The best ten minutes of my life so far

It has been raining cats and dogs in Mumbai. The City has received more than 15 cms of rain since morning, as a result of which many people didn't bother coming to college today. I had different ideas, since didn't have a rainy day like today this monsoon, I wanted to hit roads as soon as possible. Dressed up in my rain suit and the rains had eased up. Still ripped my way to college within 15 mins. Four and a half hours later, the college authorities gave up and canceled the rest of the lectures. Now it’s raining heavily, I quickly tucked the rain gear into the bag and headed towards the parking lot.
Kick started my bike zoomed out of the gate onto the road. There was water accumulated at many places, without hitting the brakes went over each of them splashing water everywhere. I don’t know why but I every time I splashed water there was a big smile in my face, probably the kid in me was enjoying the most. A turn later I skipped a red light and was onto the Palm Beach Road and I was determined not to let the Speedo indicator needle go below 100 Kmph mark. Now the raindrops were piercing my face and chest like a sharp needle, the pain was unbearable but still wasn’t in any mood to let speed drop below the 100 mark. Bearing the intense speed and skipping two more red lights, I reached home in a record time of nine minutes flat. As soon as I removed the raincoat from the bag and kept it on the table, look on my mom’s was like, “Aah, now my son’s really gone insane!!

Pleasingly Messed Up Ride

The day before: It’s raining heavily in Mumbai. Grandma saying that she wouldn't let me ride if such rains continue and I praying for more rains. At 11:30 alarm set at 5 am and I am off to bed.

Ride day: Wake up at 5:20 Am after 4-5 snoozes, only to find out that it’s not raining. Disappointed, I complete the morning formalities. Now, the rain gear is nowhere to be found. Found it , dusted it as I had not used it after last monsoon .Geared up , I headed to the parking lot only to find my bike missing . Realized that I had left it at my uncle’s place, asked mom for my Kinetic Honda's keys. Five minutes and fifty kicks later it starts. Phew!!! Parking Kinetic, I tried to start the bike but in vain. Few kicks later it starts , waving goodbye to my uncle I leave his place and press the horn button ,yes you guessed it right the horn's given away . Now I have to ride for 250 kms without a horn and every rider knows how difficult it is. Now I have to catch up with Abhishek, Prasad and other MRC members. We were supposed to meet at Centre One, Vashi at 6 Am and it’s already 6:30. On the way to C1, I realize that my bike papers are at home, turn around, got the papers from home and reached c1 at 6:45 am to find no one, not even a stray. Assuming I have been left behind, called up Prasad to know about his whereabouts, he replied saying that they will reach in a couple of minutes. Another Phew!!!! After the starting trouble, I was praying was a pleasant ride.

MRC riders Abhishek, Prasad, Abhijeet and Suman with their Pulsar 150, CJ sir with a pillion and his Pulsar 220, Salim sir with his Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 5s arrived with the sweet sound of their engines. A few handshakes later the ride began. Cruising on the 6- lane Palm Beach road, reach Datta Snacks, Panvel for a routine stop. After feasting on Mumbai's staple food - Vada Pav and Chai, we were well on our way to Pali, our next destination. By the time we neared Pen. Abhijeet Received call from CJ.

Problem 1:
Suman’s bike refused to start at Datta Snacks and Mr. Salim had already reached Pen. Abhijeet went back to Panvel with the toolkit.

In the mean time Prasad, I, Abhishek, Ashish and Kamlesh thought of hiking a small hill nearby which was covered with a green bed sheet. The hike upwards was not more than 25m but was a very steep and slippery affair. After an hour of photo sessions and other means of time pass it was time to join Salim, who was waiting alone in Pen. Hiking down the hill was much more slippery, while other preferred to use their foot, I wanted to slide down. A plastic bag would have made the task easier and at the end my pants had to take this.

A few clicks later, continued till Vadkal Naka for a breakfast and Salim joined us here. The Missal Pav we ordered was done in no time and even after paying the bills, we stayed there waiting for the others to arrive. Finally they arrived at 12 noon and as soon as they finished their food we left for Pali. After riding for some time on the beautiful Goa highway, it was time to ride on the one - laned, two way roads full of twists and curves with greenery on either side leading to Pali. Pali temple wasn’t much crowded so darshan didn’t take much time. All I prayed for was a pleasant and an eventful ride, but little did I know that there was another breakdown in store for Suman’s bike.

Problem 2:
Everyone up in their gears and Suman’s Pulsar refuses to start. CJ tried every trick he knew and opened almost every part of the bike except the engine and filter. The bike still refuses to run. In the mean time Prasad and Ashish bring a mechanic. He then begins his duty, checks the parts CJ had and then finally the air filter. I seemed that water had entered the filter. Now that problem was found, it was solved in a matter of minutes. After couple of hours later we left Pali.

Weelay Phata (Junction) was our next destination where Prasad’s friends would join us to show some nearby places. The country roads were at their green best. On reaching Weelay Phata we were waiting for Prasad’s friends. This is where I clicked this 7 km pic.Download it,zoom it and compare the two signboards.

Left the place as soon as they arrived. Giving us company were some lakes, rivulets and many minute waterfalls. The moment we reached a big fall, everyone climbed up but Abhishek, I and Salim decided to stay back and take some rest. Man now I am really hungry and wanted to have some food as soon as possible. I am surviving only on a Vada Pav and Missal Pav. The bikers come down after a while and we left to the hotel which was supposedly not too far from here. On reaching there, Abhishek started searching for sockets to charge his phone and Prasad was busy playing with dogs in and around the place. Even after placing the order we were made to starve for more than an hour. In the mean time Mr. CJ entertained us with his experiences from his Ladakh Ride and the Golden Quadrilateral Challenge. Before meeting CJ I heard and read about my die-hard bikers, but never seen any and now I am meeting such a guy. After some gyan on the do and don’t at some places he has visited, the food arrives and within minutes the plates were shining empty. The ride to Thamni Ghats at last began after another group photo at Hotel (pronounced Ho – Tal) Raigad Inn.

After few kilometers we reach a fork where one route leads to Pune and other to Lonavla. We continued taking the road to Lonavla. The roads were a complete nightmare. Wait!!!! Did I say roads? Actually there was nothing as such; it was just a narrow Jungle path. The lights begin to fade away and it gave away completely within half an hour. At one point a monkey came before Abhijeet’s bike posed and ran away. The road was mainly made of slush with many water crossings in between. Prasad fell prey to one of these slush crossing and at another instance I almost banged Prasad from behind because of the dead horn. This stretch is an off roaders Paradise and riding in dark adds to the excitement. To my surprise the King of roads, Maharashtra ST was alive in this path too. Spotted a couple of them. The 56 kms stretch had less than 50 houses. Reached Amby Valley by 8:15 pm took a ritual pic and was on usually tarmac. Its monsoon time, we’re near Lonavla and how can fog be ignored. Well thick fog followed us all the way till Lonavla. After a cup of coffee at Kamath’s, the ride back home began. There was some drizzling at 2-3 places for not more than a couple of minutes when we were actually expecting heavy rains. All of the sudden all hell broke loose the moment we reached Khopoli. The groupe suddenly dispersed or maybe I was separated from the rest. There is nothing visible no. To add to the difficulty of riding alone in very heavy rains there was horn was also not working (if u remembered that).Now, I was blindly following the taillight of a truck who was ripping at speeds well above 80 kmph mark. 10-15 mins I got bitten by the adventure bug and overtook the truck which was serving as my savior and was riding at almost 100 kmph. Few minutes later spotted Abhijeet and we together ripped all the way till Panvel where Salim and Suman joined us minutes later. After riding together with them, I parted ways at Belapur, where I went on the Palm Beach road to home. Reached home by 11pm, parked my bike, my wrists were cramped and I wasn’t able to open them and take my hands off the handle. Called Prasad to know about his whereabouts and was informed that he was still at Belapur with the rest. Went home and threw my rain gear to one corner, changed into shorts and crashed to the bed.

All thanks to Shri Ballaleeshwar at Pali and Suman’s Pulsar for making this an unforgettable affair.

For more pics click here