Trip to Anandpur Sahib

Dated: January, 2008

  

It was a typical chilly mid January night at Chandigarh and a group of vellas (people with no work) namely me, Ankush and ever-free Noddy were sitting in a cozy room of Boys Hostel no.3 in Panjab University campus busy consoling Noddy who had lost Yamaha bike a day before. During a serious discussion, out of nowhere, there was a sudden flash of brilliance from one us and it was unanimously decided that we were heading to Anandpur Sahib Gurdwara next day early morning. We roped in Jassi as well for the trip and four of us were ready for a typical college trip.

It was 8AM next day morning and I was woken up with the sudden bang on my room door. It was Noddy who was screaming that he was ready while I was still in my dreamland. He then kicked Ankush’s room and fate was not much different there as well. Ankush and I came out from our respective rooms to find Noddy all set and ready while both of us were still yawning. Noddy had even arranged a bike which would give an average of 70Km/litre and was found teasing Jassi that his pulsar would consume more Petrol than the TVS Victor arranged by Noddy. Both Ankush and me took our time and finally got ready by 10AM. As we were about to start we found a guy in the mess drinking a jar filled with banana shake and it was Chaubay. We decided that it would be a great time pass if Chaubay could join us. Chaubay first refused as knowing his accidental record, nobody would sit behind him which meant no sharing of fuel and ultimately more money on his part but after a couple of sentimental dialogues, we had our mobile source of entertainment Mr. Chaubay joining in. It was 11AM by now when we finally moved from our hostels.

We got our bikes fuelled and Noddy was full of pride that Victor; he was driving would consume less fuel than the pulsars. As we all crossed Kharar (a small town on way), Noddy suddenly stopped the bike on the bridge and went into the farms. Oh, not for anything else but a call from someone very special it seemed. As we impatiently waited abusing Noddy for the delay, he calmly took his time and attended the call. As we moved further after couple of Kms, his phone rang again and the story was repeated. In the meantime, a word of advice was given to Chaubay to drive carefully as Chaubay had a 100 percent accidental record outside Chandigarh. All three bikes moved together in unison and finally stopped at a Gurdwara in the middle to take blessings before resuming our journey to Anandpur Sahib. We received a mouth watering parsad as halwa made of pure desi ghee.


As we moved ahead, we suddenly realized that one bike that of Chaubay was missing. We stopped nearby canal waiting for Chaubay to come in and started taking snaps in the 5mega pixel camera which Noddy had arranged so proudly. We took a couple of pics from mobile but were stopped by Noddy as he had arranged a fine camera for the journey. In the meantime, Chaubay also came and photo session continued till Ankush found a bandage on Chaubay’s hand and mud on his shoulder. We asked Chaubay, what had happened but he refused to divulge any details and said it was just a small skid. Upon further pressurization, we found that Lord Chaubay had lived up to the expectation of 100% accident on every trip.

Cautiously we moved further, reaching our destination by 2 PM. Anandpur Sahib is one of the most important and sacred places of the Sikhs surrounded by forts and Gurdwaras. We visited the Gurdwaras one by one and had a heavenly langar in one of them. It was 3:30PM when we decided to move back only to hear a brilliant idea to further extend our journey and visit Bhakra Nangal Dam at an hour’s drive from Anandpur Sahib. Few disagreed but a sentimental dialogue like ‘this may be the last time we may be visiting together’ got everybody on board. We reached in hour’s time to find a mammoth structure of cement standing tall on the Sutlej River. I was amazed to know when Jassi told me that it was two times deeper than the structure above the lake that we could see. It is truly a landmark in Indian history which made us very proud.

As the sun set in, a cold January breeze flew past us reminding us that it was time to head back to Chandigarh. We took our bikes and swiftly went pass the hilly curves reminding Chaubay to drive cautiously as any slip up would directly take him to Sutlej and finally to the Arabian sea. It was already dark as we all moved back happily with the scene of achievement that day was full of adventure. But we had forgotten that we had a 70 Km/liter average bike that Noddy was boasting all day round. In the middle of the highway full of pot-holes and no human residence in sight, 70 Km bike suddenly stopped. We called Ankush and Jassi who were 100m ahead of us to turn back immediately. Noddy being a mechanical engineer took the tool kit out and started the initial diagnosis, concluding that clutch plate had broken in the middle of nowhere. It was time to think out-of-the-box and loads of idea like Noddy would spend night with 70Km bike in the farms while Ankush, Jassi and me would go on a single bike. Upon seeing a railway track nearby, it was also suggested that I would board the train and Noddy can find a place in the next gurdwara if he manages to reach their. All these Noddy-screwing ideas were rejected by him and we decided to call Chaubay who was ahead of us to arrange a mechanic. Endless calls were made to Chaubay but none of them were answered which aggregated our tension and demons of Chaubay’s morning accident started haunting us. We asked Noddy to look for a mechanic at the next town while rest of dragged the other bike on a mud road full of pot-holes with the temperature being 2 degree Celsius. Alas, an angel was found, i..e. , a bike mechanic and after an inspection by him it was found that only chain had moved from its place and nothing like clutch plate failure had happened. Relieved we got the bike repaired and moved on still curious to know the fate of Chaubay about whom we had no idea at all.

After an hour, all of us received an SMS from Chaubay which said ‘Reached hostel SAFELY’. As we reached hostel at 9:30 PM, we found a guy with a ghee box coming out of the mess and that was our beloved co-traveler Chaubay who then asked us the reason for the delay. Tired and angry, it was time to let go everything on Chaubay. A series of kicks and slippers followed after which another round of daily session of time killing activity started.