One couldn't have made out in the excitement that the bikes, 20 of them and an equal number of CRPF personnel astride on them, had just completed the inaugural leg -- 300-400 km -- of an All-India expedition. Part of the Diamond Jubilee Raising Day celebration of the CRPF, the All-India Motorbiking Expedition led by Assistant Commandant Randeep Singh arrived here from Jammu, along with two maintainence and one pilot vehicles, and an ambulance.

The expedition that was flagged off by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah early today, rested at the CRPF establishments in Jalandhar and Pathankot in between. For Sharma, the expedition is a break from the harsh counter-insurgency operations that he was involved in for the past three years in the trouble-torn Kokrajhar district of Assam. Further, its a chance for the men and women of the paramilitary force to interact with the civilians on a common platform, as they experienced in Ludhiana. "The civilians were simply delighted to meet securitymen sans uniforms,'' he says.

For Jayashree from Gujarat, the experience is a lesson in the equal status of the sexes in the forces. It also provides her the opportunity to see the north face of the country for the first time. Assistant Sub-Inspector Rungbel Mao from Imphal is also on his first visit to the North and says: "It's a tough expedition but we'll be able to complete the task.''

The team was received by DIG S.C. Rarh, ADIG A.S. Rathore, Commandants J.N. Sharma and S.S. Gill, besides a host of other senior officers and personnel. Shortlisted from about 40 who volunteered for the 8,000-km expedition, the CRPF mobike team will be flagged off tomorrow for the next leg of their journey by Additional Director General of Police, North-West Zone, J.P. Verma, at about 8.30 in the morning. "We'd like to reach Rampur (Himachal Pradesh) before sunset,'' says Assistant Commandant Sharma.