Picture this, you're basking in the early morning light. A chilled glass of citric splash juice in hand, brimming with nature's best flavors. Every gulp like a refreshing dip in a cool, sparkling pool. And here's something for the heart as well as the palate. And here's something for the heart as well as the palate. With every bottle of Citrix Splash you enjoy, we contribute to local community gardens. Well, that's a bit difficult to go ahead and explain, actually, because the last project I had, I actually had to do an American accent. And, you know, in the beginning when I started, it was rather, you know, fun. And I thought, this is going to be great. Just do my American accent, read a few lines here and there. And then what you don't realize about an audiobook is that it's so long and so vast that you've got to be able to read for prolonged periods of time. And it's sometimes almost nerve-wracking because, you know, you have to maintain your pronunciations, you've got to make sure you're sounding American, you've got to make sure you're reading the right lines. And if you do make mistakes or, you know, something like that, you've got to go back and try and read. Because you can't even go and try and patch in things, right, when it comes to audiobooks. You either do the whole line or the whole paragraph again, or it's nothing. So, yeah, I think I did a book for Cuckoo FM, which is an app-based FM podcast slash audiobooks platform, wherein I did a book on the Russian and Ukraine war that was ongoing at that point in time. This was back in, I think, 2023. If I'm not mistaken, in and around April. And I think that was one of the most challenging audiobooks that I've ever done because of the mere fact that it was in an American accent. And trying to maintain the accent consistently throughout the book, plus being able to, you know, maintain prolonged sessions of reading, as well as editing, as well as making sure that it sounds right, there's no mispronunciations, no... Variations in words, making sure that when I said it a certain way before, it's said the same way again, especially on repeat words, because you can't sound different every time you read. And the very fact that, you know, there's a lot of times where you can't just do the whole book sitting down in one session, right? You've got to go ahead and give it some time. You sometimes end up working two to three days later on the same book. Because, I mean, unless you do have the time and you do it every day, well, that makes it a little easier. You can do it in one big go, which, quite honestly, for me was too hard. So I just went ahead and, like, did it in parts. And especially because I was doing a day job at the same time. So it was a bit more hard for me to, like, try and find a dedicated time to go ahead and just sit down and record all day or all night long. Plus the challenges of, like... The place where I lived at that point in time, it was quiet, yeah? But not always quiet. It had its fair share of, like, cars. Buses and people, birds, animals, just making noises randomly. And since I was working out of my own studio, it was a bit more challenging because I had a great setup. Like, the mic was on point. The sound card was on point. The built PC was on point. But the environment around me probably was the biggest challenge. And it being a home studio and since I'd rented out the house, you know, I didn't really have too much of room to be able to go ahead and do a lot of soundproofing and stuff like that, which is important when you're trying to record audio, especially. You need a detuned room, which basically means you need zero sounds when you're not speaking. You can't have small background noises, hissing of the fans or, you know, an air conditioner being on, stuff like that. So you need it to be dead silence, right? And then... was that I would record, like, a whole bloody paragraph, right? And I've gone through it, and I'm like, OK, I'm going to go back and listen and make sure that everything sounds great. And I'm halfway through it, and suddenly there's a freaking crow just cawing out of nowhere in the middle of my line. And that just ruins it, because now I've got this beautiful paragraph, right, that's all read in the same consistency, the same speed, the correct pronunciations, and now I have to go back and do it all over bloody again. And so that was probably one of the most challenging, enjoyable, and definitely out-there experiences for me, recording in a different accent for prolonged periods of time, and on a topic that was rather interesting, to be honest, to understand where the whole Russian-Ukraine situation happened and how it all unfolded and what they're still doing now with that. But yeah, I think to answer the question was, I think the most challenging... or rather, one of the most exciting projects that I've done in the near past was definitely the audiobook for the Ukraine-Russian war in an American accent, which, let me tell you, although they sound, you know, like it's so easy, like sometimes people think that the American accent is one of the easiest to do, it's not. It's not at all. Especially when you have to pronounce words and things that you're not familiar with in that accent, it becomes a bit more difficult. So yeah. To answer your question, that's probably one of the most scary and exciting projects that I've worked on in the recent past, at least. So Goa, that's a rather nicer part of my life, I would say. I moved to Goa back in 2021. It was just after the lockdown. It kind of like loosened up a bit and, you know, we were more free to move around and there wasn't as many restrictions. So it ended up being like a few weeks that I wasn't in. I was too happy with the way things were going and I wasn't enjoying my current job. I was basically working for a company called Radius Global Solutions, and they provided debt collection services. And that's probably one of the most competitive, as well as the most harsh kind of, you know, lines that you can be in. Because to be honest, you just, you have to be almost emotionless, you know, you can't have emotions. Because the minute you start feeling for the people on the other end of the call, you're not able to do your job right. You're not able to be able to collect on debts, be able to bring up your scores. And definitely you're not going to get any incentives because you've not collected enough debt. So that kind of really got me down. And especially it being the COVID time, you know, wherein everybody was kind of down and out, especially on finances. To call people and tell them that they needed to pay up or to demand money from them. For loans that they're taking because they had no other bloody choice, you know, they just trying to survive. So it was a bit taxing, I think, mentally for me, mainly. I mean, doing the night shifts was, is always taxing, but the mental strain of like having to call people and being, well, not rude, but you had to be, you know, you had to have a certain amount of firmness in your voice, like a command over the call, because otherwise people just take you for a ride, right? They don't want to. They don't want to pay, which is the whole reason that I'm calling them in the first place, because they, they're just trying to dodge payments. So, um, it became a little taxing on me mentally, especially when, um, not all of them were rude and some of them were rude. Um, the good thing is that I speak in an American accent, so they didn't really know that I was not calling from America. They thought I was like, you know, I knew that I was calling from India, but they thought I was calling from within the States and that kind of gave me a, a little bit of the upper hand. A little bit of an edge because, um, they believed almost that I was American because I mean, my name itself has, uh, you know, is, is a very popular and more, uh, Western name. So it, it w it did help a lot. And uh, what would happen is a lot of people will tell me stories about how they have to sleep in their car or they haven't had eating in months or they don't have enough money to eat. And, you know, I had to call them and tell them that you need to pay up or else you can, you know, you, you be, um, you could be subject to legal action. And, uh, some of the stories were just, you know, you, you knew they were bluffing and some of them, it was really heartbreaking, especially like when you would call single mothers or really old elderly people. And they're just trying to get by them. You know, they don't, they don't have the resources or the money to pay you back, but you have to, to have to have to try and get something with the other arts of them. Um, most of them would point blank. Just say no and hang up. But that would only mean that they will get more calls and more messages and more people trying to, you know, contact them and, and trying to collect the debts. So that definitely got really taxing for me mentally. And that's when I decided like I need to change and I need to do something that, you know, lifts up my spirits a bit and gets me out of that, that feeling of regret and remorse for having to call people during an already horrible time. And. Uh. That's when I moved to Goa and it was actually quite a funny story. I called my brother and he told me, uh, if you want to just like, you know, pack your stuff and come over and we'll, we'll figure out the rest. And that's exactly what I did. Um, I think we had a conversation on like the 6th or 7th of April. Um, I told him, I'm like, okay, how do I get there? And he's like, why don't you just ride down? It's not that bad. You know, you can just sit on your bike. Put. Put everything that you really, really need into a few bags, tie them to the bike and just fricking come down riding. And I was like, okay, that seems plausible. And um, the next day I got a bit nervous. I was like, maybe not, you know, what am I doing and leaving my good, leaving this job and what guarantee do I have of getting anything in Goa and is it going to be all that I thought it was going to be? How am I going to live there? How am I going to manage a loan? There was a lot of questions, a lot of doubt, of course, you know, self-doubt and, uh, for fear mainly. And fear is a funny thing. It can either drive you or it can make you completely immobile and stagnant. So what happened is I just decided, you know, the first thing that I do to move towards this plan is to basically pack my bags. So that's what I did. I just went into my cupboard and I opened it up and I said, Oh, bloody hell, what am I going to wear? Like what, what other clothes that I feel good wearing outside. Right? So I went ahead and I just like started. Taking out clothes and sorting through them, throwing out some of the ones I didn't want anymore and packing some of the best ones I had. And by the end of it, I think I had like maybe four bags, four or five bags. And I was like, bloody hell, how am I going to take all of this onto the block once the bike and mind you, I didn't have carriers. I didn't have any sort of storage devices. My bike is not even like meant for going that far. So it's a hundred and fifty CC Honda Unicorn with a single seat. It's a four cylinder and much no power. Well if you're curious, it had about, it supposedly has about 13 BHP, but I didn't believe that one bit. I think that's at crank and then you're more likely to get maybe about eight or nine at the wheel. So it's not exactly a tourer, you know what I'm saying? You can't, you can't just take it out and, and, and go riding for long, prolonged times and distances. I mean, you can, but the, the challenges that you can't do. Yeah. You can't do it very fast. So you're always slowing down, you can't strain the engine because you, you, you're afraid that you're going to blow it up. And, and the best part is that when, when I made my journey to Goa, I in fact had literally just built my engine. So the engine had new pistons, new rings, new valves, a new block. Everything was pretty much brand new, like bike was not, there's, there was nothing in the engine that wasn't worked on. And it was a brand new engine. Yeah. It was a brand new engine. And ideally you're supposed to run in your engine, which is you need about maybe 500 to a thousand kilometers before you can go ahead and actually, you know, ride, ride the bike like where, where you can be a little more brazen with the accelerator, or you can pick up speed faster than, than you would usually. And you could do things that, you know, well that excites you basically on the bike. And that was one of the main things that was really hard on the journey there is it's just maintaining low speeds. You can't, you can't train a freshly built engine. You will ruin it and it won't break per se, but it won't perform at its best because you're supposed to heat it and, and cool it down in cycles, wherein the, the metal isn't strained and the new parts get a chance to settle down and kind of talk to each other, rub off on each other a little bit, you know, they're supposed to clear it, create clearances and stuff like that. So.


And here's something for the heart as well as the palate. With every bottle of Citrix Splash you enjoy, we contribute to local community gardens. Well, that's a bit difficult to go ahead and explain, actually, because the last project I had, I actually had to do an American accent. And, you know, in the beginning when I started, it was rather, you know, fun. And I thought, this is going to be great. Just do my American accent, read a few lines here and there. And then what you don't realize about an audiobook is that it's so long and so vast that you've got to be able to read for prolonged periods of time. And it's sometimes almost nerve-wracking because, you know, you have to maintain your pronunciations, you've got to make sure you're sounding American, you've got to make sure you're reading the right lines. And if you do make mistakes or, you know, something like that, you've got to go back and try and read. Because you can't even go and try and patch in things, right, when it comes to audiobooks. You either do the whole line or the whole paragraph again, or it's nothing. So, yeah, I think I did a book for Cuckoo FM, which is an app-based FM podcast slash audiobooks platform, wherein I did a book on the Russian and Ukraine war that was ongoing at that point in time. This was back in, I think, 2023. If I'm not mistaken, in and around April. And I think that was one of the most challenging audiobooks that I've ever done because of the mere fact that it was in an American accent. And trying to maintain the accent consistently throughout the book, plus being able to, you know, maintain prolonged sessions of reading, as well as editing, as well as making sure that it sounds right, there's no mispronunciations, no... Variations in words, making sure that when I said it a certain way before, it's said the same way again, especially on repeat words, because you can't sound different every time you read. And the very fact that, you know, there's a lot of times where you can't just do the whole book sitting down in one session, right? You've got to go ahead and give it some time. You sometimes end up working two to three days later on the same book. Because, I mean, unless you do have the time and you do it every day, well, that makes it a little easier. You can do it in one big go, which, quite honestly, for me was too hard. So I just went ahead and, like, did it in parts. And especially because I was doing a day job at the same time. So it was a bit more hard for me to, like, try and find a dedicated time to go ahead and just sit down and record all day or all night long. Plus the challenges of, like... The place where I lived at that point in time, it was quiet, yeah? But not always quiet. It had its fair share of, like, cars. Buses and people, birds, animals, just making noises randomly. And since I was working out of my own studio, it was a bit more challenging because I had a great setup. Like, the mic was on point. The sound card was on point. The built PC was on point. But the environment around me probably was the biggest challenge. And it being a home studio and since I'd rented out the house, you know, I didn't really have too much of room to be able to go ahead and do a lot of soundproofing and stuff like that, which is important when you're trying to record audio, especially. You need a detuned room, which basically means you need zero sounds when you're not speaking. You can't have small background noises, hissing of the fans or, you know, an air conditioner being on, stuff like that. So you need it to be dead silence, right? And then... was that I would record, like, a whole bloody paragraph, right? And I've gone through it, and I'm like, OK, I'm going to go back and listen and make sure that everything sounds great. And I'm halfway through it, and suddenly there's a freaking crow just cawing out of nowhere in the middle of my line. And that just ruins it, because now I've got this beautiful paragraph, right, that's all read in the same consistency, the same speed, the correct pronunciations, and now I have to go back and do it all over bloody again. And so that was probably one of the most challenging, enjoyable, and definitely out-there experiences for me, recording in a different accent for prolonged periods of time, and on a topic that was rather interesting, to be honest, to understand where the whole Russian-Ukraine situation happened and how it all unfolded and what they're still doing now with that. But yeah, I think to answer the question was, I think the most challenging... or rather, one of the most exciting projects that I've done in the near past was definitely the audiobook for the Ukraine-Russian war in an American accent, which, let me tell you, although they sound, you know, like it's so easy, like sometimes people think that the American accent is one of the easiest to do, it's not. It's not at all. Especially when you have to pronounce words and things that you're not familiar with in that accent, it becomes a bit more difficult. So yeah. To answer your question, that's probably one of the most scary and exciting projects that I've worked on in the recent past, at least. So Goa, that's a rather nicer part of my life, I would say. I moved to Goa back in 2021. It was just after the lockdown. It kind of like loosened up a bit and, you know, we were more free to move around and there wasn't as many restrictions. So it ended up being like a few weeks that I wasn't in. I was too happy with the way things were going and I wasn't enjoying my current job. I was basically working for a company called Radius Global Solutions, and they provided debt collection services. And that's probably one of the most competitive, as well as the most harsh kind of, you know, lines that you can be in. Because to be honest, you just, you have to be almost emotionless, you know, you can't have emotions. Because the minute you start feeling for the people on the other end of the call, you're not able to do your job right. You're not able to be able to collect on debts, be able to bring up your scores. And definitely you're not going to get any incentives because you've not collected enough debt. So that kind of really got me down. And especially it being the COVID time, you know, wherein everybody was kind of down and out, especially on finances. To call people and tell them that they needed to pay up or to demand money from them. For loans that they're taking because they had no other bloody choice, you know, they just trying to survive. So it was a bit taxing, I think, mentally for me, mainly. I mean, doing the night shifts was, is always taxing, but the mental strain of like having to call people and being, well, not rude, but you had to be, you know, you had to have a certain amount of firmness in your voice, like a command over the call, because otherwise people just take you for a ride, right? They don't want to. They don't want to pay, which is the whole reason that I'm calling them in the first place, because they, they're just trying to dodge payments. So, um, it became a little taxing on me mentally, especially when, um, not all of them were rude and some of them were rude. Um, the good thing is that I speak in an American accent, so they didn't really know that I was not calling from America. They thought I was like, you know, I knew that I was calling from India, but they thought I was calling from within the States and that kind of gave me a, a little bit of the upper hand. A little bit of an edge because, um, they believed almost that I was American because I mean, my name itself has, uh, you know, is, is a very popular and more, uh, Western name. So it, it w it did help a lot. And uh, what would happen is a lot of people will tell me stories about how they have to sleep in their car or they haven't had eating in months or they don't have enough money to eat. And, you know, I had to call them and tell them that you need to pay up or else you can, you know, you, you be, um, you could be subject to legal action. And, uh, some of the stories were just, you know, you, you knew they were bluffing and some of them, it was really heartbreaking, especially like when you would call single mothers or really old elderly people. And they're just trying to get by them. You know, they don't, they don't have the resources or the money to pay you back, but you have to, to have to have to try and get something with the other arts of them. Um, most of them would point blank. Just say no and hang up. But that would only mean that they will get more calls and more messages and more people trying to, you know, contact them and, and trying to collect the debts. So that definitely got really taxing for me mentally. And that's when I decided like I need to change and I need to do something that, you know, lifts up my spirits a bit and gets me out of that, that feeling of regret and remorse for having to call people during an already horrible time. And. Uh. That's when I moved to Goa and it was actually quite a funny story. I called my brother and he told me, uh, if you want to just like, you know, pack your stuff and come over and we'll, we'll figure out the rest. And that's exactly what I did. Um, I think we had a conversation on like the 6th or 7th of April. Um, I told him, I'm like, okay, how do I get there? And he's like, why don't you just ride down? It's not that bad. You know, you can just sit on your bike. Put. Put everything that you really, really need into a few bags, tie them to the bike and just fricking come down riding. And I was like, okay, that seems plausible. And um, the next day I got a bit nervous. I was like, maybe not, you know, what am I doing and leaving my good, leaving this job and what guarantee do I have of getting anything in Goa and is it going to be all that I thought it was going to be? How am I going to live there? How am I going to manage a loan? There was a lot of questions, a lot of doubt, of course, you know, self-doubt and, uh, for fear mainly. And fear is a funny thing. It can either drive you or it can make you completely immobile and stagnant. So what happened is I just decided, you know, the first thing that I do to move towards this plan is to basically pack my bags. So that's what I did. I just went into my cupboard and I opened it up and I said, Oh, bloody hell, what am I going to wear? Like what, what other clothes that I feel good wearing outside. Right? So I went ahead and I just like started. Taking out clothes and sorting through them, throwing out some of the ones I didn't want anymore and packing some of the best ones I had. And by the end of it, I think I had like maybe four bags, four or five bags. And I was like, bloody hell, how am I going to take all of this onto the block once the bike and mind you, I didn't have carriers. I didn't have any sort of storage devices. My bike is not even like meant for going that far. So it's a hundred and fifty CC Honda Unicorn with a single seat. It's a four cylinder and much no power. Well if you're curious, it had about, it supposedly has about 13 BHP, but I didn't believe that one bit. I think that's at crank and then you're more likely to get maybe about eight or nine at the wheel. So it's not exactly a tourer, you know what I'm saying? You can't, you can't just take it out and, and, and go riding for long, prolonged times and distances. I mean, you can, but the, the challenges that you can't do. Yeah. You can't do it very fast. So you're always slowing down, you can't strain the engine because you, you, you're afraid that you're going to blow it up. And, and the best part is that when, when I made my journey to Goa, I in fact had literally just built my engine. So the engine had new pistons, new rings, new valves, a new block. Everything was pretty much brand new, like bike was not, there's, there was nothing in the engine that wasn't worked on. And it was a brand new engine. Yeah. It was a brand new engine. And ideally you're supposed to run in your engine, which is you need about maybe 500 to a thousand kilometers before you can go ahead and actually, you know, ride, ride the bike like where, where you can be a little more brazen with the accelerator, or you can pick up speed faster than, than you would usually. And you could do things that, you know, well that excites you basically on the bike. And that was one of the main things that was really hard on the journey there is it's just maintaining low speeds. You can't, you can't train a freshly built engine. You will ruin it and it won't break per se, but it won't perform at its best because you're supposed to heat it and, and cool it down in cycles, wherein the, the metal isn't strained and the new parts get a chance to settle down and kind of talk to each other, rub off on each other a little bit, you know, they're supposed to clear it, create clearances and stuff like that. So. Yeah, I had a freshly built bike. I had about four or five bags. So what I did was I just went downstairs and I was like, okay, what's the next thing I can do? If I want to make the journey, I've got to make sure the bike is in good condition. Well, I already had that covered because the bike was just rebuilt. So I thought, okay, that's solved. What's the next thing I need? And now the next thing, obviously, was fuel. So I said, okay, I'm going to go. I'm going to fill a full tank of fuel. And by the time I come back, I think I'll know what I want to do and what I don't want to do. So I went ahead and I literally just went to the petrol pump.


was that I would record, like, a whole bloody paragraph, right? And I've gone through it, and I'm like, OK, I'm going to go back and listen and make sure that everything sounds great. And I'm halfway through it, and suddenly there's a freaking crow just cawing out of nowhere in the middle of my line. And that just ruins it, because now I've got this beautiful paragraph, right, that's all read in the same consistency, the same speed, the correct pronunciations, and now I have to go back and do it all over bloody again. And so that was probably one of the most challenging, enjoyable, and definitely out-there experiences for me, recording in a different accent for prolonged periods of time, and on a topic that was rather interesting, to be honest, to understand where the whole Russian-Ukraine situation happened and how it all unfolded and what they're still doing now with that. But yeah, I think to answer the question was, I think the most challenging... or rather, one of the most exciting projects that I've done in the near past was definitely the audiobook for the Ukraine-Russian war in an American accent, which, let me tell you, although they sound, you know, like it's so easy, like sometimes people think that the American accent is one of the easiest to do, it's not. It's not at all. Especially when you have to pronounce words and things that you're not familiar with in that accent, it becomes a bit more difficult. So yeah. To answer your question, that's probably one of the most scary and exciting projects that I've worked on in the recent past, at least. So Goa, that's a rather nicer part of my life, I would say. I moved to Goa back in 2021. It was just after the lockdown. It kind of like loosened up a bit and, you know, we were more free to move around and there wasn't as many restrictions. So it ended up being like a few weeks that I wasn't in. I was too happy with the way things were going and I wasn't enjoying my current job. I was basically working for a company called Radius Global Solutions, and they provided debt collection services. And that's probably one of the most competitive, as well as the most harsh kind of, you know, lines that you can be in. Because to be honest, you just, you have to be almost emotionless, you know, you can't have emotions. Because the minute you start feeling for the people on the other end of the call, you're not able to do your job right. You're not able to be able to collect on debts, be able to bring up your scores. And definitely you're not going to get any incentives because you've not collected enough debt. So that kind of really got me down. And especially it being the COVID time, you know, wherein everybody was kind of down and out, especially on finances. To call people and tell them that they needed to pay up or to demand money from them. For loans that they're taking because they had no other bloody choice, you know, they just trying to survive. So it was a bit taxing, I think, mentally for me, mainly. I mean, doing the night shifts was, is always taxing, but the mental strain of like having to call people and being, well, not rude, but you had to be, you know, you had to have a certain amount of firmness in your voice, like a command over the call, because otherwise people just take you for a ride, right? They don't want to. They don't want to pay, which is the whole reason that I'm calling them in the first place, because they, they're just trying to dodge payments. So, um, it became a little taxing on me mentally, especially when, um, not all of them were rude and some of them were rude. Um, the good thing is that I speak in an American accent, so they didn't really know that I was not calling from America. They thought I was like, you know, I knew that I was calling from India, but they thought I was calling from within the States and that kind of gave me a, a little bit of the upper hand. A little bit of an edge because, um, they believed almost that I was American because I mean, my name itself has, uh, you know, is, is a very popular and more, uh, Western name. So it, it w it did help a lot. And uh, what would happen is a lot of people will tell me stories about how they have to sleep in their car or they haven't had eating in months or they don't have enough money to eat. And, you know, I had to call them and tell them that you need to pay up or else you can, you know, you, you be, um, you could be subject to legal action. And, uh, some of the stories were just, you know, you, you knew they were bluffing and some of them, it was really heartbreaking, especially like when you would call single mothers or really old elderly people. And they're just trying to get by them. You know, they don't, they don't have the resources or the money to pay you back, but you have to, to have to have to try and get something with the other arts of them. Um, most of them would point blank. Just say no and hang up. But that would only mean that they will get more calls and more messages and more people trying to, you know, contact them and, and trying to collect the debts. So that definitely got really taxing for me mentally. And that's when I decided like I need to change and I need to do something that, you know, lifts up my spirits a bit and gets me out of that, that feeling of regret and remorse for having to call people during an already horrible time. And. Uh. That's when I moved to Goa and it was actually quite a funny story. I called my brother and he told me, uh, if you want to just like, you know, pack your stuff and come over and we'll, we'll figure out the rest. And that's exactly what I did. Um, I think we had a conversation on like the 6th or 7th of April. Um, I told him, I'm like, okay, how do I get there? And he's like, why don't you just ride down? It's not that bad. You know, you can just sit on your bike. Put. Put everything that you really, really need into a few bags, tie them to the bike and just fricking come down riding. And I was like, okay, that seems plausible. And um, the next day I got a bit nervous. I was like, maybe not, you know, what am I doing and leaving my good, leaving this job and what guarantee do I have of getting anything in Goa and is it going to be all that I thought it was going to be? How am I going to live there? How am I going to manage a loan? There was a lot of questions, a lot of doubt, of course, you know, self-doubt and, uh, for fear mainly. And fear is a funny thing. It can either drive you or it can make you completely immobile and stagnant. So what happened is I just decided, you know, the first thing that I do to move towards this plan is to basically pack my bags. So that's what I did. I just went into my cupboard and I opened it up and I said, Oh, bloody hell, what am I going to wear? Like what, what other clothes that I feel good wearing outside. Right? So I went ahead and I just like started. Taking out clothes and sorting through them, throwing out some of the ones I didn't want anymore and packing some of the best ones I had. And by the end of it, I think I had like maybe four bags, four or five bags. And I was like, bloody hell, how am I going to take all of this onto the block once the bike and mind you, I didn't have carriers. I didn't have any sort of storage devices. My bike is not even like meant for going that far. So it's a hundred and fifty CC Honda Unicorn with a single seat. It's a four cylinder and much no power. Well if you're curious, it had about, it supposedly has about 13 BHP, but I didn't believe that one bit. I think that's at crank and then you're more likely to get maybe about eight or nine at the wheel. So it's not exactly a tourer, you know what I'm saying? You can't, you can't just take it out and, and, and go riding for long, prolonged times and distances. I mean, you can, but the, the challenges that you can't do. Yeah. You can't do it very fast. So you're always slowing down, you can't strain the engine because you, you, you're afraid that you're going to blow it up. And, and the best part is that when, when I made my journey to Goa, I in fact had literally just built my engine. So the engine had new pistons, new rings, new valves, a new block. Everything was pretty much brand new, like bike was not, there's, there was nothing in the engine that wasn't worked on. And it was a brand new engine. Yeah. It was a brand new engine. And ideally you're supposed to run in your engine, which is you need about maybe 500 to a thousand kilometers before you can go ahead and actually, you know, ride, ride the bike like where, where you can be a little more brazen with the accelerator, or you can pick up speed faster than, than you would usually. And you could do things that, you know, well that excites you basically on the bike. And that was one of the main things that was really hard on the journey there is it's just maintaining low speeds. You can't, you can't train a freshly built engine. You will ruin it and it won't break per se, but it won't perform at its best because you're supposed to heat it and, and cool it down in cycles, wherein the, the metal isn't strained and the new parts get a chance to settle down and kind of talk to each other, rub off on each other a little bit, you know, they're supposed to clear it, create clearances and stuff like that. So. Yeah, I had a freshly built bike. I had about four or five bags. So what I did was I just went downstairs and I was like, okay, what's the next thing I can do? If I want to make the journey, I've got to make sure the bike is in good condition. Well, I already had that covered because the bike was just rebuilt. So I thought, okay, that's solved. What's the next thing I need? And now the next thing, obviously, was fuel. So I said, okay, I'm going to go. I'm going to fill a full tank of fuel. And by the time I come back, I think I'll know what I want to do and what I don't want to do. So I went ahead and I literally just went to the petrol pump. fills up the tank full I came back home and by the time I came home I was like hmm am I really going to do this am I going to move to Goa take my bike climb my bags onto it and move to Goa is that really what I'm going to do so I decided you know what man if you don't live life and if you don't take those those steps that really make you feel weird in your stomach you know where you get the butterflies in your stomach that's the ones that really matter right because then then you know it's something that means something to you and it's not just a frivolous passing kind of mood you know I mean emotion or a sentiment you could call it so what I did was I decided not to ride directly to Goa because considering this would have been my first really long trip like I'd ridden to Pune a few times and Pune is about maybe 200 odd kilometers from where I stand so from where I live rather I'm sorry not stand but yeah and that was pretty tiring the first time first few times I did it at least because you know it takes a lot of consistency when you're trying to ride long distances your buttocks get really sore man your legs start giving up your buttocks get sore your wrists start hurting your palms start hurting a little bit because you're always you're always you know planted on the bike and you have to constantly keep it balanced and you have to you have to constantly make sure that nothing's going wrong with it right so I was a little bit nervous I was like I'm bloody hell man it's 800 kilometers almost and that's that's never done that kind of distance before and especially on such a small bike and then on top of that on top of all the things a small bike a great distance I had bad bloody hell so it got a bit you know scary towards the beginning of the whole journey but


Yeah, I had a freshly built bike. I had about four or five bags. So what I did was I just went downstairs and I was like, okay, what's the next thing I can do? If I want to make the journey, I've got to make sure the bike is in good condition. Well, I already had that covered because the bike was just rebuilt. So I thought, okay, that's solved. What's the next thing I need? And now the next thing, obviously, was fuel. So I said, okay, I'm going to go. I'm going to fill a full tank of fuel. And by the time I come back, I think I'll know what I want to do and what I don't want to do. So I went ahead and I literally just went to the petrol pump. fills up the tank full I came back home and by the time I came home I was like hmm am I really going to do this am I going to move to Goa take my bike climb my bags onto it and move to Goa is that really what I'm going to do so I decided you know what man if you don't live life and if you don't take those those steps that really make you feel weird in your stomach you know where you get the butterflies in your stomach that's the ones that really matter right because then then you know it's something that means something to you and it's not just a frivolous passing kind of mood you know I mean emotion or a sentiment you could call it so what I did was I decided not to ride directly to Goa because considering this would have been my first really long trip like I'd ridden to Pune a few times and Pune is about maybe 200 odd kilometers from where I stand so from where I live rather I'm sorry not stand but yeah and that was pretty tiring the first time first few times I did it at least because you know it takes a lot of consistency when you're trying to ride long distances your buttocks get really sore man your legs start giving up your buttocks get sore your wrists start hurting your palms start hurting a little bit because you're always you're always you know planted on the bike and you have to constantly keep it balanced and you have to you have to constantly make sure that nothing's going wrong with it right so I was a little bit nervous I was like I'm bloody hell man it's 800 kilometers almost and that's that's never done that kind of distance before and especially on such a small bike and then on top of that on top of all the things a small bike a great distance I had bad bloody hell so it got a bit you know scary towards the beginning of the whole journey but As and when I moved on and I just went home, I looked at the bags. I said, okay, you know, this is what's going to work. This is what's going to make us feel better. So why not just do that, right? So I eventually convinced myself to, you know, just go to sleep that night. And the next day when I woke up in the morning, that's when I decided that I'm not going to do the journey in one shot, right? So I decided what I'm going to do is I'm going to go over. I have two elder brothers. The eldest one lives at Goa. He was the one who was taking me in. And then I had another brother, Sean, who lives at Pune. So I decided I'm going to ride to Pune, spend the day and night over there, get some rest. And then the next day, make the next, you know, well, whatever, 600-odd kilometer journey from Pune to Goa. And, uh...


fills up the tank full I came back home and by the time I came home I was like hmm am I really going to do this am I going to move to Goa take my bike climb my bags onto it and move to Goa is that really what I'm going to do so I decided you know what man if you don't live life and if you don't take those those steps that really make you feel weird in your stomach you know where you get the butterflies in your stomach that's the ones that really matter right because then then you know it's something that means something to you and it's not just a frivolous passing kind of mood you know I mean emotion or a sentiment you could call it so what I did was I decided not to ride directly to Goa because considering this would have been my first really long trip like I'd ridden to Pune a few times and Pune is about maybe 200 odd kilometers from where I stand so from where I live rather I'm sorry not stand but yeah and that was pretty tiring the first time first few times I did it at least because you know it takes a lot of consistency when you're trying to ride long distances your buttocks get really sore man your legs start giving up your buttocks get sore your wrists start hurting your palms start hurting a little bit because you're always you're always you know planted on the bike and you have to constantly keep it balanced and you have to you have to constantly make sure that nothing's going wrong with it right so I was a little bit nervous I was like I'm bloody hell man it's 800 kilometers almost and that's that's never done that kind of distance before and especially on such a small bike and then on top of that on top of all the things a small bike a great distance I had bad bloody hell so it got a bit you know scary towards the beginning of the whole journey but As and when I moved on and I just went home, I looked at the bags. I said, okay, you know, this is what's going to work. This is what's going to make us feel better. So why not just do that, right? So I eventually convinced myself to, you know, just go to sleep that night. And the next day when I woke up in the morning, that's when I decided that I'm not going to do the journey in one shot, right? So I decided what I'm going to do is I'm going to go over. I have two elder brothers. The eldest one lives at Goa. He was the one who was taking me in. And then I had another brother, Sean, who lives at Pune. So I decided I'm going to ride to Pune, spend the day and night over there, get some rest. And then the next day, make the next, you know, well, whatever, 600-odd kilometer journey from Pune to Goa. And, uh... The journey to Pune reminded me of how little speed I could maintain while riding the bike because of the new engine that I mentioned earlier. So it was rather sad because I couldn't do more than 60 kilometers per hour. And that got frustrating after a point because I can see, you know, freaking rickshaws and huge trucks and basically anything that had two or four wheels just passing by all the time. And it became frustrating to the point where sometimes I was like, bloody hell, man, bugger it. You know, what if the engine does blow up? I'll just build it again. And then I realized how much I'd spent building the engine and how much cost and how much time it took and how much effort it took. So I was like, no, you know what, Jonathan, you're not going to lose your bloody calm. You're going to ride and you're going to get there in one piece. So that's exactly what I did. And to be honest, I'd never bloody packed bags on a bike or anything like that before. So. I kind of, um, I didn't really know how to do it. And when I, when I started off from home, everything seemed perfect. Everything seemed like it's not going to fall off. It's going to be fine. I was tilting the bike from left to right. And it all seemed like it was there and together. But little did I know that the minute I started riding down the bloody road and I actually encountered, you know, potholes, potholes, bad patches of road, speed breakers, and just in general, other people around me. It. It got horribly, the, the, the, the truth dawned on me. It just came on me like a bloody ton of bricks and my bugs, my bags just started falling off the side, almost dropped one on the bloody highway. The bike was pulling to one side because the bags were kind of heavy and it, they were kind of leaning off of this bike. So it got really, really, really scary up to a point. And that's when I actually stopped, um, a few kilometers later and I called my brother and he. He is one of the most extreme people I know when it comes to riding bikes. So he actually rode all the way from bloody Mumbai to Kulam Nalli, which is up in the north of India. It's about roughly about five and a half thousand kilometers. And he did that on his one 50 CC, um, Pajar Palser, which is one of the more well-known domestic market bikes in India. It's one of the best selling, most popular ones. Anyways, that's besides the point. Well, he has a. A lot of, a lot of experience with traveling and especially traveling with luggage. So he gave me a few pointers. I would joke, hold him on the way. And I showed him the condition of my bags and he had a good laugh before, you know, he had a good laugh. He took the piss before he actually told me what to do. And once I did what he told me, I mean, obviously again, cause it is me and I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I kind of understood what he meant to say. And I just kind of, you know, they have this word in India, they call it Jagad. I did a Jagad. And that's how I got through it. So I somehow made it to Pune the same night. And, um, it was, uh, it dawned on me again, the, the reality of the whole move and having to ride there with so many bags and the weight of the bags and how much fuel was going and how tired I was from just the 200 kilometer stretch. Kilometers or a kilometer stretch. But anyways, um, I ended up spending the night and then in the morning before I could even wake up my brother. The kind soul that he is. He went downstairs and he actually set up the entire bike. He took my bags, decided which one he wanted to put where, got, we went and bought the previous night, or rather the previous evening, we went out and got, um, or what I can only describe as bungee cords, the basically long stretchable rope that you use to tie your, your luggage onto your vehicle. And it has a hook on the end that you can hook into various places on the bike. So, um, not knowing that. That he was already awake and, uh, you know, he's gone downstairs to try and set up the bike for me before I could even ask him to. I go, I walk up and I couldn't find any of my luggage and I started panicking a bit. So I called him up and I'm like, Hey man, you seen my luggage anywhere? I don't see it anywhere. Did you keep it somewhere or where is it? Oh, I got worried. So he told me that he was actually downstairs and he was already setting it up for me and that he wants to warm up the bike and make sure everything was ready. So I was petrified, to be honest. I was not looking forward to the journey at all. It was definitely one of the most scary experiences of my life. And I just went and got ready and I went downstairs. Once I reached downstairs, to my surprise, he had set it up so well that it felt like the luggage was never not a part, not a part of the bike. You know, he had tied it down in such a precise manner and it was so comfortable, it was almost like I had a back support, like a sofa behind me because he tied the bags. And he positioned them in a way where it actually provided support for me as well. So throughout the journey after that, I just, I would lean back sometimes and there was so much of like back support. It was awesome. And, um, that was the journey there. And, uh, to be honest, it was one of the longest and most slow journeys I've ever had, but also one of the most enjoyable because the thing with riding slow, right? Although it's annoying and you don't cover much ground, you really get a lot of time to appreciate it. The scenery around you. So you look here and you look there and you see like, you know, fields that you would have never noticed before you get to look up at the clouds and just generally be able to soak in more of what's around you. So although it was slow and you know, my ass got completely obliterated, uh, you know, it was, it was a learning experience and definitely taught me how to ride slower, appreciate more of the nature and environment around me. And eventually I did make it to go a nine and a half to 10 hours later and towards the end of the trip course, I pleaded about, I mean, prior to leaving, I had about three or 400 kilometers on the bike, on the engine already. And I only needed a thousand. So towards the end of the journey, when we were, when I was close to go, I mean, I think I had about maybe two to 300 kilometers left, maybe a little less than that. I'm not too sure, but, um, that's when I realized, oh man, I've gone ahead and I've passed the thousand kilometers. So now I could start opening up the bike a little more, picking up a little more speed, maintaining a little higher, you know, cruising speeds as well. So that got really interesting. And then that was the most beautiful part of the journey. So I actually ended up just riding slow again, cause, um, I didn't want to take a risk with the engine as well as the scenery was so beautiful that I just couldn't help, but slow down and just look around and make sure that I'm taking in everything. So we had to go through, um, so the way. I. Did it was, um, there are two, three routes now don't ask me the specifics, but some of them are horrible, absolutely horrible. So my brother, uh, being the Explorer and the experienced biker that he is, he had already planned out and created a whole Google map for me with stops, the route and everything he'd, uh, plotted out stopping points with restaurants. And it was, it was just magical. So, um, I ended up stopping at a few places and one of the stops that he had was the. And Bali guard. And that was basically one of the biggest carts that they have. And in like, at least in, in the bottom of India. And it's one of the more beautiful ones where they have like big gorges and valleys and, and the lots of scenery around. And, uh, my brother so kindly had basically put it out. Um, one of the best spots at the top of the guard for me to stop and have a break and, ah, God, just him, man, he, he just absolutely killed it. Cause the minute I stopped over there and I looked over the bloody railing, it was just a beautiful, beautiful valley down there. And it made me realize that, you know, this journey was so worth it. Although my buttocks again were completely out of commission, not feel the, the, my behind at all. My legs were basically just two twigs trying to rattle to keep me up straight. And I pretty much had enough of the journey to be honest. I was tired. I was dirty. I was, uh, you know, very, very, very fatigued and I just wanted to go home and have a nap, you know, but anyways, I soldiered on and, um, I remember the first time that I actually entered Goa, um, it was, it was just unreal cause I, I realized that finally I had taken a step.


As and when I moved on and I just went home, I looked at the bags. I said, okay, you know, this is what's going to work. This is what's going to make us feel better. So why not just do that, right? So I eventually convinced myself to, you know, just go to sleep that night. And the next day when I woke up in the morning, that's when I decided that I'm not going to do the journey in one shot, right? So I decided what I'm going to do is I'm going to go over. I have two elder brothers. The eldest one lives at Goa. He was the one who was taking me in. And then I had another brother, Sean, who lives at Pune. So I decided I'm going to ride to Pune, spend the day and night over there, get some rest. And then the next day, make the next, you know, well, whatever, 600-odd kilometer journey from Pune to Goa. And, uh... The journey to Pune reminded me of how little speed I could maintain while riding the bike because of the new engine that I mentioned earlier. So it was rather sad because I couldn't do more than 60 kilometers per hour. And that got frustrating after a point because I can see, you know, freaking rickshaws and huge trucks and basically anything that had two or four wheels just passing by all the time. And it became frustrating to the point where sometimes I was like, bloody hell, man, bugger it. You know, what if the engine does blow up? I'll just build it again. And then I realized how much I'd spent building the engine and how much cost and how much time it took and how much effort it took. So I was like, no, you know what, Jonathan, you're not going to lose your bloody calm. You're going to ride and you're going to get there in one piece. So that's exactly what I did. And to be honest, I'd never bloody packed bags on a bike or anything like that before. So. I kind of, um, I didn't really know how to do it. And when I, when I started off from home, everything seemed perfect. Everything seemed like it's not going to fall off. It's going to be fine. I was tilting the bike from left to right. And it all seemed like it was there and together. But little did I know that the minute I started riding down the bloody road and I actually encountered, you know, potholes, potholes, bad patches of road, speed breakers, and just in general, other people around me. It. It got horribly, the, the, the, the truth dawned on me. It just came on me like a bloody ton of bricks and my bugs, my bags just started falling off the side, almost dropped one on the bloody highway. The bike was pulling to one side because the bags were kind of heavy and it, they were kind of leaning off of this bike. So it got really, really, really scary up to a point. And that's when I actually stopped, um, a few kilometers later and I called my brother and he. He is one of the most extreme people I know when it comes to riding bikes. So he actually rode all the way from bloody Mumbai to Kulam Nalli, which is up in the north of India. It's about roughly about five and a half thousand kilometers. And he did that on his one 50 CC, um, Pajar Palser, which is one of the more well-known domestic market bikes in India. It's one of the best selling, most popular ones. Anyways, that's besides the point. Well, he has a. A lot of, a lot of experience with traveling and especially traveling with luggage. So he gave me a few pointers. I would joke, hold him on the way. And I showed him the condition of my bags and he had a good laugh before, you know, he had a good laugh. He took the piss before he actually told me what to do. And once I did what he told me, I mean, obviously again, cause it is me and I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I kind of understood what he meant to say. And I just kind of, you know, they have this word in India, they call it Jagad. I did a Jagad. And that's how I got through it. So I somehow made it to Pune the same night. And, um, it was, uh, it dawned on me again, the, the reality of the whole move and having to ride there with so many bags and the weight of the bags and how much fuel was going and how tired I was from just the 200 kilometer stretch. Kilometers or a kilometer stretch. But anyways, um, I ended up spending the night and then in the morning before I could even wake up my brother. The kind soul that he is. He went downstairs and he actually set up the entire bike. He took my bags, decided which one he wanted to put where, got, we went and bought the previous night, or rather the previous evening, we went out and got, um, or what I can only describe as bungee cords, the basically long stretchable rope that you use to tie your, your luggage onto your vehicle. And it has a hook on the end that you can hook into various places on the bike. So, um, not knowing that. That he was already awake and, uh, you know, he's gone downstairs to try and set up the bike for me before I could even ask him to. I go, I walk up and I couldn't find any of my luggage and I started panicking a bit. So I called him up and I'm like, Hey man, you seen my luggage anywhere? I don't see it anywhere. Did you keep it somewhere or where is it? Oh, I got worried. So he told me that he was actually downstairs and he was already setting it up for me and that he wants to warm up the bike and make sure everything was ready. So I was petrified, to be honest. I was not looking forward to the journey at all. It was definitely one of the most scary experiences of my life. And I just went and got ready and I went downstairs. Once I reached downstairs, to my surprise, he had set it up so well that it felt like the luggage was never not a part, not a part of the bike. You know, he had tied it down in such a precise manner and it was so comfortable, it was almost like I had a back support, like a sofa behind me because he tied the bags. And he positioned them in a way where it actually provided support for me as well. So throughout the journey after that, I just, I would lean back sometimes and there was so much of like back support. It was awesome. And, um, that was the journey there. And, uh, to be honest, it was one of the longest and most slow journeys I've ever had, but also one of the most enjoyable because the thing with riding slow, right? Although it's annoying and you don't cover much ground, you really get a lot of time to appreciate it. The scenery around you. So you look here and you look there and you see like, you know, fields that you would have never noticed before you get to look up at the clouds and just generally be able to soak in more of what's around you. So although it was slow and you know, my ass got completely obliterated, uh, you know, it was, it was a learning experience and definitely taught me how to ride slower, appreciate more of the nature and environment around me. And eventually I did make it to go a nine and a half to 10 hours later and towards the end of the trip course, I pleaded about, I mean, prior to leaving, I had about three or 400 kilometers on the bike, on the engine already. And I only needed a thousand. So towards the end of the journey, when we were, when I was close to go, I mean, I think I had about maybe two to 300 kilometers left, maybe a little less than that. I'm not too sure, but, um, that's when I realized, oh man, I've gone ahead and I've passed the thousand kilometers. So now I could start opening up the bike a little more, picking up a little more speed, maintaining a little higher, you know, cruising speeds as well. So that got really interesting. And then that was the most beautiful part of the journey. So I actually ended up just riding slow again, cause, um, I didn't want to take a risk with the engine as well as the scenery was so beautiful that I just couldn't help, but slow down and just look around and make sure that I'm taking in everything. So we had to go through, um, so the way. I. Did it was, um, there are two, three routes now don't ask me the specifics, but some of them are horrible, absolutely horrible. So my brother, uh, being the Explorer and the experienced biker that he is, he had already planned out and created a whole Google map for me with stops, the route and everything he'd, uh, plotted out stopping points with restaurants. And it was, it was just magical. So, um, I ended up stopping at a few places and one of the stops that he had was the. And Bali guard. And that was basically one of the biggest carts that they have. And in like, at least in, in the bottom of India. And it's one of the more beautiful ones where they have like big gorges and valleys and, and the lots of scenery around. And, uh, my brother so kindly had basically put it out. Um, one of the best spots at the top of the guard for me to stop and have a break and, ah, God, just him, man, he, he just absolutely killed it. Cause the minute I stopped over there and I looked over the bloody railing, it was just a beautiful, beautiful valley down there. And it made me realize that, you know, this journey was so worth it. Although my buttocks again were completely out of commission, not feel the, the, my behind at all. My legs were basically just two twigs trying to rattle to keep me up straight. And I pretty much had enough of the journey to be honest. I was tired. I was dirty. I was, uh, you know, very, very, very fatigued and I just wanted to go home and have a nap, you know, but anyways, I soldiered on and, um, I remember the first time that I actually entered Goa, um, it was, it was just unreal cause I, I realized that finally I had taken a step. a step in my life where it wasn't based on anybody or anything else it was just for me at the time I wasn't seeing anybody so I was single so I didn't need to worry about like responsibilities or you know my bird calling me up and saying why are you doing this or I had no restrictions basically and I was just my own man it was beautiful I got there and my brother he lives at a beautiful beautiful beautiful like almost like a resort type of gated community it's called Riviera Gardenia and it's it's a beautiful beautiful establishment that basically has villas within a big garden so we had a swimming pool we had gardens around there's trees everywhere lawns and then just huge villas so the first time I entered his house I was like bloody hell man this is huge it's like three bhk as they call it here in India and a three bedroom hall kitchen basically and it's vastly huge he had an upper floor so that was one of the first times that I've ever been in a house that had an upper floor that was kind of a new experience it was really nice he had his own studio set up in one of the rooms in the house and he obviously has two kids my niece and nephew love them dearly and it was an absolute experience the first the first few days I was there was actually the happiest to be honest because I realized that I now live at Goa and I've got all these opportunities and things that could happen and I was lining up interviews and and I'd reached there on the 9th of April just a few days after we had decided in the first place and I just upped and left and the 9th of April on the 11th of April is my birthday so I was really excited for my birthday and my first birthday in Goa and one of the first times that I would be living alone in Goa I mean technically I wasn't living alone because I was living with my brother and his wife and kids but it was the first time I was away from like mum and dad and you know generally in a different environment altogether I mean it's a different state altogether so


The journey to Pune reminded me of how little speed I could maintain while riding the bike because of the new engine that I mentioned earlier. So it was rather sad because I couldn't do more than 60 kilometers per hour. And that got frustrating after a point because I can see, you know, freaking rickshaws and huge trucks and basically anything that had two or four wheels just passing by all the time. And it became frustrating to the point where sometimes I was like, bloody hell, man, bugger it. You know, what if the engine does blow up? I'll just build it again. And then I realized how much I'd spent building the engine and how much cost and how much time it took and how much effort it took. So I was like, no, you know what, Jonathan, you're not going to lose your bloody calm. You're going to ride and you're going to get there in one piece. So that's exactly what I did. And to be honest, I'd never bloody packed bags on a bike or anything like that before. So. I kind of, um, I didn't really know how to do it. And when I, when I started off from home, everything seemed perfect. Everything seemed like it's not going to fall off. It's going to be fine. I was tilting the bike from left to right. And it all seemed like it was there and together. But little did I know that the minute I started riding down the bloody road and I actually encountered, you know, potholes, potholes, bad patches of road, speed breakers, and just in general, other people around me. It. It got horribly, the, the, the, the truth dawned on me. It just came on me like a bloody ton of bricks and my bugs, my bags just started falling off the side, almost dropped one on the bloody highway. The bike was pulling to one side because the bags were kind of heavy and it, they were kind of leaning off of this bike. So it got really, really, really scary up to a point. And that's when I actually stopped, um, a few kilometers later and I called my brother and he. He is one of the most extreme people I know when it comes to riding bikes. So he actually rode all the way from bloody Mumbai to Kulam Nalli, which is up in the north of India. It's about roughly about five and a half thousand kilometers. And he did that on his one 50 CC, um, Pajar Palser, which is one of the more well-known domestic market bikes in India. It's one of the best selling, most popular ones. Anyways, that's besides the point. Well, he has a. A lot of, a lot of experience with traveling and especially traveling with luggage. So he gave me a few pointers. I would joke, hold him on the way. And I showed him the condition of my bags and he had a good laugh before, you know, he had a good laugh. He took the piss before he actually told me what to do. And once I did what he told me, I mean, obviously again, cause it is me and I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I kind of understood what he meant to say. And I just kind of, you know, they have this word in India, they call it Jagad. I did a Jagad. And that's how I got through it. So I somehow made it to Pune the same night. And, um, it was, uh, it dawned on me again, the, the reality of the whole move and having to ride there with so many bags and the weight of the bags and how much fuel was going and how tired I was from just the 200 kilometer stretch. Kilometers or a kilometer stretch. But anyways, um, I ended up spending the night and then in the morning before I could even wake up my brother. The kind soul that he is. He went downstairs and he actually set up the entire bike. He took my bags, decided which one he wanted to put where, got, we went and bought the previous night, or rather the previous evening, we went out and got, um, or what I can only describe as bungee cords, the basically long stretchable rope that you use to tie your, your luggage onto your vehicle. And it has a hook on the end that you can hook into various places on the bike. So, um, not knowing that. That he was already awake and, uh, you know, he's gone downstairs to try and set up the bike for me before I could even ask him to. I go, I walk up and I couldn't find any of my luggage and I started panicking a bit. So I called him up and I'm like, Hey man, you seen my luggage anywhere? I don't see it anywhere. Did you keep it somewhere or where is it? Oh, I got worried. So he told me that he was actually downstairs and he was already setting it up for me and that he wants to warm up the bike and make sure everything was ready. So I was petrified, to be honest. I was not looking forward to the journey at all. It was definitely one of the most scary experiences of my life. And I just went and got ready and I went downstairs. Once I reached downstairs, to my surprise, he had set it up so well that it felt like the luggage was never not a part, not a part of the bike. You know, he had tied it down in such a precise manner and it was so comfortable, it was almost like I had a back support, like a sofa behind me because he tied the bags. And he positioned them in a way where it actually provided support for me as well. So throughout the journey after that, I just, I would lean back sometimes and there was so much of like back support. It was awesome. And, um, that was the journey there. And, uh, to be honest, it was one of the longest and most slow journeys I've ever had, but also one of the most enjoyable because the thing with riding slow, right? Although it's annoying and you don't cover much ground, you really get a lot of time to appreciate it. The scenery around you. So you look here and you look there and you see like, you know, fields that you would have never noticed before you get to look up at the clouds and just generally be able to soak in more of what's around you. So although it was slow and you know, my ass got completely obliterated, uh, you know, it was, it was a learning experience and definitely taught me how to ride slower, appreciate more of the nature and environment around me. And eventually I did make it to go a nine and a half to 10 hours later and towards the end of the trip course, I pleaded about, I mean, prior to leaving, I had about three or 400 kilometers on the bike, on the engine already. And I only needed a thousand. So towards the end of the journey, when we were, when I was close to go, I mean, I think I had about maybe two to 300 kilometers left, maybe a little less than that. I'm not too sure, but, um, that's when I realized, oh man, I've gone ahead and I've passed the thousand kilometers. So now I could start opening up the bike a little more, picking up a little more speed, maintaining a little higher, you know, cruising speeds as well. So that got really interesting. And then that was the most beautiful part of the journey. So I actually ended up just riding slow again, cause, um, I didn't want to take a risk with the engine as well as the scenery was so beautiful that I just couldn't help, but slow down and just look around and make sure that I'm taking in everything. So we had to go through, um, so the way. I. Did it was, um, there are two, three routes now don't ask me the specifics, but some of them are horrible, absolutely horrible. So my brother, uh, being the Explorer and the experienced biker that he is, he had already planned out and created a whole Google map for me with stops, the route and everything he'd, uh, plotted out stopping points with restaurants. And it was, it was just magical. So, um, I ended up stopping at a few places and one of the stops that he had was the. And Bali guard. And that was basically one of the biggest carts that they have. And in like, at least in, in the bottom of India. And it's one of the more beautiful ones where they have like big gorges and valleys and, and the lots of scenery around. And, uh, my brother so kindly had basically put it out. Um, one of the best spots at the top of the guard for me to stop and have a break and, ah, God, just him, man, he, he just absolutely killed it. Cause the minute I stopped over there and I looked over the bloody railing, it was just a beautiful, beautiful valley down there. And it made me realize that, you know, this journey was so worth it. Although my buttocks again were completely out of commission, not feel the, the, my behind at all. My legs were basically just two twigs trying to rattle to keep me up straight. And I pretty much had enough of the journey to be honest. I was tired. I was dirty. I was, uh, you know, very, very, very fatigued and I just wanted to go home and have a nap, you know, but anyways, I soldiered on and, um, I remember the first time that I actually entered Goa, um, it was, it was just unreal cause I, I realized that finally I had taken a step. a step in my life where it wasn't based on anybody or anything else it was just for me at the time I wasn't seeing anybody so I was single so I didn't need to worry about like responsibilities or you know my bird calling me up and saying why are you doing this or I had no restrictions basically and I was just my own man it was beautiful I got there and my brother he lives at a beautiful beautiful beautiful like almost like a resort type of gated community it's called Riviera Gardenia and it's it's a beautiful beautiful establishment that basically has villas within a big garden so we had a swimming pool we had gardens around there's trees everywhere lawns and then just huge villas so the first time I entered his house I was like bloody hell man this is huge it's like three bhk as they call it here in India and a three bedroom hall kitchen basically and it's vastly huge he had an upper floor so that was one of the first times that I've ever been in a house that had an upper floor that was kind of a new experience it was really nice he had his own studio set up in one of the rooms in the house and he obviously has two kids my niece and nephew love them dearly and it was an absolute experience the first the first few days I was there was actually the happiest to be honest because I realized that I now live at Goa and I've got all these opportunities and things that could happen and I was lining up interviews and and I'd reached there on the 9th of April just a few days after we had decided in the first place and I just upped and left and the 9th of April on the 11th of April is my birthday so I was really excited for my birthday and my first birthday in Goa and one of the first times that I would be living alone in Goa I mean technically I wasn't living alone because I was living with my brother and his wife and kids but it was the first time I was away from like mum and dad and you know generally in a different environment altogether I mean it's a different state altogether so Um, the first few days were brilliant, man. We had so much fun. I brought my birthday in with blast. We had so much fun on my birthday. I got to sing. I got to, I even danced a little. So if you know me, you know, I don't dance. I've got three left feet rather than just two left feet. So for me, dancing is a big no, no, you know, I can't do it. I can't, I can't, I just feel stupid when I do it. So, but the time, you know, cause I felt so free. I felt liberated that I finally made the move and I'm in a new state and I'm in go of all the bloody states, the place that everybody loves. And, um, we had a great time actually. And my birthday went by and the next day I had to go out for interviews. And what do you know? As soon as I woke up in the morning, the first thing my brother has to tell me is that they're bloody announcing a new lockdown again, cause there's been another wave of COVID. And I was like devastated, man. Cause I just left everything in common there. And they were proposing it's going to be a six month lockdown. And me not having any bloody money and having to survive there for six months was a challenge because the whole plan was to move there, get a job immediately. As soon as you get your job, you know, start working and make money. Right. That's how most of us survive. And I would, I, I was kind of like a paycheck to paycheck kind of person, you know, I never really had life savings or I didn't believe in investments and I didn't have any emergency rainy day funds or anything like that. So I just kind of lived in the moment. And in my, it was just irresponsibility, but we'll talk about that some other time. And, um, I got there and I was thinking, bloody hell, how am I going to survive six months without any bloody money? You know? And especially, um, with the fact that I was living at my brother's house and he had to support me and he had his own family. He had his own two kids. He had his wife, he had his, his own responsibilities. And on top of that, me being a burden on it. And it was, um, to say the least, it was one of the most challenging times of my life. I definitely got to know a lot about myself, a lot about how people can, can behave and how family reacts to you when they're under pressure, especially, um, fear and pressure and doubt and, and regret is a huge, huge, huge, huge demon. And, um, what ended up happening was, uh, there was a few good days. There was a few bad days, but mostly bad days because we kept ending, I kept ending up fighting with my brother because, um, um, he would constantly remind me of the fact that I'm living there for free and the fact that I'm not working or at least not trying to look for work. And I was like, yeah, it's bloody locked down. What do you expect me to do? And it's not like I was just, you know, not doing anything. I was actually calling a lot of consultancies and trying to call friends, trying to go online and find work online. I was trying everything in my power to try and make some money, but it didn't work out. And, uh, luckily for me, luckily enough, um, the, the number of, COVID cases kept coming down and, and, uh, the government kind of got it under control. People were healing, people were getting discharged from the hospitals and in general, um, you know, things were opening up a bit more. And that's when I actually, I went ahead and I applied for Audi at Goa. And that was one of the scariest things I could have done because I, although I did have a bit of experience here and there, I didn't have any concrete experience. And I, I had a manager and I said, Hey man, I'd like to work here. And do you have any openings? And he said, no. And that kind of disappointed me because, you know, uh, that was one of the main things that I wanted to do was get back into car sales. And especially with a brand like Audi, that's, that's pretty much the best thing you could do. Right. So, um, I finally called the manager. I convinced him somehow to at least take a look at my resume. And, um, he, he obliged, but at the same time, he didn't really seem excited. So I'll kind of let you go. And I, I, uh, I happened to get an opportunity to do an audiobook again. This seems to bring up audiobook a lot, but yeah. Um, um, I had an audiobook opportunity, uh, but that meant I had to come back to Mumbai and, uh, you know, ironically enough, it was a very short deadline and the, the manager wanted me to come immediately. And I told him, man, I just got here a few days ago. Things haven't been that great. It's not been that swell. And I don't really have the resources to just up and leave. And luckily enough, the, the, the producer slash manager of the audiobook was kind enough to sponsor, uh, what would be my first flight. And that was, uh, one of the cooler experiences that I had is the first time I had ever flown. I'd never been in the plane before, never really been to more than the entrance or the outside of an airport. So it was very exciting for me and especially to be able to do it, um, for free, wherein I didn't have to pay anything, um, the, the company or rather the, the, the producer slash, um, manager for the audiobook had sponsored it. So it was absolutely cheeky of me, uh, to just go ahead and, you know, try and, um, see how much I could pull out of that. And I, I just kind of just brought it up during conversation actually, but before, when he asked me how am I going to travel, I was like, oh, I'm going to travel. I'm going to travel. I'm going to travel. I'm going to travel. I'm going to travel. I'm going to travel. I'm going to travel. I'm going to travel. I'm going to travel. I was like, I don't really have the resources. I can't ride back. Cause I'll be too tired to do the, to do the audiobook in the first place. So he said, no worries, mate. I got you. And he booked me a tickets and everything. And I was like a bit cheeky. And I was like, Hey, do you think we could, uh, do business class? And he said, do you know how much business class costs? And I was like, no. And then he said, why don't you go look it up online? And then that's what I did. And I realized how bloody expensive it is. And I was happy to just be in a plane. So, um, I got to the airport and that was a whole experience. Cause the, the first time around, I didn't know you had to take off your belt. You had to take off everything you're wearing basically, except for your clothes. Obviously you keep clothes on, but you have to take off belts. You have to take out your wallet. You have to take out your keys. You can't keep anything in your pockets. You've got in, in certain cases, they would even make you take off your shoes if they have reasonable doubt. And so, um, the first time around, I kept going through the metal detector and the first time I left my belt on the second time I had keys in my pocket. The third time, my wallet was still in my pocket. And, uh, the second time I had keys in my pocket, my wallet was still in my pocket. And, uh, the security guard kind of caught on to the fact that it was one of my, maybe my first flights. I kind of looked at him and I sheepishly smiled. I gave him a bit of a cheeky, you know, I'm sorry, kind of look. And he looked at me and he went, is this your first time? And I was like, yes, absolutely. This is my first time. And he's like, okay, not to worry. Just take out everything that's in your pockets. Nothing at all, except for your bloody jeans should be on you. And I was like, yeah, man, but if I take off my belt, my pants are going to fall off. What do I do about that? And he's like, just hold on to them. You just have to walk through the metal detector once you're on the other side, you can put your belts back on. But for now we need you to take off anything that would set off the metal detector. And that's what I did. And I flew back to Bombay with, uh, to Mumbai, rather, sorry, they don't call it Bombay anymore, but I flew back to Mumbai and, um, I thought it was the end of my Goa journey, especially considering the fact that, you know, I was, I was not really finding too many opportunities and car sales. And the few of them that I did find were paying so badly that it just didn't, not make feasible sense to be able to live there and sustain there with that kind of money. So I came back to try and do this audio book to kind of fund myself for the next few weeks, if nothing else, and to try and get back to Goa maybe. And, uh, during my time at Mumbai, I went and tried to do the audio book, but then me and my manager kind of had a little bit of a fallout and he, he wasn't really interested. Um, he didn't have the right knowledge or guidance to be able to provide me as an artist. And me, as an artist, um, I wasn't, um, comfortable working with him because he kept, he kept criticizing everything I did. And then every time I tried to change it, he wouldn't want me to go back to the older one. And I was just confused. I'm like, man, you decide what you need, what you want, right? You can't just keep telling me to do things and then I'm going to be okay with it. Plus not to mention that I'd left Goa, come back and spent a lot of time and energy to be there. And all I was getting was negative feedback or negative, um, behavior from him. And he didn't really see me as a person. And I was like, well, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm like, he wanted to take me on. So I went ahead and just canceled it on him or rather I didn't cancel it. I'd like to think I canceled it, but it was him that told me that maybe this is not going to work out. And maybe you just need practice more before you can do something like this. And I was like, okay, I took it with a pinch of salt and I came away from there. And that's when it got really bad. Cause then that's when it dawned on me that probably I might not be able to move back to Goa, especially considering that I've not gotten paid for something that I came all the way here for. Um, the only good thing was absolutely, I mean, the only good thing was that he actually paid the ticket. So I didn't have to, you know, at least I saved on traveling back to Mumbai. And once that happened, I pretty much lost all hope. I approached an old friend who has a real estate firm and he basically had a few employees and he, he works, uh, for selling new commercial as well as residential properties. And I told him, Hey man. And, um, to be honest, I had worked with him in the past, but again, one of his partners and me didn't really get along and we had to kind of fall out with them. So, um, I kind of left him. And at that point in time, he didn't have his own company, but, um, yeah, he, he was, uh, he was handling a few people here and there. So it was, um, a small establishment. You can say they didn't really have an office or anything. They used to work out of like, um, the places where new constructions were happening. They always had like a small, um, area where you could sit and do calling or just, you know, do whatever you wanted to do. And, and, and, you could sit and do calling or just to entertain guests and stuff like that. So we used to work out of those kinds of places. And I went back to him and I told him, Hey man, you know, I've got myself in a bit of a pickle and I don't have a job and I need to start making money and I need to do something which is going to be able to provide me with, um, income basically and the job so that I don't have too much of a big gap on my resume as well. So I approached him and I told him, man, can you, can you do something for me? Can, is it possible to, um, employ me? You know, point blank asked him that. And, um, he was kind enough to go ahead and not only employ me, but also give me a team leader position in his company. And all of this has happened within the span of two days. I've met him, um, the previous evening and the next morning he called me into the office and he already, he was so excited that he already had cards printed out in my name and he was introducing me to the team. And what do you bloody know? The next day, um, as I was on the way to the office, literally, I just stopped at, uh, on my local cigarette shop to pick up cigarettes. And I get a call from bloody Audi and Audi is telling me that we have an opportunity in Goa. It's for a training program. It's a six month long period where you train under Audi India, Audi India, and then you get a certification. Once you get the certification, you can be a certified salesperson for the company. And I was like, bloody hell mate, now what? You know, so just when I thought things were going to go really bad and I kind of fixed the situation somewhat, it, life just threw another curve ball at me. You know, I had to decide now whether or not I, um, maintain my promise to my friend who was so willing and so helpful and so excited, or do I pursue my own passion and careers? Um, you know, and at that point in time, um, my passion or career, um, orientation was more towards the automotive side of things. And I wanted to do car sales, especially considering the bonuses and the incentives and the kind of money that I'd seen a few of my peers from college doing, like a few of them were working at car showrooms, not necessarily Audi, but they were working at various showrooms and they were telling me about the amounts of money they're making on just incentives. You know, when you sell a car, you get an incentive, you get a small portion of how much ever the value of the car, is as your own. And, um, it was so confusing, but with a heavy heart, I told my friend no, and I turned down his opportunity and I ended up going back to Goa. And that was another exciting whole six months period wherein I was working at Audi. And, um, six months later, they started making, um, COVID vaccines mandatory and me being an anti-vaxxer. I mean, I just downright denied it. I said, no, mate, I've already had COVID two times. I'm not going to go and take a vaccine for a, for a disease that I've already gone through and endured. I pretty much have it in me. My body already knows how to fight it. I don't need the bloody vaccine because I've had it twice. So it's kind of redundant for me to be able to take a vaccine for a disease that's already infected me. And, uh, they didn't agree to it. They said, no, it's company policy. You have to take at least two of the, uh, of the vaccinations or you can't work with us. And me being the hot headed and, uh, very strong to my, uh, moral compass, or rather in this case, my personal beliefs, um, I downright denied them. And I told them, listen, man, it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. I'm not going to take the vaccine just to keep this job because it's a matter of my life and my, you know, my family's life. And, um, fortunately for me, my mom and dad didn't really get the COVID. I mean, they kind of did, uh, but it was very brief and then being senior citizens. I'm, you know, I'm, you know, I'm, you know, I'm, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm thanking God that it must've been the mildest form COVID because they got through it and they were unscathed. So that was, uh, one of the good things that happened to mom and dad during the time that I was in Goa, especially for me, it was difficult being in Goa and not being able to be there for them, but thank the Lord that that went out well. And, uh, I talked to my parents. I talked to my, my brothers, my siblings as well. I told them, and this is what the situation is. And I don't know how to deal with it. And they said, no, nothing doing none of us have taken the vaccine. I don't think we're going to start now. And especially considering that mom and dad, so mom and dad did just move to Goa at that time. And they were living with me in, uh, in my house and, um, they were much better and I didn't want to risk, you know, getting sick and probably passing it on to them. So I told my manager point blank, no, it's not happening. I'm sorry. If you want to let me go, you can let me go. And this is at a point when I just completed my, um, training. The six month training period was just over. I passed with flying colors. I was already registered under Audi India and I had my name in the system. I had a certificate and they were, they were negotiating, um, my new, like my new package for, for compensation. And