The Train Journey

• 12th to 14th of August
• Bangalore to New Delhi

On the evening of 12th, we staged a live performance of "A Comedy of Errors". I loaded my stuff into my Jeep, drove to Prashi’s and picked him up along with his luggage. Then I drove back to my place to pick up my bike keys, and got to the railway station with about 15 minutes to spare. Close Call !!!

Quite a sizable crowd had assembled to see us off. Mani and Rajiv from office, Anthony and Janardhan from my garage, and Sukesh, Sam, Adrian, Grease, Lloyd, Vijay, Easha and Mahendra – in short, all the usual suspects from RTMC (Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club). Sandy, who was supposed to be on the train with us, but opted to fly instead, was at the station too. Rather sweet of them to interrupt their Friday night drinking binges to see us off.

A fairly uneventful journey with interesting company saw us through the next 36 hours. A media man from Nagpur, a civil servant from Rajasthan, a twenty-something girl into "clinical research" and a housewife from New Delhi listened patiently as Prashi and I rattled on about bikes and touring.

We reached Hazrat-Nizamuddin on time, and quite a few palms had to be greased to get our bikes out of he station. We reached hotel Sahara International in Pahargang at about 4:30. This hotel, an old time favourite with bikers, wasn’t so friendly this time as the basement parking had been let out to a clinic. Sandy had reached earlier that day, and had already checked in.

That evening, we spent in the company of Arun Madaan. Madaan rents motorcycles for touring, and we availed his services to procure a red Lightning 535 for Sandy. Although supplied with "Full Papers", the bike was essentially uninsured, as Madaan used a ball-point pen to change the date on the expired insurance policy.

“Yeh le tera insurance. Tu bhi kya yaad rakhega yaar.” (Here’s your most memorable insurance ever) - Arun Madaan

Prashi’s custom built RE 535 in the foreground, and my RD350 in the background. This was taken in Pahargang, the steps lead up to Sahara International.