First time I heard of him was from Moonie. JSR is moonie's project leader at Extreme Softwares. He is into biking and loves scrapping his bike's rear mudgaurd by doing wheelies. He performed a wheelie on my bike , Fiero then . A smooth take off , front wheels half a meter above ground ... switches gear to second and then to third and then an equally smooth landing. His childish face did not have any marks of triumph ( I heard from moonie that his body had some marks after one of his wheelies had a crash landing )
JSR was then into programming and linux . He had a sourceforge project running back in 2000. I never knew what sourceforge was, but now 5 years into Linux , I can imagine how forward JSR's thoughts were then. After JSR moved to Chandigarh and then to Blore , I lost touch with him . Other than occassional updates from Moonie, I never heard much about JSR.
2006 June , I get a call one evening . "Hi , this is JSR . Moonie said you are planning a ladakh trip. Me too interested" . Thus started our planning and discussion . Over next few weeks , JSR taught me a lot of good things . I cant list all , but here I'm writing down the 6 Golden rules that JSR taught me.
JSR rule no.1 : Dig into details as much as possible.
Few weeks before our planned start , GK ( sumo) called to let me know about his interest. I introduced him to JSR and they started a detailed plan. JSR called me one evening and was giving me an update of GK
" Da .. do u think this guy, GK is serious about Biking ?? He was planning to go all the way to Khardungla , with nothing but a sleeveless banyan and shorts and a lot of char-sou-beeze paan. He does not have any idea about the climate , weather , bike's working let alone the number of dangers involved." I chuckled, though even I did not have any idea about it.
Then started JSR's mails , each one giving more and more details about the trip ahead.
Then there was Huge checklist sent to all of us , to which all that Sumo could add was
Sunscreen Lotion
Prompt came JSR's reply ,"These are more of personal stuff, even if you forget it is ok. :) "
GK calls me and says , "Da , this JSR is too much. He goes into the finest details of trip. I thought it was a leasure trip which I can do just like that. Now I'm bit scared."
Well, that is JSR. He goes into the finest details about making oneself secured for a trip , and stops way too short of making the trip an organized one. Benefit was, we were always confident and secure with JSR around , but still every turn on the road was full of suspense and every day we spend together was full of adventures.
JSR rule no.2 : Communicate with strangers, you never know who will help you.
JSR can talk to any stranger he meets . Be it the cook who is making Roti in a vaishno dhaba near Udhumpur , be it a Jawan or be it that Funky looking guy in Banglore Airport. At banglore airport , JSR asked me to talk to the guy who was holding a helmet and sleeping bag. I couldn't . I started shivering as I knew that I've to talk to a stranger and told JSR about the misery I'm feeling.
JSR , still munching the sandwich , walked straight to the guy , talked with him and shook hands . Came back gave us the update , "Yea, he is going to Leh only , but through a different direction". He did not utter a word about my inability to talk with strangers. But for the next few days , he was urging me to talk by showing me examples of it.
Now I force myself to do it , coz you never know who will help you . Thank you JSR for all your pep talks.
JSR rule no.3 : Always keep yourself hungry for more knowledge.
Inside the flight , he was talking to me about the differences between propellers, engines , ATR and Sukhois . He ended the talk with a statement , "Sojish , I'm not boring you, right ?". I was like awe struck by the his depth of knowledge and his humility when discussing about it . To be frank , I was ashamed about my lack of information in those areas.
At a Dhaba near Panipat , he was teaching GK and me , how to eat Roti . Then why the roti is so tasty in north india . And even taught us how to talk in hindi to a north indian. You know , all those " jiii , ek chay milega kya ?". And the best was to get rhyming words in ur sentence , like .. " Ji , idar Hotel-Motel milega kya ?" . It was soo funny, but we got a hang of it , thanks to JSR.
JSR can answer anything and whenever he does not have an answer , he asks for it . Be it to a waiter , paanwala or an army officer. Me and GK were relatively happy with whatever knowledge we had. JSR proved us the benefit of knowing and we were so happy that he shared his knowledge with us too.
JSR rule no.4 : There is nothing wrong in being prepared.
First tyre punctured.. JSR took out his spare tube and puncture repair kit . Bull started rolling again within 1 hour.Second tyre punctured... JSR took out his spare of spare tube. That was when it struck to me and Sumo. This guy comes all prepared.
Two cameras , one with battery , another without battery . Nuts , bolts and pieces that is enough to make a new bull. 3 different maps of the ladakh. 2 books on ladakh and its culture . Boy , he was driving us crazy.
We had our hands on our head , when he pulled out a nailcutter when GK , was looking for something to cut his nails.
We guess , he even had a spare elastic for his underwears. And he simply smiles and says , "There is nothing wrong in being prepared".
JSR rule no.5 : When you are there , underline your presence.
On our way back from leh , we stopped for a lunch break at a place called Pang , near Sarchu. We were having a our maggi lunch, when an old lady came near us with a 2 year old kid in hand . She asked in loud voice ,
"Tu kab vaapas aaya ?",(when did you come back )
and then lifting the kid to show the face ,
"Pehachanaa isko ?" ( do u know who this is ? )
GK and me knew that JSR has visited this place 3 years back and stayed in a tent for over 24 hours . But that was 3 years back .. !!! And now a 2 year old kid ... the question , "Pehchaana isko ?" . We were like , "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING ?"
JSR quickly got up , went with the lady to the tent ... and after a tense 60 minutes, came back with a smile on his face.
The lady happened to be the one who took care of JSR , 3 years back when he was struck with AMS ( Acute Mountain Sickness ) .. and the kid was her daughter's baby whom JSR was introduced to, 3 years back as a pregnant women. JSR was in all smiles as they still remembered him. Me and GK were , to be frank , only relived after hearing the actual truth.
JSR had this innate talent to mark his presence whereever he went. I am positive that , anybody who had met JSR once will remember him for the rest of the life , all for the good reasons.
JSR rule no.6 : Never say a word , for the sake of saying it.
The same evening , we were looking for a place to stay near Baralacha La. It was around 8 pm , and one of the bullet was already blind after its head lights fused off. We didnt know what was in store for us , no light , no road , water ladden shoes and biting cold. Finally we pulled near a tent , and got inside.
JSR went inside first and enquired about the stay and then we all slowly took all bags and went inside. JSR went out again to move his bullet to a safer place. That was when this kid, Tesring son of the tent owner, came near me and asked in hindi.
'Are you guys from south ?'
'Yes' , I replied proudly. The answer brought a smile on his face.
'Are you first time in ladakh ?'
'Yes', I replied with a prouder face. But this time , it brought a frown in his face.
I asked Tesring, why he frowned and he said, "There was a guy , Jayan , from south who stayed with us 3 years back. He used to send us mails and Magazines after he left . One of your friend sounded like Jayan , but guess it cant be as you are coming here for the first time" .
I quickly called Jayan , who came from outside and told him about this . Jayan gave a quick glance at the kid , and with a smile in his face , removed the cap to show his bald head. Smile turned to a "oyee" and then hugs and celebrations . JSR was the Jayan who stopped at this tent, "Kathmandu Cafe" , 3 years back . He only stayed for 30 minutes , but promised to send a copy of BSMotoring which contained an article on them. Jayan did not forget it once he returned and thats why the kid still treasures those moments and the name. ( Jayan's own words )
JSR was telling us later, when the Tesring invites you Nepal his home town , Tesring does mean it. Unlike us down there in the busy world , who says .. "Please visit again" for the sake of formality , these people in ladakh talks right from the heart.
Never say a word , for the sake of saying it.
I guess the list has become long . To learn the rest of his rules , please meet JSR at jayansr.blogspot.com .
And hey JSR , this is just a small tribute to the help you had given to me and GK that made our trips ever so memortable
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