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Friday, October 9, 2015

Missing the Action!!




Shalini Singh


Time is 7 pm, and the date is September 9, 2015. It’s the ceremonial flag off time for the 4th CanKids Car Rally 2015, an event managed by Western Motorsports.
I am a part of team Western Motorsports (WM) and (was to be) an official for the CanKids Rally 2015.
After many hours of discussions, days of recce and few months of waiting, the time had arrived for the real action. But I am home. My lil’ girl had diagnosed positive for Dengue.
My phone pinged every other second with the pictures of rally vehicles taking off the starting point. Cheering faces, excitement filled eyes of the participants, all decked up wheels, roaring to make their way through the 1600 kms awaiting them in the next 4 days. The route: Gurgaon – Ajmer – Udaipur – Jaipur – Gurgaon.
For most of us this would be mean getting on NH-8 and go through NH-78 & 76. But that’s where the mystery and thrill lies. Starting from Gurgaon, through the various landscapes of Rajasthan, the rally would travel through many small hamlets, district roads – which usual travelers don’t acknowledge exists and the unknown roads that never show up on the Google map.
Day 1 begins. Amidst nursing my kid back to health, I keep my phone handy.
I don’t want to miss a beat. Live updates keep pouring in as each minute passes.
All those 4-days, even though I wasn’t present physically; I lived every moment of the indescribable anxiety, nervous thrill and action.
Day 2, 3 and finally the end arrives.WM teams return to their base, so do the participants.
Thanks to Poonam Bagai and her entire team of CanKids for conceptualizing such a unique awareness program on Cancer. To Anukraman Singh Rathore, for making us a part of this event.
My write-up would be incomplete without thanking the most crucial link between this event and I – WhatsApp. Thank you WhatsApp!
Shalini Singh
If God granted me a wish (bundled) – it would be a Land Rover, unlimited supply of fuel and two times meal everyday. ðŸ™‚ I live to only drive. I believe every road is a place in-between places. An avid birder and a wildlife enthusiast, trying my hands on bird and people photography.
I am a bird of passage.