I believe that every soul on this earth is extra ordinary and has something special to share. For the next 55 days I have my journey to share with you; through 14 countries, two continents, on 2 bikes, riding 15,300 kms.
Planning stage:
Planning, planning and more planning was the order of the day for the last couple of months. Nobody I knew had the know-how to handle the logistics of the trip; the sheer magnitude scared every travel agent I tried to get in touch with.
Eventually, I only had my perception to consult before these plans were put into action. No one, I was told, had undertaken an expedition of this scale, which encouraged me even more and kept me going.
Of course I failed. I failed again and again; had to start many times over before I got things right. After all it was the first time I was doing this too.
It is like playing golf, competing with ones perception to get near to a net score of ZERO.
Plans kept changing till very last day before the final take off and they will continue to do so en-route. One thing the road teaches you is to surrender to it. Once you do, much like to life, and be happy without questioning things too much, you will sail through.
One has to be open to change. Make your itinerary, chart your map; make it again and again but you will have to be ready to throw it away at every fork in the road.
We had already driven to Delhi a week before as the last recce to test both the Man and the Machine. We needed to check the bikes in at the custom office, which is a huge headache.
Custom clearances are needed for the bike a week before the journey, as for the 42 kg-worth of spares we were carrying per bike.
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A ceremonial flag off was held at Baroda with all the fanfare one could anticipate. Cabinet Minister Saurabh Patel was present to flag us off and share words of encouragement. The Mayor of Vadodara - Smt. Jyotiben Pandya was also present to grace the occasion, so was the Standing Committee Chairman Dr Vijay Shah, to be a part of the event.
We had huge crowds from Vadodara to cheer us up.
There was a photo shoot arranged for well wishers, with the two Barodians, who were there to wish us luck.
People poured in from a lot of places to show their appreciation and bless us with their warm wishes. Hundreds of pictures were taken, even more hands shaken.
For the flag off we had no choice but to use my second bike as the one we were taking was already in the customs house at New Delhi .
At 10.30 am, June 9, 2013 we were flagged off with the entire media to report and picture us.
I was amazed at how much press turned up. Special interviews were arranged and many photo shoots done by various photographers from the press.
Upon entering Ahmedabad we caught up with a photographer form AFP. He some how got the message we were headed there, so he arranged for a special photoshoot with us.
At 5.30 pm, we were invited by the 'Gun Riders Club' at Kunal Resturant on Ashram Road by a junior from my school who is a coordinator and an active member of the club.
I was surprised by their welcome with flowers and rich snacks. I was so excited that I couldn't eat a bite. More than 20 bikers with their bikes had come to wish us in person.
We took many pictures and addressed the media there too. It was such a good gesture by fellow bikers. It was also nice to see many RkCians - as we are called because of my my Alma mater, The Rajkumar College, Rajkot.
We stayed over at a dear school friend's place that evening and were host to a wonderful time arranged by him. From there we headed to Udaipur and then Jaipur, where we halted, again, at a school friends place and then to Delhi.
The international leg:
As per 'Plan A' we were to ride through Nepal - China to Kyrgyzstan. Some how, even after months of persuading, permissions were not through. We were hopeful that on June 14, 2013 we would finally get the go ahead through China, but it was not to be.
So we switched to 'Plan B'. We had anticipated this so were prepared with all custom clearances and had provisionally booked an air cargo as that was the only option. It is very very expensive but we were adamant to make this extraordinary journey.
Plan B is not what we wanted but God had other plans for us. Man proposes and God disposes, heh heh.
The two days before we departed from Delhi, as per plan B, were intense. We packed and unpacked our small rucksack in the aluminum box that was fabricated to be mounted behind the motorbike, again and again.
We must have packed it in several ways. First to make things fit in, as per use, logically and second, to reduce as much weight we could without removing the essentials.
The packing list was so elaborate, it was baffling trying to figure how to pack so much into such little space. We had bought special motorbike travel goods, which helped a lot not only in its functionality but also in reducing the weight.
Checklists on paper, checklist on the phone, one on the ipad; they were tallied again and again. Documents were to be sorted and packed.
Information on the computer compiled over several months was put in place and copied to USB devices. Thank god for technology.
Last minute tasks just didn't seem to finish. No matter what we did, there was always more to be done. Phone calls, emails, the works. Last minute emails had to be sent to sponsors, family and friends. My daughter bought me an ipad so that I can blog and compile data comfortably, without adding much weight to my luggage and my son bought me a new, the latest, cell phone to make me accessible. For the last couple of days I, the not-so-tech-savvy-guy, was struggling to get the buttons right.
