As I write this, I can’t help but think that Shakespeare would have been proud that his farcical comedy has been quoted and come alive in the journey of Team Nano North on the Nano drive with Mtv Season 2 and managed to reach the finishing point well before schedule.
We started our 21 day long drive from Zero Mile, which is the geographical center of India located in the city of Nagpur. For our team, we had to find the direction in which we were heading to and the Mtv crew had made it very “simple” for us by placing clues all around the city, clues which we had to decode and that would eventually lead us to the car and our direction.
Well before the wild goose chase for our car started, we made good use of modern technology and google, and found all the major landmarks in the city. We thought we knew it all by the end of our research but less that we knew what we were heading for. As the treasure hunt started and we were given our first clue, we realized that besides the landmarks in the city, we should have researched a bit more on the history behind them. Our only hope, google, was out of reach, since our mobile phones were confiscated and we resorted to the traditional way of asking for directions. Alas! Even the people of Nagpur didn’t know the history of the city. Our first clue was to find this place which one King Bhosale has made some 500 years back and as we thought we knew it all, we landed ourselves an hour away from the city at a museum built 50 years back. I think we had missed out on the last zero did we??Gosh! Was this the starting of a historical excavation of Nagpur!! Our production team finally had pity on us and decided to give us a hint to the clue. I bet they were equally exhausted running behind us. We got a tip-off that our next clue was hidden in a bottle. Ola! There we go looking for a bar that King Bhosale would have made dating centuries back for his pleasure. We thought we have hit the bull’s eye and asked around for a bar to random autowalas. Well, Nagpurions definitely had a sense of humour because we landed up at this random Bar &Restaurant which was made by one Mr George from Goa. We finally finally found the place, which definitely had no bearings of history and was in the middle of the city and found our next clue, a step closer to our Nano. As luck could have it and three master brains at work, we tried hard to decipher the clue. Well it was quite a task. Our final clue was hidden at a temple next to the lake in the city. The lake was symbolized by water drops and we mistook that for a blood bank and landed ourselves in one of the biggest blood bank which ironically was bang opposite to the temple and the lake. The production crew was by then fed up with our clue deciphering skills and then very subtly directed us to the right place and finally we were proud owners of a Golden Nano which was christened as the Golden Egg for the 21 days on the road.
The real adventure of the Nano North team started at Pench technically our first pitstop on the drive. We were there to spot tigers, and spotted everything but tigers. Our local guide on the safari was a local who’s name was so appealing to us that we used it for our sound checks for all our VDs. A compilation of all our sound checks would definitely get us a Grammy. Our next destination proved to be almost fatal. Navigating our way through gruesome roads and traffic, we reached Jabalpur, aka Jablaipoor as it is referred by the locals. All the motor cyclists were aiming straight for our cute little golden egg and we missed getting hit a couple of times until we had our first encounter with the locals and the cops. A motor cyclist was dodging the traffic and aiming straight for our car. We missed him by a couple of inches as he fell straight to the ground. We did attract a lot of attention and drama as we bailed ourselves out of the situation and head out on the roads again. Our next destination was Khajuraho and we were really looking forward to seeing the most talked about temples. We made the mistake of asking a local for directions to the place and then drove on a dirt track for 10 hours. We reached Khajuraho well after midnight and our dream of visiting the temples long gone. The next day we had to leave for our next destination.
After our not so favorable experience in Madhya Pradesh, our team set foot in Uttar Pradesh which we discovered was more rustic than ever. Our team Nano North was definitely setting the route on fire. At Gwalior, we had a funny accident. During our task, where we ran around the entire city spotting for Nanos and not tigers this time, we accidentally ran over our producer’s foot. While he was shooting, he started screaming “Rewind, Rewind”. Well that was a synonym for “Reverse” as the rear wheel was over his foot drilling a big hole in it. Needless to mention, we lost the task since we were busy in the hospital getting first aid done and missed out on our Nano spotting.
Soon after spending days in the heat and humidity, we hit the mountains at last, on knowing what adventure lay ahead for us. After spending a night to remember at a quaint little cottage at Jeolikot, wandering around in Nainital and Kilberry, we head out to Joshimath. On the way we stopped to dip our feet in the Alaknanda river, which has caused heavy destruction and turmoil in the region. We drove to Joshimath on blind faith; the roads had been wiped off. We already had spent 10 hours on the road and were clueless about what was in store for us. As we started on our perilous journey, I shifted the car into first gear and finally hit the brakes. There was no road in front of us. The road had been washed away by a landslide. Boulders were sprawled all around and the weather Gods weren’t really helping us. The rain continued incessantly and the visibility was almost zero by then. The only savior were the hazard lights on the cars in front of ours that gave assurance that our four wheels are still somewhere on the ground and we haven’t yet rolled over. Cracking lame jokes to kill time on the drive, we managed to reach Joshimath.
The next day at Auli was hilarious. We decided to go trekking, the boys on the horse and me on foot on the way up to GorsonPeak . The day’s task was the boys on the horses race against me in the cable car on the way down. It definitely took some guts to be racing the cable car I say!! Needless to mention, the cable car won, and the horses didn’t seem very pleased with that and almost toppled the boys over. The way back from Auli to Landor our next destination took us a while to reach. After spending close to 8 hours on the road from Joshimath, we decided to cut down our adventure and stop by the side of the road. We took shelter by the riverside lodge infested with bugs and other forms of wildlife in the room. We were in a room facing the river, listening to the mighty Alaknanda crashing against the cement walls and the heavy downpour.
We were completely oblivious to the tragedy that hit Joshimath and the adjoining areas on that very day, the places that we had left behind. Looking back, I can’t help but think what if.
Landor proved to be the highlight of the entire trip. And here was another surprise waiting for us. Our car got a flat tyre in the midst of the rains. The vehicle carrying our shooting equipment and luggage and our producers toppled over a big boulder which the driver in his most creative imagination thought to be a massive piece of thermocol lazing in the middle of the road. So we had the production vehicle whose oil chamber had burst open and was at the mercy of a boulder stuck in its middle, and our Nano with a flat tyre at 2 am in the ghostly town of Landour. Our only choice was to park our the car by the side of the road and get some much needed rest. Like true road trippers, we spent the night on the steep slope, the handbrake pulled to its ridge. The situation reminded me of one of the scenes straight from a Bollywood movie, misty mountains and heavy rains, in the middle of nowhere.
The adventure didn’t end here for Nano North. We drove through rivers on the road and horrendous traffic to reach Chandigarh where we had our Mtv and KS party. Well although it was good to be back amidst civilization again, we missed out on the party as our Nano brakes had given up and we had parked our car in the middle of nowhere yet again with a very heavy heart and managed our way to Chandigarh. Well even at midnight, we had 10 people waiting for us and what a party we had!!
The escapade for Team Nano North continued as we decided to change routes owing to the rough weather and head to Punjab instead of the mountains again. And we picked up our fourth contestant while delivering pizzas at Jalandhar, the city of huge houses and cars with monster size woofers. He drove with us till Amritsar. Well our fourth contestant was a thinker, and didn’t utter a single word to us throughout the journey. At our task at the Golden Temple, we tried to recreate the magic of Mohabattein with our Virat Lookalike fourth contestant and myself, where Mr. Virat look alike was the ghost. Well he had been quite ghost all through our journey, quiet and just there. Being there yet not being there.
We ended our 21 day long totally adventurous expedition at Jammu. Well only the name of the place sounds good, the city is dead. Not to mention, hot and humid and can drive a sane person to insanity without effort. We had cut short our drive to the Himalayas so we had 3 long days in Jammu to kill. We were staying at this rather old part of the city. The bellboy was a very inquisitive young fellow who was waiting for a chance for us to leave the room. We were fleeced royally by him on our food bills. Well it took a big impact on our budget of Rs 4000 per day.
Today as I look back on those 21 days spent with the craziest team ever, I can’t help but smile. I think Nano North completely lived up to the tag of being the wackiest team and lived each day on the drive as if it were our last. We haven’t won the drive but definitely won the hearts of all the people we met on the highway, all the wonderful memories we have created for a lifetime and all the crazy crazy moments we have shared together as a team.
And Shakespeare does turn in his grave and say wow what a comedy of errors it was!!!
http://www.mtvindia.com/blogs/news/news/comedy-of-errors-team-nano-north-50233760.html
One Life to Travel !! 