Vroom-vroom vrooming across Qatar

Five bikes, a car, 11 friends and an isolated desert highway.

Good morning Earth. A really really good morning. Apologies for being away for a few hours. The past three days have arguably been some of the best ever in my life. I've been waking up at a knock on my door.

Either it's Clint, frantically knocking to break my brief sleep and take me to The Pearl, an absolutely super (night) club at the Marriot Hotel, or it's Christopher, my flat mate, reminding me of a cricket match at Al Wakrah beach just minutes after I've dozed off hoping to recover from the previous night, or it's Sam saying, "Wadhwaney, everyone is waiting for you downstairs..." sticking up to a 'Biking across Qatar' plan made two nights ago.

And again, I hereby shatter all myth that Qatar, a small desert peninsula somewhere in the Gulf region, is a dead and dull place with absolutely nothing to do except make money and save it all.

Bullshit.

You get everything you want here. It's just what you make of it.

And so, we all went biking.

Boys to Men (with all due respect to the three ladies, as good as men - and no pun intended) (Back to Front): Sam, Kay, Cyrus, Lindsey, Brendan, Yagi, Lester, Jas, Rohit D'mello, Me and Clint.

Where are we going? No idea. A faint one, yeah sure. We're headed towards Al Ruweis, the northern most tip of Qatar, about 125 km from Doha, the capital city.

I don't mean to get too philosophical, nor did I think about it like that till this very moment, but this trip was really significant to the fact that all eleven of us probably somewhere within us live with - Who the fuck cares about the destination... as long as the journey is fun!

... And the machines

It doesn't matter who we are, what we do, how much we earn, who's succesful who's not, who wants to be, who doesn't care... nothing matters. The only thing that does, is we're together, with today ahead of us, enough money in our pockets to not have to sleep hungry.

Tomorrow... Christ, it scares us a little. Tomorrow - it's a day we do not speak of.

Clint said, "Almost everyone in the group has had a problem with someone or the other in the group at some point of time. But when we're together, we forget it all and just have a great time."

Idiots: Clint and me, on Sam's bike. By the way, after this trip, we both discovered inbuilt sleevless vests on our bodies. Tanned, like hell.

It took us an hour and a half to get to Al Shamal, just minutes before Al Ruweis, which I have already mentioned is the northern most tip of Qatar. A few pit stops to give our aching butts a little breather, some bike swapping, some great shoots from Lester and Jas' Hyundai Coupe, with Lester practically hanging out of the sunroof through the trip when he wasn't riding.

It was life - life at 200 km per hour... that's what we were doing on the two power bikes. Clint's Yamaha Virago 535 is a little ancient so he touched 130 off and on at full throttle. Big man Rohit D'mello's 1500 cc Suzuki Intruder - well, he was doing 200 comfortably.

Power, Pride and Prestige: Rohit D'mello and Lindsey, on Rohit's 1500 cc Intruder

As for the the other three sports bikes, Ha! Sam said he touched 250. Believable.

I feel the need, the need for speed.

Speed's fun. Scary, but fun. You fall at that speed, youhooohoo DIE! And the kind of death we're talking here... would be lethal - brain smashing, in the absolutely right sense of the term!

Me and Sam thought we were close to it once, when a pick up truck right in front suddenly changed lanes when we were at about 210. I lived to tell the tale nevertheless.

Uh oh... This is the end, my only friend, the end. Al Ruweis, the northern tip of Qatar. 20 minutes by boat, you reach Bahrain.

But the best part about all of it isn't the speed. It's when all five bikes come together on the highway, and cruise side-by-side at 100-110. People on the other side of the highway stop to watch. Car's behind you, don't try to overtake. It's their way of showing the bikers their due respect.

And by the way, the sound of the bikes in tandem, on my list, is the third favourite next to rain falling on tin roof and the sound of the sea. It's just so awesome. The Gudgudgudgudgud... And the ascending and descending VROOOooooooom as a bike comes from far behind and zooms past into the horizon.

Headed back: : Lester and Brendan, brothers in arms.

I try and think of where to begin, and all I can think of are moments of crazy laughter...

Check these out.

Headed back to Doha from Al-Ruweis. Clint and I, from the round about, take the road to Doha. We look back. The rest of the gang, has taken the right.

Clint calls Lester, mind you, only to tell him, we're waiting for you on the Doha road. Here's how the conversation goes.

Clint: Where did you guys go?

Lester: We took the right for the petrol station.

Clint: Ok cool, we're waiting for you at the road to Doha. [makes a brief movement of hand to hang up]

Lester: [innocently] Why you went there?

Clint: Coz we were ahead, and this was the road to Doha. Anyway we're... [trying to say, no problem, we're waiting here]

Lester: But we had to fill fuel no...

[Clint's face almost saying OK FINE DUDE, NO PROBLEM. WE'RE WAITING HERE!]

Rohit: [Continues to laugh like a maniac, just short of rolling on the dusty ground]

Clint: Yeah ok, fill fuel and then come here. We're waiting right near the round about [again tries to hang up]

Lester: But you don't want fuel?

Clint: No I'm ok. My bike will go up to Doha. I'll fill from there.

Lester: But this one's closer, no?

Rohit: [Can't control, almost shouting out laughter, finding it hard to breathe]

Clint: [loses patience, ludicrously laughs] Listen dude, I just called to say we're waiting here... ok?

Lester: But come here, fill fuel, no?

Clint: [Can't take no more] Fine man, we're coming.

And we take the bike the wrong way back. LOL LOL! Oh lord, mercy.

Pit Stop!

Then at the fuel station.

Clint parks the bike beside a tank and a man starts filling fuel.

Clint: Aaraam se daalna, already hai thora, bahar gir jayega (Fill carefully, there's already fuel in there, it'll spill over).

The fuel man, goes on filling. The meter shows 4.50 riyals. The tank's full. Clint signals with his hand to stop. The fuel man looks at the meter, and preses the gas again to fill more. The fuel spills over (LOL).

Clint looks at him, shockingly and makes a gesture with hand saying, Are you mad?

The man goes: Paanch riyal ky poora ho gaya (I've filled worth five riyals).

Clint turns his head towards me...looks at me in horror, and shock. Shakes his head... cleans the fuel spilled over his bike, and closes the tank!

The fuel man: [Still standing there with a straight face, coz he didn't have change to return so he spilled the fuel over!] LOL.

Then once we were back in Doha, we sat at Lester's place to check out the photographs. Coulnd't help but laugh at the picture below. That's Lester and Yagi on Clint's bike. Check the guys out man!

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha...

Jokers...

I sit here and wonder, what I should tell you about this trip. And I can't think of anything.
As a writer, I surrender... with pride. My words can never do justice.

I know I am not here, in Qatar, forever. I know in life, all of us will move on after a while. We all probably will be in different parts of the world. Maybe in touch, maybe not.

Tomorrow... Christ, it scares us a little. Tomorrow - it's a day we do not speak of.

As for me, don't know. But wherever I am, I'll keep coming back to The Qatar Diary once in a while, and probably whisper with a smile...

I miss you.

Sam and Kay

More pics on: http://creativelock.blogspot.com