Bike Trip to Bhutan: Epilogue

The following are the characters who have been involved in this trip and has been incidental in making this trip a success. There are also many good samaritans inside both India and Bhutan who have gone out of their way in giving us directions and even helping with bike repairs.

Characters:

Lawyer: True to his name he is an aspiring lawyer but caught in the wrong industry. He can never be politically and diplomatically incorrect.

Bevdaas: Bevdaas is no brother of Devdas. He is the man who brought many liquor companies out of bankruptcy on his 3 month stint to UK. He is the only man who has seen the world from “west to east”. His favorite song is “Saat Samundar Paar mein UK Peeke aagaya, mein UK peeke aagaya” starring Divya Bharti in Vishwatma.

DON: Anything related to the DON is pure intrigue and moreover I don’t want to die. Don doesnot exist and no one has ever claimed to have seen the DON. Rumor has it that the only way to spot him is near a dukhaan selling Bhajia Pav.

Poet: Poet was nick named thy for his apparent lack of creativity. He is the only human being ever married to a bike. The reason: Bikes don’t call up thrice in a day, do emotional atyachaar and don’t have to match any Horrorscopes to get married to one.

Road Rash: True to his name, rides bikes in any sort of way that a normal person does not and cannot. Wheelies and stoppies are his specialty. He is capable of riding any bike like a rocket and is pursued by both ISRO and NASA for his exemplary skills.

DJ: Aspiring Disc Jockey living in the land of the Nizams. Develops instant affinity to any pretty thing that moves on two legs.

Submarine: A cousin of the Poet. Named thy for living under water.

Teacher: A cousin of Road Rash and a teacher of many a nursing canary.

Taipan: Like his Australian counterpart, known to offer stinging remarks if you aggrieve him. Found in the jungles of Guwahati and Bangalore. Also an avid photographer and known for his penchence for routers.

KayMoo: That’s his original name. An avid globe trotter and a caroms player.

Disclaimer All the characters mentioned in this are real and any resemblance to any person living or dead is entirely intentional. The characteristics of the characters may or may not be real.

Some photographs are marked indicative. Those are not captured by the rider.

The Making
This mother of all trips was the lawyers brainchild. The lawyer had been to the UK for a couple of months and was deputed in Chennai. He wanted some sort of escapade on his bike when he got back to Pune. Bhutan appealed the most to him as this was the only peaceful place in the north east. Lawyer dropped the bomb on the table and the Poet eagerly jumped in. Bevdaas was in the UK, so too was the DON. Bevdaas return to Pune was on the cards but it was scheduled in March. The poet could not wait for such a long time as the danger of the swiss canary was looming on him. The poet wanted to make it to Bhutan before the swiss canary got to him. Don had more serious businesses running in the UK and hence was unavailable. So it was left to the lawyer and the poet to chalk out a schedule that would take them to the makzut called Bhutan.

The Poet and the Lawyer spend a couple of days working out on the roles and responsibilities. That’s when the Poet accidentally came in contact with Road Rash. Road Rash was in for the trip. Now the itinerary was chalked out by the Poet and the Lawyer and was versioned more than four times before the ultimate version was chalked out with the help of subject matter expert HVK of team-bhp fame. HVK gave the pass certificate to the plan and the trip was ready to be executed

Next thing on line was the info on obtaining permits and the Indian consulate was contacted in Phuentsholing for the thorough process. Apparently all u needed was a passport or a voters id card and visa would be given for arrival. Similarly permits needed to be taken for the bikes and the docs needed where the usual ones (RC+ Insurance).

So everyone were ready to roll and that’s when the unexpected news came. The Lawyer had got the summons from the Judge and hence would not be able to make it! That was a major setback. No amount of manipulation and coercion would work with him. So it was left to just the Poet and Road Rash to execute the trip. The final date was decided as Feb 23. Road Rash would start from Blore and Poet would follow the next day from Pune.

Now it was an individual game. Each had to get things for himself and his bike and there was only one weekend left. Poet always wore safety gear and Road Rash never. Poet drove one of the oldest bikes and Road Rash the latest bikes (hence did not need anything for his bike). So the Poet had to get things for his bike and Road Rash for himself. The Poet had bought the much needed bike accessories for his solo trip to Kerala and that seemed to be enough. But there was a thing missing from the Poets biker wardrobe - waterproof boots. Poet pushed off to DSG and the price of a pair of boots popped his eyes out. 25K for a pair of boots!!! That was the freaking cost of the trip!!! Poet rushed to the poor biker’s shop of Adventure world and bought a set of cramsters for a measly price of 4.8K. So the poet’s wardrobe was complete. DSG Jacket, Alpine Stars knee guards, Pro-Biker Gloves, Vega Helmet, Cramster Saddle Bags and finally the Cramster Boots. And a lonely planet to aid in the discovery of Bhutan.

Riding Gear

Poet called up Road Rash on his wherewithals and there was another set back. RR apparently was trying to wheelie his bike at rocket speeds and the rocket went beyond his control and had hurt his knee in the process.

So much of the trip! Sighed the Poet. He would have to make it all alone and he did not have enough craze and gas in his tank to do a solo trip. But Road Rash’s leg was apparently made of rubber and was back to normal the next day. Road Rash called up to say that the mission was on and he is on the way to his folks place to take rest and get his rubber polished. Well that’s what one call a good news!

The day before the journey Road Rash called up (at 7.30 PM in the night)to say that he couldn’t find a biking store in the whole of Bangalore and was ready to ride without any gear. Road Rash still wasn’t serious about his safety inspite of his wheelie fall. Poet insisted on the safety gear and Road rash blitzed his way through heavy Bangalore traffic to a cramster store and managed to pull out a pair of bionic knee guards and an armoured jacket just before the shutters were pulled down.

So on Feb 23, Road Rash set off to XX and the Poet went to Office for his training. By evening RR had made it to XX and the Poet had finished off his training and had packed his stuff for the early morning trip the next day. The Poet eagerly opened up his laptop to scribble on face book the supposedly bold adventure he was ready to overtake. That’s when his old pal DJ came online after a small time frame of 5 years. Poet was ecstatic to meet DJ as he knew he was in Hyderabad and would come in handy in case of an eventuality. So the Poet promised a rendezvous with the DJ for Lunch in Hyderabad the next day.