51. The Royal Rajasthan Ride: The Ride of A Lifetime

                                     by Keertan Adyanthaya 

The alarm rang at 4 am on Tuesday morning and woke me from a fitful slumber. Woke up,

took a quick cold shower to jolt me fully awake, put on my leg guards, my riding jeans, 2

layers of T-shirts, bandanna around the neck, balaclava around the noggin and riding leather

jacket. My bag had been packed and double checked the previous night itself. Picked up the

trusty old helmet & gloves and was ready to hit the road at 4.30 am.

First stop at HUDA metro station in Gurgaon to join another HOG - Ashwani Singla

(patch) and then the two of us were on our way to the rendezvous point - Anatomy Lifestyle

in Delhi. A few jokes and Coffee's later, all the riders were there except for Ravinder Singh

(Montu). He turned up in the nick of time. We were now 10 riders embarking on a fun

journey, but even we didn't know how much fun it was gonna be.

Asis Mandal (Dada) had mapped out the roads for this expedition and was leading the way,

behind him was Hemanth Paul (Doc) and then the rest of us. Sharad Sharma (Sheru) took up

the tail / sweep position, Bal Nanda & Pawan Chohan shared the marshalling duties. Rahul -

the service engineer from Capital HD was trailing us in the support car.

Our initial destination was Surajgarh where we were to have a late breakfast. We took the

country roads and went past the small sleepy towns of Bahadurgarh & Jhajjar to get there.

The roads were mostly single carriageway, but were in good condition. Along the way, Dada

had a brief encounter with a mangy black dog, but the dog got away with life & limb intact.

We stopped for chai just after we passed Jhajjar and caused a minor commotion in the

town.

We were riding the roads at speeds between 60 & 80 kmph, our first mishap was when 2

dogs decided to cross the road just as we were thundering past. Patch was the unlucky rider

who caught up with them; he successfully avoided the first one, but got entangled with the

second. He crashed into the dog at 60 kmph and slid on the road, but sprang up from the

tarmac at a speed of 120 kmph. He had a couple of scratches, his jacket & pants a few rips,

the bike a scratch, the engine guard had taken the brunt of the slide. The scoreline read

Patch 1: Dogs : 0

We all decided that Patch needed to take a short chill break and Rahul got onto the fat boy,

while patch rode shotgun in the car. We were extra careful for the next hour and reached

Surajgarh without any further incidents. The engine guard had been dismounted from the

bike and was dispatched for welding.

Our scheduled stop was at Surajgarh for breakfast. We had assumed that we were going to

a restaurant there. But when we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to see a small palace

which had been exquisitely restored with ethnic materials & ornamentation. The staff was

extremely courteous and made us feel at home. Our host was Anil Arora’s pal - Maharaj

Aishwarya Katoch and he greeted us with effusive warmth. We spent a lot of time over

breakfast admiring the view and exploring the nooks & crannies of the palace. Soon, it was

time to leave because we had many miles to go to reach our destination for day 1. After a

quick medical all clear, Patch was back on the bike and we were ready to roar.

Onward we went past small villages and towns, passing a lot of cattle & livestock. I think the

state “doggy grapevine” had passed the message to fellow dogs, so they pretty much kept

out of our way. We passed through some very narrow village roads where there was barely

space for a single lane of traffic to pass through. Oncoming traffic of trucks & tractors made

way for the 2 wheeled monsters and we made good progress. But like they say, you've got

to pass through the worst before it gets better. There was a stretch just before we reached

the highway where a water pipeline had leaked and there was ankle deep water on the

road, we didn't know if there were any ditches underfoot, but we drove through this patch

of road with a prayer on our lips.

We then hit the highway and decided to take a refreshment break. It was at a small highway

dhaba, we were served the most divine Masala chai & spicy chili laden Maggi noodles. We

liked the noodles so much that we kept ordering multiple rounds. The rest of the journey on

day one passed without incident and we reached the beautiful city of Bikaner just past

sunset.

We stayed at the Laxmi Niwas palace in Bikaner. After a quick shower, we all met for drinks

and dinner. We were quite ravenous and cheerful about the day. Bal not only entertained

the group with his quick wit & irrepressible one liners, but also took the responsibility of

organising our meals. He invited the chef over to our table and ordered a delectable spread

of Kebabs, Lal Maas & Maa-Ki-Dal and some absolutely scrumptious desserts. We gorged on

this and there was still a task left for the day. The truck with the bikes had already reached

there and the bikes needed to be unloaded so we didn't waste any time the next morning.

There were two 350 kilo monsters parked inside the truck and all of us struggled with them,

but unloaded them safely after a few tense moments.

All in all, it had been a pretty eventful day. We crashed into bed and slept sound while 2 of

the brothers were driving down to Bikaner from Jaipur in a taxicab.

We woke up the next morning and had a late breakfast and spent half an hour cleaning our

bikes which was totally un-necessary given the fact that we were going to be on the road all

day and the bikes would just gather road grime once again. But, we love the shine of

chrome and the feel of clean paintwork. I spent another 15-20 minutes hooking everybody

up on the Scala headsets that we were using to communicate with each other on the road.

We got onto the highway and the roads were pretty devoid of traffic. We now had our

regular Sweep / Tail gunner – Titus Koshy shepherding us. Long stretches of highway, arrow

straight with only the cattle to say hello to as we thunder past. We encountered cows,

buffalo, sheep, goats & camels on this road. There were also multiple convoy’s of army

supply trucks, Howitzers, troop carriers & border security equipment that we passed by.

Even though we had planned to skip lunch, so we could reach our destination before

nightfall, we were famished by 2 pm and decided to stop for a quick bite. The quick bite

turned into a long leisurely lunch. This was a purely vegetarian spread with some bajre ki

roti, gobi ki sabzi and some lasan ki chatni that was sent down from heaven.

Post lunch, a small hurdle came our way. The Greatest (i know it sounds like the name of a

WWE wrestler, but he isn’t one) Anil Arora had a valve leak in his tyre. We had just passed

Pokhran then. We had to stop at a small roadside puncture repair shop to get this fixed. It

was a very quaint place and was the abode of a Bishnoi community. We spent about 90

minutes getting the wheel repaired, but the sun was almost below the horizon.

We got on our way, but just 30 km later, Sheru had a blowout of his rear tyre. This couldn’t

be repaired and needed a replacement. We loaded the bike onto the recovery truck and got

onto the highway once again. It was dark and dangerous to drive. We stationed the Road

king with its blazing headlights and uber-confident rider – Pawan, right up at the head of our

convoy to guide us along our way. 2 Marshals – Bal & Samir Malhotra (Sammy) patrolled the

line and kept the riders in a tight formation. In the meanwhile, our logistics experts – Titus &

Anil were burning the mobile airwaves with frantic calls to Delhi to transport a replacement

tyre to Jodhpur, so that we could fix the bike. We reached Jaisalmer in pretty good time, but

the desert camp we were staying in was 45 km beyond. It took us a little longer than an

hour on a treacherous half paved road to reach the camp.

We were exhausted and promising each other that we would not make the mistake of riding

in the night a third time. The evening made up for the arduous day that we’d had. Vikram

Bhaduria (Vicks) whipped out some divine single malt & his Bose portable and played some

spiritual sufi music which put us in the right mood. Then Sheru brought out his guitar and

played some classic rock songs that we all sang along to. Bal & Anil kept us in splits with

their sit-down comedy, jokes & anecdotes. At 1 am, a few of us decided that it was an early

Christmas and we went carol singing to wake up our friends who had decided to call it an

early night. Of course our carols were quite bawdy & ribald and hence not worthy of being

printed. Sammy who was staying alone in the tent was quite aghast when the merry carol

singers barged in and was ready to defend himself from being molested or harmed in any

way.

It was a beautiful desert sunrise the next day and we all woke up to catch it on our cameras

for posterity. Some of the riders went dune bashing in a jeep. We then packed our bags and

left on time. Our destination was Jodhpur and we were riding via Pokhran. This stretch had

some of the best roads of our journey so far. Good twisty sections perfectly banked. We

stopped at a beautiful resort called Manvar;

It was like an oasis in a desert. It had an open air courtyard with a decades old tree that

provided shelter from the blazing sun. We had a wonderful meal with some spicy rajasthani

chicken curry, ker sangri, jodhpuri kadhi & some choorma with ghee to lull us to sleep and

we were back on the road again.

We reached Jodhpur just an hour behind schedule and the tyre had already reached from
Delhi. Maharaj Katoch was also here to welcome us once again and extended his courtesy
and invited us to see the Maharaja of Jodhpur’s collection of vintage cars at the Umaid
Bhavan. The cars were a sight to behold – masterpieces in Metal, lovingly restored and all of
them in perfect running condition. We just couldn’t bear to leave this place but we had to
be on our way to ride another 60 km to reach our night halt.

Sheru’s bike’s wheel got fixed with a some heavy lifting by Bal & the boys. Sheru had a head

mounted LED torch which immediately earned him the nickname of Shesh-Nag. The lifting

and straining had some of us clutching our backs, but doc pulled out his trusty medical kit

and sprayed us with some pain relievers and we were back on the saddle again. We got

word that two more riders from Delhi, Praveer & Priyansh had already arrived and were

waiting for us at the resort – In short order, we set out on the last leg of the journey for the

day. Maharaj Katoch led the way in his SUV.

We reached the Sardar Samand Lake Palace late into the night, an over a century old

hunting lodge converted into a palace hotel and lovingly restored to its former glory. The

furniture & furnishings were exquisite and suited the surroundings perfectly. Every room

had a fireplace and was cozy & warm. Maharaj Katoch hosted a reception for us by the

poolside and his staff catered to our every need with affection & care. We felt like we were

royal dignitaries who had arrived at the King’s palace. The royal care made sure that some

of the reserved riders like Montu & Vicks opened up and were relating anecdotes too.

We woke up early the next morning to a stunning view. The palace overlooked a beautiful

lake with a variety of birds of different plumage on its banks. The palace itself was built in

the art deco style and had a very large collection of hunting trophies & watercolour

paintings. The sunrise that we viewed here cannot be described, it was so beautiful. We just

could not bring ourselves to leave this palace and had to be practically dragged away.

This was the penultimate day of our trip and our destination was the salt lake in Sambar.

According to biker lore, this lake was a dry lake and had a hard packed bed on which we

could ride. Since the radius of the lake was 35 km, it was a lot of riding we could do. Our ride

towards Sambar was pretty uneventful, we encountered some heavy traffic on this road and

a couple of long stretches where they were re-building the roads and we had to take bumpy

detours. Our last stop was at Dudu which was 35 km from Sambar, where we refueled

before heading to the salt lake.

We started riding toward the lake and with the setting sun it grew progressively dark. It was

at this point that we made a wrong turn and stopped to ask one of the locals for directions.

He turned out to be extremely helpful and promised to lead us to our destination. We

followed him; however the road deteriorated until we weren’t on road anymore, but on a

bumpy, uneven mud track.

We then reached the home of the local and he wanted to show us how hospitable he could

be and invited us to break our journey and have dinner with his family. We were grateful for

his offer but needed to get going. He then continued to lead us along the path and pretty

soon we weren’t even on the mud track, but on a sandy path. The bikes were weaving

around beneath us on the unsure footing. The local (at this point, I’ll start referring to him as

Loco) told us that it’s just another half of a km more of this sand and we would be on a

paved road. So we continued, we were riding on loose, deep sand drifts and the bikes were

just uncontrollable. Every few minutes, some bike would have a tailspin and throw up

plumes of sand. Sheru dropped his bike a couple of time, Bal & Doc dropped theirs too. The

riders on the bigger bikes like the fat-boys & softails & road kings had the worst time of all.

They were in high risk of breaking a bone or getting crushed under the bikes. We continued

like this for the next 2-3 km.

Finally, my bike stalled and refused to go any further. The bike was starting, but the gears

refused to engage. All the riders dismounted and came to my aid. We took turns and started

pushing the bike. It was terribly hard going because of the loose sand. There were a couple

of other bikes which stalled, but started again after a few minutes of cooling down the

engine. Loco told us once again that it was just 300m to the paved road, but by now

realization had dawned on us that he could not be trusted. Tempers were frayed, but we

somehow kept our cool. We kept pushing the bike for about a kilometre, no road in sight.

Loco offered to push the bike himself, since we were exhausted, I handed it to him, but he

almost got crushed when the bike began to lean on him. Sammy, Vikram, Pawan & I took

turns for the last km and gave it a huge push and reached the road. This was one of the

longest & most arduous evenings of our lives.

Once there, Rahul the HD service engineer arrived and got down to business, he opened a

couple of nuts, tightened a few cables, and loosened a few others. He then turned the key

on, we all held our breath, he started the engine, I still hadn’t exhaled, he engaged the bike

in gear and it started moving. I let out a huge whoop of joy. All of us bedraggled and

exhausted riders then made our way to the Lalit Mahal. This was the worst leg of our ride.

Even dirt track bikes would have had difficulty in negotiating this, but we had gone through

it all.

In the meanwhile, 2 more riders from Delhi had turned up to join us – Rishab & Laju. 10 had

started out from Delhi & we were now 16. It was an early night for all of us. We woke up

early the next morning to check out the salt lake. It was rugged & beautiful. But it’s more of

an acquired taste. I don’t think I would come back here again.

This was the day that we were going to ride back home. We set back on the road with some

trepidation. I had been warned not to rev my bike too much and not to cross 100 kmph on

the ride back. We rode at a constant speed and made good time on our return journey back.

We stopped at a Cafe Coffee Day on the highway and bought up all the food there because

we were quite hungry. The other customers visiting the Cafe were quite put out by this.

We took a halt just after the Manesar toll gate to congratulate each other on completing

this 2000 km ride and to bid au revoir to each other. We all reached home before sun-down,

the first time we had reached our destination before dark during the entire trip.

It truly had been the journey of a lifetime.