Driving Right?

And then I landed in France, rented a car and drove on the "wrong" side of the road and it was fun!!

See!! This is what happens when you stop blogging for months together and then when you attempt to write a post, you wont even last for 140 characters. (those using twitter will understand better. for others, click here)

Now that you have a general idea what this blog is going to be about, let me take you back on how it all happened.

So I am in the middle of February this year, making elaborate plans for my birthday, which involves expecting gifts from my family and then taking them out for dinner (depending on the gifts i get...). There comes a news from my office that I may have to go to Italy for a meeting at FIAT, Turin. I was already under tremendous stress planning my birthday, and now I had to chalk out an itinerary for my upcoming trip to Italy too. After much speculation, I succeeded in making the itinerary, which looked something like this, "Fly to Turin, Italy on 28th Feb - Spend 4 days - Fly back to Delhi".

When everything is set, life has a strange way of leaving you puzzled. My French colleague who was supposed to meet me in Turin, Italy met with an accident instead. And in the process, broke his arm and came up with a brilliant plan. The plan involved making my itinerary go haywire and making me go on a driving frenzy for a week. But I was not complaining as I was getting to drive in Europe for the first time.

Didn't I speak about the connection between life and puzzles earlier? So there, again! Now I had to cram in the process of making an international driving license too. Dealing with Indian Government Authorities is a cakewalk as long as you are able to pull a few strings. Pull a few string and shell out a few bucks, I did. And I got an International Driving Permit made in 15 minutes flat.

And then I landed in Strasbourg, France where my heavily bandaged friend came to receive me and handed me the car keys. I felt like a Bollywood hero who came back after successfully completing his studies abroad and his dad came to receive him with a swanky new gift. By the way, no offence meant to my friend, he isn't as old as my dad.

Driving on the right side of the road was not much of a task as it is something that traffic in Noida often forces you to do and the upside was - no incoming traffic. But the flip-side were the laws which had to be followed. It is such a hard thing to do for us Indians, isn't it? Oh yes and honking was a big No-No. We Indians think that the Horn being right in front of our eyes is reason enough to press it even when we encounter a speed-breaker.

Well, a few initially hiccups later I was a pro and the 600-odd KM drive from Strasbourg to Turin via the beautiful landscapes of Switzerland was a dream. Here I definitely felt like a hero from Yash Raj films but what I was sorely missing was my Heroine, my wife.

All the fun and the beautiful vistas aside, the biggest take-back for me has been the civic sense shown by the people back in Europe. The dedication with which they follow the rules, come-what-may, is commendable. Correcting a society starts from correcting yourself, and since my return I have pledged to do my bit and not break any traffic rule as long as possible. (considering my trysts with Delhi Police, I shouldn't be breaking any rules anyway).  

Spiti Ride - A Trailer

This video was shot by me on our way to Spiti on Day 2 of the ride. Pics, description and Triplogue coming soon!!!

People in this video - Anshul, Arjun, Imran and Ankur (in the order of appearence)

Biking...Shiking

Am I becoming insane??? This question sprouted in my mind after watching the reactions I have been getting from people off late. I think I would've gotten encouraging reactions had I told them that I am planning to run away from home to become an actor in Bollywood :P.

Ever since I returned from the Rishikesh trip this May, I have had this unbearable itch to go on a bike ride. A really long one at that. Next month end I have a ride planned to the virgin (well.. almost) lands of Spiti. If I complete it, it'll be the longest I have ever done and will surely be the best ride of my life. It'll be one of those tales to tell your grand-children kinda things. More on it later and even more on it when I return. (Trip Log Alert!!!)

As a part of the preparation (read, making the back-side stronger), I am riding to Lansdowne this weekend. Lansdowne is a small, nondescript place in Uttarakhand, about 300 KMs from Delhi. It'll be the first experience of riding in the hills and also it'll be a test to see how much strain I can take. I know that it'll not even be close to what i'll experience in Himachal but some preparation, nonetheless. Thats all I'll be able to afford before THE trip, thanks to me working on Saturdays. Let me not get into working on saturdays again.

So what are my expectations from the Spiti Ride?? Well, let me break it down into Pros and Cons.

Pros:

• Beautiful Landscapes and Scenery
• 2000 KMs of riding - wonder how my bike will fare
• A feeling experienced never before
• Having great friends for company (Let me tell you, its more fun reuniting with Old buddies in real than on Orkut or Facebook :P )
• Time away from the mundane routine life

Cons:

• 2000 KMs of riding - As much fun as it may sound, it will be taxing and treacherous
• AMS - Dont know why but Acute Mountain Sickness worry is there at the back of my mind
• No Ride experience whatsover - This wont be much of a worry thanks to the Been-there-done-that company that I have.
• How much is too much?? - 2000 KMs in 5-6 days @ ~ 400KMs per day - need I say more??
• Toll on the body - this is inevitable

Well in such a long ride there are ought to be a few cons, but I would not like to ponder on them now and tackle them as they come. I know there will be more Pros than Cons.. :-)

So here's me wishing myself a decent enough preparation and waiting for the last week of September with bated breath. Oh well yes, I need to apply for holidays and they need to get approved too.. That aside I am all set and raring to go!!

Unplanned Trip

Sometimes it happens that things dont go as you plan them but then you dont know what's in store for you. So wasting no time writing about what should've happened I am fast forwarding to the point where all the fun started!!!

We guys had 5 days to spend, we were ready with our packed bags and moreover we had an awesome car to drive, but what we didnt know was where to go!!! Yeah thats how our trip began. Oh by the way, "We" consists of me, Imran and Sachin, the same gang that went rafting in Rishikesh (minus our bikes this time). We left Delhi just after the midnight on 20th May, with a map of Himachal in hand.

We had no problems with driving at wee-hours of the morning as we took turns to drive while the other guys rested/slept. After stopping over for a refreshing tea and butter toast at Jhilmil Dhaba in Karnal, we decided that we'll head to Dalhousie first and then decide as the days come.
Not too far from Dalhousie there is a pictureque place called Khajjiar, which according to a sign there, was Switzerland of the East. I cant agree with it more. Here I got the opportunity to try my hand at another adventure sport. I did Zorbing. (curious souls pls follow the link).

Then there was this place called Dainkund. One has to trek for about 30 mins to reach this place. The scenic beauty we encountered on our way cant be put in words.

We met a family on our trek back. The lady of that family asked, "What is there at the end of this trek?", we answered in unison, "there is a small temple" at which she asked again, "Is it worth??" and then our dear Sachin, being the staunchly religious guy he is, said, "Temples are always WORTH!!!!". The look on the lady's face was "unexplainable". :D

Our sojourn then took us to places such as Mcleodganj and Dharamshala. The small and serene town of Mcleodganj with snow-clad mountains watching over was a perfect retreat away from the Delhi heat. After spending a night at MacLoadGanj (Spelling/pronunciation courtesy Sachin) we were off to Ambarsar (Amritsar - as pronounced by the locals).

Our main objective of going to Amritsar was not to see the famous Golden Temple or the Jallianwala Bagh but to have the famous Kulchas at Bhai Kulwant Singh Kulche Wale and also dine at the 100 year old Kesar Dhaba, and we happily skipped lunch for the same. Reaching late didnt help our cause as the Kulche Wala closes at 4 PM, so we headed to Kesar Dhaba. We asked the dhaba guy if there was any food available & he said "Aap 1 hr baad ayiye". We were so hungry that we didnt move an inch and we sat at his doorstep. At which he opened the dhaba specially for us and we had a sumptuous meal cooked in Desi Ghee. While we were eating in, we could see the crowd building up outside the locked doors, wondering who these VIPs are. :P

After a visit to the Golden Temple, mind you it looks heavenly at night so make it a point to see it at night whenever you visit Amritsar, we were good to leave for Delhi. So 3 of us with contented hearts were back on our way to Delhi with a punctured tyre to boot.

The trip that began without a plan, turned out to be great one. We covered 3 beautiful places, Dalhousie, McLeodganj and Amritsar in 3 days, had amazing meals, enjoyed to the limit, sang a lot of songs and drove for about 2000 KMs.