1000km in 27hrs

1000 Km IN 27 Hrs
I would like to dedicate this book to the Indian roads where

strangers and aliens meet as travelers. They bear no caste,
no religion, no race and no color but bear one feeling,
humanity.
Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to mumma and papa for being so
supportive and for preparing me for life’s challenges. I am
thankful to my friends Manjeet Sharma and Ashish
Srivastava for sticking with me through thick and thin
though they never gave any input in the book.
Many thanks to Ankur Bajaj and Preeti who have been the
catalysts in making me start this book but by the time book
is complete, my contact list is not updated with their latest
phone numbers. I would also like to thank Sanju and
Shashank for their critical inputs, I knew they had to give it
by force.
A special note of thanks to Shilpa for being there as a true

friend at the time, when my professional journey started.
This list wouldn’t be complete if I do not mention my early
readers- Mrinal, Poonam, Seena, Mohit, Prashant, Shivam
and Sumanth. Their honest inputs went a long way in
making this book the way it is. None of them actually
believed, that it was written by me.
The list would not be complete if I don’t mention my close

friend Wazem, who had spent long hours in the night while
editing this book. That is a different thing that we never
kept a count of the beer bottles we had finished.
I would also like to pay my tribute to my first workplace –

Infosys. More than anything, the value system in this great
organization helped in carving me as a better human being.
Thanks to my managers Prabhu, Vikrant (VB), Anjan and my
HR Ashwini for their unconditional support. That is a
different thing that I have moved on with time.
Preface
My professional signature would read,
Vikas Rattan Goyal

Software Engineer
Being one was a popular decision rather than a thoughtful

one. The number of Indian software professionals is
growing at such an enormous rate that I fear myself being
lost in the crowd. Sometimes I wonder if we are losing our
identity spending our days sitting in front of a computer.
The vicious cycle which starts with getting up late in the

morning, rushing to office, working on the computer for
hours, coming back late at night and then finally crashing
for the night never fascinated me. The only thing I can be
regular in is irregularity.
One such irregularity happens in the life of Vishal. In those

27 hours, Vishal goes on a roller coaster ride, rediscovering
himself and his emotions. His friend Gautam plays an
instrumental role in helping him relive his past.
For me, far more than a book, this is a communication

platform. In every chapter I have tried to connect myself
with the reader. During the journey of 125 pages, I hope
Vishal and Gautam would take you down the memory lane.
The computer in front of me always talked in Java, C and

C++. It spoke to me about Windows and UNIX. But the day I
started penning down ‘1000 Km In 27 Hrs’, it spoke to me
about life, it spoke about the society, it spoke about me.
Yeah, it spoke to me as a great friend, as a great mentor.
1 Vikas Rattan Goyal 1000 Km In 27 Hrs
Ice Breaker
Voices coming under the blankets
“What is the time Anu…kant?”
“Wait, let me see.

Its 10:10” Anukant groaned.
Reply to that was a shout from me, “Enough is enough”
A voice inside my head screamed, “I cannot take it

anymore.”
I jumped out of my bed, fully aware that this was the day I
was all set to break my previous records of reaching office
late. I had intended to land in my office exactly at 10:45
a.m. which would have been precisely 5 minutes ahead of
my earlier record breaking performance.
It’s been more than a week since I was trying to reach office
on time. The last thought before sleeping in the night used
to be to make sure that I should make it early to office.
Getting up early was hard all the time. I never realized that I
had become nocturnal working in my last project which was
a production support project. Working round the clock
shifts on alternate weeks had disturbed my sleeping
schedule.
Now, when I was waiting for a new project, I found it very

challenging to follow the normal schedule of office. There
had been a discussion lately with senior members who were
not very happy with me coming late to office. I was trying

my level best to get adjusted to the normal nine to six
schedule.
The only thing on my mind as I hit the bed last night was to
get to office on time. Reaching at 9 was out of question now
but 10:45 was certainly achievable. I was sure that I would
beat my previous best time by 5 minutes.
But fate had some other plans for me.
As I came out of my bathroom, wrapped in my white towel,

to my surprise Gautam was there.
Gautam; this guy really needs an introduction.

He is a computer freak, a buff who can talk for hours
without making sure whether someone is there to pay
attention or not. Most of the time he speaks very well, but
the only problem is that his talks hardly make any sense to
the aam aadmi, the common man. He too is notorious in
setting records of going late to office.
Recently, he had purchased a new bike, replacing his ‘95

model Bajaj scooter, which was half the size of Gautam.
Gautam was in full mood to explore his new-found passion,
bike rides. Now that he has got a new bike, he talks about
bikes in such a way that one might wonder if he grew up
working in some workshop.
Whatsoever, it is always good to have him around, as he is a

complete entertainment package, a perfect ‘brain

massager’.
He had a weird smile on his face seeing me in a towel.

“Vishal sir, how are you?” He is perfectly straight. Do not let
your brain wander as rule 377 does not apply here.
I answered him in the same smiling way with double the

voice. “I am great, Gautam. How come you got up so early
today and what are you doing here?”
Before he could have heard my question, he was busy

talking to Anukant.
Anu...kant
One really needs to have balls to talk about Anukant, as, if
he does not like what you have commented about him, he
can piss you off in no time. He doesn’t give a damn whether
one is in a public place or care a shit even if it’s a private
place. His knowledge is as good in Bollywood as it is bad in
Hollywood. He is completely into watching movies and most
of the time, his taste inclines to ‘A’ grade. This has
prompted him to start his own website
www.dirtymusic.com which is under requirement analysis
phase for the last two years. No, he is not satyric, but he
loves to keep his database updated with all the
nymphomaniacs around his vicinity. His favourite pastime
after 11:00 PM is hanging out at ‘ComeSum’, a food outlet
near Pune Railway Station as he gets to enhance his
database there. Well, when it comes to ‘intellectual
masturbation’, he can kick balls out of anyone; a damn good
speaker, when it comes to describe any incident or a story

or even if he is making castles in the air which he does most
often.
Anukant is the most capricious man I have come across till

now. In the last 3 years, we have developed a strong
bonding between us, a kind of Fevicol gathbandan. He is
not a good bike rider. Rather, he doesn't know how to drive
bikes, though he loves to be a pillion. Did I forget to
mention, he makes sure even his single penny does not go
waste.
What I could hear from Anukant was “NO NO NO…”

Their whisper pulled my attention.
Both were so engrossed in their talks that I got curious to
know what the duo was up to.
Anukant was adamant, “I would not go. I am not

interested.”
Gautam was talking of going for a long road trip on the

coming long weekend of Independence Day. The only
problem he had was that there was none to bear his
company as no one could actually match his intellect. Even
Anukant, being his best buddy, denied accompanying him.
Road trip…
That was something of my interest.
I always love to travel and when it is full of uncertainty, it

thrills me even more.
That is the only reason I gave the audition for MTV Roadies
5.0.
Though I was not able to crack the group discussion round, I
had a strong intention to be in that torture chamber with
Raghu, the man behind the Roadies series. Unfortunately I
could not travel with them in that season.
Interrupting them, I jumped in between and said,

“Let's do it. I would join you for the long trip.”
Gautam looked at me, “Vishu sir, be sure, this is not a joke.”

“Do I look like in joking mood right now? Make the plans
and we shall do it. MTV Roadies main nahi ja paye to kya?
(So what, if could not make to the MTV roadies)
That does not mean that the passion is gone. We are
roadies within.”
“Ok sir ok,” Gautam nodded with a smile. He had something

in mind which he blurted out in excitement.
“You are the first one to join. There is a biker group, I will
see if anyone else could join us. I am thinking of exploring
till Ooty,
A ride from Pune to Ooty is a pretty long one, that too on a
bike. The route plans and all that we would decide later. But
I am not sure whether we would be able to make it or not.
Let’s see…”
I kept a hand on his shoulder, “Gautam, we just need to

start first and afterwards only we would see that how far
we can go. If not till Ooty at least till Mysore we can drive
and if not Mysore, at least till Bangalore and even if that is
not possible…”
Interrupting me in between, “Okkk!!! I got it Sir, we shall
start and then we will see.”
Tejveer, another roommate of mine jumped into the

discussion and started his consultancy. “Nahi rey... bahut
door hai. Nahi ho payega.”
(No dude, it is very far, you would not be able to do this.)
Then I gave him a look. Suddenly he said, “I guess you can
do it, if you really want to…”
I knew change in the statement was only because of his
prior opinions going wrong with us.
TejVeer, as the name describes, is really having a great Tej

(enlightened look) on his face, but I am not sure whether it
is because of his natural instinct or because of the L’Oreal
Natural facial which he applies daily. Coming to second
syllable Veer. I am really not so sure about this word, as he
has never displayed any kind of veerta (courage) till now.
But I am sure he carries a courageous heart with only a little
bit of fear in it.
He is a shopping freak. I wonder in his last incarnation,

either he was somehow related to a cobbler or he had
some shoe showroom. On entering his room, you would see
a lot of shoes surrounding him near his bed, as if it is an
entrance to a temple.
As usual, without invitation, he started his consultancy as
he does not take consultation charges from roommates.
I talked to Gautam for a few more minutes, and then I

concluded, “I will try if I can get some more roadies in our

plans.”
Anukant was a complete ‘no no’ for the trip. I am not able
to understand till date, whether it was because of his ass
pain during the Alibaugh trip or he considered someone a
pain in the ass.
Meanwhile, I realized that I was already late as per my

scheduled time. Though I rushed, I could reach my office
only at around 11:45 a.m.
As I entered into my cubicle, 10 eyes were staring at me,

with a hint of smile and a naughty thought in their minds.
“Wow... You have made a new record of coming late.
Congratulations!!!” This was the statement from Bajaj.
No, No. Scooters do not speak.

I am talking of Ankur Bajaj. He is as tall as a Bajaj scooter
though he does not own one. He is one among Homo
sapiens only.
With his everlasting smile, he said “Badey bhai aa gaye.”
(Big brother, so you have come)
I was about to answer the question when Nandi, the lady

don, ordered Rucha to leave the computer for me.
Whenever I used to be in the cubicle, I was given
unanimous rights to access the desktop. There was only one
common desktop for internet access and they always gave
me the chance thinking I would do something creative with
that.
But after Nandi’s comments we heard an innocent voice,

“Hey please, I need to check my mail.” Well, she was
Somya…
She was not Somya, she was Ruhita…
But I always called her Somya, I don’t know why?
I said in equally soft tone, “Please go ahead.”
After she was done, I carried on with my work.
By the time we all were done with our work, it was lunch
time.
I was about to leave for lunch when I realized I was not
carrying any hard cash with me.
Like any normal software engineer, I was accustomed to

using credit cards. I usually forget to withdraw money
thinking that credit card can be used. Credit cards were of
use sometimes but most of the time they lead to credit
crunch. Within the office campus, no stalls accept credit
card.
But there was nothing to worry; Nandi was there to lend me
some money.
The sweet and charming creature with mixed accent of

Hindi, Marathi and Kannada along with her takiya
kalam..“hai na , tujhe pata hai” (her signature phrase..
“Huh!! Do you know?”) lent me 100 bucks.
This process of money exchange usually happens twice a

week.
After the lunch, I was refreshed again and then I thought of
getting back to my work. But very soon I realized, I was on
bench and was waiting for a new project to start. So there
was not much official work as such. Then I thought to

explore the bulletin board, the information sharing hub to
make our chances of going to road trip brighter.
I posted my comments on Bulletin Board.
********************************************
Sub: Roadies
Any roadies out there (guys or gals) who wanna explore the
roads along with us.
Trip-
bike~Pune->Bangalore->Mysore->Ooty->Mysore-
>Bangalore
->Pune~bike.
Pillions/Riders are welcome.

Drop in a mail or call
9881199509.
P.S. The route can be shortened also depending upon the

feasibility.
********************************************
To my surprise, there was not even a single reply for next

two days. It was natural as, if I would have written about
discussing the feasibility of the trip, people would have
come up with lots of creative ideas, which appear good in
thinking, but when it comes to doing it, most of the people
tend to refrain. Same thing happened here and no one
responded.
I have seen long chain mails and long discussions, started by

someone over the internet, which are pretty interesting to
follow. Only thing they lack is that they hardly get
materialized. Most of the ideas are intellectually
masturbated or die with the attack of ‘shift + delete’ (Used
to delete something permanently in computers). Only a few
ones which come across the eyes of revolutionary minds
get a taste of reality.
“But why am I getting so sensitive about it? I am not adding

any great value to society with my road trip.”
Having this question in mind, I called up Gautam, “Hey, why

don’t we make our road trip a campaign for social
responsibility towards our environment.”
He welcomed the idea with an open heart but I was taken

aback when I heard, “Hey, I am not really sure of making
the trip.” He had changed his mind.
For a moment I was disturbed but then I told him plainly,

“Do not fluctuate like poor electricity in the villages. Make
your stand clear. Do you want to come for the trip or not?”
Then he wanted a day to think over. I let the thought go

from my mind also. Next day he called me up and with a
firm voice told me, “I have decided for sure. We are going
for the trip.”
He did some good research on the feasibility of the trip,

road conditions, bike maintenance and many other things,
which was actually commendable. But to me, it was not of

much use, as I try to take things in raw form. It brings
suspense and surprise together making moments a little
more special, the only exception being tandoori chicken. I
love it fully cooked. Period.
Most of my friends had heard of my plans for the trip. Their

first reaction was to suggest me,
“Do not go via road.”
“It is rainy season.”
“It is too far.”
“It is too dangerous” and many more…
I hardly got any positive response from my friends and

colleagues about the trip. The reason could be, either they
cared too much for me or the mentality of a person has
changed so much that no one wants to move even a single
inch from their comfort zone, fearing that it might hurt their
routine schedule and make life more stressful.
India became independent on 15 Aug 1947.

But are we free?
Not exactly!!!
We are enclosed within our limits of fear, which restricts us
to enjoy nature and explore the beauty of the world.
Journey towards success also accounts for success. So I can

never be a 100 percent failure in whatever I do. I choose to
have at least some percentage of success rather than
choosing 100 percent failure.
I had decided that on this Independence Day I would throw

caution to the winds and make this one of my most
memorable holidays!
I would have joined you, if only…
Only eight days remaining for our trip.

There were just two of us, no one had joined us and till
now, we had not made any concrete plans of how to go
about the trip but we knew that somehow we would make
it.
On Friday, before leaving from office, I got a mail from a guy

Manoj whom I never knew. He showed his interest in the
trip and planned to come along with his friend. As it was
Friday evening and little late in the day, I thought that I
would respond to him on Monday.
This boosted my confidence. When I shared this with

Gautam, there was not much effect on him because he is
always in an excited mood, as if about to take a bungee
jump.
As it was a weekend, we thought of giving shape to our

plans for the trip. I have a friend Raju, who is a bike
mechanic and runs his workshop nearby to my house at
Aundh, Pune. He is tall and dark. He has a good muscular
built as he works out regularly in the gym. He always carries
a pleasant smile on his face. I am sure this smile is to make
sure that people can figure out the geography of his dark
face with the glimpse of his white shining teeth.
On Sunday, I went to his workshop to discuss the feasibility

of the trip. When I told him that we are planning a bike trip,
he appreciated that and told me they also used to go for
very long trips.

I asked, “Where?”
He answered, “Nasik, Alibaugh, and Sinhgad.”
I gave him a smirking smile. He was mentioning 150-200

kilometers trip a very long one. I wondered if I share my
plan with him what name he would give to it, a trip to Ooty,
a 1000 kilometer ride.
Eventually, when I shared this with him, he was shocked as

if he had seen a ghost. His mouth was left opened with
shock, making the geography of his face pretty clear. It was
as if he was not able to believe that I would be going for
1000 kilometer trip.
After he regained his senses, he asked me, “Which bike?”

Well, this was a very important question and I had not
thought of it earlier. The only thing I knew was that it would
be Gautam’s new bike. I realized that till then I didn’t even
know which bike he owned.
Funny though, I called up Gautam to enquire about the
bike. After getting the information, I shared the same with
Raju.
When he heard the name of the bike, he burst out laughing

but then in a caring voice, “Vishu, are you going by XCD-125
cc bike? Don’t joke man.”
I said jokingly, “Garibon ko bhi maja karney ka haq hai. Ab

cruiser bike nahi hai to kya karey??????????????”
(Poor people do have the right to enjoy, so what if we don’t

have the cruiser bike, what to do?)
“Now when you have decided to go 1000 kilometers on

bike, at least go on a high power bike - at least 200 cc.”
To that I said, “We have to use available resources only.

Will it be possible with XCD? Just tell me yes or no.”
“If so… Don’t worry. You look confident, just do it.”

Then he ended up giving me few tips, which goes as
 Carry two to three spark plugs with you.

 Carry 1 litre engine oil.
 You need to stop the bike every 50 min for 10-15
min to make sure everything is fine and engine
gets cool down.
I was satisfied with the tips he gave.

I wanted to share the same knowledge with Gautam too so
as to make him understand how much serious I was about
the trip and its preparations.
Later in the evening, we decided to meet at my house itself.
As soon as he reached my place, even before I could utter a
word,
Gautam started…
“Vishu sir, we need to carry spark plugs, engine oil and
along with that, we should not go beyond the speed of 60
km/hr till bike completes 1500 kilometers and we should
stop bike every 70 kilometers.”
He completed his sentence in a single breath.

To this all I could say was “Wonderful!!!”
What else could I have told him?
And then he asked, “Okay, what did you do today regarding
the trip? Have you dug out some information?”
“I also collected the same information, the same tips you

just mentioned.”
He started giggling as if I was mocking him.

But he did not continue his reactions for long as he was in a
hurry to go somewhere else. He seems to keep a time table
for each and everything. I wonder if he is a product of
TITAN.
On Monday after reaching office, I called up Manoj, the

same guy who wanted to join us along with his friend.
“So, have you done some homework for the trip? Who is
that other friend of yours, the one you had mentioned in
the mail?
“Hey man, tell me one thing. Are there are any females in
the group?”
“Why?”
He explained to me that he was coming along with his
girlfriend and she might feel uncomfortable if there were no
other girls in the group.
I thought for a while and was sure that both of us in the

group were guys only.

I said, “Till now only guys are there in the group. We will let
you know if any other female joins.”
“Sorry boss, in that case I will not be going for this trip.”
“Hey Manoj, Your girl would anyways be sitting on your bike
with you and there is no need to worry...”
Cutting me in between, “That is fine man, but I will see
some other options for long weekend.”
“Fine enough. Well, I understand your problem.”

Having said that I hung up the phone.
I was just able to give a laugh on the thought.
“One side society talks of equal stand for men and women
in all respects. But when it comes to women, they are
always kept in more protective environment. They are
considered so weak.”
Bajaj was standing nearby paying attention to all the talks.

He interrupted my thought process, “What happened badey
bhai…? Tussi log to ja rahey ho na trip par?”
(You people are going for the trip, right?)
He looked confused.
“We had made plans on our basis, not on the basis of his
girlfriend” I told Bajaj.
He just smiled and I was sure that he was able to sense; my

answer was a big YES.
I was little disappointed at losing the new members in the
team, but I had my confidence intact within. I was sure
nothing could change it. I called up Gautam on his cell; he

did not pick up the phone.
I dropped him a text to meet late in the evening for dinner
at my place. When it comes to dinner at my place, friends
can’t deny.
Gulab and dinner go hand in hand.
Gulab is a wonderful cook and his job is to make our house
a little better living place for us bachelors.
He is a young chap, fond of music and in the house of IT
professionals, Gulab, our house servant, owns the costliest
mobile among all.
Whenever I go for a haircut of different style, the very next
day he used to copy the same style. Though this irritated
me, he is too charming to be hated.
Even my friends were very fond of Gulab.
To be specific, they were actually fond of dishes that Gulab
used to cook for them.
Gautam in his dressing style of ‘70s entered the house

asking, “Yaar, I have lost 5 kg.”
Anu and I started laughing. I responded with a wink, “Anu,
why are you laughing? Tere se to patla hi hai na!!” (He is at
least slimmer than you.)
His tone changed and he started staring at me, “What is the
problem with you? I am paying for my own food. You don’t
bother as you don’t have to pay a single penny on my part.”
Seeing the situation going worse, I just changed the topic

and told Gautam, “Man, Manoj has backed out.”
He reacted differently, “Who Manoj and from what he has

backed out?”
He was talking as if he did not even remember that
someone wanted to join for the trip.
I was about to remind him but Gulab interrupted saying,
“Bhaiya, dinner ready.
Please eat early today.
I have to go party my friend room.”
Gautam was surprised at Gulab speaking in broken English.
I told Gautam, “Don’t wonder; we are giving him basic
tuition so that in future, it could help him fetch a job of chef
in some star hotel.”
Eventually, we started our dinner. We had fried rice with

cabbage and paneer (cottage cheese), Gautam’s favourite.
Gautam was gobbling as if he was planning to regain his lost
5 kg in one go itself.
I said, “Manoj, the one who was coming along with
someone to the trip, actually he has plans to get his
girlfriend along.”
Hearing this Anukant jumped excitedly, “Arey… Even I will
see, if I can make the trip.”
I continued, “But when Manoj came to know that there is

no other girl in our group, he dropped the plan as he thinks
his girlfriend might be uncomfortable.”
Without wasting a second, Anukant said, “I might not come
……”
Gautam started teasing me, “Sir, then utha lo kisi ek ko.

Aapki to itni saari girl friends hai. (Pick up any one; you have
plenty of girls in your pocket)
He kept on pulling my leg. Even Anukant joined.

I was hardly paying attention to their talks and was soon
lost in my sub conscious mind…
Gudu gudu gudu gudu talks.
I was sleeping. Suddenly a shout, “Vvviisshhuuuuuuu”
I got up with a shock and my mobile fell down from my

hand.
Speaker was on and voice was coming.
“You again slept. How can you do this?

Vishu (grrrr)…
Vishu, reply me... I need to talk to you...”
I got hold of my phone hurriedly, “Hey honey!!!

Ma baby…
Chill Chill…
I am fine, nothing has happened to me.”
She kept shouting, “How you can sleep when I am talking to
you? Am I so boring?”
She was unstoppable.
I confessed, “No Aps, actually one crocodile came in my

room. So I was struggling with him.”
In a very strange reaction “What the hell you are speaking,
you have gone mad or you are still sleepy. Answer me
Vishu.”
That confession was to divert her mind and I was successful
to an extent.
I said, “No baby I was actually imagining that along with
Harry Potter, you are going to fight with a huge crocodile.
Crocodile comes to my room for its savior as you know that
it’s only me who can save others from you and your anger.”
Apsara, she is not any hoor (exceptional beauty).

But to my eyes she is the noooor. (light)
I had never felt this special for any girl, but this girl has
touched my heart.
But I have never mentioned this to her.
She is a complete radio mirchi, nonstop garam masala.
She is great company. If one gets used to her, even for a
moment one can’t stay away from her. Her persona is so
charismatic.
Did I mention, she is diehard fan of Harry Potter?
Daily in the night, we talk for long hours on phone.

Her pleasant voice works like lullaby for me. I usually doze
off while talking and then in my dreams I date her.
Today was no different day.

I was listening to her gudu gudu nonstop talks and fell
asleep.
When she shouted I regained my senses with a shock and
my mobile fell down.
“Vvviisshhuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”
Again a shout.
“Vishu sir... What sir, it hardly takes a minute for you to

doze”.
This was a male sound, not of Aps,
Oh!!! That was Gautam.
I was back from my dream world.
“Yeah Gautam, tell me, what happened buddy.”
“Aap kiske khaylon mein thae…”

(Whose name you were taking in dreams?)
I just could smile remembering my past.
Ignoring that, we came back to the topic of going to Ooty.

“Who cares, if they are not coming?”
“Sir, let me become something one day, girls would follow.”
I and Anukant were smiling in our eyes.

It was 1 a.m.
Gautam was in hurry to leave for his home or I should say
his computer laboratory. His room was full of gadgets, high
end software and complex technology books.
After bidding adieu to him, we also hit our bed.
Next morning I got up late, I was so engrossed in my other

works and bike trip that I didn’t care to go early.
That day, I reached office at 12:15 p.m.

Everyone in the cubicle was waiting for me;
Bajaj and Nandi shouted, “So late!”
This was the first time they had dared to raise their voice.
They continued, “When you are not here in the cubicle, we

get bored, so at least for our sake, come a little early. We
miss your jokes.”
I was touched.
“I will record my jokes in the night and mail you so that you
guys can feel my presence even if I am not around.”
All burst out in laughter.

Soon it was time for lunch and when time comes for lunch,
my eyes search for Nandi.
First I had to think, whether I had returned her earlier

hundred rupees or not. Luckily, I had returned her previous
hundred rupees.
So, I asked her again.
Without looking at me she handed over her small purse to
me saying, “Hai na, tujhe pata hai Busy day. Lots of work!
Please help yourself.”
Either she was chronic follower of Mahatma Gandhi or she

was a saver. Her purse had many hundred notes. I have this
much money only in the first week of the month as salary
gets credited in the first week. As the month progresses my
bank balance decreases.
I took one single note from the bundle, giving back the rest I
said, “Thanks.”
Then I made a move to the canteen.
It was always a tough decision to choose what to have for

lunch.
That day I choose to eat at Fasso’s. The thought of having

chicken roll itself was mouth watering. After having lunch, I
came back to my seat.
There, Bajaj told me that we were supposed to attend a
session on ruby technology. It was a session on general
awareness about new technologies.
The session was very dry, even the speaker was not able to
generate any interest. The hall was somewhat similar to a
movie hall as lights were only on the presentation screen.
The rest of the room was dark.
The session looked like a boring movie, which hardly made
any sense. None of the characters were able to add value to
it.
Seeing others having good sleep, I too closed my eyes and
was soon enjoying talking to my stomach which was giving
me a session how to digest chicken roll.
This session was more interesting as it was related to my
interest in life science.
The presentation lasted for 2 hours and we woke with the

claps of chaps who were not even sure why they were
clapping.
I am sure; they were clapping just to complete the ritual of
a stage presentation.
I was second after Bajaj to leave the hall.
We were getting late for the gym. It was over eight months
I was regular to the gym, but seeing me in the mirror, it
looked as if I had started only a day back.
Very soon we were in our gym attire and met the instructor
for the day’s workout.
The instructor then was a stud, a “Yo” man, a macho man.
For his description, any name that is far away from the
description of normal man can be used.
Vishnu, the instructor, is much better with his words rather
than the results for students in the gym.
But I must say that he is a very good dancer. Though he
owns a family pack rather than a six pack body, when it
comes to dance, he makes sure that his dance moves are
precisely visible.
He is a very good human at heart and makes the gym very

lively. He sees to it that all girls in the gym get proper
attention and care. He is never biased at least to girls.
But these days we hardly see any girls in the gym. The
reasons are yet to be explored.
Vishnu and I share happenings in our life, and when I told
him about my trip. He gave his best wishes for the same
and few tips how to maintain health during the trip.
After the heavy workout of chest, I cooled down for 5

minutes and then on my way to steam bath, Bajaj came
along.
As we entered in the room, we could hardly see anything in

the steam. It took our vision a while to get adjusted and we
made room for ourselves among other people who also
were wrapped only in their white towel and were enjoying
the steam.
Whenever I hit the steam, I concentrate on my day’s

activities. That day Bajaj interrupted me. In a very caring
voice, “I want to ask you one thing if you do not mind.”
“Kakey, go ahead chotu ki baat ka bura nahi maana kartey…
(Go ahead, no formality)”
I never knew I was too loud that others in the room started
laughing.
But then Bajaj told in a serious tone, “Badey bhai, are you
really going for the trip?”
I said, “Yes.”
“Badey bhai, are you really going for the trip on bike?”
“Yesss.”
“Badey bhai, are you really going for the trip on bike till
Ooty?”
“Don’t you think, I have told u all this earlier.”
“Bhai, are you really going for the trip on bike till Ooty? You
know it is too far and you do not have any prior experience
of such long trips on bike. If anything goes wrong…, I am bit
concerned. We all were discussing on the same in the
cubicle before you came. All were worried. They know that
you are a freak. It is hard to stop you, when you decide. But
then you should have a reason to do things. Just taking risks
does not make any sense.”
I was surprised as he was sounding very mature for his age.
At the same time I was moved with their care and the
confidence they had in me.
I kept my hand on his shoulders, but it slipped as his body
was sweating because of steam.
Then without holding him I tried catching his vision in the

steam. I was able to locate his eyes and looking straight in
them, “Don’t worry.
We are going to enjoy this risky trip and we are going to
make it. Just keep your faith in me.”
I repeated the lines by Ramdhari singh dinkar, a famous
Hindi writer.
Dam thok telta hai jab nar, Parwat kay jatey paav ukhad
Manav jab jor lagata hai , pathar paani ban jata hai.
(Man, when determined, can even stir the moutains and
make a way out)
These lines make one’s blood flow with double the speed; I
was able to feel the same reaction on Bajaj too.
He got up from the seat,
“Even I will go.”
“Just wait; I need three more minutes of steam.”
“Not outside. I am coming with you on the trip to Ooty.”
“Then what about risks and all?”
“Don’t pull my legs, when you can take risk, why can’t I?
We are going to rock.”
I was smiling seeing that change in him and then a thought

came, “We are three for the trip. If one bike punctures in
between, we will have in house support.”
Then we went out and took bath in the cold chilling water.
People were waiting in the queue and banging the door.
I was busy visualizing the trip and was trying to figure out
the happenings which I was going to meet on the way.
I was feeling very hungry. As I left the office, I directly went

to my usual eating joint for dinner where I ordered tandoori

chicken.
The owner knew me very well as I was his regular customer.
He used to order at least three chickens in a week on my
account only.
That day he told me, “Bhaiya, why don’t you try this new
chicken dish?”
Initially I was hesitant to try the new dish but as the owner
knew my taste well, I agreed to try it out.
After waiting for almost 20 minutes, the waiter got me the
order which he named as Reshmi kebab.
The earlier tandoori used to be red in color, but this Reshmi
was dull white in color. The appearance was soothing.
With a little bit hesitation, I tried the leg piece, and as my
tongue tasted it, all I could say was,
“VOILA!!! Uncle, tussi great ho...” (you are amazing.)
These words I shouted without looking at the owner.
He came running to me asking, “What happened sir?”

With an insipid look, “Why you have been cheating on me
till now?”
“No putarr ji, when did I? You must be mistaken.”
I had a serious look on my face and directly staring in his
eyes I told him, “When you had this recipe, why did you
hide it from us. It is so wonderful. I have never tasted such
tasty chicken like this.”
As I was completing my sentence, the expressions from his

face were changing from tension to relaxation and soon his
face was filled with joy. Then he said, “This is a recent
recipe. Yesterday only, I got this and today we are at your

service.”
Usually a cook never reveals the recipe but uncle shared the
recipe with me. I was so happy after the dinner that I
offered 40 bucks in tip which usually used to be not more
than 5 or 10 bucks.
Even the waiter was surprised and at the same time
thankful.
While moving, I could just utter,

“Pet na paiyyan rotiyan, sabbey gallan khotiyan”
A great saying in Punjabi meaning, if one is hungry, he can’t
think of anything else but food.
Tips: take it raw
It was time to return back to the room which was hardly

five minutes away from that eating joint.
$$$$$Summer of 69 summer of 69.

Those were the best days of my life. $$$$$$$$$$
Well, my cell phone starting ringing with Bryan Adams

summer of 69. When I saw that the call was from my friend
Preeti, I had no other option but to stop my bike there.
I could have taken the call while driving bike also as I had
practiced that for last 4 years.
But then by doing so, I could have lost my friend Preeti,
which I can never afford to.
Last time, she came to know that I used to take phone calls
while driving. I had to attend a big lecture from her which
continued for almost 2 hours.
Let me tell you, she does not know how to drive even a
bicycle (tricycle is an exception)
But she taught me how not to drive bike.
1. Choose only one D. Either Drink or drive.

2. Don’t be mobile while on mobile. So choose only
one M.
She had said,
“I know that you can drive well even after having 10 Patiala
(large) pegs and I even know that you have wonderful way
of escaping accidents while driving even when you are on
mobile.
But I want to take this promise from you that you will not
break these rules. At least for my sake!!!
I care for you and I do not want you to take any chance. So,
tomorrow onwards if you consider me as your friend and of
some worth, do not repeat it.”
Her words really worked.
I was moved and had told her not to worry.
But then I asked, “When people so insist on don’t drink and
drive, then why do bars have parking space.”
She got puzzled and had no answer. Seeing her confused
reactions I had smiled, “I will make sure to keep the ‘D & M’
rule in mind.”
The ‘D & M’ rule was one amazing way to get convinced.
Waving her bye, I left that day as I had to attend a party at
friend’s place.
My friend had got Chivas Regal, which was one of my
favorite brands.
There at my friend’s place we had enjoyed till late night.
After having the pegs, I was full tight and was about to
leave for my house. But how do I drive my bike? I was
confused as I had promised Preeti.
Then I had given a dodge to my vow.
“I have promised her from tomorrow and it’s still today.”
I was praising my brains for getting me the solution at that
critical time.
While going back, on the way, I got a call.

$$$$ Summers of 69 summer of 69
Those were the best days of my life. $$$$
I attended the call while driving. It was Jain from USA. My

engineering classmate, I used to call him PsychoTheRapist.
Four years in the college life, he was more into the books
and now while doing his MS, he is more into girls.
Jain can’t be described in few words. He is an endless
subject. A few really would find this subject boring, but for
me this has been the most interesting and favorite subject
of my college life.
It has been more than two years, we have passed our
college, but whenever we talk, it still feels like old college
days.
But then I was drunk and driving the bike with one hand
only and there was little problem in the network. I could
not talk properly.
It was night time and there were no lamp posts at all.

I was not sure; either there was shortage of electricity or
steel.
Darkness really demanded the need of lamp posts in that
area.
In the dim light of stars, I was able to locate one barrier
blocking my way.
“O shit…………………..”
That were two words came from my mouth, followed by:
“SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!!!!”
But by the time, I could have taken any action; I was

surrounded with 2 men who were neatly dressed in white
colored shirt and blue pant.
There was a big round stick in their hand.
They were traffic police men.

One of them was around fifty years old and other one was
around thirty five.
I had all the papers of my bike, PUC, license and even the
insurance papers.
But I was charged for drinking and using mobiles while
driving.
When I opened my purse, there were only five hundred

rupees.
I offered them three hundred, they did not agree to that.
I gave all the five hundred. But they were not satisfied, they
told me, they want five hundred more.
I pleaded, “I don’t have more, and even five hundred is too
much.
But still if you wish, please have the five hundred and let me
go.”
The policemen were adamant and were demanding for five
hundred more.
For a while a thought came to me that very soon there will

be lamp posts in this area, if these people keep looting us
like this.
Helplessly, I said, “Let me call my friend, who can get the

money”
“Your mobile and bike is booked and you can’t use it
without paying the fine. So you better go and get it
yourself.”
For a while I was shocked; what were they were up to? But I
had no option, as I was at fault. There was no auto-rickshaw
available at that time and no one to give me lift till ATM.
That night, I had to walk down 6 kilometers to an ATM and
come back to get my belongings. All the way to the ATM, I
was abusing myself for not listening to Preeti and while
coming back I was so tired that every step was a challenge
to me. I was abusing policemen in all the languages in which
I could have done for giving me the silly punishment.
When I reached back, I handed over five hundred to them.

Having a frustrated and annoyed look on my face I asked for
my bike and mobile.
But with a smile on his face, he handed me a water bottle.
I was surprised on his reaction. But then he made me sit on
a chair and said, “I know we are looking like monsters to
you and from the core of your heart, you are cursing us.
Beta, we are not bad. But we have to be.
The first eligibility criteria to be a police man is to be bad

and cruel and if he is not in actual, he is supposed to
showcase that, else people will take him for granted and
will not follow rules and regulations. They have to be harsh
to people and that is the reason, sometimes they earn ill
fame too in the society. But most of the times, it is for the
betterment of society only.”
I sat there perplexed while he continued,
“Many people would have told you not to drink and drive
and not to use mobile phones while driving. But I am sure;
you never pay attention to them, as they have been telling
you in nicer and caring way.
Today if I would have just cut the chalaan (fine) and let you
go, you would have repeated the same, as a loss of three
hundred bucks is not a big deal for rich people like you."
That was a series of lectures; I kept mum while the other

policemen also joined, “Loss of one’s life is the biggest loss
one can have in the family. Careless driving can be
dangerous for the driver as well as for others too.
If one says he is perfect at careless rash driving, we have
racing tracks for such talents. Why not to display them at
desired place, where they are rewarded also?”
The hangover was gone because of walking such a long
distance, and now those words were like bullets
penetrating hard into my brain. I was wondering how I
would have reacted if Preeti had given me a similar lecture?
After listening to the old policeman, I felt energy flowing in

me.
I was thankful to him for his lesson and was about to leave
but he stopped me and returned me nine hundred rupees
and a receipt of hundred rupees chalaan which mentioned
as fine charged for careless driving.
I was happy on receiving my hard earned money and I felt
so much respect for the gesture the old policeman had
showed that I touched his feet.
He blessed me with a smile and then with the fresh mind, I
was back on my way to home.
I was hardly thirty meters away from the barrier. The
mobile started ringing...
$$$Summers of 69 summers of 69
Those were the best days of my life $$$
Some unknown number was calling me at that odd time in

the night.
Series of surprises…
But now, I stopped the bike, “Hello, Who is this?”
“Wonderful beta, you are man of your words.”
I could guess, this was the voice of old policeman who was
giving a final test to his experiment and he was successful.
And after that very moment, I have been following all the
traffic rules religiously.
I had never discussed that incident with Preeti.

I had let her take all the credit for getting a change in my
driving.
$$$Summer of 69 summer of 69.

Those were the best days of my life. $$$
I answered the call, “Hi Preeti, how are you doing?”
Without answering my question, she told me, “On Sunday

you are coming to PRC.”
I asked, “What this PRC is?”
“It is paralytic rehabilitation centre for army men.
Army personnel, those who got injured during service, if
had to go under amputation of their legs or arms are
provided with all the living facilities in PRC.
It is like their second home in the second inning of their life.

A cultural show has been organized for their
entertainment.”
“Okay, so we both need to attend that.”

“Only you have to attend.”
I said, “Why only me? Where the hell you would be going
then and why you want me to go alone?”
“Arey baba, I would be performing a dance there on the
stage.”
To that, I just giggled.

Preeti and dance, we tried mixing both earlier also, but the
mixture was always a fun to watch.
But then I said, “Great!!! Wish you all the best. But…”
“But what???” Her voice was louder.
“But Preeti, I am going for a bike trip and I am not sure that
I will be back by then.”
“Then don’t go”, she replied without thinking.
But then I told her, “Buddy everything is planned and now I
can’t move back. So please try and understand. I will try my
best to attend; else I will watch the recordings.”
To this I was sure that she was pissed off. The phone got
disconnected with a bang.
She sent me a text message.
“Hey message me if u coming
…and do come. It is on Sunday 7 PM 31 Aug, 2008.”
When I read that I smiled as it was not the next Sunday.

I messaged her text, “Sure buddy, I will make it.”

I did not give much thought to that as I was hell tired by
that time; I went home and slept immediately.
The Last hurdle
Next day I reached office early. Bajaj was not there in the
cubicle. I was surprised when Nandi told me that he had not
come to office by then.
It was the first time that he was late.
Eventually when the clock struck 11, he came in with a big

bag on his shoulders.
Straightaway he came to me, “Badey bhai locha ho Gaya”.
(Bro, there is a twist in the story)
“What happened??? Koi teri bhains kholkar le Gaya kya?”

(Did someone take your buffalo out for a date?)
We all started laughing at this.

Then he said, “I will not be able to come with you for the
trip. Sorry yaar, papa had called up yesterday night and he
wanted me in Punjab for a family reunion. I could not deny
him. So, boss you continue. May be next time, I would take
such risks with you. But I will miss it.”
“Dude, you can still make to the trip. You can do both the
things together.”
“How? Tell me if possible, I badly wanted to go to the trip.”
“Well, let’s change the route. Let’s make it this way.

BIKE~Pune-Punjab-Pune~BIKE
Isi bahaney main bhi apney Punjab kay darshan kar lunga.
(This way, I get to touch the soil of my motherland.)

To this he started laughing and said, “You have solution for
each and everything. But this time, it is not done; I have a
flight at 6:30 p.m. to catch. So, we will see next time only.
You guys have rocking time.
All the best!”
After giving me a hug, he left.

Our biking team regained its original size of 2.
His leaving the team did not affect me much as I was
already very excited.
That night, I was supposed to meet Gautam for discussion
on the final plans for the trip.
Friday was a holiday and we had office on Thursday. So we
had to make plans accordingly. Gautam and I met at a tea
shop near my house in Aundh somewhere about 10:30 p.m.
He had already figured the plans and had done some
research about it.
“Pune to Bangalore is almost 837 kilometers.
Approx 350 kilometers is Maharashtra and rest is

Karnataka.
Approx 200 kilometers patch of Karnataka after Belgaon is

not a highway. And this area is risky to travel as this patch is
very lonely. There are not many shops, not even petrol
pumps or dhabas around.
So we should cover this area in the morning.
In order to do so we need to leave in the night, somewhere
around 3:00 a.m. early morning of coming Friday.
This way by 3:00 p.m. we can enter Karnataka and can

cover the bad patch in that time. It should be feasible for
both of us.
I was just listening to him and was nodding my head in yes.”
Then suddenly he came up with a condition which
shattered all the plans of ours.
He said, “Well as the bike is mine, driving is my passion, so

only I would be driving and you would be a pillion and do
not worry if I wish I will give you to ride.”
First I laughed at this and ignored.
He said again, “Hope, you are agreed. Only then we will go
for the trip.”
Feeling the intensity of his voice, I just gave a smirking smile
and said, “Dood (A casual Haryanvi way to call someone
dude) you carry on. I will better make some other plans.”
As his condition was a road blocker, he said, “It is my

passion, why don’t you understand? Why don’t you pick
your bike also so that we both can ride?”
“My bike MH-14 AA 2612”, I could not control my laugh.
And then I started telling him the condition of bike.
“My bike is an antique piece of well known brand pulsar. It

is 150 cc of model ‘00, which belongs to one of my very
good friend. The bike has been treated in such a wonderful
way that it is now mere a city bike which could hardly give
an average of 25 km/litre.
It never had a front foot pad of left side. And while driving
you need to make sure that your left feet is resting on the
back foot pad which usually a pillion use.
The headlight has a strong chemistry with the road bumps;
it makes sure to blink whenever there is a road bump. Once
in a while they give me a sign that they are still alive, as if in
a coma.
This could be because of some short circuits. Shock
absorbers are tired of handling tripling and had almost
stopped their functioning.
“Looks can be deceptive” it seems as if these words were
aptly written for my bike only.
One day, I parked my bike outside the company. While

going back, one of my friends gave me a lift as we were
going for a party and I did not bother to park the bike inside
the company premises.
Next day I saw it parked there only but I had another

vehicle to travel and I didn’t bother to park it at some safer
place. Even my friends told me to park the bike inside the
company, but making mockery of bike I told, “Who will take
it man?”
It seems there was an answer to my Question.
Next day when I needed my bike, I went there.

But there was no bike at all. I was confused as what could
have happened. Who would have taken my bike?
Just in front of parking place there was a police station. I
hurriedly went there and told them about the lost bike.
Their first question, “Have you checked with Pune

Municipal Corporation, may be they could have taken it for
parking at wrong place?”
I said, “The bike was parked nearby only.”
But he insisted me to check first as if he was aware of
irregularities in PMC. Earlier also, they had taken my bike
away. I was relaxed for a second, thinking that it would not
cost much getting the bike back.
They just need a chance to charge fine. I went to the Wakad
police station to inquire about the bike but they told me
that they have not picked any bike since last two days due
to unavailability of truck which is used to load bikes. That
time, I realized that it was stolen.
I felt bad, not because the bike was stolen, but there were
lot of feelings attached to the bike.
That full day I did not eat anything, not because of
depression, but I was very busy in office work.
For the next two days, I traveled via share auto rickshaw,
which in itself was a different but expensive experience.
Next day, I went to that place again where I had parked my
bike.
One more surprise was waiting for me. There was parked a
red pulsar almost same as of mine. In curiosity I just went
nearby the bike and when I looked at the number. It read
MH-14 AA 2612. When I did the query in the database of
my mind, the result brought a smile on my face.
It was my number. Rather the full bike was mine. It was
parked at very same place in same position, where I had
left.
For a moment I was shocked, as if I was either in the past or
I was day dreaming.
It was a pleasant feeling with a great shock as I could not

understood where the bike had gone and how did it come
again at the same place in the same position as it was
parked. I hugged my bike then and there and felt how hard
it was to imagine my life without that bike. When I checked
the petrol tank, I found that to be fully filled with petrol.
This mystery is still unresolved.
What I feel is that someone would have stolen that bike,

but was not able to manage the antique piece. So having
mercy on the owner, he had returned it rather than
throwing at some junkyard. My attachment with my bike
has grown more with time and I know how much stress it
can take. This trip might be lethal for it and I am not ready
to take this chance. If you can arrange for a bike on rent, I
am ready. In fact I would prefer that.
Hearing all this, Gautam was not as intense about his

passion as he was some time before. His eyes were wet, not
because he was emotional, but some air borne particle had
disturbed his eyes.
Having finished his struggle with his eyes, Gautam said, “I

can understand your bonding with the bike and probably
that is the one reason that bike is surviving till now even
after passing through so many traumatic conditions.
It reminded of my old Bajaj scooter.”
To this we shared a laugh. The environment was much

lighter.
Then he said, “No issue you also drive, but we will drive in
ratio of 60:40.”
“Dude, you could have asked me that anyways, but let’s not
go on such terms and conditions. Let it be 50:50.
If I feel like I would give you at that time only.”
He gave me a squinted look, smiled and said, “Fine enough

sir ji. I need to leave now, catch you tomorrow morning at 8
a.m. so as we can do the shopping for helmet and knee
pads.
I knew for sure that he would never come at 8 a.m. as his

morning starts always 2 hrs late.
He reached my place at 10:20 a.m. Then we went to
Champion sports in Aundh to get knee pads and elbow
pads.
There they were very costly and were not fitting in our
budget. We had thought that we would make our trip very
economical.
So from there we went to Natekar sports.
There we could get the knee pads and elbow pads of our
choice which were tough enough to protect the joints in
case of any disaster and along with they were within the
budget. We managed to get two pairs each in just three
hundred bucks.
The owner asked us, “Why do you need these pads?”

When we told him about the bike trip, he was amused and
excited.
He not only gave his blessings with smile but gave fifty
rupees discount in the purchase.
Wow!! We were able to do some more savings for the trip.

Our main motto was to make it as economical as possible
and the beginning was good.
Gautam wanted a helmet from Studd which was not
available in the shop. He was so specific about it that he did
not purchase any other brand.
He already had one helmet which he got along with his ‘95
model scooter and its condition was somewhat similar to
that and it always looked like another antique piece to me.
The round shaped helmet had its straps but they were just
for formality, they could not be used to fasten up as the
buckle was broken.
The front glass of the helmet was tied only to one side and
other side of it was always flowing in the direction of air
while driving.
My helmet was with one of my friends, who had misplaced
it.
Presently, I had no plans of buying the helmet but Gautam
insisted that I should buy one. But when Gautam had plans
of buying a new helmet, I had plans of using Gautam’s
antique helmet.
Actually, the helmet was not that bad. I was sure that it will
still be able to serve its main functionality in case of any
disaster. After the shopping, we came back home. As per
our plans we were supposed to start next day early morning
at 3:00 a.m. I was so excited about the trip that it was
getting difficult to wait for the night.
Then I shared my idea with Gautam saying, “Why don’t we

start our journey in the evening itself. There is really no
need to waste time.”
Gautam was reluctant as we were deviating from his plan
but he too could not control his excitement and agreed in
no time.
So we planned to start our journey as soon as we could
finish our work at office. I packed my luggage. It had an
extra pair of underwear, socks, towel and two t-shirts along
with a first aid box. One of the t-shirts had a logo of MTV
Roadies 5.0, which I had won during the roadies audition.
Then from my house we went to Gautam’s house and there

he packed his bag. I was wondering what made him take 20
minutes to pack the bags, but when he came out, he was
carrying a bag double the size of my bag. But instead of
investigating what he had carried along, I asked him to
hurry to office.
We wanted to completely finish our work in office as we

were not planning to have any extra burden of backlog
work while enjoying the trip. I was able to finish work with
in time as most of the work was completed a day before
only.
We had planned to leave the place at about 5 p.m. but

Gautam got stuck with his work. He had some issues at the
last minute. For a while I thought that we have to
reschedule our departure to 3 a.m. the next day. But then
Gautam assured me that he will be done with his work
within thirty minutes. I knew that he would be late as usual.
Meanwhile, I had gone to the rest room and there I tied my

knee pads below the pants and elbow pads below the
jacket. I thought that they would be more intact and
effective inside.
But this time he managed his time better. He finished all his
work in just forty minutes. I asked him to reach the central
building of the office. It was good that we could travel
without having any tension of office work. As Anukant
wanted to see us off, he and one of his teammates came
along with Gautam, as if escorting him.
Then I join themed, as soon as we all stepped out of the

building, it started drizzling. At that moment all the 8 legs
stopped. All of us had taken shelter.
But then I glanced at all of them and said, “Now, no one can
stop me.”
I put forwarded my steps to embrace the beauty of the
nature.
The awaited moment, hold your breath
It was drizzling. This was no surprise as it was rainy season.

Rain was expected and I welcomed it going ahead and
letting those rain drops fall on my forehead. I embraced the
rain with open arms. I quenched my thirst with those rain
drops. The moment I had waited so long was just few
moments ahead.
I signaled others to come forward and join. Sitting in AC

rooms, we sometimes forget to enjoy the nature. Seeing
me, Gautam responded with joy and came ahead. Then
Anukant along with his teammate joined us in the rain. We
crossed the office gate. Gautam had parked his bike near
Tammana, the restaurant just opposite to office. We were
about to start our journey. Anukant clicked a Kodak
moment and tagged it as the starting of the journey.
‘Thursday 14, 2008 5:45 p.m.’ was the time in the watch.
As it was a long holiday, most of the employees had already

left for home and those who were planning to enjoy their
weekend at Pune were coming out at that time to catch the
bus. Usually after 6 p.m. when buses from all the IT
companies leave from Hinjewadi chowk, it becomes hard to
drive because of the heavy traffic. Around 1 lakh employees
travel out of Hinjewadi during peak hours. As it was raining,
there was supposed to be heavy traffic on the chowk. We
had planned to leave before six so as to avoid the traffic
jam.
Then Anukant said, “Jai ho... chalo kila fateh kar key
loutna...”
(Blessings! Make sure you win the war.)
Yeah, it was no less than a war. The roads were unseen,
unrealized and the journey was long, really long. We never
had such an experience before.
I was not even sure whether we would return back or not,
but one thing I was sure of that the trip would be one of the
most memorable one of my life.
Gautam wanted to drive first. So, I took the pillion seat.

He started the bike and gave full throttle. The exhaust was
throwing out white smoke. He changed the gear and we
were on our way, leaving Anukant behind, near the office
campus. He kept waving till we were out of sight. Even the
weather was in full mood. I looked up at the sky to know
what plans weather had in store for us? I was questioning
myself if the weather was trying to make our journey more
comfortable or full of thrills.
That magic of that moment could have been felt only by me

or Gautam as we were waiting for that start for last two
weeks.
The show had begun and now next thing was to take it to a
respectable level. We were not even sure that we would be
able to end it smoothly or not, but hopes were high.
We already had one thing in mind that we are just going for
a bike ride without any particular destination.
Though our initial plans were to go till Ooty, it depends on
how far we could make it on the bike. We could always take
a U turn to come back.
As we were moving ahead, the intensity of the rain was

increasing; it was hardly ten minutes into the journey but
we were fully drenched from tip to toe.
I was sure that all of the stuff which was not wrapped in
polythene would have been wet. But nothing could have
been done. The only thing we could have done was to enjoy
the weather and the bike ride.
We had reached somewhere near chandani chowk.
Hinjewadi to chandani chowk route was not a new route for
me. I had measured it many times.
But today I was having a different feeling. I was feeling
more confident and as if a journey to a world tour has
started.
I had been coming to chandani chowk for night party or for

having coffee at Cafe coffee day; the only cafe in Pune
which serves 24/7. It is quite a happening place. It is the
one hang out place where you get to watch the quality as
well as the quantity.
Well, shape and size does not matter, all comes in good
packaging. Yeah, I am talking of Pune chicks, famous all over
India for their beauty and dressing style.
It reminds me of the day, when I drove to CCD at 1.00 am in

the morning along with my friends. There we had met few
other friends. We all were having fun in the group. We had
carried the ipod along with compatible speakers. The
favorite one of ours was on the go. ‘Sutta na mila…..’
But then, Wasim had noticed Bajaj staring at something…
The hall area of CCD is enclosed with transparent mirrors

and inner view is clearly visible if one is sitting in the

corridor area.
There in the hall, a girl was sitting on the sofa. She was
simply a beauty. Moreover, she was quite revealing as she
was in mini skirt and short top. The sofa was in such a way
that on an angle of 60 degree her legs were facing towards
us.
She had kept a sofa pillow in her lap.
Her skirt was so mini that if I remove ni from mini, it would
be apt. Bajaj was staring continuously at that.
When Wasim noticed him, he also started staring at what
Bajaj was. I was no exception. One by one, we all started
staring at that pillow. The pillow had increased the curiosity
of exploring. That pillow was creating such a curiosity that
we all started rhyming, “please takiya hatao, please takiya
hatao. Please takia hatao”
(Take aside the pillow)
We had never realized that when we all rhymed together
our pitch had grown so louder that people overheard us
over the voice of music. People near us started observing
us. Seeing the whole scenario they burst out laughing.
Waiter was standing above our head. All what he could do
was to give us a smile, “Sir, Please give the order.”
The hall was sound proof, good that the girl did not realize
the scene outside else that could have been an
embarrassing moment.
We had crossed chandani chowk and now we were going

straight on the highway. We wanted to complete our
century as soon as possible, so we planned to have only one
break in our first 100 kilometers.
The distance from Pune to Satara is approx 120 kilometers

and Satara was our first target point which we were
supposed to conquer before 9 p.m.
After 60 kilometers we stopped our bike near a dhaba. It
was the first halt of the trip.
The dhaba read “Krishna Dhaba”
As it was just 7 in the evening, they had not prepared
anything by then. We were hungry as we had skipped our
lunch to complete office work in time.
On special request they made anda burzi (Scrambled Egg)
for me. Gautam does not like non vegetarian food except
human blood. So we ordered some vegetarian stuff pyaj
pakoda and mirchi pakoda too.
The rain had stopped by then. In that lovely weather there
could not have been a better combination than pakodas
and cutting tea.
One after another, we ate eight plates of pakoda.
Then we felt like relaxing. We rested our legs on the table
and started enjoying the serene beauty of nature.
As there were no other customers in the dhaba, even the
owner did not disturb our shahi aandaz (royal style) of
relaxing.
Soon, Gautam pointed to his watch hinting that we had to

move. Satara was still 60 kilometers ahead and we did not
have time to waste. We knew that if it started raining
again, there might be more delay.
We had not brought a digital camera along, but we were

managing with Gautam’s cell phone to take some pictures.
They were not very good, yet not that bad. There we had
clicked some pictures to keep the memories alive. My knee

pads were below my jeans and they were irritating as hell. I
changed my jeans there and I took those knee pads out.
Gautam had already tied them above the pants only. Then I
tied mine above my jeans. I wished I should have done that
earlier itself, as my knees were numb by that time. There
was hardly any blood circulation in that area. From there I
was supposed to ride the bike. Gautam gave little weird
expression while giving me the keys but then with a great
smile he said, “Rock on!!! Drive carefully.”
I started the bike and making a full circle I turned it to the

highway. Gautam had heard many stories from Anukant
about my bike driving. According to Anukant I was the
rashest driver he had ever seen. In reality he has not
experienced much of drivers, as he is not much into bikes.
He is a common man and prefers to travel in the transport
bus. I am not able to understand till now why he travels so
much in the bus. Is it because the cost is less or the crowd is
more? Whenever Anukant came back home after his bus
ride, he always had some story to share in which he had
encountered some beautiful girl.
I had been driving bikes since I was 6 years, but had never
met with an accident either minor or major. But it is either
my hard luck or Anukant’s bad luck that I have fallen three
times from MH 14 AA2612 bike whenever Anukant is sitting
as pillion. It has happened only in this unique combination.
Vishu as rider, Anukant as Pillion and bike is MH14 AA 2612.
What I understood from my research is, “Whenever I have

to take turns, Anukant tries to readjust himself in such a

way that bike loses its balance and so do I. It becomes even
more difficult to control the movements when brakes are
not of much use and both the tires are on the verge of
retirement. As a result, the bike just slips making me
responsible for the accident. That had earned me the tag of
rash driver.”
Anukant always made sure that he shared his stories with

all his friends. He can hardly keep things to himself. Hearing
Gautam talk, I was sure that he had also known all versions
of my accidents.
As soon as I started the bike, within next 10 seconds I was
blazing away at a speed of 77 km/hr. I knew it was not more
but Gautam shouted, “Sir please do not cross 60 km/hr. Still
it had not completed 1400 kilometers.”
With his interruption, my shoulders slumped. The
accelerator in my hand moved in reverse direction and now
I was driving at 55 km/hr.
Then he started giving me lecture on how to drive a bike.
 Bike is a machine; we should not break the limits.

 Make sure, we do not keep the speedometer
constantly on one speed.
 We should make sure not to increase the speed in
one go. It should smoothly go up.
I felt as if he was a nursery class teacher.

Whatever he was saying, that was correct, but it was like I
have a book worm sitting behind me rather than a biker.
While listening to him, I was having one hand on my chin

and my elbow was resting on my thigh and I was driving
slow and steady.
I was in no mood of listening to his studious talks so I

diverted his mind towards the hill on which we were
supposed to ride.
None of us had prior experience of that road. We had never
expected a ghat on the way. We wondered how come that
ghat came on the way. There was not any traffic coming
from either side. It was as if we were alone on that road.
We were not sure if we were on the right way or it was
some kind of magic like the wonder world of Alif Laila, one
of my favorite TV series in childhood. It had all the stories
woven around magical world.
It was about a psychic king Shahryar who used to marry
every day a new virgin and kept killing them after the first
night.
Once a girl named Scheherazade married the king. She

knew that she would die the next day but she could not
help as avoiding the death would have resulted in more
atrocities on her family. Just to pass her time in the night,
she urges king to listen a story. The story was so interesting
that king asked her to tell one more. This way she kept
telling stories for One Thousand and One Nights.
This way the king kept Scheherazade alive as he eagerly
anticipated each new story. During this time, she gave birth
to three sons.
One of my favorite stories was of ‘Sinbad the sailor’. Sinbad

was also fond of traveling. In his journey, there used to be
unexpected hills, ocean, roads, forts and even people with
black magic powers. For a moment I thought as if we were
sailing like Sinbad in that magical ghat.
Then there was a milestone which read Satara. We were
relieved that we were on the right track. This was a newly
built one way towards Satara known as ‘Khambat ka ghat.’
It was very steep and dangerous but being a one way it was
safer. Gautam wanted to ride the bike at that time but
those kilometers were in my luck and I was in no mood to
be generous.
We kept going high and while coming down it was again a
wonderful feeling. While going down, I switched off the bike
and was driving in neutral. Just to feel the free fall. I
generally do this every time I drive down the curve.
As we were approaching the bottom of the hill, the sunlight

was getting feeble, as sun was about to set. There was dark
orange light all around but as soon as we were down the
hill, suddenly there was darkness all around and I was not
able to see anything till the time I realized that night has
covered us in her arms. I was struggling to find the
headlight switch on the bike. Then Gautam who was lost in
his thoughts woke up and directed me to the left lower
button on the handle of bike. When I clicked the button, the
headlight was on with a flash. The orange light of bike had
covered the road in such a way that I felt as if I was driving
on a golden plated road. A car, I suppose with a speed of
130 km/hr overtook us making loud noise of horn. I was
back from my golden realization and I applied brakes near
the milestone. We had covered almost 100 kilometers and

Satara was still 20 kilometers ahead. There we took a break
of 10 minutes so as to answer nature’s call.
Then we had a short walk on the road to stretch our body.
We enjoyed walking on that calm road. There were
beautiful farms on both sides of the road. The color of the
sky was a combination of orange, red, black and dull white.
Sun had almost set; moon was on verge of coming out of
the dark clouds.
The view was nostalgic.

In my childhood, I was very fond of flying kites.
I used to do all of my school homework in recess periods
only. My main aim to finish all of my homework was to
enjoy my evening flying kites. All of friends in the mohalla
(society) were good at flying kites. Every evening, we used
to remain on the top of the roofs of our houses.
All the houses in the society were in one lane and it was
easy for us to cross the whole street via roofs itself.
On the roof of every house, there used to be a group of
kids. Some of them were strategy makers as how to make
sure that their kite does not bite the dust. One person was
suppose to hold the manjha, one captain who used to take
the charge of flying the kite, and few others kids in group
were suppose to chase the kites which got cut while kite
fighting.
It was our daily routine for the evenings. We used to fly
kites till the time we were not able to spot our kites in the
dark. I remember, when all the kids had gone down the
roofs, I used to sit on the roof watching stars, trying to
locate my grandfather.
I had heard a lot about my grandfather from my

grandmother but I was not lucky enough to see him in my
real life. Seeing his photograph my parents used to tell me
that I looked exactly like him. My curiosity and love for him
inspired me to make his portrait and that was the one and
only portrait I had ever made. When I had shown that
portrait to my grandmother, few tears came out of her
eyes. She got emotional. She even gave me 10 rupees;
otherwise she used to give me 1 rupee only as pocket
money. She kept the painting with her till the time she did
not left me. My eyes were almost wet remembering them,
but thank God, rain had started again. Gautam was not able
to see those tears which came from my eyes.
I handed over the keys to Gautam. I took the pillion seat

and was enjoying the scene thanking my grandmother for
blessing me with such daring attitude. It was getting harder
for Gautam to drive in the night, as glare from the other
side was quite disturbing. I suggested him to use the dipper.
I was surprised to know that he had no idea about the
dipper. Using the dipper made it easier for Gautam to drive.
But it was all dark ahead. We were able to see only a few
meters of the road which was highlighted because of the
headlight. Ahead of that, it was as if we were passing
through a tunnel. We kept moving ahead and soon we were
able to see few lights on both sides of the road. We were
pretty sure that we were near Satara. We had almost
reached there. We found a decent dhaba nearby and
decided to have our dinner there. We had achieved our first
target. It was time to celebrate. But we were tired by then.
Both of us had mixed thoughts whether we should hire a

room there to take rest or we should move ahead.
Soon, we came to a conclusion that firstly, we should have

some snacks there and then we should give a thought about
further journey. So I ordered for tea along with my favorite
egg burzi and this time Gautam choose to have good day
biscuits. We did not want to have full dinner as that would
make us sleepier.
A small boy came to our table. He was wearing blue shorts

and a torn shirt. Having innocent and sweet smile on his
face he offered us water. I could figure that he was a waiter
in that hotel and he was barely eleven. When I asked him
his name, he said, “Dhaniya.” His voice was so soft that it
touched my heart. Thinking about child labor I was feeling
pity for the boy and at the same point I was feeling rage
towards the owner of the hotel thinking that he was
exploiting the child. I thought how he could be so
irresponsible and cruel to small kids. At the age of eleven,
when this kid is supposed to study and play, he is ruining his
childhood washing plates.
There were mixed reactions in my mind.

I asked dhaniya, “Don’t you want to study like other kids?”
“I want to study”, he replied with an innocent smile.
“Then who is forcing you to work here?”
With an elegant style, “No one bhaiya!!”
“No one, I do not understand. Then why you are working
here…?”
Interrupting me in between…
“Bhaiya, I study in class V. My parents can’t afford my

education. My house condition is economically not very
sound.
So, in the morning I go to school and work here in the night.
This way my studies will not be a burden on my parents.”
I was kind of shocked hearing all this from a child aged
merely 11. I offered him a seat near us. First he denied, but
when I insisted he sat. He was still carrying that innocent
smile on his face. His teeth were glowing as if he was the
brand ambassador of Protex.
He continued, “My father also wants me to study but he is

not capable of bearing the cost of my education. Shop uncle
had given me a job so that I can earn my school fees.”
After listening to his talks there was a paradigm shift. I
realized that it was the owner, who has given this child a
platform to earn for his own education.
Government keeps on advertising to ban child labor but not

taking enough actions to see that children like Dhaniya are
getting proper food, shelter and education. Though that guy
th
was just in 5 standard but his determination inspired me.
My hunger had vanished and I was feeling proud having
met such a wonderful and responsible chap. I hugged him
and wished him all the best for his future endeavors.
I knew that I had met a winner who was trying to make

every moment of his life meaningful.
All I felt at that time was,

“Life is in race with us inspiring us every second to run
faster.”
We are not tired, journey continues…
His passion and innocence had such an energetic effect on

us that we both decided to continue our journey for
Kolhapur that night only rather than taking rest. The
journey continued and we were not tired anymore.
Now the race was in my hand. It was my turn to take the

ride.
I was feeling fresh and revitalized. It was as if I had started
the journey a minute back only. The clock struck 9:45 p.m.
We were on track as per our time.
We had successfully crossed Satara. It was short, yet a great

journey till now, but, for us, the next target was more
important, to touch Kolhapur before 1 o clock. There was
approximately 120 kilometers to Kolhapur.
I must say NH-4 Highway is one of finest highways to drive

on.
Luckily there was not much heavy traffic. We almost had no
competition on the road. The road was silent. Then Gautam
broke the silence with those lines from movie Tezaab,
“So gaya yeh jahan, so gaya aasman
So gaya yeh jahan, so gaya aasman
So gayi hain sari manjiley, hain sari manjiley….

So gaya hain rasta…..”
I too joined him for chorus.

“So gaya yeh jahan, so gaya aasman

So gaya yeh jahan, so gaya aasman
So gayi hain sari manjiley, hain sari manjiley….

So gaya hain rasta…..
So gaya yeh jahan, so gaya aasman.”
The road to Kolhapur was like a sinusoidal wave. Sometimes

we had to move up the wave and other times follow the
downturn. Perhaps it was the curve which was keeping our
interest alive in the dark night.
The music had gone down. There was not any voice coming
from behind. Gautam was silent. I felt as if he was about to
sleep.
I stopped the bike in no time. I adjusted his bag and mine. I
woke him up and asked him not to sleep but catch hold of
me around my waist with both hands and rest his head on
my shoulders.
This way he would get some rest. He did as I said. I made
sure that he never lost his grip. I was laughing at myself,
thinking, “If he falls to either side, will I be able to handle
his huge weight?” But I kept on driving.
Within next two minutes my speed increased from 55 to 75

km/hr. He did not realize that I was driving at the maximum
speed possible. After thirty minutes he woke up. Because of
my height he was not able to see the speedometer. To see
that he had to move his butt up, which always gave me an
indicator to slow down the speed. He did lift his butt and
this was enough for me to realize that he had woken up.

When his eyes finally met the speedometer, it showed 53
km/hr.
We both could not help each other, as our personalities

were quite different. I am least bothered about things and
he is very much bothered about each and every thing. But it
was still good, because different schools of thinking lead to
development of new ideas.
“It’s time for a break. The bike has run 60 kilometers”,

Gautam said.
“Let’s not take break here. We should be getting some
dhaba in the range of twenty kilometers and we can stop
there”
He agreed and we kept moving. We found a dhaba after 5
kilometers. People were sleeping there, and we thought not
to disturb them so we kept going.
After five kilometers we found another dhaba, but it did not

look convincing, so we did not stop there too. We had
covered 20 kilometers after that but we could not locate
any good dhaba. Well that was the threshold limit for
Gautam. He started speaking in his frustrated tone, “Vahi
ruk jatey to acha tha. (We could have stopped before itself.)
You never listen to me. You always do whatever you want.
Now stop the bike. It is a machine and it needs rest.” I did
not want to oppose his thoughts but I said, “Let’s try ten
kilometers more and if we do not get any dhaba, we will
stop there itself.” He said in a little frustrating voice,
“Fine!!!! But make sure, not even an inch more after ten
kilometers.”
In next ten minutes we covered nine kilometers. Though we

could not find any dhaba but we found a small hut. My foot
pressed the brakes and with in no time we both were off
the bike. Then we started stretching ourselves as if doing
aerobics on the road. All our body muscles were strained. It
felt like as if we had been living in small cage for years. The
time was around half past 10. The lights in hut were on.
First we hesitated but then we knocked at the door.
An old person, appearing in his sixties came out. I asked him

for drinking water in a very soft voice. He showed us the
direction to the pot pointing his finger on his left. The pot
was placed in the corner. We helped ourselves.
Gautam broke the silence, “Man, these rats are killing me.”
I wondered where the rats came from.
But then he said, “I am damn hungry now, I need
something.”
Before I could have replied, a voice came, “Babu ji, khana
chahiye kya?” (Do you need food?)
It was the old man.
I guess the old man had heard Gautam.
I told him, “There won’t be much for you if we share your
food and this big fellow is an exception when it comes to
eating. He will finish off all the food.”
Old man with a naughty smile, “Beta we make extra food
because many people come here to eat.”
I was surprised to listen that. I questioned, “Baba, Is it a
dhaba?”
“Not exactly a dhaba son. We have farms. But because of
rain and other climate issues, sometimes we are not able to

earn our living from the farms, so this is a way to make our
ends meet.” I was feeling the intensity in his voice. He said,
“Babu, we will not be having very top class food like big
hotels have. But I can assure you that you would like the
taste.”
I was moved hearing him. Actually his talks have shown the
green signal for the rat race in my stomach too. Gautam
hurriedly uttered, “Get baba, whatever you have and get in
one plate only.”
I asked him, “Are you not having the food?”
Gautam smiled and said, “Nooo, Boss even I am planning to
have food. Don’t worry we will share in that plate only”
We both started laughing and baba too.
Within few minutes, dinner was there. There was a

cemented platform outside the hut, so we sat there crossed
legs and kept the plate in between. It had jwar ki roti, corn
vegetable along with garlic chutney and lots of rice. We
both attacked the food as if we had not eaten for ages. I
must say the taste was ultimate. We were licking our
fingers.
We ate more than our capacity. Baba was standing beside
us. He gave a peculiar smile seeing us eat like that. He asked
us to eat slowly but we ignored as if we didn’t hear.
Suddenly, I choked on the food. I started coughing hard.
Baba rushed inside and got me water. I gulped the whole
glass of water in one go.
I was little relaxed and then I wanted to relax my back too

when I saw a khat (Wooden bed woven with jute rope). The
ropes of khat were very loose and it had made a concave
shape. I lay down to stretch my back. Seeing me Gautam
also felt like sleeping. It was so generous of baba to offer us
stay there at night. He even went ahead for arranging the
beds for us.
But we were unstoppable. We told baba that we just want

our bike to take rest for few more minutes, and then we
would be leaving. Thanks for food and offering us stay here.
As we were engrossed chatting among ourselves, we saw
four strong men who were having axe in their hands. They
were in dirty clothes and were having a cruel and scary
look.
Gautam was horrified. He held my hand and was looking for

a hint as to what to do next. Seeing them, even my mind
became blank. I was just not able to think of anything at
that moment. They were coming towards us. We froze!
Neither were we speaking anything nor were we moving
back.
But the very next moment, I was able to judge the situation.
My fingers clenched. I knew it would be hard to handle all
of them but my survival instincts took over. I knew if fight
broke out I would have to deal with them alone. I held my
breath for what was coming ahead and to my surprise they
took their seats on a bench besides us.
One of them shouted, “Dada!!! What is there for dinner?”
I took a sigh of relief and even Gautam relaxed a bit. We

both were laughing at each other.

“Sala chutiya kat gaya yar” (All this build up for nothing)
Then we asked baba to have a photograph with us. Having a

cheerful smile on his face, baba came along and we
captured that moment of the journey.
It was time for us to leave. Now, the ride master was

supposed to be Gautam. He went near the bike and after a
moment I realized that Gautam was struggling with his
body.
“Gautam, What happened yaar?”

He demanded the key from me. I said, “Buddy it should be
with you. I handed over the keys to you while I was drinking
water.”
“No, I am not having the key; you were the last to drive.”
He was confused and so was I. We started searching here
and there. I checked all my pockets and then the khat very
carefully. I even checked my bag which I did not open
during the trip.
I asked Gautam in commanding voice to check again.
“I have checked myself”, He was sounding confident.
I knocked the door of hut. Baba came out.
When I told him about the lost key, he also started
searching.
For a moment, we felt that we would have to stay there
only for the night. But then a weird idea came to my mind,
we asked baba to bring the plate, in which we had eaten
the food.
There could be little chance that we had dropped the keys

in the plate. Baba brought the plate out but there was no
key.
Gautam was scratching his chin. He appeared confused.
Seeing him in confusion my mind clicked.
He had a huge body. I asked him to keep his hands up and
then I started searching his pockets.
It took me more than five minutes to explore all his pockets.
He had so many pockets in the jacket itself. His voice was
growing louder saying that he is not having the key and he
had checked it already.
I just said, “Let me confirm it once again.”
Suddenly I felt sensation of a key like stuff in his pocket. I
took it out and I asked him, “Is it the key we were searching
for?”
I was holding the key in my hand and we both were seeing
each other in surprise. We both started laughing. We guys
usually keep the keys in right side back pocket of pants and
this time Gautam had kept them in left side back pocket.
“What is the use of going to the gym? Reduce some

weight.”
There was a pause in his smile but again we both burst out
laughing and talking about his weight we left for our
journey to Kolhapur.
Is this love: who knows
Kolhapur was still a few kilometers away, approx twenty.

It had stopped raining since the last one and half hours. We
were driving slowly and were totally wet. A cool breeze was
blowing and it was freezing our nerves. Though the journey
was exciting, the breeze was making us numb. It was
midnight. Soon we both started shouting
“ooooooooooooooooooo” to reenergize ourselves so that it
could keep us little warmer.
Gautam said, “Sir, let’s shout something specific, shouting
‘oooo’ is not that much exciting. I shouted,
“I Loooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeee
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”
Iiii….. lllloooovvvveee….. yyyooouuu………….
I was standing beside the road. There was a dense jungle

around. In morning 3 o’ clocks I was shouting on the top of
my voice.
“Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii….. lllloooovvvveee….. yyyooouuu………….”
Yes
“Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii….. lllloooovvvveee….. yyyooouuu………….
Iiiiiiiiiiiii aaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmm comingggg

for youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”
“The puncture is done”. Some voice interrupted me.

It was the bus driver; he was calling all the passengers back
to the bus. I was on my way from Bangalore to Thanjavur.
I was done with my summer project training at Biocon,
Bangalore.
Today was my last day at training and I was supposed to

move back to my college, SASTRA which is in the city of
temples, Thanjavur. We had been talking to each other for
last one and half year but there was a special feeling for
her. I was never so much excited to go back to college as I
was on that day.
In the morning, I had got a text message from her.

“Please, please cm bak soon. It has been a long time we
have met. Miss you. tc. Cheers!!!”
It was my last day at project lab and I was dying to go back

to see her. While taking farewell bid from Mrs. Archana, my
trainer at the lab I wrote her a thankful note on a piece of
paper stating,
“Ma’am Apsara,
It was great learning from you.
Thanks for guiding me throughout.”
Madam Archana said, “All the best Vishu for your future
endeavors and thanks for the wonderful compliments.
Never felt so special. But…”
“But what?”
“Who is this Apsara?”
“What?”, I was stunned hearing her name.

In confusion I asked, “Who Apsara, how do you know?”
With a blush my trainer said, “Dear, my name is Archana
and you have written Apsara here. So who is this lucky girl?
Since morning I am observing a different smile on your
face.”
I was just blushing, but trainer continued, “First I thought, it

is because you are leaving back. But now I am sure the
reason of this smile is this name: Apsara.”
Smiling, “Sorry Ma’am. I will tell you when I get to hear it

from her.”
I took my huge bag on my shoulders and turned to leave

the lab.
Ma’am shouted, “Take care and I would be waiting to hear
from you.”
Nodding my head in affirmation I left from there.
I hired an auto-rickshaw to reach the bus stand. I was so
excited that I just kept on smiling and even the auto driver
asked me, “Sir, Very happy. What happened?”
“Yes I am. shayad manjil mil gayi hai.”
(Perhaps, I have got the destination.)
Earlier, I was never sure whether I was ever in love with her.
But that day I was feeling love in the air around me. After
struggling through Bangalore traffic, I reached majestic bus
stand, my bus was supposed to leave at 9 o clock. As soon
as I boarded the bus, it started.
I just took few minutes to settle down and then I got a call
from my junior in college, Anurag Tripathi.
He sensed my happiness and asked me the reason.
I said, “I feel that I am in love with Apsara.”
On top of his voice he shouted, “Congratulations Sir!
Great sir!!! Go ahead. Propose her today itself.
Better not to be late. As far as I know she does not have any
boyfriend and will never get better than you. Even I have
seen love in her eyes for you.”
I was confused, but at the same time I was smiling on
Tripathi’s comments.
The phone got disconnected because of network problem.
All the time in the bus I was trying to convince myself that I
love her yet I was not 100 % sure.
Faaaaaattttttt, One horrible sound shook us all in the bus

and then with a jerk bus stopped.
The bus conductor got down to see what had happened.
I was first to follow him. The front tire of the bus was flat.
Other passengers grew impatient but for me it was
hilarious.
I walked few meters away from bus while conductor was

trying to fix the flat tire. I did not realize what suddenly
came to my mind. I shouted with joy.
“Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii….. lllloooovvvveee….. yyyooouuu…………

apasaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaara”
Yeah
“Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii….. lllloooovvvveee….. yyyooouuu…………
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii aaaaaammmmmmmmmm
coming for youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”
After such a long time, I was shouting again now and that
too with Gautam. But this time it was only ‘I love you’.
The name was missing from those three magical words.
Gautam was driving faster than usual; maybe because of
the love in the air. Meanwhile, we had crossed Kolhapur.
We could hardly realize that we had just crossed one

beautiful temple. I insisted him to turn the bike; I wanted to
see the temple. Initially he was reluctant as he was enjoying
the speed at which he was driving. But he too didn’t want
to miss the temple.
Give it to me, in the name of GOD
Initially, Gautam ignored me, but when I insisted, he turned

the bike back. We were hardly a minute away from the
temple.
We were standing outside of temple and still able to see the
big sculpture of Buddha. It was almost 60 ft high; Buddha
was glowing in yellow light.
Gautam parked the bike in the front of the main gate of

that temple. To our surprise, the temple was locked. There
was a message written on the board which was hanging on
the Iron Gate.
****** Visitors allowed only from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ******
That reminds me of those lines which I wrote in college,
“A big lock on the Iron Gate

Inside sitting my soul mate.
Who am I, I am the man
The creator of power, the creator of society.
The creator of culture, the creator of the almighty!!!”
I wondered seeing that big lock on the gate.

One side the preachers of religion and followers of God
talks of God being the almighty. He is supposed to be
having all the powers. Without His permission, even a leaf
cannot move. We are nothing in front of him and then why
do we need locks for temples.
For this question, I am still in quest of a convincing answer.
What I concluded ultimately was that God is the name for

confidence, power, respect, fear, and all other emotions.
A man has presented God in so many different forms so

that every human being is able to select his choice of shape.
He then looks up to one for emotional support. Being the
creator of God, man has placed God on such a high and
respected altar that even if a man ever wants to conquer
that altar again, he will never be able to do so.
A common man always needs emotional support, and if he

does not find it from any other living being, we have
created one foolproof option for him in the form of God. It
goes aptly with “Jiska koi nahi hota, uska uparwala hota
hai”
Suddenly Gautam interrupted my thoughts, “Arey yar, kya

hai ,
Yeh log bhi na… locks and that too on temple.”
He said and went around for nature’s call.
“Yeh log bhi na”

This statement drew my attention towards the latest
terrorist attacks all over the world, especially the bomb
blast series in India. People are killing people just because
of false ego.
What could be the sole motto of such atrocities?
People have different views. Some say, money is the factor
behind all the atrocities.
But as I see it, the factor is not only money, it is because of

a few unreasonable rules of a particular person or an
organization which make sure that they get their work done
by those who are either financially deprived or very easy to
brainwash.
Ultimately, it is the false ego which is being the main factor

for degradation of society.
One face of society is so innocent where even a small cut on

the finger becomes a major reason for people to care for
the injured. They themselves feel the same pain as borne by
the person. In the shadow of that love, injured person easily
forgets his pain.
At the same time, there is another rotten face of society

where people are trained not to have mercy even on small
kids, ladies or old people. They are trained to kill
themselves as human bombs; they are trained to decapitate
the heads. They are taught to love blood. Mere thought of
recent attacks brought a shiver in my whole body, not
because I was afraid, just because I was helpless.
Why am I not able to do something to eradicate this

epidemic from society? Maybe this needs far more than a
courageous heart. My eyes were fixed to the statue of the
Shining Buddha. While looking in his eyes, I felt as if they
were talking to me. I felt my eyes closing for few moments
and when I opened my eyes again, the view in front of me
had completely changed.
The same Buddha had transformed to King Ashoka, who

was standing in the battle field of Kalinga. He was full of
pride, passion, and ego and had a killer instinct in his eyes.
All he did was killing, killing and more killing.
The war had finished. King Ashoka was standing still there
on the battlefield. But it was no more a battlefield; rather it
was a graveyard by then.
There was bloodshed everywhere. Only hues and cries,

there were thousands of dead bodies lying on the ground.
Some of them were about to finish their last breath. Their
widows and small children were clinging to their body to
have the last feel of love. The king Ashoka standing there
was no more in the pride.
He was helpless, his eyes were wet. He kneeled down to
hide his own face. He emerged as a winner of the war for
the world but in his own eyes he was the biggest loser.
That very moment there was a paradigm shift when king

Ashoka left his ego and pride and transformed as a follower
of Saint Buddha and wandered the world in search of peace
and love. He had disciples all over the world and taught
people the language of love. The eyes of the statue were
giving me the same feeling of love.
The bike was still resting on the side stand and I was leaning
on it with my hands and legs crossed. I was completely
immersed in thoughts and was trying to figure out how
exactly human emotions work.
There was a break in the pin drop silence, “Dude let’s

move.” Gautam came back shouting.
I was all shaken by his voice as if I had awakened from a

long sleep. My mind was refreshed. Suddenly we saw a bus
passing by. Passengers were singing and shouting loudly, it
seemed they were on a picnic trip. Gautam geared up the
bike and we both tried to chase the bus. The bus was
moving fast and we lost it from our sight in a few minutes.
We were enjoying the night ride. By then we had crossed

three toll tax booths and now the fourth one was ahead.
Bad thing was that we had to slow down our speed to cross
the toll booth and good thing was that bikers need not pay
the toll charges.
As we were approaching the Karnataka border, our hunger
grew stronger. All the chips which we were carrying had
finished.
We had no other option, but to wait for next dhaba or may
be the next farmer’s hut.
I am the cook: language no barrier.
We were moving ahead in search of only two things, one

was the dhaba and another was that Volvo bus. We were
not able to spot either of two for next 30 kilometers range.
Suddenly, we spotted one dhaba on the other side of the
road. But there was no U turn in range.
A guy was wandering around having a bamboo in his hand.

He appeared to be 16-18 years old and looked like a
security guard of the dhaba but he turned out to be the
sales manager who was supposed to fetch customers from
the other side to the dhaba.
When we asked him about the dinner, he said, “Yes Sir, it is
available. You can park your bike here, this side only and
can come to other side for food.”
I asked Gautam to wait there only and I rushed to dhaba

crossing the road divider to check if the food was hygienic.
The ambience over there was decent enough to have our
dinner. When they told me that dinner would be available, I
went back running to Gautam asking him to join.
But we did not want to leave our bike parked on the other
side of the road. There was hardly any vehicle passing by
the road. It was silence there, but still we did not want to
take any chance. So we decided to take the bike to the
dhaba itself.
We had to really struggle hard to board the bike on the

road divider which was in the middle of the highway. I told
Gautam that this road divider would be the best place to

park. It would be in front of our eyes while having food. And
there is almost no chance of some truck crushing it even if
driver is drunk. He agreed and we parked the bike in the
middle of the road on the road divider.
Seeing that even dhaba people laughed.
First we ordered two cups of tea and then while having tea
we were discussing the available options in menu.
As usual Gautam was supposed to have vegetarian food,
they had only one option in the menu and that was dal fry
with roti and rice. So there was no need for us to apply
more brains, we ordered one plate of rice, one dal fry and 4
chapatis.
I was willing to have chicken too. I was not sure if I would

get but then I asked the cook. His answer was affirmative.
At the same time, I was worried if the chicken would be
hygienic but they assured me the quality. I agreed to have
chicken, only when they had allowed me to have a sample
for taste. The cook made some sample chicken with their
style of gravy, which I did not like at all.
I told the cook, “Uncle, I want to have chicken in dinner if

you please let me cook myself.”
He was surprised to listen that, and thought as if I was

kidding.
But I caught hold of the fry pan and the wooden stick and
told them, “Let me make it. You just wait and watch.”
Cook said, “No issues. Go ahead sir.”
I mixed the two recipes. The one recipe which I knew earlier
and the other one I had learnt from the uncle in Pune for
reshmi kabab.
It took me 10-15 minutes to prepare the masala paste.

When I pasted the masala on chicken pieces and kept them
for frying, my cell phone started ringing.
“At night one of clock, who is this sir”, Gautam shouted.
I gave him a smile, “Koi nahi hai, dost hai. Tu khana kha.”
(Just a friend, u continue eating)
“Saari bandiyan aapki dost hi hoti hain, koi bhi dost say
jyada nahi hain kya?”
(All chicks are your friends only, no one more than a
friend?)
I told him in winking smile,

“Yeh dost say jyada hi hai, special dost.”
(This one is certainly more than a friend, a special friend)
Yeah, that was call from Ani, one of the sweetest beings I
have ever met. She is as capricious as me and very fickle
minded. She is not worried about her appearance only for
10 hours a day and that is the time when she is sleeping.
A dusky beauty, she is regular to gym and she makes sure

that her belly does not talk of her age. She is so caring that
one would be very comfortable in her company rather I
should say her stupid illogical gossip. It is the hardest task to
entertain this lady as she gets bored very easily. She
sometimes is calm and at other times she calms others.
Well, even after going to USA, she has not changed much
and we always make sure to be in regular touch. That was
an international call from USA.
“Ey Vishu, wass up?”

“I am fine baby, and guess what…?
I am cooking chicken on my own in the dhaba.”
“Tum to pagal ho gaye ho. (u have gone mad buddy)”
“I am as always...”
Soon I realized that my phone battery was about to die.
I asked her that I would give her a call later, maybe after
reaching Bangalore.
She snapped, “Bangalore! Where are you now?”

I could not talk much as battery was low, so I made sure to
brief her in single breath, “I am on my way to Bangalore on
a bike from Pune, half of journey is almost over and now we
are having a halt at a dhaba where I am cooking chicken for
myself.
Miss you and ya take care, See you soon…”
“Ufffffffffffffffff”, finally I took the long breath, and then she

started, “Vishu, you are impossible, anyways give me a call
whenever you can. Cia. Njoy and drive carefully, which I
know you would not care enough. Have safe journey! You
nuts.”
The call got disconnected and my mobile started blinking.

The battery was drained completely.
The voice came, “Saab ji, yeh ban gaya hai.” (Sir, it seems to
be ready) Well, aroma of chicken was speaking for itself.
It was fully cooked, and when I tasted. I was full of joy and
pride. The combo of the two recipes came out to be a lethal
one.
It was delicious and I hurriedly took the dish in the plate
and started eating that without rice and chapatti.
I offered two pieces to the dhaba owner and asked him to

try.
When he tried those, he told me, “Saab ji yeh to bahut acha
hai.”
(Sir, this is too good.)
Then he asked, “From which part of India you belong to.”
“I am basically from Punjab, resident of Haryana, have done
my engineering from Tamilnadu and started my career from
Karnataka, currently working in Maharashtra and now on
my way to explore more of India.”
“Oh! So, you are from Punjab and that is why this chicken is
so tasty, I have heard that people over there make
wonderful dishes.”
I nodded my head in affirmation and said, “Every place has
their special food. But people from Punjab are very fond of
eating. Even this “dhaba concept” has originated from
Punjab. Anyways people from Punjab as well as people
from other parts of world would love this recipe very much,
so you can use it whenever required.”
“Surely I will use it. Thanks for it.”

He continued, “Why you are going to Bangalore that too on
a bike.”
I actually had no particular answer.

I just said, “We did not have much work to do, so just
planned for an outing and came till here.”
Then I asked him, “Where you belong to and what
languages do you speak?”
“Sir this is border area. We talk Kannada, Marathi as well as

Hindi. Specifically this area falls in Maharashtra but nearby
school falls in Karnataka. So our village people generally
know all the three languages. It is always better to know
languages for the business purpose and public dealing.”
I knew he was correct but who would tell those politicians

who makes language an issue of fight among brothers.
Language is just one mode of communication. If a person
starts dividing themselves on the basis of language, would
dumb and deaf people make a different state altogether?
By that time Gautam was done with his dinner and tea. He
asked me, “Shall we take some sleep maybe for 2-3 hours.”
“Yaar, we have covered almost 350 kilometers. Let’s cover
100 kilometers more and then we would take rest if we
want to.”
Dhaba owner told us that we will get dhaba every 20-25
kilometers range and we can sleep there as they always
have arrangements for beds.
All the people there greeted us good luck for the trip.
Having smile on our face, when hunger was no more an
issue, we were ready to take off once again.
Our XCD-125 in her blue color was looking no lesser than a

stunning beauty standing in the middle of the road on that
road divider. It was glowing in the lamp light; half of the
bike was covered with the green bushes grown on that
divider.
Throughout the journey the bike was very supportive. The

sales manager boy helped us in taking down the bike from
the divider.
We were ready to leave; our destination was waiting for us.

I love rain: Do You?
It was 2.00 a.m. when we left the place and in the next 30
minutes, we entered Karnataka region. We could see the
Kannada script scribbled on the walls. The roads were more
silent now; there was hardly any movement of vehicles.
But then there was a long chain of trucks, there were 8-10
trucks in line ahead of us moving slow and steady creating a
unique musical sound.
Gautam said, “Sir, when these drivers can drive for whole
life, then why can’t we drive at least the whole night?”
I said, “Well, keep the enthusiasm higher and let’s speed
up.”
We continued on the highway, leaving all the worries
behind
Before starting the journey, Gautam had filled the petrol

tank to its maximum capacity. Now half of the tank was
empty. Still there was enough petrol to cover the journey.
But Gautam was worried. He was badly looking for a petrol
pump.
The rain had started once again. Gautam said, “Sir, I love
rain but today I don’t know; I am not loving it so much.”
“Vishu, I do not love this rain anymore. Eyes were wet.

I hate rain. I hate it.”
She was so fond of rain. Since childhood she had never

missed a single chance to get herself wet in the rain. She
was as pure as a rain drop. But today, she hated it from the
core of her heart.
The reason was conflict of love.

Her father was supposed to come home on Diwali. It’s been
a year since she met her father. Telephone was the only
mode of contact. She was eagerly waiting for the moment,
when she would feel her father’s presence near her.
It was raining heavily in the Chennai and even in Bombay.

Airports were flooded with water. Nothing much could have
been done to solve the issue. The flight from Dubai to
Chennai could not land to Chennai Airport. It had to go to
Mumbai.
The flight had to return back even from Mumbai as there

was not enough arrangements for landing and that flight
was not allowed to land. The flight had to return to Dubai.
Rain had destroyed the castle of her dreams and now those
droplets were falling from her eyes.
When she got the news that her father has returned back to
Dubai she called me immediately. It was early in the
morning approx 2 a.m.
I was able to feel her tears. I was never so helpless. I was

neither able to give her my shoulders nor was capable of
bringing the flight back. But I made her feel stronger and
asked her to be bold rather than crying her heart out. As
she was in girl’s hostel and entry was restricted for boys, I
could not have gone and met her personally.
“Face this rain with more boldness and I am sure, your

father would make home this Diwali, may be little late.” I
said her assuring.
For a change, I was the speaker that day and she was the
listener. I was able to give her some diversion from the
tension.
Next day, we got the news that her father had boarded the
next available flight and had made it to Chennai. She was all
set to meet him. The same girl was full of joy.
She again started her gudu gudu long talks…
Her feelings could be best described in the lines.
That night… Unusually Long
Second were the hours

Hour were the days
The day like a century
A century lived by me.
Eyes wide awake

Starting at the Clock
As if waiting for
The door to be knocked
The awaited moment

Was about to come
It was all silent around
Everything was mum.
Just the thundering

Shattered my dreams
My eyes remained open
Till I believe – Papa U were gone back.
Tears were never invited

Never were they wanted
But it was their occasion
They were taken for granted
It was me
Me, all around
Feelings were capricious
Situations made me bound.
This Diwali
Papa got me a gift
Nothing else but
His presence is bliss.
God do listens
I am the proof
You are home again
I am very khush… (Happy)
She was all excited to rush to Chennai. She shared all her
plans of what she would be doing in next 4 days. She was
giving me a detailed explanation and I was able to imagine
her plans happening in front of me.
I slept again and after few minutes. . “Vishuuuuuuuu”
I got up suddenly.
She continued, “I am not able to understand what makes
you sleep while I am talking.”
We both started laughing.
She was supposed to leave for home next evening.
I met her before she was about to leave. I wished her good
luck for the trip and told her not to hate rain anymore.
She said, “I will not…and thanks for the courage you had
given me in that moment. You are so special.”
I held her hands. I was about to say something. She hugged

me and gave a kiss on my cheek. The warmth of that
moment was so special; it was so difficult to let her go. It
was as if someone was taking my heart out of my body. But
she had to leave. I had no other option but to let her go.
Then she turned towards her bus.
I was speechless and could see her going in front of me.
I knew I would miss her more than anyone else on this
earth would do.
I let her go.
“I hate this rain. What about you, sir?”

“Ohh, what?”
Gautam repeated loudly, “I hate this rain. What about you,
sir?”
I smiled, “I tried hating it once, but could not.

I love it, any form I love it.”
Chairs: The bed
Gautam had spotted the petrol pump. I insisted that we

should keep on moving as we had enough petrol. But
Gautam was extra cautious, and took the bike off the road
to the petrol pump.
He asked the pump man to fill the petrol till the brim. While
he was filling the petrol, the tank got almost full and petrol
splashed out of tank.
I said, “Well that should be enough.”
But Gautam was adamant and said, “I need this tank fully
filled, till the tip. Keep filling…”
Even the petrol pump guy reacted to his weird answer. But
he could not utter a word, as that being his job.
That was the first time; I lost interest due to his attitude. I
left the place and was busy observing other things on the
pump. I could not guess, what went wrong with Gautam
that he had to unnecessary put brains even while filling the
petrol.
Now when the tank was filled, we started again. The rain
did not stop even for a moment. It was around 3:30 a.m. At
that time we were driving only for the sake of driving. We
were tired and could see no one on the road. It was very
lonely and boring at that time. We were looking for some
place to take some rest and warm ourselves up. We were
fully wet and badly wanted some heat.
Standing in the middle of the road and waiting for

something to happen would have been a foolish act. Just
because we had no other option, I kept driving the bike.
Around 4:15 a.m. in the morning, after a long time, we were
able to find a hotel. The hotel name read UYT and it was on
our right hand side.
I applied brakes. It was time to take some serious rest. We

were lucky that it was open. The need of the hour was to
get cozy with someone hot but we had only one option and
that was tea. So we went inside to get hold of some hot tea.
While drinking tea, I told Gautam, “We can still drive on for
next 3-4 hrs without taking rest but after 4 hours, we would
be completely exhausted and would not be able to push
ourselves for further journey. We might end up wasting our
next day.”
He was busy having tea and I continued, “I feel that it would
be better to take rest here and then we can travel whole of
the next day.”
“Vishu Sir you are right, but where shall take we rest. This is
a mere restaurant, there are no rooms.”
I saw one of waiters coming out of a side room. He was

rubbing his eyes. I was able to make out that he just got up
from his sleep. I asked him, if he was sleeping. The waiter
nodded in yes saying, “What to do sire, night duty for me.”
I figured that he was sleeping in the family section of that

hotel.
Well, there was a light of hope; the only issue was to ask
the permission of the owner. While talking to the waiter, I
involved him in the story of our journey.
He was listening to me with interest and when I asked,

“We needed some place to sleep. Can we get a room to
take rest for 2-3 hours?”
He answered, “There is one hotel 20 kilometers ahead and
there you can get rooms”
“Is there any place available here in this restaurant”, I asked

as we did not want to travel further at that point of time.
“No sir, this is only a restaurant.”

“Ok, so where you guys take rest, in case you have to?”
He laughed and said, “Sir we just lay down or on the chairs.

We join three chairs and sleep on them. It works like
railway birth.”
I said with a surprise as if I did not know anything, “Wow

that is a different thing. Well, can we try the same if you do
not mind?”
“Sir I should have no issues only if you guys are

comfortable. My owner will come at 6:30 a.m. so till that
time you can take rest if you please.”
Then he shouted, “Sainath Come here!!!”
Sainath… I have heard this name before. But who cares, I

meet hundreds of people every day.
Sainath showed us the room. Getting the green signal, we

rushed to the family section and within no time we took off
our clothes so as to wipe our wet body. We were wearing
minimum clothes; we could have to avoid the cold. All the
clothes in the bag were also wet. I was left with only one
option and that was to sleep in the same wet clothes.
Gautam joined three chairs, whereas I had to join 4 chairs.
It was 4:30 in the clock and we decided to get up at 6:00

a.m. so as we could have managed to leave the place by
6:25 a.m. As soon as Gautam closed his eyes, he fell asleep.
I was not getting any sleep, but it was soothing taking rest
after ten hours of driving.
I was feeling very cold so I tried to wrap my body together
and adjusted myself only on two chairs. After some time I
also fell asleep, and got up at 5:35 a.m. I saw Gautam
sleeping, and then thought it would be better if I could
sleep for some more time. But I could not.
Sainath… Sainath that name was striking my mind again and

again. That took me back to my Manavya experience.
It was a Sunday, 18 Feb 2007. The day was as usual like any
other weekend in my life except it made me breathe in a
very different environment whose fragrance is still within
my feelings which I think is going to be an eternal part of
my life. Chilling morning, I was caring for my outfits to be
proper and dashing, and then I had to travel by share auto

(The Tum-Tum) to the place called “MANAVYA”.
Till then, except an NGO, Manavya meant nothing much to

me. All I cared about then, was the people around me in the
auto. I just started talking casually so as to bring smiles to a
few faces, with which I think they would have looked
prettier. Yeah, I am talking of fellow friends, and most of
them were girls, who accompanied me to Manavya.
Sparsh foundation of our company has organized this trip to

this NGO. The journey took about an hour and at 9:00 a.m.
we were there.
The moment I had entered Manavya, nothing was much

special. There was supposed to be a function. I did not find
it that way. My first observation was the Medical Research
Centre over there, and then few guys approached us to
register ourselves at the reception desk.
It was so simple but smiles on few faces who were

organizing the show were nonpareil. After registering and
getting the tag of registration, I decided that I would help
the organizing committee and involved myself in the
decoration of that place. I kept thinking, why there is no
fresh paint on the walls; they could have made the place
more affable.
Still many people were engaged in their own way of trying

to decorate that place. Very soon the work was done, and I
just refreshed myself. Then in the main verandah of house,

little fingers grabbed my hand.
I had to bend down from 6’4” to 2 feet and I heard a voice

asking me, “Dada tujhe naav kaye aahey?”(Brother, what is
your name.)
That sensation moved me to the core and I could not utter a

word but soon I realized what was happening. I held that
little angel in my arms, whose name from ID card said
Sainath Pandey. That was a touching moment.
My concentration broke down with the outburst of a loud

noise that hit my ears. When I turned back I saw two
cheerful faces welcoming the volunteers. Within no time, a
huge crowd of little kids occupied every available inch of
the room. Very soon it was a place filled with noises,
giggles; everyone was so lively that I started thinking of
myself as one of them.
Then there was a whole show waiting for us. We had to

make teams with those little children and had to perform
on the stage. It did not matter what the performance was; it
could be a drama, play, musical skit, dance or anything,
which could have made spectators clap and laugh at that
moment.
Thirteen different teams with different fillers from
individuals made the whole event a great show. I was
surprised to see so much creativity in those kids aged 5-13
years.
But the very next moment I was shocked. I felt numb when
later I came to know, that all those little angels were
suffering with the deadly virus HIV+. Being a biotechnology
engineer, I could understand the depth and trauma
underneath this word HIV+.
I knew that few children were infected with HIV+ but never
thought that all of those 53 were infected with the same.
This was told by the lady, Ujjwala Lawate who was running
the house ‘Manavya’.
Earlier, she seems like a normal mother to me. Well, very

soon I realized mother is not normal and when she is The
Ujjwala Lawate who is running such a big house on her
shoulders, the least I could do was to salute her
determination and beliefs.
I was lucky to be there when she shared her experiences in

the gathering, which made me and my friends ponder over
those little lives once again from the depth. Apart from
volunteers there were young chaps like me who had
actually planned the event. DreamIndia2020 was their
motto and the name of their NGO initiative.
Within due course of time, we interacted personally with

few kids, who were just longing for love and admiration, the
same way a normal kid does. Around 4:00 p.m. there was a
call off for the show, as volunteers had to return back and
those kids had to go to their strict schedule of diet, and
living habits. They went in their rooms, with a hope that
next weekend too; they will be playing with us.
While going back in tum-tum, I was thinking all the time of

Manavya, whose walls sans paint were now looking like a
heaven door to me. That deserted place needed lot of
helping hands to hold those little fingers and let them know
what it is like to be loved. Not only me but everyone in the
group around me were having the same thoughts.
Some unsaid words might touch the deepest corner of any

heart and Ujjwala Lawate might get some more helping
hands to make MANAVYA a more known and apt place for
those little angels, who are suffering with no mistakes of
their own.
Sainath was one among them.
I got up at 6:05 a.m. and did not realize when I slept

thinking of Manavya and Sainath. Gautam took 5 minutes
extra to wake up. We dressed up in our biking attire and
were out of room in 10 minutes. It was a refreshing
morning and after having the tea we were feeling more
energetic.
As we were about to leave, we gave 12 rupees as a tip to

the waiter on 8 rupees tea. He was happy. We were happy
too as he did not charge us for sleeping.
We were about to hit the road and continue with the

journey. Bangalore was about 300 kilometers away from
that place. And we thought of covering that distance in the
next 8 hours on an average of 60 kilometers per hour and
taking a rest of 20-30 minute every 60 kilometers.
We started the bike at 6:25 a.m.; I was driving it on an

average speed of 65 km/hr. The fresh air was rejuvenating.
Value the human being, not the money
We covered first 50 kilometers in no time; rather we didn’t

realize how easily we covered that. The Sun was about to
rise but clouds were not letting it happen yet the morning
air was freshening.
Then we observed a bullock cart on the road. I stopped the

bike and went to the bullock cart owner.
When I started talking to him in Hindi, he could not make

out what I was saying. I understood from his actions that he
knew only Kannada.
When I asked him that I wished to drive his cart, he handed

me some vegetables (radish and cabbage) which he was
carrying in the cart, thinking I am asking for some
vegetables.
But after 5 minutes of non–verbal communication, I was

able to convey my intentions of driving the bullock cart and
in the next 2 minutes I was able to convince him for the
same.
First, he was driving with me and Gautam clicked

photographs for us. Then he handed over the control to me
and got off the cart. Seeing him his wife also got down. I
guess she might be afraid of my cart driving skills.
After knowing few controls, like if you keep the rope left,
bullocks would go to the left, for right you have to pull the
rope on right side and if you pull the rope straight and tight,
it works as a break. To move forward, you need to slightly
pull the rope and give it a jerk.
Well, theory was easier but practical approach was

relatively different. It took me more than 10 minutes to get
adjusted with the controls. Then I had a good ride on that
cart for about 10 minutes.
Then I offered it to Gautam, but he refused. May be he was

not confident or he was afraid. He did not want to it up but
he sat next to me. After the ride we thanked the farmer. He
offered us some radish before we left on our way ahead.
Gautam was laughing at me for driving that cart. He said I

was looking really funny. I agreed with him when I saw the
pictures.
I was laughing, “At least I tried. I enjoyed the ride and you
were so afraid.”
One point was constantly striking my mind.

It was the generosity of the rural man.
I asked him for letting me drive his vehicle and he agreed

whereas if this rural guy would have come to the urban
area and would have asked any of urban man to test drives
their cars or bike. How the scenario would have been?
Without even knowing me, he gave me the control over his

cart. But I myself was not sure if he would have asked us to
let him drive our bike, what would have been our response.
When I asked Gautam the same thing, he too started

thinking on similar materialistic lines. You can almost say
that more the education more the fear. Somewhere I feel
that we do not take a practical approach with the kind of
knowledge we have, rather we work, talk and even behave
only in theoretical way.”
The opinion of Gautam was really strong; I just took out a

visiting card from my pocket and rushed to that bullock cart
old man. I handed over the card to him and said if you ever
come to Pune, always have in mind that two of your friends
are in Pune. Do visit us sometime.
It was hard doing conversation with him, but his eyes were
filled with joy. He held my hands with both of his hands and
touched his eyes on it. His gesture was more than enough
for us to feel very special at that time.
With that special feeling, we kept the wheel moving on. The
radish was really tasty. It worked like a small breakfast.
Going ahead we observed that there were green farms on

both sides of the road. But we could hardly see any farmers
around. Gautam was driving the bike and I was enjoying the
ride being a pillion.
We observed a street going inside those fields from the

highway.
I asked Gautam to explore that way. First he was bit
reluctant but then he turned into that street. That street
lead to a primary school and along with the school, there
was a temple under construction. It was mainly dedicated

to the Saint Mahaveer.
There were many sculptures of elephants, horses and of the

Saint in many forms. After capturing those moments in our
camera, we continued our journey.
We were heading towards Chitradurg. The road was

smooth and we were praising Karnataka government for
the same. The highway was straight and riding was fun on
that road. We were traveling at 60 km/hr. But soon we
realized, that two lane NH-4 was merged in one lane
highway. The other lane was under construction. We
applied sudden brakes, the bike skidded but I was able to
balance well. This was a scary one. If we had fallen, we
would have been crushed under the truck coming from the
opposite direction.
Soon the appreciation got feeble. The road ahead was

horrible even for walking. Our speed reduced to 5 km/hr.
That patch was full of mud. The road was completely
damaged and there were small stones everywhere.
That passage was going through a small village, having row

houses on each side. Small children were playing on the
road. The road was full of mud. We could have walked
faster on that road. If there were an option we would have
left the bike there. We were praying and waiting for that
patch to be finished. But it appeared like an unending road.
After driving for around 25 kilometers, the road was better.

But it hardly lasted 2 kilometers and the bad patch started

again. It was shaky and it even caused a little back pain. The
mud had made a thick layer on our bike, clothes and even
on our goggles. I had to clean my goggles every minute so
as to get a clear view.
Then I realized, “That was exactly the patch; Gautam was

talking about before starting the journey.”
We both were thanking our stars of making the decision to

take rest at the hotel. If we would have tried to cross that
patch in the night, we were not sure if we could have driven
on that. It could have been the worst nightmare. It took us
almost 4 hours to cover that 70 kilometers of patch. We
were 3 hours behind our schedule.
That patch made us very tired.
The marking needle for petrol came little closer to 3/4th

mark.
Seeing the needle going down, Gautam again got tensed
about petrol. Along with the road this was another tension
for him. I again told him, not to worry, still we can go 250-
300 kilometers with this petrol. But I was not able to find
the reason, why he gets so worried when he sees petrol
mark going below the full mark.
Now at every ten minutes, he started asking pedestrians

the way to the petrol pump. When he got to know that the
petrol is at main highway which was around 30 kilometers
ahead and another one was in the village which was 10
kilometers on the turn, he decided to take turn to the
roadside village.
It was chilly hot day. The sun was at its peak as if giving us a
very warm welcome. I asked Gautam that we should
continue on the highway but he said, “I do not want to take
any chance with petrol.”
“But chance of what?” I could not understand his logic.
It is better to be cautious but extra cautious invokes

frustration.
Getting the feel of village was good but the sun was killing
us.
After filling petrol, we left for the highway. Bangalore was

still 150-200 kilometers ahead and it was 2 p.m. on our
watch.
We were hungry by that time but we did not want to waste
more time, so we did not stop.
What we had planned was that we will reach Bangalore by

evening. There we will directly go to our office to meet all
of our friends. Then we would stay in Bangalore at my
friend’s place. We will party in the night and after some
sleep we could leave for Mysore early in the Friday
morning; from there we can leave for Ooty and come back
to Mysore late night. After having rest at Mysore at his
friend’s place. We will start our journey on Saturday
morning from Mysore to Pune. We both were game for the
same plan though there was not any written pact.
Some 50 odd kilometers ahead, we spotted a good dhaba

on the roadside. We were on the border of crossing
Chitradurg. We could not resist our hunger. Bangalore was
only 100 kilometers ahead and we thought of having some
food over there. The cook made delicious egg burji.
We ordered for dal tadka along with rice and chapati.
The service was fast and food was amazing. After having the
food, we laid down on the khat over there.
When owner got me the bill, I smiled and asked, “What if

we do not have money.”
He smiled and replied, “No issues sir, we will write in the
account. You may pay whenever you wish and if you wish
to.”
I got shocked hearing those words. I cross questioned him,

“What do you mean.”
“One time lunch really does not matter sir. You were
hungry, we served you food. You liked it and praised it. We
enjoyed your company in this lonely place. For us human
beings are of more value than the money itself. Money
keeps coming and going. Anyways this bill is no big deal, it is
merely 80 rs. And that much is not a very big issue sir.”
He was sounding as if we were guests over there.

He shared, “This hotel has a history of feeding travelers for
last 20 years and many a times a few come with empty
pockets but never leave empty stomach. Money do matters
but really does not matter that much.”
I and Gautam were pleased listening to him saying all that.

It was like a priest giving us verses from some holy book.
Hearing him I offered 100 rs to the owner, asking him to

keep rest of money.
He said, “There is no need of the tip.”
To that I said, “Sir this is not a tip. I might not have money,
when I travel next time, so I am giving you that well in
advance.”
All started smiling.
After that I laid down on the khat there and took a nap for
15 minutes, I guess Gautam was busy talking to the guy,
may be busy sharing his study plans.
Last 100 kilometers for Bangalore, and it was 3:10 p.m. in

the clock. We both were all set to go. It was my turn to ride
the bike but Gautam insisted that he would drive. I said,
“Let me drive for next 20-25 kilometers, and then you can
carry on with the remaining.”
He agreed to that but I was able to feel dissatisfaction in his

eyes.
Taking things in lighter manner, I started the bike and when
I touched the speedometer at 65 km/hr.
He started shouting, “Kya hai. How many times I shall tell

you, drive slowly. It is a new bike and why are you not
releasing the throttle. You need to fluctuate it again and
again.”
I smiled and said, “Dude now don’t teach me how to ride.

Till now we were driving on this speed only. So how come
issue came just now? When your turn comes, you drive as
you wish.”
“But…”
“But what, it has been only a month you have started
driving a bike and better don’t preach unnecessary stuff. I
know the only reason for your frustration is that you want
to drive right now. Don’t worry; I will give it to you very
soon.”
“This is a machine and we should make sure that we take

care of this. Else it would ditch us in the middle of road.”
For a moment I too felt the robotic emotions of bike but

very next moment he started shouting again, “You are not
caring just because it is not your bike. You do not even care
for your bike. I have seen the condition of your bike.”
Well, that was enough I had heard from him.
From 40 km/hr bike suddenly stopped to 0 km/hr. I got

down from the bike. I put the bike on side stand. Turned the
key off, took it out. With one hand I held his wrist and with
the other I put the keys on his palm.
“Anyways thanks for the trip till here. Well it seems you are
getting desperate to drive. I will not be driving it now. I
mean I will not overburden your machine.”
Gautam felt little restless, “Pease brother don’t take it the

other way. It is just that I feel more for my bike and just
because of that I said so. It is ok; you drive, but please drive
slowly.”
Just because he was too polite, I could digest the
conversation. I knew that we both had joined for the ride to
enjoy and explore the nature. So such silly things should not
be let to spoil the beauty of the moment.
I handed over the key to him and politely asked him to take
charge. With a smile, I said, “I think I really should take
lessons from you on how to drive a bike.”
At first, he was reluctant but then he took over. Anyways 20

kilometers were done. So I actually didn’t mind giving bike
to him.
His comments about my red pulsar really pinched me. He

thought I was responsible for the sick condition of my bike,
but I only knew when I got the bike from my friend, it was a
piece of junk. I had injected some life in it so that it can be
used. It is better than a cycle and worse than a motorcycle. I
could have easily upgraded my bike but I am in love with my
bike and I don’t find any reason to change it so what if it has
lost half of its charisma.
We were pretty tired by then and such frustrating emotions

were obvious. I understood his irrelevant emotions but it is
always better to work towards the solution rather than
discussing only the problem. For now that problem was
solved paving a path for us to drive further to explore the
unexplored road.
Sudden Twist in Plan
Our conversation went in a lighter vein afterwards. We

were discussing about our plans for the night at Bangalore.
Suddenly Gautam interrupted, “Sir I will not be going to

Bangalore, I will directly go to Mysore.”
That sudden change in plan with of no reason, I was not

able to understand.
“Sir my friends are waiting for me in Mysore, we have to

leave for Ooty tomorrow morning and so it is better not to
waste time at Bangalore.”
I was shocked, “How can you be so fickle minded? We had

discussed our plans already and agreed to have a halt at
Bangalore. How can you just do things being in your
comfort zone, without thinking even little bit about others?
I need to go to Bangalore to meet my friends, and I cannot
afford to miss it. I already have talked to them, they have
made plans for the night and we shall be having rocking
party out there, probably u may get a chance to check out
your dream babe in one of the happening discos out there.”
“Fine sir, we will meet them for sure but while coming back.
My friends have made plans for tonight and it would be
great if you too join us. We can have this party on our way
back.”
“I have no issues but on Saturday we must return back to

Bangalore.”
“Yeah, sure sir, we would surely come back.”

After his confirmation, I called up my friends to postpone
the plans to Saturday night.
Gautam was confused whether to go to Ooty either on bike

from Mysore or to join in the jeep which his friends have
hired.
I suggested, “If we are planning to travel without any rest I

would prefer jeep and I would suggest you too to come in
jeep only. If you wish to drive bike on Ooty road, being a
hilly area, you really need to be fresh, only then enjoyment
would be more, else it would be very tiring and you may
lose all the fun of driving in that tired condition.”
He himself was not sure but then we made up our mind

that we would decide that once we reach Mysore.
Bangalore was just 60 kilometers away but as we were

going to Mysore we were shown a short cut by some
passersby, which would have cut our journey short by 60
kilometers. So rather than following the national highway,
we happily turned to the shortcut thinking that our 2 hours
would be saved.
As we started on that road, it appeared like a village and

soon we realized that we were moving on a state highway
instead of a national highway. There were either farms or
houses on either sides of road. The herds of goats and
buffalos were wandering on the road. The road was bad

and it was even worse than the earlier bad patch we had
crossed in the morning.
For next 25 kilometers, we kept thinking if we should turn

back and take national highway route but then we were in
full mood to explore the village scenery; so we kept going.
Now the further patch was full of dots. It looked like as if

cement and tar had been sprayed with a shower nozzle. We
were jumping up and down and our speed was 10 km/hr.
Gautam asked me to drive the bike…

I had not driven the bike since his emotional arguments
about the machine. I did not refuse as I wanted to dodge
those patches. Now when I started driving I increased the
speed to 40 km/hr.
I was driving carefully and was able to escape the bumps
and pits on the road. I could not escape few of them as
there was no chance at all. But every time Gautam jumped
with the bump, he was cursing me for my driving.
I clarified, “Yaar, it is because of this road and we cannot

afford to drive at 20 km/hr as it is getting darker. It is
already 6 p.m. and we would not be able to drive in this
village in night time.”
But he was not ready to listen. He preferred walking rather

than driving. He shouted on the top of his voice fully
irritated, “Have anyone taught you some sense or not.”
I could have ignored it if the talks would have been light,
but the way he said it to me; I just stopped the bike and my
hand rose in air to hit him.
The next moment I realized that it is of no use hitting him
there. He was my partner and my responsibility too.
I just told him, “It was the limit. Thank your stars that I am
in control. I took you as my younger brother and treated
like a friend and you have crossed all your limits.”
By this time he had realized that what he said was not

appropriate. I read that in his eyes, but I was in no mood to
listen to him anymore.
I left the keys there, took my bag from the bike and just
started walking to the road. He shouted at the top of his
voice.
“Agar aap senior nahi hotey to main dikha deta.”

(If you would not have been my senior, I would have shown
you real me.)
Two of my juniors Phunny and Balli had a friend Apsara
while in college. One day Phunny and Balli complained to
me that Shivam is troubling their friend Apsara.
Shivam too was junior but his behavior towards girls was
not decent enough. I reacted to that saying, “Well don’t
include me in the matter of girls. I would better stay away.”
Balli said, “Apsara is like our sister and you have to help us.”
Did I mention I am one emotional fool?
But there are no issues, when it is for friends.
The very same day I had called for Shivam to meet me.
When he came, he greeted me warmly as if he knew me for

ages.
I had understood that the guy was cunning. I warned him in
a lighter way not to create unnecessary scenes in the
college especially with Balli’s sister.
“Better concentrate in your studies. You are here to study,

do that and enjoy. Better not to bother others, unless they
don’t bother you.”
He replied with smile, “Don’t worry sir, I will not give you
second chance to complain.”
For next few days, everything was fine. But after a week
Phunny and Balli called me up on the phone saying that
they wanted to meet me urgently. Both were looking very
tense. I met them immediately. When I asked them, “What
happened?”
Balli said, “Phunny was about to beat Shivam today. Today

when we were having lunch with our group in the canteen,
Shivam was standing little far with his group.”
“So what, what is the issue?”

“He was making comments on the girls of our group and
when Phunny asked him to shut up, he had shown his index
finger while pointing at Apsara. This time he crossed his
limit.”
I uttered, “wtf.”
“Yes sir, Phunny was about to react at that time only but
Apsara stopped him.”
Interrupting Balli in between, Phunny said angrily, “I am not

going to leave that bastard sir. I will teach him a lesson.”
I had never seen Phunny in anger. He was looking very wild.
I asked them to cool down. I told them not to worry and

promised to settle the things on my own. In the evening I
went to Shivam’s house and called him out.
Balli and Phunny were with me but I had warned them not
to speak even a single word till the time I say. Shivam came
out. He was carrying the same irritating smile on his face.
Seeing me he started flattering, “Sir, How are you? Please

come inside.”
“Last time I had told you something. It seems you did not
get the message properly”, I raised my voice in an angry
tone.
“Sir, why are you coming between us? I respect you but you
please stay out of our matter.”
I asked him, surprised, “Oh! So you respect me. That is why

you had behaved in a nonsense way in the canteen even
after I had warned you.”
In an attitude as if who cares, he said, “Agar aap senior nahi

hotey to main dikha deta”
Hearing his words, I dropped my bag from my shoulders, it

fell to the ground.
“I am not your senior now; show me what you wanted to

show.”
“Leave it sir. You please do not interfere. Let us deal it
ourselves.”
My voice grew louder, “I am not your senior now; tell me
what you want to show me.”
He went a step back seeing me in angry mood saying,
“Nothing sir.”
I repeated again, “I am not your senior now; tell me what
you want to show.”
I lost my temper and pushed him hard on this chest and
yelled, “Show me what you want to show me.”
He reacted with a punch. I dodged his punch but his fist

touched the side of my lips and I got a cut.
I just realized that I was bleeding. I just gave a smirk and

with equal force I gave him a punch on his face. He fell
down. His nose started bleeding. He started abusing with
anger and came back with speed and tried to push me.
His abuses made me wilder and I gave him a side kick on his
stomach and he fell two feet back. Then I went up to him
and punched him as if he was a punching bag but by that
time there were other friends who came in between.
They held me back. Four people were holding me and took
me away.
I never wanted to fight but it was necessary to teach him a

lesson. While going I told him to be in his slippers.
That day late in the night Shivam came to my room along

with my roommate Harsh. My roommate told me that
Shivam wanted to talk to me. I said, “I have nothing to talk
to him, ask him to go away.”
Shivam was pleading, “Sorry sir, it was my mistake. Please
do not take at heart. I did not know that she is your
girlfriend; otherwise I would have never disturbed her.”
I was shocked hearing that.

“It doesn’t matter whether she is my girlfriend or not, but
you are not supposed to behave in such an immature way.
If you still want to do so, at least do not mess with my
friends.”
“Sorry sir, I will not be doing it again Sir. Please forgive me

sir.”
I was relaxed by that time. My anger was mixed with

confusion, “Fine! How is your bleeding now? Hope it did not
hurt much.”
Shivam with his innocent face, “Thank God, I am alive.

Aapka haath tha ya hathoda .(Did you hit with hand or
hammer?)
You had shown me the stars. Your punches were so hard
that I could not breathe for few moments.”
Harsh interrupted in between saying, “It is your luck that

vishu did not share this with me else aaj to teri aisi watt lag
jati ki tu haftey baad hi mafi mangney aata. Chal ab dafa ho
ja yaha say and agli baar main baat main nahi sirf merey
mukkey karengey.”
(You could have come only after a week and just leave now,
if next time you do some stupidity, I will not talk, my fist
would.)
Harsh, being one of my best friends got angry, when he got
to know that I alone went to beat him. He started shouting
at me afterwards that why I had not told him.
It is a tough job to calm Harsh. Usually he is very jolly

character, but when someone gets on his nerves, he is like
one man army, apney sunny deol phaji. (like brother Sunny
Deol, Bollywood actor)
Shivam was the first and the only junior whom I had beaten
else there were so many juniors who loved our group to the
core. But that day I had lost my control. Shivam had left my
room. But one thing was striking my mind again and again.
“I did not know that she is your girlfriend; otherwise I would

have never disturbed her.”
I was not able to understand the meaning of same. It was

third year of my college and I never ever had any girl friend.
Then why he thinks that Apsara is my girlfriend.
I thought who cares, but I should at least see who the girl is.
Next day I called up Balli, “Hey, I want to meet your friend

Apsara.”
Balli told in joyous mood, “Sir even she wanted to meet
you.”
“She too, but why she wants to meet me?”

“Sir, Shivam had come in the morning and said sorry to our
group. Apsara was shocked at that. Then I told her about
yesterday’s lesson you had taught to Shivam. Since then she
wanted to meet you personally and thank you.”
I felt a little different. I told him, “Let’s meet at 5:00 p.m. in

the evening at canteen.”
I reached canteen at 5:05, but could not locate Phunny or
Balli or Apsara. I was standing near the table but could not
find any of them.
There was a girl standing on the next table. She was all
alone. I was not able to recognize her. May be I had not
seen her before.
When she turned her face towards me, I was lost in her
eyes.
She was in light pink suit which was adding to her fair color.
She was so simple and beautiful. I kept watching her.
She felt little uncomfortable and then she turned her back
again.
I did not want to disturb her. But I was curious to know her.
She was drinking a cold drink. I picked some ice cubes from
the counter and went to her, putting those cubes in the
glass,
“Hey! The ice is broken.”
“I do not talk to strangers.”

“Well, I am Vishal, third year B.tech”, I was spontaneous.

Her reactions changed completely, “Oh, Sir you are Vishal
Sir?
Vishu Goyal Sir.”
“Yes I am Vishu. But how do you know me? What is your

name?”
Having soft smile on her face she forwarded her hand
ahead for shaking hands and said, “Sir, thank you.”
“Thank you... Thanks for what? For telling you my name or
for the ice?” I got confused.
“Oh. No no sir. I am Apsara”

“What…?????”, I was stoned for the moment. I didn’t guess
that.
“Yeah sir, I am Apsara. Balli’s friend. Thanks for your help.”
For a moment I thought no doubt why people are fighting

over her.
“Wow, what an identity you carry? Apsara. Balli’s friend.”
We both burst out in laughter.
“Sir, Balli could not come as he got some last minute work
in the lab. I wanted to meet you, so I came.”
“Ok”, that was all I could say.

“But sir, I have to leave now. 5:30 p.m. is the last time for
entry in the girl’s hostel.”
“Do not call me sir, Call me Vishu.”
“Okay. Vishu sir”, hesitatingly she said.

“Only Vishu.”
With a smile, “I will try sir.”
I offered her my hand and said, “Friends…”

“Only if you make a promise.”
“Promise, and what that is?”
“If only you don’t fight again and please do not fight after
wards.”
“I will try”, (that was only I could say, I never expected that
she will take any such promise.)
I just asked her, “Can I have your phone number?”

“No”.
“Don’t you have any number?”
“Mobile is not allowed in the hostel and my number is only
with my close friends and my mother may not like if I give
you my number.”
“Ok, so you need to ask your mother first to give your
numbers. That’s interesting”, it was kind of hard kick in soft
way.
“What If I get the number myself?”

“You will not get it, as we girls change the name and then
store it in the cell. Even Balli is not having my number.”
Smiling on her innocence, “That should not be your
problem, what if I get your number.”
“We shall see.”

“Ok then, see ya soon and you can have my number. My
mother has not given me any such instructions.”
We both burst out laughing.
That was the day, when I met her first. On very first day, I
had to miss my gym and I started working on new project.
“How to get her number?”
After struggle of 8 hrs, from evening 7 p.m. to 3 a.m., finally
I was able to get her number.
How, why, from whom… networking is the best solution.
Next morning, I went to her and said, “Hi.”

“Hi sir, sorry Vishu sir. How are you?”
“I am fine. How are you AnanthLakshmi…?”
“She was surprised. How do you know that name?”
I handed her a paper and asked, “Can you recognize this?”

Her mouth remained open, “How did you get it? This is my
number only and how do you know my star name.”
“Well, that I am not supposed to reveal. But it’s power of

strong and trusted network. By the way, I have not
memorized this number yet. You can tear this piece of
paper, if you don’t wish me to have your number.”
She folded that piece of paper and kept softly on my palm.

She closed my fist and said closing her eyes with assurance.
“You can keep it.”
Wow, that was one divine feeling.

After that we kept meeting regularly and soon our

chemistry worked and we started talking for long hours on
phone.
Usually she used to talk; I was on the listening end.
She brought a change in my life. It was she who made me
learn how to control anger. Maybe it was because of her
promise only that I still control my anger even today.
I did not make the scene worse with Gautam.
I simply walked away from Gautam towards the road in

order to find some other conveyance. For 2 minutes, he did
not even move. But then he started his bike and came to
me and crossed my way.
“Sir, I want to talk to you.”

“Nothing left to talk. It is ok. You go ahead; I do not want to
talk to you at this point of time.”
But he dint allow me to leave.
Behaving in very childish way, “Ek to apney aap ko bada

bhai mantey ho aur fir chotey say gussa bhi ho jatey hai.
(Well when you treat me as younger brother than why are
you so angry with me.)
“I am sorry; I should not have said that.”
He continued, “It is okay. You take the keys, you drive it.
You drive it at whatever speed you want. I do not mind. I
will not utter even a single word.
But please come along. You are my best buddy.”
Well, these emotions were enough to get any work done

from me only if I would have been in normal state. But this

time I was very much upset just because how he dared to
speak such non sense.
But he knew the tactics. He even touched my feet, saying,

“Badey bhai ab to maaf kar do.”
(Big bro, now at least forgive me.)
Well, that was enough. There were around 20-25 villagers

who were listening to us and were in state of dilemma that
what was going on.
Then I asked him, “Fine!!!
Stop acting now, enough of buttering.
Come ‘on, let’s move.
Let me be the pillion.”
“No you are still angry, you drive it.”

“I am not driving and before I change my mind to go along
with you, better you start.”
Without wasting a second he started his bike and now to

change the mood he started talking about his life plans.
Anger management works. It really can help one to avoid

taking destructive decisions.
Mysore: Back to Basics
It was getting darker. We were approx 60 kilometers away

from Mysore and clock was showing 7:30 p.m. Then
Gautam requested me to drive the bike for next 60
kilometers as he knew that it would remove the remains of
anger if any left with in me.
The Sun was about to set. There were no street lights on

that state highway. I took over. It was hard to drive on that
road. Roads were zigzag and we could see so many herds of
goats and buffalo now and then. It seemed as if it were
returning from the fields. We were away from home.
It had been really long I had visited Haryana, but I was

about to touch my official home, the place where I started
my career journey.
It was totally dark by then. Still we were 20 kilometers away
from Mysore campus and the clock showed 8:45 p.m.
Now the last 20 kilometers I covered in 15 minutes.

I stopped the bike in front of Jai mata di dhaba. The only
dhaba in front of the Infosys campus, the place responsible
for our survival during training days at Mysore. The lassi
and the parantha of that dhaba are famous across all
Infoscions who have ever been to Mysore and there is one
more specialty of that dhaba.
The owner of the dhaba is great fan of Himesh Reshmiya.
Even his looks are similar to HR. He too carries a dense
beard and always wears a cap.
Though the dhaba owner was not able to recognize me but I

was able to recognize the taste of lassi and parantha.
When I looked at my watch it said 9:01 p.m.
The journey of approx 1000 kilometers was completed in

approx 27 hrs.
1000 Kilometers in 27 Hrs, an accomplishment which would
live long way with the memories.
Well, the journey was long, yet every moment of it was

refreshing. When I saw the campus gate, it was looking no
less than a beauty, the beauty sparkling in the night light.
It was a youth city, where we could see mostly young crowd

that too in age group of 20-25 years. This place has been a
witness to many love stories, many of them unsaid,
unwritten but still in the remains of deep memories of ones
who have felt it.
We entered the campus gate and went directly to the

basketball ground. The cleanliness of the centre has been a
benchmark.
Once someone asked, “Which is the real India, is it outside
the campus or inside the campus?”
The answer was, “The real India is outside the campus, but
how India would be in 2020, that prototype is inside the
campus.”
We had driven for 27 hrs without proper sleep but Mysore

air was making me feel fresher. I was on the top of my
world. Those buildings, lights, fresh air gave me the same

feeling as it was 2 years ago. It was as if I had achieved a
great target. I was feeling content at that moment.
Gautam sat on the lawn near basketball court and started

calling his friends. The court is surrounded by green lawn
and on the periphery there is a way for pedestrians.
I could not be a spectator for more than a minute and went

inside the basketball court. All the players were new but
this is the best thing about a game that players are known
with only one name and that is sportsmanship. They were
just practicing. They offered me the ball.
I tried to hit some three pointers but in vain. Ball did not
even touch the basket. But who cares, I was involved in the
game and soon I hit a three pointer.
In few minutes, some of Gautam’s friends arrived.

I went to Gautam leaving the court.
As Gautam introduced me to them, I asked them, “So guys

what is your plan for tomorrow? Which car you guys have
booked for Ooty?”
They looked at me with a surprise and before they could

have spoken a word, Gautam interrupted, “Arey Vishu sir.
They are different set of friends. We are going Ooty with
other friends. Those friends right now are not picking up the
phone.”
I took that lightly but I did not know the intensity of the
same.
After half an hour I realized that Gautam had not made any
foolproof plan. His friends had taken him lightly about the
bike ride and they had not even tried to contact him. There
was no clue where his friends were.
I said, “Well not an issue, let’s check out the campus till
then. Meanwhile keep trying to contact them. It has been a
long time; I had been missing this place.”
I was lost in old memories, “I want to live those moments
again where I made few best friends, the saga before 2
years. Like Shili, Dillu, Anukant. I called all of them from
there.
Dillu works with oracle Hyderabad, the asardar sardar, the

second topper of my Mysore training batch. He was one of
the intelligent students in my batch. He always believed in
me and my thoughts. I do not remember even a single
moment where our thoughts did not match.
Shilli was sweet, cute yet a little arrogant but was my best
friend. She was the topper of my training batch and had
helped me a lot during my exams. I was supposed to study
the computer course of 4 years in just 4 months. She was
more worried for my exams.
I was a biotech student. Switching to computer domain was

difficult. Her hand writing was very poor and just to make
sure that her study notes could be of some help to me, she
used to read that for me. There had been times when Dillu
and Shili had accompanied me in the class till 4 a.m. in the
morning, just to make sure that I do not take my exams
lightly.
Finally thanks to them that I cleared my exam with 86

Percent. That was not hard to achieve, but without them I
might not have taken the subject that seriously.
Shilli is now in USA, she had left the job to pursue higher
studies.
I called up Dilbag, “Oye, sardar I am standing in the same
class where we used to study”
He started shouting with excitement, “Abbey sale tu pahuch
gaya Mysore...You are a big ass. Pune to Mysore. Man you
are amazing! Hope your journey was fine.”
“Dillu, everything went fine and rocking, will tell you whole
story later. I just wanted to feel your presence here, so I
called you up. Now I am keeping the phone and let me talk
to my princess.”
Then I called up Shilli, when I told her that I was in the same
class where we used to study she became emotional. As it
was an International call and my cell had not much balance
left, the call got disconnected in between. Last line I could
hear from her was, “I am missing India and ….”
Well I know she was missing me too as I too was missing my

best pals.
Gautam told me, “Sir it is getting late, let’s go and take

some hotel. No friend is responding now. Probability is high

that they might have taken pegs and must be lying around
somewhere. We would better catch them in the morning
and then decide what to do next.”
It was 12 o clocks in the night. We were tired. I never knew

how we were managing to stand straight. We had no
particular place to sleep.
I asked Gautam to walk from there. We went to the lawn

again, nearby people were still playing basketball. Ignoring
them I asked Gautam in a very serious tone,
“What the fucking plan you have made. What are we going
to do now? You always keep boasting of things, but when it
comes to ground reality, the castle crashes in no time. I
always take you lightly and that does not mean that I
support your stupidity.”
He was about to say but I didn’t allow.
“You are really hopeless. When I asked you to move
according to my plans, you were adamant on yours and told
me that you had settled everything in place and now, what
do we do now?”
He had no convincing answer but he came with an option.

He said. “Let’s take some room out in some hotel in the
city.”
“You need a room in the city at 1 o clock in morning.”
He uttered, “Yes, nothing else can be done. I will see those
friends of mine. Salo ki watt laga dunga. (I will screw them
up.)”
But we did not have any other option also. Waving bye to
the campus, we left to Mysore city in search of some decent
hotels.
By that time we both were very tired and wanted some
place to sleep. Most of the hotels were full. We approached
many hotels, few were charging around 3000 rupees, but
our budget did not allow us to take those. We were in look
out for a cheaper one.
Soon we got one cheaper hotel which offered a price of 500

rupees for single night. That sounds like the one we were in
search of.
It was time to fall on the bed like a tree which had been cut
ruthlessly.
The last wave
I was about to agree to the deal but a bell rang in my mind.

I asked Gautam to come out of the hotel and asked the
supervisor to give us some time for a discussion.
Both of them were surprised at my reaction.
When Gautam came out, I bluntly asked him,

“What are your plans?”
“Sir! Have you gone nuts?
I want to sleep first. That is my plan…”
“Dude, Well I need to know our further plans now, so as I
don’t get fucked up like this later.”
He said very uninterestingly, “We will sleep now and when

we get up we will try to get hold of those friends of mine
and then we will go to Ooty. Sir, chalo jaldi. Sona hain”
(Sir, move fast, have to sleep.)
“Ok and when are we supposed to go to Bangalore.”

“Kya rakha hain aisa Bangalore main? I m not going
anywhere.”
He continued, “I will stay at Mysore only, for the next two

days.”
“Then what about the plan, we had made?”
“You are coming along with us to Ooty. We will return

tomorrow and then you can continue to Bangalore. I will
drop you at the bus stand. Then while going I will pick you
up from Bangalore. But I am not going to stay at Bangalore.

Abhi to chalo, soney jana hain” (At least move for now,
have to sleep)
Sleep was over powering us. His words were hitting me like
nails. I was so surprised that how could he be so illogical
and stupid. I knew that he was crazy but it came as a new
surprise for me that he would not care of others even a
little bit.
To his preposterous reaction, I said, “I must go to

Bangalore.
Are you sure you are not coming to Bangalore?”
“Yes.”
“How can you be so irresponsible, and do you ever keep
your words or not?”
He talked nonsense which was going over my head, I was in
half sleep and half of my mood was gone because of his silly
plans.
“If that is your entire plan, drop me at the bus stand right
now.”
“Then what about the hotel.”
“Dood, I am on a journey on my basis or at the max yours.”
There was a long silence.

“I do not want to be dependent on your irresponsible
friends and your fucking ideas anymore. If you still have not
learnt any lesson, I am in no mood to spoil my plans of
enjoying the trip. It was really a great experience till now.
I will move to Bangalore right away, and catch my sleep in

the bus.”
“So, you will be going to Bangalore now, but what is the
use?”
“This way I can save some time and money both. Moreover,
I will have two spare days to enjoy more.”
Because of my reaction, he was taken aback.

But at that time the sleep was more overpowering so there
was not much room left for discussion. He dropped me at
the bus stand.
He hugged me and said good bye with a forced smile and
returned to the hotel.
I took the window seat in the bus. I continued my journey
for Bangalore hoping to reach there as soon as possible. Bus
journeys are longer than usual when one desperately wants
to reach the destination.
The last time I felt the same was while going to Thanjavur.
The bus was supposed to reach at 5 a.m. in the morning.
But because of the puncture the bus reached late in the
morning at 7 o clock. I rushed to my house to refresh
myself.
I had not slept the whole night, but still there was a glow in
my eyes. I was in my best clothes and with anticipation I
headed towards college to meet her.
I had thought of different plans to propose her. But I was

not able to settle on one. I was not even sure whether I
would be able to tell her those three magical words or not. I
called her on her cell and asked her to meet me at 9 at the
college canteen, the same place, the same table, where we

had met each other for the first time.
She was in the same pink salwar kurti which she was
wearing
the first day. But her face was looking dull. She told me that
she was feeling a little sick. Due to her glum mood, I forced
myself to be a bit patient.
“You better leave now, we shall meet later.”
She left with a smile.
I was left with a heavy weight on my heart.

I could not control myself for long and after 30 minutes, I
text messaged her…
“Never thought I would be writing it and that too to you

and so soon. But today I am feeling that I should tell you the
biggest truth of my life. I only realized it last night and I take
full responsibility of my statement. Please meet me as soon
as you feel comfortable. I want to see in your eyes and say
the same magical words I love you.”
She messaged me back saying, “Wait I am coming back.”

It took 30 minutes for her to return.
She was approaching towards me.

The dullness of her face was gone.
I thought maybe that was the magic of love.
Without wasting a second, she continued, “Hey, I got late as
the hostel warden came for attendance, and what joke is
this? What do you mean by this message?”
It was for sure that her freshness was not because of the
magic of love. I held her hands in mine.
“This is not a joke”, looking deep in her eyes without any
hesitation I continued,
“I love you Apsara.”
Lowering down her eyes, “Even I love you Vishu”
I was about to jump with joy.
Completing her statement, “I too love you Vishu but I love

you as a friend.
You are bestest friend of mine.”
“What do you mean…. As a friend? Do you Love someone

else?
I asked these questions without thinking what I was saying.
“No, I do not love anyone else.”
“Then what?”
“No one till date has ever proposed me in such a

responsible way.”
“Then what is the issue? Is it your family, friends or
something else? You need to tell me.”
“Well, nothing as such, they might agree. But I myself do

not want to get into luv shuv. Still there are two more years
left for my degree. I do not want to hurry.”
Thinking what a responsible answer from her, I said

confidently, “No issues, even I am not in a hurry. I can wait

for your answer.”
With a confused look on her face, “Please Vishu, try to
understand. I am not going to do love marriage ever.”
I was left with no answer

“What is the reason? I will talk to your parents.”
She did not react to that; once again I asked her the
reason...
But she just did not react at all.
All my hopes were shattered. I asked her in devastated
mood.
“Please leave.”
“Vishu, Please do not feel bad. Any girl would love to marry
you. It is my hard luck.”
“Hey, listen; now don’t try to pillow me and all. I wanted
that lucky girl to be you. Why can’t you tell me the reason?
If there is some problem you can tell me.”
“We are good friends, and we always would remain”
If she would have said no, I could have taken that easily.
But her confused statements did not work in her favor.
I bluntly asked, “How many friends does your Mother
have?”
She asked me in a strange voice, “What do you mean?”

“I mean the same, after marriage there is hardly any
friendly relation between a guy and a girl.
Miya biwi bachey aur pariwar
(It is only husband, wife and children)

Life encircles in those relations only.”
“It would be too early for me to answer you the reason.”

“I can wait for your answer; you think and then tell me”
“No Vishu, it will not work”

I knew her answer was not yes.
“Fine let’s not talk any more on this. I will not be able to get
in touch with you hereafter.”
“Please don’t do this. I need you as my friend.”
“My feelings have changed and now you are more than a
friend to me. I need some time to get hold of my feelings.
For that I need some personal space.”
“Please”
“Well, you are not the only beauty I have come across.
There are prettier girls than you. It was just because I felt
great whenever I used to be in your company. I told you
that I want you in my life.
If you think it’s not possible. Let’s get going to our way.”
I knew I grew impatient there. It may be because it was my

first experience. ‘Mera pehla pehla pyar tha.’
But after that I had never looked back.

I knew she was my first love and till now the only love.
I cherish those moments I had spent with her but now, she
is only the part of my teenage sweet memories.
After that I promised myself that I would never hurry in

love.
Later I came to know from one of her friends that she had a
silly bet with her friends that she will never fall in love. May
be that was the reason she rejected my proposal. Now, she
is no closer to me, living her life in her own sweet world. I
had deserted many emotions behind in the college itself.
Love was also left behind somewhere along with the
violence.
Now I just wanted to get some sleep. It had been a great yet
tiring journey. Time to go to Bangalore and it is going to be
the party time.
I was actually more worried about the party, but deep down
the heart I knew something was missing. Apsara, whom I
think was my life was no more in my life and Gautam, who
came like a surprise package and in last two days has
helped me to live my 22 years once again would not be
there in the party.
Footprints which were left behind had once again crossed

my paths. Life is always so unpredictable, in future when we
remember our old sad times, it brings smile to our faces
whereas remembering the old good memories would bring
tears.
Had I been little more patient, I could have got what I

wanted at that time. But keep moving is the name of
life.
Acknowledgements continued…
Special thanks to Gautam and his brand new bike XCD

-125, the combo of two made this journey possible.
How can I forget Apsara, who still shouts at me in my
sleep?

1000km in 27hrs

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1000 Km IN 27 Hrs

I would like to dedicate this book to the Indian roads where

A special note of thanks to Shilpa for being there as a true

The list would not be complete if I don’t mention my close

I would also like to pay my tribute to my first workplace –

Vikas Rattan Goyal

Being one was a popular decision rather than a thoughtful

The vicious cycle which starts with getting up late in the

One such irregularity happens in the life of Vishal. In those

For me, far more than a book, this is a communication

The computer in front of me always talked in Java, C and

Voices coming under the blankets

“What is the time Anu…kant?”

“Wait, let me see.

Reply to that was a shout from me, “Enough is enough”

A voice inside my head screamed, “I cannot take it

Now, when I was waiting for a new project, I found it very

not very happy with me coming late to office. I was trying

But fate had some other plans for me.

As I came out of my bathroom, wrapped in my white towel,

Gautam; this guy really needs an introduction.

Recently, he had purchased a new bike, replacing his ‘95

Whatsoever, it is always good to have him around, as he is a

complete entertainment package, a perfect ‘brain

He had a weird smile on his face seeing me in a towel.

I answered him in the same smiling way with double the

Before he could have heard my question, he was busy

speaker, when it comes to describe any incident or a story

Anukant is the most capricious man I have come across till

What I could hear from Anukant was “NO NO NO…”

Anukant was adamant, “I would not go. I am not

Gautam was talking of going for a long road trip on the

I always love to travel and when it is full of uncertainty, it

Interrupting them, I jumped in between and said,

Gautam looked at me, “Vishu sir, be sure, this is not a joke.”

“Ok sir ok,” Gautam nodded with a smile. He had something

I kept a hand on his shoulder, “Gautam, we just need to

Tejveer, another roommate of mine jumped into the

TejVeer, as the name describes, is really having a great Tej

He is a shopping freak. I wonder in his last incarnation,

I talked to Gautam for a few more minutes, and then I

concluded, “I will try if I can get some more roadies in our

Meanwhile, I realized that I was already late as per my

As I entered into my cubicle, 10 eyes were staring at me,

No, No. Scooters do not speak.

I was about to answer the question when Nandi, the lady

But after Nandi’s comments we heard an innocent voice,

Like any normal software engineer, I was accustomed to

The sweet and charming creature with mixed accent of

This process of money exchange usually happens twice a

was not much official work as such. Then I thought to

I posted my comments on Bulletin Board.

Pillions/Riders are welcome.

P.S. The route can be shortened also depending upon the

To my surprise, there was not even a single reply for next

I have seen long chain mails and long discussions, started by

“But why am I getting so sensitive about it? I am not adding

Having this question in mind, I called up Gautam, “Hey, why

He welcomed the idea with an open heart but I was taken

For a moment I was disturbed but then I told him plainly,

Then he wanted a day to think over. I let the thought go

He did some good research on the feasibility of the trip,

which was actually commendable. But to me, it was not of