The day before the big day – Nano #DriveWithMtv  – 3

Memories are the one thing which one can always cherish for the longest time to come. It will make you laugh at all the stupid things that you did and make you really sad at all the happy times.

I was fortunate to be a part of the most amazing journey that made me take a road trip from Jaipur to Kargil along with 3 other teammates and also be featured on MTV. The show titled #DriveWithMTV has been one amazing experience which I will cherish for the longest time to come. Personally, I learnt so much from this entire journey and made me look at things in a different perspective ever since I came home.

Now that a year has gone by, I thought I should document all of these and share some more interesting  things about the place and the people I came across recollecting all the wonderful things that had happened.

Last year on this day

2^nd of June 2014,

The night before was quite sleepless because of the excitement and anxiety that got into me and after quite a struggle somehow managed to sleep around 4 in the morning after all the packing that had to be done.

I got up around  10, booked a cab to the airport around 12.30 to board the flight at 4 P.M to Jaipur .

I reached the airport around 2.30 and I was supposed to meet my teammate Diamond (Yes very quirky its sounds but that’s his name Diamond Sri Sri Mall) who also had to travel along with me to Jaipur from Bangalore. While, I was at the airport, I tried calling Diamond a couple of times and he didn’t pick up. From this point of the trip everything and everyone I met were new and so there was the initial nervousness and little tension that I had. I had so many things running on my head about various things which just added to the anxiety. You know there is always this extra tension in addition to the normal tension until you meet the person you are supposed to meet in an unfamiliar territory, it was the same feeling.

                               The Sudden Surprise

After  20 minutes, He called me and we managed to meet. I went and introduced myself to him trying to be very polite and cordial. We headed to the counter to collect our boarding pass and suddenly there was this huge cup wrapped in a bag kept along with so many bags right behind us. I was wondering that cup looked familiar and  the person holding it was wearing a KKR jersey and only then did I realize that it was the IPL trophy. The IPL finals between KKR and Kings X1 was played the night before which KKR won. Of course, it did receive much attention with people coming in all quarters to click a picture of it. Somehow the previous night I thought I might chance upon the players because they had to fly the next day and it did happen. After we collected our boarding pass and while going to the respective gates just as I had said the entire KKR and Kings X1 team were right there.

Balaji was the first one to arrive and he was sitting In the restaurant and we thought we would go and ask for a picture just as we moved forward, we saw him shoo away the small kids who went there to take a picture. I knew we won’t be treated any differently, so we thought let’s not get embarrassed in such a manner.

 As were waiting we saw that there was lots of chaos and distraction because all the players were all at the same place and at the same time. Yusuf Pathan and Gambhir walked in together with the IPL trophy ignoring around 10 kids who were literally following them for a photograph. They weren’t bothered to respond to the kids standing beside them, they were so engrossed in a conversation. After a certain point Gambhir actually pushed away the kids and started to walk. I thought that was very rude of him, he should have said no or politely declined instead of pushing them away, very arrogant. Well, that’s the way it is and you really can’t say anything.

Our gates were closing in 10 minutes and we were so confused so as to who do we take a picture with! Imagine you are in a room and you have just 10 minutes and you have the entire team waiting along. Realizing taking picture only with 1 would make sense and possible, we  went to Piyush Chawla who was sitting down with his wife. He obliged and managed to take a picture with him. Immediately  after the picture was take we ran to the gate to board our flight.

The flight took off around 4.20 and it was a 2 & a half hour flight to Jaipur and I was sitting in the middle with Diamond on my right. We were discussing a lot of things about the trip, the previous season of the show, social media stuff and so on. I was also giving him gyan on the details of the flight, its manufacturer Airbus and its history. I am sure he should have been cursing me inside for boring him like this. He also didn’t have an option as he was seated right next to me.

                                   Jaipur

It was my first time to Jaipur and I have only heard of Jaipur being famous for its culture, traditions, food, monuments and architecture. Obviously was excited to see all of these. As we landed around 6.45 in Jaipur, I was surprised to see the sun shining bright even at that point of time. I always thought it gets dark by 6. Later, I  was told that the sun sets late in those regions and there have been times where the sun has fully set around 8 o clock.

Click on the link to watch the First view of Jaipur from the sky.

After collecting our bags, we were walking out searching for one Mr. Kamlesh Goswami whom we’ve been told would be receiving us at the airport. As we walked further, A sudden Pat came on my back with a loud ‘Helloooo’. There he was, Kamlesh Ji introducing himself to us and the moment  I started speaking with him, I knew he was total fun. I had a problem of not knowing Hindi and it was Kamlesh ji in the later days who would come up to my rescue. He is one of the most volatile and adventurous person who wouldn’t care of doing anything crazy.

As we got into the Innova, he took us to the hotel and asked us to freshen up and come back in an hour and all of us would go for dinner. Meanwhile, he introduced us to our 3^rd teammate Gaurang Satija along with our team producer Harshad Nalawade and the DOP – Saket Gyani.  All of us got introduced and we were just getting to know each other better.

We went to the room and there was a point where I was lying on the bed and couldn’t believe all of this was happening and I was actually in Jaipur. I was scared and excited about the next day as it was the first day and lots of things going on my head. But for now, Kamlesh Bhai asked us to come down for dinner. Dhabas in Rajasthan are very famous and so we set on a long drive on the highway to find a good Dhaba. After a good 30 minute drive through the traffic of Jaipur, we reached a dhaba on the highway and since all of us were very hungry, we ordered a handsome meal and ate to our heart’s content. We had some Rottis, Kababs,Rice and so many more. I did enjoy my first Dhaba food though I was quite scared earlier.

We then headed back to our rooms and we were told to be ready by 8 in the morning because there would be instructions given by Karan Baikampadi from MTV who would be reaching at 6 in the morning.

All of us then went to bed, Looking forward to the big day. Day – 1 of Nano #DriveWithMTV season 3.

To know more about the show, click here  #DriveWithMTV

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