Sloshed after what would probably be the Last Insti Party of the 'Last of the Mohicans', a term re-coined on us by the other endangered Mohican - Mayank, wakey wakey early, on a Sunday morning, I did. Bewitched into writing the Kumbh Mela Case Study all morning; for working with Rocky can make you self-stretch, for reasons I don't know, when logically you should be demanding a hangover peg. That was when my phone rung. Som bhaiyya hollered,"शाम को चाट खाने चलोगे ?" (Wanna go to eat Chaat in the evening?). For a split second, I didn't know what to say. I was between half minds, on whether to continue working on the case study or play ball. But as the picture of Chaat loomed larger over my mind, I acceded, in the very next few moments.
Then I asked Som about the rendezvous point. He said, "Let's go to Hardoi (about 100 km from here) in the afternoon. Reach Sahara City by 2.45. That's from where we'll start off." Well, got stumped again. Riding 100 km for eating chaat, when you can just walk down to the college canteen? Well, in most of such circumstances, nonsense does prevail, especially when there is a chance of taming your bull.
2.30 PM - IIM Lucknow - 11148 km
Overshot the time to leave, being engrossed in my case writing. Reached Sahara city only by 3.15, to see all the riders ready and waiting. That's a bad sight, trust me. Should have been on time :(
3.16 PM - Sahara City - 11168 km
Austin, Som, Soodip, Anand with his bro-in-law Abhisek as pillion, Tanmay, Nirupam, Shaurya and I set off to Hardoi. I knew all of them from the Independence Day Rally 4 days ago, although not quite well. Soodip was on his 500cc Black Thunderbird, Anand was on his RE Classic 500cc Desert Storm. We were also accompanied by some of Soodip's friends in an Audi SUV.
We took Shahidpath route and cut into Kanpur road. Reached Alambhagh junction and then turned left to head to SH 25 (Malihabad Road). I had almost circled the city by this time.
3.50 PM - IIM Road / SH 25 Intersection - 11206 km
Continued with our journey to Hardoi. It had started drizzling while we were passing through Amar-Shahidpath-Road, which got quite heavy as we reached SH 25. To say that it was raining cats and dogs would be unjust euphemism. Could barely see 10 meters ahead. Drenched totally, yet, we kept going, it was fun. मज्जा आ गया । The dark hooded sky, cleared after some time, to let the beam of twilight sun cuddle the bosom of the damp earth.
Meanwhile, I had fallen behind 4-5 minutes as I stopped for refueling. Caught up with Som within a few minutes, who was waiting for me. We sped, at a steady 80-90 km/h on a mostly empty highway, to catch-up with the rest of them, as the breeze blotted us dry.
Rode past the railway crossing near Kachhnauna Patseni, when I heard Som honking "Beep-Beep-Beeeeeeep" from behind, which means to stop. This was one of the sound signals, we had made during our trip to Ladakh, and I would never forget it.
We had overshot the stopping point by 3 km. Som had been called by Soodip and Austin to pull over. The destination was not Hardoi exactly but a little earlier, Kachhnauna Patseni, that is. The rest of the crew was behind us, and we didn't hear them bellow while we were speeding past them, hoping to catch up with them! Riding back 3 km we met Anand's जीजा (bro-in-law), at Kachhnauna town. We would be having Chaat at his shop!
5.45 PM - Kachhnauna Patseni - 11278 km
The entire battalion arrived. Hungry for sure, we headed straight into the shop, when it just started raining. Although the shop was buzzing with activity and full of customers, our orders came in pretty fast. Focus shifts to food, conversation taking a backseat. There is no better way to appease your breadbasket than to feed it with some good chaat and chai, on a nice rainy day. I chowed down 2 plates of आलू की टिक्की चाट (Potato Tikki Chaat) and shared a plate of आलू मट्टर चाट (Potato & Peas Chaat) with Shaurya. Then we went to one other friend's place. He would probably be in his 60s. He engaged us with his tales about trip to Khardungla and other hill stations, while we helped ourselves to chai, mithai and cashew nuts sitting in his beautiful garden lawns.
7.30 PM - Kachhnauna Patseni - 11278 km
We thanked our host and headed back home. It was already nightfall and we drove at a safe 40-50 km/hr, with much discipline. All the riders went one behind the other keeping a distance of about 10 meters between them. We took 3 breaks on our return journey, one of which was when Anand's Desert Storm started blinking a red-light on its dial. Som called up a mechanic and we got to know that it was due to a connection problem at a socket junction under the fuel tank. But no cause for worry, we could continue our ride home.
We turned left from IIM Road / SH 25 intersection and blazed through the empty 6 lane highway.
9.30 PM - Prabandh Nagar - 11355 km
Reached 0.7 km to IIM, when I bid good bye to fellow riders. Reached campus and after a shower, got hooked onto the case study.
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| How can you resist this awesome delicacy? |
2.30 PM - IIM Lucknow - 11148 km
Overshot the time to leave, being engrossed in my case writing. Reached Sahara city only by 3.15, to see all the riders ready and waiting. That's a bad sight, trust me. Should have been on time :(
3.16 PM - Sahara City - 11168 km
Austin, Som, Soodip, Anand with his bro-in-law Abhisek as pillion, Tanmay, Nirupam, Shaurya and I set off to Hardoi. I knew all of them from the Independence Day Rally 4 days ago, although not quite well. Soodip was on his 500cc Black Thunderbird, Anand was on his RE Classic 500cc Desert Storm. We were also accompanied by some of Soodip's friends in an Audi SUV.
We took Shahidpath route and cut into Kanpur road. Reached Alambhagh junction and then turned left to head to SH 25 (Malihabad Road). I had almost circled the city by this time.
3.50 PM - IIM Road / SH 25 Intersection - 11206 km
Continued with our journey to Hardoi. It had started drizzling while we were passing through Amar-Shahidpath-Road, which got quite heavy as we reached SH 25. To say that it was raining cats and dogs would be unjust euphemism. Could barely see 10 meters ahead. Drenched totally, yet, we kept going, it was fun. मज्जा आ गया । The dark hooded sky, cleared after some time, to let the beam of twilight sun cuddle the bosom of the damp earth.
Meanwhile, I had fallen behind 4-5 minutes as I stopped for refueling. Caught up with Som within a few minutes, who was waiting for me. We sped, at a steady 80-90 km/h on a mostly empty highway, to catch-up with the rest of them, as the breeze blotted us dry.
Rode past the railway crossing near Kachhnauna Patseni, when I heard Som honking "Beep-Beep-Beeeeeeep" from behind, which means to stop. This was one of the sound signals, we had made during our trip to Ladakh, and I would never forget it.
We had overshot the stopping point by 3 km. Som had been called by Soodip and Austin to pull over. The destination was not Hardoi exactly but a little earlier, Kachhnauna Patseni, that is. The rest of the crew was behind us, and we didn't hear them bellow while we were speeding past them, hoping to catch up with them! Riding back 3 km we met Anand's जीजा (bro-in-law), at Kachhnauna town. We would be having Chaat at his shop!
5.45 PM - Kachhnauna Patseni - 11278 km
The entire battalion arrived. Hungry for sure, we headed straight into the shop, when it just started raining. Although the shop was buzzing with activity and full of customers, our orders came in pretty fast. Focus shifts to food, conversation taking a backseat. There is no better way to appease your breadbasket than to feed it with some good chaat and chai, on a nice rainy day. I chowed down 2 plates of आलू की टिक्की चाट (Potato Tikki Chaat) and shared a plate of आलू मट्टर चाट (Potato & Peas Chaat) with Shaurya. Then we went to one other friend's place. He would probably be in his 60s. He engaged us with his tales about trip to Khardungla and other hill stations, while we helped ourselves to chai, mithai and cashew nuts sitting in his beautiful garden lawns.
7.30 PM - Kachhnauna Patseni - 11278 km
We thanked our host and headed back home. It was already nightfall and we drove at a safe 40-50 km/hr, with much discipline. All the riders went one behind the other keeping a distance of about 10 meters between them. We took 3 breaks on our return journey, one of which was when Anand's Desert Storm started blinking a red-light on its dial. Som called up a mechanic and we got to know that it was due to a connection problem at a socket junction under the fuel tank. But no cause for worry, we could continue our ride home.
We turned left from IIM Road / SH 25 intersection and blazed through the empty 6 lane highway.
 |
| Route Map |
Reached 0.7 km to IIM, when I bid good bye to fellow riders. Reached campus and after a shower, got hooked onto the case study.
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