ANYTHING

A Ludo night with Kabaadi walas (Scrap Dealer)

It was quite different Saturday night of 3-Nov-2012.
I was hanging around in a street, I saw few people who were playing Ludo in low light of

single Traditional Incandescent Bulb but, in a full game spirit.

These people were actually Scrap Vendor (in hindi whom we call Kabadi wala). I just randomly introduced myself in an excuse of finding a particular address/place and grabbed their attention and confidence to join them.

Their existing game of Ludo was already active at the finishing stage which I eventually got to know that, there was some kind of gambling going on for 100 bucks which was a day end entertainment for them along with a big hidden bottle of whisky & smoke. Trust me friends, environment at that place was so amazing & lively that even I also proposed myself for a game & started playing with those people but at the winning stage, I lost the game. I didn't mind at all because so many different kind of discussions from here and there & about their day to day life was happening with hellufa abuses & slangs lol which were absolutely entertaining.I bade them a goodbye with this click!! They felt so good with me that they insisted me to come back again at that Kabaadi Shop. And I decided that I will surely go again there.. but don’t know when.

~AMS :)
Picture: Nokia cellphone
Delhi/3-Nov-2012

Solo Safar: Delhi to Himachal Pradesh

Stage 1

It was Friday 3 August 2012, a pre mature excitement had already begun because by tonight I will be going for a Solo trip via bus from Delhi to Himachal. And this was the reason I had taken half day from the office & already informed that I will leave from office by 9pm so that I could catch the bus by 10pm from ISBT Kashmeere Gate. This plan had taken a quite long time for an execution but I finally made it possible. It was pre decided that I won’t book any bus or train ticket in advance; I just go as I am & do everything immediately. Luckily the moment I reached there I got my tickets also although bus wasn’t a Volvo bus. It was government Himachal Pradesh tourism bus, number 7035. So after confirming departure arrival timing, I finally got my ticket for Rs.400/- to Kangra & sat down at my window seat which was from the left side # 36.

Well I had settled my butt & kept my bag aside (I never prefer the top deck to keep my bag), it was just besides me in the entire trip. And journey begins with a humm of ‘Jai Mata Di’. It was a dense polluted night in Delhi & passengers couldn’t see any landscapes from their seat so it was time for them to switch off the Bus lights so everyone could sleep. Few hours people slept like a cartoon, their head’s were hanging sometimes towards their left, right, back down & some of them had copyrighted their fellow passenger’s shoulder whether knowing them or not. I was also taking a god naps in between but in senses because I was travelling alone so I was suppose to take care of my backpack, mobile & wallet. We took our first break halt at Bawa Dhaba near around in Karnal. I ate very light snacks & a soft drink. I prefer not to eat during travelling in Bus. And 2^nd was at Radhika Dhaba which is at Una-Amb. So passenger spent the night with good peaceful sleep & I woke up at 5am. By that time encounter was begun with breathtaking distant landscapes of Himachal & many water flow streams from here & there. Our driver was damn amazing on hills, the way he was taking critical turns on hills in NH70 with jet speed; I became a fan of him. I found many diversions on that highway because of small construction or repairing work but still that doesn’t made any difference to our highly skilled driver. In bus journey, what actually happens that you remember the passenger faces very well if you interact with each other or not. By 8:45am next day on 4^th August, bus reached to Kangra bus station and the feeling was awesome as I am the first time visitor of this holy place. I could hear the Mata-di tracks from the station. Weather wasn’t looking pleasant because it was started raining. My ticket was up to Kangra only but I decided to sit in the bus & extended my ticket upto Baijnath by my conductor. So another ticket was in my hand till Baijanth at Rs.63/-. Before leaving from Kangra, I complimented driver with his awesome driving on NH70 hills & he too greeted back & felt good about it. I am sure no one did it like this. The more I was getting closer to my destination, the more adrenaline rush has been started. I crossed beautiful Palampur to reach Baijnath.

Stage 2
My bus journey was ended at Baijnath only aur fir bhole ka mandir dekhkar aur naam lekar, I started looking for another bus which could lead me to Bir. And after waiting for 10 min, I got the local bus from Baijanth to Bir (but not exactly to Bir). Bus was so pathetic it wasn’t even able to drive at the speed of full 25km/hr I guess. I reached at the nearby bus stand after 25 minutes. I could see the direction arrow for Bir & Billing. Billing was my final destination. But I still hadn’t reached to Bir yet as no vehicle goes till that area until n unless you hire a heavy paid taxi which I certainly didn’t do it. I trekked to the hill for around 2-3 Km & looked around for some kind of lift. After some of the ignorance from one or two vehicles, I got a lift from a humble Tibetan who was riding his scooty to his place. He gave me a lift to taxi stand from where one can take a taxi for Billing. I said thanks to the scooty man & bade him goodbye & started bargaining with taxi drivers. I didn’t even take any hotel to get the shelter and it was just only 11am that day. I got a taxi for Rs.400 up & down. Although I hired a taxi to travel from Bir to Billing but after a Kilometer i stopped them as i decided to trek ahead for about 14km. Taxi wasn't fun.. 

Stage 3
In evening I went back down from Billing to Bir to seek a cheap hotel to spend my night. Kapil helped me to sneak me in to a very good café cum hotel called Emaho Hotel which was running by a Tibetan lady named Roma. A very helpful & sweet in conversation, this lady was. She gave me one remaining room of the hotel which was Room#two-first floor & I was totally tired & given rest to my torso to regain the energy to see the night life. This hotel is basically a Tibetan colony you will find 90% Tibetans & rest of them are tourist & nearby villagers. I dumped my bag & went off to sleep for an hour then took a bath & ready with my camera again to go downstairs to sip the local tea of that town.
There was a very good café again just beside my hotel: Friend’s café; during evening one can found a group of Indian & foreigners enjoying their time. And view around is all monastery with colorful holyflags. Even I had a good chit chat time with an Italian girl who was here to learn Tibetan wisdom. I didn’t get time to visit around that place in night because it was remaining heavily. So I was clicking pictures from balcony. What really attracted me in this place were the roots of wisdom, good preaches by Tibetan Monk & my all time favorite the sweet & cute kids. No one can ignore adoring them so what about me? I just simply believe in pulling their cheeks & play with them. Even kids like my kind of Monster lol :-D
I couldn’t do much that night except enjoying the rain from my balcony & sipping my peg. I slept late at around 1am.

Stage 4: Day 2
I woke up early next morning, ready to click pictures & visit to nearby locations. Thankfully it wasn’t raining at all. Cloud was absolutely clear as if it didn’t rain at all last night. My morning started with their masala tea & I visited the entire Monastery around my hotel & met lot of monks of different age groups. I had also visited beautiful tea garden. During my hangout I met with two wonderful dynamic ladies Liesel & Rosefrom Yukon Canada who are here on a tourist visa till September. Their purpose of visiting India is right there in link mentioned: http://www.yukonforestcabins.com/activities/index.htm .

These two cheerful ladies were mother & a daughter & are here for some good purpose like setting up libraries in northern region. It was such a pleasure meeting with them & we chatted a lot in the short period of time. I would really wish to meet them again, if possible.
That afternoon, Rose & Liesel bade me goodbye & I bade goodbye to Roma & left from such a beautiful place reluctantly.  I wasn’t in a mood to go back to Delhi but leave was less & limited.

Pictures uploaded here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.292042644236799.66496.202037306570667&type=1

Booze Black out: A Magic Moment

Hey buddy thanks for reading it, hope you are doing well.

It’s time to share a night out story with you all & I named it as: Booze Black out: A Magic Moment.

It was Friday 6^th of July 2012 after a boiling heat of earth, Delhi people were going to encounter with the God’s shower, Yes its Rain indeed! the very first rain of the monsoon so excitement & relief on everyone’s face were very much visible so was I, on top of that it’s weekend. Just like any other weekday I was going to office but riding my bullet till office & looking at the black roaring sky, I was totally not in a mood to work that night & that’s for sure. But just a like a good boy or you can say an employee I logged in to my system & within fraction of seconds my desktop is fully loaded with Excel sheet, MS-Outlook, ranging from mail to networking websites. (You know what I mean ;))
After sometime one of my colleague named Manish also joined me, he too had also logged in with all his daily desktop stuffs. Just like me & any other individual on that day he was also not feeling like working infact we were in casual lazy ass mood. How pathetic employees we are lol!!. So while checking our pending conference calls & follow-ups of work, we were discussing that weather is amazingly sexy & cozy & moreover it’s the first rain of the season so how about drinking (boozing) tonight? Idea clicked us to both pretty well & both of us were ready to buy the required stuffs for that night. We called up Ayan (an employee along with us who was already on leave that day but very much ready to be a part of this plan). Three of us decided the important, difficult, argumentative thing called Venue & Menu. Venue decided as Manish’s rented room which is just a minute walking distance from our office after all Manish was not a Delhite rather a Doonhite (From Dehradoon) so he was staying here like an isolated King from last one month. I & Ayan were already familiar to his place so it’s a valid trespassing for both to Manish’s place.

Plan discussed, Venue & Menue decided. Here after the important discussion, time is to buy liqor & apparently non-vegeterian food. Manish & me went out to a nearby liquor shop (Krishna Market Kalkaji-Thekaaa) outside when it was already raining & bought two bottles of Smirnoff Vodka. Why Vodka? I am a fan of Old Monk Rum & always drink it occasionally whereas Manish is Beer/Whisky drinker & Ayan is beer lover. To give a change to our taste buds we purposely bought Vodka. Why Smirnoff then? Well it suited our pocket at that point of time because our salary was about to come soon. Along with the liquor we also ordered few non-veg items from Uncle Chef & Dawat; they are very popular eating joints of Krishna Market Kalkaji& always crowded with the customers. Hope I could have one joint for me someday ;-)

Within an hour our two office workstations were occupied with Vodka bottles & packed food in place of writing notepad, pen etc. Aroma of Garma garam khana was driving us crazy to give a kick start to the boozing journey of that night.  After organizing the bought materials we were back to our working mode & initiated our conference calls with our respective prospects & our CEO Mr.X (I shouldn’t mention the name without his permission) & by the grace of God our Friday call was very good with a positive hope of expecting good business. Me & Manish were cheerful so as our Mr.X aur fir baato hee baton mein we proposed our early leave plan to Mr.X. Let me tell you we work in the shift of 5:30PM-2:30AM as per business requirements. As the mood was already ON so CEO didn’t take much of his time to decide & said ‘Yes’ to it.

By 11:30pm we all were out of the office. And difference from any other party which we did till so far at Manish’s place is that, this time CEO & IT director (MR.Y) would going to be present there.

Plan was ready, we were waiting for Mr.X & Mr.Y to come to office & shut down for the day as he was working from home. By the time he came to office both of us were all set ready with our bags & shut down our systems subsequently office was off for rest of the day & we moved ahead to  Manish’ room. It wasn’t drizzling, it was decently raining. We were all settled down & finding a dwell to fix our butts & laid down on mattress & beanbag, played some good house music. It was Manish room he was making everybody comfortable & organizing the mess around & in his kitchen. He also took out his beautiful Ed-hardy hookah & started preparing it. Hookah is always a showstopper kind of thing in our party, without it’s presence we would have find it missing among us. Hookah preparation was in scene as Ayan also joined us, he was wearing casual as he was coming from home. Well to be honest with you, generally partying/boozing out with our superiors like CEO/VP/Director, a presence of decency should be there & we were maintaining it but we are so fortunate enough that, they were also just like us that night & made us feel comfortable with them in talking or in our actions. Overall plan was all set, hookah was set, vodka shots were all set. But we din’t have lemons though we bought two but Manish forgot’em in office that was an unforgiving blunder in a rainy night I cracked a joke between that “un do nimboo ko kya apne workstation par mirchi ghused k taangegaa?”. To avoid sobbing, he presented few rotten-till-death lemons from his fridge which was living there probably from a decade or so ;-) he cut those rotten lemons for himself & Ayan as rest of us didn’t need that. We took a big Uncle Chips in our hand as in like replacement of Lemons lol & had our first shots. Ayan & manish drank with rotten lemons where as Me & Mr.X drank with a big snippet of Uncle Chips.  

As the party begins with adrenaline rush & all of us in our flow with drinking, passing & smoking hookah. Series of talk, fun & laughter begins with the flow of everything. Among five of us, Mr.Y wasn’t a drinker so he was only stick to smoke & playing house tracks in his blackberry & in laptop of Manish. During that night, we all have missed another person Mr.Z (VP-finance) who is known to be a very good drinker & carries a very good & handful knowledge of little to big things of world’s different activities. He was out of Delhi for some important official work for which we all were aware off. Well, drinking was on, we were gradually losing our only 2 litre of Thums-up(Cold drink) as soon as it reached to the last level, me & Manish went out in my Bullet to the nearest store which is called IN/OUT. This 24x7 store is inside the petrol pump premises opposite of Hotel Intercontinental Nehru Place & very much popular & useful for Batman like us during the night specially. We took a bottle of big Sprite (Cold Drink) & went back home. We took hardly 15min for up&down & all were boozing & doing bakchodis. Meanwhile, our CEO Mr.X announced another upcoming big party which would suppose to be taken place at his place once Mr.Z will be back to Delhi. So we all were happy to know that as it’s high time we all had official expensed party which everyone always wanted from an organization ;-)

There are 4 drinkers & 2 bottles of Vodka… badi naa-insaafi hai yaar. So an unexpected fuck up happened, Vodka was all finished & night was still on, it was already 2:30am & we all were looking at each other’s face & giving some bullshits plan & consequences because It was not a legal time to buy liqor from any thekkaaa. Ayan & Mr.X were already grimaced to me & Manish because they were charged up & full in mood of drink more till the dawn. We all were making plans that anyone of us has to go to either Noida or Gurgaon to buy a big bottle of Vodka for the remaining night. Me & Mr.Y were reluctant to not to go outside for this purpose because police checking is too much kahin lene ke dene naa padh jaaye..  Everyone were finding Me & Manish culpable as we didn’t buy enough stock so Manish rang one of his mate that night & asked for any Thekaa which will be opened at this point of time it? Manish passed on his iphone to me to listen to him for the navigation as he was not familiar with Delhi city fully. He said the only place where we can get the liquor is Badarpur & that was around 10-15km from our place moreover it was raining outside. And being as a delhite I  know what kind of waterlogging will be there on road at this time & Badarpur Border is a kind of place which is popular for heavy traffic due to up down of trucks during night time only. We all came to the point that, peeni hai to peeni hai, hath per maaro kahin se bhi. Ayan & I decided to go till Badarpur not on my Bullet but via auto because both of us were drunk. Without wasting our precious time & colorful night we were out to find an auto rickshaw but the problem was who would like to go at this point of time in bad weather when most of the drivers not willing to go because water causes a break down in their vehicle which is very risky if a passenger travels. After disturbing couple of drivers during their slumber who were snoring like pig. Ayan stopped a running auto amidst the road & we were lucky that driver was ready for up & down from Kalkaji to Badarpur & vice versa in Rs.300. We took auto from Nehru place flyover & went till Badarpur Border, no doubt the weather was freakingly amazing & we were getting wet also though we were sitting inside the Auto. Driver played some good Punjabi tracks & took us to the Thekkaaa.. We Indians are full jugaaddu & took a deep breath when we saw a glossy theka of Badarpur. We bought a bottle of ‘Magic Moment Ginger’. This time, pretty big for all of us so we wouldn’t regret for the rest of the night. Though we paid the black price for the liquor but were satisfied enough as we still have our night to drink more & drink hard. We took the same auto & were going back home that suddenly auto stopped & Me & Ayan worried that what the fuck happened now? Instead of trying the key ignition, driver was unable to start; it didn’t work so both of us pushed the auto & dragged it on a road ahead so that it could help driver to start it again. It’s a jugaaad which works pretty well here & it did. We took our seat back & were listening to Punjabi music on our way but after few yards, once again it fucked up. Same process implemented, Ayan was behaving like a lazy ass big time & I was looking at his fat face & beer belly that he wasn’t able to push that auto properly. He went towards a wall to pee & after peeing he again joined me to push the auto from behind. This push & pull game tragedy occurred thrice with us & finally we were managed to reached back home with a midnight rainy exercise. I greeted the auto rickshaw driver with sugar coated words, shook hand with him & asked his name as well, his name was Rakesh. I bade Rakesh goodbye with a humble thanks & went back to the room. Everyone’s face were glittering & grinning as we resumed our bhanddpanaa. We told all what happened with us how hard we did to get a bottle of Vodka. Ayan revealed that he indulged himself in any physical labour of exercise after 3 years. It was shocking to know that how lazy boy he is. Night became alive again, Vodka was quite more this time but we were fine enough to finish it up as well.. Coal on coal on hookah, glass on glass of drinks in our hands with snacks & food made our night with delight & turning out really well. We drank till morning and ended with a very good professional serious session by Mr.X to three of us for our future & company growth etc which was totally apt. We all wrapped it all by 5:30am & I had my dinner (still dinner not a breakfast for me lol). We had a wonderful & vivacious night and weather was spectacular from the balcony. We hugged & bad each other a goodbye with good wish weekend note… Aur fir Sab apne apne ghar ki aur… That was all about that night…

I am not a story teller but always try to write something which deserves a pen down…

Wish to see you all readers again very soon, till then let me just go home after all it’s Saturday 7^th July 2012 & it’s weekend… Probably another party will begin ahemmmm… ;-)

~ Written by: Amit Mohan Sharma

Party Venue: Kalkaji

Party Starring: Amit, Anupam, Ayan, Chaksh & Manish

Short journey...

Journey begins in this way..

Kisoor Rickshaw wala: Baaaaboooo Hum chalega, bataao kahan chalna hai..
AMS: Patri market chalogey... (with smile)
Kisoor: Bilkul Chalega baaabooo.. bees rupiyaa legaa..
AMS: Chalo baabooo.. bhaag chalen patri market tak 
Kisoor: hahahahah :-D
AMS: Kitney baje se kitney baje tak rickshaw chalaatey ho..
Kisoor: Bas sir hum to khinchtaa aur bhagaata he rehta hai raat tak..
AMS: Kisoor! tum good boy ho!!
Kisoor: Aaap bhi sir... (with smile)...

And his dust clad feet were pulling me till my destination with a mild grin on his sweaty face...
... A short journey ends & here is the memento in front of you.

Nikon Coolpix L110
Location: reaching from Gandhi Meuseum parking to Dariya Ganj Patri market...

Tribute: ‎"A Soldier lives by chance, loves by choice and kills by profession"

It is always a dream for me to be a part of our Indian Army. Zeal & patriotism will remain always within. So till the time I am not able to be part of it at least I can write something for our Brave Indian Soldiers who fights for us. My written this poem is a tribute, a salute & a respect to our Soldiers. I wish to be a part of yours...

‎

Bag full of bullets, shoulder loaded with guns

Zeal filled in heart, leaving behind the teenage fun

Instead of a playground chose the battlefield

I miss my friends, the green fields & village rising sun.

My nation needs me more than my mother

Mother sent me here with her pride & honor

A uniform clad young man with glorifying beret cap

I left home to become a brave Soldier.

I Love you mom, I will write again soon

Love & affection to my sis with distance boon

Sending my first salary money order 

Buy a good sari, bangles & red dot Moon.

Hey friend thanks for calling me from so far

I miss our cricket matches on the streets & our marble jar

Now the bats replaced with heavy rifles & toy ball replaced with hand grenades now

Line of control has become my only par.

Blood red eyes and fearless faces

patriotism filled in hearts & stained camouflages

Fighting In the name of God!

Homicide seems like the new mankind process

Dear sister I am sorry for not keeping in touch

I'm too far out in the land of hate

It’s good to know that you are completing your studies soon

I am collecting all possible penny from the salary I receive

We will arrange a glorious wedding & find a smart groom.

Tell my lonesome mom who is sitting next to our Neem tree.
Knitting my woolen sweater, feeding pigeons & sowing the seasonal seeds
I am doing well at the war front with the courage & lesson I learned from you.I know you'll share my stories and be proud me of some day.

~ Written by: Amit Mohan Sharma

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna : Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil.

The Reason of adding this poem is just for my own self, it always gives a patriotic goosebumps to me. Salute to all the revolutionaries who lost their innocent lives during Indian Independence.

Hindi (Devnagri Script)

सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है,
देखना है जोर कितना बाजु-ए-कातिल में है ।

एक से करता नहीं क्यों दूसरा कुछ बातचीत,
देखता हूँ मैं जिसे वो चुप तेरी महफिल में है ।

रहबरे-राहे-मोहब्बत रह न जाना राह में
लज्जते-सेहरा-नवर्दी दूरि-ए मंजिल में है ।

यूँ खड़ा मकतल में कातिल कह रहा है बार-बार
क्या तमन्ना-ए-शहादत भी किसी के दिल में है?

ऐ शहीदे-मुल्को-मिल्लत मैं तेरे ऊपर निसार
अब तेरी हिम्मत का चर्चा ग़ैर की महफिल में है ।

वक्त आने दे बता देंगे तुझे ऐ आसमाँ,
हम अभी से क्या बतायें क्या हमारे दिल में है ।

खींच कर लाई है सबको कत्ल होने की उम्मींद,
आशिकों का आज जमघट कूंच-ए-कातिल में है ।

सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है,
देखना है जोर कितना बाजु-ए-कातिल में है ।

है लिये हथियार दुश्मन ताक में बैठा उधर
और हम तैय्यार हैं सीना लिये अपना इधर

खून से खेलेंगे होली गर वतन मुश्किल में है
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

हाथ जिनमें हो जुनून कटते नहीं तलवार से
सर जो उठ जाते हैं वो झुकते नहीं ललकार से

और भडकेगा जो शोला-सा हमारे दिल में है
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

हम तो निकले ही थे घर से बांधकर सर पे कफ़न
जाँ हथेली पर लिये लो बढ चले हैं ये कदम

जिंदगी तो अपनी मेहमाँ मौत की महफ़िल में है
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

दिल मे तूफानों की टोली और नसों में इन्कलाब
होश दुश्मन के उडा देंगे हमें रोको न आज

दूर रह पाये जो हमसे दम कहाँ मंजिल में है
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है
-Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil.

Don't know where to Go!

Thinking leads me to nowhere, un-acted actions always stands in front of me with its faithful wings. 

Don’t know where to go!

Beam of sun pour it’s warmth on me, thought begins to bleed, followed by countless ‘tries’ to come  out of its brim. 

Don’t know where to go!

Everything just appears around, these are mere some objects of illusion. Characters are playing their roles & moving by an unseen director. 

Mind making its tough contradictions strangely and..

Don’t know where to go!

Nature calls, money holds back, career is on stake, time to prepare rucksack.

Don’t know where to go! Don’t know where to go!

~By: Amit Mohan Sharma
Wrote on 20-Feb-2012

But...

A time comes in one's life when everything is suddenly getting messed but still looks very clear & looks sharp along with the vision of confused state.

I am happy, I am actually not & still i feel good. But...

I am doing what I want to do, I am not doing anything. But...

It seems, a constraint force of an anonymous power want to say something but that sound is 

mesmerizing in the air vibes. It couldn't reach to me. But...

Although nothing is on track with existing possibilities. But...

Out of this packed population, new good souls are coming on my way. But...

What am I following? till when i will keep on saying 'carry on' to myself? But...

Pride, Lust, Honor, Peace, Love, Trust etc all appears a weak thread of illusion. But...

And a constant upheaval of self asked questions are getting unfolded day by day. But...

~ Amit Mohan Sharma

Indo-Nepal Ride 2011-2012

Folks I am not a writer but still this is just an attempt to save a memory of this riding trip. Apologies for any sort of error.

Stage 1: Premature Excitement.

It was 27^th December 2011; I got a call from Biplav Arya that, he & Shashnak Pandey are leaving for Nepal ride on 29^th Dec early morning. I got surprisingly shocked that I got a privilege to join this ride with two matured experienced rider. Eventually after so many thinking hiccups within a day, I decided to get my Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350 (Named Warsaw) a technical check by mechanic & prepare myself for this amazing ride. So many questions were running into my mind because this is just my second ride of Royal Beast & I do admit that I am still a amateur whether it’s about my riding or technical knowledge, but anyhow I got my Warsaw checked in short turn around time & found perfectly fine for the ride. So an exciting day has come on 29^th Dec Morning 5AM I packed two bags full of clothes, useful stuffs as if I will go in train lol & reached at Biplav’s residence at South Ex-Kotla, call him up but he was still snoring like a pig. I waited outside & playing with the bungee cord & packed my bag & left some additional stuffs at his place only. Meanwhile, Shashank Pandey also reached with his Classic 350 fully prepared with his riding gear & saddle bag. We met after a long time & it was good to see each other for a ride which was just a silly nomadic dream way back before when Biplav, I & Shashank use to work for HCL. So we laughed with slangs & funny talks etc. Suddenly Biplav rang my cellphone & said “Bakchodi kam karo yahan log sotey bhi hain is time”. Few minutes later he got himself ready & came down to take out his big giant Royal Enfield Standard 500. After some initial preparation we were now jet set ready for the ride. There was no specific plan was discussed except that we will take a break at Moradabad somewhere.

Stage 2: Ride Begins

Three bullets have come out & loud sound begins with dhuuug dhuuug dhuuuug in winter early morning.

We had taken NH24 highway through Akshardham road, Ghaziabad, Hapur & taken a very light tea break somewhere on a highway where people were staring three of us as if we are aliens (this is every where’s story during ride). Bullet headlights were on, ride was on, three bull heads & bullets were tearing the white snow which is the most challenging & pathetic on road because you never know whom you will going to hit & who will going to hit you from your back. Ride was on its pace on broken one way road with many pothole where Biplav discovered my front wheel is giving some kind of wobble. We planned to take a technical break at Joya & got my front wheel tube changed with a new tube. To avoid wasting time Biplav got his back wheel checked at the expert bullet mechanic. Here Shashank & me bought some apples & sapodilla for a run time filling & he said “Joya se pehle ek jagah aayi thi jiska naam Dildo tha” but later on realized it wasn’t Dildo it was Didoli which we might have read wrongly J

Ride was on & on … we were heading towards Moradabad crossed it successfully & entered to Rampur. Here we were feeling damn hungry as we didn’t have a good breakfast so we had a good rajma-chawal, choley-chawal & kadi chawal from a roadside thela which was along with a roadside mechanic from where Biplav got his Bullet’s back wheel bearing repaired. Mechanic didn’t do well so Biplav ripped his ass apart & taught him some technicalities. I suggested humorously that he should open a garage & name it as Biplav Bullet Bureau. Some small pranks are really inexplicable here ;-)

Ride was on & on… Rampur crossed successfully & we have also bought two additional MRF tubes size 3.25x19 for any emergency situation from MRF store followed by Rudrapur (let me tell you, road & traffic are terrible). By the end of dusk we have reached to a very popular Dam where we clicked some good pictures & reached to Indo-Nepal Border on our respectable time.

Stage 3: Indo-Nepal Border

Now we are entering to Nepal Border where we were asked to stop for a security check. Guards said that Nepal is closed due to some curfew & we were not allowed to enter. We were in dilemma that, what would happen now?? Yahan tak pahunch gaye aur dimaag ka dahi ho chka tha.. Now we met an amazing policeman K.S.(I won’t write his full name, though I know it). We started talking to him & he invited us to his cemented cabin for our name entry on his register. Baato he baatooo mein KS was preparing his weed & Shashank took this initiative & offered a gentle help to create a fabulous weed (he is good in such masala thing ;-)) Bakchodi starts between KS & Shashank about Guns, granites, Ghaziabad, Prison, Gangsters blah blah.. we already marked a good impression on him & he let us go inside. A Policeman is enjoying marijuana on duty, this scene was ultimate. We had crossed the barrier legally, done some paper work formalities & entered to Nepal now. It was getting dark at 8PM in this Kaanchas country. This feeling was good that we have reached to Nepal after crossing 350Kms approx in a day. However, major distance was yet to be covered. We were heading towards the Mahendernagar where we planned to stay that night. But unfortunately Biplav’s bullet met with a puncture on a pathetic road(motey patthar waley road) & we had no idea how to get it fixed. On road we met a young boy Sagar of Class XI who shared his information about some local mechanics but due to lack of knowledge mechanic refused to take any step & went back. Sagar advised us to stay here in a hotel till morning & showed us the way of a nearest Hotel West Shine.

Stage 4: Nepal Journey.

Three of us reached to Hotel West Shine with a punctured tube & decided to spend that night there. We got well treated by one of the hotel staff Joshi. Hotel was good in condition; we locked our motorcycles at hotel outodoor parking & dumped our stuffs in our single room with two beds. It was time to open the local rum Khukri & celebrate the first night of the journey. We ate their local dish, I carried my own small hookah as well but we also smoke bidi. While we people planning to sleep, owner of the Hotel Mahesh Chand came in to greet & meet us. This guy was a full-on character who was praising it’s own tail main ‘yahan ka yeh hoon wo hoo, Mere aagey sab yahan bekaar hai, tumhe kisi cheez ki zarurat padhey to mujhe call karna yahan’. He bugged us so badly that I went off to sleep, so was Shashank. Shashank is the one jo usey aur phhoonk padh chadha raha tha. Biplav was only facing him till the time he walked out of our room. Now a new next day begun, three of us clicked some quick pictures with surrounding landscapes & got ourselves ready without wasting any precious time. Joshy served us with a hot ginger tea & Biplav got his bike’s punctured repaired & we were all set to bang on the road & enjoyed the best stretch of the ride till Karnali Bridge & Chisapani. While riding we took a lunch break then a 20min technical pause in between a remote area where few cute little kids gathered us & touching our bikes. I am able to recall their name as Kaaley, Gopi, Pardesi. We clicked some amazing pictures with them & moved on towards the Butwal (target of the day). Short tea breaks were there & trust me Nepal is one of the best places to have strong ginger tea. It was always giving us a kick start on our rides. Another thing is beautiful girls which were appearing in front of us in installments & distracting us with their beauty. One thing I have noticed that, in all the hotels, kitchen work was always governed by ladies & Nepali ladies are composition of beauty & hardwork. Shashank Pandey decided to marry a Nepali girl LOL. And during this Nepal ride I invented one song “hawa mein udhta jaaye mera balaclava malmal ka” which became a super hit among three of us. We were singing this song throughout this journey in our meantime.

Riding was on & on …. Dhug dhuuuug dhuuuuuuuugggggg..

Just like our riding speed, afternoon was turning to a beautiful sunset, dusk & dark night. Let me tell you dark nights are always spooky when you are riding around the dense forest. The landscape which gives you a refreshing feel during the day time, same gives you a haunted feel at night time (This is just a personal observation which depends). So three of us were riding at low speed because the roads were not up to the mark & we were facing potholes. The worse part of night riding is to open your visor for the better visibility & invite the dust & that point of time Petrol level was decreasing, Shashank’s bull was absolutely working well. However, Biplav’s bullet was riding on a reserve & mine was shortly reaching towards the reserve. Our short target was to reach at petrol pump at any cost which we eventually got it in Lamahi after asking this & that people. If anybody is traveling through mahendernagar to Butwal then Lamahi is the best place to fill in Petrol/Deiesel also with a good food where we sipped a cup of tea & left without wasting our precious night time. After riding 20-30 Kms Biplav advised us to stop around the hill side, he was indeed right because the moment we raised our head above; the view black & white Sky-Star view was spectacular we spent almost 15min, smoke three bidis & cracked a silly PJ : “ James Bond apni bidi khud jalata hai”. I played a track called ‘Guaranteed’ by Eddie Vedder & did some bakchodizzz. We moved on & finally stopped at Butwal where market side were all closed, people might have snoring or watching TV or surfing internet at their homes which three of us were not missing at all. Luckily we got a hotel at Butwal gol-chakkar to spend our night. We parked our bikes in two consecutive hotels but stayed in a room of a hotel. We were completely famished, so quickly ordered the local dish Daal-bhaat-maasu & ate it like some hungry devils & went back to our allotted room. Hotel room & washroom really sucked but it didn’t bother us as we were using it as a night shelter. Our room number was ‘kotha# 215’, don’t know if in Nepal they call room a ‘kotha’ LOL. I was panicked & keep on giving a stare at Shashank, if we are at the right place which does not have prostitutes & pimps. Of course! It was a good hotel nothing like are apparent perception. One thing which was happened really strange or funny or a kind of stress buster is, there was a couple who were staying in another room & our wall was common. Suddenly we started getting moaning voices from that room. We didn’t take much time to understand such mmmmmmmm moaning aah aaaa!! voices that some sex session was happening in another room hahahha. Our faces were like, What the fuck man!! Whats happening aroundJ, we were staring at each other, giggling & controlling our boisterous laugh so that those couple wouldn’t get disturbed in their love making time. Early morning happened, we always discussed to get up at 5AM & by 5:30AM & check out while we go off to sleep. But it never happened we always made it happen till 8:30AM ;-) Now early morning also those couple from another room played a loud mobile music & started fucking. This time we said Oh gawwwwwwwwwd! Not again. But three of us charged up with some horny horny voices in early morning. We were on road now, hunted for Petrol Pump & refilled our Bullets because from Butwal we will be heading towards 150 Kms of hill where there is not even a single petrol pump till the time we reach to Pokhra.

Riding was on & on …. Dhug dhuuuug dhuuuuuuuugggggg..

Shashank Pandey got to know from a former Maoist about some Maoist activity which was just happened few minutes back. But these people do not hurt the tourist so we were advised to carry on with our ride & now were entering the beautiful hills of Nepal. Hilly turns were dangerous for me because I was riding first time on such hills, steep slope & badly shaped circular turns. But I overcame with the situation; we took very few breaks which were either of Tea or else clicking pictures, Biplav’s clutch cable broke up which he himself repaired & we finally reached to Pokhra at afternoon time.

Stage 5: Pokhra-Himalayan Range

We reached to Pokhra on our third day of trip during afternoon where we stayed at Army Man’s home turned hotel. The actual place name was Padri. We had our lunch, clicked some pictures, took a big relax, dumped our luggage & went out to explore. Here we met a guy who was riding a bullet, Biplav stopped & asked him if there is any place where Royal Enfield repairing workshop available? Wowww! What a luck we had, he was himself a RE trader of that town. My front wheel break shoe was almost dead which were damaging the disk so it was very important to get it new. So we took down his name (Vinod), number & he told us to meet at around & 7PM. Three of us now fondling the city streets & headed towards the offroad & went towards where I guess no one prefer to go during the night time. It was a big steep off rode slope & again what a night with a Khukhri bottle of Rum & shining bright star up in the sky which could easily be counted. We celebrated our ride, did a cheer to our pegs & said Happy New Year 2012 to each other. After our pegs Me & Biplav reached to Royal Enfield shop which was located at Naya Bazar, met that guy got my Bullet’s shoe brake repaired. Mechanic name was Ravindra.

We stayed that night in Pokhra & got ourselves ready next morning for a return back to New Delhi. Time was less, we have taken some short number of leaves so couldn’t explore much which we could have done. We filled in the full tank petrol, took the same hill road of 150km & reached to Butwal. The weather was not pleasant for a ride because it was drizzling which were making road very slippery. My bull had given me so many deadly skids but I managed to balance it all the times. Drizzling was turning into a slow rain & roads were absolutely wet but we successfully reached to plains. From Butwal we ate some local paani puri, tikki etc & taken a decision of non-stop riding for sometime. Rainy weather was truly amazing & giving a beautiful scenery to the yellow –green cultivated crops & huts. By the day end, rain had taken a deadliest face which made us stop at the same place Lamahi. It was a longest break there because of heavy rain; we ate our post-lunch & sipped a good ginger Nepali tea. We waited there at petrol pump-small food joint for 2hours I believe & decided to ride in night as we had no other options to stay there. It was again a spooky night; I was tailing Biplav & Shashank because I don’t feel good in fast riding that so in night.

Stage 6: Major FuckUp of the trip:

Now the major fuck up happened of the trip. Shashank who was following Biplav & I was following Shashank Bullet’s bright red tail light. Suddenly, we had no idea where the hell Biplav is out of the sight. Shashank stopped near around the hotel & waived me to stop there. We discussed that if we have seen Biplav Arya somewhere? I said “How would I, you were following him” ? Now both of us had no clue if he had gone ahead or following us. But there was no possible reason that Biplav is following us because he is the lead whereas I & Shashank didn’t see him at our back or taking any kind of turn that so for no reason. We decided to stay at roadside dhaba where light was enough for Biplav to locate us (in case if he is following us from very far). We also switched on our bike’s indicator light. Our discussion & mathematics were running-on about Biplav’s no scene. Weird kinds of thinking were surrounding our minds, for eg: till how long we will wait here? Biplav is not a kind of person who will leave us in the middle… If suppose he had left us & carried on his ride what we will gonna do? We didn’t even have much cash now for travel till the time we will reach to UP..  etc

We sipped our tea, it was almost 20-25 min we waited for Biplav but he was no where around, we didn’t even get any dhuuug dhuuggg sound from far which could make us relief. In a dark night we were checking all the single headlights from far & praying to God if we will meet Biplav. After some chasm, we decided to ride till the next market/hotel side & see if Biplav is waiting there for us or not. Next stop was 6km which was Kohlupur. Me & Shashank were riding slow, we promised to ride slow because Biplav was already missing & two of us didn’t want to miss in this dark highway. But suddenly I got a big jerk from my back wheel & face the most unexpected thing & that so at the wrong time. My Bullet’s rear wheel tube was punctured. I screamed & said What the fuck!!!!!!!! Now what the hell God wants from us? Biplav the Bullet God is already missing, On top of that this puncture thing in the dark forest night where we couldn’t expect a puncture repair shop at this time of around 11PM & next stop is still 6Km far. It was a cold blooded scary night, this scene happened in the road which was surrounded by wild animals & Maoists. Me & Shashank were the only one on the road, I started dragging my bike. No doubt about it, BOTH OF US WERE BADLY SCARED. Meanwhile, I gave a suggestion to drag our bikes back to the same hotel where we were waiting for Biplav. But Shashank made a brave decision to let’s drag it ahead till Kohlpur & let’s see if there is any help we will get. Now shashank was dragging my punctured Thunderbird(Warsaw) & I was riding his Classic 350 at a very low speed. I am repeatedly saying here we were scared but we managed to drag it till the next market side where we found one Truck tyre/tube mechanic who was still working along with some paan-bidi khoka. Mechanic’s name was Imran Kale, we showed him the status of bullet & asked him to help us. He said he will take time as he is in the middle of fixing a truck’s tube. Meanwhile Shashank & me were sipping tea & back to our hot conversation ‘Gumshuda Biplav ki khoj’. After spending 30 minutes, I got a sound dhuuug dhhuuuggggg dhuuuug. Shashank said “ kya tujhe bhi wohi sunaai de raha hai jo mujhe sunaai de raha hai” I said “haaaaaaaan bhutni k” I ran towards the road from the garage end & saw Biplav Arya with his red riding jacket & black 500cc Bull is coming from the following end rather than coming from ahead. I bowed in front of his bike as if God’s daze, a savior has come. Mera do kilo khoon shayad badh chuka tha aur shayad shashank ka bhi. We smart ass & jack ass (named given to Shashank & me respectively by Biplav) were finding ourselves so relaxed & out of this orphan feeling. But Biplav came with full of anger, red-headed, killing nature & said “Bhen k---- , kahan gaye they tum log, I rode 17KM back to just to find two of you, fought verbally with so many officers around & asking about two bulletiers, pata nahi kahin kisi Maoist ne kaat kar to nahi fek diyaa this & that slangs. Biplav’s anger was very obvious but it was neither of ours fault which was sorted lately. Anyways we are back to our relaxation mode, now Kaley is also ready to open the nut-bolts of my thunderbird. But we were ignorant about Royal Enfield, so once again Biplav opened his magical tool box , took out some instruments & advised Kaley how to deal with it. Biplav & kaley managed to fixed the tube’s back to the tyre. We decided to not to ride ahead & stayed back at local hotel. We found a small hotel with a filthy room at Rs200(Nepali Currency), drank rum in night with black fried chana, talked about Gorkha regiment, slept at around 3AM & got ready to move on next morning. This night was our last stay back in Nepal, after that it was a non-stop ride till Delhi-NCR with short & crisp tea-bidi breaks. Lastly, pathetic thing which we faced was Moradabad roads & after Hapur it was fucking fog with very low visibility in night.

Overall it was an amazing trip with so much of fun with learning among three of us, Nepal landscapes, Girls, chaai-bidi breaks, stupid PJs, my shitty songs, Eddie Vedder Guaranteed, Society tracks. However, Alexander Supertramp’s level is still out of our reach as of now. But we will plan another ride….
City Riding still on n onnnnnnnn dhugg dhuggg dhugggggg….!!

Regards

Amit Mohan Sharma (AMS)
Courtesy: Royal Beasts
Indo-Nepal ride pictures are at : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150458018018663.355469.519133662&type=3