4 Riders:
1. Subedaar AKA Pritam
2. Shant AKA Prashant
3. Baba Bangali AKA Debu AKA Debarshi
4. Viggy AKA Vignesh
1 Pillion:
1. Singh Saheb AKA Gajaraj (with Prashant)
September 30, 2009
I and Debu had already planned for a ride to Dangs as we had a long weekend ahead. But at around mid-night when I was just about to doze off, my cell rang. Not to my surprise, it was none other than Debu and Viggy on con call. There's this new ride planned and I was being told about it...Ashtavinayak ride. Debu wanted to do Ashtavinayak from a very long time and being a long time and no ride on my new Peregrine, even I couldn't resist the temptation (what better ride than Ashtavinayak Ride). So we decided to do a two day schedule for the ride. But to increase the excitement, Subedaar Pritam joined in, just an hour before the start with the slight change in plan as we decided to finish the complete Ashtavinayak darshan in 24 hours. The task was difficult but we all 4 were thrilled, excited and filled with confidence to achieve it.
With all these feelings in our heart, we started our ride from Palaspe Phata, Near Panvel at 7:00PM (half an hour behind the schedule). But we were all determined to ride on schedule with our pre-decided route.
Shree Varadvinayak Temple, Mahad:
Our first destination was Shree Varadvinayak Temple, Mahad. It was a 30kms ride and we reached for our first darshan at 08:00PM in the evening. Humidity was taking its toll and everyone was sweating like hell. After taking darshan, (we enquired with poojari (priest) of the temple about the closing time for Pali Ganapati, he said you will have to rush from here as the temple closes at 10). We immediately started for our next destination, Shree Ballaleshwar Temple, Pali.
Shree Ballaleshwar Temple, Pali:
Our second destination was Shree Ballaleshwar Temple, Pali. Again 30kms but the roads were little bad with few deep pot holes and no street lights. Pritam was leading as he was the only rider with xenon lights who could see long through the roads. Rest of us, were simply dependent on the rider ahead. If he slows down, you slow down, he speeds up, you speed up and if he goes in the pot-hole, well u had no option but just to follow him religiously and blindly. It was around 21:00hours when we reached Pali for Shree Ballaleshwar darshan. After the darshan, we had some clicks and had our first batti (fag) session. Had lots of water and cold drink to keep ourselves cool as it very humid. The next destination was to cross as much distance as possible towards Khed, Pune.
Our next destination was Khed for a night halt, which was a long stretch of more than 110kms. So we decided to take a halt for dinner only after Lonavala at any good dhaba and then continue to Khed. It was also decided that we need to reach there by at least 1:00hrs so that we get a reasonable place to halt for night and everyone gets a small nap. The roads in between were smooth where everyone cruised up to 90-100kmph but due to no street lights and some bad patches on the roads we had to limit ourselves to 80kmph. The co-ordination between the four riders was outstanding. Though at few places, we got distanced but soon we were all riding together. As we crossed Khopoli and started with ghats, there was a drop in temperature. We could now feel the cool breeze tickling us. As we were crossing the ghats, suddenly we all found ourselves surrounded by thick fog. It was impossible for us to see even 2 meters ahead of us. So we had to slow down to 20kmph with our visors open and dependent on the tail-light of the rider ahead for the road. But it was real FUN. You can hear 4 bullets roaring and thumping through the silent and peaceful night. The fog rested at Lonavala and we continued our ride after a fag session. We were little wet and feeling cold now, all thanks to the fog. After a long session of riding, we finally reached a road-side dhaba. It was time to stretch our bodies and fill in our belly. The food was very good, though little spicy. Everyone filled in very quickly and was ready to saddle-up. When enquired with the dhaba-wala, we came to know that we are hardly a kilometer away from Rajgurunagar, Khed. Our next and the last task was to find a cozy place to slip in and rest for the night. Just half a kilometer ahead, we found a lodge on the highway. 550bucks and we all cushioned ourselves in one big room, sharing beds. Initially, all went to be sleep but when Debu got up and said "I am not feeling sleepy", everyone confessed that we too were pretending to be asleep. After some funny rounds of chat, we all decided to sleep as we had to get up early and start the ride at 06:00hrs and it was already 2:00hrs. At 04:45AM, suddenly everyone got up with Debu's phone ringing. Everyone first thought, its the alarm but soon Pritam realized that its a call from Sumant, our TorqueHub fellow rider. They were also on Ashtavinayak ride but through different route. We decided to meet at Lenyadri. Instead of sleeping after the call, we decided to finish our morning routines and stick to our schedule of starting by 06:00hrs. Amazingly, all five of us were out of the lodge at 06:00AM, warming our bulls.
Shree Vighneshwar Vinayak Temple, Ozhar:
Third destination planned was Shree Girijatmaj Vinayak Temple at Lenyadri. So we roared our bulls through the SH54 and NH50. Suddenly, after riding for 45mins, we realised that we have missed the road for Lenyadri, which turns from Narayangaon. But we decided to move ahead to visit Shree Vighneshwar Vinayak Temple at Ozhar and then turn back to Lenyadri. We reached Ozhar around 07:15AM. After completing the darshan and some click sessions, we sat for the breakfast. Misal-Pav was tasty with we four having tea and Pritam revealing the secret of cold milk with soda (to get rid of acidity). It was fun.
Shree Girijatmaj Vinayak Temple, Lenyadri:
We started off for our next destination to Lenyadri around 08:00AM. The roads were small and quite rough. Still, we rode at good speed. Target time to reach Lenyadri and finish with darshan was 10:00AM. We reached Lenyadri by 08:45AM. Parked our bulls in the parking area. We bought some Kakdis (Cucumbers and requested the vendor to kindly look after our bulls. Shree Girijatmaj Vinayak Temple is situated on a hill and one has to climb 200+ stairs to reach the caved temple. I and Debu started climbing stairs with a slow pace as per helpful trekking instructions by Pritam. As we climbed, my heart started thumping like bullet. After covering half the distance, I and Debu started feeling the stretch in our scarf muscles but Pritam kept pushing to continue with the climb and not to stop in between. Somehow, with every step we kept convincing ourselves...bas aur thoda sa..bas aur thoda sa. The last 2 steps were like OH MY GOD!!! But once you reach the top, it was like you have climbed to Heaven. We went inside the cave for darshan and after darshan lied down on the ground for some rest. In sometime, Gajraj and Viggy too came in. After taking rest for 10mins, we decided to leave. Debu was little reluctant to leave as he wanted to take some more rest but we all forced him to continue. We then had a small photo session on top with Pritam Singh trying his photography skills on Viggy's DSLR. Coming down was not so difficult and we reached down by 09:20AM. We were still happy to be slightly before schedule. After having lots of water, we waited for Sumant to arrive but decided to move on as we wanted to stick to our schedule. It was already 10:30AM by then. On our way, we met some of other fellow riders who were heading towards their first Ashtavinayak darshan at Lenyadri. Next destination was Shree Ashtavinayak Temple, Ranjangaon.
Shree Ashtavinayak Temple, Ranjangaon:
Before starting from Lenyadri, we decided to take a short route to Ranjangaon instead of going through the highway. Route decided was Lenyadri -> Kalamb -> Malthan -> Ranjangaon. The roads between Kalamb and Malthan were really bad but the surrounding scenic beauty kept us fresh and alive. We came across a spot where we saw a huge satellite erected in the middle on farms. We could not stop ourselves from halting for clicking some nice pictures of ourselves and our bulls. Soon, we were on the road towards Ranjangaon. Single lane and patchy roads, noon heat, we were now feeling tired a little but the scenic beauty of the nature was really catching the eyes. Never the less we were all determined to reach our next destination ASAP. We didn't care about rough patches and were riding through it like some ride on open and neat highway. We got to see some stunt riding too, with Viggy was once jumping in air with his bull over a huge speed breaker. Debu wasn't far behind. Even he stood through a ditch that was at least feet deep. By the grace of Ganapati Bappa, nothing went wrong throughout the bumpy ride. After riding for another one and half hour, we finally reached Pune-Ahmednagar highway. As we touched the highway, we got the glimpse of the Shree Ashtavinayak Temple.
Shree Chintamani Temple, Theur:
By the time we did darshan of Shree Ashtavinayak, it was already afternoon and our belly was indicating of its emptiness. So we planned to halt at first road-side dhaba for lunch and thereon continue with our next destination to Shree Chintamani Temple, Theur. Pune-Ahmednagar highway was like a ride to heaven after a long, bumpy and tiring ride. Everyone couldn't control cruising and ripping our bulls @100kmph+. As decided, we halted at the first dhaba that we came across on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway. Wanted to give some rest to our bulls too as they had taken a beat from the rough ride. Stretched our legs and filled in our bellies. The chilled CHHAAS (butter-milk) was the ultimate appitiser and the desert in the scorching heat, acted sort of coolant for our engine. Soon after the lunch, we decided to thump our bulls for our next destination. In an hour's time of riding, we soon reached Theur. Some VIP had come for darshan, so there were security personnel all around the temple area. This was the first Ganapati of Ashtavinayak, where we had to stand in queue for darshan. By the time we finished our darshan and came out, we were surprised and shock to see the clouds pouring heavily. Few minutes and we all were almost wet. We came out to the parking, kicked our bikes and started the journey to our next destination, Shree Siddhivinayak Temple, Siddhatek.
Shree Siddhivinayak Temple, Siddhatek:
Soon, as we started from Theur, we were all sprayed by the dirty road water as the roads were wet due to the heavy rain that has just given its trailer. It was still drizzling. Slippery patches made us go slow but we tried to maintain the speed of 60kmph as we had two more darshans left and we had to finish them before night, so that we can hit back to our homes. As soon as we hit the Solapur highway, the rains disappeared and the roads started to dry up as we kept riding. Being a highway, we throttled up to make it up to the scheduled time. We reached the junction for Siddhatek and Morgoan (our last Ganapati). We decided to break for Fag n Tea break. Though it was Fan n Tea break, due to heat everyone preferred a cold-drink. I was the only one enjoying the hot tea in hot climate. People around were looking at with amaze. One of them dared to ask me the usual questions, such as if our bulls runs on diesel, what is the average given, etc.. After a short break, we all resumed with our ride. Yet again the open and clear highway was invitation to lock the throttles. All started ripping again only to discover that we were at least 25KMs ahead of the turn to Siddhatek. Once again, the roads started to narrow down as we left the highway with Sugarcane plantations on both sides of the road. It was raining at regular intervals. We reached Siddhatek and were happy that we could all do it well in time and as planned. Perfect scheduled darshans of Shree SiddhiVinayak Maharaj. Clicked some pictures at the gate and planned to start for the next and the last Ganapati darshan. We were all charged up now, as we had only one and the last Ganapati darshan left.
Shree Moreshwar Temple, Morgaon:
As soon as we left Siddhatek, the day light started fading and the darkness of the night started setting in. As we started our journey back, the rain kept its pace and drizzled throughout the journey. Slowly it was getting pitch dark and all we could see were the taillights of our side of traffic and headlights of the opposite traffic. Soon, we could see heavy lightening, with loud thunders, cracking from the clouds. As we neared the Solapur highway, things started turning bad. By the time we touched Solapur highway, it was 7:00PM and was quite dark. It started pouring and we could see the lightening still bursting out of the clouds. Highway traffic made it really difficult for us to ride very slow. We were all dependent on the rider ahead. The TRI-Demons (darkness, lightning and rain) made our journey, more and tougher. We could feel that may be Ganapati Bappa is taking our test but we were all determined to complete the darshans. Pritam and Viggy had made it quite ahead of us and I and Debu got left behind in the traffic. I took the lead and kept riding with my visors open due to no-visibility of roads and every time, guessing and praying to avoid deep patches on the roads. Debu was blindly following me. Hats-off to him. Somehow, we managed to reach the junction on the highway, where Pritam and Viggy were waiting for us on the road to Morgaon. The roads started showing their ugly face in the dark and we had to simply rely on Pritam for the way. He did quite a hell of a job of leading all of us through bad roads. Viggy had a tough time as compared to all of us as he is not much of a night rider. He used to stop when the oncoming vehicle used upper light. His visors and specs, both were wet and he could not see roads properly. It was raining heavily and we were all wet by now as no one had prepared for the rain. The affect of rain was quite visible such that at 2-3 places we had to cross the stream of water as it was overflowing over the roads upto the level of more than a foot. The lightning was still on and it was in the direction that we were riding. We could see it coming closer and closer as we kept riding. As there were no street lights, we could see the roads clearly due to the lightning. But after all these tough riding conditions, we finally made it to the temple. Parked our bulls in front of the temple and went quickly inside the temple for darshan. It was the time when things were getting closed in and around temple. No lights and all shops closed. After completing our darshans, we congratulated each other with Jhappis for successful Ashtavinayak ride. To our surprise, it was exactly 08:00PM. What a co-incident, we all shouted. It was just 08:00PM, yesterday that we did our first Ashtavinayak darshan. 24hours and we made it to complete the Ashtavinayak darshans.
Now all left was reach home back safely and in time. Shouting "Ganapati Bappa Morrya" we started our journey back home. It was still raining heavily. So we decided to ride in a very closely packed formation giving Viggy the much required guiding light. Well, that is what Group Riding is all about. As we touched Pune, we all started cruising like as if we have just got the freedom. It was of course a freedom from riding on patchy roads. We halted at before Kamshet to have our dinner. After dinner, we decided all decided to go for darshan at Shree Varadvinayak Temple, Mahad, to complete our HOLY RIDE. We reached Mahad at 02:00AM, did our darshan and rode back to our respective home, sweet home.
We were all happy to do it as scheduled and to add feather to our happiness of successful completion of Ashtavinayak ride, Debu said... "Sagli Shreeinchi Ichchha" (All by God's will), and Gajraj added..."Apan tar nimitt matr" (We are only just mediums)...WELL SAID GUYS!!!
That was tale of 4 riders, 1 pillion doing 8 Ganapati (Ashta Vinayak) darshans in 24hours from 08:00PM to 08:00PM. Thats how, we decided to name the ride as Ashtavinayak Express Ride.
It was one hell of a ride; ride of the lifetime...