You can’t really win a battle of words against your partner of the fairer sex. I found it out the hard way. It started with a statement that turned into an argument, which later turned into madness, and then silence. The perfect way to start a Sunday morning? Hardly. But I was greeted by this lovely day in this very way. Lovely day or lethal instead, by the looks of it, you’ll ask. Let’s see…
Desperate to go and unwind after the lost round of an argument, I wanted to just go and ride my heart out. My lady surely wanted to mend things and offered to hop on with me. Oh, for the uninformed, here ‘offered’ is basically ‘declared’. We were puttering about in the city confines when she suddenly cropped up the idea of going up-hills and we decided to head northwards thereon. Deep inside I know I was happy. I was grinning!
A few miles into the ride and the green over-head board marked Shimla straight ahead. I murmured casually “Why don’t we push off to Shimla?” Kid me not coz I ain’t a kid no more. The reply “Ok” sounded as cacophony of sweet tones. I confirmed but the answer didn’t change. She-said-yes! Yippee! The grin graduated to an un-stoppable laugh! What followed was a much needed ride of relief marked by some ‘crapped-my-pants’ instances.
Before I start sharing the experience with you all, let me introduce the two two-legged companions of mine – one in the human form (the one responsible for this ride) and the other of the mechanical kind (er, also responsible for the ride!).
I can write a million words about the human example of the two and it still won’t suffice, so more about her at some later occasion. As for the machine I was astride, it may just cause quite a stir. Sporting a heart of 100cc and belting out a meager 7 bhp, Hero Honda Passion would perhaps be the last bike of choice for any sane rider. But I didn’t have a choice. Take it or leave it situation it was, the. Took it gladly, I did.
Barely 45 minutes on the tarmac and the twisty stuff began, little after a town called Panchkula that is. It is pretty much a straight road, not in the literal sense, but direction wise. All you have to do is point the bike ahead and follow the road till you reach the bifurcation of Solan from where you carry on left. Then the next fork comes when you reach the junction of Chail.
Right takes you to the serene and the much virgin hill town (compared to Shimla) of Chail while continuing straight takes you to Shimla. So straight it was for us on this day. The very fact that this trip happened at the spur of the moment (hence the title) makes it all that more exciting. Not much to talk about the route then, but quite a bit about the journey.
The surface of the tarmac was beyond belief. Kudos to the government for keeping the roads in such a good shape. I took my time to soak it all in; but the traffic brought me back to mother earth and slapped me with a note “don’t dream so much, these are no Alps.” The huge number of vehicles I can handle, in fact living in Delhi for over 20 years and having been in Mumbai for a good five years, I’ve come to accept the average of two hours it takes to travel about 40km, mostly caused due to huge traffic jams owing to the ever increasing number of motorists. What I can’t handle is the way people drive/ride over here.
You have to hold a candle to them for their courage I must say. And while you are at it, hold it for a little longer as you might need to place it on their grave to wish them a happy after-life! Yes, as crude and harsh it may sound, but this is how it really is. People here have no sense of traffic. They drive and ride with a suicidal bent of mind. Oh but wait, this is only but a second nature for most of us, isn’t it? So, here I am, again, accepting the unfortunate state of things as they are.
I wanted to enjoy my outing, so I was riding like my pants were on fire. Challenging corners only egged me harder to push beyond my limit. So much so that it seemed like I was fighting a battle against my saner self, and winning it.
The Passion, you must understand, is not really a bike for peg scraping and long distance touring. The going became uncomfortable and we had to take breathers at regular intervals. We stopped four times in the 4-hour stint while heading north. Any less and my behind would be asking for a masseuse. The blind corners were ever-so-inviting and the smooth road only made sure that this trip had all the elements of an epic ride!
If I were riding alone, I am sure I would’ve been peg scraping regularly, but since my lady was sitting pillion, I did not let my instincts get the better of my senses. I still did scrape the peg once round a flowing left-hander. Following that, I heard the shout of the F-word for the first of the innumerable times from my female friend sitting at the back. Soaking in the breathtaking view en-route and while on our halts, I heard more forms of the F-word. There were different sound modulations for different emotions. A versatile word that, I must say!
Going uphill was a straight forward ride with not many hair-raising instances. We were simply going for it and even overtook some cars, trucks and jeeps thrice, that despite of taking good ten minute breaks regularly (oh how I love boasting about my riding!). As we reached Shimla, we realized that it wasn’t as pretty as the ride this long.
Overcrowded as it has become, this little hill station has been robbed off its sheen. Commercial aspect has increased, killing the very essence of Shimla. We parked near the Inter-state bus terminal and headed off for the much famous Mall Road. It’s a steep climb that took us the better side of 20 minutes to reach the rear side of the above mentioned shopping street.
We stationed ourselves in the good ol’ Indian Coffee House which sure sparks nostalgic feelings for some, or many, I am certain. What my lady likes about this place is that the menu remains unchanged all through the country. And as I found out after stuffing myself up, the taste too! We sated on Butter Dosa, Vada and Cold Coffee and basked in the glorious hilly surrounds.
I wanted to piss bad and the word ‘latrine’ painted at Coffee House was something that had me keeping the pressure on hold for that much longer that it took to find a decent loo. Thank goodness there was a Coffee Day right around the corner. We dropped in, and lest I feel embarrassed to have come in only to take a leak, I ordered a Chocolate Fantasy to feast upon. Not that either of us complained! Did my ‘stuff’, ate the luscious quiche, lightened my wallet further by sixty bucks and headed off towards our Hero Honda.
We turned around to head back to Chandigarh. With the fear of being unable to ride with a dark visor on my helmet, I wanted to clear the hill section with still some sunlight remaining. And the return was what made it a ride worth recalling every time when sitting with a group of friends and halfway already into getting pissed drunk! The bike’s brakes were giving me little pesky problems and I made sure to tighten them at a local repair shop just outside of Shimla. I thank my wits for that because the events that happened hereon certainly demanded the best of the juices the brakes had to offer.
A Pulsar rider with a pillion as a liability was just in front and I overtook him after seeing a clear path ahead. I was in no mood of racing with him and was just riding the way I did the whole way till now. He took it otherwise and thought of it as a war! Some frenzied riding saw him at my tail after a while and he did everything not in the rule book to overtake me. I let him, lest we all go down a thousand meters! This done, I stopped and saw him shoot off into a distance. Convinced that he was far ahead we started again.
But we were wrong, again. He’d not gone too far enough and we soon caught up with him. It was the same procedure. Overtook him, he went mad, rode even wilder and whoosh he went ahead. Having just taken a breather, I was in no mood of stopping again and didn’t care a dime for that barmy rider. Went on, caught up with him and made sure I teach him a thing or two (with much satisfaction I must add), wishing he realized that he was riding dangerously.
But if wishes were horses, I would be riding an MV Agusta! With no sense at all, this guy went on the offensive again. I allowed him to go and stuck behind him for the better part of 45 minutes! Then we stopped, gulped some water, chit-chatted a bit and were back on the bike. Thankfully this time round we did not encounter that manic biker and peacefully carried on.
Close to Panchkula, things get a lot crowded, especially near the Pinjaur Gardens. Barely averaging 15kmph, we reached Panchkula and headed straight to Chandigarh. I dropped my lady to her place and got back to my room. I crashed on the bed only to recall the things that happened during the course of the day. Maybe I should argue with my lady on regular basis if it potentially offers this much fun!
When you are with yourself and are thinking of such ‘close-to-the-heart’ things, you tend to say to yourself – “Yeah, you just rode a Passion on some challenging roads. For close to 300km. Rode it well too. It’s quite an accomplishment. Hmmm… life’s good.”
Desperate to go and unwind after the lost round of an argument, I wanted to just go and ride my heart out. My lady surely wanted to mend things and offered to hop on with me. Oh, for the uninformed, here ‘offered’ is basically ‘declared’. We were puttering about in the city confines when she suddenly cropped up the idea of going up-hills and we decided to head northwards thereon. Deep inside I know I was happy. I was grinning!
A few miles into the ride and the green over-head board marked Shimla straight ahead. I murmured casually “Why don’t we push off to Shimla?” Kid me not coz I ain’t a kid no more. The reply “Ok” sounded as cacophony of sweet tones. I confirmed but the answer didn’t change. She-said-yes! Yippee! The grin graduated to an un-stoppable laugh! What followed was a much needed ride of relief marked by some ‘crapped-my-pants’ instances.
Before I start sharing the experience with you all, let me introduce the two two-legged companions of mine – one in the human form (the one responsible for this ride) and the other of the mechanical kind (er, also responsible for the ride!).
I can write a million words about the human example of the two and it still won’t suffice, so more about her at some later occasion. As for the machine I was astride, it may just cause quite a stir. Sporting a heart of 100cc and belting out a meager 7 bhp, Hero Honda Passion would perhaps be the last bike of choice for any sane rider. But I didn’t have a choice. Take it or leave it situation it was, the. Took it gladly, I did.
Right takes you to the serene and the much virgin hill town (compared to Shimla) of Chail while continuing straight takes you to Shimla. So straight it was for us on this day. The very fact that this trip happened at the spur of the moment (hence the title) makes it all that more exciting. Not much to talk about the route then, but quite a bit about the journey.
The surface of the tarmac was beyond belief. Kudos to the government for keeping the roads in such a good shape. I took my time to soak it all in; but the traffic brought me back to mother earth and slapped me with a note “don’t dream so much, these are no Alps.” The huge number of vehicles I can handle, in fact living in Delhi for over 20 years and having been in Mumbai for a good five years, I’ve come to accept the average of two hours it takes to travel about 40km, mostly caused due to huge traffic jams owing to the ever increasing number of motorists. What I can’t handle is the way people drive/ride over here.
You have to hold a candle to them for their courage I must say. And while you are at it, hold it for a little longer as you might need to place it on their grave to wish them a happy after-life! Yes, as crude and harsh it may sound, but this is how it really is. People here have no sense of traffic. They drive and ride with a suicidal bent of mind. Oh but wait, this is only but a second nature for most of us, isn’t it? So, here I am, again, accepting the unfortunate state of things as they are.
I wanted to enjoy my outing, so I was riding like my pants were on fire. Challenging corners only egged me harder to push beyond my limit. So much so that it seemed like I was fighting a battle against my saner self, and winning it.
The Passion, you must understand, is not really a bike for peg scraping and long distance touring. The going became uncomfortable and we had to take breathers at regular intervals. We stopped four times in the 4-hour stint while heading north. Any less and my behind would be asking for a masseuse. The blind corners were ever-so-inviting and the smooth road only made sure that this trip had all the elements of an epic ride!
Going uphill was a straight forward ride with not many hair-raising instances. We were simply going for it and even overtook some cars, trucks and jeeps thrice, that despite of taking good ten minute breaks regularly (oh how I love boasting about my riding!). As we reached Shimla, we realized that it wasn’t as pretty as the ride this long.
Overcrowded as it has become, this little hill station has been robbed off its sheen. Commercial aspect has increased, killing the very essence of Shimla. We parked near the Inter-state bus terminal and headed off for the much famous Mall Road. It’s a steep climb that took us the better side of 20 minutes to reach the rear side of the above mentioned shopping street.
We stationed ourselves in the good ol’ Indian Coffee House which sure sparks nostalgic feelings for some, or many, I am certain. What my lady likes about this place is that the menu remains unchanged all through the country. And as I found out after stuffing myself up, the taste too! We sated on Butter Dosa, Vada and Cold Coffee and basked in the glorious hilly surrounds.
We turned around to head back to Chandigarh. With the fear of being unable to ride with a dark visor on my helmet, I wanted to clear the hill section with still some sunlight remaining. And the return was what made it a ride worth recalling every time when sitting with a group of friends and halfway already into getting pissed drunk! The bike’s brakes were giving me little pesky problems and I made sure to tighten them at a local repair shop just outside of Shimla. I thank my wits for that because the events that happened hereon certainly demanded the best of the juices the brakes had to offer.
A Pulsar rider with a pillion as a liability was just in front and I overtook him after seeing a clear path ahead. I was in no mood of racing with him and was just riding the way I did the whole way till now. He took it otherwise and thought of it as a war! Some frenzied riding saw him at my tail after a while and he did everything not in the rule book to overtake me. I let him, lest we all go down a thousand meters! This done, I stopped and saw him shoot off into a distance. Convinced that he was far ahead we started again.
But we were wrong, again. He’d not gone too far enough and we soon caught up with him. It was the same procedure. Overtook him, he went mad, rode even wilder and whoosh he went ahead. Having just taken a breather, I was in no mood of stopping again and didn’t care a dime for that barmy rider. Went on, caught up with him and made sure I teach him a thing or two (with much satisfaction I must add), wishing he realized that he was riding dangerously.
But if wishes were horses, I would be riding an MV Agusta! With no sense at all, this guy went on the offensive again. I allowed him to go and stuck behind him for the better part of 45 minutes! Then we stopped, gulped some water, chit-chatted a bit and were back on the bike. Thankfully this time round we did not encounter that manic biker and peacefully carried on.
When you are with yourself and are thinking of such ‘close-to-the-heart’ things, you tend to say to yourself – “Yeah, you just rode a Passion on some challenging roads. For close to 300km. Rode it well too. It’s quite an accomplishment. Hmmm… life’s good.”
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