Deadline, Target, Design you name it, I presume these are the common terms in all corporate offices, I am not here to rant about all that, you can do it better than me. So, just like you, I was so much vexed about the corporate culture. I wanted a weekend getaway. Me, my friends Ajay and Prashanth decided to visit Nainital for a break. I was never much into planning; Prashanth took care of most of it, if not all of it while Ajay was a trusted financial adviser, I mean if I manage my spending curve around Ajay;
I am spending very less as opposed to my impulsive buying nature. So, I am safe! Two great managers and me, all I have to do, is just go with the flow.
So, we boarded a train from Delhi. I guess I need not explain about the Traffic and Pollution we have in here. I remember I had very less food that day and I was hungry. The old Delhi station was packed with Passengers. I had a feeling that most of them are living on the platform itself; Only that could explain it. Unfortunately, I don't have photographs of the railway station from that day. We waited for an Hour or Two and the train has arrived at the railway station. There was pandemonium all over, everyone was running to board the train, so was I.
The platform had no displays of where the Coach will be positioned, and my luck isn't that good anyway, so we ran through people, there were trolleys, Old people, children and we all had bags, Prashant had two bags! Finally, we reached the coach and boarded the train. The experience of boarding the train itself was an indelible one. All the toil to board it and it didn't start for another hour. It was a Tri-seat, all the three were on the same seat, I was on the Aisle side while Prashant was on the window side for his own reasons. After an hour or so, the train started and the ride was fun, it was with friends so we made fun of each other for most of the time.
I slept on the train for some time; we had some biscuits and chips. Finally, we reached Kathgodam, the station closest to Nainital. It was dark when we got off the train, we could feel the temperature difference from Delhi to Kathgodam, here it's cool and there was no Smog. We looked for some transport from there to Nainital and suddenly a cool breeze, Ajay started praising the "Pahadi" region as he studied in Hamirpur, he was articulating how pure the air in hilly region is. "Pahadi hawa ka maza hi alag h, Are Bhai! Aha!". we bargained a cab to Nainital.
We reached Nainital Mall road in about two and a half hours from Kathgodam, It was a Ghat section, so the cab ride was not the best. I felt nauseous and was hoping to complete the ride as soon as possible. Of all the things about Hill stations, traversing by Bus or a car is the worst. It was dark and cold by the time we reached the Mall road, almost two in the morning and everyone was fast asleep. According to Prashanth, we had our room booked on the Mall road, like 400 meters but the location turns out to be wrong. We felt stranded in the middle of the night. It is at this time we saw some dark-figure moving on the road at some distance, some .. Animal? It was strolling about the road and suddenly it started coming towards us, I did not have my glasses on, I felt it like some Sheep or something which has so much fur on it and looking at the way it was walking, It definitely was a carnivore! The guys were a little behind me and they turned back, I was still not sure what it was but it definitely gave chills to all of us, we were walking away from it but we were not running, it closed on us and Luckily it was a dog, but still, a ferocious one. The dogs in this region are too big, they are no more the common street dogs that we find in India, these can be called as Hounds. It decided not to attack us. Phew! but it had its tail up, it was not wagging so, its probably alerting us and marking its territory??We called the room and it was on some hill we had to climb to reach the room, we walked and walked to finally reach the place; the dog followed us up to some distance and then turned away hah! relief!
We pounded on the door of the hotel room which was closed, the receptionist woke and rubbed his eyes, we checked in and complained about their location on the map. The hotel was not great, a decent one. They gave us a smelly room at first, but then Prashanth talked them into giving us a better one. We slept peacefully that night and the next morning enjoyed the view of Nainital.
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| View of Nainital from our room. |
The best part of having a trip with friends is, we can have a lot of fun, the first thing we did that day was order room service for hot water, the hotel said we can have water once the sun shines brightly as they had solar water heaters; it was a cloudy day at the start and there were some drizzles which made the climate even cooler than normal. We brushed our teeth and Ajay wanted oil for his hair, I went out to get some oil and It was cold! I was in flip-flops and T-shirt; I am from Visakhapatnam, a city on the seashore, so flip-flops and T-shirts come to me naturally, Cool breeze reminded me I was in Nainital and i need to cover myself from cold, we got oil, clouds cleared away after some time, there was sunshine and the temperature was normal again. we bathed, with hot water of course; you can imagine how good it was, everything was cool and the water was hot! it felt really good.
We order food, packed our luggage and set out to explore Nainital! We were getting down the hill and came across some cab drivers, they were offering us ride but we (especially me) was not in the mood at all to travel in a cab, but they were insisting us with interesting offers, one came forward and said he would take us to some 39 locations and give us a tour in Wagon-R "
Mast Wagon-R me ghumayenge!" we laughed at his offer and carried on to the Mall road in search of Bike rentals, there were some but by the time we reached to hire a Bike it was almost 10AM thanks to Prashanth's simple routine for getting ready (Sarcasm of course; Prashanth takes a lot of time for getting ready.)
We finally got to a dealer who got us two bikes, one was Royal Enfield Thunderbird, and the other was Bajaj Avenger, We were not confident about riding RE bikes on a hilly road and by the way, this was my first experience with a RE bike, at first I was skeptical but I gave it a test ride and thought, not with ease but I can ride it. I did not have my Driver's License at that time and had little to no experience in riding Bikes, so this trip was going to be an adventurous one to me, I thought. Ajay wanted some bike other than heavy RE Thunderbird 350, he wanted to ride some lightweight bikes but no luck, so he settled with the Avenger that we were offered with. So did I with the Thunderbird. We confirmed the local visiting places with the dealer, he gave us a rough map on a piece of paper, the total trip was going to be around 120 Km in total. We filled the Petrol accordingly and were riding the bikes to our first place, some Viewpoint. The traffic was not too much, Ajay was driving and Prashanth was navigating him, I was following them. We had to cross Nainital Mall road for getting to our first location, everything was cool until there was a small traffic jam on a steep road. I had to hold the bike till it clears off, as soon as the traffic was getting cleared, I tried to move but the bike stalled! Naturally, my gear was not proper for the bike to move. Now I am the reason for the traffic.
The road was steep; I couldn't move the 197 Kg bike to a side and start it again, whatever I do, I would have to do it then and there, the car guy behind me was honking too bad as if he is late for an important meeting. I was so embarrassed that I didn't know what to do. Neither can I slip the bike backward nor forward as there was traffic behind and a steep road in front of me. I thought the guys did not stop for me, but to my relief, I could see Ajay standing at a corner signaling me to come. There was this Pan shop guy, who realized the problem and asked me to put it in first gear and start the bike again. I did as he said and finally, I could manage to move the bike. One could easily say that I am a complete newbie by looking at the way I revved my engine, somehow I managed to come out of that place, Hah! That was a heck of an experience for the first time.
The journey continues again, we were riding through the main road of Nainital; it was a single road having two-way traffic. There were deep curves for about every 2 minutes and at last one final steep road and we are out of Nainital, the valley adjoining Nainital was very beautiful, There were hills on my right-hand side and a valley to my left. I did not dare to pass close to the edge of the road. All I was doing was humming some songs and following the guys.
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| That's me riding RE Thunderbird 350 and probably humming "Aaromale" Song from "Ye maya chesave" |
We traveled for half an hour to reach a T junction point, there was a rock climbing event, and people were participating in it. We did not understand what was going on and went in looking for a View spot, all we found was a Cliff, we inquired about a viewpoint and found out we have to travel further a few Kilometers down the road to reach a viewpoint, we came out disappointed and thought of not to waste time anymore but then we saw some tourists visiting the place, I thought maybe we are missing out something and followed them, just around the corner, there was a spot called "Hawa Cave",
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| Hawa Cave |
people have to reach for it by climbing rocks to find a small opening in the mountain, and there was cool wind from it. We clicked some pictures there and got down before the crowd increased. Now we were back to the T-junction deciding which way to go, One was the place we thought to go with a good road and the other was a small road with very less traffic, we chose to go with the second option and turned or bikes in that direction, the destination is supposed to be a view of Himalaya mountain range, I followed the guys through the jungles on Nainital, We were almost there when I happen to cross them as they slowed down. I could not think of the reason why they slowed down and moved forward to the location. I came to know their bike had a problem. Ajay managed to bring it to the place and parked it, he was all upset about the condition of the bike, there was a problem with the battery in the Avenger we had, this model of avenger had no kick start so there would be no way to start the bike. No wonder he was upset.we sat on a bench near the viewpoint, there was a substantial inflow of tourists, It looked like a typical Uttarakhand tourist place with some market for duplicate sunglasses, necklace, etc., horse ride, beautiful view of nature, Prashanth did some photography with his new DSLR while I and Ajay were taking some rest. I clearly remember they made fun of me that day as we sat on the concrete bench, my legs were not completely touching the ground. We enjoyed a little after that and decided to move to our next stop.
We got ready to leave but Ajay's bike wouldn't start. They both sat on the bike and rolled it down the hill, and tried to jumpstart the bike which he could, after a few trials. It was a relief for all of us, else it would have been a very difficult trip. With all that new enthusiasm, we now set our course towards our initial destination, the main road from where we took a detour, towards "KhurpaTal Viewpoint". As we were descending from the hill, we saw the Nainital lake from a clearing in the woods, the picturesque view forced us to halt for a moment, we looked for a place to park and found a Maggie place, we had Maggie and Bread Omlet, common food you would find in hilly areas of India and enjoyed the scenic beauty silently.
Out of the blue, Ajay feels he should get the photography done, he wanted some good photographs with the view and on the bikes. Prashanth reached for his camera bag and set his equipment, but the results with the view were eh!👅 They were not so good to showcase his skills but here is a glimpse of his photography.
so we moved, not so far from there, Ajay's mind was still stuck with the idea of getting a good photograph, so we stopped again and used the DSLR to the fullest of our knowledge, to get something which Ajay could live with. In fact, the photo gets so many right swipes for him in Tinder at a later point in time.
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| The photo which got famous on Tinder |
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| Ajay (Left) and Prashanth (right) |
Satisfied with the Photographs we set our course back on track again. We reached the place in no time and parked our bikes. There were a lot of crowds at the place, tourists were mostly from Delhi and surrounding regions obviously and also I could tell by their car service numbers. We had Maggie again and a cup of tea, neither refreshing nor tasty it was, but something which will not keep me away from hunger. There was a market where I and Ajay bought Sunglasses; duplicates each for some 100 bucks. Wearing them won't do any good but we were acting like bosses of the region. To reach the viewpoint, we had to either walk or hire a horse but there was only one path, through a narrow passageway. The passageway was full of Horse excreta and smelled too bad; we had to cross it as soon as possible to breathe fresh air again.
Once on the spot, we had some photographs and enjoyed the view; we wanted a group photo and tried taking a selfie with the DSLR and failing badly; we asked a stranger to click a photo of ours. The man was a kind of over-friendly and was passing comments on us as we pose for the photos "
Saare ke saare hero lag rhe ho - Smile!!" He even took some single photos of ours too. His photos were not that good but I clearly remember his comment "
Sir, aap Border me Sunny deol lag rhe ho". We conveyed "Enough!" with a polite smile. Prashanth was concerned about the time we spend at each of these locations to cover as much as possible before sunset. Therefore, we returned to our bikes and searched for our next stop which was some Waterfalls.
Here you go, you too enjoy the view with us!
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| A photo by Prashanth at Khurpa Tal viewpoint |
We set our destination on our maps and filled
with enthusiasm, we rode our Bikes towards "Woodland waterfall" there were tourist cars here and there parked on the road as we moved, everyone were enjoying the climate and view, there was a deep turn and to our delight, we thought of halting for a moment
, the view was so beautiful that the rush to be at another spot seemed unimportant. we had some more photography and moved again. Ajay was an experienced rider unlike me, therefore he was riding fast. I did not want to nor was I ready to drive as fast as him, so I decided to ride a bit slow and enjoy the view as I ride.
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| I always wanted a photo like this. |
There were another two turns, and
we reached some plain land, there was a big lake with stairs built around it. It seemed like an abandoned tourist attraction, there was a small restaurant where I found Dosa available, the worst decision ever. The coconut chutney had no Coconut in it. Dosa wasn't that great as well. We were not satisfied and had another plate of Chole Bhature, it was good. Its always better to eat according to place. There was this creek where I and Ajay sat while Prashanth was immersed in his Photography. Ajay and I were playing with the water, as he bent to splash the water onto me, his glasses slipped into the creek. He told me, he never could keep his glasses safe. "
yeh 100 - 100 rupay wale chashme har bar kho jaate hain mere se." and remembered how he lost them in Goa. We saw mountain goats climbing the steep, if not almost perpendicular hill. The location was surrounded by mountains on all the sides so the sunset too fast in there. We began to shiver as the temperatures were falling. Prashanth was still immersed with his photography, he was new to Photography then, and was trying something out with long exposure and flowing water, meanwhile, I and Ajay had a cup of tea, had another Chole Bhature and climbed down the stairs to the lake. Prashant joined us shortly after that and urged us to move "
Chalo Chalo nikalte hain, time nhi h humare pass.", so did we.
The forest was mostly full of pine trees with a road running through it like a black carpet welcoming us as we ride. In about 5 minutes, we reached the waterfall
place. The woodland waterfall. There was ticket entry and Prashanth was into photography again, Ajay and I were literally bored by now with the photography and had some selfies on our own. DSLR is for pros.
The park was very small, it was as if constructed only for that waterfall. There was a road adjoining the park and we found an old accident spot, a bus toppled into the park. After Prashanth's photography, we called
it a day to return to our room.
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| Woodland waterfalls Nainital, by Prashanth V V |
As usual, Prashanth and Ajay were on the Avenger and I on the Thunderbird were on our way to Nainital town. I had to try hard to keep up to Ajay. It was almost dark, especially near Lake place. On our way back, we stopped for one last time, it was the view again. I couldn't believe my eyes for how beautiful the road was during sunset, there were clouds beneath us as we climbed the hill, the road was pitch black, and on a hairpin bend, we could not see the sun but the orange sky on the horizon made it feel like heaven. I can find no more words to describe it, have a look for yourselves.
You can see the lake I was talking about, and the road we came through. Riding through a scenery like the one above, is the most delightful event for a stressed-out mind. We did not rush it anymore; we sat there for a few minutes and enjoyed the evening; we chatted for a bit and began to return. By the time we reached Nainital, it was dark and there was a lot of traffic. We parked our bikes and began to walk. We saw this market where there were a lot of tourists and entered. There were stairs all along and shops to the side of the road. Then again, Ajay's "OH" Slipped from his mouth as he saw some beautiful young ladies as we walked. He began to praise the Pahadi Women yet again "
Pahadi ladkiyan! Are bhai! kya Khatarnaak lagti hain!" while Prashanth was trying to buy something for his girlfriend and mom and was asking Ajay about the souvenirs he could buy but Ajay could not stop praising the ladies and ignored him "
Abe ruk yaar, pehle dekhne de. Han yar!".
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| Market of Nainital |
We entered even a bigger market and thought of buying a Jacket for winter, the market had no varieties to our liking. There was a temple nearby, we entered the temple, Prashanth went in the dome for "Darshana" while I and Ajay were by the lake adjoining the temple, for an energetic start in the morning, a peaceful evening like this is a perfect ending.
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| Market - Nainital |
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| Temple adjoining the Market. |
By now we walked a lot and were tired so, thought to return the bikes to the dealer, Ajay was excited about buying a Jacket that he forgot the helmet at some store. We tried to get it but the store owners denied seeing any helmet. Ajay expressed his feeling bleakly about losing the helmet. "
Abe yar, Pese thuk gye!"
We searched and searched for it till we lost all hope and decided to return our bikes to the dealer. On our way to him we drew cash and I bought a Mouth organ, Ajay was looking to buy a bracelet but he did not get what he had in mind. Prashanth and Ajay were taking the bikes to return, we thought if two people were returning the bikes, he might forget about the third helmet, therefore I walked. I was looking at the market on the mall road. There were stores of almost all the brands. I did not think the mall road was very long until I walked on it. There were a lot of tourists, maybe its the season. by the time I reached the dealer place, Ajay and Prashanth tried to manage the dealer for the missing helmet, but he did not yield. they had to pay 1200 rupees for the missing helmet. We had some food and set out buy a Jacket, we got into a shop or two. Ajay liked a hoodie but there was "Swag Swag Swag" printed on it, I and Prashanth were waiting to laugh at him. I did not like any over there, nor did Ajay. I had no idea what to look for in a jacket we entered another one where Ajay liked a Top and thought of buying for his girlfriend, uh! wait, he had a breakup. "
Abe khareedneka man kiya par yaad aaya khareedu to kiskeliye khareedu sala!" then we entered the adjoining store, Allen Solly and bought two jackets. We all sat on a bench by the lake. Having a cup of tea we were discussing about the temperatures at various hill stations. Happy with the day, we returned to our room, Ajay kept on saying the first thing he would do in the morning is to go and search for the helmet. Prashant changed into pajamas which looked better than his day clothes. Another peaceful night, we all had a sound sleep.
<Next Day>
We woke up, everything was common Prashanth was getting ready and taking more time in the Bathroom meanwhile Ajay played Honey Singh songs on his speaker and was jumping on the bed. Ajay had a bad dream last night, he dreamt of eating a fish and woke up crying therefore to refresh the mood he played the songs. We got all ready and reached the same dealer and hired Bikes, it was the same Avenger but Thunderbird was a black one this time. We reached the Market area in search of the Helmet. It was Sunday and all the School students were having a rally for saving Environment and Animals. The traffic was being controlled and diverted by the police, therefore there was a lot of rush on the roads. Ajay went to seek the helmet while Prashant and I were waiting there. That day was a little hot for our clothes. Luckily Ajay found the helmet and was really happy about it. We went back to the dealer to return the helmet and set our journey to Bhimtal. We were on the crossroads on Nainital where we drew money for the road and set the navigation on our maps, we had to take a left but there were two Lefts. Luck was never on our side, little did we know we took a wrong turn. The navigation on Maps did not notify us and we rode merrily on without having any clue.
The roads were good. Since I did not have Driver's License, Prashanth and Ajay were driving while I was Ajay's Pillion. We went on for some distance but Prashanth could not keep up, we were having frequent breaks in waiting for him, there was an incident when a Bus behind Prashanth was trying to overtake and he was negligent to give way, the Bus driver was honking really bad. Ajay and I were worried about his driving and exchanged our bikes, I was riding Avenger this time and Ajay was riding Thunderbird with Prashanth. We rode for almost an hour and got tired. We clearly remember the dealer saying Bhimtal was about 15 Km from Nainital but we were confused that we are in no way closer to it. We took a break for a minute, took some pictures and decided to ask for directions.
We found a man waiting for Bus, asked him and he said we took a wrong turn at Nainital "
Aap to Galat mud gye, Aage se Left lelena, chhota sa rasta milega, Bada road pe mat jana", he showed us a shortcut that would take us to the right path. We followed his instructions which lead to a Pathway. The condition of the road was not at all good. There were no barricades at the edged and no retro-reflective boards. We were the only people on the road for miles. Occasionally there were some army guys patrolling the area other than us. The journey on this road was quite tiresome. Dust and narrow pathway with Buses overtaking us in conjunction with no traffic gave me chills.
We reached a location where there was a metal bridge and a very deep valley with a river at its bottom. We crossed it, the location was so deserted and it was hot that day. There was dust on our clothes and we had no protective gear for eyes. My helmet visor was not clean. We took a few breaks and uncertain of the location we were at, we moved forward. I was riding alone through narrow paths hugging huge mountains and deep valleys.
The utter serenity of the place attracted me at first then started to feel like a perilous pathway. After a long journey, I reached the main road. I was a bit slower than Ajay, they were not in my sight anymore. To my amaze, I saw a signboard stating Nainital 9 Km from there, all this tiresome journey till here only amounts to 9 Km, I thought. In fact, it was a total distance of 32 Km extra we rode that day. one mistake at the start and we had to go through a long journey. The road was good and I reached some town, but I was still not sure if I am on the correct path, the signboard got me confused. I stopped at a place and called the guys to confirm the direction. A few-minute-ride from there, I reached '
Bhowali' and joined with the guys. I thought we reached the place, little did I know we only reached half the distance. We parked our bikes to have some Food, as far as I remember it was Pao Bhaji and had a cup of tea to continue our journey towards Bhimtal. The road was not great again but there were people seen all along the way. There was even some traffic on the road. I rode silently through all along till we reached a Town, Karki Gaon. We had to cross the Town to reach the Lake. By now I came to know Prashanth was not feeling good, he caught some cold on the way.
The location was sparsely distributed with tourists. There was a tree with a concrete bench surrounding it, the lake, few boats and common food you would get in any tourist place of India, groundnuts, and Corn. As soon as we parked our bikes, Prashanth rushed towards the concrete bench and fell asleep, he handed his camera over to me, using his bag as a pillow, he fell asleep. Meanwhile, Ajay and I enjoyed Nature a bit, then came, some ducks, they would eat anything and everything we gave them. The ducks seemed to be accustomed to humans as they approached us but Ajay wasn't trained to be around animals. Ajay is so afraid of other species, he is even afraid of Squirrels. As I was feeding the ducks with some groundnuts, I threw some towards him so they would go near him but then his panic made me abstain from doing so.
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| Bhimtal |
There was this Woman in Black that Ajay could not stop looking at. I was talking to him about Flowers valley but all he heard was "
Flowers vali" and asked me "
Kon flowers vali be? ... Flowers vali kon". If anything was certain that moment, it's only that Ajay's attention can be accessed only when there are no beautiful women around. His systems go haywire even if there is the slightest possibility of a beautiful girl being anywhere near him. So I could talk to him when she left but then again, it was a tourist place, there was another Woman in Red. I stuck with the ducks. Then came pigeons. Looking at all the birds around me, small children were closer to me so were their moms but the thing is, children, attract young women! I don't know if ducks and Pigeons could understand what was happening but they refrained from eating my corn and peanuts. Now they enjoy the Peanuts from these Girls. Wow! we thought to ourselves, "
Tharki Kabutar" [Lascivious Pigeon].
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| Look at his face! Isn't he saying something?? |
Prashanth had his sleep, he too wanted to enjoy as much as possible. There was a family of swans swimming in a row, The sight was beautiful, he tried to capture from the place he was sitting but I rushed him to a proper location.
We spent some time there, before going back Prashanth wanted to check with Pharmacist, there was a steep road, the guys rode up the hill but I was skeptical initially, as the bike did its job I gained confidence in me, I started to like the bike the more I rode it. I even decided I would buy a Thunderbird 350 for myself at that moment. So, we set our journey to Sattal, another lake place. The route was the same but a left turn into the jungle at a place.
As we entered the byway to the left of the Main road, the temperature fell steeply. We could feel the cold as it was getting dark so we packed our jackets tightly, there were monkeys all around on the trees. We rode through the jungle on the byway, a few turns later there was a Lake. I Parked the Bike with shivering hands and entered the place.
The location was well established with the canteen and shopping counters. There were boats again and a few restaurants on banks of the lake. There was also a small island where a rope was tied with ropeway arrangement. People were having fun swinging on the rope, they were ready for this with extra clothes, we had no idea of the place. Prashanth was enthusiastic and was persuading into either boating or the rope swinging. " Agar Mera tabiyat theek hota to me zaruur karta", "Chal na yaar karte Hain!" It was very cool and I had no mood for boating, Ajay and I kept on resisting for a long time until we yielded. We went with swinging. I did not want to do it at first but after looking at Ajay, even I eager to do it.
As soon as Ajay got off, I asked the helper to tie me up with the safety equipment, they asked me to crawl till the middle of the rope and a boy saw swinging me up and down. The swing was fun amidst mountains, feeling light, I couldn't even feel my own weight, being thrown up into the sky. Prashanth and Ajay were taking my photographs while I hoot joyfully. I imbued Prashanth with curiosity, he forgot all about his health and he too had the ride.
It was almost dark, we had some Maggie, It's was too spicy. Paid him via Paytm as we were low on cash. The internet connectivity was low so Prashanth took some time to pay. As the sunset, insects, and crawlers started to do their work. There were a lot of mosquitoes in the area.
We took off with our bikes, there was a dog near the parking area which followed Ajay's bike, he narrowly escaped. I was following them, the dog couldn't focus on me as we leave so I escaped. The road was pitch black, Ajay was fast, as usual, I was keeping up-to him. We reached the byway entry point where it was almost a U-Turn. The guys took off easily, I tried to turn but slipped, the bike almost fell, but I managed to get it back to an upright position. Feeling embarrassed, I quickly took off from that place, Ajay was nowhere to be found, I was alone on the way. I took my time to reach them, the traffic was heavy at night.
The oncoming traffic had their lights to high-beam, I couldn't properly judge between road and valley, it was a dangerous road for an inexperienced driver like me. Little did I know My headlight was set to low made me wonder how Ajay could be so fast with such low light. I didn't even know that there was a high-beam option in the light. I checked with the buttons on the handlebar and Viola! I could finally see the road, at least the situation was better than being dependant on the Light from the cars behind me.
I joined with the guys in Bhowali where there was a lot of traffic, the place seemed to have a few showers as the roads were wet and muddy. There was this place where I was behind a bus and It stopped on a very steep road, the same situation that I faced yesterday, if not even worse than that. But this time, I did not give up. I successfully maneuvered the bike out of there. We crossed heavy vehicles, there was a point when all the bikes were ahead of the traffic, they were turning around the hairpin bends like a Moto GP race bikes. I was the last one of all. I let the guys go forward and rode at my own pace. Just before r reaching Nainital I met the guys who were waiting for me. Prashant was complaining about Ajay, how they were about to fall off the road when Ajay couldn't stop staring at a beautiful lady. We exchanged bikes.
Ajay, I reached the mall road, there were barricades all over the place, I remember the place so we took U-Turn at the proper place. Prashant couldn't follow us, he miss the turn and moves ahead of the location. We saw him ride the bike without looking in another direction other than the road and cried out loud to stop him but no luck. He went till the end of Mall road where he had to park. The barricades would be taken off in an hour so we did roam about Mall road full of tourists. Ajay couldn't control his happiness, Prashanth was pleading us to take him to someplace warm. I can never forget how he was insisting he was ill. "Me bimaar hu na" he said this sentence at least 10 times, we went to a restaurant and ordered food. The special thing we ordered was 'Khimeeri roti' the restaurant person suggested this saying it is made of special yeast. We had lots of food, Khimeeri roti was not that tasty. We still got lots of time, Ajay and I thought of strolling up and down the Mall road, we had an Ice cream, Ajay saw a girl who was wearing shorts, holding hands of his boyfriend and wondered if girls wouldn't be feeling cold, we were all tugged up with nice sweaters and we're still shivering but she was wearing shorts we thought. "Abe inko thandi nhi lagti Kya? Han Yar, yahan mare ha rhe h thand ke mare.. hhah". Prashanth wasn't feeling well by then and took off to the room with all the luggage. We strolled for about an hour and returned to the room. Prashant was on phone by the time we arrived. We all slept peacefully for yet another night.
