But I’m not sure yaar, it’s a long trip & I am bit tired… But I’ll try for sure
(Awesome dude)
NOTE: The above conversation was re-presented in as short & simple form as I could.
This was just a comprehensive interpretation of our conversation which ended up in Najju insisting me to join & I was out of any apt reasons to reject his tantalizing proposal altogether. So I assured him, I’ll inform him by evening.
Nevertheless, I got back to my typical non-sense with my office friends again, even though the offer to Shirdi road trip was just too delightful & running continually in my thoughts.
Just out of curiosity I googled for the map of mumbai Shirdi & found the distance to be approximately 265 kms one way. By now I was pretty much interested in the trip & considering it very seriously. I called up Pranav to find out if he was still interested in the ride tomorrow. He was pretty stunned at my proposal to ride till Shirdi as it was not exactly a small or medium ride for him,
and I said to myself
‘Stupid, don’t get so over-confident, it’s not a small & easy ride for you too’.
After all more then 500 kms in less then a day is a big ride for me too (especially with the worn out body that I possessed that day due to the restless weeks that I had before)
Anyways, Pranav showed some interests in the plan & said he’ll confirm by 7.00 pm as we were supposed to leave by 8.00 pm that night.
By 5.00 pm I was more or less confirmed for the ride & just looking for someone to join me coz I thought spending so much on fuel & not taking someone along when I can is just a waste of money plus I could use some company all the way on a long ride.
No much work in office so most of my friends had left by 6.00 pm. As a revenge for stealing Shruti’s cell a few months ago (it was a prank of course) it was the day of revenge for her today & she got hold of my almost new Nokia N85 & she was determined to not return it to me till Monday & she left for her home with my cell by 6.30 pm.
Anyways I had a standby basic phone with additional functioning sim card to my rescue so no big deal.
I was alone sitting on my office chair & I was wondering who else could accompany me for the trip & I decided to go through my phone’s contact list & see if I can ask anyone else coz I was doubtful about Pranav joining me.
Then it struck to me I didn’t have my phone coz Shruti stole it.
Shruti..
Oh shit, why didn’t I consider her before.
It was somewhat similar to when you are trying to search for a soulmate through thousands of girls while the perfect one was right in front of your eyes.
Now before you get any vague ideas, let me clear up a few things.
The SOULMATE expression quoted above doesn’t mean I was gonna marry her in Shirdi, but the above expression was just limited to this ride coz of the following points:
1) Shruti was amongst few of my other frnds like Sneha, Najju etc insisting on a long bike trip since months but I had been busy so could not plan any.
2) Shruti knew us guys for long enough & we shared kind of brother-sister relationship & so she would have no problems trusting us guys out for night ride with us without making too much fuss about it.
3) Shruti loved riding long distances on bike. (which BTW as I found out later in the trip was my wrong impression about her)
4) I didn’t know exactly but she was kind of a featherweight, almost like no pillion sitting behind me so riding with her as a pillion doesn’t take out the fun part of my reasonably fast riding requirements.
5) We had a lot of common topics to talk about throughout the trip, for instance office politics, her boyfriend etc
6) & the most important of all, she had my N85 cellphone which had a cool 5 Mega-pixel camera which clicked amazing pictures & we didn’t have any other better camera for the trip.
These were just the quick few thoughts that ran through my mind all the while I was dialing her number. Our conversation went on something like this.
Me: Idiot, kaha tak pohachi?
(Where did u reach yet?)
Shruti: Main ab tak marine lines station par hi hu, aaja aur apna cell le le.
(I’m still @ marine lines station, u come here & get ur phone if u want to)
Me: Please tell me where you have reached so far really idiot? I have some seriously important thing to talk about.
Shruti : Somewhere near Bandra.
Me: Aaj thane (where she lived) nahi jaa rahi kya?
(Not going to your home @ thane today? )
Shruti: No I’m going at my Mama’s (Uncle’s ) house in goregaon for the weekend.
Me: Accha sunn, hum log Shirdi jaane ka plan bana rahe hai aaj raat ko.. On bikes (We r planning a road trip on bikes to Shirdi tonight)
Shruti : On bikes ? (bit shockingly)
Me: Ha, tu chalegi kya ? (Yes, R u interested? )
Shruti (laughingly) : Chal abhi bohat huwa, paka mat, tu bas bahaana bana raha hai mujhe yeda bana k apna mobile vaapas lene k liye.
(Enough of your stupid plans to fool me & get back your cellphone)
Me: nahi yaar, I’m serious. I can swear on anyone.
Shruti (Now a bit seriously) : Kaun kaun jaa raha hai?
(Who else are coming?)
Me: Najju & his frnd Nikhil on one bike & me on my FZ. Plus Shailesh & pravin may join, I have spoken to them also.
(I was lying about Shailesh/Pravin coz I hadn’t spoken to them yet but was gonna speak to them in some time to see if they were interested)
Shruti: Ok if you are serious toh tell me what time are we gonna leave?
Me: Somewhere around 8.00 pm.
Shruti : Ok I’ll confirm with you in some time.
(Note: Above conversation is a dramatized version censored accordingly. Actuals may have been a bit different with a few abuses coz she stole my phone , but it was more or less on the same lines)
So there I was, finally set for the ride expecting Shruti to confirm & if not, Pranav was the last hope available too. Anyways, even if both of them did not answer back positively, that wouldn’t had stopped me from riding alone on my own. I called up Pravin, Shailesh & informed them about our road trip but none of them were even close to being positive to join us. I insisted a lot to both of them but all in vain.
I was packing my stuff to leave office by 6.30 pm when I got a call on my other cell. It was from Najju.
Najju: Kya bhai, kisikio bhi kya apna cell de deta hai?
(Hey Bro, Why you give your cell to anyone?)
Me: Nahi yaar, usne churaa liya. (She stole it)
Najju: Anyways whats your plan, you are joining us right?
(& he was so sure about me that without even waiting for my answer, he started giving final details of the trip)
Further he said,
Apan log Nikhil k ghar pe milenge at 8.30 pm.
(We’ll meet at Nikhil’s place by 8.30 pm),
We’ll reach Shirdi by 1.00-2.00 am max.
Me: Lets try to leave early, its not a short ride it will take more then 6-7 hrs. I have done some google maps search & its not such a short journey, especially coz it’s a night drive.
Najju: Nikhil has been there before on bike & he says it will take maximum 4-5 hrs. But I’m ready to leave early.
Me: Ok give me Nikhil’s number, I’ll speak to him.
I Left office, while still being in touch with others through my alternate basic cellphone. Shruti was almost confirmed when I called her back at 7.00 pm & She said, she’ll be back to dadar by 8.00 pm where we can pick her up.
I came home, packed a few things in my bag;
My N85 phone charger, all my riding gears, first aid etc
It was already 7.15 by then & I was all set to go. Spoke to Nikhil & convinced him to leave early so that we can pick up Shruti by 8 pm at dadar. He agreed.
I got sms from Shailesh wishing me & everyone else good luck for the longest ride of our lives so far.
Then I got a call from Pranav. He wanted to come but his dad was not willing to send him since it’s a long night ride, on bike. I wanted to tell him somehow that one of my other friend is joining me now so couldn’t take him along now but my heart was too weak to convey the sad news to him hence I asked him not to join us without his parent’s permission. Assured him we’ll go with our other friends somewhere on a short trip soon maybe next week.
I borrowed some cash from mom since I was totally bankrupt & had no money because of my Rajasthan trip earlier this week. Had to lie to mom that we are going to shirdi by bus coz she wouldn’t had allowed me otherwise. Felt bad to start a holy trip with a lie but had no other choice & neither the time to convince her.
Finally I was all set by 7.30 pm & yet I was getting the most restless for the trip now, probably most excited then anyone else now. Tried to lie down on my bed & relax for few minutes but couldn’t so called up Najju & asked him to meet @ nikhil’s house.
I left home by 7.45 pm & reached Nikhil’s place in a few minutes. Got a confirmation from Shruti that she’s already on her way to dadar by then. When I reached at Nikhil.s place, Najju was already there but Nikhil took few minutes to get ready for the ride. I had some free time so also called up Sneha & informed her everything about our sudden trip at which she got a bit upset as she couldn’t join us as there was no room for her on bikes & further it was an overnight trip. Anyways she wished us all a safe trip & by that time Nikhil & Najju came down & got on their bike. We went straight to the petrol pump to fill in our bikes. I met Percy there who was going to drop one of his friends somewhere. He was not much excited for our trip but he was excited to see me all geared up with my jacket, gloves & arm/knee guards for the trip. He wished me luck too & we left the place soon after filling our bikes with petrol. One stupid thing that I did was that I just got petrol of only Rs 300 coz I thought I will refill it again later at night. I asked Nikhil to meet me directly at Dadar station while I stood behind to check air in my bike’s tires. I rode fast & met them near dadar station where I had informed Najju as well as Shruti to meet & they were already there. So we all met there & it was past 8.30 already. We left soon & faced heavy traffic near dadar as usual. Shruti asked me to take her home at Thane where she can change & then we would carry on ahead. Thane was right on our way to Shirdi but I was bit pissed coz of the traffic delay already. Anyways I decided not to over-react the other way so nodded politely to her request, as if I had a choice. I was driving ahead so had to slow down to convey this message to Nikhil. Nikhil was relatively a calm rider who would hardly go over 80 kmph so I told him to carry on along NH3 till Kalyan-bhiwandi bypass & I’ll take Shruti to thane & catch up with them. They agreed. As soon as I got on NH3, Nikhil’s bike was out of my sight as I speeded to tripple digits all along so that Shruti can get over with her changing clothes scenario soon & I can catch up with Nikhil/Najju (Hereafter known as NN)
I reached Thane in no time because of a fast ride & less traffic on NH3. Dropped shruti at her house & told her to be back soon but I knew she’ll take atleast half an hour to get ready. So I had no choice but to wait. Meanwhile, Shruti had returned my cell so I checked on all my missed calls & messages. I was surprised to see few calls from Shailesh & few sms too asking where I was?
I called him up straight away & told him my current location was Thane & that I was gonna regroup with NN at Kalyan-Bhiwandi bypass in half an hour.
What he said next brought a big smile on my face,
He said,
‘Thik hai chal main aa raha hu Bhiwandi bypass pe aadhe ghante mein’
(Alright I’ll be there in half an hour)
I dint understand what he said at first so I asked him,
‘Tu humko sirf milne aa raha hai na?’
(You are coming to just see us off for the journey right) (As he lived very closeby)
He said ‘Nahi bhai, main bhi aa raha hu Shirdi’
(No brother, I’m coming to Shirdi with u all)
I was so happy since Shailesh is really a nice fellow, a close friend & I get along with him really well & so is pravin. I asked him about Pravin & he said Pravin is not coming. So he left his home soon while I was waiting for shruti desperately to give her the new good news. I called up Sneha, & now she seemed really desperate to join us.
It was just about 10 min or so after I dropped Shruti & I was chilling out on phone with Sneha wen my eyes popped out of a shocking surprise. Shruti came by all ready & set to go. I appreciated her for getting ready so soon. Next, I gave the big news about Shailesh & she was as much happy as I was, maybe even more since she was a good friend of shailesh too. I asked her to speak to Pravin & convince him to join us which she tried along with her girly charm but didn’t work on Pravin.
So we left Thane soon after that & I rode fast to try & catch up with NN.
I spotted NN waiting for us right next to the Thane toll-booth while I had called up Najju & told him that shailesh will be waiting for us at Bhiwandi-Kalyan By-pass so I was bit surprised why they stopped here instead. So all four of us were on the roads again & I ripped the bike till Kalyan while NN were not much far behind me. Finally we were near Kalyan-Bhiwandi by pass & I kept my bike on left side to look out for shailesh & within few minutes I easily spotted him waiting for us just after the bypass. I stopped my bike next to his Honda Unicorn, nikhil did the same. I got down from my bike & literally hugged him & thanked him for joining us. He was equally pleased. A small introduction session between Shailesh-Nikhil & few comments & jokes later, we were all back on the road in no time & from thereon the real journey began.
Our Road trip to Shirdi – to be rememberred throughout our lifetime.
5 riders, 3 bikes, just 1 mission.. Sai Darshan
So off we all went on the NH3 by 10.30 pm.. I was steadily maintaining decent speeds above 70-80 kmph & slowed down often for Nikhil & Shailesh to catch up. The highway was just too good to be true for me. Wanted to rip my bike but could not since Nikhil & Shailesh were not exactly interested in riding above 70-80 kmph at max. We rode persistently for about 50 kms until Shruti’s back started to pain really bad so she requested me to stop. I was driving way ahead of the other two bikes from our group so I decided to stop at a decent dhaba since no-one had dinner except myself. I saw a nice dhaba & stopped there waiting for the other two. Shailesh came soon & stopped besides me while Nikhil passed by but stopped around 100 metres away from where we had stopped. I signaled him to return back & he came back. I aked all of them to have dinner here & they agreed. It was around 12.00 am & the dhaba was quiet a big one with very less crowd. We parked our bikes, took all our stuff & got a nice table. I was not feeling like having anything since I had a light dinner at 7.00 pm & I knew I had to ride throughout the night so I decided to skip the dinner. Nikhil was having a fast so even he did not order anything so Shailesh, Shruti & Najju ordered food. They had food, while I did some TP clicking pics here & there.
The walkway to the dhaba's sitting arrangement
Shailesh, Najju & Shruti having dinner
PS: There is a glass of empty butermilk which was the only thing I had :(
Najju, Shailesh & Shruti munching on Tandoori Roti’s & Paneer makhanwala I guess
After dinner, Shruti washing her hands right beside our table instead of going to the washroom. Lazy girl.
I noticed my cell was very low on battery so couldn’t click much pics for the night.
After dinner, I, Najju & Shruti went to the children’s park maintained by the dhaba itself & had a see-saw competition & clearly I was no match for Shruti’s speed there. She was an expert, I had not seen anyone go so fast & high on the see-saw. Najju joined us too & he claimed he can go much more faster & higher then shruti so the game was on. I vacated my see-saw & Najju & shruti started their competition side by side. Najju was equally good too. I tried clicking their pics but got all blurry images since it was way too dark & those two were way too fast on their see-saws.
Both kept on claiming they are going faster & higher & I was the official judge but frankly I couldn’t decide who was winning so I decided to call it a tie when Shailesh & Nikhil finished off from the dinner table & shouted on us to stop kidding around as we were already late. The bill was settled by Shruti madam which was a surprise to me as she’s one of the biggest Kanjus (Miser) I know. Anyways we all got out of the dhaba soon & on the road by 1.00 am again. I was told that we will be crossing the Kasara ghat in few minutes now so I was very eager to ride on it. As I had heard from fellow bikers, Kasara ghat is a pure heaven for corner cravers to reach as close to the pavement as much as possible. Well I was not actually intending to try my cornering skills at night on my very first ride on kasara ghat alongwith a pillion but a little cornering wouldn’t hurt & it was too irresistible anyways. I was rididng much ahead again & reached Kasara ghat in no time. It was an awesome ghat, amazing roads but there were lots of cars & buses so couldn’t ride too fast on corners. Still loved riding on it. We all met later after the ghat & suddenly Shailesh & Nikhil asked us to take a right turn & leave the highway. I was pretty surprised why we were leaving the highway & entering a small village road while we can see Nashik-Shirdi on the direction boards displayed on highway itself. Shailesh told he knows it’s the shortcut & Nikhil agreed with him. So being the most un-experienced of the lot, I decided not to argue further & it was the time I asked them to lead the group & I’ll follow them for the first time in the trip so far.This was the point where we got off the NH3 past Ghoti.
Soon we entered a small hillside road which had no lights at all but the views above us in the sky looked beautiful. It was around 2.30 am when we were riding on that road & it started getting really too cold. Shruti was almost shivering so I insisted her to wear my jacket but she rejected the offer. I had to convince her to wear it & she took it soon. It was the first time through the entire trip when I was without my jacket so even I started feeling the cold air now which I enjoyed for some time but soon it turned into freezing cold which was almost un-bearable when I was riding at high speeds. The roads were good in certain stretches while horrible in few cases. The night was getting better & better. There were a million stars twinkling in the night with the moon playing hide & seek behind the mystic clouds as we all negotiated each turn on many mountains that we rode across. The views in the sky were getting much more awesome as we rode along. Finally I remember few points where the views were so breathtakingly beautiful that we all had to stop & enjoy the beauty of the open sky at its best. I wish I had a better camera to capture the beauty or atleast I had any battery left in my cell to attempt & capture few shots but no luck. It was freezing cold out there & very less vehicles on the road so when we used to stop at any particular place, I used to switch off my headlights & it used to get pitch black throughout the entire range of what our eyes could see.
There were a few stops when we would hear strange sounds of some animals because it was too silent out there except the strong sounds of blowing winds. I could see the fear on face of Shruti on such occassions & frankly I was worried a few times too but luckily nothing went wrong & Shailesh was mostly always there to re-assure that its just the sound of winds cutting through the mountains & trees. We had no choice but to believe him. The road was getting much worse now with lots of cracks & potholes & on a number of occasions, I crashed my front wheel so hard in those holes that I used to fear a crack in my wheel rims or loosing control of the bike. Lucky again, my bike is simply the best in handling & I’m not so bad either as a rider so no panic situation at all during the entire stretch of those worst roads.
I was tailing the group & I don’t remember exactly but once I rode just too fast for long but could not catch up with the rest of the bikes so I got too worried. Finally I stopped at a point where there was one streetlight & looked hospitable. I was pretty sure that they could not have driven so fast so there were just two possibilities, either I’m on the wrong road or I rode too fast & left them behind on some intersection. So I decided to wait there & pray for the second possibility. I kept calling Najju & Shailesh but none of them answered. I kept praying & the time stood still then & there. Few cars did pass by the road every 5-10 minutes but none of them stopped for us.
After around 10-15 min, I saw a single headlight coming in my direction past a dark mountain road & I hoped it should be one of our bikes & as it came closer & closer, I was sure it is our bike & I was finally so glad to see Nikhil/Najju. I signaled them to keep riding & they did so while I caught up with them. We were still missing Shailesh somewhere. I proposed NN to stop for shailesh but NN confirmed that Shailesh is definitely not behind them as he had left the petrol pump way before them. So we continued at a steady pace. After about 10 min of riding together, the road came to an end with an intersection & we had to take a right turn to Shirdi. As soon as I took the right turn, I heard someone shouting from behind & it was Shailesh.
He had reached the intersection much before & rested there for about half an hour while I stood there alone on the lonely road for about 15 min waiting for him & NN. Lots & lots of confusions & I was furious at him for riding so far ahead of the group in spite of him being the senior most & most experienced on these roads. He apologized jokingly & explained that he left coz he thought I & NN were together. Anyways I was glad we all caught up finally & are together now. I remember asking just one question to NN that how did I pass across them & overtook them without even noticing & leaving them 10-15 minutes behind me coz they were quiet ahead of me at one point of time. They told me that they entered a fuel pump & got the bike refueled. I was surprised as I didn’t see any fuel pump at all but they convinced me there was a pump but it was closed & the attendants were sleeping so they had to wake them up to get the petrol. Then I realized I was riding too fast to notice the closed petrol pump on the road but I promised myself I’ll check the petrol pump on our return journey. At that point, I also realized I just had enough petrol only for a 20-30 kms more so I was very worried. So any petrol pump was our next target now before Shirdi. It was around 3.30 am so we all had nice little talks & some jokes were passed around. Everyone seemed to be tired but still cheerful. Shirdi was still about 60 kms from the point where we stood. A patrolling police vehicle stopped besides my bike & inquired what I was doing there, I told them we are going to shirdi & just relaxing here for some time & they left us alone after ordering me to park my bike off the road & relax if I want to. Stars were still visible in the sky & NN+Shailesh saw a shooting star while I & Shruti missed it :(
Shruti was just too tired of seating on the small uncomfortable seat of my bike & she just wanted to rest well so I asked Shailesh to take her on his bike since his bike’s rear seat is much more broad & comfortable. He agreed & Shruti agreed too so we all started on the road again as Shirdi was just 60-70 kms from there & it should not take us more then 4.30 – 5.00 am to reach there now. Najju wanted to ride now so he asked for my gloves & I gave them to him. Now I was totally gearless & alone on my bike. It was still very cold out there & I was in just my Tshirt & cargo pants along-with my Arm/knee guards. But I was free & light for the first time so I rode a bit ahead on the road while NN & Shailesh were right behind. I slowed down & stopped after about 15 kms. NN passed by me & did’nt stop while I still waited for Shailesh/Shruti (SS) to reach as they weren’t in sight. Finally SS came by in few minutes & told me that we were on the wrong way. I was shocked to know this & I said they may be wrong but both of them told me they saw the board showing direction to shirdi in opposite direction & Shailesh actually took a U-turn to check out the board. I had no option but to believe him. I started calling Najju but he wasn’t answering as he was riding now so I called up Nikhil & he answered. I told them to stop & take a U-turn since they were on the wrong way. Even they were shocked & didn’t believe me at first so they said they’ll carry on further & ask someone on the way & inform me if the way is correct or if wrong they’ll take a U-turn. I also asked them to inform me if there is any fuel pump on the way. So we had no choice but wait for their call. I told them to see it there was any petrol pump on the way. Then I, Shailesh & Shruti were totally exhausted & we rested on the ground itself by the roadside waiting for the call from NN. The warmth from the hot engine from my bike was very comforting as I sat very close to it. Shruti was still sleepy too sleepy. We were hearing very low sounds of local maharashtrian folk music which was being played through loudspeakers very far away from us in some village. I don’t remember what we three were talking about there but soon enough I got a call from NN that there is a petrol pump just few kms ahead so asked us to meet there. I was so happy to hear this. We got back on our bikes & on the road. I was again riding fast & ahead & I saw a ESSAR petrol pump which I entered & shailesh followed me but I couldn’t get petrol there as the sleepy attendants would not get up. I called up NN & they said they are at a different pump a bit ahead so we rode for other 5 minutes & reached there.
NN were waiting there for us. I straightaway headed to the petrol pump but no-one was there. Nikhil asked me to wake up the attendants for petrol & I prayed to god while I tried to wake them up at about 3.45 am in night. I was being the cruel person there about to disturb someone’s sleep but I had no choice as I was almost out of fuel. I don’t know what I said to those sleeping attendants but one of asked me to get the bike close by while he got up so I was happy finally. Got petrol worth & asked him for the directions to shirdi & he confirmed we were on the wrong way. He asked us to go straight back to where we came from & take a right turn after 20 kms. So SS were right. I told this to NN & Shruti who were resting nearby while shailesh went to restroom. NN Said they inquired & someone told them there is another way to reach shirdi through the road we were currently going on & no need for a U-Turn. They wanted to go on that road instead of returning back. I was surprised why they were trying to take a different route while all of us knew now for sure what the actual route was. Shailesh came soon & I told him NN’s plan & he was not pleased with it either. He asked everyone to stay together as it was still night & not take any chances but NN were determined to go on their own newly discovered route. I sensed this might lead to arguments so asked shailesh to let them take their route as they want to experience the adventure while we both shall go from the normal route. I said we all have cellphones so we’ll contact each other when we reach Shirdi. A small representation of the routes taken from the point where we were.
GREEN - The actual route that we all should have taken
BLUE - The route I & Shailesh too after the U-turn from petrol pump.
RED - The route followed by NN
So finally all set & NN took the left from petrol pump while I & Shailesh took the right. Shailesh was riding ahead this time when I realized I was missing my glasses so I signaled Shailesh to stop but he did not notice it since he was too far away & I did not wished to overtake him & ask to stop just to return back to petrol pump. So I stopped, took a U-turn yet again & reached petrol pump again in few minutes. It was very lonely this time with no one around & the attendants were back to their bed. I searched here & there on ground but didn’t find my glasses. But it wasn’t long until I saw them on the chair next to the petrol booth. I took them, wore them & speeded off to catch up with shailesh. I was going crazy again with high speeds above 110 & even crossed 120 kmph at times coz I was riding alone this time on the totally dark road which was quiet excellent. It was getting hard to catch up with Shailesh.
After about 10 min, I saw SS ahead riding at normal speeds but I didn’t wanted to slow down so I passed by them continuing on high speeds. But within minutes I realized, this time Shailesh & Shruti were alone & I did not wish Shailesh to ride alone so I slowed down until they could catch up with me & then we rode together. I was getting restless since it was already past 20 kms but we didn’t take the right turn as the petrol pump guy said. Soon I saw Shailesh flashing his passing lights like crazy on me since he was just about 100 metres beyond him so I stopped by the side of the road. He came to me & said
‘Saale tere ko itna bada board nahi dikha kya?’
(U idiot, couldn’t u see such a big board ?)
I asked what board & he replied
‘Right turn to Shirdi ka board’
I realised I missed something so I asked the directions from a local person standing closeby his small sop which was just opening since it was already 4.30 am by then & he also confirmed we left the turn to shirdi a few 100 metres behind so I sincerely apologized to Shailesh & we took a U turn again & I let Shailesh ride ahead of me this time. He took the correct left turn within minutes & we could finally see Shirdi written there at the start of the turn. I was following Shailesh closely at decent speeds of about 60 kmph for some time now until it started getting really frustrating for me to ride so slowly when I could easily ride at almost double the speeds.
Riding so slowly along with the cool atmosphere & sleepy eyes was just a fatal combination to give way to my sleepy eyes to close more often & loose my concentration on road. Fatigue started to buid in so I just passed by Shailesh & signaled him that I’m going ahead. Then kept on increasing the speed to 70-90-110 kmph until Shailesh was no more in sight. I was feeling very sleepy & I understood now that the speed is the only thing which will keep me awake & let me concentrate on road completely. I never came down below 90 kmph then coz the roads were relatively nice with amazing views since it was around 5.00 am & the sun was just rising out of the skies. The high speed adrenaline rush made my sleepy eyes as fresh as when we started & then I kept on racing & my new target was to overtake those 3-4 VOLVO buses who had overtaken us while I was riding slow with shailesh. I knew this wasn’t easy coz VOLVO drivers are madly super fast with speeds no less then 100 kmph with their giant beast. So I rode continuously at speeds above 110-115 & sometimes even crossed 120 & could have gone beyond that coz the roads were amazing but my bike just couldn’t cross 120 due to the wind force which was amazingly strong. I managed to outrun & overtake almost all those VOLVO buses within half an hour. It was so amazing to overtake a super large VOLVO bus moving at speeds of about 100 kmph & I kept on honking at the bus & giving passing indicators to give me the side since VOLVO drivers think that they own the entire road & so they drive right on the middle of the road. Finally after few minutes of harassing the VOLVO drivers with my horn & passing indicators, usually everyone used to let me overtake easily except one but I managed to get pass him eventually.
Due to my high speed run, I noticed its just 5.30 am approximately & I was just a few km’s away from shirdi so I slowed down a bit since the roads were not so good in the end but I finally reached Shirdi approximately at 5.45 am. As usual, all the hawkers on the streets kept calling me for hotel room to get fresh etc but I did not stop for any of them & stopped at a place where no one was there. Finally got off my bike & stretched my body a bit. Amazingly everything was allright & so was my spirit due to the final speed run. I was pretty sure SS were too far behind me so I called up NN & thankfully Najju answered & informed me that they’ll reach Shirdi in 15-20 minutes as they are just on outskirts of Shirdi. So I was the first to reach there. Next thing I did was I called up Shruti who informed me they are just about 6-7 kms (don’t remember exactly) from Shirdi. I asked them to take their own time as even NN had not reached yet. So I was having a lot of time now, atleast next 15-20 minutes. I tried cleaning my baby bike a bit but no use since it was a complete mess with all the dirt & coz she’s milk white she looked even more dirty especially both the wheels. I noticed that there were about 20-30 small green insects splashed both on my bike’s headlamp as well as on my helmet’s visor. It was really a surprising scene to see so many bugs all splashed up on my bike & helmet. Felt so bad coz definitely this was the result of my speed run. Wanted to click a pic but my cell was very low on battery & I needed it to locate the rest of my group so didn’t take any chances. As I was cleaning my helmet, I got call from Shruti asking me where I am & I asked them to drive along the main road of Shirdi Saibaba temple which is about a km long & I’ll see them. We met soon. Surprisingly, they took less time then I expected them to take. Soon enough Najju called me & we saw NN within 5 minutes of SS reaching where I was. So finally everyone was together there by 6.20 am approx.
Each & everyone was completely exhausted so first thing we all wanted to do was find a lodge & get some rest & then go for Darshan. I was not in a mood to search for nice hotel rooms & I’m neither any good at bargaining so I left the task for Shruti, Nikhi & Shailesh who volunteered. Najju & I stayed back where we had parked our bikes. We discussed about what a satisfying ride it was so far. After seeing a couple of places, they finally got a room which was decent. There were just 4 beds so again a bit of problem. Bags, helmets & my gear thrown helter-skelter in the room, we all got fresh & on the beds by 7.00 am approx. Shruti took one bed & no one was willing to sleep besides her since the beds were attached. NN took the other two beds. Shailesh finally took the bed besides Shruti & hence my only hope was to squeeze between NN & find a small place for myself but it was looking doubtful as they were asleep & I did not wanted to disturb them. Hence I said to myself,
‘Bro, better to sleep alone on floor instead of sleeping between NN’
Anyways wen u are really that tired & all you need is a good sleep, it doesn’t really matter where do u sleep. So I laid down on the ground & took my bag as a pillow, & took my jacket as blanket & closed my eyes. Slept in few seconds I guess.
Next thing I know was Shailesh & Nikhil shouting on all of us to get up & I was surprised to see myself on the bed next to Najju. It was told to me that there was a power cut at around 8 am so Shailesh/Nikhil couldn’t sleep & hence they threw me on the bed from the floor.
Shailesh scolded me for sleeping on the floor..
Anyways it was about 9.30 & Najju, Shruti & myself were to get ready. We did so with some usual nonsense within an hour.
All set now so after bit of shopping for Pooja thaali we were in queue for Saibaba darshan before 11.00 am I guess. As usual, quiet a rush especially coz it was a Sunday. But I had expected it coz I’v been coming to shirdi since last 3 years with my friends & have always seen such a crowd here. We did not eat anything in the morning with the intention of eating only after darshan. Poor nikhil had not eaten the entire day before. Our jokes & comments on each other helped as our time passed & we were nearing the darshan very soon. Finally we got the darshan by 1.15 pm which was fast enough. Prayed to Sai baba for lots of things. There were lots of other spiritual places to visit but we were already too late & very hungry too so everyone decided to straight away have some lunch. We entered the very first hotel we saw which Shruti did not liked as usual. We ordered food but it seemed like they were not much interested in serving other customers too so after continuous requests by Shruti, we left the hotel in search of a new one. It was blazing hot by then & we were walking on streets without any shoes as we had kept them in our room itself.
We went in another restaurant & ordered only Paav Bhaaji as most of us dint like this hotel too & we had long drive to do in few hours so decided for a light lunch. Shruti had a weird idea of teasing the waiters.
She asked one of the waiters there,
“Bhaiyya, Hygeine milega?” (Will we get hygiene here?)
& our waiter answered
“Madam, menu mein jo hai wo hi milega”
(Madam, U can only order what’s in the menu & Hygeine was not in the menu)
We had a hefty laugh along with decent paav bhaaji on this topic. We finished lunch soon & got back to our room & on the bed by 2.30 pm. It was 3.15 when I got up as Shailesh was screaming around since it was our check out time at 3.00 pm. Everyone got up & got fresh by 3.30 except Shruti who was way too tired to get up but we managed to finally convince her to get up somehow. She did not want to go back on bike since it was too tiring for her yesterday & she had not recovered as yet. She wanted to go alone in Volvo bus which is far more comfortable but we strictly denied to let her go alone. We had a brainstorming session of lots of options for her but nothing was good enough. Najju was asked to accompany her in Volvo & he straightaway denied. Next, I was suggested to accompany her in Volvo while Najju will ride back my bike to Mumbai but there was no way in world that I’ll leave my bike alone. Finally somehow I convinced Shruti to come along with us only & she had no choice so she agreed. We were out of the room by 3.50 pm & on the road by 4.00 pm after cleaning our bikes a bit. Shruti was with me again now as Shailesh already denied to take her as his pillion since she was always sleeping as a pillion & Shailesh had barely avoided an accident in morning coz even he dozed off a bit while Shruti was sleeping sitting behind him.
It was blazing hot at 4 pm & I was wearing my jacket which was making it further difficult. The wind was blowing too strong just as we left shirdi & hence it was quiet difficult to ride. I was leading the group again & by 4.30 Shruti asked me to stop at any of the roadside Sugarcane juice stalls & I thought it was a nice idea to cool down a bit so I pulled over in a lonely sugarcane stall & others followed us soon. Got down & took some amazing pics over a glass of fresh sugarcane juice.
The lovely road
My baby
Our bikes parked in the sun
Shailesh, Nikhil & Najju
Myself & Shruti
We left before 5.00 pm & we had decided not to take any halts now & cover as much distance as possible before sunset. I was keeping an eye on my odometer as my baby was just about to turn 5000 kms old & i clicked few pics at that point.
We were still confused of taking the same route which we took last night (which had horrible potholes on few stretches) or take another long route through highway. We finally took the same route. The views enroute were very much spectacular when seen in broad daylight so it was time for a quick photosession again by 5.30 pm
Safety first.. It was a complete helmets ride. 5 riders-5 helmets
Thereafter it was a quick ride as we wanted to cover as much distance as possible before sunset. The roads were still infested with holes but it was much better to negotiate through the potholes in daylight as opposite to what we did last night. Other two bikes maintained steady speeds averaging 70-80 kmph while I used to stop a number of times to capture some nice views & then catch on with the rest of them in no time. Some of the clicks.
& finally some really wonderful stretches of roads.
Found the petrol pump which I missed last night, refuelled here
Some onroad clicks by Najju
Finally we were off the state highway & connected to NH3 by 7.00 pm. Clicked few pics before joining the highway.
NH3 was in such a good shape that I fell in love with it as soon as I got my wheels on it, especially since we were riding on pothole infested roads for hours since yesterday. Ripped my bike to the maximum & I was cruising easily at triple digit speeds since there was almost nil traffic. Slowed down once I reached the start of Kasara ghat, it was just sunset by the time so very less visibility hence approached the ghat cautiously. I was enjoying the corners on the ghat & cool wind blowing across the mountains when all of a sudden it started to drizzle. I was unsure if it is raining, so confirmed it with Shruti who concluded, yes indeed it was drizzling slowly. Without much of a warning, the light drizzles changed into heavy rainfall gradually & we were completely helpless as there was no shade available along the stretch of ghat that we were travelling through. So kept on riding at slow speeds & find some shelter. But the rain gods had other plans for us & rain started to pour on us like I’ve never experienced before. It was chilling out there & the strong crosswinds were making the situation worse. Visibility factor had almost gone nil so I had no option to stop aside on the ghat itself & let it rain instead of negotiating the risky turns on the wet roads of ghats. Looked for a nice safe area to pull over & did so. It got much colder every passing moment & I just prayed for the rain-god’s to show us some mercy. The sight downhill was amazing out there. I knew Shailesh & NN were not too far behind me & even they must have taken shelter somewhere just before me & I decided to stay right where I am & let them catch up with us. Shruti was shivering out of cold & it was a sight to see her cry out for the rains to stop. Within minutes of our halt there, I saw NN zipping past us in full glory. I guessed they didn’t see us so I decided to follow them. Rain had not stopped yet but it had started showing some mercy so we got back on our bike & resumed our journey. Somehow it felt a lot less cold while riding the bike as opposite to standing at one place.
Finished kasara ghat in some time but couldn’t catch up with NN & even Shailesh was nowhere in sight because I deliberately rode pretty slow since it was raining & I was unfamiliar with those steep turns & wet roads. I was passing through a dhaba & shruti acknowledged that Shailesh & NN were parked at that dhaba so I decided to wait for them a few hundred metres ahead but didn’t see them so I was considering to take a Uturn & check out the dhaba myself but Shruti said she wasn’t so sure if those bikes were of Shailesh & NN & she might have been mistaken. I was absolutely furious at her for wasting 10-15 min waiting for someone who were already far ahead of us. However I chose not to over-react & got back on road. Started cruising at sub 80-90’s in order to catch up with the guys as it had completely stopped raining now. After persistent cruising at high speeds for some time, I finally spotted shailesh riding ahead. We tagged along & cruised together side by side for some time until we saw NN parked out at a dhaba (this time for real) & so we pulled over there.
Finally all 5 of us were together. Cold & wet but safe & content with our trip so far. We attended the nature’s call which was awaiting since quiet long. No one was in any mood to eat so we were back on road after some chitchat about our trip & munching on some chips. It was a steady ride ahead at average speeds. Shailesh bid us all goodbye on the outskirts of kalyan. We reached Thane by 9.45 pm & dropped Shruti. NN & myself reached home just before 11.00 pm & bid each other goodbye. Got back home, parked my bike, clicked the pics of trip meter.
Pic clicked next day for clarity
Had a bath & went straight to bed. Thanked god for getting us all & our machines back safe after our first 500+ kms trip together. I wish we have many more of such Unplanned Unforgettable trips together.
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