FEATURES.
PART 8
Bumpy and venomous – all creatures great and small
Globe-trotting mechanics Andy Gove and Sean Tubby have reached India, but there’s an impressive border ceremony to witness before continuing their journey. Amritsar and Jaisalmer Sean Tubby
A
fter finally crossing the Wagah border into India, we realised that we were about an hour early for the PakistanIndia border gate closing ceremony, so we decided to stick around to watch the magic unfold. The magic consisted of the following: Indian side – An extremely large seating area bursting at the seams, a drummer rocking a Maped kit, a chap with a microphone and booming voice, and an array of extremely large border guards wearing huge feathers in their hats. Pakistani side – A seating area around half the size of its neighbour that was around half full, another chap with a booming voice, a selection of brass instruments and some more large border guards with similar feathers in their hats. Oh, and a dude with a Pakistani flag who didn’t seem to stop spinning for the hour-long ceremony. From what I could gather, the aim of the game was for the guards to close the gates between the two countries and then to lower their respective flags. A fairly simple task, some might think. Prior to this occurring, there was a lot of shouting, with the chaps on the microphones screaming for as long as they could, their voices eventually trailing off as they ran out of breath. They took it in turns to complete this task. Next up were the large border guards. Their game involved marching away from their formation, towards the gates, and kicking their legs as high as they could in the air in front of the opposing country’s chosen guard. They all took it in turns to complete this show of extreme power. We awarded top marks to the one guard who planted his shin into his forehead. What an absolute lad!
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During the ceremony, you could barely hear yourself think over the crowds of people. Groups of all ages had arrived dressed up, some waving flags, some with faces painted. Everyone was cheering and screaming, and it felt like there was enough energy in the stands to rival that of a Nickelback concert. It was immense and I’ve never seen a border crossing like it. After the gates had been slammed shut the flags were lowered and neatly folded away, ready for the next day, when it would happen all over again. And so we set off into the darkness towards Amritsar. Our friend Atif had suggested that we give CouchSurfing a try. This is an app where you can search for registered hosts and find people who have a spare bed, couch, or floor for you to crash on. This is a great way of meeting new people and also saving a few quid along the way. We had found a host while having wifi in Pakistan, but now on the road in India we could not contact said host as our phones were useless. We stopped outside a fast-food restaurant for Andy to go in and find out the password. A few minutes later, I was invited in by the manager for a free milkshake and a chat. I tried to savour the taste of the delicious, cold, strawberry glass of heaven, but it disappeared in under two minutes, certainly hitting the spot. After we met our host, Sachin, we swiftly bought some beers and exchanged stories of motorcycle rides and the like, spending a couple of days with him, chilling out and exploring the city. Our next stop was Bikaner. We tackled the roads in the baking sun during the day, and as night drew in, we were still a couple of hours away from our destination. The HP petrol stations in India are fantastic rest breaks. They have free purified water, free air
The calm was broken briefly when a scorpion decided to wander by my foot and our guide proceeded to smash it. 14 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
The glorious gate-closing ceremony
Architectural splendour along the way and also fuel quality checks on request. We used them for the free water mainly. This particular HP station we arrived at had a nice patch of grass at the rear. We asked if we could pitch a couple of tents there and were told no but we could sleep in the office if we wanted. So, we parked the bikes and rolled out the air mats on the floor of the office. A chap with a shotgun was sitting on a chair outside the pumps and the light from the forecourt poured in through the large glass windows all night, but it was a welcome relief from the now very dark and dangerous roads. . We reached Bikaner in the late morning and met our next host, Raju, who showed us around the old parts of the city and the busy markets. We also visited his family’s farm and had a go on their Royal Enfield motorcycle – something we’d both been wanting to try for a while, after seeing so many on the road. They’re an interesting ride compared with the Twins, with