It has been 4 pages since my last post about 5 weeks ago. The delay has been unintentional and frankly, even now I am in no mood to write. So please pardon the fall in quality.
After a restful night in Tezpur, we ordered b'fast in the rooms. Revitalised, we set off for Guwahati. Once on our way, we called ahead and spoke to a very helpful Mr. Rajeev of Himatsingka motors the Skoda A.S.S. and he told us that we were welcome any time. After I did a short stint at the wheel, Arun took over and at one point just before the bridge over the Brahmaputra, he had to brake hard and swerve to the right to avoid an errant scooter. We did not realise how hard he braked until Suren called a little while later to find out how we were, it was through him that we learnt just how hard Arun had braked - seems there was an earthquake reported from Guwahati about that time!
Perhaps it was the glare of all that bling that caused Arun to cause that EQ
Finding the Skoda A.S.S. was getting on our nerves as the address was sketchy and none of us were familiar with the city. Ellen too found the details too skimpy and turned her nose up at it. Fortunately, there was help on hand in the form of Gopal, Arun's Man-Friday in the NE. Well, Gopal actually drives a taxi for a living but is adept at all kinds of things and Arun spotting his talent quickly made him into some kind of an assistant / valet / butler etc. It was therefore with relief that we greeted Arun's exclamation of
Gopal! when he spotted him on the ring road. Perhaps, Suren would be able to describe and explain Gopal in his full glory as he had a very interesting run-in with Gopal over the phone.
Gopal stands watch over a very dirty 'Le Tank'. Notice how a very clean Gopal keeps a safe distance!
Gopal guided us to the Skoda A.S.S. located on the service road to the ring road. We were welcomed warmly by Mr. Rajiv, who after taking one look at the dusty. muddy and very bedraggled looking
'Le Tank' promptly went looking for a master of his trade - the washer. Well, this wonderful human being, seeing that business was dull had decided to take a stroll around Guwahati. There was little we could do till he returned as no self-respecting techician/mechanic would go anywhere near the car in it's unwashed, dirty and probably smelly condition.
That denizen of Guwahati's Skoda A.S.S. returned to the workshop in about 15 minutes and after one look at the car, very non-chalantly asked us "Where has this car been to, to get so dirty?". Our reply of "Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh" drew an admiring look from him, but he quickly recovered and asked us "Where are you from?" Our reply of "Hyderabad" elicited a supplementary question that was more rhetorical than anything else - "You drove all the way from Hyderabad to Tawang and now you are in Guwahati?!" Once we assured him that we had driven all the way and not cheated by putting the car on a plane or train or anything stupid like that and that we intended to complete the 7500km trip firmly planted inside the car, that maestro said something to the effect of "WAH", ceased all further conversation and went to work. We watched with admiration as that true professional went about his job and, what a job he did. Totally professional, it was as if the rest of the world ceased to exist for him and all he could see was the very, very dirty
'Le Tank'. He went to work with a single mindedness that is rare. He methodically cleared away all the mud, grime, dirt and dust till the
'Le Tank' was clean and gleaming.
Even caked with mud, the aux lights gave usable light. Stowaway mud increased the weight of the car substantially.
Nazim wanted to crawl under to photograph the mud in/on the underbody. Thankfully, a gentle reminder about mining accidents where the roof caved in trapping hapless miners dissuaded him.
The master goes to work
Above and below:
The mud gets the ol' heave-ho. The rear was no less dirty. Notice the washer at the open front door. He used a jet of water with the precision of a surgeon to remove mud and dirt from the door-sill / frame without even a drop of water getting into the cabin! Split personality? Clean front - dirty rear. The rear gets hosed down. Once the dirt, mud and grime got hosed away it was time for a generous dose of soap suds. And, a final rinse
Once
'Le Tank' was scrubbed down, we took her onto the workshop floor with a three point agenda - (1) Clean the air filter (2) Clear all error codes from the ECU and (3) Get the headlights to point down at the road (or somewhere in the general direction of the road) instead of sending signals out to the yet undiscovered life on other planets in the sky. The Works Manager himself took charge of the air filter and soon the poor man was enveloped in a cloud of dust. He emerged triumphant a little while later holding an air-filter that looked absolutely clean. The headlights were much trickier to handle. The technician who normally handles the VAG analyser was absent that day and the Laura's headlights could be adjusted only via the VAG. Emboldened by the presence of Nazim, who is a veritable wiz with anything to do with electronics and software, we encouraged the team at Himatsingka to hook up the Analyser. What followed was an excruciating half an hour of trying to tempt the headlights to look away from the skies above. We succeeded partially and drove away with the headlights (both beams) focussing somewhere in the approximate are of the horizon in front of the car. We were however thrilled at the difference that the clean air-filter made. The engine was now much smoother and was responding instantly, it was also revving lower to give the same power.
Headlamps get the treatment, eventually we had to use washers on the fixing screws to focus them downward. Attachment 309685
While we were at the A.S.S. we had called ahead to Shillong to re-confirm our bookings and to convert our 3 rooms for 2 days booking into a booking for 2 rooms for 3 days. The Hotel Alpine Continental obliged us and
we told them to expect us around 10.00. Rooms in hand, we set off to have dinner in Guwahati. We hunted for and found a nice chinese place that Arun remembered from his earlier trip(s). Seems that the guy had
changed his board and colour scheme so we missed it on our first pass. The food was pretty good and after a sumptuous meal we bundled into the car for the drive to Shillong. The Guwahati - Shillong road was packed
with traffic and reminded us of the Hyderabad - Vijayawada NH9. Only saving grace was that the GS road was a hill road with plenty of turns where one could overtake the trucks lumbering uphill.
The Hotel Alpine was firmly in the "OK" territory. It was clean enough. The sheets, blankets etc were absolutely clean, the bathrooms were not the best in the business and the heaters were a bit squeaky and dusty.
Pics in Alpine: Seems he has thought of a way to beat the system in Monopoly. Uh - Oh, that did not work, time to rethink strategy.
The food in room service was passable but, the breakfast was great. We sank into those clean beds after switching all alarms off to surface just as breakfast was about to close and hurried down to get the 50% of our nourishment for that day before they shut the buffet. B'fast done we trotted off to the India Tourism office to pick up brochures guides, posters etc. Done with that we decided to push along to Elephant falls and Cherrapunjee. That of course is another story.
Cheers,