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| Smooth roads to complete the day! |
After cooling for some time, geared up for last part of my 3 days long journey. Made it to Udaipur by 7:00 PM.
“Aage jao! Milega” a local responded on enquiring him about the lodges to stay.
Unloaded my bike at ‘Hotel Magan Palace’ though it was little irritating as I dint had any double room for today & have to manage with large 4 bed room for one day paying 1000 bux. Tomorrow they would shift me to double room with 800 bux/day. Room service guys were acting proactive in making me very comfortable taking my entire luggage’s & treating me like a king. When I came to negotiate the price,
He said “Aapko acha offer me dunga!” easily.
“Kitna kum karoge??” I asked smelling something fishy at the deal.
“Kareeb 600 ayega! Agar koi bhi puche to bolna 500 mein diya hai!!!”
Fixed the deal & got into mega size large 4 bed room for one day. Got fresh & informed all my closed ones about me making it to Lake City without any hurdle. “Great work Krishna!” I said to myself for riding 1837 kms in 3 days 
. Closed my eyes with a big relief that no more long ride for next few days.
Day–4 | Udaipur Sightseeing | 2–Nov–2010 | 56 Kms | 1893 Kms
First task for the day was to clean my trusted partner as he had gone complete dusty. With Gobi Paratha & Veg Sandwich completely filling my stomach, was on move towards City Palace. Got the direction from lodge guys & reached with my wallet full of fresh notes from ATM. As I moved closer to City Palace, the street got narrower & narrower.
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| Narrow streets around City Palace... |
In addition, street is packed with tourist vehicles & my panniers consuming a space of car. After a little mess, landed my bike in parking & got an entry to City Palace with all the required tickets. 4 to 5 floor tall standing City Palace was gigantic to look at a glance.
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| Tall & wide City Palace... |
After 3 days of my bikes heavy duty, it was time for my camera to get into act & got busy clicking from whatever angle I saw the palace.
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| Loved this shot!!! |
Also got few shots from Armour room & few paintings after which I had to deposit my camera in a counter to move ahead since I decided not to take Camera ticket paying 200 bux.
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| Wonderful crafts at display!!! |
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| Have seen lot of them in old Bollywood movies... |
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| Painting on the fort wall |
From there onwards, it was completely about the life style of various Rajput rulers in specific about 'Maharana Pratap Singh'. All rulers had their name starting from 'Maharana' & ending with 'Singhji'. The palace consisted of various places of interest like ‘Kanch-Ki-Burj’, ‘Moti Mahal’, ‘Manek Mahal’, ‘Zanana Mahal’, ‘Mewar Gallary’ & so on. There was a place where complete armour set of Maharana Pratap was at display & I overheard guide saying it weighs 25 kg altogether & these are still being worshipped during Navaratri Festival. Few places were worth a click but I was helpless 
. View of Lake Pichola was marvellous with 2 palaces in it.
“Lake Palace mein pacheese(25) hazaar se ek lakh tak ki karma milta hain!!! Aur ye sab gareeb logo ke liye hain!!!” 
I overheard a guide say. “Dude! You stand nowhere in the race!!!” my mind said it confidently.
While moving ahead, came across a place where bunch was school children were peeing inside a small door. On curiously checking, it turned out be toilet room of kings which had cushion covered western toilet with back rest. “What luxurious days these kings would have had??” was wondering. There was also a wooden model of ‘Chetak’ favourite horse of Maharana Pratap which died in the battle field against Akber (Damn! I overheard again). Altogether I spent around 2.5 hrs exploring the palace in detail.
‘Udaipur Govt. Museum’ saw the board when I came out but no one entering it. Thought to check it out & was in with 5 bux entry ticket. It was all about weapons, animal skins & ancient sculptures at display.
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| Dancer babe at a pose! |
But worth was the view of Lake Pichola that I could not click inside the palace.
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| Lake Pichola... |
‘Vikram Singh’ a friendly security at the palace gate guided me with route to Lake Pichola.
“Boatingpe jaana hain??” person asked at ticket counter. “Nahi! Sirf dekhna hain!!!” I said. He also said that the ticket has full day validity.
Initially, I wasn’t allowed to click snaps of a building which belonged to present king but security said...
“Waha Jao! Darbaar hall hai. Uska photo keech sakte ho!!!”
Me nodding my head went in & was spell bound with the interiors. Absolute royal ambience it had.
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| Durbaar Hall!!! |
With few quick shots, was out towards Lake Pichola to get my share of snaps.
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| Jagmandir Palace between Lake Pichola... |
On my way out from City Palace Street, the traffic congestion got to worst with tourist vehicles. In between these vehicles, local young guys were riding their bikes as if they are in Moto GP track only difference being these idiots have stylish sun glass instead of helmet. It wasn’t anything less with local babes too. They too were riding their machines with entire face covered with scarfs & racing as if they are shooting for Hindi version of Angelina Julie’s action flick. Damn! No riding sense at all.
Sustaining all these, managed to move out the mess & next in the list was Saheliyon-Ki-Bari which was quite near to City Palace. Somehow for me, the place wasn’t too exciting as it had nothing but park with few fountains. Walked out with bunch of shots for memory.
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| Saheliyon-Ki-Bari |
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| Park around Saheliyon-Ki-Bari... |
Security guy handed a local tourist map when I asked him the route to Sajjangarh Palace. On the way, got into decent looking ’24 carrat pure veg restaurant’ for lunch & got a bomb of 190 bux for super oily Pulav & Raitha . The climb to Sajjangarh Palace was very steep with super narrow roads which I enjoyed riding on.
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| Ascent starts from here to Sajjangarh Palace!!! |
“Karnatak??” a guy asked as I parked my bike. “Ha!!” I said. After few questions about my bike trip,
“Avo, tumhe kuch history bata tahoon!!!” He said & started with it. Few facts which guide told me are,
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| Silent Sajjangarh Palace |
- Sajjangarh is second highest peak in Rajasthan after Mt Abu.
- Udaipur has 6 lakes & all are interlinked with huge canals.
- Udaipur is fully surrounded by Aravali hills.
- Raveena Tandon got married in Jagmandir Palace in Lake Pichola.
- There are plenty of Leopards around Sajjangarh.
- Sajjangarh Palace has 3 huge water tanks with each around 2 lakh ltr capacity.
- Sajjangarh was initially planned to build as 19 storey building but plan got cancelled after the sudden death of ruling king.
- After Great Wall of China, Kumbalgarh Fort has longest wall stretching up to 36 kms.
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| Huge water tank at Sajjangarh Palace... |
After going through the tour of Palace with its history, handed him 50 bux & came back to Udaipur city. With good rest in lodge, went to Lake Pichola late evening to get some night shots of the palaces. As I wasn’t allowed to enter the lake from City Palace side, took the other route & experienced a real cool ambience on the banks of Lake. Sat silently on a bench for around an hour gazing at illuminated Jagmandir Palace with romantic music my DJ’s (IPod & Mobile) playing for me.
 |
| Jagmandir Palace at night... |
“Tu jo mili... ek din muje, main kahi hogaya la pathaaaa... ” my DJ was singing & was thinking “Yeah! I have really lost myself ever since that day...”
After being in my own world for a while, looked around to see what others are up to & found that young ones are in deep discussion about their love life, babes lost in their own world as I was few mins back, an oldie his loving wife & beautiful daughter busy capturing self portraits with palace at back. Also heard an amazing rhyming phrase one little kid say to other... “Champak Lal, Gadhe ki Baal!!!!”
With quality time being spent on the bank of Lake Pichola, came back to lodge & closed days account with Kumbalgarh Fort & Ranakpur Jain Temples in mind for tomorrow.
Day–5 | Udaipur–Kumbalgarh–Ranakpur–Udaipur | 3–Nov–2010 | 234 Kms | 2127 Kms
‘Army Jawans on morning jog with their guns on shoulder, road side habitants heating themselves burning tyres, auto drivers busy glancing daily news papers’ is what I got to see when I stepped out for a walk early morning. After freshening myself, wanted to try out something different for morning bite & got potato sandwich. Yuk! It was very bad decision I realized after looking at it. Somehow put it into my stomach & geared up to explore Kumbalgarh Fort.
As soon as I got into country side road, vista got very nice with core rural look all around. It is really difficult to put those scenes in words. As I moved ahead, width of the road got decreased up to semi single lane mode.
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| Getting into core village vista!!! |
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| Tourists enjoying everyday village work!!! |
Was riding very slow so that I can witness the surroundings. As & when I crossed any village, everyone was looking at me as if Gubbar had entered their village to take Basanti out. At one such village, took my camera out to capture innocent kids walking on road side. As soon as they saw me with cam, donno what happened to them: scratched their ass & ran out with fearful face at a super speed just like they are being transferred in 10MBPS line 
. “Do I really look like Gabbar???” I wondered.
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| Kids on duty!!! |
With enjoying every km of ride between Aravalis, reached Kumbalgarh Fort by NOON. As I was walking towards the view point,
“Were you the one on bike???” Nancy – foreign tourist asked curiously. “Yes! I was the one...” said with a smile.
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| Wide open Kumbalgarh as seen from View Point!!! |
After capturing few shots from view point, got inside the fort with entry ticket. Very first sight inside the fort made it very clear that I can’t see the whole fort at any cost.
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| Fort walls... |
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| Fort Entrance... |
As I had heard yesterday, the fort walls just goes on & on over hills after hills. Fewer crowds made my expedition even more interesting. Went to the top most part of the fort to get beautiful panoramic view.
 |
| Have to go up there!!! |
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| Fort walls running over hills... |
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| Beauty as seen from the window... |
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| Road to Kumbalgarh... |
It was also birth place of Maharana Pratap Singh. Lonely Planet says ‘Kumbalgarh Fort was captured only once by Akbar with the help of other rulers only for 2 days!’ Thought this must be true looking at the vastness of this massive fort. Fort consisted of few beautiful ancient temple complexes as well.
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| Temples inside the fort |
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| Just loved it... |
With everything captured in my camera, was out towards Ranakpur Jain Temples around 1:30 PM.
Riding another 50+ kms which initially had thought just 5+ kms was not boring at all with the fact that I was once again passing through rural vista. With kids waving ‘Tata’ & selling Custard Apple at most of the villages, I was in deep love with the route. Reached Ranakpur by 3:00 PM with last few kms of ride in twisties & forest area. Parked my partner & was walking towards entrance without knowing where it is.
“Where is the entrance???” an old foreigner asked widening his arms.
“I donno! Will check with the guard & let you know!!”
“Bhai saab! Entry kidar hain??” I asked guard at the gate.
“Idhar se! Udhar camera ka ticket le lo!!!” he said pointing to ticket counter.
Informed the same to white man & removed my shoes to get in with ticket in my pocket.
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| Ticket counter at Ranakpur Jain Temple |
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| Main temple complex doesn't look special from outside |
“Oh My God!!!” was the 3 words I uttered as I was witnessing one of the best sculptures till today. Had lost myself looking at those marvellous works done on marbles. Any word I write would fall short explain how beautiful it was & hence thought capturing them as much as I can would be good alternative.
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| Isnt this just amazing??? |
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| This is made of single stone... |
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| Found on the roof!!! |
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| Gosh!!! How could they make it??? |
Got too busy with clicks. I was wondering what to capture & what not. “This temple has 1444 pillars & no 2 pillars are same in design” Lonely Planet says which I had to agree being there 
.
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| Just few pillars together! |
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| This is what a pillar contains... |
After good collection of pictures, came out & there were 3 more temples in which gave visit to 2 of them but was in no way to compete with first main temple.
With all the expedition done for the day, sipped a cup of tea at temple canteen & geared up for return journey to Udaipur. On the way gave a break to fill my stomach at Aranyawas Restaurant. Ended up paying 230 bux for ultra oily Veg Chowmin & Sprite.
“Gosh! Why do I end up paying more for oily food???” my mind triggered out a question 
. With little time left to get dark, got back on my wheels & reached Udaipur well before dinner time with a memorable one day excursion. With some packing done, crashed little early on my last night stay at Udaipur.
Day–6 | Udaipur–Jaisamand–Udaipur–Mt Abu | 4–Nov–2010 | 280 Kms | 2407 Kms
“Bhai saab! Jaisalmand kaise jaana hain??” I asked a passerby.
“Jaisalmer??” He confirmed looking confused. “Nahi! Jaisalmand..” I said.
“Acha! Jaisamand...” & showed me the hand direction. “Donno the place name & visiting it!!! You suck idiot...” I said to myself & continued on a misty morning.
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| Early morning blissful ride!!! |
Early morning misty ride in between jungle was bliss to ride on. Rode slowly taking pictures of my poser dude & nature. Reached Jaisamand by an hour....
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| Found it on the way... |
“Bhaiya! Yaha Lake kaise jaana hain???” I asked a villager as I dint know what you call for Lake in Hindi. He took the opportunity & spoke something for almost 2 mins. All that I could understand was that he was pointing to some direction. Rode towards where he pointed to but was not confident if I was on right path. Thought confirming again would be better & confirmed with another guy who was wearing sun glass (thought a person wearing sun glass would at least know the meaning of Lake) that I was on a wrong direction. Turned back & I got to see a huge Dam like structure beyond village. As I was parking my machine, kids rushed towards me to sell something...
“Du ski lelo na bhaiya! Bahut machli aayega! Boni kardo na...” I dint even know what they were trying to sell me off. Made them move away with my stiff “Nahi chahiye!” & got down to what I had come for.
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| Decent enough to post it!!! |
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| Kids on a boat ride... |
It’s a very huge Lake with calmness all around. Loved the peace more than lake itself. With satisfactory clicks, got back to Udaipur to say good bye!
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| Jaisamand Lake gone back to 70's |
“Check out??” lodge guy asked as I got down to load my bike. Settled the bill & rode though busy, congested streets of Udaipur. With few minor confusions, was on NH-76 by NOON. Took the ride quite slow with frequent photo breaks as the days destination wasn’t too far to hurry up.
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| Smooth NH-76 |
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| Landslide on NH |
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| It happens only in India |
‘Arbuda express food’ saw the board & thought worth to give a lunch break. Against my expectation, they had South India Dosa items on menu which tempted me to order 2 dosa’s to load myself to the neck. Dosa’s turned out to be good one knowing the fact that I am in Rajasthan.
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| Ultimate horns it had!!! |
After riding ahead for some time, took right turn to climb the only hill station of Rajasthan. Riding in twisties added much more fun to beautiful songs playing in my ears. Overtaking vehicles without horn was an additional challenge which I loved to accept. It was evening when I landed in Mt Abu & enquired for a room at Anand Delux near Nakki Lake.
“Kamra hain!!! Lekin akele ko nahi dete hain!!! Rule hain...” First time I am hearing such a unique rule 
. Ended up in a nearby lodge which was very much below avg. But as it was only till next morning, thought to go for it.
After freshening up, enquired the route to Dilwara Temples. “Woh tho paanch baje band hota hain!!! Kal subah bharah baje khulega... ” Gosh! I missed it in just 20 mins . With nothing else to do, went to Nakki Lake to kill some time & it got damn boring.
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| Silent Nakki Lake!! |
As I was sitting at one side of the lake, saw Toad Rock standing up the hill. Getting up there would be much better than to sit beside the lake doing nothing I thought & got up the hill climbing few adventurous paths.
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| Toad Rock as seen from Nakki Lake!!! |
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| Toad Rock close by now... |
Being at top of the hill, I got nice view of Nakki Lake below & also spotted Guru Shikar at a far distance. After capturing them all, got back to Nakki Lake to kill rest of the time as going back to room dint sound a plan.
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| View from Toad Rock!!! |
“Aap Gujarathi ho??” asked sipping hot tea to a couple with kid sitting next to me beside lake. They nodded their head proudly (only couple nodded their head as kid was busy with his ice cream).
“Yaha acha Gujarathi thali kaha milta hain???” “Kanak Dining Hall...” they said before I could complete my question. “Thanks” I said & went for a walk around the market street to kill rest of the time.
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| Colourful market of Mt Abu |
The market was crowded with colourful shops & colourful babes in hot get up. Gave a visit to Chacha Museum like shop as I wanted to buy something but price tag on each items made me stay at a distance. With my watch pointing to 8:45 PM, entered Kanak Dining Hall with hope to get some delicious Gujarathi Thali. Sat in a table which had 4 mega size plates each plate being double the size of my plate at home.
“Ek?” Servant asked. “Ek Gujarathi Thali!!” I said.
In few mins, my empty plate became completely packed with various items. Began grabbing rotis with tasty subjee. They also served what we call ‘Patrode’ in coastal Karnataka.
“Khadi??” a servant asked pointing to some white liquid he was holding in a container. “Ha...” I said showing an empty bowl to fill. Dipped my finger & licked it. It tasted very strange or might be only for me as I was having Gujju Thali for the first time. But for some reason, I dint like it & morever dint know how to eat it. After solving extra roti,
“Kya lauoo??? Kichdi, Chaval??” another servant asked. “Thoda Kichdi” I said. Another servant came asking with Khadi again. “Khafi hain!!!” I said. He repeated the process of asking the same item for every 3-4 mins 
. Was wondering either he wants me to eat the left out part Khadi at any cost or 'more serving=more tips' concept. Couldn’t be rude to him as he had ‘Athiti devo bhava’ kind of expression in his face. Ate Kichdi & its same as our Pongal I realized. Next was to eat Chaval with Dal & Dahi. In the mean time, servant dropped a piece of green colour Peda which looked like a rat killing poison at first glance.
Finished my dinner with more left in plate & than in my stomach. Paid 102 bux for leaving more & burping more. Got inside my thick blanket with another long ride waiting in pipeline.
Day–7 | Mt Abu–Guru Shikaar–Mt Abu–Jodhpur | 5–Nov–2010 | 312 Kms | 2719 Kms
Took a deep breath as soon as I flushed out yesterdays Gujarathi Thali in full force. With everything normal now, checked out from the lodge & was on my way to Guru Shikar. Riding in narrow curvy roads with mist all around was something different than to ride on straight highways.
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| Scenic incline to Guru Shikar!!! |
On reaching Guru Shikar, came to know that I still need to climb around 100+ steps which is not at possible with my complete riding gear. Requested to a shopkeeper to keep my helmet, jacket & knee pads which he agreed to.
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| Few more steps before I reach top... |
Got to the top spot climbing the steps only to find that it isn’t anything special for one who has already witnessed lot of hills in south. But the passing cool breeze was worth a detour from Mt Abu.
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| View from top |
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| Just loved the snap... |
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| Dude busy with Sun bath |
After sipping hot cup of tea, got ready to move on while a voice came from nearby...
“You are from Karnataka???” a dark complexion guy enquired me.
“Yup...” “Rode all the way till here???” “Yes...” “Cool yaar!!!” he came close to introduce himself.
“Hi! I am xxx Pillai”, “Krishna here...” Conversion continued for few more mins as he introduced his buddies & spoke about what I do & so on.
Answering my nth interview, reached back to Mt Abu & packed my stomach with Masala Dhosa & Plain Dhosa (not dosa as per the menu) in Kings Fast Food. Dhosa & Chutney combination was good enough for breakfast.
Now with all set, started descending with usual crazy overtakes. Passed Abu Road & soon we were on NH-14. This NH was smooth 4-lane road till Pindwara & from then on, it got into 2-lane mode.
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| Bull waiting to move ahead!!! |
With potholes, uneven roads & speed breaks at every passing village, I made it to Jodhpur just before evening.
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| Last 44 more to go... |
Jodhpur welcomed me by showcasing mighty Mehrangarh Fort standing tall at a hill. City has very good infrastructure at least in terms of roads I thought.
“Bhai Saab! Idhar Clock Tower kaise jaana hain???” I asked a young guy on bike.
“Clock Tower!!! (Confused expression)... Acha Ghanta Ghar....” & showed me the route to it.
Continued as directed & when I reached pretty close to Ghanta Ghar, the 4-lane road is completely occupied by pedestrians. It was over packed might be due to the festival of lights I assumed. As soon as I crossed Clock Tower, 4-lane road merged into single lane. In addition to that, my dumb bike has to cross crowded locals. With lot of patience & care, reached Yogi’s Guest House riding on very narrow streets of old Jodhpur.
Was thinking that the room won’t be good enough as the surrounding doesn’t seem decent but my thought went wrong when Yogi showed me classic super clean AC room for 700 bux. I would have paid 1000 bux if he had asked for such a room for sure.
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| Can you believe I got it for 700 bux?? |
As was the room, was their hospitality. Got welcome tea on roof top restaurant for my tired mind & body to relax on. The view from Roof top was one of the best in the town I guess. At one side, I could see mighty Mehrangarh standing very close & other side, complete township was visible till Umaid Bhavan Palace which is at other end of the town.
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| Mighty Mehrangarh... |
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| Clock Tower spotted... |
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| Umaid Bhavan Palace taken with complete 15X zoom... |
After relaxing for the while looking at city & fort, came down to enquire about what all I can see today. But Yogi told I can cover everything easily tomorrow & no need to hurry up.
“Wow!! Then just rest today” I said & got fresh washing a pair of dress which has been experiencing the dust & smoke since Bangalore but never got to see water & detergent powder 
.
With entire evening in my hand, went to roof top restaurant with camera, ipod & head phone. Before I could settle down,
“Were you the one on motor cycle??” a western lady asked with a smile.
“Yes! It was me...” “Don’t you feel hot wearing such a thick leather jacket in this weather???” “I do feel! But security is of more priority for me...” answered politely.
After few mins of chit chat with her, started watching Ice age 3 in my ipod. After some time, the same white lady’s gentleman asked me “What’s this???” looking at my ipod from his microscopic eyes.
“It’s ipod.. Bla bla bla...”
Finished watching the movie along with soft drink & few snacks getting in. Mean while, all the gigantic structures of Jodhpur were lit up with lights. Captured them all from various angles with the help of my tiny tripod.
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| Mehrangarh with illuminated lights |
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| Colourful Ghanta Ghar |
Also enjoyed watching beautiful crackers bursting at the sky. After tasty dinner, came back to room, set AC to 23°C & crashed for the day.
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| Beautiful lamp found at Yogi's |
Day–8 | Jodhpur Sightseeing | 6–Nov–2010 | 27 Kms | 2746 Kms
After few Left to Right & Right to Left, got myself out from bed & blanket. With a hot tea at roof top restaurant, took my own time giving a good start for the day. As I had got up early in the morning, had enough time to get ready for Jodhpur sightseeing.
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| Yes! I got up before Sun... |
With bike passing through few narrow gallis of Jodhpur, reached parking place of Mehrangarh Fort in hardly 10 mins.
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| Main entrance |
As I was keen to know few historical facts of the fort, thought Audio tour would be better option as hiring a guide for alone dint sound good option. Bought audio tour ticket for 180 bux & got instructions from cute lady about it's operations. Started playing audio at each place mentioned in a number system.
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| Cannon ball marks on the fort |
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| Hand prints of queens before they left the world... |
The audio tour covered all the important places in fort & also answered my main question: “why is that lot of houses in Jodhpur painted in blue???” It’s an indication of Bhramins house & Jodhpur was once a Bhramins town.
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| View of the blue city... |
As I passed through each important place in the audio guide, I also got to witness some of the antique collection of Palanquins, Howdahs, Paintings, Armours, Canons & so on.
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| Palanquin made of Silver |
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| Dint knew that this is still in existance |
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| Lord the queens used to pray when their kings go for a War!!! |
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| Another huge Palanquin.. |
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| Deisgner Kniefs |
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| Painting demonstrating something... |
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| Royal meeting room of rulers... |
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| Rajput architecture at display |
It took me around 3 hrs to complete the tour along with photography. Not to forget, one can get excellent view of entire Jodhpur city from fort.
With nothing left to do, got back to Yogi’s, went to roof top restaurant taking ‘2 states’, ipod & head phone. Spend time rolling the pages of ‘2 states’ grabbing some snacks side by side. Had dinner, packed my luggage & with all set to depart tomorrow crashed switching on AC.
Day–9 | Jodhpur–Jaisalmer | 7–Nov–2010 | 290 Kms | 3036 Kms
Loaded my bike by morning tea time & was ready to depart from Blue City. Settled the lodge bill, & got the phone number of Hotel Moti Mahal from Gajju (a friendly care taker at Yogi’s) in a sheet of paper. Gajju told me to have breakfast & leave which I thought would be good idea rather than to stop somewhere in between. With Corn flakes & Fruit bowl being heavily loaded to stomach, crossed over Mehrangarh to touch the NH which takes me to my next destination – City of Golden Fort!!!!
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| Jaisalmer still long way!!! |
Riding in 2-lane patch up road wasn’t easy for initial few kms. Took a break after riding for around 80 kms & had chit chat with Manoj over the phone (I am least bothered about roaming charges).
“Teen so ki bhar dena!!!” “Kitna tez chalta hain??” asked the guy while filling fuel. “Ek so bhees main chalta hain!!!”
“Kitna average deta hain???” fired another guy nearby. “Highway main kareeb chalees deta hain!!!”
“Isse jyada tho car deta hain....” ‘Which is that master piece car???’ I desperately wanted to know 
....
“Yah tho apna apna pasand hain!!!” said the fuel filling guy in support of me. Thanked him & moved ahead.
After few kms of ride ahead, suddenly felt like I have landed in a different world altogether. All I could see around was sand, sand & sand. Thanked my machine for landing me in the heart of Thar successfully.
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| Yes! I have made it to Thar.. |
Road was arrow straight with dunes on one side & bushes on other. That’s when I started to cut down on speed so that I can capture my first encounter with sand dunes. Spotted few dark camels roaming freely on their own land. Road too turned out be very smooth & scenic.
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| First of these kind found roaming freely... |
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| Could not believe I was standing on it!!! |
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| They wanted 10 bux for taking their photo |
Gave my next break when Jaisalmer was just 98 kms. While on the break, lot of tourists waved me ‘Thumps Up!’ I could see more of foreign tourists than the Indians plying towards Jaisalmer.
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| Milestone became my back rest for some time |
Geared up for last leg of the ride with music adding a lot to vista around. For the first time in this trip, got to see a foreign couple travelling in Bullet & we exchanged mutual waves. I was on my way to enter Jaisalmer & suddenly was stopped by 2 fellows in splender. Just had a glance on their number plate & it said ‘KA-20...’ Wow! Udupi guys I thought but their face clearly said they are not from south at all.
 |
| Arrow straight road to Jaisalmer |
“KA number plate dekha! Isliye peecha kiya..” He said exposing his teeth the colour of which was in synch with Jaisalmer fort.
“Udupi ke ho app??” I asked even though I was sure he is not.
“Nahi! Mera bhai rehta hain waha. Uska gaadi hain... Agar Camel safari pe jaana ho tho mujhe bolna! Yeh mera number... (Handing his visiting card). Hotel walon ke paas mat jaana. Bahot loote hain!!!” Thought of falling to his feet for opening my eyes.
Got into the city & had to ride in super Narrow Street towards the fort. Few Amry Jawans gave a welcome smile looking at me & my bike. Asked locals for the direction to Moti Palace,
“Kishna Ji! Namaskar. Main aaphi ka intezaar kar raha tha!” Ashok shouted swallowing ‘r’ from my name.
He was a kind person with dark complexion. He told there is no restaurant service currently as his guys have gone home for festival & showed me a very huge room without TV for 500 bux a day. Though I wasn’t completely ok with the room he showed, compromised since it had very good view of the town below. After dumping my luggage in room & freshening up, got out to have some food as it was already evening & I dint had my lunch anywhere on the way. Thanks to tomato ketchup with the help of which managed to eat horrible Chowmin ever. Since I had 2 complete days in Jaisalmer, came back to room to take some rest as I was too tired & fell in bed with the intension of taking a small nap. Opened my eyes only when my mobile showed ‘9:43 PM’ on top left corner. Good night I said to self & am gone again.
Day–10 | Jaisalmer Sightseeing–Bada Bhag–Sam–Jaisalmer | 8–Nov–2010 | 100 Kms | 3136 Kms
Was desperate to catch up some sleep since 3:45 AM in the morning. Yesterday’s nonstop sleep since evening had resulted in getting up this early. Somehow pulled myself in bed till 6:00 AM after which it was irresistible. Had cold water bath which made me completely alert.
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| Jaisalmer Flag I believe... |
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| Clear Sunrise |
Ashok had told me all the places in town that I can easily visit today. Thought first to finish off with in the fort & then to get out for the rest. As the city was too congested, decided to explore the places by walk & give some rest to bull.
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| Narrow streets inside the fort |
Got into Jain Temple with a similar expectation of what I got to see in Ranakpur but the temple was not too exciting. Since I had already taken 70 bux ticket, got enough share of clicks & was out in some time.
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| Temple complex |
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| Buddha posing... |
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| Some nice carvings |
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| Few more of the carvings!!! |
Next in the list was Jaisalmer Fort Museum which turned out be very boring & was actually yawning very badly. It consisted of nothing extra than the rulers clothing’s, armours, meeting rooms, & so on. Came out soon to get out of boredom & filled my stomach in Monica Restaurant opposite to the fort.
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| Museum as seen from outside |
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| Ancient notes at display!!! |
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| One Anna of those days... |
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| View of Jaisalmer Town from Museum |
After loading my stomach with whatever I wanted, walked towards Pathwa-Ki-Haveli which consisted of huge crowd. Got the entry tickets & with great difficulty & patience, got some decent snaps even though the Haveli turned out to be little boring.
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| Designer window of Haveli |
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| Pathwa-Ki-Haveli... |
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| Bunch of Bats inside |
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| Another view of Pathwa-Ki-Haveli |
Once done with that, got into Salim Singhji-Ki-Haveli & wandered for what good reason did I get into this??? Absolute Zero it was.
Day–11 | Jaisalmer–Tanot–Jaisalmer–Khuri–Jaisalmer | 9–Nov–2010 | 318 Kms | 3454 Kms
“Kishna ji! Garam paani tayaar hain...” Ashok screamed from outside when I was lazily moving towards bathroom with tooth brush in one hand & paste on the other. As I had to leave early, ate self made Fruit Bowl (Apple + Banana) for breakfast.
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| Illuminated Golden Fort as seen from room window early morning... |
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| Tanot!!! Here I come... |
As soon as I crossed Bada Bhag, the landscape was just breathtaking. Mind was applying break at regular intervals & heart was forced to click few shots of whatever I observed around ranging from a small insect to spectacular sand covered landscapes for miles.
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| Scary Vultures on the way... |
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| These were lot in number. Also observe tarmac made of golden colour gravels. |
The road was smooth enough to touch 100 but dint really want to miss out anything passing by & hence riding in 60’s was a ideal solution. Also the morning climate was good enough to freeze my fingers & trucks of some factory blocked my way several times till Ramgarh.
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| Straight road for miles with no one around... |
At Ramgarh, enquired about stationed commander to get the permits for BP 609.
“15 BSF main poochna...” said the constable at road side pointing me to BSF base at Ramgarh.
“Sir yaha brigadier saab kaha milte hain?? Mujhe Tanot BP keliye permission chahiye...” asked one of the 3 BSF guards at the base.
“Permission tho thume Tanot main hi milega!!! Idar kuch nahi hain... Border jaane keliye kudh ka gaadi chahiye!” “Mere paas apna gaadi hain sir...” I said pointing to bull. Then again the same set of questions about my bike & trip. I think they were desperate to fire something. If not bullet then questions!!! 
.
Had Masala Tea at Ramgarh in a tea stall whose owner looked nothing less than terrorist. After a lot of beautiful scenic photos, made it to Tanot & enquired the guards about permission to get in.
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| Machine landed in Lonely Planet!!! |
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| Last village before Tanot - Ranao |
“Permission tho woh saab se milta hain!!! Yeh mat kehna ki maine bola hain...” whispered the junior guard.
“Kaha se aaya hain??” asked bade Saab when I requested him for permission.
“Bangalore”.. “Kaunsi gaadi hain???” “Udhar motorcycle hain saab!!!” "Bangalore se motorcycle pe aaya hain???”...
He instructed the guards to let me go & flew away. After he went, one of the junior guards told strictly that they can’t let in the motorcycle & they have the order for that. “Damn!!! What’s this at this point when everything was fine????” But the junior guard who whispered me earlier helped arranging another tourist group who had come in Xylo to take me with them. Thanked him for bringing back my hope. The Xylo team consisted of entire Rajput family of 15 people from Pali stuffed in 10 seater 4*4. Dint know how to add one more to that.
The guards at the security were letting in 2 vehicles at a time & once they come back, the other goes. Since I had ample time, gave a visit to Tanot Mata Mandir & got few shots of Victory Pillar.
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| Classic horns it had |
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| Direction to BP 609 |
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| Tanot Mandir which was attacked by Pakisthan in 1971 |
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| Victory Pillar after winning the battle in 1971 |
My favourite junior guard started asking questions about the trip & when I said I have visited Mt Abu, he told me to show the photos. When I showed him, he was very happy saying “Yeh! Nakki Lake hain na??? Mera photo hain yaha ka... Abu gaya tha ek baar”...
“Border pe photo keech sakhe hain kya??” I asked him again. “Keecho magar phataphat!!!”
Now with all set, we were just waiting for the vehicles to come so that we can go. When the vehicles came out, the guards near to gate let other 2 vehicles withholding our Xylo. Wanted to smash him down for his attitude but can’t really do that as his one punch was more than enough for me.
A senior person from the Rajput family insisted the guards to let us go providing them the ID proof. But the guards were,
“Aap logo ko kaise jaane doo??? Jisne permission diya, woh to chala gaya...”
“Are bhai kuch tho karo!! Kam se kam rajputo ka toh kayaal karo...” was the counter argument from our great Rajput. Was wondering how different Rajputs are from other Indians as far as permission is concerned.
“Jaane do inko!!!” said another senior officer looking at the ID proof of great Rajput after making us wait for almost 2 hrs.
“Wow!! At last, my dream moment of the trip has come. Hurry!!!!” I thought taking a deep breath.
As our Xylo passed the check post, there was something really special in surroundings. Although it may look nothing different for others, but for a true Indian, it was very auspicious. Adding to that, Xylo played excellent slow track from Border... “Main chaloo, main chaloo....” was in deep love with the moment I was passing through.
After around 20 kms of ever memorable drive, parked Xylo & we got down to see that there is no road at all to go ahead. It had completely ended around 500 mtrs before border fencing. The look around had absolute silence, sand everywhere, thick fencing running from right to left.
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| This fencing just goes on... |
Beyond the fencing, saw a white colour small pyramid type structure of my waist length. After a careful observation, it was written “609 India”. Man o man!!! It was just mind-blowing, breath taking, amazing & what not. “Am I really here or is it just a dream???” thought came out but confirmed that I am actually witnessing it.
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| Thats the Border Pillar 609!!! |
I am extremely sorry that I can’t express what my feeling was being there. I could only feel it even now while penning it down & this feeling will last forever. After walking for some time, went up to the watch tower & got the better view of fencing & 609 pillar. Spoke to a guard in charge about few things.
“Hamare side se koi jaata hain uss side ko??” Asked a Gujju lady curiously.
“Nahi nahi!!! Humko marna kaha hain??” He said laughing.
“Unke side se koi aatha hain kya???” She fired again.
“Ha kabhi kabhi aate hain!!!” “Pakad ke kya karte hain???” I bowled a bouncer this time.
“Pakadte kaha??? Seeda udate hain... Hume order hain!!!” he said smiling but was little shivering. He hit a six for my bouncer .
“Aap yaha hain! Isi liye hum waha chain se so sakte hain...” the super great Gujju lady delivered her super dramatic comment which confused even the guard. He dint know how to respond except the smile. Though her statement was true, but her delivery style was real revolting.
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| Gate which will be opened during meetings... |
After the great Gujju family went down, the guard asked me where are you from & how come here. I briefed him about my tour & he was shocked to hear that I have come here all the way from Bangalore in bike. He told me about how he feels being at the border happily but could easily see his tears rolling inside. ‘Lot of dreams & wishes! But nothing except habitant free zone & sand ’ Even now I remember what exactly he said but don’t want to write it. Few things are better unsaid. Dint know how to admire him & left the place before I get more emotional with a hand shake.
“There are people from every part of the country here. One is from Bihar, other is from Assam, another is from Maharashtra, me from Kerala & so on. We are a family in our selves here. We have our base camp there (pointing us to a building far away). Our food, clothing & any emergency required things will be there. We have nurse in the base camp here but the doctor will be in Tanot in case of a need. Yes! This fencing starts from Kashmir & ends in Gujarat. It’s entirely Indian government project. We do conduct a meeting with their militants often when there is necessity & no one will be aggressive at that time. It will be a very friendly discussion. Yes! We open the gate & go to BP 609 (pointing to the gate) for any kind of discussion. Both the side carries a colour flag during meeting. Any decision taken during the meeting will go to Priminister & President. The fencing is placed exactly 150 mtrs behind the pillar for safety measures. After 1971 attack there has been no issues on this side. We have such camps for every 3-4 kms & each camp consists of more than 40 Jawans.”
These were the exact comments from a chief commando who spoke to us for a while. He keeps roaming beside the fencing on gipsy with few Jawans. For some reason, I was still not 100 % that I am actually here. After bidding byes to ever gracious militants, came back to Tanot with the same border song keeping me in heaven.
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| Observe that there is not road ahead J |
“Thank you sir!” I said to the senior officer who had let us go.
“Kuch nahi than a waha pe??” He asked smiling. “Hume toh bahut kuch dika!!”... “Chalo acha hain” “Good bye”
Reached back Jaisalmer riding 120+ kms in 90+ mins refilling fuel.
“Bahut deir hua. Jaldi niklo...” Ashok said giving me the route details as I was late to Khuri for Camel Safari, Folk Dance & dinner package at 600 bux. Reached Khuri overtaking cars in a single lane bumpy road. Kailash (brother of Ashok) welcomed me & after a cup of tea, he took me to Dunes in his Mahindra Jeep which should actually be in museum. He arranged me a Camel for Safari & as I sat on it & it got up, was about to fall down since I was used to sit on a bull but not on Camel. Reached top & was dropped there till Sunset.
“Sunset hone thak safari hain na???” I asked him pretty confused & depressed.
“Are nahi! Abhi yaha sunset ke baad vapas leke jaane avunga! Aap yahi rehna Sunset ke baad. Main avunga leke jaane keliye...” He said & vanished.
With some time left for Sunset & nothing else to do, did a bit of photography capturing Sunset in Sand Dunes.
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| Sunset captured at Khuri!!! |
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| Lucky I got it right... |
“Are wapas kaha! Kuch gumaya nahi!!! Thoda dhoor thak gumavo...” I said him with distress as he was planning to take me down.
“Tumhara Naam Kya hain??” “Ravindra..” “Camel ka??” “Bubloo”.. “Aur aapka??” “Krishna...”
With a short Camel ride & photos, came down to the parking. I handed him 30 bux after he asked for which he thanked me with a smile & that’s when I realized Bubloo & Ravi has something in common. ‘Same colour of teeth!’. Kailash took us back to Chandni Desert Resort in his vintage jeep where a local folk group was ready to perform.
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| Posing for a shot!!! |
The complete audience consisted of 2 families, an old group of ladies & me. Group started with their ‘welcome song’ which was ‘good bye song’ for me attentiveness. In the first song itself, I realized that their voice is going to kill me & it’s better to deviate my attention to save myself. I don’t know how they can even call themselves as a performance group with such a killer voice.
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| Folk Group!!! |
As soon as they completed welcome song,
“Aap ko koi Hindi picture ka gaana aatha hain kya???” an old lady from the group asked as though she is a reality show judge.
I am trying to save myself here & these buggers killing bollywood songs. After a lot of thought process, they started with ‘Nibooda...’ from Hum dil de chuke sanam. I was not at all focussed to their songs & was fully engaged in observing the expressions of every single audience. Our super judge started clapping her hands up in the air & was wondering “Has Meera Bhai taken rebirth????”
All that I was sincere at was to applause after completing each song without knowing the reason behind it.
After few ever boring songs, a dressed up lady from the folk group took the centre stage to perform dance to the group’s music. And to be frank, she performed it to the best she could. At least something interesting I thought but dint knew it’s going to be much more fun until the folk lady invited our super judge to accompany her.
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| Dance performance by the group!!! |
I would really thank old lady for taking my boredom away with her outstanding steps. “Gosh!!! She is multi talented” I wondered. Her dance resembled Helen from 1980’s movies. To tell in practical, old lady’s performance was most annoying but it was also the best time pass for the evening. Mean while, just had a look at what others are up to & saw a family man sleeping just like ‘Kumbakaran’ extending his legs on the chair nearby. Real absurd person was sitting (sleeping) in front of me. He dint even thought how the folk group could feel if the audience sleeps at their performance 
. However, the dance program continued for few more songs & crowd taking the centre stage increased with a young lady who would be a good competition to South actress Namitha in size & a young fatty boy who was just walking looking his feet & its dance step according to him. While our Namitha was busy with her innovative steps shaking her hips, I was feeling like earth is being shaken. Thought of stopping her but dint want to stop the fun myself. Wanted to capture the video of her but was not sure if my lens can capture her completely. As the time progressed, the number of audience who could concentrate reduced with everyone looking at their watch & eagerly waiting for dinner.
“Off! The wait has come to an end...” I said as I saw the food ready on table. Had my share of Roti, Chaval & Dal as nothing else was tasty to eat & vacated the place. It was around 8:45 PM by the time I left Khuri & the road was complete dark with no vehicles & street lights. Rode nonstop till Jaisalmer at high speed with complete fear in mind & closed the days account with the recap of visiting Tanot BP & complete fun at Khuri.
Day–12 | Jaisalmer–Bikaner | 10–Nov–2010 | 346 Kms | 3800 Kms
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| My last Sunrise at Jaisalmer!!! |
“Abhi aage kaha??” Ashok asked while loading the bike.
“Bikaner..” “Acha! Pokaran jaake waha se lepht mudna hain!!!” “Ha...” I said.
After settling the pending amount to pay & breakfast outside the fort, was on move towards Bikaner by 10:15 AM. While I was just out from Jaisalmer & riding pretty slow for few initial kms, a car overtook me with ‘MH-02’ number plate. A girl in back seat asked me using a hand signal ‘Where???’... ‘Straight!!!’ I signalled her. She waved me to come close to their car which I could not reject at any cost. As soon as she slid the window, I saw a gorgeous babe wanting to speak though her parents were sitting in front seat.
“Kidhar se???” she asked disturbing my concentration on her creamy lips. “Bangalore...” “Akele????” she questioned looking more curious. “Haa!!!” I said with a smile concentrating on her lips rather than road ahead. “Aage kidhar???” “Bikaner, Ajmer our wapas!!!!” I responded. “Wwwwooooaaaawwwww....” that’s all she said & I realized my speedo needle was already pointing to 100. “Damn! What power the babe has....
”
I waved her bye & she screamed “Happy journey & all the best!!!” & moved ahead. Took the first break nearing Pokaran riding at high speed (‘Wwwwooooaaaawwwww effect’) overtaking whatever vehicles I saw ahead. The babe’s car overtook while I was on break & she again waved me ‘bye’. I was happy that at least in this trip I could impress someone worth.
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| My first break before Pokaran... |
Refilled & took a deviation to Bikaner. From Pokaran, it was NH-15 in which I could ride at steady speed. After a while, was feeling little uncomfortable on my stomach & thought riding with proper breaks would be better than to go crazy. Decided to take around 30 mins break for every 75 mins of ride & followed the same. With a good spells of 88 kms & 98 kms, entered Bikaner by evening & rode across the narrow old Bikaner (I guess) without knowing where I am supposed to go.
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| Last 45 more... |
Enquired the address of Hotel Padmini Nivas & as I crossed Junagarh Fort; was welcomed by wide open roads. Made it to hotel with slight confusion & got air cooler room for 750 bux which also had tiny swimming pool.
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| Comfy room at Bikaner!!! |
After freshening up, had a chat conversation with another tourist vehicle driver who detailed about the places I could visit in Bikaner while sipping a hot tea in garden. As I had nothing left to do, cleaned my riding gear & bike for some time when another tourist car driver asked “Aap bahut tez chala rahe teh!!!”. He said I overtook him before Pokaran & my mind flashed ‘Wwwwooooaaaawwwww effect’ . After a long chat conversation with him & lodge owner who was also planning to buy bullet for his kids in Jaipur, got back to room politely rejecting the offer for a walk from Jay Singh (tourist driver) as he was too drunk & was quite out of control. Jay Singh was very curious to know if I have a girl friend & was wondering “What has he got to do with my personal life???” After a decent normal dinner, slept tight with ‘Wwwwooooaaaawwwww effect’ splashing in my mind.
Day–13 | Bikaner Sightseeing | 11–Nov–2010 | 19 Kms | 3819 Kms
Woke up early as I had got used to due to everyday schedule not to run office but for a morning walk. The same I decided to do today & was out with my machine in search of a nice park for morning walk. Found one near to lodge which was pretty crowded by daily walkers. After 30 mins of walk, was sitting in a bench to relax for some time & one of the 3 guys said cleaning his teeth with some leaves,
“Bhai! Aapka hair style mast hain!!!” “ThanksJ” “Aap Bikaner ke ho???” “Nahi! Bangalore...” “Tho phir yaha kaise??” “Tour main hoon” “Tho phir aapka bada group hoga...” “Nahi yaar!!! Akela aaya hoon...” “Akele??? Kaise aaye hain???” “Bullet pe....” “Bangalore se???” “Haaa...” They dint know what to ask next & I was in no mood to answer anymore. Was almost fed up answering whomever I meet. Came back to lodge & had a small general conversation with lodge manger having tea. He told I might have to shift room to another lodge nearby as he has bulk booking for today. Since I was alone & he confirmed me to take care of shifting my luggage, I had no issues & got ready for Junagarh Fort after 2 heavy Aloo Parathas.
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| Junagarh Fort entrance!!! |
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| Junagarh Fort... |
When I went in, there was a huge queue at ticket counter & tourists were crowded at the entrance. Security nearby told that tourists will be sent inside as a batch along with guide who is paid by the govt so that tourists don’t need to pay anything extra. Though I wasn’t so keen on history part of the fort, it was a real cool facility & was speculating ‘Why can’t this facility be at other forts too???’ Waited for a while & went in with bunch of tourists following a guide. Within the initial few mins, slipped from the group & got onto photography in full zoom. As I progressed through the fort, got to witness more & more beautiful paintings. Yes! So far, I have not seen any fort with this amount of painting in it. This fort has paintings on walls, windows, roofs, doors, glass, pillars, marbles & what not. Everywhere it was full of colours.
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| Something interesting inside the fort... |
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| Paintings on the roof |
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| Paintings on the wall... |
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| Gold coated room... |
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| Hats off to teh creativity!!! |
While I was enjoying the paintings & photography immensely, my camera lens got closed all of a sudden. Thought battery got exhausted & inserted the spare set of batteries but it was of no use since they too dint had any charge. “Gosh!!! Plug points were completely free yesterday & I was slipshod to charge the batteries... My carelessness had paid... 
” I cursed myself & came back to lodge so that I can get batteries charged at the earliest. After shifting my luggage’s to comfy AC room of Desert Winds Hotel nearby, kept the batteries for charge. Since I had nothing else to do than to scold myself, thought filling my stomach would be much better & had lunch watching TV like in home. My constant inspection on battery charge was yielding a negative result till evening making sure the day goes waste. At last it worked at around 5:00 PM & soon went to Lalgarh Palace only to hear from the security that it’s closed for today. Came back to lodge thanking my negligence & spent entire evening in front of TV changing channels.
Had dinner & crashed booking Hotel Paramount Palace in Pushkar for 1000 bux/day. Yeah! It was very expensive & had no other option as few other lodges mentioned in Lonely Planet were full due to Mela.
Day–14 | Bikaner Sightseeing–Pushkar | 12–Nov–2010 | 288 Kms | 4107 Kms
Woke up & flushed out yesterday’s dinner before I could touch the tooth brush as the pressure was irresistible. Since the fort opens at 10:00 AM, thought to go for a walk & came back filling fuel as well. After grabbing my morning bite in lodge, went to Junagarh again before 10:00 AM & Prachina Museum was open by then though the fort was still closed.
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| Beautiful Bikaner roads |
As there was some time for the fort to open, thought to check out Prachina Museum & it was real boring since my mind was completely worried about retiring from Bikaner by NOON.
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| Wonderful glass |
Came back to the fort entrance only to wait again for guide to come. As soon I got in along with the group, skipped their company & went to the place where my camera had stopped working yesterday. Continued from that spot & walked out till the exit glancing through various collections of stuffs used by Rajputs.
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| My name written using Kniefs |
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| Aeronautics ages back... |
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| Only the skin was real one... Donno how they preserve it!!! |
Next was to visit Lalgarh Palace & got in with an entry ticket for my camera as visitors are free to enter. This palace had outstanding collections of photos, paintings, dress materials, house hold items, medals, coins, equipments the kings used. I was more attracted by the maintenance & calmness than the palace itself. The other part of the Palace is not allowed for tourists as it’s a * hotel now.
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| * Hotel in Lalgarh!!! |
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| Some nice stuffs at display!!! |
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| Medals altogether |
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| Neatly maintained!!! |
With complete satisfaction of visiting the main attractions of Bikaner, said good bye by NOON & was on NH-89 towards Pushkar. Reached Deshnok & thought to visit Karni Mata Mandir – Rat Temple though I hate rats. Requested the guys at shoe stand to take care of my leather jacket & bag for some time & got in. As I entered, I was told at the ticket counter that there are around 300 rats in the premises. Though I could not feel the presence of 300 rats, they were in bunch at every corner of the temple.
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| Rats at Karni Mata Temple!!! |
I was desperate to come out as the floor was too gluey & was already in the most uncomfortable mode. Came out in no time & geared up for the long distance to cover before dark. As I rode ahead, the quality of the road got worsening with lot of railway crossings, speed breakers, worst roads at villages & dead animals by road side stinking like hell.
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| Annoying speed bumps... |
Passing Nokra & Nagaur was terrible due to bad roads & traffic. At Nagaur, had to wait for a long time due to railway crossing & had become the main attraction for locals. Auto drivers who would resemble movie villains were starring at my machine as though they are looking at Katrina Kaif. After a while, 3-4 auto drivers blew me away with their everlasting questions. Though I was answering to their questions friendly, was desperately waiting for the gate to open as I was feeling weak due to skipping my lunch in the effort of reaching before dark. At last the gate opened & road ahead to Merta City after which the road became nightmare till Pushkar. Dealing with absolute patch up road, we made it to Pushkar by sunset & got into Paramount Palace Hotel paying 1000 bux for a room without TV.
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| Excellent combination of Sun rays, clouds & landscape!! |
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| Thanks for the pose dear!!! |
After getting fresh, went to roof top restaurant & grabbed Veg Pakora calling family to inform about my safe arrival at Pushkar. As it was already dark & me too tired for anything, took a small nap in my cosy bed which got little lengthy without my knowledge. It was close to 10:00 PM when I woke up just to realize it’s too early for any good work & got inside my blanket.
Came back to lodge realizing that I shattered 100 bux for guide. “Tomorrow, Good bye Rajasthan!!!” I thought & mentally geared up for return journey.
Day–15 | Pushkar Sightseeing | 13–Nov–2010 | 30 Kms | 4137 Kms
Started the day overlooking at misty Pushkar city covered by hills all around from the roof top restaurant with a hot cup of malasa tea. As there was nothing much to see & do in Pushkar, took my sweet time to get out after a heavy Aloo Gobi Paratha.
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| Misty morning to start the day with!!! |
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| Cloud covering Sun rays.... |
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| What else can be best at this time??? |
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| Mist getting thicker & thicker!!! |
Since Pushkar looked quite small at a glance from roof top, thought to explore it by walk would be better option than to get my mega size bike on those super congested roads. First had a walk around main narrow market street which was over crowded with saints, tourists, shops & so on.
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| Bullets for sale! Anyone???? |
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| Sweets at bulk... |
Just beside the street, there were ways to Pushkar Lake through ghats. Took one of the ways & reached Lake by getting down few steps. Now being at the Lake & looking around, understood the meaning of Ghat with respect to Lake. It’s a sacred place where devotees take holy dip in water.
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| Holy Pushkar Lake |
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| Numerous ghats... |
As I had not planned to take the dip, took few snaps of the lake making sure not to capture ladies taking holy dip. Since nothing else was there to visit, came back to same narrow street & went to visit Bhramha Temple but was stopped by the guard,
“Camera nahi leke jaane ka!!! Aapra saara samaan counter pe rakdo...”
Looking at teeming devotees & the risk involved in keeping my camera at the counter, decided to skip it off as I was not so keen to visit the temple after all.
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| Bhramha Temple as seen from outside... |
It was not even NOON by then & I was already done with Pushkar. Came back to room getting some dress materials to my nephews & took a small nap cooling myself under the fan.
Since I was out of cash, walked again towards the Bhramha Temple where SBI had set up an ATM. Got cash after a long wait in queue & got into RS Restaurant opposite to Temple which had Dosa photos at display. As I expected I got some delicious Dosa’s as well. While I was enjoying my dosa, my long table got completely occupied by a huge Gujju family.
“Ek Masala Dosa lavo...” I said as soon as I was done with Plain Dosa.
While in wait, I observed that a kid sitting opposite to me was not ready to take his eyes from me. “Might be he is pasteurizing what he had heard of Kumbakaran in schools”
After a heavy food, got back to my net to relax for some time & then again took my bike out for a ride to Ajmer as I had left with nothing else to do. The 10 kms ride to Ajmer was completely on twisties & enjoyed it taking a slow ride with breaks at view point.
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| Kudos for the pose baby!!! |
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| Ajmer from the View Point!!! |
While I was turning back to Pushkar, a youth from Scorpio asked “Sir! Yellinda?? (Sir! From where??)” “Bangalore” I said & moved ahead. Came back to lodge again & thought of giving a visit to Mela which dint work out due to heavy rain that evening. With things getting boring, caught hold of ‘2 states’ & finished reading it in full zoom compromising on my dinner with some fruits. “Uff! Tomorrow a move ahead from this boredom...” I thought & closed my eye shutter.
Day–16 | Pushkar–Chittaurgarh | 14–Nov–2010 | 238 Kms | 4375 Kms
Day started with a twisty ride on Snake Ghats towards Ajmer when Pushkar was still misty. Crossed Ajmer Lake & rode ahead on 2-lane road towards Nasirabad only to see the beautiful Golden Quadrilateral after around 10 days. Though the 2-lane roads I have been riding on from last few days were good enough, I have always felt a kind of security being at GQ at least in terms of tyre puncture.
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| Good Bye Pushkar.. |
Took the ride slow enjoying the vista around as I had enough time & GQ was with me from now on. With few butt breaks, reached Chittaurgarh by NOON & enquired for a room in Hotel Padmini Palace.
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| At a morning break on GQ |
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| First view of Chittaurgarh Fort... |
As I entered the hotel gate, thought it would be much more than my budget looking at the spacious parking & huge hotel complex. Enquired about room & got the deal for 800 bux without AC but decent enough for me. The front end officer got very curious about my trip as he was seeing a person travelling this far for the first time in bike. After clearing my Nth interview, got fresh & called up reception to order lunch.
“Sir we have Thali...” “Which one?? Punjabi or Gujarathi??” “Sir it’s just Thali... you will get roti or chapathi, 2 subjee, rice, dal, sweet & raitha..” She gave me the complete menu for my baffling question
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| Yummy Thali for hungry stomach!!! |
However it was not bad for my hungry appetite & grabbed everything they gave. The front end officer had also told that it’s better to visit Chittaurgarh Fort by evening as I will get to see Sound & Light show. Thought to go with his advice & took some rest cleaning my bike & lying in bed shifting TV channels. With enough respite, rode towards fort & hired a guide for 100 bux which he quoted as 200 initially.
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| Some ruins of the fort... |
With he being my pillion, explored all the major spots inside the fort like ‘Vijaya Stamb’, ‘Meera Bhai Temple’, ‘Padmini Palace’, ‘Main entrance of the fort which is now back entry’ & so on. Though the guide was very young, he had accumulated enough information about the fort for his business.
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| Temple dedicated to Meera Bhai!!! |
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| No one knows where this water comes from but it comes 365 days, 24/7... |
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| This single crystal peice in Padmini Palace was specially baught from London!!! |
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| This was behind Padmini Palace... |
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| Open place on the other side of Fort where historical war was faught... |
Although we were running out time, I managed to get on top of Vijaya Stamb climbing the dark, confusing, tiny steps for around 5 floors. When I went to the top, realized that the effort was worth it for the view.
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| Eye catching view from Vijaya Stambh |
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| Vijaya Stambh standing straight!!! |
Like the guy I met in Bikaner morning walk, even my guide was more interested in my hair style & my bike. He was waiting to ride my machine but I was very particular about not giving it to any unknown person.
“Thume itna sub quile ke bare main kaisa patha hain???” I asked at last while he took me for a round of complete fort which was around 3-4 kms.
“Bhees saal se yaha rehta hoon!!! Hum log quile ke andar rehte hain!!!!” That’s when I realised there are local residents inside this fort as well like in Jaisalmer. He was also insisting me to visit govt undertaken saree shop where I would get sarees made of Custard Apple which is available only in Chittaurgarh. But I had enough memorable experiences of shopping in tourist places & rejected his offer at the first place.
First gaze outside the window was real cosy as everything outside looked misty to my eyes. Rubbed it again to confirm that it was truly misty outside. To my eyes, even fort was not visible which I had clearly seen yesterday. Got my bike loaded by tea time & requested front end officer to get the dosa’s ready as early as possible. But my request went in vein as I had to wait for 50 mins to get last pair of dosa’s before I leave Rajasthan. Though it did not tanged great with Chutney, the combination of it with Sambar turned out be worth for my wait.
“Thoda kum kardo bhai saab!!!” I said the cashier while settling the bill & he gave me 10% off on room rent 
While I was about to move,
“Where are you going today???” fluent english touched my ears & it was another young guy with thick glass covering his eyes.
“Ahmedabad”... After flooding few more questions he said,
“I had read it in magazines about bike riders but seeing for the first time today!!!” he said which I wish the girls in his group should have said.
“Krishna here....” “Pradhyunma from Pune....”
Got onto GQ towards south re-filling my tank & by passed Udaipur with few photo breaks thereby completing one full circle to Rajasthan. Once again I thanked my partner for making this happen without any trouble.
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| Smooth GQ to start tehe day with... |
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| Hurry! My Rajasthan circuit is complete!!!! |
After a long butt break, geared up for the next part which consisted of 4-lane fun filled twisties. With bending my bike to the max possible, DJ completely entertaining me & photo session on regular basis, I was on my own world to be frank.
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| Twisties to begin... |
“Ek noodles laana!! Jaldi...” I ordered at my lunch break around 20 kms behind the state border. The servant told he was in Mysore for 5 years & he knows quite a bit of Bangalore too.
After grabbing the oily noodles, I was on my machine for the next stretch. Soon it started to rain slightly to wet the roads serving no other purpose. As I was riding in twisties, at one such curve, it was written “Katarnak ted!!! Dheere chale...” which I read & rode slowly to be on the safer side. As soon as I crossed the curve, realized the reason why they have put caution board as I saw a badly damaged car lying beside the highway. It was in such a condition that I got desperate to take the snap & applied sudden break forgetting the road was wet. Got slipped & after few seconds of humiliating sound, saw my bike lying beside the car. “Damn! How did it happen??? ” Stars were rolling on my head for some time. I was on absolute shock as to how could it just happen??? The very next thought that triggered my mind was to get the snap of my bike & not car anymore.
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| Out come of the mess!!! |
Tried to lift my machine but it was not one mans job. Could not resist laughing at whatever happened in few mins time. Requested few two wheelers to help me & they did it sincerely.
“Kaha se gire aap??? Kuch laga toh nahi???” a constable who came to help asked me thinking it was a fatal fall looking at the bikes situation.
After getting bull back to the road, made a brief inspection to check for any serious damage. But nothing fatal at all! Only foot rest & scratch guard got bend. Next was to do a self inspection & the outcome was my knee pad had a scratch. “Wow!!! I am as I was before” I grasped. As everything looked fine at first glance, continued but this time my speedo down to 50’s. While on the move, I was still trying to find the reason behind it as I bid byes to Rajasthan.
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| Good bye Rajasthan!!! |
“I wasn’t at high speed.... What else could be the reason??? Wet roads?? Low air pressure in tyres??? Wheel alignment problem???” & so on. But the other side of my brain said “What’s the fun in ride without all these mate???” thereby getting my buoyancy back. Reached Ahmedabad by evening with few breaks & sensible riding after learning a lesson. Settled in Hotel Palav with 624 bux for AC room.
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| Caught them at my last break!!! |
After freshening up, asked the route & timings to Sabarmati Ashram & lodge guy said it will be late to go now & handed me written directions on back side of hotels visiting card. As I had plenty of time in hand, cleaned my bike, check the air pressure which was very low & got my tummy filled in Food Point before I called it my day.
Day–18 | Ahmedabad–Daman | 16–Nov–2010 | 445 Kms | 5202 Kms
As per the plan, I had to cover big distance on this day which meant I should be done with Sabarmati Ashram as soon as possible. Rode across well developed Ahmedabad & after around 15-20 kms of riding in city, crossed Sabarmati River & landed my bike in Ashram parking. It was just 8:30 AM by the time I went in & was the first visitor for the day too. Very first observation I made was that the place is real calm & peaceful. I could not hear any noise except the one made by parrots.
Gave a visit to few important places inside the Ashram viz museum which had bapu’s biography with various pictures & posters, library which consisted of books on bapu’s life in various languages & also few letters bapu wrote on his days, Gandhi’s house where bapu lived in ashram.
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| 3 priciples of Bapu which no one follows!!! |
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| Dandi March route!!! |
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| Some pictures of the same!!! |
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| Real calm Ashram... |
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| Sabarmati River beside Ashram |
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| Having Sun bath... |
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| Bapu's house in Ashram... |
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| Bapu's stuffs!!! |
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| Boy!!! Was the place so romantic??? |
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| Dude & his soulmate... |
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| Bapu's message at library entrance!!! |
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| A dude written to another... |
Came out in an hour clicking them all. Toran restaurant opposite to Ashram was open by then & decided to eat something than to stop somewhere mid way. With a tasty Upma padded in my stomach, got back to lodge by 10:30 AM & soon was ready was the big day. Took the same Sardar Patel Ring Road to touch 2-lane Ahmedabad-Vadodara NH-8 & this 2-lane took 2 hours to reach Vadodara. Gosh!!! Absolute mess the road was with packed traffic & annoying driving sense of drivers. Bastards don’t even care about the vehicles approaching while overtaking.
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| On my way to Vadodara... |
After by passing Vadodara, stopped for lunch & had Roti & Dal. Pitied on the servant who had become a foot ball rolling between customers accepting their harsh words. Post lunch, it was dead smooth 6-lane road to cruise on till Surat by pass. Had tea break nearing Surat & paid 12 bux for tasteless tea. Even on return journey my interview had not got over & a gentleman from a family spoke to me about my trip but this time I cut down the conversation saying “Bye” as I had lot more to do for the day.
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| The death of English... |
Crossed Surat & thereby getting into road full of diversions & extensive trucks. Made it to Vapi before night taking 17 diversions (If I have not missed out any) for flyover construction with in just 110 kms. These diversions had changed the colour of my jacket from black to brown.
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| Last shot for the day |
Vapi is pretty developed place with Skoda showroom, McD, Big Bazaar & more. Took a right diversion to Daman & settled in Hotel Siddarth with much needed AC room for 900 bux as the climate was nauseating. As it was dark, decided to check out Daman tomorrow & crashed with AC cooling the room.
Day–19 | Daman–Mumbai | 17–Nov–2010 | 207 Kms | 5409 Kms
Since the check out time was 11:00 AM, thought to do maximum utilization of AC which I have paid for. Relaxed watching TV till 10:00 AM although AC was off for some time due to power cut. Grabbed South Indian Buffet breakfast for 59 bux at Nani Daman & came back to make full use of AC till the check out time.
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| Welcome to Daman!!! |
By 11:00 AM, checked out keeping my luggage at the counter. Since the days deadline was to reach Mumbai which was just 200+ kms, thought to kill time in Daman till evening & rode towards Devka Beach. Riding in the coastal roads was reminding me of Udupi & Goa. For some reason, I just love to ride around the coastal roads might be due to the greens & landscape they offer I thought.
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| First sight of beach spotted!!! |
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| Just love these coastal greens... |
On my way to Devka Beach, traffic police caught me for not wearing helmet but holding it in hand instead.
“Helmet kaha hain??? Pehna kyon nahi???”... “Idhar helmet compulsory hai kya??? (Though I knew it wasJ)” “License dikao” which I showed him...
“Yaha helmet zaroori hain... Isiliye humlog yaha khade hain....” “Teek hain saab. Mujhe patha nahi tha....” “Waha sau rupai ka chalan barke jao...” “Kya saab.. Mujhe patha nahi tha... Aage pehen loonga...” “Kaha ka gaadi hain???” “Bangalore!!!” “Idhar kaise??” “Tour main hoon saab!!!” “Teek hain! Helmet pehen ke jao!!!”...
Thanked him for letting me go without any fee & reached Devka Beach which had zero magnetism & no crowd at all. Sat for a while in Devka Garden which was on the way to beach as I was getting affected with humid climate.
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| Devka Garden on the way to Beach!!! |
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| Very boring Devka Beach... |
Next in the list was Nani Daman Fort & what else could I expect apart from boredom??? Yes! This fort had just the walls & nothing else. All that I found little eye catching was the view of Moti Daman Fort on the other side of river.
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| Nani Daman Fort entrance |
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| View of Moti Daman Fort!!! |
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| Connectivity between Nani Daman & Moti Daman... |
With nothing much to do in Nani Daman, rode towards Moti Daman Fort which was just like a huge compound wall surrounding a locality. But the streets inside the fort were pretty clean & calm reminding me of Pondicherry. Since there was ample amount of time & nothing else to explore, took a beautiful nap in a park adjacent to the fort. Got back to Nani Daman to have lunch & geared up to Mumbai by evening tea time.
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| Entry to Moti Daman Fort |
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| Bom Jesus church spotted... |
Day's journey was just the continuation from where I had left yesterday including diversions & traffic. If my counting has not gone wrong, I had taken 30 diversions altogether from Surat to Mumbai 
With few beautiful sunset shots captured, reached Vasai & called Bipin for the route to his house.
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| Beautiful hills on the way!!! |
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| Had missed capturing all these on my forward journey... |
He gave the directions & said he is still on his way & will reach home soon. Rode across the directions he gave & after waiting for a while, I was glad to meet him after a long time. Placed the bike in parking without removing luggage’s from boxes as he said if nothing valuable is present, then no need to take it out unless it’s essential.
Got fresh under a shower & then it was all about chit chat on various topics like my itinerary, office work, day to day life, recollecting old memories & so on. While he prepared the tasty self cooked food, I took backup of all the snaps till date. After pumping in the food till neck, he switched on the AC & I went to heaven in no time.
Day–20 | Mumbai–Kolhapur | 18–Nov–2010 | 416 Kms | 5825 Kms
“Namaskarappa!!!” Bipin greeted while I was trying my best to open the eye shutter completely. Bipin’s driver gave me the rough idea to bypass Mumbai. While taking out bike from parking, observed that the air pressure in rear tyre is very low. I was in qualm but wanted to check out after covering some distance. After thanking Bipin for the hospitality, bid byes to him & rode ahead towards Mumbai in NH-8 which was complete patch up road & traffic to the core.
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| Towards Pune I move on... |
As I was getting closer to the city, there were proper sign boards to bypass towards Pune & followed every sign board. Just within an hour, I was out of Mumbai with the help of pathetic Mumbra bypass road.
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| Mumbra Bypass To skip the city traffic!!! |
“Going to Bangalore???” A fatty middle aged person asked scanning the number plate at a fuel station.
“Yes!!!”... “How many days would you take???” “Might be 3 days...” “3 days????” “Yeah! I have time till Saturday... So don’t want to hurry up things!!!” “Ok!!! Me to going to Belgaum (referring to his KA-22 number plate)” “Ok!!! Bye Catch you on the way....”
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At last, Bangalore distance spotted  |
As the air pressure was less & had seen the outcome of it once before, climbed Khandala Ghat carefully without speeding up. After filling my tummy in RK’s with delicious Dosa’s, moved ahead in search of any fuel pump so that I can check the air pressure.
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| Traffic jam in Express way!!! Yes! Two wheelers have to ride in express way for short distance... |
Filled air again as it was very less which confirmed that there is a puncture & rode ahead only to stop again as I saw big Wax Museum board. Got an entry ticket of 75 bux & captured all the wax models present wearing my riding gear which was quite disgusting. Few models were duplicate of the original piece I could say.
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| Close up of Wax Model... |
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| Namaste Madam |
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| Hitler Saab quite serious!!! |
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| I met Mickie as well... |
Got back on my punctured bike & road towards Pune as air was slowly going out & there were still some air left in the tyre. After crossing Pune, got it checked with road side puncture shop but he advised to find one ahead as he does not have tools required to remove bullet tyre. On the next village junction, enquired with another guy & he said,
“Ho jayega!! Lekin tyre nikalna thoda mushkil hai iss box ke vajeh se...” “Are kuch tho karo bhai saab... Mujhe aage jaana hain!!!” “Pachaas rupai extra lagega!” “Puncture a kitna???” “Chalees!!!” “Theek hain... Jaldi kardo...”
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| First puncture after 5600+ kms |
After a detailed examination, he caught the culprit. The tyre already had one puncture which was worn out. He fixed it confirming it will not come out at any cost. Thanked him & rode to Kolhapur with few breaks to call it a day with a satisfaction of covering good distance in spite of a puncture & “Hurry!!! Tomorrow back to my state”
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| Excellent Rainbow!!! But couldnt capture it in single frame |
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| Stunning Sunset... |
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| Its just a cloud & not mountain range!!! |
Day–21 | Kolhapur–Chitradurga | 19–Nov–2010 | 443 Kms | 6268 Kms
“Chai lau??” The restaurant staff asked while loading the bike.
“Meesal Pav hain kya??” I enquired while sipping tea as I was eager to eat something spicy to start the day with.
After a tasty Meesal Pav (Bread rather) got onto tarmac NH-4 & soon was in my state. Was very happy to see the greens of my state after more than 2 weeks.
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| Toll booth entering Karnataka... |
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| Green landscape around!!! |
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| Its length was thrice of the truck |
May be I was too pleased; that I wasn’t feeling tired & road continuously without any butt breaks to Hubli by 11:30 AM. “Wow wow wow!! I am much ahead of time today... Why not make it to home than to rest in between??? Moreover I can play with Sathvik (Nephew) which will be much more relaxing....” I thought & rode in full enthusiasm. The thrust in me to reach Bangalore increased at the speed in which the number to reach Bangalore reduced. The things I can enjoy reaching home were getting increased with time. After filling my tummy at Kamath Upachar with North Karnataka meals, continued with the dream of being at Bangalore by end of the day.
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| Lunch break at Kamath Upachar |
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| Caught her beside NH-4 |
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| Never ending 'Work in progress' between Hiriyur & Davanagere!!! |
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| Nice cloud formation... |
Nearing Davanagere, Gear Lever started to make some rough sound keeping me wondered about “What might be wrong???” But with Bangalore being the new deadline, did not want to check it out & continued ahead. Nearing Chitradurga, the problem got irresistible & Gear Lever was getting jammed. “Damn!!! What the hell is this when it’s just 200 more????” I was not able to shift the Gear at any cost . Decided not be rude with the fear of breaking something crucial.
Got it checked in Chitradurga & mechanic Satish got into his first encounter with bullet. As the time progressed, he opened complete Clutch box to find the root cause.
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| Clutch box completely dismantled |
Meanwhile met another avid biker Krishna on his way to Bangalore in his new RE Classic 500. He too had some problem with his rear tyre & had come here get it checked. We shared our journey so far & was spell bound by his tour. He has been travelling since more than 4 months now & had been to highest motor able road in the world. He has quit his job for this dream trip & enjoying it to the core. Since it was Satish’s first experiment with Bullet, lot of surrounding guys accumulated eagerly waiting for the outcome. My bullet had already made name by then & me too I guess with my complete geared up look. After some time, Satish confirm that,
“Gear Box olagade bearing irutte!!! Adu hogirbeku... Naale nodona bidi. Eega kathlalli agalla nodoke!!! (There will be a bearing inside the Gear Box which might have worn out. Let’s check out tomorrow as it’s already dark now & we can’t examine properly.)”
“Parts sigutta (Are the parts available)???” I asked Satish killing my day's deadline.
“Check madbeku!!! Illi siglilla andre Davanagere nalli sigutte. Alli Bullet showroom ide... (We have to check it!!! In case if we don’t get it here, we will surely get it in Davanagere as there is a Bullet showroom)”
“Gosh!!!!” The bomb exploded inside me burning my dream completely ](http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
. Was cursing my fate to the core & also wanted to kick my machine. But couldn't do so since it had bought me this close without any issue.
As it was not a problem to be resolved today, unloaded my luggage to a room adjacent to mechanic shop for 150 bux/day. Krishna was very curious about trying new food items every time & hence got as his pillion to explore the various tastes of Chitradurga before I ended up in pathetic bed hoping to reach home tomorrow at least.
Day–22 | In Chitradurga | 20–Nov–2010 | 0 Kms | 6268 Kms
Day started with desperation to reach Bangalore & fear of getting my bike in riding condition. For the well known reason, could not catch up sleep from 5:00 AM. Came out after freshening up to bid byes to Krishna as his bike was in a condition to reach Bangalore & was eagerly waiting for Satish for turn up. After few calls, he made it at 8:00 AM & got onto my bike. With lot of challenges, observation & patience, he removed the Gear Box completely & showed me the worn out pair of bearings. With a bunch of corques, shafts & levers lying on the floor, my mental condition was getting worst 
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| Worn out needle bearing!!! |
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| Satish observing the mechanism of Gear Box stuffs... |
Solid food was not possible to pass through my lungs at this time & was managing with tea & coffee.
“Togoli!!! Idanna hidkondu spare parts angadili vicharsi.. Ee thara bearing sigatta anta... (Take it!! You enquire in spare parts shop whether they have same bearing...)” Satish said handing me the worn out bearings.
After a request, I took his 1970’s scooter which had enough mechanism just to move ahead to enquire for the parts filling 30 bux petrol. Though the scene looked very funny, the tension in me was much above anything else at the moment. After a scooter tour of Chitradurga came back with negative response to the shop.
“Ond kelsa madri... Bega Davanagere bus hidiri!!! Alli Bullet showroom nalli vicharsi... Sikke sigutte (Do one thing.. Catch a bus to Davanagere right now.. There is a Bullet showroom where you can enquire & you will get it for sure)” he said confidently...
“Yestu hottige vapas barbahudu?? (What time can I be back)” I asked Satish with the hope of getting my bike ready today itself.
He said I can be back by 4:00 PM worst case & soon he will start re assembling the Gear Box which would take max 2 hrs.
As per his instructions, caught a bus to Davanagere & reached there by 1:00 PM. Throughout the journey of 60 kms in KSRTC bus which never dares to go beyond 60 kms/hr, I was completely occupied biting my nails which at the end looked as worst as my current situation Reached Bullet showroom after calling them (Bangalore Bullet showroom guys helped with the number) & detailed them with the issue. The very first response came from Naseer a manager of the showroom was,
“Ee parts sigodu tumba kashta sir!!! Idella moving parts alla. Tumba rare idu!!! (These parts are difficult to get sir!!! These are not moving parts & very rare!!!)” Thereby bombarding second successive bomb on me
“Enadru madi sir!!! Nodi swalpa vicharsi... (Do something sir!!! Enquire a bit...)” Was my pleading response.
He told if we can get the number on the bearing, it would be much easy for them to find it. Now the high priority task for me was to get the number at any cost. Initially thought it won’t be difficult to get it & called Bangalore Showroom service centre. But ended up getting no response. “Damn! No one is ready to pick the call at all...” Tried nearly 100 times with the hope of help but no one turned around Thought to kick everyone’s ass in Bangalore showroom but first I should be able to make it to Bangalore to do that I realized in no time. At last, Anand picked up the call & soon turned out be helpless as he too dint had the measurement number of the required bearing.
With only Naseer in mind now, pleaded him to help me to the best briefing my entire journey. He told will try out & went in search of the bearing with his subordinate. Meanwhile I went to a restaurant nearby to have something solid but came out with less than half Rava Idli getting in. It was a confirmation that, without seeing my bike in condition, my body can’t accept anything solid for sure. Came back to showroom & was early waiting for Naseer’s arrival. After some time, he turned up with single bearing to check if it will fit fine to the shaft. He said if this fits fine, he will try another.
“Correct ide sir!!! (This is correct sir)” said his subordinate & my face glowed like a shining star. “Oh Man!!! What a relief...”
“Sari! Hagadre innondu togondu bartivi” Naseer said & vanished again in his Bullet leaving me in doubt again.
This time, waiting was getting stretched longer & longer. Mean while I just checked if Bangalore showroom has any service of taking the vehicle from here but again I got negative response. My mental stability had reached to such an extent that I had lost the hopes of riding to Bangalore & was thinking of taking my bike in a carrier. After more than 2 hours, sipping 2 cups of coffee, Naseer turned up at around 5:15 PM with 2 bearings lathed inside the shaft which is what I required. He said he went somewhere else to get the second bearing as I wanted it at any cost. Along with 300 bux which I gave, I also wanted to give him ‘Jadoo Ki Jappi’ for helping me to the best 
Came back to Chitradurga in same KSRTC Bangalore bus which doesn’t touch 60 kms/hr speed. But this time, with a confidence & hope of riding back to Bangalore 
Handed the shaft with bearing lathed inside it to Satish but she insisted to do tomorrow as it was almost dark. On my request, he sat in front of Gear Box to fix as much as he can today. Satish, I & few of his friends nearby tried our best to fix the Gear Box till 10 but things dint work out as it should have been
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| New Needle bearing lathed inside the shaft... |
“Fix madakke agattalva (Is it possible to fix)???” Asked in doubt again with fear attacking both my mind & heart.
“Tension togolbedri... Naale madhyanna olagade ready madtini nodi... aaramagi nidde madi!!! (Dont get tensed... See by tomorrow afternoon I will get it ready... sleep tension free)” were Satish’s confident statements.
With nothing else to take back, took his assurance & slept grabbing few banana’s!!! “Oh! Something solid went in at last”...
Day–23 | Chitradurga–Bangalore | 21–Nov–2010 | 223 Kms | 6491 Kms
Woke up by 6:00 AM & straight away to garage with hope of Satish being present & working on my bike. But the shutter was still down. Thought to get freshen up & pack the things as it would be easy to load if my bike gets proper, else it would be easier to load in parcel. After some time, again came out in search of Satish & by now, the dude had already started his work with the shutter of his garage being half closed. Might be he himself couldn’t believe working so early
He tried his best to fix the Gear Box properly with all the possible combinations but every effort was going in vein. AS his efforts were going without use, my mind was gaining confidence to parcel the bike After attempting it almost for 2 hrs, I told,
“Agilla andre DP hugugaranna karistini... avarella bullet mechanics!!! (If it’s not possible, then will call guys from DP.. they are all bullet mechanics)”
After few more fruiteless attempts, he finally made a call to his friend who in turn knows a mechanic from DP. Well! DP is the only bullet mechanic shop in Chitradurga. The reason why I dint go to DP was, I got stuck with this problem on Friday & DP was closed on that day since its Muslim guys who work there. Hence I had ended up here.
“Naave hogi karibodalla??? (We ourselves can go & call them right)???” I asked with confusion.
“Illi hagella innondu mechanic angadige hogalla jana!!! Friends circle nalli irovaranna karibodu aste!!! (Here guys won’t come from one mechanic shop to another so easily!!! It’s only the people in our friend circle we can afford to call)”
Though Satish had made a call to his friend to get mechanic from DP, he dint gave a break from his attempts. After some time, I could see that Satish has put everything in my Gear Box.
“Enri!!! Kusidra??? (What boss!!! Did you fix it)” I asked curiously.
“Eno kudsidini, but test madbeku... (Somehow I have fixed it, but needs to be tested...)”
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| Trying his best to get the things in place!!! |
“Wow man!!! At last looks like will ride back home...” It was a great sigh of relief to both of us as even Satish was really fed up with this Slowly one by one, all the parts got in & we had an initial test by rotating the chain & manually shifting the gear. The unit test resulted positive which we celebrated with me sponsoring a cup of coffee to Satish & his helping hands. Meanwhile, DP mechanic turned up & after his inspection, he told there was some minor adjustment & he has corrected it boosting some more confidence in me. While DP mechanic was about to leave, Satish whispered me to give him 100 bux & I did accordingly thanking him a lot. Was wondering whether I paid 100 bux for his inspection or boosting my confidence.
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| Gear Box assembled back!!! |
With Gear Box completely fixed, Satish took a break to get other customers minor issues rectified. After a small break from my bullet, he got back again & fixed the Clutch Box as well. Now with everything fixed as it should have been, it was time for some real time testing. Not only myself & Satish, but all the nearby localities were very curious to see my bullet moving ahead.
Satish kick started my machine, applied first gear,
“Dugh dugh dugh.....” flew away in no time ....
“Hurry!!! My machine is back in shape...” I just couldn’t believe it in my eyes. Localities were about to dance I guess They were very happy as me for sure. Satish came back after 10 mins & told he has tested till 4th gear & everything is fine.
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| Satish on test ride!!! |
“Nodona naanu ondu round hogi bartini!!! (Let’s see I will go for a round!!!)” I said & flew away. “That’s great.. Simply great!!!” I said to myself & went to refill the fuel. But after that, bike was not starting at all. Pushed it back to Satish’s garage as fuel station was hardly 50 mtrs from garage.
“Gaadi start agta illa!!! (Bike is not starting!!!)” I said bit worried.
“Spark plug hogirbeku... Nangu ondsala off aithu (Spark plug might have gone.. Even for me it got off once)”...
“Nan hatra extra spark plug ide (I have extra spark plug)” & gave him the spare one I had in my spare parts cover.
“Yenella hidkondidhira???(What others things you have)” Satish asked inquisitively.
“Tubes, Puncture Kit, Clutch & Throttle cable, Spark Plug, Head light bulb, Chain link lock, Kick spring” I said glancing at my spare parts cover.
“Parvagilla full prepare aage hogtira bidi!!! (No worries!!! You go completely prepared)” He patted the preparations I make before every trip.
With everything in place after 2 days, I asked him “Yestaithu heli!!! (Tell me how much)”... “Saavirada munnooru kodi!!! (give thousand three hundred)”... “Ri yen heltidira??? (Boss what you are telling)” “saavirada ainnooru kelona anta idde aadru kedimene keltidini (Thought of asking 1500 but then decided to ask less)”
After few more confirmations, I handed him 1300 bux as he had done it successfully & more over he had got my hope back. While we were on our negotiation, localities were closing eyeing my wallet & his mouth. Might be they were betting against us
Got back to lodge, loaded my bike & after settling the lodge bill, bid byes to Chitradurga by sharp 2:05 PM. Rode at 70’s till Sira & from there was constantly at 90’s. Gave my first stop at NICE Road & that too just for a photo of my bike with road as background.
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| Authentic snap to end the tour... |
At last, made it to my home by sharp 5:10 PM. Yes! In 3 hrs 5 mins, had covered 216 kms by nonstop riding. Before getting down from bike, looked at the mirror & said,
“Krishna!!! You just ROCK boy!!!
” After parking the bike, said “I Love You!!! Get ready for the next run...” eyeing at my machine.
Epilogue
Kids from bro’s drawing class came out to see how a biker would look & after a glance at me & bull, their mouth had taken a shape of egg Bro, sis-in-law & 8 months old Sathvik came out to greet me. After looking at Sathvik, for a moment forgot that I had just returned from a long ride.
Called up parents to inform my safe arrival back home.
Me: “Dad your son & his bike has successfully made it to Bangalore”
Dad: “When did you reach??? Howz the bike now???”
Me: “Just now... It’s perfect!!!”
Dad: “Now take rest! Wait will give to mom...”
Me: “I have reached home safely...”
Mom: “Reached safely na???”
Me: “Yes!”
Mom: “What was the problem in bike??”
Me: “Bearing inside the gear box had worn out & got it replaced!!!”
Mom: “Ok take rest & don’t roam around now!!!”
Had hot water bath & did nothing except resting & playing with Sathvik whole evening. Home food tastes super excellent if one has it after a long time & same happened with me The dinner tasted exceptional. With tired me lied on bed & before I could close the account, entire trip splashed in front of me.
Somewhere in mid of deep sleep, my mind quoted “Congrats Krishna! That’s an epic voyage you had. But mind you!!! You have not unplugged LADAKH yet!!!” J J J J.......
So the journey will continue again....
More photos? Complete Album
” I said to myself cursing my morning nap in CCD & crashed in cosy bed.
cool man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteit took more than two hours to go through......
I was just imagining the things you experienced, any how experience is experience, thinking like even I also want to get experienced.
Hats off to you Samaga..... What is your next destination??
ReplyDeleteSuper shemige.. awsome experience..
ReplyDeleteSuggestion: dont quit the job like ur fellow biker u met at chitradurga :)
Awesome! Bravo! what next? Good to learn that you made it back safe, although not without some issues. All in all a great enriching travelogue captured well in this blog. I am not much into solo yet. And i certainly do not intend doing such a long solo in my near future. :-)! Hats off !
ReplyDeleteAwesome Krishna.. Salute your passion for bike rides... Keeping moving on and keep sending us back your travelogues.. :)
ReplyDeleteRohit
Awesome Samaga.... U have acieved what u wanted to... Great going... Take care..
ReplyDeleteOut of the world! Great job!!
ReplyDeleteUltimate man,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed a lot, just seeying the pictures.. surely u guys had a hell lot of masti... great work... dont forget to call me for ur next trip... :)
That was a realy nice trip you had there. Great pictures all the way. Epic experiences like that will stay with you forever.
ReplyDeletebtw. your mother sounds just like mine when I was away for longer periods.