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Here's a not-so-little something from my life for my xBHP mates: Our Bad Baby steps Trip Log!
The photos are at: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hitans...lbum?.dir=b20b
Manu's Prequel:
This is the Prequel of the Big Bad biking trip Gaurav's been regaling junta with.
Sweating in my really warm jacket on the ramp right after the ramp party and tempo shouts, we started out for Nal Sarovar at 3:15 from the Main gate. Any misgivings (and I guess I speak for everyone here) as to the necessity of such a warm jacket turned into gratefulness for the foresight, around 10 kms into the trip. Once on the highway, we started stretching our bikes' potentials by occasional but deliberate pushes to around 70 kms/hr. After a wrong turn, we all got on the right route from Sanand.
Nal Sarovar is 42 kms from Sanand and the route is really bucolic (Not that we got to see much in the darkness, but anyways...). Once, on the way, my pillion exclaimed and pointed to the sky and believe me, it was the "Baap" of all planetarium shows. Never in my life have I seen the stars more clearly or more in number. Such clarity offered a unique opportunity to my pillion, who counted at least 10 distinct shooting stars (Somebody is gonna work overtime fulfilling those...).
In our zest to stretch the bikes' limits, we ended up at the entry point of Nal Sarovar at 4:45. A 15 minute break by the fire and 16 tickets later, we were on our way to the actual lake. Amidst ardent canvassing for tea and refreshments by the localites in chaste Gujju (apart from the 3 gujjus on the trip, everyone else could only enjoy the nice phonetic ring to the language), we hired two boats manned by Mansukh bhai ani Akbar bhai. We pushed off into the lake by around 5:45, the two boats moving together in tandem. Amidst persistent anxious orders by Hitanshu to settle down and stop moving, Yours Truly started singing, along with my dorm-namesake Gattu. This didn't go on for long because of some really stinging comments from one of the boatmen.
Finally by around 6:15, the sky started to lighten and we could hear the cries of various birds. The boatmen took extreme pride in explaining the names and characteristics of quite a lot of birds that we saw, but because of Yours Truly's lack of knowledge and interest in Ornithology, I was more mesmerised by the slow rise of the sun from the lake. If there was one sight in this trip that made all the bum-aching travel worthwhile, I personally feel this was it.
<center>Rise and Shine, Bikers!Mmm, anyone wanna swim?</center>
Yes ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about the Rann of Kutch, one of the largest stretches of nothingness on this planet; uninhabited, the ultimate physical barrier, mesmerizing, mysterious and cruel. Only camels (and insane bikers) cross these wastes and that too at terrible cost. Reportedly, occasional piles of bleached bones attest to the terrors of this place (luckily we didn't find one, or even better, didn't turn into one). Tales of survivors, reluctantly told, are sagas of human and animal distress.
<center>Chasing the Mirage-s with Kawasakis :P</center>
What an experience !! Out of the world would be an understatement. At the end of the day when I am tired and sleepy and moved and shaked and feel captivated by that nothingness, I can not help but imagine what would that Rann be like now, in the night, totally dark with understandably ominous spirits of those long taken by that devilish creation of God for the mankind. All you see is nothing. Yes that's true. Extremely dry cracked hardened soil. Dry to the core. If you are lost and ran out of water in the Rann, well ... the place as no sign posts, no roads, no inhabitants, hardly any wildlife (except the Wild Ass, found nowhere else in the world, which we were lucky to get a glimpse of). All you will have is the sun and the stars to direct you, and more importantly, the tire tracks of BSF trucks.
And if you die, you will become just one so many spirits on the prowl in that land, who were eaten up by the Rann.
I could go on and on to tell what's its like, but I realize that will be futile. It can't be explained, it can only be experienced. I feel it is pulling me again towards it, with evil intentions. Where is my water bottle !!!
What a trip.
A thought from a pillionaire (arpita):
From hearing the gentle lapping of the water in the dark star-lit night to feeling the wind whipping past to chasing mirages .. the whole experience was so priceless..
And the line i kept hearing in my head was ..
"..here i am, this is me, there is nowhere else on earth i had rather be"
i felt so alive.
Then, a Metallica song suggested by Abhilash that echoes on our Rann adventure:
"the one song that rings in my mind after the trip is this one by metallica..."
...and the road becomes my bride
I have stripped of all but pride
so in her I do confide
and she keeps me satisfied
gives me all I need
...and with dust in throat I crave
only knowledge will I save
to the game you stay a slave
rover wanderer
nomad vagabond
call me what you will
but I'll take my time anywhere
free to speak my mind anywhere
and I'll redefine anywhere
anywhere I may roam
where I lay my head is home
...and the earth becomes my throne
I adapt to the unknown
under wandering stars I've grown
by myself but not alone
I ask no one
...and my ties are severed clean
the less I have the more I gain
off the beaten path I reign
rover wanderer
nomad vagabond
call me what you will
but I'll take my time anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind anywhere
and I'll never mind anywhere
anywhere I may roam
where I lay my head is home
but i'll take my time anywhere
free to speak my mind
and I'll take my find anywhere
anywhere I may roam
where I lay my head is home
carved upon my stone
my body lie, but still I roam
wherever I may roam
Thanks for reading, or pressing Pagedown to come here :P
Comments/impressions People?
Hitanshu
The photos are at: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hitans...lbum?.dir=b20b
Manu's Prequel:
This is the Prequel of the Big Bad biking trip Gaurav's been regaling junta with.
Sweating in my really warm jacket on the ramp right after the ramp party and tempo shouts, we started out for Nal Sarovar at 3:15 from the Main gate. Any misgivings (and I guess I speak for everyone here) as to the necessity of such a warm jacket turned into gratefulness for the foresight, around 10 kms into the trip. Once on the highway, we started stretching our bikes' potentials by occasional but deliberate pushes to around 70 kms/hr. After a wrong turn, we all got on the right route from Sanand.
Nal Sarovar is 42 kms from Sanand and the route is really bucolic (Not that we got to see much in the darkness, but anyways...). Once, on the way, my pillion exclaimed and pointed to the sky and believe me, it was the "Baap" of all planetarium shows. Never in my life have I seen the stars more clearly or more in number. Such clarity offered a unique opportunity to my pillion, who counted at least 10 distinct shooting stars (Somebody is gonna work overtime fulfilling those...).
In our zest to stretch the bikes' limits, we ended up at the entry point of Nal Sarovar at 4:45. A 15 minute break by the fire and 16 tickets later, we were on our way to the actual lake. Amidst ardent canvassing for tea and refreshments by the localites in chaste Gujju (apart from the 3 gujjus on the trip, everyone else could only enjoy the nice phonetic ring to the language), we hired two boats manned by Mansukh bhai ani Akbar bhai. We pushed off into the lake by around 5:45, the two boats moving together in tandem. Amidst persistent anxious orders by Hitanshu to settle down and stop moving, Yours Truly started singing, along with my dorm-namesake Gattu. This didn't go on for long because of some really stinging comments from one of the boatmen.
Finally by around 6:15, the sky started to lighten and we could hear the cries of various birds. The boatmen took extreme pride in explaining the names and characteristics of quite a lot of birds that we saw, but because of Yours Truly's lack of knowledge and interest in Ornithology, I was more mesmerised by the slow rise of the sun from the lake. If there was one sight in this trip that made all the bum-aching travel worthwhile, I personally feel this was it.
<center>Rise and Shine, Bikers!Mmm, anyone wanna swim?</center>
Yes ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about the Rann of Kutch, one of the largest stretches of nothingness on this planet; uninhabited, the ultimate physical barrier, mesmerizing, mysterious and cruel. Only camels (and insane bikers) cross these wastes and that too at terrible cost. Reportedly, occasional piles of bleached bones attest to the terrors of this place (luckily we didn't find one, or even better, didn't turn into one). Tales of survivors, reluctantly told, are sagas of human and animal distress.
<center>Chasing the Mirage-s with Kawasakis :P</center>
What an experience !! Out of the world would be an understatement. At the end of the day when I am tired and sleepy and moved and shaked and feel captivated by that nothingness, I can not help but imagine what would that Rann be like now, in the night, totally dark with understandably ominous spirits of those long taken by that devilish creation of God for the mankind. All you see is nothing. Yes that's true. Extremely dry cracked hardened soil. Dry to the core. If you are lost and ran out of water in the Rann, well ... the place as no sign posts, no roads, no inhabitants, hardly any wildlife (except the Wild Ass, found nowhere else in the world, which we were lucky to get a glimpse of). All you will have is the sun and the stars to direct you, and more importantly, the tire tracks of BSF trucks.
And if you die, you will become just one so many spirits on the prowl in that land, who were eaten up by the Rann.
I could go on and on to tell what's its like, but I realize that will be futile. It can't be explained, it can only be experienced. I feel it is pulling me again towards it, with evil intentions. Where is my water bottle !!!
What a trip.
A thought from a pillionaire (arpita):
From hearing the gentle lapping of the water in the dark star-lit night to feeling the wind whipping past to chasing mirages .. the whole experience was so priceless..
And the line i kept hearing in my head was ..
"..here i am, this is me, there is nowhere else on earth i had rather be"
i felt so alive.
Then, a Metallica song suggested by Abhilash that echoes on our Rann adventure:
"the one song that rings in my mind after the trip is this one by metallica..."
...and the road becomes my bride
I have stripped of all but pride
so in her I do confide
and she keeps me satisfied
gives me all I need
...and with dust in throat I crave
only knowledge will I save
to the game you stay a slave
rover wanderer
nomad vagabond
call me what you will
but I'll take my time anywhere
free to speak my mind anywhere
and I'll redefine anywhere
anywhere I may roam
where I lay my head is home
...and the earth becomes my throne
I adapt to the unknown
under wandering stars I've grown
by myself but not alone
I ask no one
...and my ties are severed clean
the less I have the more I gain
off the beaten path I reign
rover wanderer
nomad vagabond
call me what you will
but I'll take my time anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind anywhere
and I'll never mind anywhere
anywhere I may roam
where I lay my head is home
but i'll take my time anywhere
free to speak my mind
and I'll take my find anywhere
anywhere I may roam
where I lay my head is home
carved upon my stone
my body lie, but still I roam
wherever I may roam
Thanks for reading, or pressing Pagedown to come here :P
Comments/impressions People?
Hitanshu
Comment