“Going for a ride” in Aizawl is one of our favorite nocturnal pastimes. It basically means just that – going out with your friends for a ride. Unlike other cities where people go to a disc or restaurant or other recreational destinations to hang out with friends, Aizawl does not have too many spots like that. So instead, we take a couple of cars and drive to various localities across the city in the night, stopping here and there for 10 minutes or so, and then finally going home.
I know it may sound lame or even weird to most of you who have never been to Mizoram. Frankly speaking, I can’t picture myself getting into a car in Mumbai, driving to Andheri, then to Powai, then to Sion, then to Bandra, then to Colaba, and then head home. I mean, why the eff would anyone do that, right? That too with the freaking traffic?
But it’s not like that in Mizoram. First of all, there’s no traffic in Mizoram during the night. Secondly, the scenery is beautiful, especially in the night. And third and most important of all, since Mizoram is a dry state, there are no night clubs or restobars, restaurants that serve alcohol, or even restaurants that open up late. So the only way we can have fun with our friends together is to stay at home or go for long rides across the city.
I call this, the ride culture. :P
So during my last visit, I did go for a ride with my friends. But before I put those photos, let me show you some of the photos fellow blogger and my good friend VaiVa captured with his camera. During Christmas and New Year, most localities in Aizawl decorate their respective areas with beautiful lights and other ornaments. During the nights, they are breathtakingly beautiful… Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Yup, the photos taken by VaiVa are indeed awesome. That’s what you get when you go for a ride across the city with an expensive camera and no chicks around you – You end up taking beautiful pics :D
My friends and I decided to go for a ride on 23rd December. Below is us “warming up” for the ride.
We all met at M’s place, and once everybody’s ready, we left his place.
We realized we had too many cars as we all reached M’s place in our respective cars. The whole point of going for such rides is to sit together with friends. And so we took just three cars, leaving the rest behind, including my rusty Wagon R.
We first went to KV Paradise, also popularly known as Mizo Taj Mahal, at Durtlang. Unfortunately, half the population of Aizawl probably had the same plan that very night, and the roads leading to KV were so freaking jammed that we were requested by the local residents to turn back and maybe come back the next night.
And so we drove back, and parked on the precarious Durtlang cliff and enjoyed the breathtaking night view of Aizawl. Close by, two drunks crashed their cars into each other and fought on the road.
It wasn’t a serious accident as both drunks were driving slowly due to the traffic jam on the way to KV Paradise.
Speaking of accidents in slo-mo, another drunk biker fell off his bike right in front of our very eyes because the traffic was moving so slowly, he wasn’t able to maintain his balance. It was so goddamn funny watching him fall in slow motion right next to us! :D
We reached Bawngkawn, and the traffic was finally back to normal. We got down from our cars and took a couple of pics.
On the way to Ramhlun, RDa’s car had a puncture, and he didn’t have any spare tyre, and the other two cars we took were not the same as his car! Luckily, some of the guys knew somebody who lived close by and called him up. He appeared after 15 minutes in his pyjamas, rolling a new tyre along. Hah, that’s what I love about Aizawl :)
Once the tyre was fixed, we drove to Ramhlun, which had one of the best decorations. We took a lot of photos there as well.
Ps. I was wearing formals that night because I went for the ride directly after attending our local Church’s night service.
Ps. I was wearing formals that night because I went for the ride directly after attending our local Church’s night service.
We had absolutely no idea who the guy on the extremely left below was! Lolz. He posed right next to us in three other photos as well, which we realized only much later. Haha Photobomber Level: Xmas ride. :D
Next stop was at Zarkawt. I guess we were a bit late or the people of that locality had removed some of the lightings, because if you compare the following pics below with the ones VaiVa took five days earlier above, they’re quite different.
After that we stopped at Venghlui for another quick photo session.
It was around 1 in the morning already, which was PRETTY late for Mizoram’s standard, but being a festive season, there were still quite a lot of cars and people on the streets. A couple of roadside snack counters even opened up, catering to the hunger of us creatures of the night. We stopped at such a makeshift joint to replenish our stomachs.
Funniest thing was, some of us and other customers around us started helping the vendors with the cooking. Man, this kinda bonhomie happens only in Mizoram :)
I think I had boiled eggs and aloo puri. Am not so sure though, if you know what I mean.
Having a shitty phone cam amidst all the professional cameras the others were carrying had its perks. Like for example, the photo below came out really well, only because my phone camera sucked!
Once we were full, we drove to our last stop – Kulikawn, where we took a few more pics. The streets by then were completely deserted.
After that, we all drove back to M’s place, got into our respective cars and drove back to our respective homes. All in all, I had a very memorable night with a bunch of really wonderful friends, and this last picture below was voted as the best Pic of the Night. Yeah it is a really beautiful picture *wink wink* :)
If you do happen to visit Mizoram during Christmas, you should definitely go for such a “ride” in the night. You won’t regret it.
Cheers.
