FEAR FACTOR

New Zealand one of my favourite places.

It is very enlightening to know that even FEAR can make money. A lot of money. Humans have evolved so much that they eliminated or controlled all their natural enemies. Apart from his own species, nothing can threaten to kill human beings. They developed such skills and techniques to make a tiger dance like a cat and a lion roll like a joker (if any was lucky enough to escape the poachers). Why even the worlds largest animal the whale also dives into the depths of the ocean with its tail in its mouth when they see us. Only natural disasters still remain as factors which make us fear now and then but these are also well predicted and taken care off most of the time. Hence humans had lost the sense of fear. But with out fear there is no fun. So some great businessmen found the demand and designed various games to make us scared to death. And we pay for it.

The super fast and highest roller coasters to drop you vertically at hundred kilometers speed with turns and twists guaranteed to take the shit out of you, the sky drops, base jumping, sky diving, the haunted castles, the ghost stories, the horror movies, the Fear Factor, Lost TV series and then the BUNGY JUMP. Yes fear generates billions of dollars. The more fear the more fun and the more money.

I am not a Superman or an Indian film hero for that matter to sustain ultimate fear and keep laughing. When I went to the kids heaven Disney World in Orlando, it was so much fun until I boarded a roller coaster called Space Mountain. I am not a very big fan of roller coasters though I love speed. But since it was called Space Mountain and showed pictures of all planets, I thought they will slowly take us through the parade of the planets and tell us about stars. Just ate a large chicken burger too as astronomy is a large subject and takes a lot of time.

Inquisitive always and to be the first to explore, I took the first seat in the 5 seat roller coaster. It started slowly but then it soon plunged vertically into total darkness where you can see stars all over (I don’t know if they were really there or just in my mind). It twisted, dropped, turned sharply at a high speed. The girl who was sitting behind me started yelling spine chillingly as soon as the journey started, I wanted to shout “ chup chup arre mujhe mat daraana meri amma”. But my teeth were gripped too tight with fear all the time until the ride ended to make any sound and I escaped like an unspoken hero J. Are yaar riding bolo, racing bolo ya flying bolo subh kuch karsakta hun but I don’t want to buy fear again. I had to eat the same burger twice as it came out of my mouth as the ride ended.

Be confident or act like one, no one can tell the difference. Somehow I always managed to act confident and display a fearless look like the TERMINATOR on my face and I never feared trying something new and adventurous all the time. So when I came to New Zealand I found Taupo Bungy. It is one of the best bungee jumps in New Zealand because of its direct drop of 50metres into the green Waikato river near the town Taupo very scary and very attractive too.
I am a hero you see so I went straight to the girl at the booking counter and asked her to book me for a jump. She said “Very nice, when you want to jump?”. “Right now”, I was about to say when I heard “Eeeeeekkkkkkkkkkooooooooooohhhhhhhaaaaaaaa”. I was confident that somebody slipped off the cliff and died, and was about to run out when the girl asked me again coolly “when do you want to jump?” I told her that some one must have slipped off the cliff and fallen. She smiled and said “No no don’t worry, it’s the bungy jumper”. I was relieved and said “Why these timid girls come all the way and do these things when they are so scared?” She gave a nice smile but something behind that smile and asked me again “ Ok when you want to jump?” I was about to say “Right now” again when I heard another death cry from a man this time “Ooooh Godddddddd” as if he had just seen God and went to heaven with him.

“Tomorrow”, I finally managed to say gathering all my guts and trying to act as confident as when I came in. “Today I am very busy” I really wanted to say I wont jump but being a man and not wanting to look frightened before that nice girl, I said that. Each jump costs $100 that itself shows you how much fear you are buying. Then I asked if I can see people jumping off, and went to the jumping platform to get used to and get some more courage. But as I saw more and more jumping and screaming to death, I was not very sure if I wanted to show up next day.

Waikato river invitingly (not me)

Next day I came back not to jump but just to see more people jumping off and screaming. I need at least that much entertainment for the money I paid. But as she saw me, smiled and asked “Ok can you just stand on the weighing machine please?” I involuntarily stood on the weighing machine but told her that I am not going to jump. She smiled sympathetically and with a marker noted my weight 54kg on my hand. Then asked me for my belongings, nothing should be in the pockets. Like a school boy who doesn’t want to go to school but scared to say that to his mom knowing that he will be sent anyway, I emptied my pockets into a cover and stood there with sad and frightened face unable to stop them from throwing me from that height.

Then she asked me to follow her to the jumping platform. The platform itself is specially built extending to 40 feet into the air from the vertical rock face. Another buddy reconfirmed my weight and started making arrangements. I was looking back and forth for a chance to run away but they closed the gate. I was not even wearing shoes. I was just wearing my shorts and sandals. What if the rope slips off my feet :(

She was attaching the bungee chord to my legs and seeing I was too tensed, told me “Don’t be afraid. There is an easy way to jump. Instead of looking down and facing the depth, you just keep looking at my beautiful face and just fall back. You will be down in no time”. I was fighting my own fear and trying to win over it and absent mindedly said “I rather face my own fear and jump”. Bang! She left the ropes there and called “John you look after this guy” and went away angrily. I told you she was beautiful but I was really trying to face my own fear and win it. But now I am more scared as she might have attached the rope to only one leg expecting to have great fun when I hang on one leg screaming.

Ready for my first Bungy Jump

Then the guys came and checked everything and told me “Ok now you walk to the edge put your hands up and jump”. “Oh that’s all” with a Terminator face again. I took a deep breath as if that’s my last and slowly walked to the edge. Unlike a school boy, I always had the chance to quit but then some part of me is saying that I should do it. I waved at the camera and wanted to jump like Superman but jumped like Hanuman.

Then the time stopped. I was descending only inch by inch in slow motion. It’s a free fall. It’s beyond ecstasy. I actually opted to touch the water but due to my feather light weight I could not reach water. The first time I came all the way down, I enjoyed it in silence. But the bungee pulls you up again a couple of times to almost half the height giving you the same feeling all the time. Then I started laughing like hell with fun. As soon as I was on ground, I was running to take another jump :)

Jai Hanuman...

We should always have fear. We should respect fear. We should know our limits. And then try to win over it and go beyond the limits. People associate adventure with danger. Adventure is something done under complete safety. Of course accidents do happen. But if you compare the number of deaths in road accidents to the number of deaths of adventurers, you will know what I mean. More safety more adventure. When I started the world tour every body was so fear struck and said why you want do such a dangerous thing? I always told them that I am going to be much safer than many millions of Indian riders. As I wear a helmet, gloves, shoes and safety gear all the time and ride according to rules and particularly not in a hurry to reach. Where as they never care to wear even the helmet unless they see a police man ahead. Just a seat belt which lies on your side all the time can save your life if an accident occurs. And if you still don’t care to wear it, you are not only putting your life at danger but you don’t care for all those who depend on you and love you. Life is so precious and you only have one to lose with a silly avoidable mistake. So be safe, ride safe have a lot of adventure in your life.

B J in INDIA ???

When I stepped out of the Air New Zealand flight at mid night on 5th April, that’s precisely what I thought. That I am in India. There are three reasons for me to think so. First is that my flight lasted just about two days !!!. The flight took off from Los Angeles international airport on April 3rd at 4pm and landed on 5th April at 1 am non stop. Second reason is the growing number of my lovers back home in India who’ve been waiting for a long time expecting my return and seeing no signs of my returning so soon, could have bribed the pilot asking him to drop me off in India before proceeding to his destination (these days anything is possible in the field of aviation). Third and the most confirming reason is “Mujhe machar ne kaata”. A mosquito bit me as soon as I came out of the air craft.

You must remember that I am coming from United States of America where apart from the licensed dogs, cats, lizards, snakes and cutely, cudlyly, uglyly pet pigs, only human beings are allowed to live (of course with a license). And there is no possibility for the most unwanted, the Mosquito to get a license and so you will never find them except in the very few remote illegal immigrant areas. So when a real mosquito bit me that too in an international airport that reminded me home.

Apart from the mosquito, the gush of warm salty air to which I am accustomed to and love (I live in a coastal city Visakhapatnam, close to the beach), reminded me home. I walked down the stairs and through a wooden bridge into the main air port building watching the flies swarming around the tube lights. There in the main hall I see three men with prominent south Pacific features (like half African and half Indian) wearing blue shirts with flowers all over and shorts, playing guitars and singing welcome to us with broad smiles.

BULA! That cleared all my doubts and confirmed that I in fact landed in the expected destination, Nadi, a major city in the South Pacific island nation Fiji. Though Fiji is mostly dependent on tourism, I couldn’t stop appreciating their tourism policy welcoming the guests, mostly tourists, with song and music even in the midnight. And later I had seen it even in the remotest islands, how nicely and professionally the Fijians are treating the tourist and how clearly they understand the needs of the tourist and catering to it. Bula! Now you must be wondering why am I in Fiji. Simple, my bike takes 25 days minimum to cross the Pacific Ocean on a ship and so by the time it reaches, I wanted to pamper myself on these isolated islands with much needed sun and sand.

But my doubts entered my mind again as soon as I came out of the air port and took a battered taxi to my out of the town resort. My driver’s name is Vinod Chandra and he spoke good Hindi and we were driving on the left hand side of the road and the road is filled with pot holes big enough to be called as TUB holes and no body really cared for the two solid lines dividing the road and crisscrossed it whenever they wanted to overtake an already speeding vehicle throwing the on coming vehicle off the road, I thought I am in India and wanted to shout with joy, Honey I am home!

By the time I reached my resort, I was sweating. Believe me I was sweating and I love it! I hate cold and so I planned to go around the world finding good summer time all over but the delay in the starting and delays in the shipments made me travel the world in winter. For me its winter for the past 8 months and will be so for another 8 months as I will be in Australia and New Zealand in their coldest months and by the time I reach India it will be winter there too . A whole year of winter for a sweat loving guy :( . That’s why I was so happy when I sweated. Took a nice bath and slept only with my shorts after a long long time.

Not Lake Placid but the Great Pacific



Next morning too my doubts did not subside but increased when I took a rickety bus to the city center which is actually just one main road of about 2 km long.



The Main street in Nadi, Fiji.



The roads, the shops, people walking busily on the roads and their dress looked just like Indians. Many of them were talking Hindi and it looked like any of the thousands of Indian towns. And I was extremely confident and wanted to ask a police man ‘how to go to Vizag?’ when I saw a long queue in front of an ATM and at least half a dozen people looking impatiently over the shoulder of the person at the console

.

Nadi vegitable market



But when I saw the Galaxy theatre displaying the “Just Married” film poster casting Fardeen Khan and Esha Deol, I said doubt ko goli maaro and took the ticket for the morning show and watched the film like Aamir Khan in Rangeela. My feet on the front seat, shirt wide open and eating ice cream. By then it was very hot, no air conditioning and for a man who just came in from Alaska, it was like a furnace. Nevertheless I enjoyed the movie and the sweat too :).





I walked all over the town and went to a beautiful Indian temple, found a nice Indian restaurant owned by a Telugu family Kasturi’s Tanjore restaurant and had some really authentic and spicy Andhra food after a long time. The owner told me that there is a week long South Indian Festival being celebrated and took me there. A foot ball match between Indians from Fiji and Fiji Indians who settled in various countries was going on. Later that night I enjoyed the cultural programs along with a few thousands of South Indians and appreciated their interest in maintaining their culture and roots.

Though I knew that 50% of Fiji population is of Indian origin and that a few days back an ethnic Indian Mr Mahendra Choudhry became a Prime Minister too, I never expected the Indian influence to be so profound for after all Fiji is a foreign country and too far away from India. But to tell the truth, after seeing most of the world I can say that the world has only two countries. India and China. Wherever you go in the world, you will see only Indians and Chinese all the others look like tourists :).


BULA BJ the Fijian...


Having enjoyed a lot of Indian hospitality, next day I took a ship to my island adventure to Yasawas. These are a group of islands at the northern tip of the country known for their beauty and privacy.



My Tapovan for the next one week!



Perhaps that is why both versions of Blue Lagoon were shot on location in the Yasawas. There are about 20 islands of volcanic origin which lie in a chain just off the northwest coast of Viti Levu.



These islands are special because of their beautiful, isolated beaches, cliffs, bays and reefs, unspoiled by much tourist development.



All alone so what?





Not a scene from Blue Lagoon but it is blue lagoon. BJ with friends.









Uploading the scene to memory for further use for the thought of

this place itself will bring peace to your mind.









Akele akele kaha jarahe ho ?



If you had seen Tom Hanks’ film ‘Cast Away’ then no need to explain about what privacy you can expect there. All the resorts in those islands are operated by locals who are very friendly. I was very relaxed by the calming effects of the nature and ready to move on to my next destination New Zealand with refreshed energy.


The Fijian party...Guess who is not a Fijian here...




A local villeage trip with friends




The villeage chief with the young counter part.




A kava (an intoxicating drink from Kava root) ceremoney by the Chief for BJ



And a cultural performance



The winners of the Make your own hat competition and dance.



PS: I must apologize for keeping you waiting for my new updates. I must admit that it was not lack of time but lack of mood that put me off. I do not want to just post some pictures but I do want to share what I felt there, for which I need to be in good mood. The past few months have been taxing on my mood due to the delays in the shipments and schedules (it took the bike 25 days to reach Australia and one month to get it released from the customs and quarantine with best efforts) and costs and budgets (each shipment cost me almost double the cost of my bike itself, it would have been much cheaper if I bought a new motorcycle of the same quality in each country and just threw it in the sea when I left, but I want to take only an Indian motorcycle so the pressures) storms and rains ( Australia received the biggest storms in the last half century and many roads were washed away and I was stranded at many places) add to that the bike repairs and importing of spares etc. But still that’s how it will be on great trips like this. You can’t expect to be at the best possible moods all the time. Now that I have reached Australia and heading back home fast, I am in the best possible mood and will be so until I reach home. So you can expect regular updates with more interesting stories. Thanks again for your support. See you all soon.

Thanks a lot. Bharadwaj Dayala

Arctic Expedition

Seriously, have you seen a road like this in your dreams? I never did.

When my friend Bharath was wondering looking at my North America road map and the route I traveled, I could see that apart from a small patch on the west coast, I covered the whole continent from top to bottom and side to side. I told him how badly I wanted to go to the Arctic circle on the Dempster Highway in Canada, the only road in the world that crosses Arctic Circle. But due to extreme conditions in the Arctic winter, I had to settle down to Churchill, the polar bear capital of the world. Though it’s nothing less, it was not Arctic Circle.

He sensed the disappointment in my voice and asked me if I still wanted to do it. Not on motorcycle but we can do it on a four wheel drive. He had a nice flashy Supercharged all terrain Range Rover. He said that he too always dreamed about going to Alaska but could never do it as he had no body who could share his dream or join him on such a journey. You must be wondering why a journey to Alaska is that difficult. Then you must know that driving across a large continent like America from west coast to east coast is only 4000km. But a drive from Los Angeles to Anchorage, Alaska is 6500kms. Now you can imagine how far it is and then count the lonely and unpopulated roads where finding gas and food is difficult. And now count the completely ice covered roads and snow blizzards and -20 to -40 degree centigrade cold, getting stuck in the snow, skidding off the roads, and the daring wolves who doesn’t shy off from humans knowing that we eat every animal and so we must be very tasty too, bears to play with, drug peddlers to fight with, no communications, the list goes on and on …And to go to the place I wanted to go, Inuvik, you need to cross two water bodies and it is possible only in winter as the Mackenzie river freezes and you travel on the ice road. If your engine dies on the road, and if you are not geared properly, you will die in half an hour in that cold. If you come back alive it would be definitely a journey of a life time. So it remained a dream for him as he did not want to die alone.



This is just the beginning...You would see this in your deep freezer but this is road!
But now he got another double crazy guy who can ride an Indian bike all the way from India to his home in LA. So two crazy guys, one crazy trip. I am a man who always goes after my drams and bring them down to reality. So I said lets do it.

We immediately started planning for the great trip. I took charge of preparing the route and taking care of the equipment needed and he took charge of the vehicle and arrangements. After great considerations, we decided that taking his $80,000 Range Rover is not worth as he is also packing to comeback to India and need to sell it. Any damage now and the extra mileage would decrease the price very much. For that price we can hire a four wheel drive vehicle and drive in peace.

But in renting a vehicle we have a problem. Though Alaska is the 49th state of USA, to go there by road you need to cross into Canada. And not all rental companies agreed for that. But thanks to Avis we could get a four wheel drive Jeep Commander, the right kind of vehicle we were looking for.

We decided that it would take at least 20 to 25 days for the trip. But he had a track day where he is taking an advanced training in riding the high performance bikes on the track at crazy speeds. And he did not want to miss it and my non refundable flight tickets are booked. So we could spare only 15 days. So we had to chose either Arctic Circle or Anchorage. Both of us liked both the places and could not decide which to leave. We tossed a dollar it said Arctic Circle. So we said lets go to Arctic!!!

Lucky he had a visa for Canada. I went to the Canadian Consulate in LA and applied for one. I was asked to wait for an interview with a visa officer. The officer asked me why I want to go back to Canada as I finished riding there and came down to USA. Then I showed her the route I took, I was riding all over North America from Quebec to Florida to Los Angeles and if I go to Alaska I will complete the whole continent and so I want to go back there. As usual she was impressed with my journey and said ‘Yes you must do it’! Shegave me a multiple entry visa to Canada.

By the time I prepared the route and logistics Bharath took prepared the vehicle for the journey and the insurances and documentation and all the funds. We decided that he would take care of all expenditure and then split it half and half at the end. It is going to be an expensive trip.

Another friend Pradyum who was staying with us and witnessing all this called us crazy and crazy and crazy. But slowly the excitement crept in him too. That’s what happens with the invitation of the open road and expeditions. He was very interested to join us but he took up a new job and could not spare all the time. Hum to banjare hein. Not every body can be a Banjara. So he helped us a lot in packing and arranging things. We filled the whole jeep except for the two front seats with more than what we will ever need. We took many layers of warm jackets including our motorcycle jackets and boots to wear in the cold. Caps, face masks, gloves socks, cameras, laptops, ipods (this is what kept us sane), ice box with variety of drinks and a lot of water bottles, biscuits, chocolates, snacks, protein bars (which saved us many times), DVDs, Blankets and pillow, passports, documents.

17th March 2007 morning was a clear day and we were at the heights of excitement. Bade good bye to our friend Pradhyum and told him how to send a search party if we don’t call him and get lost in the snow. Filled gas and put an entry into our tour account Petrol $60, this is the only entry you will see all over the account sheet and in between sometimes you will see a breakfast or lunch or dinner entry. We used to feed our Jeep at least twice before we fed ourselves. We were driving like that, crazy.



Our co passengers on the road.



Bharath was at the wheel and we were soon on Interstate freeway 5, the one road which will take us all the way into Vancouver in Canada. Soon we went into a Mexican drive through restaurant and bought some chicken quesadilla and coffee. Had good lunch and were full of zing. We connected the ipod to the Jeep audio. Bharath was munching miles with the cruise control set to 90mph listening to his favorite song ‘Smack that’. I was watching a movie on my laptop. We had a power inverter attached to the car battery so we can use our electronic equipment too.

Suddenly Bharath pulls the car out and taps my hand. I removed my head phones and stopped the movie and asked him what happened. He showed me towards the rearview mirror and I could see the red and blue lights flashing. Ooop a cop! The police officer came to the window and had a look at us and gave us a smile and asked where we were going. We explained every thing and he was good and nice and kind. And understanding that we have a long long way to go, quickly gave us a ticket for speeding and asked us to keep below 80. Bharath bhayya got a medal now J. Soon back on the road and back in the mood. ‘Smack that…all on the floor…smack that….give me some more….’!!!

That day we drove for 9 hours at that speed and we were still in California. We pulled into a motel and stayed for the night. Next morning I took the wheel and I was munching miles at 100mph and Bharat was so happy and was expecting that I would get a medal from the police too. But I am too cunning by now and I know where to slow down. We skipped Vancouver and entered Canada at Abbots Ford.



A road to Heaven...
The immigration process was easy. Everybody was looking at us and asking “you want to go to Inuvik? In this winter?” But they couldn’t say anything. But then the customs officer came and asked us to give the jeep keys for inspection. We were not supposed to be there so we sat in the hall and were wondering that he will come and ask us why the hell we are carrying so much stuff just for the two of us.

He took out everything in the jeep and checked and came back to us and asked ‘you want to go to Inuvik’? We said yes. Then he said ‘you don’t have anything for that cold, you are going to die. I lived in a place 700km south to Inuvik and there is 22 feet of snow, three times the size of your jeep. I can’t allow you’.




Thats one of the few gas stations...Just excavated.





We were worried. Not only for his comments but for the 22 feet of snow. But we told him boldly that we know all that and we are going to buy more winter gear in the next town. He talked to his partner and said ‘ok’. But surely a silence crept in both of us. We surely are not equipped for that kind of snow and cold, as this is not a North Pole expedition. But we decided to go ahead and keep in safe limits. We did buy snow chains in the next town but nothing more.



No this is not Ice Skating rink...its a highway



We kept driving driving and driving. There is no end. The roads are single lane now. And the landscape changed totally. We can see snow everywhere and the temp was going down steadily and soon it was below zero. The next night we entered Highway 37 the toughest road we encountered. It was about 8 pm by the time we came to it. We filled gas and asked the lady about the accommodation options. By now accommodation is very limited and hard to find and you can not stay on the road as you will soon freeze. There was no accommodation before 200km or we need to go back 100km. We wanted to do 200 more km to reach our next destination. So we didn’t want to go back and we started off. Soon it started snowing. Then it started blowing. Now the road is completely white. We are driving on snow now. It started getting difficult to see the road. If you put the high beam on you can’t see anything but snow blowing.



Its very hard to see even a black patch on the road even this is oil
You are wrong...thats not the villain from Star Wars, that is Bharat.

BJ's white out

Our speed decreased to 40kmph. We were a bit worried. At this pace we will need double time to reach the place we wanted to but if it keeps snowing like this than we should be traveling in a foot or more of fresh snow and we don’t know the road. But even to go back we need to go back about 150 km to find a place to stay, we are in such lonely country. But then we decided that we should go back. Then we turned back and lived.

Next day we saw what kind of road was that. After that we traveled continuously on packed ice there is no sign of black road. Every thing was white. Bharat is a good driver having experience in driving in snow too. But it was first time for me to drive on snow. I was quick to learn and soon I was driving at 100 kmph on ice!!! Now and then you keep losing traction but you should know how to control it. But once on a long turn on a bridge I did lose complete traction and the vehicle was not turning. But without panicking, slowly I controlled the vehicle and we were never off the road.


We were skidding and not driving all the time and then these steep gradients.


Ice shedding...



This is our dreaded highway 37 clean as a block of ice!!



Right at the end of that highway we found a car stuck in snow off the road. He skidded and got stuck in snow. We stopped and I got down. You can not understand that the road was like ice skating rink. As soon as I stepped down I slipped and fell hard on my bum. I was skidding all the time. You can imagine how the driving must have been. Then we pulled the car out and proceeded to the next halt.

We stopped at Watson Lake and entered a motel shaking and shivering. The lady at the counter was smiling and said it was a warm day. For them below -30 is cold. By now every thing around us is ice ice baby.

We were running for time and we are behind schedule due to extreme cold and snow. But then we could not resist stopping at extremely beautiful places. It’s a once in a life time experience. We used to go out and take a few pictures and run back to the vehicle’s comfort. You cant even breath the open air it was so cold. And at one such photo stops I dropped my waist pouch. Pouch with my cash and my PASSPORT!!!

As soon as we reached Whitehorse, we stopped for lunch and as we got down, I as usual tried to feel my waist pouch. And it was not there. Suddenly shocked, I started looking under the seat and everywhere. Bharath asked what happened. I told him I lost my pouch. And my passport. If you never traveled abroad and never lost your passport, you will never know what it is to lose a passport abroad. Your journey is finished. I am going to get stuck in Canada for a long time until I get a replacement passport and then go to every other consulate asking for a visa.

We both were very upset. Bharath was very angry. He shouted ‘why did you put it in your pouch? You could have put it in your pocket’. But obviously nobody knows the value of my passport more than me. I was guarding it with so much care all the time. It was only in this journey I used a waist pouch. Otherwise I always was putting it in my pocket. This time I was more careful and so this happened. When I was driving there is a constant shuffling and some time the clip got released and when I got down at a photo stop, it dropped. We started going back to check all the places we stopped. But it is too late. Many people must have stopped and it has money in it so nobody would leave it.

Bharath said we need to go back and think about the work to be done. I said we will try to find it and will go back till our last stop and if we don’t find it, we will file a police complaint and we go ahead with the mission. Bharat said I am mad. I said yes I am, we need to finish what we started. I can remain calm even in panicky situations; I had to learn it as I go through panicky situations many times on this journey. Then we went back looking at every spot we stopped at. As each stop passed we became calmer with the building tension. And all the time I was using my Magic to get my passport back. I will sometime tell you what my magic is and how I use it when in extreme situations, that is a secret.



This is the beautiful place where I dropped my pouch.
And with my Magic, after going back 180 kms, after three hours of parting with it, at the most beautiful photo stop where every body would stop, I found my pouch back with my passport and the cash intact!!! You should see the happiness in our faces. We were dancing on the ice.



With a great friend at a great place...sign posts from all over the world.

We had been through some moon like landscapes for the next few days. We were in dream land. Only a few can see what all we had seen. And I must say sorry that I can not show you what all we had seen as no camera can capture the beauty in its entirety. But the sad thing was the Dempster highway, my dream road was closed due to snow blizzards and we could not wait for another week for it to open. So we preceded to Anchorage, Alaska our second option. And it was second to none. The beauty it has presented relaxed us so much and we did not feel the tiredness at all. We were riding continuously for 6500km on lonely and icy roads but we both were very energetic even at the end of the trip and came back with lot of memories that will keep giving us chills all our life.
Finally Alaska welcomes us...

Frozen sea at Anchorage.


Bharath was singing on the Alaska Highway
"Winding in and winding out
It fills my mind with serious doubt
As to wheather the lout
who built this route
Was going to Hell or coming out!"

BJ in Boston

Hi friends,
I completed the continent of North America fro tip to toe and side to side. I missed the east coast part as it was snowing heavily and I could not go on my motorcycle. But as my shipment to New Zealand was delayed, my visas for Australia and New Zealand expired and had to take fresh ones from Washington DC. So I flew from LA to DC and applied for the visas. When I contacted the embassies they said they require at least two weeks to process my case as I am supposed to take visas from my home country only. But when I finally went there and talked to them, they considered me as a special case and issued me visas the next day itself. I was too happy and now have a lot of time. So I rented a car and hit the road again only this time in the comfort of a heated cabin and luxury of silence and music. I went straight to Boston from DC. Boston is a very charming city full of young students and pubs and coffee shops and cheap eating and lot of music. This was the only place where I found the pubs and some restaurants open after midnight. If you think that America is a nightlife country, forget it. In America you can’t even get food after 10pm except in some 24hour supermarkets or a star hotel.


Boston University Campus

Boston University

But the whole place is frozen. Even the Charles river which separates Boston and Cambridge. It was damn damn cold. -15 degrees Celsius. If I really went there on my bike, I would be good only to be sold as frozen meat. But the beauty of the city and the liveliness made it worth the long drive.

Frozen Charles River - Boston

Liberty at last!
I finally came to Big Apple. Driving in New York was not easy but was not very difficult too for I have been on the roads for a long time now. High speeds, left hand steering or finding my road was not a problem but finding parking was a big problem. Parking fees are exorbitant up to $20 per hour at places like Times Square, Broadway etc.

Brooklyn Bridge - the filmy site.

Times Square - New York

New York skyline

New York from Liberty island

The Grand Central Station - New York

BJ Ice skating at Rockefeller Center

Here I met a gang of New York boys. Students from India studying their masters in various fields. I had the chance to look into the student life here in USA. I had good fun with them. Manish from Bangalore helped me a lot and spent a lot of time and showed me New York. His friends Kamakshi, Saklen, Dhanesh, Salil, Nauman were so nice and received me with enthusiasm. They wanted me to give a presentation in their university to the youngsters, but my program was unpredictable. Manish got me a ticket to Broadway show, Beauty and the Beast by Disney. It was a memorable experience. I need a lot of pages and time to describe all this, may be some other time. I did some ice-skating too at the Rockefeller Center.

New York Boyz - Manish, Saklen, BJ, Dhanesh & Salil

From New York I went to Philadelphia and visited the Independence Hall where the independence was declared and the constitution written.

Independence Hall - Philadelphia

American Constitution was written and debated here

City Hall of Philadelphia

From Phila I went to Las Vegas of east, Atlantic city. This is a small laid-back town with many casinos. Gambled a few million dollars at the Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino (khayalon me J).

Donald Trump's Taj Mahal Casino - Atlantic city
In Maryland I visited another friend who was in touch with me by mail. He is from my home town. It is a nice feeling to meet someone from hometown so I went to meet him. Ravi and his family received me warmly and offered the best Telugu food. I felt very happy to talk my own language after a long time. They took me around to Baltimore and surrounding places. Had a picnic at Fort Mc Henry a historical site.

Ravi and family
Finally I was back to Washington and visited the White House and Smithsonian Museums. Indian Ambassador Sri Ronen Sen invited me to the Embassy when I was in Boston and so I could not meet him. When I came back to DC, I visited our Embassy and the First Secretary Sri Manish Prabhat gave me a warm welcome and took me to a very nice Indian restaurant. We had a great discussion and good lunch. Next morning said good bye to Washington and went back to Los Angeles for yet another road trip of a life time. From Los Angeles to Arctic Circle and Alaska!!! In winter!!! CRAZY

A Quick Update on America

Hi friends after I left Florida, I was munching miles continuously and had no chance to update my blog. I will just give you a short photographic update from where I left. From Miami I took this scary Sky Bridge and went to St. Petersburg. I was almost sure I will be blown into the sea by the wind. The Sky Bridge...

And reached Baton Rouge where I met Dr. Gopala Krishna and his nice family. He was very enthusiastic about the journey and we had great dinner at their own Indian restaurant.

Dr. Krishna and Mrs. Rani
And in Houston, I met another amazing and enthusiastic person Dipak Patel. A net friend who followed my blog and got in touch with me and invited me to his home. His enthusiasm made me go to Houston. I really enjoyed being with his family. His wife Ila and his son Ravi was good company. I had great Gujarati food. Next day Dipak took me to his office Bechtel where a lot of Indians are working. We all went for lunch. I had good time with them.

Dipak and his friends at Bechtel, Houston

Ravi, Ila, Deepak Patel and BJ
Then I hit the never ending and never bending roads of Arizona….

More Indian and Telugu friends in Phoenix.

Chenchayya, Suresh and BJ

A gang of Harley rider gave company till the outskirts of Phoenix. After having a good breakfast I left for Grand Canyon.

Surprisingly, after the scorching heat of Phoenix soon the temparatures came down as I reached Williams a small town on Route 66 which is the gateway to Grand Canyon. And I hit snow soon. Grand Canyon too was very cold the the North Rim was inaccesible due to snow. I took helicopter ride over the Canyon. I hated taking pictures of the canyon as no picture can show the enormous canyon the right way. You need to be there to see it.



Into snow at Williams, Grand Canyon

Then that proud feeling of being at a special place on earth with my bike, the big hole in the ground, The Grand Canyon.

I was riding on the Historic Route 66. Actually there is nothing historic about it. This was the road that connected Chicago to Los Angeles. But when the Freeway network came up, no body was using this small two lane road and all the towns were by passed by the big roads so the small towns lost a lot of business. When something becomes useless, America names it as HISTORIC and makes it a tourist attraction and sells a lot of memorabilia.

The Hoover Dam which you had seen in the James Bond movie. A real architectural wonder. They say that with the amount of concrete used for this dam, they can lay a road across America.

No I did not go back to Paris. This is the Sin City. The city of lights. Las Vegas. What you see behind me is the Paris Casino there is a restaurant in the tower.

Grandeur at the world famous Bellagio Casino. People come here to gamble. There is no place on earth where gambling is handled as professionally. Managing a gambling den is a university course here. You can see their professionalism in every inch. In Vegas I met another Telugu family Rao, Laxmi and Sahiti. Mrs. Laxmi was very talkative and asked me about each and every place I went. Sahiti, a software engineer gave me good company and told about Vegas life. They coocked spicy Indian food for me and that was the best thing I can ask for.

What you see here is a shopping mall the top you see is actually the worlds largest screen where they project specially made animations. Las Vegas burns so much of electricity, the whole place is electrified and you can feel it every where. You will get mild electric shocks when you touch metal things or doors or even when you walk on the carpets. So from this gambling city, I went to the city of dreams, Hollywood, Los Angeles.

My friends near LA Rajashekar his wife Madhavi and Vinayak.

Then I met another crazy biker whom I wanted to meet because of his enthusiasm and encouragement, Mr. Bharat Reddy from Bangalore. He is here for his Masters in Business Leadership which he just finished and was cooling off. Like I said he is another crazy biker who owns an Aprilia Tuono a real monster of a bike, a Suzuki GSX sports, a Triumph Scrambler retro and a BMW GS1200 and real enthusiasm to be on the road what else you can wish for? So we made a good combination and were riding all over California. I need a separate chapter for him and our rides and drives. These are just a few things we did…

My biker friends in Los Angeles Bharat Reddy, Pradyum and me on Venice beach.

Bharat Reddy on Suzuki GSX

Bharat on his Suzuki GSX on the Pahrump Race Track scraping pegs...

We did our advanced off road training in California. Me and Bharat (on the right with a beaming smile) with our beautiful instructor Tanya, a Motocross Champion (center). We had another ride of our life time up the mountain which seemed almost impossible.

Los Angeles Balaji temple. Bharat on his Triumph Scrambler and me on my Rambler.

The gym on the Venice beach, LA where Arnold Schwarzenegger built his massive muscles.

Mera Bharat Mahaan…

Yosemite valley in California is a wonderful place. With mountains and waterfalls. It was very cold and snowing too. What you see is the Bridal Veil fall.

Then I went to another nice city San Francisco. It has the most dangerously steep and crooked streets in the world. All the drivers there must be very experienced in handling gradients. My friend Bharat thought my bike can not climb the steeps and I am going to topple. But are yaar mera bike to Pushpak hei aur hum bhi kisi se kam nahi hei. So I went riding up and down on the

‘Most Crookedest road in the world’.

And then another proud moment of riding my bike on the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco…

Great Riding all over America...

Hi Friends,
I am up and running and running too fast I think. During the last one week I covered Disney World and Kennedy Space Center in Orlando and enjoyed the beaches in Miami, Crossed the Skyway Bridge in St. Petersburg and crossed the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and now in Baton Rouge in Luciana going to Houston, Texas today.

Not just running but enjoyed these places though I am moving a bit fast to reach Los Angeles during the first week of February to fly to Australia. I still have a 5000km run to do before I leave America. The weather is getting colder everyday. Right now it is -3 degrees Celsius here. Last two days it was raining.

Last night I stayed with my friend Rajesh's friends Dr. Gopala Krishna and Mrs Rani. I had great dinner with Sambar Rice and Shahi kebabs at their own India's Restaurent in Baton Rouge near New Orleans. After a long time I had my favorite Chai too. Today the forecast is just cloudy but next three days its going to rain too. So I may take a pit stop at Houston until the heavy rain fades off and then Head up north to Dallas.

I am not having internet access as before as I am staying mostly in Motels outside the cities. I just got it in a friends house so I am updating. I am hale and healthy. I am really thankful to all the great support given by all of you. When I wrote my problems mail, I thought many of you will not like it but as ever, I wanted to be myself and present myself as I am. I must present some of the great encouragement I received from various known and unknown friends.

That was awesome!! made me think for awhile.
Keep forging ahead.
Good luck.

Venkat Kothur

OK, I went through your notes on problem I faced. You are a good writer. I hope you will write a book when you come back and publish it. It will be a good bible for others who want to experiment. I had a great mind to do that. Only think I did not have courage nor any back up.
Shenoy Sheshagiri
This has been one of the most inspiring real life stories of how once can survive the odds and fight back against the so called problesm we have in life...this is better than the billion dollar 'self help industry churns out in the countless books...i would only say one caution...sometimes it looks like we have won that war while it is only the batte...so be alert always...and this article should be shared with all people we know of and feels worried by the trifles he is facing in his normal life...
DVR

What can I say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is truly awesome. You have actually outlined a few things l experience in my day to day life and not able to cope. AND I AM NOT ON A TOUR AROUND THE WORLD ON A BIKE. Man...great stuff, I wish you well from the bottom of my heart. May god be with you in every step you take
God bless

Suresh M Iyer

Bharadawaj, thanks for the wonderfully introspective piece. We (my son and I) got back from 3 weeks of backpacking -- traveling by bus and a bit of boat -- through south-eastern Mexico, and a bit of Belize and Northern Guatemala. It was a great trip. I will send you a link to some pictures. We thought of you all along the way. Yours has been an incredible journey. Hats off to you, my friend! You are one of India's bright, shining beacons. There isn't enough courage or sense of adventure among our fellow men and women. There is little desire to spread one's wings and expand one's mind. I hope you are able to spread your message to wider audience. Looks like there is a lot of that spirit in Andhra -- one young man named Mastan Babu who grew up in a village has scaled the highest peaks on all the continents in under six months. I bow before you young men -- you are the true heroes of India who should be written about more widely than the imbecile film stars and cricket brats and politicians that dominate the news in India.

I wonder if you and Mastan Babu could team up and initiate a lecture tour of India. Perhaps our visionary President Kalam would be willing to support this -- he is after all, eager to 'ignite young minds'. You should also talk about your doubts and human failings, thereby showing people that you are, after all, human like everyone else, and despite your human limitations, you have accomplished so much. Now THAT is inspiring.
Best regards, my friend

Murli

BJ,
Great to hear from you again! I hope you have posted this on ADVrider and
HUBB - you have
certainly expressed the contrary to what most RTW riders like to say -the
depression,
the hardships, occupational hazards, sometimes just the defeat of the day.
Very well-written.

Sridhar Reddy (USA)

This is great introspection and a great documentation of your experiences.

At first when I opened the doc, I was daunted by the 9 pages but when I started reading, the great flow and the thought process kept me hooked.

It's great that you have been able to capture your thoughts at that time. A lot of times it happens that while we are in the middle of the experience, we have all these thoughts and think that we'll document all of it when we go back but end up neglecting to do it.

It would also be interesting to read your experiences of how you went about preparing for the world tour.
The book can be a great read and prep for someone who wants to repeat your feat.

Really liked the statement, "I am good at reasoning without bias and finding the cause and solution for anything.". That's a great ability.

Abhijeet

So that was that and not only that all the American biking community is giving me a great welcome everywhere I go. And this is an invitation from an American unknown biker who invited to me to his place which touched my heart.

Hey BJ,
Sad news. My wife has passed away on the 17th of January. (last Wednesday). She had be fighting cancer for almost 3 months, and complications became too great for her.
I still want you to visit, and you can spend the night at my home. I`ve told my motorcycle riding pals about you, and we`d like to hear some of your stories and make pictures over a nice dinner. Let me know what kind of food you`d like to eat. We`ll be taking you out to a restaurant. We can have steaks, Mexican food, Chinese food, Greek food. We may even have a restaurant that specializes in Indian food. I`ll check.
St. Petersburg is about 457 miles from where I live. Click on this link and it will show you a map from St. Petersburg to my home in Cantonment Florida.: Here is the link:
http://tinyurl.com/ypfwsb
Give me a day or two notice so I can warn my motorcycle buddies of your approximate arrival.
Regards,
Tony House

And today I am going to meet another great Indian from Houston, Dipak Patel who offered me all kinds of help I think I will enjoy his company too…
I am really over whelmed by all your support thanks once again

Bharadwaj Dayala

Walt Disney World, A dream land.

Walt Disney World, Orlando - Dream of one man !


It is so nice to meet your childhood friend


My Rocket with the Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center


Enjoying a quiet moment with my Pushpak at the Miami waterfront.

The psychological problems I faced so far on my journey

Today I must sincerely discuss and disclose all the problems I faced so far on my arduous and wonderful world tour and my struggle for existence. This is not a struggle just to live but to exist as a person who can dream of great things and who can also withstand great difficulties of all kinds to achieve what he wants. Good news is I won the struggle and I so I am able to discuss it :) so that those who want to get on the big road would take a bit of care in advance and avoid such difficulties. But it's very loooooooooong.

You all know that this is not a sponsored tour and the entire planning, logistics, funds, communications, paper work, permits, insurances, transfers, shipments, repairs and arrangements have to be done by me or by supporters at home. Once you are out of country, there is little your base can do for you except to keep you funded if you need more or to give you courage all the way by communicating with you continuously which again is going to add a lot of cost. Sometimes you may not be able to get any help from anybody even if they want to do. So it is solely YOU who have to do every thing. Every thing means really a lot, including telling the rules of customs to the customs officers of various countries. I am not joking if I hadn’t written about my Iran customs story, I will write it some time. They levied heavy import duty as they did not know how to process the carnet. I had to go to the customs commissioner explaining what it is with the help of a translator. Still it took me one week to process it. Not only Iran, at many other places. Some of them do not know where to put a stamp and you have to tell them. So you must know it before hand or you won't take your bike out of the country.

So you doing everything gives a lot of stress. And everyday you need to do a lot of things apart from riding. From the moment you get up you need to find breakfast. In North American motels however large they are you don’t find anything to eat and you won’t find anybody to ask where you can find some too :). When you find some thing to eat you rush packing everything on the bike, check the bike for fitness, get dressed and chalk the route, look into the maps, note down major points and any points of interest. Then you finally kick your bike and start the day with a smile feeling nice to be on the road again.

If you had to take a motorway, your antenna is always up and scanning for danger because you look like a tiny rat running to escape in between 8 or 12 lanes of huge cats (cars) and roaring mountainous lions (trucks) zipping at high speeds tossing you all around. Don’t expect to stick to the side wall like a good boy and go slow all the time because you need to keep changing lanes all the time and keep reading all those road signs and exit points to find you own destination. The mere push you experience from a speeding truck itself is unnerving. And imagine you riding such heavily loaded and unbalanced street bike changing lanes at 120kmph between those monsters. I am now well experienced and know what kind of vehicle is coming beside me just by noticing how hard it’s pushing me sideways :). And the thought of one puncture could make you and your bike into a MASALA DOSA (the bike can not be crushed totally so it remains like masala) without a slightest doubt, will keep you extremely alert at all times. This acute alertness is very stressful. Add just 10-12 hours of this.

Now you thought that’s enough! And want to get into the comfort of some hostel. But it’s not enough. Unless you planed to stop here and you know the exact location of a hostel, it’s very difficult to find it. If you miss one exit, you may have to ride 50kms to come back to the same place (this happened once to me at 12 midnight while going to a friend’s house in Chicago after riding all day). And if you are looking for a place without reservation, then give or take 50km before your find one with vacancy.

Finally you find a place and get into it. To unpack and carry all your baggage all the way to your room (no body will ever lift even a small pouch for you) takes a hell. You need to lock the bike properly and cover it so that it is not taken away while you sleep. Sometimes you don’t get parking and you may have to park it on the road side which will give you jerks all the night. One day in Cairo, I put my bike inside the lobby of a building, wheels and steering locked. By morning it was on the road. I couldn’t imagine how they lifted that heavy bike and put it there. Lucky they didn’t put it on a truck and it happens quite frequently. According to the place you are traveling, the time you reach a safe place could be anywhere from evening to midnight. You can’t really come on exact time as many things rule the road and you could be riding at 50 degrees heat or freezing -15 degrees cold or it may snow or thundering rain.

By now all the muscles in your body will be aching and after a refreshing shower you feel damn hungry as you had only light meals during day (eat heavy food during day and you will be drowsing on the bike). Now again you may have to walk miles to find food. Not what you like, but just any kind of food. Sometimes if you are lucky you will find it nearby or you may not find any at all. You may have to eat whatever kind of reserve snacks you are carrying and you don’t feel like eating it anyway. You go to sleep like a log and soon it’s another day. Believe me you will not even remember to check your mails or update your blog.

BUT IT IS FUN. To ride and to go to a new place and enjoy the new surroundings, new people, new food. Everything is fun and you will be happy. But not if you have to do it everyday, 24/7 all through the year (unless you are an Iron Butt like me). Not when you can’t stop where ever you want to stop because your budget will take you only halfway then. You can’t eat what you want. You may be liking pizzas and burgers and meat but try eating all that for a month. I have been eating that for 9 months now :).

I am not complaining or regretting at all. I am just showing you how it would be to ride around the world. And I tell you in spite of all this I AM REALLY ENJOYING MY RIDE AND I CAN RIDE ONE MORE TIME TOO !!! So no regrets at all.

But the tour was taking its toll on a different plane, the psychological side.

First and foremost problem is loneliness.

Though you are always surrounded by people, you still feel lonely. You are an alien. Many may speak to you, but until you reach UK, you don’t know what they are saying and you can’t talk back. You will become Goonga and will become an expert at sign language. You will not be talking to anyone until you reach UK. Not even in Europe you will find many English speakers. I being a happy man always surrounded by friends and family was too lonely until I reached UK. Few people I met in the other countries kept me sane with their hospitality. The first Telugu man I met was the Ambassador of India in Jordan.

Loneliness as a problem can not be explained, only to be experienced. Actually I trained myself well expecting this, that’s how I am surviving. I went into Himalayas trekking alone at the off season times. There I felt for the first time what loneliness is. Once I was trekking from Gangotri to Gomukh alone when the temple and the post office at Gangotri also were closed for winter. It is a 19km trek to 14000feet altitude which would take a whole day to cover half the distance. After a long arduous journey at the high altitude, it started snowing. I thought of only one thing, I wish somebody knew that I am walking here. For there was no telephone and no body knows my exact place or route. I did keep a note in my pocket with all my details asking for anybody who finds me, in case I die, to inform. But the problem is no body will find you in the depths of thousands of feet if you slip. Then you will know what loneliness is. We can not avoid it; we have to cope with it. Nevertheless it will have an effect on your mind all the time.

Another unexpected reason for my loneliness was my acquired hearing deficiency. Yes. When I went around India on my 1969 Royal Enfield, I did not know that I have to use ear plugs. We, in India get scared to silence ourselves from the traffic, listening for the horn of the truck coming behind. But that is wrong. The high pitched roar of my bike made me lose some frequencies and noticing it, I started using ear plugs after half the journey. But in this journey what I have learnt is that you can not get complete silence even if you plug your ears under a heavy helmet too, because of bone conduction. The bones around your ear also conduct sound. When I am traveling at 120kmph, the wind hitting my helmet at that speed makes a hell of a noise and some of it is absorbed by the bones around my ears and I get a constant “SSSSShhhhhhhhh” sound in my mind. Imagine this sound continuously for 10hours or more every day for a year. So you are bound to lose some of your hearing for sure. Occupational hazard :).

What happens when you lose some frequencies is you can’t hear some words and you can not comprehend even if you can hear people whose voice falls into those frequencies. So some times even if the other is asking you a serious question you will hear only “ abba dabba jabba” and to cover it up you find yourself smiling and say ‘oh yes’J. And you keep asking every body again and again. Finally to avoid such difficulty or embarrassment, you avoid talking to people altogether. You keep to yourself even in a group which increases your loneliness further. Tho abtak Goonga aur Behra bangaya dekhna hei aur kya banoonga.

The second and major problem was Depression.

So I was coping well with the stress of the ride and loneliness too. But then I had to face the situation of riding through Europe in 5 days from Greece to UK. I must say this was the only time when I did not enjoyed riding during my journey so far. Even freezing cold gave me a kind of winning achievement but this always kept my heart in my mouth and my mind in my knees. I was so disturbed thinking my ride will end in France, I could not eat or sleep or remain calm while riding, nor was I able to thinking anything too. These five days of continuous mental and physical torture pushed me into a deep depression. This depression, untreated, continued until now giving me severe bouts from time to time. With strong will I used to get out of it but soon something triggers it without my knowledge and I am down again.

This made me so dull that except riding with great will, I didn’t feel like doing anything else. No reading no writing not even eating well. You don’t feel like doing any damn thing. Getting up and going out for sightseeing in a place as beautiful as Quebec is also not at all interesting. Generally in a journey like this where you are seeing something new everyday, you lose interest even in the best of the places or things and you don’t want to go out of your room. That’s ok and you just need to sit indoors for a few days and it will be alright. But this feeling coupled with depression and loneliness produced a disastrous concoction and gave rise to a new problem.

The third problem was overindulgence in Alcohol.

I was never an avid drinker but I used to drink in parties and on outings with our friends. But it was never a problem to me. Actually I did not drink until I reached Aqaba, Jordan after a great party with all my friends on the farewell day. But Aqaba is one of my enigmatic places right from when I saw the movie Lawrence of Arabia. So when I really reached that place, I was in high spirits and to add to that I used to go underwater diving. After having a great day on the red sea when you come back and every body is sitting, chatting and having a beer, its irresistible and there is no need for me to hold back too. So there I first started drinking beer again. And when you go to a place like Olu Deniz, in Turkey, even if you never had a pint of beer also would like to jump into the cask. I was visiting the most beautiful places on earth filled with tourists and attractive cafes and pubs and bars and music, its hard to sit tight. But it was absolutely under control and was just enjoying until I came to UK with that depression. When I finally crossed the English Channel with great relief, I just wanted to forget everything and sleep for a few days. So I had a few beers every afternoon and every night. Depression and drinking are too good friends which will never leave you so easily :).

But in 5 days of not doing anything, I immediately became alert and knowing that I will slip more deeply into this, I regained myself and started my ride again. Wherever I go, I either had a friend and a great party or I was alone and so I wanted a drink (so it was not parties that made me drink). And I was not drinking just a beer but a lot of them. And knowing I m drinking a lot, I at least stopped taking hot drinks and wine or it would have been worse. Kuch to akal baaki he tab bhi.

And one fine day I will wake up and shake my head off my depression and drinking. Knowing it is not good for me or my project and try to come out of that depression. Every thing was fine for a few days. I left UK and reached Canada in great spirits (not the liquid one). After running around for a whole day in taxi to various offices, I could not finish the customs inspection and I could not release my bike. Next day was Saturday and they don’t work on weekends and you don’t know when it will be released. My airline agent will charge me $150 a day for keeping the bike there and you don’t know how much you may have to pay him. Shit shit shit…my depression says ‘forget it yaar me hun na come lets have a BEER!!!’ Again the subdued depression awakens like a gene with all laughs and invites its friend the BEER.

Finally the bike is released and I shake my head like our rock stars round n round and get rid of the depression and go around Canada and see the beauty of the fall. Then after a few days due to unexpected excess expenditure at the customs, my finances are dangerously down and there was a delay expected from my sources so I need to sit at some cheap place and wait for it. ‘Shit shit shit come lets have a BEER!!! There is nothing to do for you so you can just take a walk around the beautiful place and all the cafes and pubs ever attracting you and sit and have a couple of beers, go home and sleep. Don’t think and don’t do anything else’, my depression says, fearing I would send it out again.

One more major reason for my drinking to continue even when the funds are low is because it’s so cheap here. For us we can get a couple of good meals for the cost of a beer. Here you can get couple of dozen beers for the cost of a meal :). So it would not seem sinful to you to drink a couple of them even if you are tight.

So like that without myself knowing the base of the problem (that is me! All these were mere justifications) I limped into USA and met some good friends and had great parties but I was not really myself for all these days. I was much closed, not communicating with anyone not willing to do much, not wanting to talk or meet anyone at all.

But finally I thought this is not the way I want to do this.

I put a break and a strong one. I remained seated for a month in Atlanta not going out except for a walk or to buy something to eat. The depression and drinking continued but I had a lot of time introspecting. The good habit I developed during all my life is; I can correct myself without any outside help. I am good at reasoning without bias and finding the cause and solution for anything. I know how to control my mind too. But still your mind wanders a bit now and then and you need to regain the control all the time. And also it is a situation where it is you who is the only one who can correct it. I felt so lonely but not interested in meeting anyone or chatting with anyone too. Now and then kept writing mails and read a lot of books but did not do anything note worthy.

And finally I reached a verdict that I must part with both my good friends however painful it may be; the Depression and Drinking too. ‘Cause both of them are extremely coordinating with each other and cooperating to see that if one is allowed then it will see to it that the other one is allowed soon. And after a great lonely struggle I WON THE WAR and killed both of them :).

When I say killed them I mean I killed them. Yes, however strong they may be but not stronger than me. I am a warrior and can kill such unwanted enemies and I believe my victory is long lasting. This I can say with confidence generated from my past war. Before this Operation Desert Storm in USA, I fought another war, Operation Vijay in India against smoking.
I used to be a chain smoker (ab poochna mat aur kitni aadate hein…bas itni :)). I smoked non stop for 17years at the rate of 20-30 cigarettes a day. I quit smoking many times with all kinds of treatments and commitments but they lasted only for a few hours or a day maximum. I was never without a cigarette. I developed chronic bronchitis and when the doctors said “choose between cigarettes or life”, I gladly chosen the cigarette due to the difficulty of quitting it.

But I had to change my choice. When I was practicing for the world tour and on my lonely trek in Himalayas, at first I started at a good pace at that high altitude. Anybody would feel the lack of enough oxygen and would get tired soon. But after taking a few quick steps uphill, I was soon gasping for air like a dog on my four legs (legs and hands). After taking a few puffs from my inhaler and resting I said, this is not good. I am going to face such cold and many more tiring and extremely hard situations around the world and if I am so weak I may not complete the journey at all. Then I said Beta ya tu world tour pe jaye ga ya to cigarette jayega dono milke nahi jasakte. Mei ne socha Hum kisi se kam nahi. Use kyon jaane dunga? To usko chod ke me chala aaya J. It’s been more than two years since I touched a cigarette. I don’t run away from it. I allow all my friends to smoke in front of me and I think in my mind, Jo jeeta wohi sikandar :). So that proves I am stronger than any of my habits or emotions. I refused to surrender to anything except GOD. And so I am really back and much much stronger than ever.

It is also a coincidence that I am writing this letter on an auspicious day like Makara Sankranti. It is a big festival day in Andhra Pradesh. This is the day when the Sun enters the Makara Raasi (zodiac of Capricorn) and denotes the beginning of auspicious Uttarayana Punyakalam. I too thrown away all the rubbish collected in my mind during all these months and am entering a new phase of confidence and conquest. I thank all of you for giving me continuous support during all these months of my untold misery. But now you are entitled for some entertainment and I will release my new stories like our bollywood films (in plenty). Thank you one and all.

Bharadwaj Dayala

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hello Everybody, So the new year started with a bang and I wish you all an adventurous and exciting new year. I am posting a link here which is my New Year wish presentation to all of you. Download the file and view the presentation you will definitely like it.
http://www.bcmtouring.com/bharadwaj-rtw/bharadwaj-rtw.zip