Talking to Vishrudh over mobile borrowed from tent manager as our mobile signals were 0% was quite a painful & hesitating task. But what to do?? Situation does make you do everything I thought & did whatever I felt like doing at that time. Vishrudh said the market is still closed & he would try again in some time.
Meanwhile, I spoke to tent owner & he got busy finding me a tempo to toe my bike. I & Vijay quickly planned that Vijay would leave to Manali with all my expensive luggage along with his & I would reach along with tempo. Luckily, after searching for a while, tent owner managed to get one tempo guy who was ready to get my bike at the cost of 1500 bux.
“Unke shoe lelo! Keechad bahut hain.. Jaldi karo! Traffic bad jayega…” tempo driver Shekar Takur said.
After bidding byes to Vijay, got into tempo & we were straight off to Rohtang. In between few more guys got into our tempo but for me, seeing my bike there was high priority.
“Gaadi kidar hain?? Pehle wala keechad pe ya doosre wala???”
“Mujhe patha nahin! Lekin thoda aage aaya hoon keechad main!!!”
“Agar aap doosre mod tak aaye hain toh achha hain! Kyon ki kal raat ko waha land slide hua tha…”
“Kya???” I was shell shockedL. Boy! Will I be able to see my bike???
Shekar continued asking me about the exact location where I parked my bike but how could I tell me the location?? For me, first, second & all the bloody slush’s are same. After going in tempo as much as we can,
“Aap aage jao gaadi ke paas, main isko mudke aavunga..”
As me & another guy walked ahead, I was trying my best to find the bike climbing up. After walking for more than Km, my bike was standing stillJ. Off! First tension is over. But what the heck! I could see huge stone in middle of the road just around 50 mtrs behind my bike. What the hell! Damn close call my baby had survivedL.
Before I could even relax from the shock, Shekar came & said,
“Chalo, dakka marte hain! Jaldi…”
I tried to push ahead while he controlled in front but ended up panting like a hungry dog in no time. Man! My stamina sucks big time.
“Thoda rukte hain bhai…” I said & started to take deep breath.
“Aap thoda rest leke aao! Main dheere se javunga…” Shekar said & took the responsibility of pushing my bike alone. Man o man! Some time, strangers do help more than what our closest pals would do. After a short break, joined him again & pushing my bike continued for around half a Km with few more friends of Shekar joining in. With all the drama, we reached one turn of the slush & to go ahead, we had to deal with bigger slush path this time & moreover, majority of the space is occupied by trucks.
“Agar seeda raaste se leke jayenge toh bahut lamba padega! Hum isko short cut se leke jayenge!!!” Shekar said me in short.
“Kya short cut???” I ran behind him while he moved to the curve we had crossed to discuss with his friends about getting my bike down the hill. He showed me the short cut & guess what it’s just a walk path down the hill. Looking at the first glance,
“Arre nahin bhaiyya, hum seede raaste se hi jaayenge…” I said confirming him.
“Kuch nahi hoga… Mere dost log hain na… hum dheere se samalke utarenge aapke gaadi ko…” scaring me even more…
“Arre bhaiyya! Mujhe Bangalore bike main hi jaana hain…” I responded indicating him how important this machine is for me…
“Aap tension mat lo! Aapke gaadi main jo pehle se hi problem tha, sirf woh hi rahega! Aur kuch nahi hoga… Chinta mat karo” Shekar confirmed & started getting my bike down with 4 guys holding it from the back. All the while they were getting my bike down the hill, I was completely on fire & balls were on my mouth. The path was so skidy, & it’s almost 50⁰ decline.
“Arre hum pulsar sab utarte hain issi tarah. Tab sirf do log kaafi hain par ab char log…”
The ambience was such that, every visible person were busy. Me shit scared about my bikes safety, Shekar & his 4 friends completely occupied getting my bike down slowly & carefully & all others busy watching the climax scene. I could see few were even recording a video of it. Bustards, it’s a question of life & death of my bull & they are filming it.
After 15-20 mins of non-stop effort, we 5 managed to land my machine in plain roadJJJ. I really didn’t know how to thank them all & Shekar said,
“Yeh lo! Hogaya aapka kaam.. Chalo bhai, Chai peethe hain ek…”
After offering them all a cup of hot tea, thanked everyone with hand shake & we were on tempo with my bull tied up at back.
On the way back, Shekar told me about few memorable experiences he had on these hills, what he does & how the people here are. With all the chit chat, we reached Manali & unloaded the bike in bullet mechanic shop which Shekar knew. In an effort of toeing my bike, the side stand of it was broken but I hardly bothered about it. For me, I just wanted to see it start & moving ahead. Mechanic confirmed it’s surely a Clutch Plate issue & told me come after 2 hrs. After handing Shekar the amount he had demanded, I thanked him a lot exchanging numbers & he left leaving me alone with luggage. Called up Vishrudh to pick me up & he did turn up in short time. Reached room & Vijay was already enjoying the cosy bed inside a thick blanket. Man o man! I am seeing toilet after 3 days & no delay in jumping to bathroomJ. After refreshing in hot water, came out & had Egg Biryani.
Post lunch, me & Vishrudh went to mechanic shop & bike was ready to be delivered. Did a test ride & things looked fine. It was just past 2:00 PM & Vishrudh said we can cover some distance if everyone is ok with it. As I had already messed up their plan, I didn’t want to play out any more & gave a go green signal from my side. Packed all our things in a jiffy & quite Manali filling our bikes.
While filling our bikes, 4-5 bullets came behind us in queue & again answered all the crazy questions of theirs. Vijay & Vishrudh gazed at me since we were getting late & it was already 4:20 PM. As the climate was cloudy, I had kept my camera in metal box & hence could not take any photos. Did a speed run since the road was good & stopped at some Pashmina shawls shop as they wanted to do some shopping. Post shopping & getting some more luggages, continued our speed run & next shop was for food. After filling our appetite, rode ahead negotiating traffic in opposite direction. It had already started to get dark & going through high beam lights were kinda irritating for me. Before 8:00 PM, we reached Mandi & Vishrudh said,
“Innulu daylight ide. So dark ago tanka ride maadi matte alle yelladru lodge hodokona?? (Still daylight is there. So shall we ride ahead till it gets dark & then settle somewhere there itself???)”
“For me anything is ok! I will just follow you guys…”
With all these discussions while our wheels were busy running, we moved ahead crossing Mandi in an intension to cover as much as we can. It was just 43 Kms to Bilaspur & Vishrudh again slowed down calling me ahead to discuss something!
“Innu Bilaspur swalpa door ide! So allige hodiyona??? (Now Bilaspur is little far! So shall we hit there???)”
“For me anything is ok! I will just follow you guys… I am enjoying the ride!!!”
Again the ride continued till Bilaspur & this time I was kinda enjoying night ride on twisties. While nearing Bilaspur, once again Vishrudh slowed down calling me ahead to discuss.
“What?? Shall we ride till Chandigarh???” I offered before he could tell somethingJ.
After a tiring night ride, settled in Hotel Neelam beside NH. It was around 10:30 PM when we reached our bed in Bilaspur. With nothing else to do & our eyes eager to close its shutter, slept tightJ.
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