Churning out miles.....The build up

"What!!!!", said Ravikant and then he went on to lecture me on how much my 1 month old daughter and my wife loved me and how they needed me by their side and so, why I needed to keep my natural instincts in wraps all my life and do saner things in life. But then, life is not about compromising always and Frahan Akhtar's voice would repeatedly prick me into going for dreams you have been seeing with your eyes open. "Zindagi milegi na dobara", he says. So "Rock on!!!".
My wife bears testimony to all the hours I spend on the Eicher atlas and how I can rattle off distances between towns in a flash. All these years, the hours spent studying the atlas and reading travelogues had only being adding frustartion to my life and rust to my Corsa. It had come to a point that I was just plain unhappy with myself and so this drive had to happen. Wifey had made me pledge not to go on rides, but as a safe option she had reasoned, "But, obviously you are 'free' to drive whereever you want" and so I had the loophole in the law which could be exploited.
So Bangalore to Panipat it was going to be. The Corsa needed to see the light of the day. I brought it out and parked it at a local garage with instructions to ready it for the long haul. Next thing, I started looking for comapnions, Chamoli was already lazying at home in Dehradun, Ashutosh had just come back, Pradeep's parents were away and then I asked the most unlikely guy sitting next to me, Hitesh Khatri. Khatri happens to be from Rajasthan and is always bubbling with enthusiasm. He agreed at the first go............and lo, everything was falling into place.
The plan was to start on the 2nd (Jan, 2009) afternoon and hit Delhi on the 4th Morning. It was a little aggressive but looked achievable to my inexperienced mind. My earlier experiences with long hauls were almost next to none. For years I had been reading about people on my bike group, Bike Nomads (BN), comfortably doing 1000+ kms in a day on a bike, I had a car 1400cc car which could safely do 3 digit speeds. So all looked so logical. The plan was to avoid MP and the Hyderabad route, do the extra 500 kms and go through Pune, Thane, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Jaipur and Delhi. NH4 and then NH8 all the way.
On the 31st, Khatri coolly backed off. He said, his mother was ready to pay for the airfare and its a strict no from his family. I was devastated. I knew this was not his mother but some busy minds at office who termed this journey as insane and a road to heaven. They said it is very unsafe and not a drive from one cross-section of the city to another (which they do twice a week at odd hours, all tipsy)!!!! I reasoned and he dismissed. Surely he couldnt let down his mom. I spoiled my entire day cursing everybody in sight. Finally I reasoned that I cannot let all the frustration to set in again after having already seen the Sun at the horizon and that my dreams should not be dependent on others. So, I decided to start early on 1st Jan itself, preponing the trip by a day. This was a masterstroke, I can safely say this now, in hindsight and you will find out later. I spoke to couple of friends on BN and they said do it, even if alone. I had the confidence now. I remembered that one guy on BCM touring did Mumbai-Leh all alone on his Pulsar 200 and he gave me immense confidence. Buddy, whereever you are you gave me immense inspiration, a big THANKS and this drive is dedicated just to you.
Arpan, helped me with directions through Mumbai. Venkat, gave contacts in Belgaum. Z-Tech motors' Manoj got the Corsa ready, I made available information about the roads from blogs and Eicher Atlas was ready. I also downloaded the Google Maps application onto my mobile, this was another master stroke. Got GPRS Rs. 140 a week package activated on my mobile. The clothes were packed and all was ready at 830pm on the 31st Dec,08. Then, the phone started ringing, it was Khatri. I ignored him and he persisted and messaged. Finally we talked, he was drunk and ready for the drive!!!! I said, I can't trust you any longer and I have preponed the trip and am starting tomorrow. He said that he will come, just delay it by a few hours. I get tempted for company and relent. And so, all is set.

Route:
Bangalore-Tumkur-Hubli-Belgaum-Kohlapur-Pune-Thane-Daman-Surat-Baroda-Ahmadabad-Udaipur-Chittaurgarh-Kishangarh-Jaipur-Delhi-Samalkha (Panipat).
Follow NH4 to Thane and then NH8 to Udaipur. Shift to NH76 to Chittaurgarh and then from Chittaurgarh NH79 to Kishangarh. From here get back to NH8 again till Delhi. From Delhi its NH1 till Samalkha, Panipat.
Distance as per atlas is 2577.

Goto Day 1