The Bhutanchal Buccaneers

Day 13: April 22^nd

Guwahati

We were to book the bikes on the train on this day and so we didn’t have the luxury of getting up late in the morning. We didn’t keep the booking for the evening and decided to do it in the first half itself, and so we went off towards the railway station – I in my car and the guys on their bikes. Gyan had decided to keep his bike at Guwahati for a while, so he skipped out. We arrived at the railway station and went to the booking office. But someone guided us to the other end of the station to book the bikes. So I took the foot overbridge and the guys rode to the other side of the railway station. Amidst much confusion we were again directed to the other side where we were told the booking would take place. We finally arrived at the cloak room where the bookings took place, but had to wait till 1400 hours for the official to arrive. We were expecting an old grouch but the person turned out to be surprisingly pleasant and helpful.

But like always there was a hitch. Doley and Dutta’s bike were booked without any issues as luggage, but since Kenny had his bike under his father’s name he had to book it under parcel category. Don’t ask me, but that’s how the railways work. So we had to take his bike once again to the other side of the station and booked the bike in parcel. It was almost 1600 hours and we were getting hungry. But we still had to come to the railway station in the evening to personally talk to the person who would be loading the bikes onto the luggage compartment to ensure the bikes reached Delhi with them in the same train.

So to kill time we went off to momo house to get some momos that Doley and Dutta had been hankering after. We also went through the old streets of Guwahati where Doley and Dutta grew nostalgic and Dutta kept remembering places where we owed money!! After picking up some food, we decided to pick up some beer and head for the riverside. We went to the riverside and I parked my car right by the side of the road and we sat and had some refreshing beer with rolls and momos. It was just so relaxing to just sit there watching the river and sipping on some chilled beer. But we couldn’t stay there for long since we had to go to the railway station once again and we also had a post-trip party scheduled at my place. We had also invited Prateek and Shushant from my office who made it possible for Payeng Da to take on a well- abled bike for the trip.

We all gathered at my place at around 2030 hours and then music and beer and scotch flowed freely. We were also celebrating Payeng Da’s advent into becoming a father!! It was a merry evening where we recounted the events of the trip, and so wished it never ended!

But we called it a night and people left for their respective homes. The guys had an early morning train to Delhi the next day and we didn’t want to jeopardize it.