The all new Karizma ZMR is here! Have a look at these special photos..

Sunset in Manhattan... ooops, good ol mumbai.

The photofair 2008 prelude.

Bikaner fort: In full glory.

So after the very early morning visit to Karni mata mandir at Deshnok, bikaner fort was the next stop for the day. We were almost on the verge of cutting the tour as accomodations were full at Agra and jaipur. The express was now damn short of oil and the first thing we did in the morning was to get the change done. And and and, this was one day i had awaited for the whole past year. wanted to give in my best for taking as many shots of my most fav fort, the junagad fort. so the backups were done, i had 3 gb worth of memory with me, locked n loaded after having the royal, oops the shahi samosas at Laljees, off we were. The delectably cooked samosas filled with dry fruits and veggies just melted in the mouth and i carried along a few with me too. just couldnt resist it. Infact Laljees was the second best reason i was visiting Bikaner! Had a bite of the imartees too( jalebis).

The best part was this time around, the fort wasnt looking crowded! My mind sensed it and once the guide came, off we began. Well, what followed initially was ;what to shoot and what not to, and when i have to shoot how to shoot it in a different way! But m very glad i turned up with these results. i tried shooting RAW as much as possible coz wanted to give full justice to this glorious piece of architecture.

So here goes a virtual tour of the Bikaner fort. Sit back n njoy the show. You r gonna experience the entire fort from hereon. And i bet, if ur gonna go there, you will remember the karizma express' ride here. and forgot to mention, his highness Mehul Gohil himself!!..Mind u, no ones got such exhaustive coverage done before.

njoy.

@ Bikaner..

So here it was, the day to ride to Bikaner on that most most most most most awesome, ossome, .... i i i ijust dont have words for this most exhilarating road in our country. an arrow straight sheet of tarmac, all 300 kms of it( if not) straight till Bikaner! woow. I was all fired up. the dream ride had arrived. and i was enjoying every moment of it.

Had tea at Chowdharyjee's tea stall( muaah!!), some nice hot onion kachoris and we bid adieu to Jaisalmer at 9 and it was hard saying goodbye to this lovely city. turning back, i said i will come back soon, maybe on some better bike or something.. The bikes were running low on fuel and we only had a little less than half a tankful. Keeping both our bike averages in mind, we decided to go ahead without a break and tank up at Pokhran. Once the city limits were crossed, the roads began and so did the romance! The zma was soo loving this. Flat wide open bends, deep curves, roads going up and then straaaaaaaaaight down(yea say it like dat) and straight ahead. we were on our own, the tire grip was flawless, the wind wasnt much and the crammies were nicely settled.. For those 2 hrs till we reached Pokhran the smile on the face didnt seem to vanish and the twinkle in the eyes seemed to outshine the sun. Aaah! Lot of things were going around in the mind, but most of all, i was living my dream, all planning had paid off and here i was riding on my dream road. The belief in myself had truly paid off. Nothing, nothing ever felt soo perfect.

After tanking up at Pokhran, took a small lunch halt at the RTDC motel. Had the famous cutlets and omelettes( one each) as lunch before dashing to Khichan. My bike was now running very low on oil and that made me abort my chance of hitting the 125ks that i had oh so desired of! but nevertheless, i was safely on the road and that as important:)

The humanless sights continued for long n long n long n long, passed by so many sheep in mysterious formations on the road( donno doing what) until we reached the outskirts of Khichan. I had mixed feelings of seeing the migratory birds and it came true. There were none, and we came back empty handed. The only joy was to see school children come swarming around us just to be with our bikes for a precious little moments! that was so endearing. And their joy knew no bounds when we took photos wid em, the smiles in the eyes and the face were something to cherish forever!! dhoom was all over the place. as we left the place they were still running behind us bidding farewell.

The approach roads towards bikaner were real bad, but even though we managed to reach well before sunset. checked in at the RTDC hotel and called it quits for the day..

The bad part of the day was i was running out of space on the D80 and luckily the coolpix came in handy here. Missed taking shots of the long road with the D80, but the 8800 sufficed big time for it.. I took a real long video of the road, plus the usual pix.. did miss the colors i would normally achieve but nevertheless. So to say, I canned it again:)

On the return, we wished to stop at Amar Sagar lake, but that wasnt possible as we were now running out of time. You come across these windmills in that area near Bada baug( also worth giving a skip as nothings there worth seeing) that will catch ur attention. Do stop for pix. They made up for the amarsagar skip..We took some in a jiffy and off we were coz we were alrdy late for Sam. Sammmm, here i come!!

A little rest and we had to dash to Sam sand dunes..Decided to keep one bike behind and go on the zma express. We got a li'l late as the sunset before we reached. Nevertheless, nature had much more in store for us and the colors never ceased to amaze..this incidently, was also our last day in Jaisalmer and i wanted to make the most of it. So had some shots in mind ever since the inception of the dream ride and now come what may, i badly wanted to can those shots...

Ever heard of moonrise?? and seen it all?? nope or yea, i have it here. that was a fantabulous site to behold, as it wasnt expected at all. It was something which would have gone unnoticed! stunning stunning stunning...Heart killing these beautiful sights..


To top it all, theres Jaisalmer fort for you, in all its glory at night, beautifully lit up by the floodlights. Given whichever hotel you are staying( preferably nr the fort), dont give this sight a miss. It was like the cherry on top of the cake. Yummmmmm!!!

Ride to Tanot, or the Indo-Pak border.

The stunning Ghadisar Lake. The hand lit oil lamps all around the place just added so much glitz that it was an aura worth seeing. It didnt dazzle, just jazzled!!

Nathmaljee ki Haveli and Salam singh ki Haveli.
Again, places worth visiting. The architecture and the carving work is oh so fantastique!

Just terrific architecture, i was left speechless even on my second visit, and there were soo many vistas around worth shooting shooting and just shooting! Well i f u do get tired of em, then just admire the beauty around. Hours will just flow by! All this and more make the Patva haveli in Jaisalmer a must visit tourist spot. Dont miss it.

People sure love the Karizma here, as the popular tv show, MTVs Roadies was flagged off from here last year. Its also the auditions here that made the people acquainted with this hugely popular Indian bike. and i didnt mind one sitting on it and asking to be shot!!

Patwa haveli and around...

You wont find a BETTER deal than this, or should i say the best deal..yep! the blue karizma featured here was sold to a local guide by an Australian tourist, who bought the bike in Kolkata, then set off for an indian tour, only to finish at Jaisalmer. Due to some work issues, he needed urgent cash and was willing to sell the bike at whatever price he got. Luckily, this guide had 20,ooo rupees ready ie around 550 Aus dollars ya smthing around dat!! This deal was a real S T E A L!! A under 20,000 kms done zma for less than 30 grand is surely hot. The bike was in stock condition. The guide too hadnt modified it, as it looks in the pic. What a way to begin the day in Jaisalmer.

picture perfect:)!!

Had an awesome lunch at 8 july restaurant:)
dont forget to visit this place when in jaisalmer. ten on ten!

Hotel Jaisal Palace:
Good clean rooms, cheap rates.

Jaisalmer ahoy!


The first day at the sand city..

And at last, here are pix from the first day of my ride into Rajasthan. Before i begin my travelogue, here are some shots from the first days journey.. Right from above, the zma express fully loaded for departure in the wee hours of the morning, the team up with co-rider Nisarg from Ahmedabad, then onto the wonderfully unbelievable state highway to Palanpur(no 41), then the puncture halt just after i crossed the border, then onto Sanchor, Dhorimanna, Barmer and finally the desert city of Jaisalmer! The dream destination was finally there.

hang on for my travelogue for the time being:)

Some shots from Ahmedabad above..and finally sunset on NH8A.

Photos from around the small town of Bavla.. including the b-e-a-utiful ride to Arnej n back.

The ZMA express finally breathed in air at the first station, ie Bavla near Ahmedabad. With the freight unloaded, it never felt better. A new day, a new beginning. The cold added to the comfort of staying and touring around. Yea, cold winds sure make you lazy but nothing like it. Must thank Mohsin here for giving me his Fox gloves which proved to be a boon! The lightweight gloves were really helpful especially in the cold. thanks a zillion mate.

Back to Bavla, where i was put up, here are some snippets. It's a quaint little town some 20 kms from Ahmedabad, on the way to Limbdi on NH- 8A. Its not that big actually, but quite a few specialities exist here. Its got a small market and a few damn good food stalls. Main occupations here include footwear and the garment business alongwith agro based industries & potteries, which are peppered around the entire place. Two of my most favorite food joints are Neelam omlette wala and the samosa wala bang opp the municipal office. The samosas go for 10 a plate, 6 numbers. The reason they are so damn famous is because they consist of a moong dal filling which the main guy loads it up with a imli and a spicy chutney. The bad part though is the shop time, which opens at 4 pm something, wraps up by 6! quite unusual, but the reason is within 2 hrs, the stocks vanish. Locals know the time & dont be surprised to find a rush already b4 it opens.. All dishes are served straight from the pan and given the nice rosy cold around, two of 'em go down aaramse. Lip smacking, tongue whacking!!

Actually one should term Bavla a little tourist spot. There are quite a few places around worth touring, more on it later.

So after coming, i wanted to catch up with Nisarg as we had to fix up the final tour dates and the main itinerary. Rolled the ZMA into Ahmedabad. The traffic here was very very bad. Zero road manners, I mean vehicles pop in from whichever possible corner to intrude into your way. I just wanted to stay cautious and kept honking. The horn was coming in very handy and turning out to be very effective.
Met him at last! Nisargs ZMA was now way past 30,000 ks. Still in the stock condition meant the superb maintenance kept by our Cisco geek. It was really cool to be meeting him after a long time. we planned out things at his place, but couldnt do much as hotel bookings at Agra and Jaipur seemed dicey. I was roaring to ride till Agra. Nisarg too was. but we still werent sure enough about the hotel bookings. so we decided to book up rooms at Jaisalmer initially and then carry on from there, whichever way the roads take us. work done, i came back for the day, on the lovely NH 8A!!

My days at Bavla were very idyllic, just finish my work by noon and freak around. Evening times meant a little timepass around the highway points and the farms & in the end head straight to Neelams. The wafty cool breeze flowing in from every end made riding a sheer pleasure. Plus i happened to have the sole red ZMA in town, and heads turning again at every turn and mile became a common sight. On account of the bad road ride of the day before, the fairing was rattling a bit and oil check was imminent. Plus the filter had to be cleaned too. Interesting point, i got my Bike serviced from a Bajaj outlet since there are no HH outlets here!! The mechanic did up the work in a jiffy and all was cool for the moment. the weather set up a nice mood everyday, just to freak out at Neelams. I mean nothing like a hot bhurji and omlette with onions in that weather! Just rockingg really. One plate always seemed less. Well, too good of something can be wonderful and that was the case here..

Bavla- Arnej- Bavla:

Arnej, around 30 kms from Bavla is a popular tourist attraction. Majority of people enroute to Rajkot take a halt here for the darshan of Mataji. Nice small place, but be wary of odd times as the crowd frequency depends. A visit to Bavla means a sure shot trip to Arnej by hook or crook. I couldnt wake up early and had to go in the evening. But even that was going to be worth it. One can directly reach Arnej via the NH8A, but i always ride through the village roads by taking a diversion at Rupaal. The vibrant green and isolated topography alongwith the narrow strip of road make for a splendid yet challenging ride.

Still this time around, the roads were bad at a few stretches but more than that, seeing the village folks and their lives in nano seconds was a pure delight. Atleast the kids faces lit up when they saw a Karizma make way through their land, and that was something to see! Here i came from soo far and i hadnt foreseen that i will bring a smile to so many unknown faces. heart warming really. Such places are real good photo stops and we took as many as we could. So much so it happened that i took off my helmet and hung it behind so that i was able to look through properly. Dont get me wrong if you find me helmet-less in the videos, it was for a reason.
And again the same story followed.. farmers who were returning home from work stopped by to see what this Bike is, what are these two nerds doing out here in the wilderness!! Why not, not at all a regular sight for em. We just smiled and moved on, and whenever somebody would ask anything about the bike, i wasnt minding it. its been 3 years with my Bike now, so am just so used to it now.

Finally, it was sunset time and decided to ride hard as we wanted to get back home before the dark. Reached Arnej and luckily it was the main aarti time! Prayed to god wholeheartedly for making the journey a succesful one, took prasad, spent sometime in the temple vicinity, took pix n twas time to leave. There are hardly any hotels here by the way. Night riding was in again. I decided to make it a quick one. Nh 8A has been in great shape at least whenever i have rode around here. I knew the roads back to Bavla. A few stretches were tricky as the tar had opened up but otherwise it was just fabulous. The plant blockades in the middle stopped incoming vehicle light and that was a real boon. After the havoc i had on Nh8 while coming this was way better. Still, the philips 60-55 wasnt proving to be enough and thoughts of installing extra lights on the fairing were coming up above. Maybe put up Hella lights below ya something. The light throw just wasnt enough even when at the long position. And sure it was going to be a problem on the travels ahead. anyway, reached Bavla within no time, stop at Neelams and back home.

Hope you like the pix.

Next up, the express chugged into my main native place, Surendranagar, which is 100 kms from Bavla. The Rajasthan ride was coming up and i wanted to greet everyone before i left. More on it later in day 3. Stay tuned!

Points to note:

* I had already done close to 700 odd kms.
* The tires were giving flawless grip and once warmed up they stuck to the tarmac like a honey bee on a flower! Michelin rocks, so does the Duro.
* The express was now giving an approx average of 49 something on the highway. Fantastic. This was an eye opening point.
* I was also carrying my coolpix 8800, 8 mp cam as a back up

Some shots from the first day beginning with this shot just above here.

I badly badly wanted to go on a damn long ride as I had had enough of the urban jungle we call Mumbai. The traffic, chaos…the mind simply couldn’t take much any further! That’s why a little jitteriness had crept in because of the long gap( as i last rode long 2 years back!), and a ride was badly required to give my spirits a little boost plus it would be a very good chance to try out some more things in photography and improve on them. The D80 was soo yearning to freak out!

So folks, the ultimate plan was decided. Nisarg was also free and wanted to go on a long ride. We zeroed in upon Rajasthan, & maybe even go till Agra and come back. For me the ride would include Gujarat as well as its my native place.

Without thinking much, I christen my journey,’ The Karizma Express- Mumbai- Gujarat- Rajasthan- Mumbai' for a simple reason, the ZMA would be going on its longest haul ever and there would be considerable amount of freight as well. Seeing its capabilities, well, it truly is a 'touring' express and thats why, our very own Karizma Express

It was Diwali time & service stations were running packed. Before I decided the date of departure, the Bike had to be readied. Luckily, Fortpoint wasn’t having as much rush, and after meeting Kevin and telling him point by point what had to be done, I gave the Bike in. I just admire the passion he puts into his work, its really seen to be believed! Awesome. Plus that hes always overflowing with knowledge, makes him a real nice guy to talk with. The express was nearing 12000 kms and I really wanted to go as long as I can. Importantly, the mind had forgotten the real pleasures the journey would bring and leaving behind all desires, wants and unwanted thoughts was the foremost thing galloping around the head! It was just 12 hrs before everything would change. Not even a days worth of riding! All the negative things were mere flies that had to swatted away. Pleasures of flying were coming up and re-discovery was awaiting.

I wanted a proper arrangement of the luggage and wanted the Cramsters badly. Luckily found out a dealer here, I knew the place, took Mohsin along and checked the stuff out. The person, Mr Jitesh was very cool in showing the stuff around. The shops name is Smart Design, located @ Wadala. I was still a little skeptical so as to how much those bags would accommodate. Anyway, we went ahead, n changed the bikes horn from General Electric, Opera house. Lastly got a tubeless tire repair kit. I didn’t order the saddles as the tankbag wasn’t available then. So, I paid up for it and asked KJ to courier it directly to Gujarat. Luckily Jitesh gave me a color option( since only camouflage was in stock) and I settled for red keeping aside black.

Got the saddlebags next day & began with the packing. The luggage was a bit more because of Diwali plus I had to carry my tripod as well. All was cool once I began that enormous task. The cramsters started turning out to be a boon. They took in everything neatly, and the smile on the face kept broadening! Excellent I must say, terrific VFM. Early next day, got the bike, met up Kevin as he wished me luck. Checked the throttle and boy it was asking me to rev more. Since this was a buffer day, got time to meet Mohsin too & he too wished me luck. All was now set. This gave a shot of confidence that I was royally missing a lot and more importantly it kindled a little fire in the belly whose heat I had already started to feel. Woooow..!!

The Ride day:

I wanted to begin early , but it always goes against your wishes doesn’t it. To add to my woes, one more bag had to be included & tying everything up took its time. Still, better late than never and I was off by 8, too late! The pothole ridden Mumbai roads made sure that I didn’t cross the city limits within an hour. Shit!! The roads after Malad were a havoc simply because of the the construction of new flyovers going on. After Dahisar it was even worse and I wasn’t able to ride at more than 60. Hell ya! The mayhem continued till Talasri and I started to wonder whether the roads right uptil Surat are like these??!! Bad patches I must tell you, real nasty! Finally, Manor came and the roads eased up and it was time to take my first break.

“ When you know better, you can do better” goes the saying and true! I had done this road earlier but didnt know the present condition.. I mean nobody would want to ride on their bikes at 80 or more on such, miserable, pitiful roads. Yea the officials always forget the monsoons are over and unless accidents take place, it strikes to them about the upkeep. Bull shit really. So I was late again, bottomline, but made up for that big time by hitting Surat at 1230 sharp, with consistent speeds of 90-95 and some bursts of 100s. This was THE ride I was awaiting and now was starting to get a feel of things back on the highway. The open roads, the topography around was just captured by the eyes as they zoomed in & out to take innumerable photos every second! Kevin had done an awesome job on the bike, it was all evident as whichever cog I put it in, it was just revving so happily and smoothly, waiting to be pushed more and more and more! Ahh, the yesteryears were being relived. The Express was now back on track.

As the rats now started to play cricket and kabbaddi n what not in the stomach, took a halt at Hotel Surbhi rightaway. This place sure is damn popular with motorists. Ample shady parking and reasonably priced good food. The weather wasnt that hot and the halt wasnt a long one. Quickly freshened up n back to the road. Now that the bad ones were behind me, it was hopeful to say the roads ahead would be the same. But nope, that wasn’t gonna be and I was completely unaware of the expansion work going on between Surat and Bharuch. Just after I crossed the Kamrej naka, the torrid testing times began. The tarmac was once again non-existent and was really butt breaking, let alone crushing.. The potholes and the mangled patches of tar on tar just wrecked the shocks. It was really difficult to maintain composure while riding. To add to this, the evergreen 4 wheel brigade was ever so ready to honk you out of their ways. Rascaaaaaaaaaaals! This made me decide up one thing- to speed up when you spot a good patch and immediately slow down through the others. It made sense and it worked because half the time I was on the right lane trying to keep off the under construction left. Since the weather wasn’t as hot, the energy levels were maintained.

On and on till Baroda, the roads continued as they were and I could manage that despite the luggage I had. Thanks Cramster! Finally around 530, hopped onto the Vasad diversion( coz of the expressway entry) and the final stretch of the better roads began. When you go touring, your are all set and happy, in a jovial state of mind, until you go through these bad roads. Eating ‘em up is physically taxing and mentally draining too. You just keep wishing that these stretches get over quickly. Now finally all that was behind me, I heaved a huge sigh of relief. The odo showed 400 kms. Yipee!! , Ahmedabad wasn’t far away.

Winters are kind of less existent in Mumbai, so as it started to get dark, the cool breeze started to flow in! Wow, this wasn’t there in the mind at all. Half an hour into the evening & I was back in my spirits. The nip in the air relaxed me completely and the ZMA felt even more rev happy. I took one hand off the handle and punched the air. All of a sudden it felt the ride, the best one had just begun! Now it started to get a little foggy too and home was still a few hours away. Citing the valuable time I had I took halts wherever I felt like to capture the picturesque land passing by in the twilight hours. It was really really amazing. Doing low light photography is tough but managed to take a few cool shots. Spirits were now high. What was also amazing to see was every head turning my way as it went past me! “How do these guys go touring?” must have been the obvious question in their minds!!

And finally finally, the stars were up and it got dark. Uptil Anand had a nice little race with a cbz-x. After a very boring day, this did wonders to rekindle the spirits again. Once I was past him, then he went past me, uptil then when I couldn’t risk freaking out in the dark and the two laned highway added to the woes as the incoming lights proved just too much. The Vidya nagar section is a tricky one especially because of the trucks and rickshawallahs intertwining your track. The Philips 60-55 bulb still proved unworthy at times, but managed somehow. Home was now nearing but was still far!

Ultimately, took the diversion at Kheda, which came after a lot of patience, onto the SH to Dholka and took a final right to Bavla, my native place. These were isolated, unlit roads and anything could happen at night. Still tried having some fun, and switched off the main lights, kept the pilots on. Watching them and the moon on the right made up for what was the best shot of the day! One of those few situations where you cant halt and take pix. The clock hit 9, then 20 mins later, there I was home. Everybody home was outside as I approached. The ZMA express finally came to a halt after 523 kms and as many hours of riding. Rolled the hands in the air n gave a punch again. That smile was as broad as it could be. Mumbai, would now wait:)

Shown above, the packing b4 the loong trip.