3rd Year Special Annual Double Issue Vol 4 Issue 1 & 2 Jan - Apr 2 3rd Year Special Annual Double Issue Vol 4 Issue | Page 96

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
ri around 12 midnight. The only stop I took until
then was when it rained near Thirunelveli. I was
very sleepy, tired, my eyes were irritated with the
white lights of another vehicle which constantly
stayed behind me. There was no place around
where I could even stop for a short tea break.
Finally, I spotted an emergency unit with
ambulances parked in it. I approached the
security guard and requested him to allow me to
take a quick nap. He obliged and allowed me to
use the chair for the purpose. The quick nap turned
out to be a full 45 mins sleep. Having lost so much
time, I quickly stepped out, thanked the guard and
moved on towards Bangalore.
May 03, 2015 - Since I was coming to Mumbai,
I had to reach NH4 which means, I had to cross
the entire city of Bangalore. It was around 2 am
when I reached Bangalore. The fuel was nearly
over. Most of the fuel stations were closed.
A kind taxi driver helped me get out of the city
and informed me that there was a fuel station
which would be open around this time. Thank-
ing him, I moved on and reached a fuel station to
tank up. It was closed, but the employees were
there having their dinner. I requested them to fuel
up, but to my surprise, one of them got wild and
nearly snatched the keys of my bike. The other
guy tried to hold him up, but he wouldn’t listen.
He was drunk. I yelled at the top of my voice
which scared him and he moved away from me.
I restarted my vehicle and left the place to find
another fuel station praying the tank doesn’t
get empty. This time, I was lucky. I found a
COCO fuel station and tanked up. Asked around
how to get to the highway towards Pune and
96
moved on. Yes, I was tired after the ordeal.
I took a tea break at Tumkur and moved on.
I was riding through Hubli when I realised there
was a rattling sound coming from my bike. I
couldn’t figure out what it was. I checked to see if
the chain had come loose or there was some part
that had got loose, but nothing seemed wrong.
I kept moving. Reached near Kolhapur and the
fuel was over again. I was a bit surprised at the
average I got between 2 tanks full of fuel. So when
I stopped at the fuel station, I checked the oil lev-
el. It was almost nil. I called up my mechanic to
ask him what was wrong and he said the noise
was from the engine. The only option left was to
top up the oil and keep running the vehicle. He
advised me to not run the bike over 80kmph.
I had about couple of hours left to finish the
challenge with approximately 134 kms to cover.
With the engine knocking, speed reduced,
time lost to cool the engine before I topped up
the
oil,
it
was
almost
impossible
for
me
to
achieve
my
target.
Having come so close to the finish and the
thought of not being able to complete the
challenge, brought tears in my eyes. I called up
my friend in Mumbai and stated my condition. All
he said was – I believe in you and know that you
will achieve your feat. Just go ahead, finish it. An-
other friend called me just about then and he too
said, go ahead and finish the run whatever be the
circumstances.
The advantage I had was that the ride could
now be completed in Satara instead of Mumbai
because of the distance I had covered from
Madurai to Kanyakumari and back. I could thus
Vol 4 | Issue 2 |Mar - Apr 2019