Riders - Nikhil Khanna, Arnold Alves, Mohit Thakur, K.K. Chauhan, Deepan Mankad, Sanjay Kanojia, Suresh Reddy, Rashad Sheikh, Mayur Palekar, Ninad Sonawne, Anshuman, Anil Dixit, Vinod Rao, Shreeram, D. Soumoyanarayan & wife, Sujit Pais, Praveen Pillai, Virendra Chandekar, Nirman, Hari, Anoop Patel, Anmol Chauhan, Sohail Kashmiri, Jayram.
Location: Jawhar.
Series of meetings with the Zee HR and numerous exchanges of emails over a period of 2 months finally materialized, and the ride from Mumbai to Jawhar was fixed for the employees of Zee Network on Sunday the 4th December 2005. Royal Enfield (RE) had offered that they would organize a one-day ride for Zee Network to any place of our choice in which 7 bikes from the RE stable would be provided to us. The HR agreed and enthusiasts were roped in for the ride. People were so charged up that it was getting difficult for them to wait till Sunday. Finally after a month’s anxious wait the D-day was here. The 4th day of December 2005 will be in memories of the 24 riding & adventure enthusiasts of ZEE for long. Early morning at 6.00 was the scheduled meeting time at the REM showroom Bandra. With the sun still rising and the moon hiding in its light the riding team finally assembled at 6.45am. I was the first one to arrive there at 5.50am and saw Joe (from RE) already waiting there for us. Called up Arnold to find where he had reached, only to find that he was not able to find the place and was going back & fro on Linking road. Finally he reached and then started the long process of calling everyone and asking them to hurry up and reach as soon as possible.
We were given 4 Thunderbirds, 1 Machismo and 2 Electras for the ride. The beauties rolled out on the roads and were waiting to be ridden (no pun intended). Almost everyone had come by 6.45am and started testing the bikes and in the process waking up the neighborhood with the mighty roar of the Bullet. Ninad who had just come to see us off ended up coming for the ride. Ruchir, Sunil, Austin and Sapna also came to wish us good luck. As soon everyone chose their bikes for the ride they were taken for fuelling. While ZEE took care of the fuel and food, REM gave us 7 bikes, an ambulance and a mechanic for breakdown support. We also got Red Bull to sponsor us with 72 cans of energy drinks. Everything seemed set and it was a perfect morning for the 160 km ride from Mumbai to Jawhar. The first batch was supposed to leave from Bandra and meet the next batch after Dahisar check post. We started from Bandra at around 7.15am and reached Dahisar at 8.20am. On the way, Parag who was specially appointed from REM for this ride joined us from Borivali. He would be leading the pack while the ambulance would sweep the gang. We left Dahisar at around 8.40am, with Virendra joining up with us. While everyone went ahead, Anil’s bike had stalled. The ambulance and I stopped behind with them to sort out the problem. After some minor setting and change of spark plug the engine roared back to life. We then started ripping as we were left quite far behind the pack. We finally caught up with the rest near Vasai. Praveen who joined us from Vasai was waiting for us for quite sometime. Here it was decided that the next pit stop would be Silver Mines (Virar) for some breakfast.
We reached Silver Mines at around 09:30 am. While vada pavs were being packed, Suresh, Sanjay and I went out to the nearby dhaba to have the famous highway omelette pav. Our stomachs crying with hunger, the omelettes and tea were a blessing. With our bellies topped up, it was now time to burn some rubber. The highways were just awesome for a Sunday morning ride. The gleaming tar was inviting us to rip our beauties on it. We were doing a good speed of 80 – 85 plus. I personally reached a top speed of 110 km/hr. Everybody seemed to enjoy the ride with the sun slightly covered with clouds and the traffic almost nil. While everybody raced ahead my bike stalled. Luckily the ambulance with the mechanic was behind me and they got it rolling in no time. We reached Wada at around 10.40am from where Jawhar was still around 1.5 hrs. A left turn from there put us on the road to Jawhar. This is where Mohit and KK went off track and instead landed up in a village 20kms ahead of Jawhar. We reached Jawhar around 12.15pm. After going through the city we reached a point from where the King’s palace and other scenic beauties could be seen. That place according to Parag is still ruled by a King and his Queen. After some briefing about the place we went to a nearby restaurant for food. The restaurant was right on the cliff from where the sunset looks absolutely beautiful. The restaurant and the place are named after it, Sunset Point. As soon as we reached Sunset point everybody pounced on the vada pavs we had packed from Virar.
The plan was to eat something light at that moment, place the order for lunch and head down to the waterfall for some rappelling and adventure sport. We ordered for 3 Chicken Handis, 2 Egg masalas and 2 Veg Handis. (1 Handi suffices 5 people) which we would have when we returned. While the food was being prepared we all went down to the waterfall for some trekking and rappelling. The trek was awesome. First we had to take our bike on a dirt road and take it to a point where the road ends, leave our bikes there and then start the trek to the waterfall. Vinod and Anil had a nasty fall from their bike, when they lost their balance on the one of the bumps. Vinod was hurt a bit and Anil escaped with some minor bruises. A walk of about 30 min took us to the most difficult part of the trek. It was a steep terrain with moving earth and stones. With nothing to hold on the sides we somehow managed to come down. Sohail was so terrified that he refused to come down with us. But with the help of a local kid from around there he was able to make it. But it dint stop here. We again had to take a similar terrain to reach the waterfall. Somehow after a total of 90 minutes from the time we started the trek, we finally reached the waterfall. The place was worth every effort and risk we had taken. The waterfall was around 25-30 feet tall. While Parag was busy setting up the ropes for rappelling, we dived around in the water. The water enclosure which looked pretty small was as deep as a well. After the ropes were set, Parag was the first one to come down and Sanjay, Arnold, Anmol, Anshuman and Jayram followed one after another. It was an awesome experience. The big surprise was when Mohit and KK suddenly appeared out of nowhere. After they had missed the turn to Jawahar nobody knew where they had gone. But somehow with the help of the localities they tracked us down. We never thought they would meet us here. Finally at 4.30pm we decided to pack up from here, as it would take a good 90-100 minutes to reach back to the resort. It was very difficult to convince everyone to move from there as the place was just excellent.
We reached the resort at around 6.00pm and were just waiting for the late loch to be served. Everyone was crying with hunger. The chicken handi’s and egg masalas were just disappearing from the table. Rotis were hardly seen on the eating plates as they were just going directly from the serving plate to the mouth. God, the sight of the food made us hungrier. The chef and the waiters had a hard time coping up with the speed, at what we ate. The food was awesome and a round of cold drinks and chaas made everyone feel full. It was already dark but no one wanted to move from there. Finally at 7.30pm we bid farewell to the resort and started for Mumbai. Parag told us that the road back will be from the middle of the jungle and the roads could have leopards and cheetahs roaming around. The thought of even seeing a wild animal at that time of the night freaked us out. But Parag convinced us that if we stick together in a formation and the sound of 20 bikes would scare the wild and they won’t come near us. The 42 kms jungle ride was absolutely fabulous. If someone had taken an aerial shot of the jungle that night, our bikes would look like a glowing serpent moving along the road. The only lights in the whole jungle were that of our bikes, absolutely pitch dark all around. Luckily no wild animals were spotted and the jungle ride came out smoothly. We reached the highway at around 8.30 pm and after a small halt at a hotel we started back for Mumbai. The highway formation was similar and everyone was supposed to follow a single line, with Parag leading and the ambulance sweeping the pack. We reached Fountain Hotel at 10.30 pm and finally made it to the showroom at 11.45 pm. Everyone was tired and in a hurry to reach back home as the next morning many had to report to office at 7.30am, including me. We left all the RE bikes at the showroom and headed back home.
In all it was an awesome experience with some minor hiccups which RE could have covered, but anyway this ride will remain in the memories of Zee adventure and riding enthusiasts for long.
Till we ride again,
Ride safe
Nikhil Khanna
Operations Department
ZEE NETWORK. |
