BoP Anniversary Ride - Rann of Kutch (Part V)

DAY 9 - 22nd December (Ahmedabad-Baroda)

First order of the day was to head to the RE service center I had scoped out the previous night. It was 5 kms away and I found it easily. My arrival caused a flurry of activity there. My friend at work, Sanjeev, had mentioned the extra-special treatment that is reserved for riders at RE service centers. He was completely right. Despite having others in line, my bike jumped the queue and the mechanic towing it inside pushed aside others saying, "abbe rider ki bike hai, side hatt!". Soon the manager came in and personally got everything repaired. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the state of the chain sprocket. I got it duly replaced, along with the chain. The shocker was leaking fluid, but I know it to be a long process and asked him not to repair it for now. It's nice to get such nice treatment though! When you're not on rides, RE service centers treat you and your bike like shit. On top of that, they stick to their in-house Liquid Gun brand of oil, which I never personally liked. Still, the support you get on rides from them is truly outstanding.

My plan was to break my return ride into small, manageable chunks. First, Baroda, back to AR's place. Next day to Mumbai and finally Pune. It was good that today's plan anyway called for a short 150 kms ride to Baroda. I left the service station at around 11 AM. I was initially planning to join AR for lunch, but was very hungry, so I took a lunch break on the way. AR had mentioned plans to go somewhere but it got cancelled due to some work at home. We instead went to a nearby coffee shop and chilled out with her friends and sister. I got a mini-Baroda darshan too. It is a bit like Pune. Wide roads, not so heavy traffic. A city that is miles ahead of a town but still a couple of steps away from a bustling metropolitan, the kind of cities I am slowly starting to love.

We had pizza and drinks for the night with other friends of AR and her sister. This group was dominated by architects and I found it a refreshing change and also understood how non-psychologists feel in our group. Someone had once remarked, that just as you have groups of engineer-friends or designer-friends, it is funny to imagine a group of psychology-friends, where people talk about therapy, abusive childhoods, mental disorders and other deeper stuff with ease. Here, I was on the other side where conversations about badly constructed flyovers, construction material used at roundabouts were the norm!

I had a longer ride to make the next day, to Mumbai, so I turned in early.

DAY 10 - 23rd December (Baroda-Mumbai)

I started off at 6 AM. AR was nice enough to get up and make chai for me. I said my goodbyes and set off.

Solo riding gives you a lot of time to think. My mind drifted towards my work and my life in Pune. I was actually reluctant to get back to work, something which has never happened to me in the past. I considered extending the trip in some manner but it was a quick, childish thought. Perhaps I will take some decisions soon, based on all the thinking I did during this ride!

Another decision I made during this ride was not to fight sleep. Afternoon rides almost always make me sleepy and I generally keep fighting it. During this entire ride, however, I decided it wasn't worth it and it wasn't effective either. So post lunch, I would find a shady spot and take a quick 15-20 minutes nap. It refreshed me always, it didn't hamper my schedule much and it was safer too, than continuing to ride while the eyes are trying to close. It did earn me a few weird stares, especially if the shady spot was near a restaurant or some other popular spot.

In this manner, I inched closer to Mumbai. I took a little detour and went into Daman to tank up, thereby 'covering' one new state and one new UT in this ride. By the time I reached Mumbai it was afternoon. I got stuck in a huge traffic jam on the highway, but fortunately, I had to go to Borivali only, the edge of Mumbai from this side.

I found my friend SM's place with little difficulty, all thanks to Google Maps. Now SM and her mom have a simple strategy. They lure guests and coerce them to stick around by feeding awesome food to them non-stop. This started as soon as I reached. Being close to Christmas, there was a lot of baking going on and I stuffed my face with all manners of cakes, brownies and whatnot. Before I was done, I was being asked for tea. By the time I finished tea, they were asking me what I wanted to have for dinner!

We had a late dinner though, it was preceded by some 'legal' drinking for the first time in 10 days for me. I was finally back in a non-dry state. Though, to be honest, Gujaratis drink as much as anyone, they just have make some more efforts than the rest of India to buy their drinks. There is little in the world that can stop a determined drinker from testing his liver out!

We slept quite late, and I also took it easy. Mumbai to Pune is a well-known stretch for me, a short distance that I can cover in 2-3 hours. I decided to start at 7 AM though.

DAY 11 - 24th December (Mumbai-Pune)

The day started in the same manner as the previous afternoon had - loads of food! I was so stuffed with dosas, that by the time I finally was ready to leave, it was 11 AM. Bad decision!

It took me 2 hours to get to the highway to Pune. Lonavala was a mess, with all the weekend crowd filling up the roads to the brim. I had a light lunch and reached home at 4 PM, completely tired out and at my wit's-end.

The ride thus ended on a very tiring note. It was still a welcome break for me, something I was looking forward to since May 2016. Overall, Gujarat didn't seem to have a whole lot to offer. It isn't blessed with natural beauty, apart from the salt desert. The 'White Desert' is oversold a bit. I found Dholavira, Lakhpat, Narayan Sarovar and Mandvi to be much more worth visiting. While the lower lip of Gujarat (Gir, Dwaraka, etc.) wasn't explored, none of us are too keen on returning to ride here.

Apart from the places, a few new things for me on this ride were heavy usage of Google Maps and my tankbag. Google Maps never disappointed me inside the city, but most of the remote areas we covered were poorly mapped. We all went back home, traced our entire route on Maps and found a discrepancy of almost 400 kms! So one should be cautious and not rely too much on them when planning the itinerary. As for the tankbag, it was welcome addition to my riding kit. I did find it uncomfortable while taking U-turns and other tight turns when I was offroading as my large handlebar would get stuck and I'd have to take a 2 or 3 point turn where none were required.

Next stop - North East! Until then, I bid adieu.

Cheers and Jai BoP!

BoP Anniversary Ride - Rann of Kutch (Part IV)

DAY 7 - 20th December (Lakhpat, Narayan Sarovar and Mandvi)

The morning rituals were completed in a remarkably clean communal bathroom. I have been to a Gurudwara in the past, but this is the first time I was staying in one and frankly, I'm blown away. The cleanliness, the hospitality, the rituals, everything was beyond belief.

Before leaving, we studied a historical map of the Lakhpat Fort in the Gurudwara. This little village boasted of multiple temples, mosques and tombs, apart from fort ramparts. There was admirable communal harmony here!

The fort itself is in shambles. We rode to the walls and monkeyed around for a bit. On the way, Rajaji even showed us his stunting skills by jumping off the bike when it was still running and then getting back on. For a change, the views did not have the White Desert and we spotted the sea for the first time in this ride. Most of my rides, I yearn for the hills or the sea (green or blue). This time, I got to see both, along with the white of the salt flats and the brown of the desert. It was an all-round ride, from Nature's point of view!

We then got down from the fort ramparts and made our way to the dargah. Once again, this was a beautifully constructed building. It was maintained by a villager, who had met Ankit and Rajaji earlier. We spoke to him for sometime and then went back to the small departmental store we had visited last night for some more chikki. Rajaji's tryst with languages continued here and he impressed the localites by reading the panchayat election posters stuck everywhere.

By now, it was clear to us that the ride would be much shorter than we anticipated. Primarily, this was because the buffer days were used up. We were also covering a new place not part of the original itinerary - Mandvi beach. My plan was to catch a train from Ahmedabad on 24th, but it would a waste of time and money, because I would have spend 3 days in Ahmedabad just to catch the train. I decided, instead, to ride back to Pune and complete the trip. We would spend one last day together in Mandvi and then go our separate ways.

We went and packed up at the Gurudwara. We had an early lunch, on the insistence of the Granthi there and then rode without incident to Narayan Sarovar. The lake in itself was dry, but the key highlight for me was visiting the westernmost point of mainland India. I consider this to be a small, yet significant achievement, having covered both the Southernmost and Westernmost points of mainland India on my motorcycle. We spoke to the BSF guy manning the post; I gave my 'short introduction' again to him and he seemed quite impressed. This was also the home for the Creek Crocodiles, which is a commando unit of the Water Wing of the BSF.

Our destination for the day was Mandvi Beach. On this stretch, we all briefly lost each other. I realized that Dips wasn't anywhere behind me and Ankit and Rajaji were also not to be seen anywhere. What I hadn't realized was all 3 were actually ahead of me. My tank was almost dry 40 kms before Mandvi, so I stopped and purchased a bottle of petrol in black. By the time I reached Mandvi, the others had already taken the bikes onto the beach and were chilling there. We watched another sunset, this time sinking into the sea, instead of salt.

We found a hotel for the night and now were determined to round off the last night together with alcohol and non-veg food. We procured the necessary stuff from an omelette vendor and drank into the night. We'd also found a restaurant nearby which served non-veg. We were reluctant about going there drunk; takeaway wasn't an option because our hotel guy didn't agree to bringing in non-veg food there. Eventually, we did go into the restaurant and I believe the meat-eaters enjoyed their food, even though Rajaji was snappier than usual. Maybe because we forced him to lead for a short distance today.

DAY 8 - 21st December (Mandvi-Ahmedabad)

Our plan was to go to the Vijay Vilas Palace and the ship-building yard today. The former was a well-maintained summer palace of the royalty. The walls are adorned with old photos and stories of the royal exploits. On the roof, you can see that the palace is surrounded by a sea of green. There was a photo shoot going on there, so we let them be and went back to Mandvi town to the ship-building yard. While the surroundings aren't very clean, it is fascinating to watch the ships being built. We spoke to one of the supervisors there, who told us that these ships will eventually ply near the Middle East and will carry grain and other food products for short distances.

The ride was now wrapping up. I had a few solo-riding days ahead of me, after splitting off from the rest of troop at Samkhiyali. We stopped for lunch a few kilometres before the branching off point. Rajaji wanted to ensure all of the Big 4 Gujarati dishes were tasted - dhokla, thepla, fafda and khakra. One of my pet peeves at most restaurants is the lack of nimbu-paani in the menu and the sheer reluctance of restaurant staff to acquiesce to any request to make an exception. My point is that it is a simple, refreshing drink and very easy to make. The ingredients are always there - lemon, salt or sugar and water. Here though, the restaurant guy agreed to make an exception and we finished multiple glasses of cold nimbu-paani, much to my satisfaction.

We finished up the calculations of the ride at this spot. Perhaps due to the wide age-gap between all of us, nobody had agreed my suggestion of using the fancy Splitwise app; everyone wanted to stick to the old, pooling system. I did get a chance to show off my prowess with the app though, when some calculations became difficult. We bade our goodbyes and I took the road that leads towards Ahmedabad.

Shortly after branching off though, my bike started jerking at the lower gears. It started with the first gear, but as I progressed, it kept happening at 2nd and 3rd gears too. The only way to stop the jerking was riding at higher speeds. I was pretty sure it had something to do with the chain sprocket, but couldn't identify anything myself. A few local mechanics I stopped at weren't Bullet specialists and I rode to the next village which apparently had a Bullet mechanic. He too, however, wasn't one. He rode a Bullet himself but didn't repair them! I called up Rajaji and Alex (my mechanic in Pune), but they weren't able to diagnose anything. This village mechanic then adjusted the chain settings a bit which reduced the jerks but I needed a long term solution which only a Bullet service center could provide. My only option was to ride to Ahmedabad. I took the risk and swiftly rode the next 200 odd kms through the sunset.

Now I am no believer in God, but I'm pretty sure something was watching over me that night. The chain sprocket had lost more than 10 of its teeth and most of the other teeth were filed off atleast a little. If I had seen that sprocket, I wouldn't have dared to ride all that distance in the night. Somehow, I reached Ahmedabad outskirts without mishap or further issues. My priorities were straightforward - find a place to stay that is nearest to the Baroda turning and has a Bullet service center nearby. I found one, aptly named "Hotel Rest-n-Ride". The owner used to own a Bullet himself at one point of time. He saw all my gear, heard my riding story and remarked to his son -"Beta, yeh biker hai. Yeh bhi ek nasha hota hai, log pagal ho jaate hai isme, itna door door chalate rehte hai motorcycle apni". I couldn't help but smile and puff out my chest a little. Yes, it was an addiction and yes, I am a proud addict!

Link to Part V

BoP Anniversary Ride - Rann of Kutch (Part III)

DAY 5 - 18th December (Bhuj-Rajwadi Resort, Kalo Dungar and India Bridge)

This was to be a relaxing day. Not a lot of riding and we, for the first and last time in the ride, had a place booked for the night - the Rajwadi Rann Resort. We try and start rides with confirmed stays, but usually end up figuring out things on the fly. For a 11-day ride, it is quite a feat to have only night's stay booked and manage a different hotel every day. However, that is the advantage of riding in small groups, you can manage such things. I assumed the HOG contingent had places of stay, restaurants, chai stalls, everything booked for their entire journey!

The Rajwadi Resort is on the road that leads towards the Rann Utsav and the 'main' White Desert. Now, if you have been following the other parts of the blog, you'd have realized that we have already seen parts of the White Desert. But what we saw is never marketed as such. It is only in conjunction to the Rann Utsav and Dhordo Tent City that the White Desert is referred to. If someone is looking forward to a nice, touristy trip, this is where they will land up!

Close to the Rajwadi Resort is the BSF Checkpost, where you have to obtain passes to enter the White Desert. They charge per person and per vehicle also; you can thus assume that they will allow you to enter the area with your bikes, but fate had something else in store for us. More on this later though. For now, we checked into the resort. The resort is like a Gujarati version of Choki Dhani. We had a fantastic lunch with multiple cups of chai and set off towards Kalo Dungar (the Black Hill).

This place was a tad disappointing,. The views were OK'ish from the top but we were now inching closer to the touristy areas and it showed - the hill was full of people. Also, we didn't really get where the 'black' came from. The hills were brown and red. Perhaps viewed from a distance, they contrasted with the white salt and gave the impression of being black hills. We also caught a glimpse of our next stop for the day - India Bridge.

One can cross the India Bridge without any issue, but only till the BSF post. To go beyond that, closer to the border, you need a special permit that you can get only in Bhuj. The issue is that you rarely find such information at one place anywhere. We'd keep hearing such things the next day too, of getting permits from some other place. While it is a little disappointing, I completely understand the security concerns and respect their need to have multiple levels of checking before permitting people so close to the border. Taking photos at the India Bridge is not allowed so we just chilled around for a bit, chatting with the BSF jawans.

We rode back to the resort while the sun was setting. Given the location, there was no chance of procuring any extra supplies today. We asked for more chai. He had very less left, but instead of refusing, he got us half a cup each, that we referred to as 'chai shots'. That was the closest we'd get to alcohol this night. We finished dinner and then went out for a short walk to the BSF post nearby. Point to be noted - the Milky Way wasn't visible here, even if we were in the desert. We spoke the policeman there about the possibility of camping. By now, we weren't very hopeful of camping, but we thought we could manage something near the Tent City. There, however, you have to stay in their tents only, so the chances of camping somewhere were dimming with each day.

We turned in early for the night. I switched on the fan and slept without the blanket, much to Dips' consternation.

DAY 6 - 19th December (Dhordo Tent City and Lakhpat)

We were finally going to the famous Rann Utsav and Dhordo Tent City! Well, we weren't as excited as I sound here. We'd gotten an inkling of how things were there and they turned out to be worse, actually. We packed up and left for the place. It was a short ride. At the Rann Utsav, we had to purchase tickets to get inside, so we just got a few pics clicked there and went on towards the White Desert.

A few kilometers before, we were stopped by the BSF. Due to an impending VIP visit, no private vehicles weren't allowed beyond this point! This is what the permits were actually for, but within a day, the rules had somehow changed. This irritated all of us. We could clearly see that we couldn't get down into the salt here, it was still too wet. But we were determined to make it inside somehow on bikes. So we went back to the Utsav area, where we had lunch at the stalls while Ankit tried his best to get us through with the help of his contacts. All to no avail though. We went back, parked our bikes and got into the bus that would drop us until the edge of the White Desert. From that point, you have to walk or take the camel cart or tonga till viewing point.

The only thing of note here was the viewing point. It was built to resemble the atomic structure of the salt crystal. It stood out against the white background of the salt desert. You could walk through the waterlogged salt desert for a short distance, but there was nothing much else here. We decided to ride to Lakhpat for the night.

I loved the ride to Lakhpat. We were moving away from the desert and into greener areas. Bushes and trees crowded close to the narrow road. None of us noticed that we were straying off the route and we ended up with a 15 kms misnavigation. Ankit's geographical sixth sense kicked in and we asked around and got onto the right path. I wouldn't have minded riding further on those roads though! It was on this stretch that we discussed Rajaji's penchant for following and how he avoided leading! On BoP rides, there is no strict formation, but we generally slot into our most comfortable positions - Ankit leading, followed by Rajaji, me and Dips. Everyone would shift once in a while. If you lead, you are expected to pause at junctions, confirm the route if required, flag down others for a pitstop, etc. Rajaji, however, would actively avoid leading, so we decided to test this the next day.

Lakhpat is a small fort-town. There are no hotels or resorts here, just the Gurudwara. We've had 2 dry nights in a row, and looks like we'd make a hattrick! Still, the surroundings were peaceful and we settled for a simple and delicious dinner at langar time. Rajaji was showing off his linguistic prowess by conversing in Punjabi everywhere. He'd continue doing this the next day too, albeit in Gujarati. We hit the sack, hoping tomorrow would be a more eventful day.

Link to Part IV

BoP Anniversary Ride - Rann of Kutch (Part II)

DAY 3 - 16th December (Santalpur to Dholavira)

I was now finally riding with a 'big' group after a long time. Yes, any number more than 2 constitutes a 'big' group for me, as I have been riding solo or with 1-2 people for the past few years. On the topic of groups, something that never escaped me till the last day of my ride was news of a bunch of Harleys. Numerous Harley groups had crossed me by now and I heard of them from everyone on the roads - dhaba people, chai stall owners, city dwellers, etc. A 750-strong contingent of Harley Owners Group (HOG) was featuring in the Rann Utsav and consequently, we kept getting confused for being part of the same group throughout the ride. Indeed, at one point, someone actually tried to tell me that I had missed the group by over a day and I might want to ride faster! Guess the stories of my slow riding have spread far and wide.

This day's destination was Rapar. We started out from Santalpur and stopped at the Forest Department guesthouse to get more details on the Wild Ass Sanctuary. We wanted to camp there. Dips, Rajaji and Ankit went to talk inside while I lounged under a tree. Once again, I caught the curiosity of a bunch of village kids, all thanks to my gear. Frankly, I have gotten more attention due to my gear during this ride that I ever have in my lifetime!

The others returned and filled me in - at the next village, Piprali, we can enter the Rann! This was really exciting and I was looking forward to some tough off-roading, even if it scared me a bit. Localites in Piprali tried to warn us away from the Rann but we were very confident we could manage. You have to cross a lot of slush, vegetation and sand to get to the hard-packed soil of the desert. We were all up for the challenge. There were a series of narrow, sandy embankments we had to negotiate. Ankit decided to cut the Gordian knot and rode down a steep, dangerous slope to reach a convenient spot. We chose to bypass that slope. In the process, I got stuck in deep sand and had a minor fall. While the fall itself was harmless, I was now stuck - here was a Bullet on its side, fully loaded with luggage. I honked a few times but the rest had gone ahead and I wasn't sure if anyone heard me. I took a deep breath and lifted the entire monster in one go. I suffered a minor muscle pull in my bicep due to this though.

Soon, we reached the desert and now there was no stopping us. Ankit tried his best to rally us together for a video but we were in no mood to listen. We city kids are used to paths. There always is a path, visible or partially visible. A road, a track, a 'kaccha rasta', something which has a form and direction. In the desert though, there actually isn't any path. You can ride anywhere with no restrictions! We zig-zagged our way to a random spot and established 'camp'. We maneuvered the four bikes to serve as 'pillars' and spread the tarpaulin over them. Our picnic consisted of carrots, Parle-G biscuits and water. Rajaji was convinced that there was water at the horizon and left with Ankit to explore. The vast, empty desert was, to me, as terrifying and humbling as the ocean or the hills. I went into musing mode for a bit here.

Once the others returned, we packed up and started for Rapar. Barring a 10-kms misnavigation by Ankit the Leader, we had a smooth, albeit hot ride till Rapar. It was past lunch time though and we had to make do with some snacks in the town. There were also no decent places to stay here, so we rode on towards Dholavira. We then reached the Kutch Lake, a dried lake bed that covers both sides of the road. All you see is an endless expanse of white salt in both directions - this was our first and best view (as we would later realize) of the famed White Desert. We reached this spot just in time for the sunset, a truly magnificent sight.

Riding further, we chanced upon the Flamingo Resort. It seemed to be newly constructed. As we rode inside and parked, I was approached by a Kannadiga family who saw my KA number-plate. What followed was a very typical conversation, that would repeat itself throughout the ride and has repeated itself for many years for me. Because I have stayed in different places all my life, I attract such conversations. They go thus -

"Ah, you are all riding from Karnataka?"
"No, from Pune. They are coming from Delhi"
"Oh, so you're Marathi?"
"No, I grew up in Delhi."
"Then the KA bike....?"
"I was in Bangalore for sometime, so I bought the bike there"
"OK, so Delhiite"
"No, I'm actually an Andhraite, I was born and brought up in Delhi..."
"But you're now in...?"
"Pune"
"......"

In the past 5-6 years, I have been part of umpteen variations of this conversation. I realized that mono-syllabic answers do not turn away anyone. So if I'm in a hurry, I just list out the entire lot in one go - "Originally Andhraite, in Delhi all my life, in Bangalore for 5 years, now presently in Pune". It is usually a lot of fun for me and everyone around though!

The night's stay was fixed in Flamingo Resort. Once again, we managed to procure the essentials from a localite. Ankit and I went to get it this time. On the way back, we witnessed the magnificent spectacle that I have only seen in photos till now - a sky clear enough for the Milky Way to be visible. Once we returned, we started our BBB in earnest. The last highlight of this very eventful day was witnessing the almost-full moon reflecting on the White Desert. We rode the short distance to the spot we had chanced up earlier in the evening and soaked in the cold air and sheer whiteness of the environment. It is a different matter that my shoes were simultaneously soaking in the muck-encrusted-with-salt.....

DAY 4 - 17th December (Dholavira, Rapar and Bhuj)

The first task of the morning was to pull out my Swiss knife and clean my shoes. Apparently, the salt-mud mixture can eat away into your shoe lining. After a good 20 minute scraping session, I had gotten rid of the worst of the muck. After freshening up, we had a breakfast of poha and chai at the resort, while chatting with the caretakers. One of them started assigning names of politicians to us based on his impression of us (I was Manmohan Singh, because I talked less).

We then set off towards the ancient Harappan site of Dholavira. The place is beautifully maintained, albeit quite empty. It reminded me of Hampi, actually, even if they are both from completely different eras. We hired a guide who took us around, explaining the sites. These ancient city-builders can teach a thing or two to us nowadays. Along with the guide's comments, I actually learnt quite a bit from Ankit (an architect by profession) about the ingenuity of their construction methods. All those pics in history books now came to life. We next went to museum which housed the artifacts unearthed from these sites. This is something I love about BoP. Visiting museums on fun trips is usually frowned upon and I have been made fun of for my 'nerdy' inclinations by other friends' groups. Here, however, walking into the museum is as natural as walking into a seedy bar!

Next destination was the Fossil Park. This was not part of our original itinerary, but the Flamingo Resort owner told us about it. The Fossil Park consists of petrified wood (as in 'fossilized', not as in 'scared') that is enclosed in fences to prevent people from spoiling it. Here, we found a naturally carved ass-stone, as identified by Rajaji. We also tried our hand at

archaeology by picking up random stones and trying to identify if it was petrified wood or a simple stone.

This Fossil Park is at the edge of one end of the White Desert. We lounged around on the salt for sometime, getting pics clicked. The salt was firmer here, but it might have been because it was afternoon. We then went back past the Harappan site and stopped at a small resort for a delicious lunch. This entire ride was a vegetarian's delight. I was actually having fun at the behest of my fellow riders, because during the WCR ride, I was the only vegetarian in the entire gang and we were riding through a predominantly fish-and-beef-obsessed region (Kerala). Here in Gujarat, I was completely at home and was enjoying the culinary delights to the fullest.

Post lunch, we went back to Flamingo, packed up and left for Rapar. Now our previous touch-n-go experience in Rapar was pretty sad and the experience continued this time too. We wanted to ride towards Bhuj, but stop somewhere in the middle. After a short distance, we stopped for a discussion - whether to continue the next 120-odd kms to Bhuj or stop somewhere else. Ankit and Dips were keen on riding to Bhuj, Zaheer didn't seem too keen and I was dead against it. I have instinctively avoided night riding for a long time. After some cajoling however, I realized that I wasn't sleepy and could easily ride the entire distance, albeit with a dinner break. A deal was struck - we stop for dinner on the way and we ride till Bhuj for the night.

We soon turned off the main highway and the next 30-35 kms were hell for me. When you have spectacles on, riding in the night on an unlit, single-lane highway with high-beamed oncoming traffic becomes doubly difficult. If you randomly drop me on those roads today, I wouldn't be able to recognize anything because I was riding blind for the most part. The dinner dhaba was a welcome break for me.  Soon, though, the roads became better and we reached Bhuj late in the night. It took us quite some roaming around to find a hotel, but we found a decent one inside the city. The agenda was simple - finish the remaining 'supplies' and go to sleep!

Link to Part III

BoP Anniversary Ride - Rann of Kutch (Part I)

Once again, I'm back to blogging after almost a year. Around this time last year, I was pondering over my professional life, whether to move to a new city or stay put, etc. I chose to move; my new job in Pune exposed me to exciting opportunities and fantastic people. However, motorcycling took a backseat for a long time. The working week tired me out much more than ever and I was simply unable to manage my time for the first few months. Slowly though, I got a grip over my schedule and pushed myself to free up my weekends. I went on a few short rides with fellow BoPian Ajit and Sanjeev, a biker I met at my new workplace.

However, early on, Satish, Dips and I had scratched out a rough plan for the 2016 Anniversary ride and I diligently saved up my few leaves throughout the year. The destination was always Rann of Kutch, but concerns about rain and slush in November made us reconsider and we started exploring alternate plans. Lower 'lip' of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, East Coast - all were considered at one point of time. Finally though, more riders joined in (while Satish backed out) and by shifting the dates to December, we managed to stick to the original plan - Rann of Kutch Anniversary ride.

Dates: 14-25th December, 2016

Route taken/Places visited:
Pune-Mumbai-Surat-Baroda-Santalpur-Dholavira-Bhuj-Kalo Dungar-India Bridge-White Desert-Lakhpat-Narayan Sarovar-Mandvi-Ahmedabad-Baroda-Mumbai-Pune

Riders:

1. Ankit Gupta - Silver RE Classic 350 - The Leader
2. Diptinder Singh Chhabra - Black RE Electra 4S - The Hairstyle-changer
3. Krishnatreya Brindavanam - Silver RE Electra TS 350 - The Warrior
4. Zaheer Saifi - Black RE Electra 4S - The Follower 

Total distance traversed: 3,081 kms

The ride preparations had started at least a month in advance. I'd purchased a new ViaTerra tank-bag. Much before that, I'd shopped for new arm-guards, knee-guards and gloves. These turned out to be a great topic of conversation with my co-riders and strangers alike, as they have outer plates of steel which lent a 'warrior' look to me. A kind friend also lent me her tent and sleeping bag as we planned to camp somewhere.

DAY 1 - 14th December (Pune to Surat)

The day's destination was Surat, 420 kms from Pune. Day 1 and most of Day 2 were to be solo stretches. I was now completely comfortable with solo rides, but what caused some trepidation was the distance. I hadn't covered anything more than 120 kms a day in the past 9 months, though 420 a day is well within my comfort zone. I started off sharp at 6 AM and made my way towards Mumbai via the old highway. The ride till Mumbai was uneventful, except for hunger pangs; I hadn't stopped at my usual breakfast place in Lonavala and post that, I surprisingly didn't find any place to eat. Somewhere on the outskirts of Mumbai, I stopped and had a samosa with chai and decided to break for an early lunch afterwards.

One thing continually preying on my mind was the cash crunch. Demonetization was in full force and ATMs dried out faster than a drop of water on a hot tawa. I was carrying around Rs 1200 in cash and wanted to avoid as many cash transactions as I could, because on rides, emergency situations almost always require hard cash. So 85 kms before Surat, I stopped for lunch at what seemed to be a highway plaza with multiple restaurants under the same roof. Somehow, the mood for continental food caught me and I ordered a Cheese Macaroni and Lemon Tea. Unfortunately, this was the beginning of my cash woes for that day because their card machine wasn't working and I ended up parting with some of my precious cash.

It was then a smooth ride to Surat where I got caught in the evening traffic. I hadn't paid attention to the signboards and ended up going 14-15 kms into the main city; the next morning, I'd be coming back to the highway to go to Baroda and there was a big hotel right at the turning that I could have taken. Anyway, I was dead tired and found a hotel somewhere in the city. All thoughts of sleep came down crashing when I was told that they accept ONLY cash payments. It was a decent-sized establishment who could have easily transacted with card or net banking. All my pleas fell on deaf ears though. I wasn't in any mood to pack my luggage again and ride through the horrendous traffic to find another hotel, so I decided to freshen up and find an ATM. A hotel staff guy accompanied me and we tried 4 ATMs nearby, all to no avail. I then asked him to guide me to the nearest restaurant that would accept card payments. There, while getting my dinner packed, I got hold of some cash by paying 5% extra on my card. Cash issues resolved, I went back to the hotel. Here, however, I decided to push the hotel staff further (matter of principle - what if I hadn't gotten cash?). I kept asking them to give me their account details so that I could transfer the money. One guy tried to intimidate me by telling me that I can't leave the hotel premises without paying cash. I stuck to my ground for quite sometime. In the end though, I was too sleepy to argue further and promised to pay them cash in the morning, which I duly did before leaving.

This part of me may surprise a few readers - why get into trouble unnecessarily in a new city when I had cash in hand? But to me, it was matter of principle. It isn't anything to be proud of, this trait of mine, but it is how I am. I knew where to stop though, so no harm done.

DAY 2 - 15th December (Surat to Baroda)

This was to be a reunion day on 2 fronts. Firstly, I was to go to my friend AR's place in Baroda for breakfast. I was meeting her after a year and coincidentally, she had come back home from the US only a few days before. The ride from Surat to Baroda was short and sweet - 150 kms. Using Google Maps, I found my way to AR's place where we had an excellent breakfast and spent some time chatting about our college days.

The second reunion of the day was, of course, with my co-riders. We had planned to meet up in Radhanpur, around 280 kms from Baroda. Previous night, Dips had called me to ask if I could ride till Rapar that day. I refused, because both the distance (540+ kms from Surat) and my stopover at Baroda would have made it a tough ride for me. So we met up at Radhanpur as planned. After some bantering about my gear, we shifted to more serious topics - that of the unmentionable in a dry state. We obtained some information from a bunch of curious people, procured the necessary supplies and rode the next 40-odd kms to Santalpur to our night's stay.

This place was attached to a regular highway dhaba. At a very affordable price, we had a massive room with 7 beds for ourselves. We started our BBB session with a huge packet of chakhna that Ankit had procured, a fuck-load of onions and lemons and some "Impact". We filled in each other on our respective adventures. Rajaji commenced his dialogue of the ride - "sooji hai?" Dinner was at the 24/7 dhaba downstairs, after which we passed out for the night.

Link to Part II