Zip Zap Zoom - V : Shopping And Food Fiesta

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Its a Monday and everyone in the hostel room is bored to the core, but this time no one wants to curse things but everyone wants to make an effort to be happy and have fun.

Soon they all decide to go to nearby mall called Gaurav Towers. The 4 guys got 2 bikes. I decide to sit pillion to Vikas, because am told that he drives crazy and its not the speed but his driving style that drives you mad. He in their words can make you scream even at a slow speed of 20 kmph. Hearing all the appraisals I had to experience the whole thing to believe it.

Sitting pillion to this guy I understand what the whole talk was about. Late night bike rides are not new to me, but this driving style was surely. The only limit with this guy was his CD Dawn. He would throttle it to the full, even on the curves. We definitely jumped 2-3 road dividers and half the way was passed, bike making an angle of 45 degrees with the road.

At the mall, all 3 guys are busy checking out clothings as I continue to check myself out in the mirrors simultaneously giving my expert comments on the things they choose for themselves. In a Pantaloon showroom Hrithik Roshan's life size posters grab my attention and I let myself loose to imagine wearing the expensive clothing he endorses. After the mall, we guys come back to hostel for a short refreshment and continue with the plan.

The break ends as we make move for our next destination, a Vaishali Nagar rented house; Vikas lives here. Guys mock me, "You can switch rider if you are afraid". But reality is actually opposite as I liked the road-rash kind riding of this guy who is excellent with Hindi literature, Premachandra and likes being his favourites. This one is a guy with as wide a range of tastes and moods as I do have. We enter a virtual race as my two room-mates zip pass us on a Pulsar while we cruise on Ajmer Road passing Gopalpura Bypass, Gujjar Ki Thadi and several known landmarks in south-western Jaipur before we go off the main roads to enter the streets of western Jaipur, where we shop for some vegetables and water. Soon we reach Vikas's house and now it is time for Vikas and Mahendra to cook food for 4 of us while me and Rohit get busy calling friends, checking out newspapers, browsing Vikas's collection od Hindi literature and yup I train Rohit in Spider Solitaire, a cheap and quick but extensively engrossing time-pass. We do a bit of help too, but that can be discounted for.

As we get the food, we eat a plenty ignoring the fact that it was not awesome but definitely a 1000 times better than the hostel shit. Going by Punjabi standards food had no salt and was good only for a blood pressure patient. Having our share of food and enjoyed it nice, we decide to move back to hostel quickly, mostly to avoid closure of colony gates. Vikas has to guide us out of the mesh of streets. Once on the main road it takes us barely 15 minutes to cover a distance of about 10-12 km, while we do tripling, avoiding the heavy commercial traffic of the nights.