Madarihat to Guwahati

14 April 2011
This day wasn't an easy one for us. We were saddened after leaving Bhutan. We were also worried as there was no news of our bikes. Nilu was worried about the transmission warning in his car. It started out as a dull day. But then grew into a wild, adrenaline rush. We took off early so that the border could be crossed in little traffic. But it was not to be. Nilu took some wrong turns and even though we were not much delayed by them, when we reached the border, the truck line had elongated to miles. This time, no diversion could be found. Doley was having a sore neck. But he would not take any medicine, saving the pain to be dulled by rice beer.
By this time, we did some minor abusing to Tiwary about his handling of the transportation. He kept on avoiding us. We stopped at a dhaba for a light meal. Nilu's little-known cousin had warned us to come with an empty stomach. The warning had to be taken seriously as we had seen what their breakfast meant. So, lunch would be leagues above. We had targeted to reach their place by 3 PM. As we left the dhaba, it was 1 PM.
We rang up Om Logistics ourselves to find out that the bikes had arrived. The trouble was, being Bihu time, their office would close at 4 PM and will remain shut for the next 2 days. No way we could reach Guwahati by that time. PayengDa had disturbing news of his own. Although, his interview had gone well, he had lost the receipt to collect his bike at Guwahati Railway Station. Murphy's Laws were all coming true.
All of a sudden, we were time bound. Frantic calls everywhere.
Gyan called up his father to reach Om Logistics and get the bikes outside the godown. Next call was to cousin's place to ask if we could skip lunch, or even get it packed if they had started preparing. Only a few minutes earlier, we were thinking of taking a beer-break before we reach the cousin's place. It would be a long wait before we could taste some more rice beer. But now, that option was chucked out. Our minds were racing. Nilu's was racing even faster as the onus was on him to make time. Plus, he was also racing his Fiesta. Only the transmission warning was slowing us down. On top of that, we were stopped by a number of Bihu dance groups who blocked the road and then asked for money. Even with the lack of alcohol, our intelligence wasn't failing us. We judged that since our ILPs were active from 16th, we could collect the bikes on 16th morning also and reach Bhalukpong by evening. Only that the bikes wouldn't be serviced. So, we hadn't reached critical point yet. But Nilu was not comforted. He said that we would be making even grander plans soon. He was right. But then, Nilu's cousin called and we could not escape them. We had to make a stop. So now, we had to eat up real fast, as fast as we had ever eaten. Still, even with the presence of gobblemouths, we would not be able to make it in less than half hour. To make matters worse, a certain Sumo Grande and a Tata Nano overtook us, that too with honks. Nilu was burnt crisp. But he was helpless. His car must have shared the sentiment because right then the warning light went off. We were back on full power.
Nilu came back in form. He overtook the two vehicles back, that too with honks. Sweet revenge. But at one instant, it came too close to comfort. Still, he and his vehicle had proved the point, and both of them relaxed. The warning light came back on.
Now, the news started getting better. Gyan's father had done it. We could collect the bikes from the godown at any instant today. That meant we could enjoy a full meal now. Now we got carried away and thought of more plans but Nilu stopped us.
We reached the cousin's place and enjoyed a hearty meal. Nilu presented them with gifts bought in Bhutan. Still, we were not relaxed. Our minds were with our machines. The food was a great distraction. Doley was the master here. He accepted everything, and more. He had been tolerating the pain in his neck for long. This was the treatment time. He even had good helpings of the rice beer.
Thanking our hosts again for their splendid hospitality, we started off again. Our moods were lifted up now. The weather had gone cloudy and a cool breeze was blowing. Doley had gotten high from all the rice beer and showed it. We were LOUD. Music volume turned high, Full headbanging in the backseat. His neck was cured for sure. A black Scorpio was encountered. Nilu played with it. He was playing with me also at the same time. GRRRRRRR. If only I had the wheel.
But as we reached Guwahati, we were in for a rude shock. We sighed on seeing our machines. Then at closer look, we were hit. All the bikes had sustained damage. Rear indicators were broken for most of them. Dutta's rear backrest had broken off. Doley's Classic suffered the hardest. Seeing a dent on a brand new bike is heart breaking. The petrol tank had a dent on it. The side box was badly scratched. The side stand had twisted and was unusable. Gyan's Karizma was in bad shape too. The fairing, the cowl, the console, everything was broken. Tiwary was in for another dose. He would get more once we get back to Delhi. Even though we were glad to be on our machines, we were scarred by the injuries.
All of us gathered at Gyan's place. Nilu went off briefly to his home to clean up and returned later. We called up PayengDa also. We still had not met Mamaji. So, in effect, the Buccaneers had still not united in full strength.
Another treat night. A table was loaded with snacks at the second level. This was to be another amazing night. Our laughter must have reached the lower levels as well. We all narrated Gyan's smashing moments to PayengDa and enjoyed another hearty laugh. Those events would crack me up whenever they are recounted.