To Kasauli on Devinder's Royal Enfield Bullet Electra. It was a 90 kilometre ride, a dry-run to something bigger and getting back to what we really are inside... free frickin' hell's angels.

Josh Machine
Saurabh Basrar and I left Taj Man Singh Hotel at 12:30 pm in his spanking new Ford Icon and headed for Chandigarh. One knows ones car the best on the highway and the josh machine touched 165 kmph on the open stretch. Got some lunch (aloo paranthas and dahi, yum) from a dhaba at Lado.
On reaching Chandigarh, we met Devinder at Cafe Coffee Day in sector 35c. Saurabh headed for his outdoor experience from here. Devinder and I got ourselves some packed food and crashed at his place.

"The Bullet is a woman, not some girl you slap around"
The next day, we met Vir, Devinder's colleague at Quark and headed for Manmohan service station in the industrial area to get the Bullet's second service. I took a good look at the blown up chart of the gear and clutch assembly which I understood nothing of, till I watched the mechanic open it up. That's when things kind of fell in place. Watching a Bullet serviced is an essential. He cleaned the carb, air filter, changed the engine oil, gear oil and washed and polished the Bull. Later at sector 38, we got the cutout for the Bullet's horn. This accessory eases the strain on the battery when the horn is used. Time to head up.

Stopped at Pinjor gardens for a dekho and then took off for Kasauli. We took the short cut which was a distance of 45 kilometres. The pulling power of the Bullet as compared to the other 100cc toasters and rice cookers set it apart.
Kasauli during off-season is nice, like any other hill station. The presence of the army here was overbearing! We stayed at Puri Hotel (Rs. 400). Walked around for a while. Next day, we went up to Man-ki point (not "Monkey" point as assumed). This is under the control of the Indian Air Force. It's a 1-2 kilometre walk up to Man-ki point, the last bit being pretty steep. Reminded me of that killer Sundershunga trek. There's a Hanuman temple up there and had coffee here. Paid off the hotel and headed back down. All along, the Bullet thump maintained the headrush. It just becomes a part of you after a while. For the first time, I was connected, really familiarized to what this legend was all about. Regular maintenance and cleaning is necessary and she will in return serve you well.

Met Saurabh and Ajay Goenka at Zirakpur crossing at around 6 and then weheaded back home. Had a very filling dinner at Grover dhaba nearer to Delhi.