HP Ride - Day 1 or so i thought

29/09/09
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Chaos theory or Murphy's laws, I definitely must become an example to quote. The bike doesn't get delivered to Shashi's door step as promised. But thats cause he isnt there.
Everyone was in Delhi by late last night.
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Astad, Manish and I rush (if that makes sense given Delhi's traffic) to Okhla Industrial Area to get the bike. So there is after all the Okhla Phase 1 after 3,2!! The packing was great and nothigs broken. 11am and the bike is finally ready to run.
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And no, we didnt go back home, slide our bags over the bikes and ride away. We spent another 90 minutes to find a way into Karolbagh in the sweltering heat to get Astad's & Manish' bike fixed. Damn the clutch plates, they didnt ever climb a hill on the way. So we are standing at the famous "Bawa Garage" with the Bawa, a frail old man now, bestowing all his unwanted attention on me. His side kick working on a bike that belonged to some foreigner. Bawa was boasting away of all the embassy staff that has been scurrying all over delhi in the bullets he "supplied". There actually are a few news paper clippings and thank you plaques given by the Canadian Embassy staff with a picture of the staff posing with their bullets. All done up by Bawa.
It was fun to hear Bawa (some 80 years old now) crib and say "sab sale behen**** hai yaha".
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And we didnt have the good fortune of the Sardar Bawa fixing the our Parsi Bawa. The bikes tho were fixed by a lesser mortal across the street and it was finally 4pm that i came back to Green Park! Unanimous that we weren't starting today. All we wanted was to go tuck ourselves into a comfy bed. Wasn't meant to be.
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Delhi heat leaves you sweaty, slimy and irritated. So no hope of any sleep. Shashi came home early so we were wandering near the Jama Masjid for a while.
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Day 1 - 9pm, I'm still at home. Re-arranging the luggage in the bags, making calls to Bawa and Sanket to firm up plans. Tomorrow 4am at ISBT they said. Sanket came over and went off to sleep. I couldn't. Never could before a ride. Any ride and this wasnt just any. So whats better than actually watching a nice, masala & hence super duper hit telugu movie to while away the night. Almost time....

HP Ride - Day 0

I was off to Delhi by a Kingfisher Red at 6.40pm on 28th. A night before, the packing lasted far too long than i expected. And the saddle bags refused to accomodate the clothes, spares, sandals & riding gear. Can't wear the gear in the flight can i? So guess what? The saddle bags, riding gear and the knick knacks (i never actually brought them along on the ride now!) were all dumped into the biggest suitcase i had.
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8.30pm and i'm standing in a painfully long queue for a pre-paid cab at the airport, aware that this was going to be another long day. 10.30pm and after some 25 odd kilometers of looking for Shashi's house in Green Park Extn, i was finally settled in. BTW, Kingfisher Red now serves hot snacks for free!!
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