Treading on our own footsteps

• 11th of September
• Madhopur - Pathankot - Jalandhar - Ludhiana - Ambala - Karnal - New Delhi
• 470km

We had the earliest start ever that morning. 4AM we were up, and on the road by 5. Nice long straight 6-lane highways and very fast, but mighty boring. I was half asleep till we stopped for tea at about 7 AM.

Right through the ride, I’ve had local people insulting the RD. Be it the cleaning guy in Delhi who said “Daal do kabaadi-wale ko”(Dump it in a Junkyard) or Juma bhai, the mechanic in Leh who said “Dus hazaar se zyada diya, to bekaar hai”. (Not worth more than Rs. 10,000). But the worst ever was on this morning. I’ve never felt so small… ever.

A couple of highway patrol officers saw us at the tea stall, and walked over to chat. The three bullets really caught their fancy, and they spoke at length about how cool the bike was. Suddenly, they saw the RD, and said, “Arrey, yeh saikal beech me kahan aa gaya” ? (Hey, how’d this cycle make it here ?). A bit cheesed off, I said Bhai saab, yeh bhi 350 wala gaadi hai.” (It’s got a 350cc engine too.”). And I get the worst verbal slap ever. Haan pata hai. Mard log aise khilone se nahin khelte. (“Yeah, I know. Real men don’t play with toys like these”).

We were in Delhi by one. That’s 470 km in 8 hours, with tea and fuel breaks, and an extreme brunch break in Punjab where I ate the best Paratha ever. It was then that I found out what authentic Punjabi Dhaba food tastes like.

Prashi spent the rest of the day at his brother’s place, and left early the next day to Bangalore. Ranga, Chaithra and I found ourselves at another, albeit smaller, Royal Beasts’ party, this time at Karan’s place.