TAJ Expressway

Heard a lot about it with all the ooohhhh's and aaahhhhh's. Experienced it personally last weekend with the same amount....... naaa a bit more of ooohhhh's and aaahhhhh's. Sunil Khosla of Jalandhar of Punjab of India would be named as principal architect of this ride. Many had expressed their willingness to do this bit of tarmac, but mundane reasons got the better of all, except Sunil and yours truly.

L-R: Self, Rakesh, Sunil

The forecast was dim....overcast to rain throughout.. and to me it seemed a repeat of 2011 HOG ride madness. Thankfully this time, Lord Indra was kind as we were left drop free. Met another Biker Bhai - Rakesh Kapoor doing solo run from Shimla to Delhi at Karnal coffee stop. Hands shaken, Scala's tuned, we three made our way to Delhi doing all kinds of biker bitching. Adios to Rakesh, lucky Delhi traffic and we were on Taj/Yamuna Expressway by 1600 hrs. Eight lane elevated concrete expressway, stretching 170 kms with conformance to International Standards, completed two years before schedule, IN INDIA; that's Yamuna Expressway for you. Minimal traffic, with clear stretches of expressway all the way till the road and skies met in one straight line. One short break at convenience stop, refueling at Mathura exit and daylight was gone. The expressway is perfectly lit up with different reflectors marking lanes and guard rails, rallying rider confidence to the extent that we were riding comfortably at 120kph in pitch darkness.

@ Convenience Stop on Expressway

The night halt at Agra was no different with regular practice of getting high followed by out of the world talks and I dont remember what and next morning ignition. The itchy part being; off the Yamuna Expressway you are suddenly thrown into a world of INDIAN reality. Gai-Bhains, Gadha-Ghoda, Kutta-Billi, Aadmi-Janwar all claiming their right to traverse on tiny gali of a road leading to Taj Mahal. What a downer man........ what a downer! All that talk of International Standards and then this!!!! I just cant stop exclaiming! Chalo - at least there is some reference of so called International Standards in our Desh.

The way back was not much different, but with a few observations on expressway. Wire meshes adopted to keep animals away are not foolproof, and could improve. Public Convenience stops could do better than just a canteen type chai with nothing to eat. The road worthiness of plying vehicles remains an issue at large with vehicles moving at high speeds raising reliability issues - example cited, an accident involving a cab which crashed for failed leaf springs.

All in all it was a pleasant experience culminating with a rider's smile, knowing that there exists a road truly meant for his machine!