Ghumakkar's Diary

If it  wouldn't  been Highway, I would have been High another Way ~ Ghumakkar Only thing that I don’t like attaching my rides is the ‘ reasons ’, and satirically it has been ‘ those reasons ’ that inspired me to get on some of my best rides of the short Life I have lived till date. One such ride was the last week’s  month's Mumbai-Jaisalmer. Rides to Nagpur and Jaisalmer have been on my itinerary since a long time, owing to my Geologists friends being posted there. Though, Nagpur is still to be done, I went to Jaisalmer on just a week’s planning. A message to my broken-ride-hearts Watsapp Group ‘ Decide & Ride ’, two friends agreed for the trip and finally one of them got along. Ride This is was the first ride in many a sense. I was lonely, though not solo; no smartphone with me, no deliberate routing/mapping done, and a very limited blog-survey over the roads and places. Target was to ride those ~1100 km in 2days, Day 1 from Mumbai to Mehsana and Day ...

Dear Achtung! It has been 3years since the day you entered my life and changed it completely. With over 35000 kilometers to show, hundreds of stories to tell, number of friends to boast, lengths of highways to conquer and an oath to live the rest of my life as a Rider, I am overwhelmed to write any further.... Achtung!   and Me (thanks to Vineet for the click and Abhimanyu for the edit) Thanks for accepting me as your Rider, it's an honor :) Yours truly, Punit Dubey

Goa was on the cards when we planned it, but as the date of riding neared plan changed and changed a lot. I was a lonely rider on the NH 4, and wasn't sure about the place to stay on the first night of the ride. Goa isn't,  like , much of fun for an introvert like me ( yes introvert, else I would have been telling stories than writing ;) , and so I was all ready to stay somewhere in a roadside motel en route on the first night. Night before the ride, I received a  call from Vinni minutes after I posted about my ride on Bisons’ forum and twitter etc. He not only got me a room booked at Hubli with help of Mr Sanjay Hubli’s 99Cannons Bullet group but also advised to visit Gokarna especially Om Beach. As it told ( wrote ) earlier, riding alone I was way ahead of time and reached Hubli well before sunset. So, I replanned the plan again and took a right turn ( by actually turning left on NH 4 and then through an underpass ) towards Gokarna. Gokarna...

Sometimes when it’s call of your Soul, you ride Solo! When I started, due to heavy rain couldn't take a pic of the group.... So, finally when even the last guy cancelled the ‘just’ a week old plan to ride to Goa and then Bangalore; I decided to do it solo! After all, I planned it, and after not being able to ride to Ladakh for the reasons which themselves failed later, I was to ride on any cost! This ride had been a memorable ride for a lot of reasons, especially with a lot cases of ‘just happened’ things. A lot of things just happened and I had to change the course or rethink about it at least. To start with, I proposed and we planned this ride just a week before the actual ride day. Samzy, Sandy, Monty, Rudra and Deepak said yes to it and later due to some personal commitments kept declining. Last being Deepak who said no, just the day before the ride. Ride plan was to start early morning in Mumbai, reach Goa as early as possible, have fun, ride next day to Ban...

Incidentally I wrote a post of my tranformation from just around the corner corporate junkie into a Rider (for sure, still gradually) few days ago. Now, here are the Indibloggers with a Contest for the Bikers of the Nation with Castrol guys .  Evolving Biker Code of the Nation  When you look at the scenario of Biking in a general sense, you would be attracted by the road-rowdies and rookies who ride to spread nuisance and are mostly acknowledged for their deeds by the newspaper. Hooligans may be the right word. But, once you get involved with the passion, you would be able to see how the passion of Biking, or rather Riding, is evolving in the country where 2-wheelers over-power 4-wheelers by scores of galactic height, but have never earned respect on highways just coz they are the smallest-speeding machine there! I would try to let you through the Indian Riders tale, so that you  be able to appreciate how the riders of the Country are working, though in a segregative...

When I died some 20years ago, I didn’t realize would ever be worshipped for something I could have actually tried to avoid. I tried to re-write it, tried to erase the mistake I did; but, it’s not always the way one wishes! I am Om Singh; they fondly call me Om Bana or more lovingly Bullet Baba. Chotila is the village where I was born and brought up into a Bulleteer. It was 1991, month I don’t remember – for it never mattered to me; it was just another pleasant night in the hot sands of Rajasthan when I died. Time stopped that day, at least for me! Om Bana's Bullet - Riding towards Sunshine, Riding towards Sanity Like any other young youth of there times, I too had an ambitious heart raving high on his Bullet through the yet-to-be metalled roads of Rajasthan. I brought up in a family, affluent to most of the resources, if not like rajahs. Chotila was my kingdom, friends my life and Bullet – the mighty machine I ride. Alcohol was another special friend, who dragged me to ...

Not just the passion, few more factors act decisively while planning a ride. One such factor, that mostly overpowers the enthusiasm, is Leaves’ approval ! Plans to the RM2012 ride with other Bisons suffered with the same tragedy when Locha and I had to start the ride together a day later then the fellow Bisons. (For more on RM2012, click here ) Bisons left Mumbai for Challo Dilli ride on 24 th January. Locha aka Chemical Locha aka Amrrutraj  and I had problems starting riding to Delhi on 24 th January’s morning. So, we planned to start it on late evening, and finally were able to get on the road in the early morning of 25 th only. Simple pan - 3days to RM2012, we planned to catch the first contingent at/around Udaipur and then ride ahead together. Saddled up and all geared, we met at our usual rendezvous – Fountain Plaza, Dahisar at around 4:45 AM. Minutes there, some time spent on route ahead, we met brothers from Inddiethumpers. Hugs and mobile numbers exchanged and we...

When travelling is your passion, you are bound to see a lot in your life, meet a thousand through your journey. I realised a day back only that most of us love to write what we did on our trip, what places we visited, how was the road, the hotel, the people. The People! Do we actually write about the people we met, or the men or women we spend a good time with? I did meet few people on rides, while flying or on train journey who left a deep impression on me. But, never actually took pain, if any, to jot down about them. Just them and there stories. So, in this post I will be talking about the People only, a few of the few meeting with whom I still cherish. If you RIDE a Bullet, you ought to know him There are many a people all over India and World, who love to ride. Few of them love to brag about there rides, most are just concerned about there rides. I belong to the earlier class, ride and blow your own trumpet! This person, about whom I’m writing this section, religiousl...