Chapter 2_"Road Trips Are Like This..."

Chapter 2
“Road Trips Are Like This…”

I stopped for a few minutes. It was an open area and there was no shelter for me to take out my phone and ring up the guys. I noticed that the other people on the road weren’t panicking much; in fact they were moving ahead slowly. I too continued further. The bike kept swaying in the wind. After another 15 minutes of acrobatics, I reached a small town. I took shelter and contacted Thorappan and Mahesh. They were about a kilometer ahead of me, in a petrol bunk. I covered the distance and reached the spot. They were surrounded by 5-7 guys; some of whom were inspecting the bikes. Mahesh and Thorappan were busy answering the curious queries of those people. It was such a relief to be back with them again.

The rain kept interfering every now and then. It was quite amazing how there would be a few kilometers of dryness and then a heavy downpour all of a sudden; as if it was a ‘hide and seek’ game. I wondered whether the monsoons would spoil our trip. We passed several towns, some smelling of tobacco, and stopped at a place called ‘Kaja’ for tea. I removed my t-shirt and squeezed the water off. As we sipped hot Nescafe coffee, the sun set behind us, giving an orange tinge to the skies of Kaja.

We rang up Khan and quite surprisingly he too had the same distance as us to Vijayawada – around 30 kilometers. (For those of you who haven’t read the prequels: Khan is the fourth one on this trip, riding from Mumbai and joining us at Vijayawada.) Soon we entered Vijayawada. The traffic was quite heavy and we wiggled our way through it. After exiting the city, we waited for Khan to join us. We were very excited. Mahesh was ready with his mobile to capture Khan’s arrival. And then, we saw the bright fog lights at a distance; quite distinct from the other vehicles. There he was, Khan, with a wide smile on his face.

As we sipped hot Nescafe coffee, the sun set behind us, giving an orange tinge to the skies of Kaja.

After a quick catch up about his tough ride, we hit the roads. We had around 180 kilometers more to Rajahmundry, our destination for day 1. It was already 7:30 PM. We literally flew the next 100 kilometers – the Khan impact. The road wasn’t that great; there were small stretches of bad roads with unexpected potholes every now and then. It was the unsaid responsibility of the rider in the lead to bang into the most treacherous potholes and warn the others not to do so!

How eventful can a road trip be without a few cameos by the ‘Google ammachi’ (aka Google Maps)! 100 kilometers from Vijayawada, two roads diverged in front of us – one 40 and the other 70 kilometers to Rajahmundry -  and (unfortunately) we took the shorter one, as suggested by ammachi. The roads, or rather paths (they don’t qualify to be called roads!) went from bad to worse. Had it been the roads alone, we would have still managed it; the lorries, hundreds of them, up and down, made the task a tough one! There was so much of dust in the air that the road, I mean path, was barely visible. Khan and Mahesh soon disappeared; Thorappan and I trailed behind. Thorappan would often stop for the gangs of lorries to pass by and the dust to settle down. Otherwise a chill chap, he became very silent, and I felt sorry for him. Soon enough I had to feel sorry for myself as well - I developed a pain in my chest; it was probably the lungs choking with the dust. I took a break and drank some water. The pain subsided. We reached a railway cross where we caught up with Khan and Mahesh. A different kind of path awaited us beyond the railway cross. In fact, I do not know how to describe it. There were bridges - long ones. They had the names of English men. Whatever they were, they never seemed to end – one bridge after the other. (I googled it now – apparently, it was the ‘Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage’. ) I even had some Deja vu moments. It was a test of the machine, the body and the mind. To summarize, those odd 40 kilometers drained the enthusiasm out of us – all four of us.

******

Out of Curiosity

The Dowleswaram barrage was an irrigation structure originally built in 1850 on the lower stretch of the Godavari river before it empties into the Bay of Bengal. It was rebuilt in 1970 when it was officially renamed the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage/Godavari Barrage.

******

We had around 180 kilometers more to Rajahmundry, our destination for day 1.

After what seemed like a never ending 40 kilometers, we were back on the highway and we reached Rajahmundry in a while. It was midnight. There was a roadside restaurant (what we call ‘thattukada’ in Kerala and ‘akkakadai’ in Pondy) open. An Oyo room was available nearby as well. We spent a few minutes discussing whether to go into Rajahmundry town and look for better options. We decided to look for better options, which we soon realized didn’t exist. There were no restaurants open, nor rooms available. We came back to the highway. The thattukada had closed and the Oyo room had also been taken. Sabaash! We were hungry and tired. Mahesh shared some gyan, “well, road trips are like this, we should expect the worst. Let’s take the highway and see if we come across any other options.” Having known Mahesham for almost seven years now, I read between the lines - “Let’s take the highway and ride to Puri (our destination for day 2), we’ll see if there are any other options enroute” is what he actually meant.  I resisted the idea of riding further. We had seen another ‘thattukada’ in the town and I suggested we go back and have something there. Thorappan didn’t speak much; he hadn’t yet come to terms with the last 40 kilometers. Eventually, we went to the thattukada. Only dosa and idly were available. Mahesh had idlies while the rest of us had dosas. At times the universe conspires in ridiculous ways. The idlies weren’t cooked properly. Mahesh started murmuring. “Road trips are like this, we should expect the worst,” I added a pinch of salt. Thorappan giggled; so did Khan.

We contacted Oyo and they informed us that we would have to travel another 30 kilometers to find rooms. We were back on the highway. A few kilometers ahead, I started yawning. I told Thorappan that I was done for the day. This put him on high alert. He alerted the others as well and soon I had an escort – Khan and Mahesh in the front and Thorappan close behind. Besides, I was asked to sing loudly.

The continuous honking from behind woke me up.

(to be continued…)

Chapter 1_The Sun, The Rain and The Wind

Chapter 1

The Sun, The Rain and The Wind

Thorappan was supposed to reach Pondicherry by 9 PM latest. We had to then fix the wind shield he was bringing from Bangalore onto my bike, get at least six hours of sleep and wake up by 4 AM the next day. Around 760 kilometers had to be covered on day 1, the most in a day in this trip. This meant that we had to start from Pondy at least by 5 AM. We had decided that we would wind up our ride by 6 PM latest on all days; in other words, before sunset. Well, Thorappan reached Pondy at around 11:30 PM. He had received quite a bit of rains on the Vellore-Tindivanam stretch, which slowed him down. While he was unpacking his bags in Sunharji’s car porch, Mahesh and I went about the task of fitting the wind shield on to my bike. We unscrewed the stock shield and tried to fit the new one. A chance was being taken and of course it wasn’t in our favour – the new shield wouldn’t suit my bike. As we were fixing the original shield back onto the bike, one of the screws went inside the headlamp console. Sabaash!

I went to bed soon after fixing the wind shield. (We failed to fix the problematic screw back on!) Thorappan and Mahesh were awake until 2 AM, apparently. The 6-hour rest plan went down the drain. Nevertheless, we woke up at 4 AM sharp. Mahesh had set around 10 alarms starting from 4 AM, at 5-minute intervals. Anyways, we woke up for the first one itself; of course we were very excited about the day. It took us two whole hours to get ready, wear our gears and load our bags onto the bikes. I just had a regular 30-liter backpack, but Mahesh and Thorappan had two humongous tail bags, Mahesh’s weighing at least 30 kilograms. Sunharji, half asleep, clicked a few photos for us and we hit the roads at around 6:15 AM. The plan was to stop at the first tea shop on the Tindivanam highway. Mahesh and Thorappan were quite disappointed to later realize that they had to ride around 40 kilometers before they could find a tea shop on that stretch. Me being a frequent rider on this route, knew this, but chose not to tell them at the start.

Sunharji, half asleep, clicked a few photos for us and we hit the roads at around 6:15 AM.

We cruised along the 6-lane roads of NH-45 towards Chennai. But for the inevitable traffic at Perungulathur, it was a good start for the trip. We stopped at Adayar Ananda Bhavan in Redhills for breakfast. The sun was up and we were already sweating terribly, with our gears on. We filled our stomachs with dosas and a few cups of coffee and tea. People were quite curious about our bikes with all the luggage and gadgets on. Many of them enquired about the trip as well. Mahesh’s Dominar was already getting quite a few fans. After breakfast, the plan was to ride 150 kilometers straight and take a break at Nellore. Mahesh whizzed past us and we (Thorappan and I) wouldn’t be seeing him any time soon. We would have covered less than 10 kilometers when Thorappan started honking from behind. He signaled me to stop and I knew something was wrong.

A metal piece was dangling from my chain cover and it was hitting against the chain, causing sparks. Of course, one shouldn’t expect a hassle free ride up to Sikkim, but I wasn’t quite expecting a challenge this soon! We had to find a mechanic and I moved ahead at around 30 km/h. Every now and then the metal piece would hit the chain and my heart would skip a beat. The accelerator cable too developed some issues, adding to my worry. We took a detour into a nearby village to find a mechanic.

After the repair, Thorappan and I continued together. I wasn’t feeling very confident about my bike. Thorappan kept assuring me that Yamaha was trustable. There was no news from Mahesh. Three hours later, we had crossed Nellore and gone another 50 kilometers ahead, before we met him waiting for us at a highway CCD. It was around 1:15 PM and Mahesh had reached there almost half an hour back. While we were at CCD, we were the only customers there and we had a very relaxed time.

As we left CCD at around 2:45 PM, the plan was to stop after the next 150 kilometers. The roads were quite free and we increased our speeds, covering almost 80 kilometers in the next one hour. However, things weren’t going to be that smooth all along. After covering around 130 kilometers from CCD, we got the first rains in the trip. Mahesh and Thorappan stopped to put on their rain gears. Mahesh stopped 50 meters ahead of Thorappan and interestingly it wasn’t raining where Thorappan was standing. It started pouring just 30-40 meters ahead of him, where poor Mahesh was standing.

While we were at CCD, we were the only customers there and we had a very relaxed time.

I made a wrong decision to stop only at the next petrol bunk. A few kilometers ahead, I felt my inners getting wet. I then stopped to put on my rain gears and got all the more wet in the process. A few more kilometers ahead, I started getting strong winds. I wasn’t quite sure whether Thorappan and Mahesh were ahead of me or behind. The wind was blowing from my left to the right and there were open fields on both sides. I slowed down; quite tensed. The wind got very strong that I was literally blown from the left lane to the right. Motorcyclists and a few cars were stopping on the sides. Was it a cyclone or something?! Fear crept into my confused mind…

(to be continued…)

[Well, the story actually starts a couple of years back. If you are interested to get a gist of it, read:

1. Prequel- Part 1_The Eight of Us

2. Prequel- Part 2_The (Backup) Plan]

Prequel - Part 2_The (Backup) Plan

Prequel - Part 2

The (Backup) Plan

            On 10^th August 2018, the WhatsApp group’s name was changed from ‘Megham Poothu Thudangi’ (the clouds have started flowering) to ‘Thira Vannu Thudangi’ (the waves have started coming). The former represents the ‘big trip’ to Meghalaya, while the latter represents the booster that was being planned to Dhanushkodi-Rameshwaram. Yes, Dhanushkodi was the booster. It happened in September 2018. Khan backed out due to a friend’s marriage and Thomas (Seban), our junior from MCC joined us on that trip. It was quite a memorable one. I rode from Pondy to Trivandrum, my hometown. It was my longest ride till then, that too a night ride. It was meticulously planned. I was supposed to start from Pondy at 6:30 PM, but I made an early start, 10 minutes early and reached home at 7:50 AM, the next day; interestingly 10 minutes before the estimated arrival time, which was 8 AM. The Shenkottai-Trivandrum route was quite a scenic one. Later, Mahesh joined me in Trivandrum and we rode to Madurai, where Thorappan joined us (he had come to Madurai from Bangalore). Thomas too joined us there. As we parted ways after the booster, we were quite motivated for the big one.

Dhanushkodi was the booster.

             

                   Soon Khan and Mahesh did a Trivandrum-Chennai ride. Then came Gokarna in December 2018. Initially Mahesh, Thorappan, Khan and I were in for the trip. Later, Khan and Thorappan backed out. Mahesh and I did it on our own. Now I realize that Mahesh has done trips with all the three of us at some point of time, before the big one. I’ll not go into the details of Gokarna. Mahesh was on his FZ25 and me on Batman. Like all trips, this too was a memorable one, particularly the beach trek. You can watch this video to catch a glimpse of our Gokarna beach trek.

                      On 16^th Feb, a new member joined the family – Atom. Yes, Thorappan brought a Duke390 to his garage. Of course, the ‘big trip’ was coming soon and we were gearing up for it. In March, the WhatsApp group’s name was reverted back to ‘Megham Poothu Thudangi’. We kind of made up our minds for mid-September. The WhatsApp group became very active with the planning. I do not remember how we had actually fixed Meghalaya as our destination. A very long time back, Mahesh had done extensive research and written notes on all the seven-sister states and made a presentation to us. Mahesh is doing a course in 'tourism' and he had to plan an itinerary as an assignment. Guess what, the presentation he made to us was his assignment. We had finalized Meghalaya for reasons I don’t remember. For quite a long time, Cherrapunji, Living Roots Bridge and Khaziranga National Park kept recurring in our WhatsApp chat.

On 16^th Feb, a new member joined the family – Atom.

                              The initial plan was to ride to Meghalaya, explore the state, ride back to Guwahati and parcel the bikes back from there. I was given the assignment of finding out about the possible parceling options. I did a bit of research and shortlisted a few private couriers. However, the prices weren’t affordable. Indian Railways is very unpredictable – like the arrival of its trains. There is no guarantee that our bikes would reach us back in good condition. People have had very bad experiences with the Railway Parcel service. However, some have been lucky as well. We had to try our luck. We enquired whether we could parcel all the bikes on the same train and travel in the same train as well. But we got to know that it was very unlikely – four bikes being parceled on the same train. In fact, there wasn’t any assurance about even two bikes going on the same train – it all depended on the space available in the luggage compartment on that particular day, it seems. To keep all risks at bay, we decided to travel on separate trains. Every Wednesday, we had trains from Guwahati to all our locations – South Kerala, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai. Tickets were available as well. Thus, the return plan was getting fixed.

                We even explored options such as renting bikes from Guwahati or riding to the interior parts of North East and perhaps parceling the bikes from places like Silchar. But all these alternate plans had some practical issues which would take us back to our initial plan.

               On 11^th June 2018, we started the countdown – 88 days more! We had to plan the budget, find/save the amount, buy riding gears, equip the bikes and what not. Mahesham started working as a Zomato delivery boy in his free time. During our WhatsApp conference calls we would boost him up (rather pull his legs) saying that the world would remember him for his dedication. Mahesh gave us a surprise on July 4^th. He sent us the picture of a receipt which showed that he had booked a 2019 model Bajaj Dominar. Didn’t I tell you – this guy is known for such surprises! Well, we had another surprise in store for us – the Assam-Meghalaya floods. Yeah, the floods worsened by mid-July and we had to have a back-up plan.

Thus came Sikkim.

                     What started as a back-up plan, soon became the plan. Thorappan was particularly interested in Sikkim. He got the contact of an agent there, who would arrange the permits for us. He came up with an attractive itinerary as well. He had a dedicated notebook for the trip, where he made notes about the places to visit in Sikkim, distance between the spots etc. Sikkim required us to travel a few hundred kilometers less, when compared to Meghalaya. It would also give as an extra day. This made us to explore the possibility of a return ride. We soon came to a unanimous decision that we would be riding back from Sikkim. The dates were decided as well – 7^th to 21^st September. Mahesh would ride from Thiruvalla to Pondy on the 5^th. Thorappan would ride to Pondy from Bangalore on the 6^th, after his day shift. Khan too would start from Mumbai on the 6^th. He would meet the three of us on the 7^th, somewhere near Vijayawada.

 Thorappan had a dedicated notebook for the trip.

                      As the days neared, the thrill and excitement filled us. Video calls became more frequent. We started procuring our riding gears and equipping our bikes. Oh yes, on the 1^st of August the newest member joined the gang – Mahesh’s Aurora green Dominar. The team was complete now! The planning and preparation gathered pace and things were going pretty well. But where’s the fun without a setback. Thorappan’s leave wasn’t approved for the requested dates. We had to postpone the trip by a week. Fortunately, the shift was okay for the rest of us. Mahesh alone would be missing a few many classes in college. By now you are quite familiar with Mahesh and I needn’t tell you whether those classes would bother him.

On the 1^st of August the newest member joined the gang – Mahesh’s Aurora green Dominar.

                      The trip officially began on the 12^th of September, when Mahesh started from Thiruvalla. His drama began on the evening of 11^th itself – frequent updates about the delayed packing, his plans of going to sleep at 8 PM, waking up at 4, starting at 5 and so on. He did go to bed by 9 PM; however, there was no news from him until 6 the next morning. Apparently, he woke up with a troubled stomach and got delayed. Anyways, he reached Pondy around 7 in the evening.

                        Khan started from Mumbai on the 13^th. He had a terrible start apparently. It was pouring down heavily in Mumbai and he had a tough time on the road on his first day. He had started in the evening after his work and managed to cover 300 odd kilometers by midnight.

Khan started from Mumbai on the 13^th.

           Thorappan should be reaching Pondy latest by 9 PM on 13^th. Did he reach? Well…

(to be continued…)

Prequel - Part 1_The Eight of Us

Prequel - Part 1

The Eight of Us

                        ‘Sikkimasikkimasa’ has a long history. We need to travel a couple of years back. In fact, I don’t remember when exactly we started planning for our trip. (Who are ‘we’? You’ll come to know soon.) Of course, it was after I started working, which means after July 2017. The WhatsApp group which was created for the trip came into existence on 14^th November, 2017. So, let’s assume we started planning in the winter of 2017. Winter sounds cool, but for Pondicherry or the south, winter is just less heat compared to the summers. Anyways, in the winter of 2017, things were a lot different. I didn’t know how to ride a bike – the gear shifting and all that. It had been only a year since I learnt how to ride a scooter. I owned a Mahindra Rodeo scooter, aka Mayilvahanam. Mayilvahanam was a hero/heroine (I don’t know; you decide). We have had our fair share of memories together – road trips to Chennai, Bangalore and Wayanad. Yes, you read it right, Wayanad; looking back, I feel sorry for Mayilvahanam. It was a courtesy question by Mahesh, “porunno njangade koode [joining us?]” which led to Wayanad. It is still a mystery how we survived – both Mayilvahanam and I. It was a couple of days before the Wayanad trip that I brought a new member to my garage – a 2003 model Hero-Honda (they weren’t divorced back then) Passion. Mahesh was here – I’ll formally introduce Mahesh in a while – and he was the one who chose the bike, hereafter Kuyilvahanam, and taught me the Q-B-R-V (you can read it as ABCD; I’m trying to assert the philosophy that the letters needn’t be taught in any particular order) of bike riding. Let me introduce Mahesh then.

                       Mahesh is not actually Mahesh. Yet, I call him Mahesh Bhavana (fondly Maheshammm…). Those of you who have watched ‘Maheshinte Prathikaram’ (Malayalam movie) can relate to the name. Yes, there is a reason why I call him so. Mahesh, my classmate and ‘chunk buddy’ from Madras Christian College, took his own sweet time to finish the course (not revealing the number of years, for safety reasons). Me being his ‘chunk buddy’ kept motivating him and in 2016, when ‘Maheshinte Prathikaram’ released, the phrase ‘Come-on-dra Maheshe’ was an instant hit and I found it useful to motivate my Mahesh as well, thus giving him the name Mahesh Bhavana. Mahesh Bhavana is one of the four riders in the Sikkim trip.

                        In November 2017 (the winter of 2017) Mahesh was here in Pondicherry. It was his first major trip after he got his new bike – Yamaha FZ 25. He rode from Thiruvalla to Pondy and I joined him from Palakkad. What was I doing in Palakkad? It was our Sunhar ji’s ‘nikkah’. The winter of 2017 was indeed very eventful. Sunhar ji, for those of you who don’t know him, was my roommate back then. I’ll not talk much about him here; might write a book on him some time later. Maybe, I’ll describe him in a sentence – he is a well-read person; he could read blurbs behind books and give a lecture on the book, giving us an impression that he had read the whole book at least thrice. To put it simple, Sunhar ji is mass! Yeah, so I was returning from Sunhar ji’s wedding, which was in Koikkod; I got down at Palakkad (abandoning Jerry who was with me on the train) and joined with Mahesh from there. We rode to Pondy and a couple of days later Mahesh was to ride to Wayanad. On the day of his departure, as he loaded his bags onto the bikes, he asked me (I’m sure he would have regretted that later on) the courtesy question, “you joining?” “I would have, if only I had a bike like yours!” replied the poor me. “Your Rodeo can do the job, why not!” Things escalated from there on. I made a quick call to my coordinator at work, “I would like to attend a friend’s brother’s marriage in Wayanad. Can I?” (If you are wondering whether I lied, nope, it was our dear friend Valath’s brother’s wedding!) I had to be in a school till noon and Mahesh had to unpack his bags and wait for me! Poor him! Thus Wayanad happened.

Mayilvahanam in Ooty, enroute Wayanad

                   

                  Ommachan, aka Thorappan (not sure how he got this name), met us in Wayanad. He was on his way from Bangalore to Thiruvalla. Back then, he had a Yamaha FZ, customized to the fullest. Thorappan joined Infosys after Madras Christian College and got his bike soon after. He was already a matured rider when we met him in Wayanad – having completed around 1 lakh kilometres on his FZ. Thorappan is the third rider in the Sikkim trip.

                          Thorappan met us in Wayanad and from there Mahesh and Thorappan rode together to Thiruvalla. It was their first ride together and they seemed to have liked it. I rode back to Pondy, with Abjayan pillion. Needless to say, the Wayanad trip was the actual trigger to think big.

                          The winter of 2017 and the first two months of 2018, I spent time with Kuyilvahanam, learning how to ride a bike. Soon I started to dream about a new bike. In fact, there was a plan to buy a new bike by February 22^nd, 2018, and do the ‘big ride’ sometime in the second half of the year. But, Feb flew by. March too seemed to whizz away; but I decided to make a move. I booked a 2018 model Yamaha FZ version 2.0. I wanted to get the bike on the 22^nd of April, ‘22’ being my favourite number. Guess what, 22^nd April was a Sunday and hence I settled for 20^th April, Friday. The next one month was spent finding money for the bike (yes, I had some savings and plenty of lenders in my contact list). Srinivasa Motors would call me every week (from mid-March), informing me that my bike was ready for delivery. I had to keep telling them that they had to wait till April 20^th – of course I had to give my lenders time! Finally, I decided to pre-pone the delivery by a day – 19^th April, Thurday (not out of Friggaphobia, but out of excitement).

                          Let’s go into the specifics of 19^th April’s events. (Of course, alongside the four hoomans, the four bikes play central characters in this story.) So, 19^th April 2018 - it was a tightly packed day at work. Our CEO was visiting and we had a marathon meeting going on. I had to be at the showroom before six. The Accounts section closes at six. Sunhar ji started getting calls from the dealer from 5 PM onwards. (I had given his number as the alternate one and for some unknown reason, they chose to call on his number). The meeting didn’t seem to end either. Imagine me sitting through that meeting! Finally, at around 7 PM, Sunhar ji and I reached Srinivasa Motors and completed the formalities to get the bike. The delivery guy kept two lemons underneath the tyres, for reasons you know. I got onto the bike. The delivery guy gave me some instructions and asked me to start the bike. Sunhar ji was ready with the phone to capture our first moments. As you might know, the gear system on an FZ is different from that of my Kuyilvahanam. It made me all the more nervous. I started the vehicle and shifted to first gear. Apparently (and out of anxiety, I promise) I released the clutch too soon. The lemons were safe. The delivery guy asked me to relax. This time, we did it; but the lemon in the front was still safe – lucky lemon! I named him ‘Batman’ (not the lemon; my bike). He (yeah he) is matte black (limited edition – officially known as Darknight) and he somehow reminds me of Batman. Hence.

My first moments with Batman (note that lucky lemon in the front)

                          The next few months were adventurous, with me doing quite a few road trips with Batman – Velankanni, Ooty, Mysore, Rameshwaram and Gokarna. (Watch a video summary of our first one year: Tales on Wheels) Velankanni and Mysore were solo trips. Thorappan and Jerin were there on the Ooty trip. Thorappan and I, sitting in that Swiss tent in a tea estate, had discussions on ‘the big trip’. The destination of the ‘big trip’ wasn’t decided back then. We just knew it would be ‘big’. As the WhatsApp chat shows, we planned for a short ‘booster trip’ in September 2018.  Thorappan, Mahesh, Khan and I were shooting names of destinations for the booster. Ah, let me introduce Khan, the fourth and final rider. Khan is also a friend from the MCC days. He studied in MGR University, Chennai. Well, Khan is an established rider, having done a Leh-Ladakh some time back. He owns a Himalayan – the best of the lot (best - back in 2018; because Mahesh is known for surprises).

                 Thus, I have introduced the eight of us – four hoomans and four bikes. However, two of them wouldn’t be joining us for the trip (the big one), while two others would be joining the story soon.

(to be continued...)