Memories

MaNik and Kushal’s Rain Trip

(Patiala -Pbi. Univ. to Chandigarh)

"Would you guys hurry up? I have to leave for Chandigarh." It had been raining since three days with a regular shower in the day and mild drizzle in the evenings. We were having 'paronthas' at Shiv Dhaba outside the University. And we were upto something.

We were busy making plans for the day after it was declared as an unofficial boycott because the police had taken someone in custody and had not given information about him. Five days had passed since the incident took place. Political bodies involved and they warned that nobody should attend classes today.

About the plans- Piyuesh would be bringing his car or at least his bike so we thought of visiting the Sheesh Mahal first. It was pretty boring for Piyuesh though the other people were agreeing. But he has a habit of sticking to his viewpoint. So then we thought about NIS (National Institute of Sports). "Its big and will need some vehicle etc. but it’s worth it only if we go there in the evening", said Kushal who had visited that place already. So the discussion went on...

At the end, I and Kushal decided that we better leave for Chandigarrh because the plans here were going kind of nowhere and we both had to be somewhere for sure. So we told them that we both are going to leave in an hour for Chandigarh, "on bike", added Kushal.

"I still have to pack my things!"

"Take my bike and go to your hostel and do the packing, how's that?"

“Ok.”

I went to my hostel and he went to a barber. He had to get a shave since he was going to meet a friend of his who had some nice girl friends he would introduce Kushal to. So he wanted to be sure that he looked good. Taking the bike was also for the same reason that he and his friend could go around the city beautiful- Chandigarh without a break.

I on the other hand was not going to Chandigarh. I was instead going to visit my aunt ('buaji') who stays at Bhanu- a place in Harayana. My uncle ('fufarhji') is posted there and controls the whole police camp. He's the senior most there. And if I'm his nephew, that means I would be treated as a prince. NICE!

Anyways, that is not my motive of visiting that place.

The place is very quiet and perhaps i get to visit and meet those people with whom i've stayed two of the most memorable years that brought a change in me (i love that change) and a time that I love for getting to know my cousin sister well -my high school years.

Half an hour through, I left my hostel and went to the market to get a recharge for my cell number. It was raining more heavily than it seemed to. And now, I was thinking hard about the plan. I went to his PG and told him that it’s not just a drizzle outside. So we both were now thinking about alternatives. First thing- The bike was needed to have fun in the city beautiful. Second- We don't want to be sick. Third- Being soaked is irritating and also chilling. We wanted to avoid all of these.

"Look! I'm so wet after just visiting the market!  Think what is going to happen if we are out there for more than an hour."

"Yea, we will get wet, so what?"

"Getting wet and getting soaked are different situations. I wouldn't want to ride a bike if i'm soaked!"

"I won't like doing that either. But I have to take the bike."

"Oki, I'm keeping my towel out and the umbrella too."

"Will the umbrella be any good on bike?"

"It’s not a good one but let’s see! And if I don't feel fine in the trip, you got to let me abort at any time so that i can board a bus!"

"Kameene! Sure i would do that. I'll drop you at some place where there's no bus stop for a few kilometers."

"Okay. But i hope it doesn't get so bad that we both would be standing mid way waiting for a bus." And we both laughed.

Then we put on our essentials. I was putting on two pair of clothes- A pyjama under my jeans and a cotton shirt under my t-shirt.

"Why are you doing that?"

"I don't like the feeling of being soaked. Even if my upper pair is wet, I'll still be dry from the inside."

"Hmm… not a bad idea though", and he also puts on a second shirt.

We took each other's pictures of all that we were doing. I have my camera most of the times with me, I bought a pouch especially so that I have my essentials all the time (I love photography). It did cost me enough to mess up my funds back then. But it has been pretty useful too.

We then set out for Chandigarh. Don't know what the rest of the people did back there. But we both had no time to think about that.

Only half a kilometer on the bike with the umbrella open, and it folded back! We stopped the bike and had a good laugh, "So it isn't a really good umbrella", I said and we laughed again. Then folded the umbrella and kept it inside and continued. I had my bag and laptop bag. He had a bag only which was resting by his chest on the fuel tank.

We were doing good despite of the rain. We could manage a nice speed. The rain; then got faster. And now we were actually feeling that we would get soaked soon. We took that kind of flow for half an hour. I could feel my right foot soaked though my left foot felt dry. Soon I suggested that we should stop for some time since the rain wasn't slowing down. So we stopped at a place called Banur and found a roadside joint where we could get tea. We asked him if he has some 'pakoras' (local snacks that are fried from outside with a raw vegetable inside).

"Yes!"

We were all smiles.

"Aapko paneer ke aur mix pakoreh mil jaenge!" (You can have cheese or mix vegetable snacks).

We were happy that we could get them. Then we went inside the shop to have a seat. It wasn't a modern restaurant. It was a dim place inside. He hadn't switched on the lights either. Maybe there was an electricity cut. But it added even more to the mood of the weather. We ordered some 'pakoras' and tea and then placed our bags on one of the benches. In no time, we had our shoes off and placed them in the joint's backyard. We even removed our soaked socks to let them dry for a while.

"Aapke pakoreh table par rakh diya hain", said one of the young waiters. (Your order is on the table)

We washed our hands in the rain though there were washing sinks inside. Now we were in a complete monsoon mood.

Shifting on to our table, we recalled how we had started and went on to compare our clothes on how they got so wet. The plan to wear two pairs had worked well so far. With no longer delay, we filled our tummies with pakoras and tea. Nothing tastes better in such weather and the condition we were in. Hot tea with snacks was like the best food to us back there.

While we were eating, Kushal said, "This is the one of the craziest things we'd have done."

"Yea. 'One' of the craziest! ", and we laughed again.

Soon we were putting our shoes back. But we thought that the soaked shoes won't feel good enough. So we asked for some polythene bags from the shop keeper and put them on our feet before putting on the socks.

 And it proved to be a great idea. The rain had almost stopped. And after we started from there, it stopped completely in a few minutes and soon the weather was clear. We could see the lower Shivaliks clearly. It was an awesome view that i was enjoying since Kushal was driving the bike. In the way, I told him to pull back at a petrol station. I wanted to take a few photographs of the view. I couldn't get very good pictures because the hills were further than they seemed to and my camera had a limited zoom. 

But Kushal finds out that something had gone bad with the bike's horn. He had a tuned up horn put on which had stopped working and was hanging by the wires that joined it to the battery. And there was no one on that petrol pump who could fix it. You probably won't worry if you were in Britain but here you got to be aggressive while driving by pushing the horn several times before over taking because the person whom you are overtaking is not going to look into his rear view mirror until you blow your horn. People don't want to change their habits. And because one of them is not doing so, the others have to keep going by the law of the common man too. After a while, Kushal got it right after trying all the possibilities of connecting the horn. The smaller horn was now working and we were ready to go.

"Got some good shots?"

"Not really, they're quite far."

"Good that we stopped, I didn't lose my horn."

"Yea, you could thank me for that anytime", I said almost laughing.

"Hey stop! My cap flew back."

Why is that something happened as we started that we had to make a halt again. Kushal rode the bike a few meters back and I got my cap. Luckily, no car had passed over it. And we were off again.

Then we didn't stop till we reached Zirakpur where i had to take a bus for Panchkula.

           

"Bahut mazza aaya yaar", I said as i got off the bike.  (We enjoyed a lot man!)

"Yes. It is one of the most memorable trips for me too."

I guess the trip wasn't too long to add anything special. But it contained small bits of thrill- rain, attempts to save ourselves from it and how we went about that- putting polythene bags on our feet, two pairs of clothes and many that we didn't care about.

We took each other's pictures there and then we parted. He went to Chandigarh and I took local transport for Bhanu.

My local transport from Ramgarh-

On the way—