Roadtrip Day 23: The day when the bike was supposed to be ready, but it wasn't [March 31, 2021]
The day when I met Nilu Baba of Rajkot, giving up on the bike & random loitering on Rajkot streets as a way to lift up the mood
This is going to be a short post as I do not have much to write for the day. I was up at around 7 AM, wrote the previous day post, spent time with Anand’s family & got ready to leave for Manu bhai’s garage. The garage is around 1.5 kms from Anand’s house where I was staying. I was reasonably relaxed in the morning as I do not have to leave early to a different place. I am not sure if I was anxious about the bike. I was reasonably hopeful that the plan of collecting bike, visiting Gondal & leaving to Palanpur next day; will work out.
When I reached Manu bhai’s place at around 11 AM (I was pretty late as I had earlier planned to come early), the bike was completely ready & Manu bhai was working on the ignition part. On starting the bike, it was throwing a lot of smoke from exhaust. Manu bhai opened the head again, did a few tweaking with rings, fitted things back. But it did not have much effect. I was being told that in around 200 kms, this would get sorted, but I was not confident. I thought of having 2nd opinion. I picked the bike, called Shahnawaz bhai of Momai Motors whose contact I had got from Mihir bhai (whom I had met in Girnar Junagadh). I wasn’t very comfortable telling them about work done at Manu bhai, so I lied saying I got the work done at Gondal. They did not have a definite reaction & insisted on talking to the mechanic, but I avoided the question. I wanted to crosscheck if Manu bhai’s claim that the smoke will stop coming out after 200 km is actually correct, but I did not get any definite answer. It was around 2 PM now.
I decided to head back to Anand’s place as I was not too comfortable riding to Gondal with the then state of bike. I called up Manish bhai from Dwarka who confirmed that there should not be any smoke after piston replacement. I knew things are not good & I did not want to go back to Manu bhai. To me, it looked like, he ran out of patience & options & pretty much handed me the bike in whatever state it was.
That is when I decided to go back for help. I had posted about contacts in Rajkot in Gun Rider Motorcyle Club (GRMC) & one Deepak Modi had passed contact of Nilesh bhai. I called Nilesh bhai & he was aware of me & was expecting a call. Nilu baba (as he was more popularly known as) came across as avid rider in Rajkot & asked fairly relevant questions of my the then status. He decided to look around for good mechanic in his circle & promised to revert back within 15 min. I became hopeful as I saw light at the end of the tunnel.
Nilu baba came back with contact of Jagadish bhai who is available to meet at 5 PM. Nilu baba himself came with me to meet him. We put up a story to Jagadish bhai that the work on the bike is done in Ahmedabad. Jagadish bhai kept on insisting to ride back to Ahmedabad & see the same mechanic again. All my hopes of a great resolution seemed to gone down the drain after the meeting.
Nilu baba suggested to talk to Manu bhai. I wasn’t too keen but I agreed to call him when we noticed that the engine oil level has gone down significantly (compared to the time we have spent since it was filled in the morning). Manu bhai asked me to come immediately to his place. I told Nilu baba the same & he again volunteered to come with me to Manu bhai’s place.
On reaching Manu bhai’s place, he immediately mentioned that he is working on replacement piston & block. He said it in Gujarati & it took me some time to understand what he is saying. Nilu baba took over the conversation & explained to me that Manu bhai himself has been working on a solution since the time I left. Both of us felt that its best that we leave the bike to his mercy. I decided not to oversee & decided to make use of the rest of evening doing some site seeing. It was 6 PM by then.
While leaving Manu bhai’s place, I thanked Nilu baba & told him that I was feeling pretty helpless & lonely but his support had rekindled the hope. Nilu baba responded by saying ‘On a roadtrip, you think you are alone, but you are never alone’. I think I am going to remember these words for life :).
I started walking towards the city. At some point, the thought of taking a flight to Bangalore, catch up with family & then come back to Rajkot in a week; crossed my mind. I thought, maybe, Manu bhai is rushing because of time constraint & might do a good job at things if he has more time. He had to put aside his existing commitments just to help me. I also thought of offering some more money to him upfront but then decided against it. As for now, I am thinking of going to see the bike today & if it does not get ready, I am going to ask him to take more time & continue with my Bangalore plan.
I spent evening roaming going on the Race Course circuit & then headed to Yagnik Road market. I took this pic somewhere around the area.
One thing I was missing at Rajkot was availability of roadside tea shops. I had spent the previous day looking for tea shops & did not find. Today was turning out to be the same. I found a place called ‘Chai Sutta Bar’ but the tea over there was underwhelming. I realized it was 8:30 PM & time for night curfew. That is when I hired an auto back to Anand’s place.
Plan for tomorrow is the same as that of today - be at Manu bhai’s place early, if the bike is ready - drive to Gondal & back. Nilu baba is planning to do a bikers’ meet at Rajkot so will try joining it too. If it feels like Manu bhai should be given more time, then I will head to Bangalore via flight & will come back after a week.