Papa: Trips down the memory lane

My earliest memory is that of a scooter ride on a hot, very hot and sweaty day. It was a trip from Allahabad to Fatehpur on a Vijay Super. So what it was hot and sweaty.. I still remember the fun it was to overtake Trucks and then count them passing buy as we enjoyed the boiling hot oranges standing under the banyan tree - all this even after 28 years. There have been longer, more exciting, more luxurious trips since then, but No, I don't remember the details as I do of the trip to Fatehpur, with my chin in line with the handle, standing on the foot board of the scooter. Who else could have dared to take two kids and their Mom on this adventure but my Dad! Oh, what an enjoyable trip that was.
So many nights we would plan going painstakingly over the road maps. Yes, multiple maps as we always had few of them to get different points of view. We would compare the merits of chosing a longer route over national highway, or a shorter one going through the countryside. These road trips were always welcomed by us, and thankfully they came by quite frequently. We never went to Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur by public transport. There were many trips to Vindhyachal, Vindham Falls, Falls near Rewa, Chitrakoot peppered by longer trips to Hardwar, Agra, Panchmarhi in between.
Papa loved taking us out on these trips. He had boundless energy and passion. Not everything was smooth in these trips, apart from his brows. I don't remember a single trip when he was not in control, or he was hassled, or worried. There were trips like that to Amarkantak where we traversed Katcha roads (since Narmada dam was being built) over hills at 10:00 pm in night with the fuel indicator showing last few litres in reserve. We had trips where we ended up with two tyres nicely sliced by the razor sharp road edge - I had gone off road while overtaking! We had few accidents, a dead dog and cock, a hurt cyclist, a shattered radiator. We had trip where we tried out alternative therapy of pouring turmeric in the radiator to plug a leak! We went to Dhudhwa in rain, we went to Pachmarhi in peak summers. They were not luxurious trips, but they were alwaaaaaaays fuuuuuuuunnnnn.
Now, I have to take up trips without Papa . He has left me a tough act to follow - no matter whether the trips are smooth or not, they can be always FUN if we keep our brows smooth. I have the years to work on this - have a loving family to practice this on - and inherited passion from Papa to carry on making these trips - on and on...