So, long story short, BattleCat broke down (the brand new clutch, installed yesterday, is slipping and she keeps going into neutral and coming out repeatedly all by herself, which is very dangerous) in the most beautiful of locales about 15km from the Malshej Ghat waterfall (at the fortuitously named, ‘Kedar Mamacha Dhaba‘), and my mates from Bikers’ Creed India (the leave-no-one-behind club) and Misbah & I spent a chatty 3 hours before everyone but two co-riders stayed back as we waited for the Royal Enfield RSA to reach us (unfortunately, I don’t have very good things to say about their professionalism or speed, even though I’ve already had two other previous occasions on which my personal experience was excellent), which it did another 3 hours later!
That said, we loaded the bike and are now on the way to Pune, about 6 hours (maybe 8 at the pace this very helpful, but very young, driver is driving) away, where I shall park her overnight outside the RE Service Center at Viman Nagar (from where my right-hand man, Vikas, will take things forward tomorrow morning). This Mahindra Jeeto’s front cabin isn’t really designed for 3 people, a full backpack, a helmet, an armoured jacket, and a fully geared up 6′ rider, with heavy boots on. But like in poker, as in life, we play the hand we’re dealt. And so, having made two new friends, Omkar & Shubham, 23 & 24, respectively, and learnt something new (how to load a motorcycle onto a flatbed and how to tie her down so she’s stable), I’m having a fun time understanding their lives, their aspirations, and their perspectives, which are quite different in some ways than mine, and quite similar in others.
All right, gotta go. We’re stopping for tea (and to stretch my legs, both of which have gone to sleep some 10km away). Long way to go yet.
One last thing though: When I said, ‘long story short’ at the start of this, I had you fooled for a while, didn’t I?
Anyway, here are some snaps from the trip.
