Cousin's Wedding via Agra-Lucknow Expressway - June 2018

I headed to Faizabad in UP from Delhi to attend my cousin brother's marriage. I left my Chattarpur home at 10:00 at night towards Noida and Agra-Lucknow Expressway.

As soon as I hit Agra Expressway, it started drizzling. But, as the experienced bikers would agree, on a long route you can get wet, but soon you'd dry out once the rain stopped. So, I thought and continued driving without a waterproofing liner.

Drizzling would stop and return every few KMs. With each return, the drizzle turned into rain, and rain into a heavy shower. By the time I reached the famous Masala Highway point the rain was more like a fire hose.

I was pretty much drenched inside out and the bike also started to sputter. There was water in the spark plug frames. I finally decided to stop at the Indian Oil fuel station and put the waterproof liners on.

I also stopped once on the highway to clear the spark-plug frames and cover them up with a plastic sheet I was carrying. I continued riding and soon the outpouring of skies receded, though not completely.

I carried on in the wet clothes and soon forgot that they were wet. I was wide awake until 1 AM in the morning and was somewhere on the Agara Lucknow highway. At 1 AM I felt the sleep finally winning the battle in my head over the control of my body.

So, I decided it was better to sleep at a checkpoint where there were lights and people, perhaps even police. I parked the bike on double stands and put my back to rest over the luggage tied up on the back seat.

I had my hazard lights on, just in case somebody is feeling drowsy behind the steering wheels. As soon as I closed my eyes, a white Ertiga car stopped right beside me. One by one few men and few saree-clad women got out of the car, washed their faces, and stretched their backs.

Soon, a maroon-colored Volks Wagen also joined us. By now I was back to the warm lap of sleep, with wet shoes perhaps, but I don't recall any problems with it.

I woke up a few minutes later and saw about 4-5 vehicles that had paused their journeys to stretch their backs. I guess this trend will go on on this road for some time before resting places can finally come up.

For now, there was nothing on the highway, except the tarmac, birds, and occasional vehicles. You could've easily made out sleeping drivers when you saw their vehicles swerving from their lane and without a reason drifting to one side, usually the left.

I must've woken up about 3-4 truck drivers before their sleep overturned their trucks. But, even I had to stop a lot more about 4 times before the dawn and a few times afterward too, for small power naps.

However, despite the month of June, dreaded for its heatwave and soaring temperatures, the weather was rather welcoming. Clouds and light drizzles marred the path. The road was wet and any curves looked sexier under the skies.

The worse you could face on this highway then, than falling asleep and drifting to one of the barriers on the sides, was a bird strike. You won't find animals on it, but birds, oh boy! They still have the nostalgia that their ancestors used to pick food here.

Anyway, I entered lucknow via the Agra Expressway, at about 2:30 PM the next day. You can imagine how fast I must've traveled these 540 KMs. 'Should I stop here for the day?' I thought as I pulled my cellphone out.