Travel Diary Of A Non-employed Man…

Well, for those who know me, it is rather difficult for them not be startled as they read the title of this blog 🙂

It is for the very first time in my nine-year long career that I am not working! Well, read it this way – for the very first time in my life, I have taken a long break whilst moving between jobs… and I am really not complaining, for a change, you see…

While the above picture is taken at a virgin beach at Pondicherry, where I am presently stationed, my travel started with driving Guy (my new jeep) to Lucknow. 11 hours straight! I took NH-2, and covered towns of Agra, Etawah and Kanpur to reach Lucknow. And boy, what a ride it was! With rains lashing Guy for most part of the journey, this is how it looked the next morning – the true Jeeper’s Jeep:

Lucknow was a totally ‘food-festival-holiday’ for me – I just refused to dine at home! Zeeshan ke Shaami, Galauti Kabab aur Boti-Paraathe, Sadar ke Gol-gappe, Naushein-Jahan ki Dum-biryani, Udaigunj ke Salim ki Gosht-biryani, Chowk waale Tiwariji ki Thandai – you name it and I had it! And despite being there for four full days and even with ‘highway on my plate’ style of travel, I still missed a lot – couldn’t eat Idris ki Imli ke Koyle waali Biryani, Ratti ke Khaste, Chaudhary Sweets ki Ras-Malai, Madras Mess ka Masala Dosa… all now parked in the menu now for the next time. Insha Allah!

Lord knows, I am a biker at heart, love riding True – my Royal Enfield Classic. And to me, what Rishad Saam Mehta, a travel writer and Bullet enthusiast, is absolutely right when he calls it “a meditative motorcycle — on a Bullet on the highway, you feel alone and happy…”

And yet, you will have to trust me, driving a Thar comes closest next to it. I was alone, and happy, while driving Guy for all those long hours. Nothing between me and silence… no phone, no email… sheer bliss of belonging to the road! An absolute marvel of a machine, I drove it for 10 hours non-stop on my journey back to Gurgaon! Only to fly off to Pondicherry…

As my wife Neha calls it, I am thoroughly enjoying my ‘currently non-employed’ status to the hilt! Does my grin in the picture above not say that? 🙂

Detailed travelogs will follow on Ghumakkar.com soon. I now sign off and go back to bliss!