April 20th | Our first destination

The train was an hour late, but the linen handlers did not take that into consideration! They woke us up at 4:30AM and made us give them the linen in time for them to wind up their chores well in time which kept us unnecessarily awake, stand in a mile long queue outside the loo and wait aimlessly hoping the destination will be here any moment.

Finally, when we reached Guwahati, we got off the train and rushed to un-load the bike, to our shock, we could not find the bike in any of the parcel compartments, we were (especially Suzy, its his bike afterall) in panic, thinking of all the possible circumstances, could the bike have been mistakenly offloaded at the wrong station, did they drop it at Secundrabad itself and all other such crazy scenarios. Finally, we figured that there was still one campartment to be opened and when they opened that, we found the bike there. Rushed to the parcel handlers and got the gate pass and had the bike out of the platform soon.

We were hoping minimum (if possible NO) damage; inspecting the bike, we realized that they had broken the back rest, but that was the least damage, we saw bikes that were worse off.
Zoro, picked us upand brought us to the place where we are to stay tonight. Anoop and Dhruv will be here by the evening.

Tonight will again be a good night ;)

Moral: Don’t get up immediately when the rialway guys wake you up, they have selfish motives, take your time and find out the train time status the night before. Keep copies of the RC Papers to get the gate pass, and get the gate pass while the bike is getting unloaded off the train. If someone’s recieving you at the station, ask them to carry a bottle of petrol because your bike will be bone dry by the time to get it out.

April 19th | Boring train journey

Having slept for the whole day and the night after, we were fresh and awake on this day. The day passed reading every word in the newpaper (whichever was available), the magazine, novel and finally the travel guide.

Since the train was going where we were headed (quite a coincidence right!) people around were either locals, or tourists; it’s a great idea to chat up with the locals, they have a lot of relevant info to provide, stuff that you will not find in the guides. So both Suzy and i, Suzy more than i, got talking to people. We found out that one of the routes we had planned is inaccessible by private vehicles and many more such nuggets. We took the numbers of few and roughly planned dates for the travel.

On the way, one of the local forewarned us about a HUGE dam that we will pass, so Suzy and i stepped out armed with the camera to click the dam and guess what, we can’t get to defog the lens! Since the camera was in an A/Ced compartment, as soon as we brought it out, it fogged. We could not get any pictures of the dam, but i should tell you, it was HUGE! While we waited outside, the lens eventually aclimatized and lost the fog. But the dam had passed.

In the night, we decided to take stock of the expenses. Again, do this regularly, else, its impossible to trace where the money disappeared. We had already spent over 10K between the both of us, but now it was accounted.

Another day has gone, tomorrow morning we are due to reach Guwahati.

Moral: Carry books and empty sheets of pepers for the train, this will help you stay busy. Chat with the people on the train/bus/flight and get insider info from the locals. Camera lenses fog if brought out from an airconditioned compartment, they need time to warm up when brought out.

April 18th | Take-off

Having not slept a wink, we were wide awake and all sent to leave, but still faulted by an hour and had to load and leave in a rush. While loading the bags on the bike, we realized that one of the bags did not fit on the carrier! Phew, Murphy at (hard) work. Standing in the parking lot, we partially emptied the bag, transferred some stuff to the other bag and eventually pulled the bungy cords together to get the bike ready to leave.

At the station, another goof-up. We were suppose to carry photocopies of the RC Papers, now the search for a photocopy guy who would give us a copy at 5AM! You can imagine what we went through. After we managed that, the person at the counter tells us, he cannot book the bike on this train because it is already ful-up. In the panic, we pleaded, requested, begged and finally managed to get the bike on the train. Phew!

In the train, we discover that a family of four have two confirmed and two RACs. WTF! Now we had to deal with eight people in the area for six. Suzy and i go “Why us?!?” Grrr! But the two nights of (almost) no sleep helped, we got in and crashed, only to get up for lunch and dinner and then tucked back cozily on the top berth.

We slept well.

Moral(s): Load the bike once before leaving to see the placement etc. Take sufficient photocopies of RC papers. Ideally book the bike on the train a day before to avoid all the tantrums by the loaders and other railway staff. Carry ear-plugs to deal with the chatter in the train.

April 17th | Prep Day

If being tired of all de frolic on campus was not enough, we had a tough day ahead. After a night that lasted till 5:30AM, we had to reach the Royal Enfield workshop by 10AM! We managed!

We started with a basic gyaan session on how to deal with few of the most basic breakdown reasons; the break, klutch wire, accelerator wire, spark plug, fuse, chain links etc. He tried giving us a little about ‘dos’ in case of a puncture, we realized if this actually happens, we are f^@ked! But anyway, after that, we started with what took the rest of the day. We needed brackets that would hold our bags, in biker lingo, these are called ‘Ladakh Carriers’. We visited/called every major accessory shop in Hyd, not just us, but a whole lot of people called on our behalf, we are sure we created an artificial demand for Ladakh Carriers in Hyd. At the end, it was a very helpful fellow Bullet rider (Shyamal) who led us to the end of that day. He gave us his bike’s carrier! When we tried telling him that help us buy one, all he had to say was “Dude, you ride is more important than my bike’s carrier, aur ban jayenge, trip vapas nahi banega”

Now armed with a carrier loaded bike, extra spares, tools, bungy cords to hold the bags, guards for the knee, shin, arm, elbow etc and the plan, we headed back to campus for another, actually the last night on campus.

It was a good night :)

Moral: Figure carrier, accessories and other tools well in advance. Contact local Bullet clubs for help, they are always willing to help.

Is solitude the refuge only for Geniuses?

Just watched ‘A Beautiful Mind’; a story about the life of John Nash and this got me wondering if it’s only the geniuses who don’t feel part of the regular world. Nothing against the genius but why is it that anyone who chooses to not be part of the regular is looked upon as either a snoot or a potential genius.

I have known a few who don’t go around doing the regular things like going out for dinners, hob-knobbing with the crowd, lighting the dance floor on fire or picking a conversation with people; it’s not like they think that people are not worth talking to but it’s just about not finding the same wavelength or not having the acumen to strike a topic that would be engaging enough for everyone to discuss.

Don’t people like these have the right to do their own thing without being titled one of the above?

Solitude can’t be just for the geniuses, being one is always a very good excuse but what about people with average IQ levels; do they also need an excuse?

People don’t have to be judged basis how many people they talk to; few appreciate their space and don’t need to have justifications or reasons for their behaviour. They are not out to cocoon themselves, they always welcome people who would want to exist in their world, but it’s just that this world doesn’t appeal to a very wide audience.

I come from the atmosphere of a Business School, where befriending as many people as possible is a surrogate for ‘networking’, this word has been bastardized by the all so many people who have made studies at B-school much more about networking than about learning. This attitude puts negative pressure on the students who don’t wish or are unable to have many friends but instead have only a few who they open-up to.

I hope while they may not be the most efficient networkers, they will turn out to be efficient managers because that’s what they are here for.

Slumdog Millionaire Crorepati or Lakhpati, I don care much ! ! !

What ever the nomenclature they use, we need to take a different view to the movie that’s been a surprise entry at all the major award functions this year.

I kept hearing about the movie for a long time, chose not to watch it till it got officially released and so you can blame the extra anticipation about the movie on that. When I saw the movie last Friday, I anything but agreed to the views of most people that it’s THE movie of the year!

Initially when I read about AB’s comments, I felt that he’s just being a spoil sport about the fact that an Indian could not make a movie like this, but after watching the movie even I feel bad. Call me a spoil sport too but am appalled by the way firangis come here show anything from the pedophiles’ escapades to the tortures lives of the Indian poor and showcase it as a masterpiece. The problem is not about running away from reality but instead to question the opportunism and selfish attitude.

Today we are seeing everyone from Anil K to Dev P to Frieda P up there on stage feeling very proud of what they have been part of but how many did even consider doing something about bettering the lives of the very characters they were playing?

Guess my voice like the voice of many others reached DannyB, before it could become a reason for the film’s non success in India that he has declared to donate a part of the earnings from the movie towards re-habilitating slumdogs, ain’t that what they call the kids from slums! I appreciate the initiative but just putting the money there will not be enough, one has to get their hands dirty as well. Hope Mr Danny B, gets some time after accepting all those awards to do a little bit of work here.

I want to meet ERASURE ! ! !

Remember the movie with Arnold, released about a decade back where our man is the designated identity changer. Yes, sounds like a very interesting thing to do, in fact I have been toying with it myself these days. Given a choice, I would like to consider having a new identity, it has nothing to do with how fulfilling or happy or for that matter sad my current identity is, but it’s a craving for new.

I have been working fulltime for over seven years now add part time experience would add up to about nine years and the one thing I have noticed is that I was never happy at a single place for too long. Be it an assignment that I was on or the job itself, moving on from one task to the other has always been my thing.

In the long run I have both suffered and gained from this habit. When a kid, I could never stick to a single extra curricular, so I moved from kick boxing, to badminton, to swimming to many more such things, thereby mastering none of the above, but at the same time, I have managed to experience so much more than the regular kids.

Today while at work, I’m not sure what I want to do. I have been in the communications business for over five years now, but am not sure if this is my calling because I have started getting bored of it. The only reason I have survived so long is because of two reasons, one cause I was good at my work so it was always exciting to come to work and the other thing is that advertising can give one the opportunity to work on different brands and hence different tasks, which drains the monotony of being in a single profession for so long.

So while I have spoken about my craving for new, I also need to talk about the other side. I’m extremely nostalgic; I miss what I used to do earlier, sometimes even consider restarting what I once left half way. Be it the easier things to start like getting back to swimming and kick boxing to the tougher things like studying.

I was never a good student in school and college now I seek an opportunity to give myself another shot at studying. I understand that it’s a risky proposition to give a person like me another chance at something I have so badly screwed up in the past, but the world would be far short of success if people did not get a second chance. Some made a come back because they were ousted the first time like Steve Jobs, and others had just left things half way and picked it up later to finish them in style.

I don’t mean to compare myself to the greats, but don’t shy away from picking where you have earlier left off. Be it relations or career opportunities. And guess what, if you really believe in it, you wont have to necessarily change your identity, you as yourself can give yourself another chance and make it big.

So, thanks but no-thanks Erasure! You helped me make a point and now I don’t need you no more.