Have you been forced to wake up at five in the morning, most of you would have suffered this but but but but that's not my problem ,happened to me too, but today I've been forced to wake up at five in a moving train. Most of you will be like so what?, for those mofos please listen to the reason , I've been forced to wake up in a train at five to see sunrise. Not by a female co-passenger but by my friend, who's forced too I guess.
I was not even willing a percent to be a part of this trip, but all thanks to a whatsapp forward and a ten year old college agreement with my three friends ( back then, not now ). Yes , I am on a trip. We are heading to Delhi from Jamshedpur where we all met, from Delhi... oh f..k I don't know further trip details.
2.
I have a job , same as my rest three luggages but still we are on a random trip during our midlife crisis to solve our "mental issues" as commented by my friend ,Yogi, who's in this trip with us but is not awake to enjoy the bloody natural sunrise, I mean how will he achieve mental peaceeee??.
Next member Billy ( not a foreigner, just a man with a cool nickname ) is also sleeping but not on his berth but on the same berth number in the next coach, just to do something "toofani" , you'll be thrown out in the toofan idiot, but who messes with these stupids in the early morning. Ohh the biggest of them all, the one who woke me up to see this once in a century cosmic event ( sunrise ) is Giri a naturalist or a murderer of sweet dreams in the name of nature I don't know.
3.
This is my crew in this trip now you tell me your expectations. Mine is death due to unknown or multiple causes.
New Delhi railway station , train late by a light year I guess. Four of us jump off the train and meet at the taxi stand to decide what's next. Billy is incharge of the navigation and asks the taxi to stop at a food stall at Saket metro station we load unload at saket expecting a linking metro.
Noo, Billy is hungry he's there to eat because he saw that this place cooks best Dosa , not in a food magazine but on a WhatsApp forward. I am done with the trip, I am booking a return to home ticket but just then two well built men , actually really well built ones stand near eating Billy and hands him over the keys of their bikes.
4.
Two Royal Enfield Classic, they leave us saying happy Ladakh ,and that is how I knew our next stoppage. Till then I've spent three thousand, two on breakfast and drinks and one on the taxi which was told by Yogi for a city tour without my consult . Giri is overenthu as always but we can tolerate that.
5.
We stop at Murthal I get parathas and lassi , but only lassi for my three luggages as a punishment. We stop for the night stay in a hotel in the highway side and that's its name too, irony or nonsense I don't know. Yogi and me are sharing room , but before this Sandeep Maheshwari starts with his moving on from his divorce to a casual relationship status, I want rest and I get to sleep.
Next morning at eight I woke up , I open the window and what I see , three donkeys in leather jackets asking me to come down fast. I freshen up ,get to the bike and ask these three morons that why nobody informed me yesterday night about this early morning schedule and didn't try to wake me up also. All three of them replied in a chorus "it was intentional". I replied to myself that their murder will be too. Off to Leh.
6.
Ladakh is not a place it's that chai you need early morning. Beauty in the roughness of the land and divinty in the toughness of the monks.
7.
I am driving and I think I am going to crash soon in the valley due to anxiety. I am with Giri who's more succumbed than amazed, and Yogi on the other bike is just asking about our affinity to the border. If scared to hell had a face Yogi will be perfect for the moment. We stop at a monastery to have something and offer prayers ( not likely ), I have not said a word from last two hours, I am thanking these egg heads for this trip not with my tongue,because that will hurt my male ego. Deep inside I am getting a bit happier about the trip. Just then I hear the starting of two bikes, they are leaving without me, I have to run a kilometre to get them they were not even accelerating they were just with a constant velocity so that I maintain a distance from the bike while running.
8.
Feelings for these people will be a self made black hole to fall into. We spent our night on the banks of Pangong Tso lake , we did the campfire with the beer. We made rules for the trip which included no use of phones, Billy broke it not by calling someone but by scrolling down on tinder ( youth of this nation ). He was not alone this scrolling was later joined by Yogi , Giri was busy in his el classico and I am engaged(and that stops my freedom).
9.
Next morning we bath in subzero temperature of ' I can't spell it again' lake and off to our next stoppage Ambala in Punjab.
10.
We had dinner we slept next morning when were about to leave, the hotel watchman asked me " betaji , tussi baikara jaiketa de adara kium tie paa rahe ho " , yes I was wearing a tie inside biker jacket and not just tie I was wearing complete formal dressup from the start of our journey, because my expectations about this trip were a bit more luxurious and comforting. From Ambala we moved to Rajasthan, in the meanwhile we wasted two hours because Giri was suffering from diabetes insipidus I guess otherwise this amount of pee if pured can cure the water scarcity in native african countries.
Ohh sorry no punch down jokes from now.
11.
This was not the only reason, Billy was halting everytime he saw a group of women carrying water matkas on their head to ask them routes, I know what routes he was asking for. Yogi was supporting him when I asked them that guys can we please stop this now, Yogi said "human interaction is the best thing in a journey". Okayy I agree but but but we have crossed three chowks and two villages and we didn't enjoyed this interaction there. They replied in just two words again in chorus 'sex ratio'.
12.
This time I laughed, we enjoyed the Rajpuatana for five days and then drove back to Delhi. On our way back we were in a different thread that knit us so well that I was a whole different person. We reached Delhi.
13.
We were out of the IGI Delhi I created a WhatsApp group 'four friends' they said its a very cliche name but who cares. We hugged each other, they hugged me tightly I felt that friend bond, I said I'll sponsor our next trip they agreed. Billy was going to Panaji ( business trip orr... ) , Yogi to Ranchi , Giri on a family holiday to Kerala and I was off to Sydney, we moved to our respective departure gates. I was really happy, felt a tap on my shoulder " sir, please your passport" very gentle lady of the airline, I checked the passport and it was not there. I asked her to give me five minutes , I opened my phone and saw group of messages in our newly created WhatsApp group.
14.
Billy posting picture of my passport captioned "hug was tight" , Giri saying "I am out of it " , Yogi saying "part of life buddy move on" and me changing the group name to "Resfeber" what's the meaning?? ,take help of your dictionaries not the internet , slaves. Remember I am not a peripatetic person still.
Atul Pravakar.
PWP shorts