two weeks off work. it was planned so that it should be more than enough. it should make me feel completely unpressurized in any sense. and when I left home, that's exactly how I felt. leaving at 9:30am (well-rested but actually sleepless from excitement!) meant I'd face the full blast of the October sun... and I did. by sunset I had barely covered a third of the way to goa. but my strategy paid off - taking enough breaks kept my energy levels going, and even with some really bad roads I was able to ride through the night and reach goa at 8:30am. 23 hours! that kinda set the pace for the rest of the trip. I rested that day and the next, before setting off for my next destination, bangalore. once again without adequate sleep, just 3 hours, and a very arbitrary route: I ignored Google maps and retraced the route I took 12 years ago, in October 2013. I reached bangalore at a little before midnight, with my bike giving me a couple of hints that all was not well.
the next day, I spent the morning trying to locate a good mechanic to solve what didn't seem like a trivial problem, but when I set off, carly simply died on me and refused to start. thankfully not even 100 feet from a mechanic who worked on the bike for an hour but took half a day to answer my call, leading to me only collecting it at sunset.
he reassured me the problem had been fixed, but I had massive doubts as what he described as the problem definitely didn't match the symptoms I saw the previous day, but did match with it not running at all.
I left at midnight, practically to the minute.
In hindsight, it seems foolhardy, given my misgivings, but this is probably just one of the many questionable decisions I took during those two weeks.
thankfully, it played out. the bike ran fine, only giving occasional starting trouble... until I had a surprise when the chai skipped the sprocket halfway through kodaikanal ghat! however it was so loose I was able to pop it on by hand, and I was in kodaikanal by noon. located another mechanic, and while I was explaining the problem I noticed the chain had basically lost a link! regarding the electrical gremlins, this one said there's no problem, I simply need to use the electrics sparingly. obviously not the case, but I decided to take my chances and ride on. I decided to swap out carly's front tyre though, despite the mechanic insisting it was good to use... and from kodai, carly played ball, until literally 500 metres from Harshad's farm! after a couple of half hearted attempts to get her going, I called for help and Harshad towed the bike to the parking area a short walk from his property. we left carly there overnight. it was time to forget about the journey and enjoy the destination.
and enjoy I did. Just two and a half days on his farm gave me the shot in the arm I so desperately needed. the sounds of nature, his pets, the home grown and the home cooked food, being surrounded by people who were running on a slower clock than urban India, had its desired effect. Come Monday morning, I was ready to begin my journey back home. and then carly sprung another surprise - the choke cable, essential to starting, and in case of uneven running, keeping her going, gave way. we managed to get carly started using a pair of pliers. the ride to kodaikanal was wet... nay, soaking, and by the time we reached the only dry bits were inside my tank and saddle bags. kodai was dry and warm though, and the mechanic listened to my list of gripes and did their best. I also took the opportunity to give carly fresh brake pads and swap out the other cables.. again despite the mechanic saying the existing ones had plenty of life in them.
a relaxed lunch later, I bid farewell to Harshad and was on my way. carly ran fine until almost midnight, when, right after shruti insisted I not ride all night, carly stopped and refused to start. thankfully I was just 3km from a major town, and was able to hitch a ride to the main bus stand opposite which I got a hotel room really cheap.
the next morning was spent trying to find a competent mechanic, and once I did, carly started without a hitch. a common pattern was becoming apparent. a night's rest seems to sort things out. that's a decent strategy, but I was only 50km from bangalore and had plenty of advice regarding which mechanics could help. so that's what I did. the first mechanic outright refused, and when pressed further, pointed to another karizma (a white one, at that!) which he claimed was lying in his workshop for 6 months awaiting spares. I decided to call it a day. the next morning, I headed to another highly recommended mechanic, intending to arrive right as they opened. unfortunately, I was told the exact same thing.
I had a tough decision to make. ship carly from bangalore or ride on. it was only Wednesday morning, so I had 5 days of riding to cover 1000 km, and going by the previous whole day of riding, carly could be expected to do 350km without a hitch.
another questionable decision, but I trusted my gut. I was on the road by 2pm and this time voluntarily picked a hotel at 10pm after covering 250+km.
feeling heartened, I set off the next morning, expecting to cover half the distance to Mumbai - a reasonable (or even conservative) goal, given how carly had been riding. but it was not to be.
I took a long evening break with the intention of riding till midnight before calling it a night. but carly had other plans. she died once less than 50 metres from the restaurant parking lot, and again another 500 metres later. I saw a hotel opposite where I was on the highway and decided to not push my luck and call it a night at 8pm.
that evening was spent nervously consulting Google maps. it was Thursday night and I had 3 days to cover 450 km. a fairly achievable proposition. but there were questions. I could not ignore carly's tantrums getting more frequent. I decided to keep going the next morning and play it by ear. I skipped breakfast and just headed out, on a limb and a prayer.
within an hour, the indications were plain to see - carly was getting increasingly difficult to start and was dying more frequently, and within an hour of getting going.
on a whim, when I was passing the next city, karad, I asked a motorcyclist where I'd find trucks parked. he directed me to a spot near the petrol pump, a few hundred metres away, on the highway. I asked two travel and tours companies - they advertised bus services but I hoped they could connect me with a trucker. the first one refused, but the second one agreed. he agreed to put carly on a bus to Mumbai that evening and me on a seat on the same bus.
I heaved a sigh of relief.
the road trip was over for me. I pushed carly to her limits and found the limit of my risk appetite (though not my physical ability).
those 5 hours of waiting for the bus, sitting at the bare shop of the tour operator, gave me another chance to think. and think I did.
I concluded that this trip has been a success.
for the first time in a year and a half, my body and mind were not the limit.
I'm obviously nowhere near my previous level of abilities, but this was reassuring. I still had it. I can still do things I enjoy. and I did enjoy those two weeks. as Harshad said when I called him to inform him of my decision: "I sense a long blog post coming up"
this is the long blog post. but it's not long enough. there was so much more to these two weeks. to reduce it to the three way tug of war between body, mind and machine would be to lose the essence of this adventure.
this, though, is where words fail me. emotions and feelings wash over me and leave me bedraggled, like a shell on the shore.
all I can say is it feels great to be alive and here. it feels great to feel great. heaven knows I've missed that feeling long enough. life has been reduced to going through the motions for long enough for me to lose sight of it. but just like a shell on the shore, I am not impervious to my circumstances. this post is a reminder that no matter what the struggle, I still have it in me.
before I prepare to touch down in Ireland and be reunited with shruti and resume my "life as usual", I am going to close my eyes for a few minutes and let those feelings wash over me again. soak through my very being. let my soul absorb as much of it as I can, like a sponge.
it might sound clichéd but it rings true: four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul!
No comments:
Post a Comment