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Category: Travel

Chasing the sun in Myanmar

When we first considered Myanmar for a vacation, the first thoughts that occurred in our heads were military rule, fear, poverty, rickety infrastructure and safety issues. For a country that had been joined at the hip with ours for more than a century, we were surprisingly clueless about what to expect and constantly expected the worst.

How wrong were we!

Myanmar was clean, well mannered, safe, beautiful, surprisingly diverse and inhabited by a gentle population that has suffered a lot for a long time.

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She Lives

We are human. We forget. Sometimes even the things closest, most fundamental to us. And sometimes, whiff of fresh air reminds us of them. Implores us to come back. Forces us to rejoin. And the smile on our faces make it all worth it.

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Wandering In Kumaon

Whenever one’s faith in life and all that it contains begins to waver, we reach out to the one that really matters to us. We escape life as we know it and take shelter in the inviting, safe bosom of their saviour. And suddenly we are able to breathe.

Believers have their Gods. I have my motorcycle and the open road.

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Speaking At TEDx Bangalore

Back in February, I was invited to speak at the TEDx Conference at NMIMS, Bangalore. My entire exposure to TED till now had been through the remarkably interesting videos made freely available for the world to watch under the appropriate tagline – Ideas Worth Sharing. I hadn’t really thought that my own experiences were really worth being shared from such a large platform.

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Riding The Rann

It was way back in November that the Bullet moved last. Struck momentously by a cow’s ample rear, it smashed face first into the smooth tarmac of Spiti. So serious was the impact and so impeccable the timing that it is now four months and the Bull is still lying injured, snow covered and unable to move in Manali. At such a juncture, the rather incredulous call from a highway-hero friend (Deepak Dongre) evoked the obvious question – what will I ride? The time of the Classic 500 had come.

I don’t like the Classic. I don’t mean the looks. Those are fantastic. But the Classic is a retro styled motorcycle for weekend cruises on Marine Drive and cheekily going past the hot girl on the bus stop, not a highway ranger. While Enfield fans (like me) will make any Enfield a touring machine, the fact is it is not built for the highway rumble. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

The destination was Rann of Kutch, one of the most inhospitable and unforgiving terrains in the country. Riding in the Rann is a dream I have been carrying for years now. This was going to be great!

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Rewari Steam Loco Shed, A Photo Essay

The morning of March 3, 2012 seven motorcyclists met for breakfast at Manesar. Five proceeded to Rewari Railway Station, 90 kms from New Delhi.

Rewari Steam Locomotive Shed is the only surviving steam loco shed in India housing some of India’s last surviving steam locomotives. Built in 1893, a decade before the Old Delhi Railway Station, it was the only loco shed in North India for a long time and part of the track connecting Delhi with Peshawar, while the metre gauge track built in 1873 from Delhi towards Rewari is India’s oldest.

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