Thrown Into the Deep-End - Part 2

The aim was to leave by 7am. All of us were ready and geared up on time, which was quite an achievement personally as I’m sure it was for some others. Not surprising though, when it is something you are excited about and have been looking forward to doing. The same thing would happen when I had to wake up early on race days, to be ready for technical inspection and the first practice of the day. I wanted to take advantage of every waking moment. I find it fascinating that we usually attach the outcomes of an event, a situation or a day to outside influences. In fact, the majority of our thoughts, actions and behavioral responses on a daily, weekly or longer basis are primarily guided by our state of mind.

Our first day of actual riding was also the longest in terms of distance to be covered. So, that meant time was of the essence. However, that formula usually seems to invite Murphy’s Law. When we greeted our bikes in the morning, I noticed visually that one of them had low tire-pressure (the bike I was assigned). While this was being handled, we loaded up our luggage onto the back of the Gypsy and played ‘hurry up and wait’. Once that was taken care of, we rode to the first petrol pump (gas station) to fill up the tanks. They were out of petrol. Same thing happened at the next one, and then we found some on the third attempt. Although it may not seem like a big deal (because it wasn’t), the hosts were well aware of the consequences of our delayed start. We were blissfully unaware, which meant anxiety was low, which would turn out to be a blessing and a necessity to tackle the day’s adventure. When we finally took off, we were straight into our next challenge – navigating Indian city traffic.

There’s no other way to put it… it’s a shit show! It’s grueling enough in an air-conditioned car, with the constant stop-and-go and avoidance maneuvers. Now put yourself on a motorcycle, crawling along in the heat wearing protective clothing, and your ears ringing with the incessant honking. It can be overwhelming to put it mildly. To put it graphically, your blood pressure takes a spike, you want to kill everyone, and you question your decision to do this in the first place. But then, IF at that moment you become aware of your state of mind, then CHOOSE to have perspective and change your outlook on the situation, something incredible happens. Dr. Wayne Dyer once famously said,


“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change”.

Through the chaos of that traffic, a pattern emerges. The honks are a form of communication that fills in the gaps created by visual blind-spots. All of a sudden, you are like a toy boat in a stream going with the flow. You’ve decided to spare everyone’s life. Now, I am in no way trying to justify the traffic, its environmental effects and the bombardment of our senses. That needs to be addressed for sure. But at the same time, facing that adversity builds confidence. You come out of it feeling that if you can ride in Indian city traffic, you can ride anywhere.

Eventually, the road mercifully opened up as we got onto a highway heading out of town. We stopped along the way for chai, delicious dhaba (rest stop) food, and petrol. Our hosts were understandable keen on moving along as we had a lot of distance to cover to make it to our campsite before dark. That was now out of the question.

All of a sudden, everything was lush and green and free of commercialization. The roads started winding around. Although I had riding experience racing sportbikes, and a little bit of practice on dirt, I had never done such a long day on just about every imaginable terrain. Apart from snow/ice, desert sand and rock gardens which are all much more advanced off-road terrain, we got tarmac (asphalt), gravel, silt, dirt, landslide rocks, bumpy, broken-up, potholed, and we cannot forget the mud. We encountered sun, drizzle, clouds, heavy fog, warm and cold all in one day. Riding there was nothing short of epic! My immediate thoughts were that the aforementioned permits and protections are absolutely essential to protect that part of the world.

After experiencing so much in one day, the last stretch was the most challenging. We had been riding for hours. It was dark, rainy, foggy, and the smaller road to the campsite that broke-off from the main road was still slushy mud from the recently-ended rainy season. Having not had the greatest experiences riding in mud so far in my life, I would not have looked forward to riding in it on a foggy and rainy night. But, I didn’t have time to look forward to it or not, because we were in it. All I could do was take the lead and drop right behind the Gypsy in one of its tire tracks. The last thing I wanted to do was fall down in mud so close to our destination. Of the little bit of dirt training I had done, I remembered all the good habits taught by an amazing instructor, and they worked!

We got to the campsite, and were welcomed with a shot of Ara (local millet-based liquor). We unloaded our bags, went on a successful search in a remote village area for rum, and partied into the night. We got to know our hosts better. They are very passionate about maintaining the quality of life there. They are also very good about making sure their clients have an enjoyable experience. We got some local insights on the different areas of this complex region. It had been a great day! Because it was dark, we had no idea what the surrounding area looked like during the daytime, and boy, were we in for a jaw-dropping surprise!

To be concluded… in “Thrown Into the Deep End – Part 3”.