Yes ! its almost a year now, or err maybe it was just yesterday ! A year now I rode to Ladakh, The Trans – Himalayan Expedition 2008 ! All the ‘memories’ don’t seem to be memories but a part of life, or maybe life itself ! Kicked off from Delhi on the 6th of July and back on 27th of July… I’m sure all of us had several lives lived together in those 21 days! The only thing I’d regret is not writing a blog about this ride, but maybe, I’ve another reason to ride again to the same destination – to write a blog! 
This post wouldn’t really help me picturize something which happened a year back.. I won’t be doing any justice to the whole experience if I blog about it now.. So, I could just think of a few instances which I’d want to write about. From roads, to no roads and no roads at all! that was the theme of the ride to be followed! A few close calls which people have already spoken about .. A few mishaps which are bound to happen..From bikes conking off to bikes raping the roads.. seen it all..From Vikrant’s cheers to Pupu’s monkeying acts in the tent..the lovely night at nubra valley and the stranded night at Kargil.. ! The parathas from Chandigarh to the food at Golden temple.. DAMN! I so wish to go back!
I’d only hope that after a couple of years or maybe earlier, the same group, the same people, the same route.. would be fantastic and probably another few lives to be lived in those days!
Ps- Freaky, Anil, Pammi and Dawg missed out on these lives!
I’m just passing through this weird phase where in a lotta things are running around on my mind all the time. Yes! I mean ALL the time. There’re things that make us feel good and happy; and there are things that make us sad and depressed, but weird? how can you feel weird about certain things? Is it a mixutre of good and bad feeling? What is it? If its something weird, how can we conclude it as its weird? No wait! How can use weird to explain ‘weird’ when the word itself is not explained? Isn’t it a very confused word by itself? I don’t know what is it or what do I have to do with this word.. But this just explains the phase of my mind..
Back from a very “short” ride as some people might call it to be and not their kinds, but one of the best rides for me. And, for the others too i guess.
Distance covered- 420km.
People and the bikes-
Aditya and Sumana- 350 standard
Govi- 500LB
Dawg- 350 machismo
Pawan- 350 machismo
Prabhakar- Pulsar 220
Manish- 350 standard
To start of with, Govi and I wanted to ride to some place simply because it was quite sometime we went for a ride. The weather being relentless on us, didn’t have a much of a choice and time constraints too. Dawg was waiting for a ride for quite sometime too so we thought we’d ride to Warangal ‘cos its not too far and a familiar place for Govi and Manish.
Planned to start 4.30 pm, Pawan, Sumana and Myself ended up starting at about 5 pm from the start point. Joined Dawg and Prabhakar at Uppal and left from there at about 7pm ! Reasons being Pawan’s bike and My bike giving some initial problems and also, Manish and Govi getting stuck at work. Our bikes had a minute electrical wiring problem which luckily wasn’t a serious one. Got the bikes fixed by Raju mechanic at the Royal Enfield Showroom, Uppal. Manish was already on the Ghatkesar road and rode all the way to Uppal just for fun and joined us there.
Once we reached Bhongir, Manish had to get back to the city urgently for some important and he left. Govi couldn’t make it cos of the office work. The rest of us continued to ride on from there. The roads were just close to being perfect. It was bout 8 or so and still there was prominent HOT wind blowing and no sign of any cold breeze. Slight cold breeze at couple of places relieved us a bit. Didn’t really realize when we crossed Ghanpur, Ramapuram and reached Kazipet, halted there for few minutes. Reached Warangal at about 10 pm and to our luck the hotels were full. Had to look around for a bit and checked in at Ratna Hotel. Freshened up, got some food and other stuff, and we all took a plunge into a night of good long conversations.
It was around 2 a.m and we decided to take a nap for a bit as we planned to visit the Pakhal lake at 5 a.m and possibly get the best sunrise view. I could barely sleep for 15 minutes and we were up again at 5. The 50km ride to the lake was amazing and very relaxing. The scenic view of the lake was astounding and actually defied “PEACE”. The splashing sound of the water suddenly seemed liked the best sound I ever heard, yes! much more than the music of slayer and lamb of god! Though it must not be one of the best lakes or even close to being one, it was a nice experience for me. The off-roading here beats the Toopran ride off-roading outright! Steep rocky slopes and rough muddy road could be taken of just like those of concrete are. It was fun riding on those after a long time. I’m sure Manish would ‘ve loved the place just for the road. Was about 11 a.m by the time we got out from the lake and cos of the heat again, we headed back to the hotel straight. All these guys went off to sleep and then the “mad-man” of the ride Govi calls me at 11.30 a.m; “Dude, I’m starting for Warangal now. See you there!” Inspite of me trying to persuade him forget the ride and just chill there cos the heat was just getting worse, the guy didn’t listen and started for Warangal. If I’m not wrong, he was in my room at about 1.30p.m. I’m sure he must’ve smoked the roads with just one break for a couple of minutes. Wonder how he did that in HOT afternoon!
We started at about 4.30p.m, looked at couple of temples, the fort and some other places. Once done with warangal, the ride to hyd was AWESOME. We left warangal at about 6/6.30 and man..I’ve never knew a 500LB could actually FLY. Read a whole lotta reviews about the bike but seeing the way Govi ripped the bike, it was a treat for the eyes. Earlier I thought 1.2lacs for a RE was a lil too much, but now I don’t ve any hesitations in taking my statement back. I was actually getting a glimpse of his noon ride during the evening ride. To my surprise, My bike was at its best until now. I never enjoyed riding my bike as much as I did today. I guess even Govi was surprised a couple of times seeing my bike just GO. And this justifies my statement about this ride being one of the best for me.
Took a lotta “short” breaks while coming back and were later cruising on 60kmph. Reached Uppal at about 9p.m and dispersed from there to our respective places.
Things i liked about the ride – no problem whatsoever with any rider, no issues with any bikes, new member Prabhakar mixing up well, Govi coming there inspite of the heat and also knowing that we’d be in warangal only for a couple of hours more, Probably the best performance of my bike till date and above all, learn’t what a 500LB is all about.
I can honestly say that I have not been to as many Metal Gigs as some people, but the ones I have been to have been some of the most memorable moments in my life. The last gig I was at was probably the best ever gig I’d have been to till date. At the beginning of this month and I’m sure your all tired of hearing me talk about that by now.
Bangalore! I was there yet again, but this time to see, DAVE MUSTAINE and his army - MEGADETH!.. Past experiences in Bangalore, were good? or may be, too good! No sweat with the climate and the people, and I couldn’t ask for more this time!
The troop and I were just gearing up for may be, one of the biggest days of our lives. Rock In India! One of its own kinds, and the very first Rock Carnival in India with two mammoth bands lined up for the night- Megadeth and Machinehead. Thousands of Metal Heads headed to Palace Grounds, hovered over the place and announced their arrival. With seven Indian bands playing on the same day being Pentagram, Junkyard Grooves, Prestorika, Millennium, Thermal and a Quarter, Mother Jane and Casino Blues; would be any rockers delight! Prestorika, Junkyard Groove and Mother Jane were my pick among all the bands. By far, Mother Jane’s performance was the best among all the other bands. It was the first time I saw Prestorika perform and I hope to seem them again sometime soon. Junkyard Groove was having a ball on stage. For the rest of the bands, I don’t really have an opinion ‘cos I didn’t hear all their songs. Once Pentagram started playing, I started making my way to the main stage as they were the last Indian band that played before the Gods took over the place. Jumping over people, trying to squeeze every step a lil further I made my way till the third row before Machine Head started playing.
It was about 7.10 p.m, I hit the first two rows just on time and Machine Head opened with - Clenching the Fists of Dissent and just owned the place right away! After a couple of tracks the entire crowd was screaming “Machine Fuckin Head”. Robb Flynn just paused few seconds and said “This is fuckin awesome man!”. I personally heard very few songs of Machine Head and wasn’t too keen to see them on stage in the beginning. But, once they marked their arrival, I loved their music and especially the drummer. There was no place to move/headbang/jump/mosh in the first 20 rows. People were pushing/shoving/kicking to make their way to the first row and get as close as possible! It was more like survival of the fittest! I gave up on the crowd once Machine Head finished half of their setlist. I moved back, got some water for myself and was just gazing at the humongous crowd present there. I could see something like a tornado at about 20th row from the stage, the crowd moving to the left,right and centre. After grasping some breath, I started making my way back again to the first row. Robb Flynn was amazed that the crowd kept singing along with him. At the end of every song the crowd chanted “Machine Fuckin Head” which surprised the band guys time and again!.. Machine Head was tight throughout their set and I’m sure they did give their 100% . Rob Flynn belted out some powerful riffs and vocals like he’s pawned everyone and he’s owns the crowd. . Machine Head showed amazing showmanship and set the stage on fire. For me, they set the perfect ambiance for Megadeth to take over the stage. They finished their set around 8.15pm. then there was a good 20min delay to change the drum kit and the stage monitors. In these 20 minutes I was trying hard to make through the crowd and trying get to the centre of the stage.
At around 8:40 pm, the Sleepwalker intro played through the PA and everyone knew, the moment had arrived. The high voltage scream pierced through the sky and Bangalore made sure that the band realized for whom they are gonna perform. The sweat/pain/thirst/hurt all dissolved and disappeared in few seconds with pure thrash metal going down my veins. The lights went off for that moment and came back on with Mustaine and Co. and the crowd went beserk. Megadeth surely kicked some butt and I was gearing up for what I always heard “Deth
Style”.
Megadeth played some songs from Peace Sells, Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction, Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings apart from United Abominations. I hope Mr. Mustaine interacted more with the crowd, thanks to DNA and their time delay. For others and even myself, their music did the talking. Dave looked dumbfounded quite a few times when crowd sang along for most of the songs and mastered the art of back vocals. After few songs was a pause for a bit and then Mustaine said “I think I will keep playing rather than talk”. I think even he realized that the show started off late and the crowd didn’t want a miss out even on a minute. I could barely stand on my feet and breathe, I lost my voice and I was so drained out that I couldn’t even sing along. But, it was all worth it and I don’t ve any regrets. I loved the songs they played and I don’t think I’ve any complains. It took me quite sometime to realize that Dave Mustaine, the man himself was right in front of my eyes. They belted out as many songs they could. “Before we end this tonight, we would like to just tell you how much we liked being here….And we will be back!” and then the guitar screamed HOLY WARS! I‘m not sure if the order is right, but their set was like- Sleepwalker, Take no prisoners, Skin O’ my teeth, Washington is next, Mechanix (was a part of a medley i guess), In my darkest hour, A tout le monde, Tornado of souls, Trust, Hangar 18, Symphony of destruction, Peace sells and concluded with Holy wars! The sound was good but not all that great and I was too drained to concentrate on the sound than looking at the man himself!
A lot of people said this is not the same old Megadeth, there is no Marty Friedman and no Glen Drover. But as for me, I’m simply honoured to watch Megadeth live !
Eight hours for pure metal overdose!
“Megadeth! Megadeth! Megadeth!”; I still hear the chant…
P.S- The pictures are taken from the internet and not clicked by me/someone I know.
This was one amazing experience for me and I should share it with you’ll. To start off with, I was supposed to be riding to HumpY :d (hampi- place in karnataka) with my bike group guys on the 22nd of this month. My friends from bombay and a friend from the U.S who is in India now, planned for a trip to Goa at the same time. I had to make a choice between Hampi and Goa and I had a tough time doing that 
. I planned to call off the Hampi ride and decided to go ahead with Goa, but as expected things never happened my way and I canceled the trip to Hampi and decided to head to Goa, and again, the very next day I decided to cancel both the trips and decided to chill at home.
Me deciding to cancel both the trips was primarily ‘cos I was going through some shit and to get outta that, I decided to spend the night at a friends place watching a movie and just generally talking. At bout 3 a.m, I thought I should go for the ride but it was already late as these guys were leaving at 4.30 a.m. I went to see em off at our start point at 4 a.m. Seeing all the engines roar and people excited about the ride, I couldn’t do much but just curse myself for calling off the ride for myself. And then, I heard someone say that “Manish is leaving in the noon, you should join him and come along!” . I thought this is the only way I can go for the ride that is to leave with him, else i’d keep repenting all my life 
. After these guys left, I went back to my friends place, dropped him and got back home at about 7 a.m. I told mom to wake me up by 10 a.m and that I’m heading to Hampi at 12 p.m. I slept for about 2 hours and got up with whole excitement to ride down to this place. Though it wasn’t my first ride, I was excited about it like I’ve never done something like that ever before. Met Manish at the start point (paradise) at 12 p.m , fuel and oil topped up, and finally, we left at about 12.30 p.m!
Both of us weren’t too sure about the route to Shamshabad as there’re multiple routes to that place! It took us a lil more than an hour to touch Mehdipatnam and get outta city! phew! Once I could see the highway, I felt that I’m looking forward to something real exciting. Our BULLET’s were belting down hard on the flat wide road. Our first stop was at Mahbubnagar and that was after covering 100km in about 2 hours. Stopped at a bakery, had some cool drink and some other refreshments. Our pit-stop was only for 15-20 mins!! The road from Mahbubnagar to Raichur was awesome. I wish the roads in the cities could match up to those we rode on. 105 odd km of amazin road ! Our next stop, was yet another Bakery and the order/duration repated! 
From there, we set ourselves to ride to Gangavati which was about 130km from Raichur. This 130 km was a ride within itself… It was about dawn and could see the beauty of the nature in true sense. We took the route which would take us direct to Hampi and not Hospet (town 15km away from hampi). Just then, we got updated and we had to ride to Hospet as the others were already there and we would be spending the night there. One of the locals from the village, guided us to hospet with this 12km beautiful strech where in we rode through the farms on a very small road and the full moon adding to our pleasure of the ride. Once we crossed that patch, we hit the main high way again and started ripping as it was gettin dark. We reached Gangavati at about 8p.m and here was the third pitstop for 15mins again! We headed towards Hospet from there which was about 55km away from Gangavati. This was the worst ride of my life! I went over 1000’s of speed breakers ! I’d ve never gone over so many speed breakers in my entire life! Karnataka Govt surely has its way with the speed breakers! Finally we reached the hotel called “priyadarshini” at 10 p.m, spoke to the other bikers, had some food and crashed on some drinks
Woke up to a hot morning on 23rd got ready and we left to hampi from hospet. I just loved the place and the architecture there. Amazing! We just rode to a few of the monuments/buildings/places at hampi as architecture doesnt really interest me. We got back to hospet at 4p.m checked out from the hotel, took out baggages and went across a river with our bikes along in a BOAT ! ! (boat – small round wooden thing. called “tokri” boat in hindi) . We reached this other side and rode about 5km to this place called “Virrapapuragaddi”. Far from civilization with amazin scenic views and only nature to trip on. Stayed in this Guest house called “Bobby’s Guest House” which was by the lake. Trust me this one amazing place and you should go there atleast a few times and not just once. I’m totally in awe of the place. The next two days 23rd and 24th, all we did was make merry and talk to the foreigners there. We were the only Indian tourists there and we were actually craving to see some Indians there other than the localites. In a day of 24hours, our smoke-drink-talk session occupied about 18 hours, and rest went to sleep of 5-6 hours
On 25th morning, we started back to hyderabad at about 6a.m and now it was about 15 of us together. Rode through a road of 10km of only hills and across Tungabhadra river seeing the sun-rise at its best possible beauty! The ride while coming back to hyderabad seemed smaller to me may be cos of the number of breaks and riders too. Reached kbr park at about 5 p.m and then back home n crashed to sleep.
Sadness feels good? Makes me closer to God? as it makes you feel humble..small, and to an extent lonely..when your mind and your heart alternate control over your existence.
Sadness is my friend, he visits me at night, discreetly..and takes over me, he takes me places, brings me people..and then leaves, as I find my way back through the darkness. Sadness is good..every once in a while..it keeps your senses heightened, as you face your days, it gives you a sense of justice, makes sure you treat people well, makes you smile in people’s faces as you greet them in the morning, it makes you give..rather than just take, giving makes you feel better, it seasons your sadness, it gives it a boost as you feel your humanity, in this day and age of individualism and selfishness.
Sadness lends delicacy to emotions, it makes you patient, compassionate, giving, forgiving..it makes you transparent, takes away all the masks of modern day life..and brings you back down to the basic elements of your existence..it reminds you of others..makes you generous, altruistic..as you ponder on the misfortunes of others, their plight, their destitution and sorrow, and their own reasons for sadness.
Sadness..is a heavy guest, but he’s meant to be that way..so as his effect when he leaves is never forgotten, lest you forget to be delicate in your emotions when you’re on top of the world..look down at those who are sad..and delicate in their emotions as they look down at those who are below them..as those seek comfort from above.
