the weird pravin lodge

There's a dog barking outside - don't know were it came frm. I saw a fourth cockroach. Just finished eating my dal. Jai mata di!

sore ass, beer and masala papad

Beautiful pink Kholapur skies with a green landscape, the confident Rahul Khadke who rode with me for a bit and who plans to learn English, complete his CA, the lightless, dark tunnels, multicolored, bright flowers, the huge Ganesha in Wai, the hanging trees and rain on the way to Wai, the sunsets, the soot my the hollows of the edges of my eyes, the begging mute child in Wai, the historic Shiva temple which I didn't see, Pune's traffic heat, the oxygen filled air and smells of Maharashtra interiors, thin, hardworking rural people, dead dogs, crazy highway crossers, the two white haired men who advised me to stay in Nipana City, me forgetting the digicam's memory card, the Western Ghats, the man who caught me and helped me when I trespassed inadvertently on Mumbai-Pune expressway, the dump in the mountains, the rivers, the cracy, crazy rain, t2xha's kicking, mumbai in general, this Sangli kid who got me Knockout beer, masala papad and was thrilled to get a 20 rupee tip, this weird Pravin Lodge come to mind on this Day 1 - my phase 3, my mumbai to kanyakumari.

50km from Satara at a dhaba

I just finished taking a dump in the open in the mountains, in the day amongst goats. I don't know why that amuses me. Had an irritatingly eventful morning. Am very delayed. Got on the annoying expressway twice when motorcycles r not allowed. Then got lost in Pune. Pune was sooo hot - not naturally but because of pollution and vehicles. It's raining now. Am chilling out. Original plan as to reach Belgaum, now Kholapur at least. Am about 180km from Kholapur. Let's see. My food's come - dal fry and roti.

Words before flight - Phase 3 Mum-K2

Am happy in a calm sorta way. I'm leaning against the kitchen wall, one leg resting on the other and typing this. Had elneer (coconut water) and a small paratha, finished my kriya, bath etc., am in my trademark blue t-shirt and a kurta to top it off. It's amusing how I like the same clothes again and again. Suz is sleeping - actually woke her up -- she was just telling me of T2KSHA's kicking and how sporadic it is. :-)

Alright..I'm off. My bullet and I for the next several days to see my country.

The night before

It's 9.54pm. What do I feel right now? Nothing really...just waiting to go. I'm cooking some egg plant and tomato raita. Gotto eat and pack my clothes. Saw Rock On...was cool movie. Suz is walking around waiting to eat as well.

A cloudy day

It's 10.26am in the morning. I'm very late. I'm going to CHaganmitha thing right now...for the nitrogen thing and then to work. My back was hurting a little bit in the morning and that thing is there on my mind. I just want to start now...

The can't-wait period

Am sitting in a drab auto getting home. The ride comes to mind in flashes. Paras got the road atlas and I was all over it for some time. Am leaving the day after now. Booked ticks for Rock On tom and changed my mobile ring tone for the first time. I gotto pack. Am thinking of going to the Chaganmitha station in sion tom to get that nitrogen thing for tires.

One year later...it itches again!

I last wrote on Sept 14th last year. It's been so long ago - not time wise but so many things have happened since. If distance were the measurement of whatever between two events or between two thoughts or between two phases or between two layers in the mind...I've covered a lot of distance in the last one year!

Well, well...here we are again. It's the same old itch, same old situation. You tend to crave the risk (or whatever it is) so much that there becomes a time when your whole being craves and craves and craves. I called Bhaskar this afternoon and did my best to convince him to go on the ride and he found every reason to refuse - the seat, the ass, the wife, the business, the lack-of-sense-of-freedom etc.

In the last few months, I've thought of several rides -- Aurangabad to the world's oldest meteorite crater, Ajanta/ Ellora, Panchgani and more recently Hampi. The AR dudes were planning I think Bhimashankar. I did a couple of quickies - one with Harsha on NH8 -- randomly drove for 200km. Other than the quickies, none of the other rides happened because it didn't really give me that kick. And then today in the kriya when several thoughts come and go, I guess it crystallized...K2 - Kanyakumari. I imagined myself on Vivekananda Rock and looking at my India from there -- the V-shape from the bottom and it gave the kick. It took 0.5 seconds to decide.

So my current plan is to leave on Friday or Saturday (sat if I watch Rock On movie with Suz like we planned on Friday) -- Mumbai-Pune-Belgaum-Chitradurga-Bangalore-Salem-Madurai-K2. Then I guess I'll drive up to Kochi and park the Bull at Sug's.

The big issue is time -- linear, physical earth time! Shucks, I got loads of things to do and I'm still thinking of the best approach. Parashuram is going to get me the road book tom and I guess I'll decide then.