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11/06/08

From the Horse's Mouth

Scene 1:
A few hours away from the Iran Border (into Pakistan)... He has been enjoying the Rs.4 per litre of petrol and riding his Yamaha at his own free will and pace... Somehow he cannot see any petrol pumps anymore... he somehow manages to buy some petrol from a roadside vendor at a premium of course... Next morning when he was leaving the MusafirKhana, where he rested for the night, he is told that he would be killed!!! No, this was not a warning or anything but something that would have been a usual activity for the sharp shooters who would shoot for no reason... He called his parents, friends and everyone who he wanted to hear, hoping that they see him when he reaches back home, though he did not tell what was expected...

Well... he managed to pass through with some luck and was not shot dead...

Scene 2: Pakistan Border
He gets a warm welcome, is given water to drink and some real nice food to eat and rests for a while before he moves on... There is some shooting (with cameras and not guns!!!) going on at the border and he is asked to act in it :) he is asked to carry a few bags across the border, but he refuses politely... After much negotiation, he is left like that :) but still he does spend some 3 hours shooting with the local team before he somehow manages to leave the place after many requests to the director of the serial!!!


Scene 3: Somewhere in Multan
He is being escorted by a SP from the local Police Department to ensure his safety while he travels through... The bad desert storm forces them to take shelter in a petrol pump and conversations start... During the chit chat, the police officer asks him why he does Murti Pooja... Though short of words for an answer, he still maintains a cool and shares his honest opinion about his respect for all religions... What comes next is least expected... the police officer says that the next morning he would take him to a hospital and do that needful so that he can convert to Islam... from there they would go to the Mosque and do the rest to ensure his conversion... Though he was stunned, but he still kept his cool throughout...

He told the police officer that there are ministers, media etc waiting for him at the border and if he does not reach there in the morning, there can be international conflicts etc... Some dedicated talks and the police officer lets him go, and escorts him to the border "intact"... Phew!!!

Scene 4:
Wagah Border... he is waiting an entry to India... but the Indian officials say that he cannot enter the country from Wagah as only people > 65 years of age can enter the country on their own from there own.. Rest either take the train or the bus... Much repeated requests hit deaf ears and he is stuck, and the only road takes him back to the same Police Officer who was keen on err... I have talked about it before!!!

He is not even given food or water for 6 hours, though a few phone calls to a few friends in the capital and then a few calls to some ministers etc help him get through the Wagah Border into his own country!!!

Phew!!! Again!!!


These are just some of the millions of stories that Pankaj Trivedi could have shared with me :) I find myself lucky to have met him in the evening today... He is one of the very few people on flickr, who have earned my respect because of their sheer simplicity and modesty... God bless you Pankaj Bhai!!! Hope to hear many more stories from you sometime soon :)

Pankaj just completed a Record by riding between Kanya Kumari to Leh in 5 days and 5 hours... he also drove some 200 kms with half a handle on the Karizma as it broke after a slip-up with a truck near TangLang La... He also has driven from UK to India on a bike, which I would write about in some more posts later on Chai Ki Dukaan... As of now, I am feeling very happy to have met him!!!

Lucky!!! Yes I am!!! He knows ME!!!! :)

24 comments:

  1. wow! now this is passion! a bit scary too though!

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  2. Meeting people like such is humbling!! :)

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  3. Phew...Great stories...Infact what make them great is that they are not stories....they are real incidents.

    Thanks for sharing these.

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  4. very nice!

    i remember taking a book from you which was story about the author traveling from uk to india on foot. amazing account!

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  5. thnx a million for teh link.. now that is a man living his dream... :)
    man, what he hv done.. i cant even contemplate dreaming... :D
    hooked to his site now...

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  6. would surely love to meet him sometime.....me going through his website....great stuff it is...

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  7. :O and i sit and crib about my car being stuck in mekri circle traffic for twenty mins...bah life has so much to offer no

    Sharanya

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  8. # Anony...
    hmm...

    # Kashmira...
    you bet :) scary yes :)

    # Sam..
    so right you are..

    # Nitin...
    no problemo :) I just wanted to keep these for my reference :) glad you liked them..

    # Tushar..
    yes, very very nice.... I had asked you to come along !!!

    Yes.. even that book is nice... but just that I cannot read much..

    # Anoop..
    :) you bet he is...

    all the best !!!

    # Deepak...
    sure bro.. some day :)

    # Sharanya...
    :) yes dear... it has a lot to offer.. Hope you have the oppotunity and the will to grab all with both your hands !!!

    :) rock on :)

    # Mayuri..
    :)

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  9. Man!!!
    Only in the end did i realise that it might be a true incident.

    Its terrific!

    If all this happend in real,the guy must be crazy....I mean its OK to have some passion..but its height of passion....anyways,
    in one word ...unbelievebale

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  10. Whew!!! Great stories...lucky you that you get to listen to them in person... but we ain't less lucky..we get to hear(read) them through you :)
    keep writing...

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  11. # Fighter Jet...
    hehee.. yes... and there is more to come :)

    # Reeta...
    oh its great to hear these stories :)

    I have some more today :) will write in a while :)

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  12. Mujhe laga ki mera dost kahanikaar bhi bann gaya hai...but somehow knowing how u r, it was hard to digest,,,Anyways glad that it isnt a story, and also very fascinated by someone who does something that does not even makes it to my dreams..

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  13. # Ankur :)

    Thanks for putting it the way you did :) i like it..

    Even I told Pankaj that what he does is beyond thinking for most of us :)

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  14. "We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better..."

    Passion-filled heroic stuff!

    Wishing Pankaj all the very best to imagine, seek and achieve even more impossible horizons..

    Cheers,

    Bindiya

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  15. # Bindiya..
    yea.. wish him luck :)

    God bless !!!

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  16. UK to India on a bike.. now thats interesting.. :) must check him out.. :)

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  17. And the stories sound interesting as well..

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  18. # Pallavi...
    oh yes :) I have heard stories from him and they were awesome :)

    Please do see his website and pictures on flickr...

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