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Nearly a hundred bikes and more riders were lined up at the meeting point along the side of a very long onramp to what is called the “NICE” road here. It is in fact a very nice road, but in this case NICE is just an acronym for “Nandi Infranstructure Corridor Enterprises.” India loves a good acronym :)

Gautam’s ride (but his brother Gaurav’s bike) was stationed at the front of the queue, ready to lead us out. What this photo does not show is that the local police showed up, quite angry at the sight of so many bikes lined up on the ramp, with no license to do so. He was animated as can be, very grumpy indeed, and Gautam was busy doing his best to calm the man down…