Off-Track Riders – Journey from Mumbai to Nepal

 

Off-Track Riders – Journey from Mumbai to Nepal

                                     

We are a group of Eight loony friends a small travel gang, planned to attend Rider Mania held in January Nepal 2020. This blog is all about the journey before entering Nepal; let me give you all a short introduction Note - Nick names given as per the journey experience.

·         Starring Josh aka Eccentric Abba – As he was leading our circle for this ride, with his never-ending guidelines “Do’s & Don’ts”.

·         Kiran aka Pee Man – He manages to pee in every half n hour and goes missing around overtime.

·         Mangesh aka 6ft Pillion – As he planned last minute he chooses to give his own bike to someone else for the ride and prefer to come as a pillion, so he was accompanying as a 6 feet pillion to short but not so short 5 ft rider bouncing and twitching around throughout the journey experiencing the pillion phase.

·         Rahul aka Lone Ranger – He believes in leaving every man behind quite opposite to riding norms; riding alone and a nightmare for pillions he can leave you behind without any realization and vanish in a moment.

·          Gautam aka Zonked Giant – He seems to be like a piece of luggage, gunny bag drag him along with you; no expectations and always playing on his own tune.

·         Nikhil aka Butter Lifter – He steals butter from Restaurant, hotels and this time Rajdhani, he trips on food and may offer you sometimes and unintentionally create ruckus out of nowhere.

·         Punit aka Lost Sheep – Catch me if you can, yes he has been the one who was always ahead or behind from the crowd but somehow; manages to join us at the end of the day.  It’s pretty much tough to “Track” this Hooman.

 Our Journey started with Mumbai Central Rajdhani. Train journey turns out to be special along with good friends, and we also pretty much managed to annoy our neighbors too with our hidden talent non-sense talks, giggling for no reason and pulling each other’s leg; tripping on free meals and sometimes walking all the way to your friend’s compartment to annoy them. Eating home-made “Dabba”, making infinite trips to the loo “Main loo Jara hon koi aara hai kya”, seeking lost slippers thoroughly every time and blaming each other “ Yaar Mera Chappal Gayab hai” Gazing out of the window and never-ending fight for an upper berth; No wonder journeys are happening and memorable with friends.

 We reached Nizamuddin Station by 10 am in the morning very late as per the schedule, it is a part of the Indian tradition of trains for being late, it was freaking cold I and my friends were literally shivering in that chilling winter; couldn’t bear the sudden climate change and as all I can spot are locals out there with minimum winter wear as if it’s all okay for them.  We started hunting for nearby hotels and we just wanted to freshen up and leave as soon as possible to get our bikes; we were already late and was about to leave. Meanwhile two lazy bones Keery aka Pee Man & Gautam aka zonked Giant wanted to chill around despite being late and way back as per the schedule so they got caught knocking around putting off and spending over some wacky backy time, almost like set in stones even before you securing a venue; Hence severely been slammed by our Eccentric Abba aka Josh, that’s how we started our Journey #Day1scenes. After all the climax, settlement, and gag lines “Sorry Bhai - Bas Kya Bhai”.  We left the very moment to pick our bikes from Gurgaon. We reached the venue without any delay we started off from there stopped at the nearby hotel for Lunch; ordered Aloo- Paranthas with Dahi as this was only feasible and available option out there.

 Meanwhile, our two mates started engage in a conflict of war for a “Pinch of Butter”, yes  ”Butter-Man” – Nikhil collected a couple of butter cubes from Rajdhani meal kept some spared with him and gave a thought to share it with Pee Man aka Kiran; Pee Man got offended well the reason is unknown though and there we go another clash for the day; his courtesy lead him to exchange blows from nowhere, till date Butter Man dreams about this incident and keeps wondering what went wrong that day he needs an answer; as I said the day already started well; After our Lunch break we all geared up to start for a nonstop ride till Rampur; in the final analysis within 100 meters we got to know we have a flat tyre scenes one man down PeeMan aka Kiran at the very first day, we reached  to the nearby roadside mechanic and got this done in half n hour. Meanwhile, we all abandoned hope to cover a long distance for the day and reach Nepal Border as it was already 6 pm the sun had set and dusk was closing in too rapidly but we managed to start off again and here another one caught by Delhi Traffic Police Lone Ranger aka Rahul for loud silencer in Royal Enfield which is total ban over there due to safety hazards and offenses under noise pollution. This almost took another half n hour or so to sort things over there and within few meters ahead accelerator wire of his bike got snapped too; as I said the day already started well. With a heavy heart, we again intended to ride till 9 PM at least planned to cover the stretch as much as possible lets hit Gaziabad and stay there for the night and cover the remaining distance for the next day. 

While crossing Delhi we somehow managed to click some good pictures in front of India Gate with the help of Local Police and Army officers; they were very kind to us we exchanged a good small talks and they helped us to get some perfect clicks during the running traffic that too near Rajpath.

 We somehow managed to reach Gaziabad by 9PM; got a decent hotel to stay and celebrate Josh aka Eccentric Abba’s B’Day  "Yippieee". 

We Partied all night in the extremely chilling harsh winter with some Whisky & fine Wine “ahhhh” somewhat different than the usual birthday scenes, it was fun and finally #chillingscenes took place. Slept a bit early as we need to cover good distance the very next day.

The Other Day we left early morning by 7 Am as planned clicked some pictures at fitted equipped wedding entrance pavilion where we parked our machines for the night.

 We rode almost for 5 hrs without a break and I lost my composure as it was freaking chilling winter,  visibility was so poor witnessed the dense layer of fog that enveloped the city and its adjoining areas making the visibility almost zero at several places, in fact, I can hardly see anything; my hands & legs were numb I couldn’t sense them anymore, also I started breathing heavily as it was raining too. Winters can be a fun great time for getting cozy under the blanket but also can be treacherous and crazy; wondering what could be lurking around next. You don’t need ghosts or monsters to make a winter scary this experience was enough for me. We took a break at nearby local market in Rampur, meanwhile boys looking after their machine, they ordered a hot kulhad wali chai we desperately needed this; as villagers can witness I was  shivering in that creepy cold winter they offered me to join them and locals tied-up together to burn bonfire to keep me warm in that bone chilling winter; It was so thoughtful and generous of them, I was overwhelmed by this gesture. There was something magical about building a fire in the struggling ruthless winters the warm orange glow and those dazzling flames create an alluring experience, our excursion changed from uncomfortable into downright festive with toasting mugs of “Garam Chai”.

We need to reach Nepal border before the end of the day so started off again; I remember crossing the Banbasa Dam across the Sharda River, we were so excited to reach Nepal.

 Finally, we reached Mahendra Nagar India –Nepal Border by 7 Pm. Did the Immigration check-in at the Border and security formalities are done before the counter gets closed and again went back to the huge entrance gate stating “Welcome to Nepal” clicked enough pictures  one by one again with the help of some Army Officers; they live to the fullest and can seek happiness anywhere always very humble and kind.

Next, we took a halt at the nearby lodge for the night raved it up had some delicious local cuisines, partied hard, and slept a bit early as per the ritual.  Dreaming around the Mountain approaching the adventure, following a dramatic and looming view of the future; I knew a grand adventure was about to happen.

 

 

There’s more to this stay tuned for another Blog coming soon Mountain Stories - Nepal

#ToBeContinued