Ghumakkar's Diary

“Roads are quite like our lives with so many types of curves. None can predict what’s on the other side. Enjoying the Blind curves of Life” I met Ranjit at Andy’s garage, on the Planning day for the RM East ride. He was the one interested in riding back to Mumbai via Varanasi -Delhi route. My wish to ride on NH2 had some selfish reasons; first, that I wanted to visit my home at Varanasi on my Bullet since the day I bought it and second, that there’s a saying in Geological world that on an expedition never take the same route while traversing back to the camp, it helps you experiencing more and more of the terrain. Until 23rd January night, I was unaware of riding plans. Guri paji asked if I am game to ride Golden Quadrilateral with him and Ranjit. I was like – hell Yeah! So, it was stamped and we geared up with GoogleMap, Ranjit’s Maps Of India book, and advices from all who have had ridden on Delhi-Kolkata highway. View Larger Map As planned we prepared to start a

Edition 2.1 I never thought to visit you Kissing you was more than a fantasy Walking with you on the University roads  I felt    your awkwardness e very time Receiving  parents'  calls Lying ‘m roaming with friends Feeding the fishes of that pond Trying to be cozy in my arms Sitting closely on the rickshaw Clinging to find some support Stretching my arms to pull you up Visiting that old temple on the Hills Thinking where to visit when it fell dark Dissolving when found that park Learning the first kiss through lips Promising it truly, little dramatically  I remember everything, the walk we had Everything that happened that day Alas, I remember everything Alas - ‘coz it’s difficult to be that way…. (P.S.: I'm not a poet, just tried to convert  what it'd be felt when it's first time in  to some words. Edition# refers to amendments this poem has seen :) Related articles A Walk to Remember (Version 1: Friendship) (punitdubey.in)

“ Abe, CAT results are out, where are you ” “ Saale, fod diya! I just saw the results, am in Cyber café, Lanka. Scored 98! What’s your? ” “ I too checked, it’s 90! Chal, meet me at Dept, ask Vivert to be there too; we’ll celebrate. ” It was our final year of Graduation course at Banaras Hindu University, and most of us have given the Common Admission Test to IIMs or CAT. Few were sincere, most, including me, were testing there caliber. Prasoon was though the only person who was determined to get in to some good MBA college, and had prepared hard for the last two years. Vivert didn’t apply and Naveen was still weighing the MBA degree against the MSc-Geology degree. I was like let’s appear and see what aptitude (!) I carry :p Whatever and howsoever we prepared for the D-day, results were more or less as expected. Prasoon scored 98, I 90 and we never came to know what other guys had. It was 6th January, 2006; just another day of winters in Banaras. As the results were ou

Though I tried my best to keep my last post on Mumbai to Kolkata ride as short as possible, I know it was one of the long posts, people like me, try to avoid. Interestingly, still I forgot to mention a few stories of ride. Like, the Ghost stories by Kaka that we had on our Sholapur and Elluru sleeping bag nights, Shyamal’s potty- katha (tales), the gadgeted modified Classic 500 with cool speakers of Jerry the Sikandar and Akhtar bhai’s beautiful modified ol’ Electra with number plate flaunting 786 on it. Thinking about the ride and possible write ups, now I’ve started firmly believing that epic like Mahabharata can only be wrote on a ride ! Now as told, this post is about the RM Event days and nights – 22nd and 23rd January 2010. About RM , I’ve already posted a few weeks back, day before we started the ride. Anyways, if you don’t want to read entire post, here’s a quick summary. RM or Rider Mania started in 2003, as an Annual meet of All India Bullet Clubs, with Royal Enfield’s

Starting from 16 th January 2011, I went through my life’s Best Fortnight on my Bull – the TBTS, on the awesome Indian National Highways, for an 11 days’ of pure ride with purpose of attending the RM East 2011 at Kolkata and to live nomad life, with the civilization but the Highways’ way! As it for sure is none less than an epic of 5400 kilometers’ ride, I will be story telling it in 3 parts; 1 st on ~2500 kilometers’ Mumbai to Kolkata ride, 2 nd the RM East 2011 Event Days, 3 rd describing an about 3000 km Quadra Ride from Kolkata to Mumbai via Varanasi, Agra and Jaipur. This part, being first in the series, is on Kolkata-Mumbai ride. The Inddiethumpers flag Probably it’s the Indian mentality to wake up at eleventh hour and do all that can and cannot be done to be prepared for the event at its best! I don’t count myself amongst the lot, but at times I can’t really help. Though I started preparing for my grand ride to Kolkata for RM East 2011 well in advance; I had to