A Perfect Evening!

Its raining outside the window. I am sipping a hot cuppa coffee, watching the raindrops strike against the window panes. There's live cricket on TV. So what if it is England vs West Indies.

Cricket in England is a lot different from the rest. More so when you watch it live via Sky Sports. The coverage is spectacular, their camera angles amazing, and every year they come up with something or the other which is different. The only sore point is the quality of the commentators. David Lloyd, Nasser Hussain.. eeks! On the ground, the audience is totally professional. Dressed up in Suits and sipping Scotch, it truly is a Gentelman's game out there. The fact that the English team is one of the worst out there is a totally different issue ;)

Coming back to the original point, I somehow prefer to stay indoors whenver its raining. Unlike her, who absolutely loves the rain. Like yes'day she wanted us to go to the beach or some place where we can enjoy the rain. And I was like a total snob! Wanted to stay indoors, watch lousy stuff on TV etc. Maybe it has something to do with travelling by public transport during the rains.. and then Bombay aint really quite popular with rains.

Happened to watch this movie called Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. I always thought that Yash Raj Films is the ultimate thing when it comes to bollywood. I've enjoyed their Dhooms, Hum Tums etc.. but JBJ is a total disaster. It was one of the worst movies I've ever watched. There was no real story line as such. Bits and pieces of stuff from here and there. The characters were totally out of sync. Somehow they suit the actors. Only Lara Dutta was able to live up to her "Pros" character. A really bad investment, more so for the amount spent on the Iced tea, corn and popcorn!!

We wanted to put the movie behind us, and hence watched Bheja Fry on a DVD. The movie wasnt really a great one, but it was indeed entertaining. Worth a watch, albeit a bit late. :)

Real Madrid have won the Spanish La Liga after 4 years. I've always been a Real Madrid fan.. atleast since the late 90s. The years of glory with Raul and Morientes up front. Then came the Galactico era.. and things had gone terribly wrong. Fans expected them to change with the exit of Perez and with the arrival of Capello at the Bernebau. They bought Ruud, Cannavaro, Diarra, Gago, Higuan.. and showed the door to Beckham. The start of the season was an absolute disaster.. and so was the mid-season. Real never looked like a Champions' material, and never looked like the "Greatest Football Club on the Planet". The 3-0 loss to Recreativo was the worst moment this season. But things changed.. and changed due to Beckham. Thanks to the inconsistency put up Barcelona, Real managed to turn things around.. With just 1 loss in the last 17 games, and the title battle down till the last minute, Real finally emerged as the winners! And this time around, their 30th Liga win was indeed special. The days of glory are back in the Bernebau!! :)

It has been an amazing year of sports.. unlike the last 2 years. Man United won the Premier League, Milan won the Champions League, Aussies completed a Hat-trick of World Cup wins.. and Real put the final icing on the cake!

Chandigarh - Chail - Kufri - Shimla - Chandigarh

While browsing through the archives at BCMTouring, I came up with the trip log regarding Chail, and looking at the distances et al, I thought I'd make a quick-stop-trip to this place. With my summer internship almost coming to an end, and me running outta time, I thought I'd go for it! And there I was.. to my 1st long Solo trip. :) But as I soon realised I've made some basic blunders. The 1st thing was not carrying a watch assuming that I've my Cellphone to check time et al. And in the excitement of the trip, I forgot to take my Cellphone too, which I realised only after I reached Panchkula. And I was in no mood to come back at all that jazz!!

Started off on my Pulsar 180 DTS-i v1 from Mohali at 5 am. Filled 5L of gas and hit straight to Panchkula via Madhya Marg. Early in the morning made sure I dint really face any traffic and it was a smooth and comfortable ride till Solan. Stopped a couple of times for shooting some pics.

Following Yogesh's suggestions I turned right from Kandaghat and to my dismay I see Chail 29 kms away!! OMG. I've seriously miscalculated the distances. I thought Chail was around 80 odd kms from Chd. What a jack and an ass I was! :shock:

Anyways carried on with my journey, and at times I did find the creeps within my body. I was all alone, riding on the hills, through tough terrain and hardly any living soul visible. One clutch-wire snap or one nail into the Zapper, and I'll end up singing Bhajans for the remaining part of the day. :)

It took me around 3 odd hours (I think) for me to reach Chail. Went straight to the Cricket ground because thats what I wanted to see. Enjoyed the view for sometime and then I decided to make a move.

Now I was confused which way to go. Going back on the same route, was something which I was not comfortable. But then I knew that there's a road which goes straight to Kufri. And since I'd been to Kufri/Shimla 5-6 years back, I thought I'd pay another visit.

But the road from Chail to Kufri was a nightmare. Horrible roads (or should I say welcome to the Himalayas :)) and with speeds of 20 kmph, I was really getting pained. But I decided to fight on (Holy cow, I had no other option! :P) A few snaps of the peaks here and there.. and by around 10.15 or so, I was in Kufri.

Headed to Shimla, I made a mistake by not taking up the bypass to Chandigarh. Instead I got screwed navigating though the narrow lanes of Shimla with Cabs and Buses all around. By 10.45 I was outta Shimla and wanted to get back to Chandigarh as soon as possible. NH 22 was pretty comfortable, even though there was some traffic on the roads. Stopped over at the McDonalds at Jabeli for a quick Lunch. And in no time I was in Kalka.

Assuming the time to be around 12.30 PM, I could feel my already-cracked-up-ass and body facing the brunt of the heat and I had a horrid time riding the back. And to add to that, I stopped at almost every traffic signal in Chandigarh! (Damn luck!!!). Anyways by 1.30 I was back in my room, lying on my bed.. with body aches & numb fingers..

But I'd made it. My 1st trip.. and it will remain in my memory forever.. atleast till I make my next trip! :)