12:30 am in a winter morning!! I was standing on NH8 roadside near Navghar, just after the Ghodbandar Road - NH 8 crossing, Maharashtra, seeping chai & smoking, with the biggest dilemma of my life in mind—“To do it, or not to”. Well, to describe myself as a rider of two wheels, I don’t have a better instance. Because it had entirely changed my life as a biker, as I see it later on. Precisely, it was the start of my first solo and big attempt to explore India on motorcycle-“A road trip to Rajasthan, India” on my ZMA (Hero Honda Karizma, face lifted versionJ). Coming back to that moment, standing nearly 50 Km away from my home at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, looking forward to the destination, which will start frommore than 600 km up NNE i.e. the entrance of Rajasthan, near Ratanpur, I was still thinking - should I attempt it?
A part of my brain was telling me - why take the risk, it’s crazy. Other part was indicating that it’s your plan, now you are the only one to execute it. But Turning Back is not there IN MY NATURE. To be honest, It was first solo Ride and so the hesitation.
To describe the prologue, I didn’t have a good start. In the morning of the D-day, I discovered that my SIM card got damaged somehow. I bought two SIM CARDS in the following day from two different famous service providers, but they never got activated (may be because I was in roaming later on), though the assurance was there, from the dealer. So, the moral of the story is that, I was not going to have a cellular phone on the trip!!
Another drama was enacted because of my nervousness. I went to a nearby Xerox centre to photocopy all the required documents, where I left my driving license. Later, before leaving home, I discovered that and subsequently retrieved my DL from that shop. But that was enough to delay my journey by an hour. Anyway being a passionate rider, I went on. But those small incidents gave the first lesson- It is necessary to keep the cool and to keep the mind open, to control excitement and emotions.
Well, coming back to the travel blog, it appears to me that describing the entire 8 days road trip in detail will fill-up the pages of a big Diary. Also, describing the roads and the places will make the trip log very average and boring. These things have already being documented numerous times in various ways. So, in this blog, I will rather concentrate in the different incidents which made my way of riding - how they had changed the rider’s attitude, how these events empowered not only my skill, but also my maturity towards riding while let the photographs do the job of describing the places.
On the way towards Udaipur, I had to face a long traffic from Surat to Vadodara. That part of NH8 was not good enough at that time, but was enough to make me tired and to lose a lot of time through diversions. Finally I reached Udaipur around 3:30 pm in the following Day. After checking in at RTDC hotel, bathing and having some snacks, I planned for sightseeing. But being tired enough and on demand of body, decided for a power nap, which resulted in deep sleepL. Damn, Lazy Man!! There came the second lesson, stick to the time line – be respectful to your plan. As a result I lost the chance to see The Lake Palace, build on an Island in the middle of Pinchola Lake, at night and I had to be in hurry in the following morning to explore Udaipur- Tha Fateh Sagar Lake, Pinchola Lake, Maharana Pratap Memorial, The Museums and the Forts.
The third incident took place in Mount Abu on day two of the ride. After boating in Nakki lake, while on the way back to Hotel, I discovered that the Speedometer of my bike was not working. So I took it to a local mechanic. There it was diagnosed that the speedo cable is not working and which can’t be replaced. Being uncommon bike at that place, the parts of ZMA are not available there. So a lesson was taught to me to carry the spares in future rides. But thanks to God, the sightseeing was done before that.
So on day 3, I continued riding towards Jaisalmer from Mount Abu. I took a shortcut through state highway for saving time. The road was narrow but empty. Since the speedo was not working I was not quite aware of the speed. But bad things always happen. In a corner, I ran over a street dog. I saw it came at the apex of the corner from the roadside, braked hard, skidded and lost control of bike, but could not save the little dog. I got my right knee hurt and it was bleeding, the right sleeve my riding jacket was torn and so was the trouser. But the pain of killing a living being was much more than the physical pain. I took up the dead body from the road, laid it in a nearby field, covered it with soil and gravels and left the place slowly. Life goes on! But understood riding not only about speeding up, taking care of the machine you ride or yourself. At the same time, it is also about taking care of others around you while riding. Finally reached Jaisalmer in the afternoon, found a Hero Honda Service centre in city market where left the bike servicing and started sightseeing.
My stay in Jaisalmer was very eventful. Another lesson I learnt there- while riding solo it is wise to stay unnoticed. My bike had generated quite a still among the locals and one of them in Sam-Sand-Dunes got irritatingly interested. His continuous effort to make me stay there longer so that he can have a ride on my bike to his village, made me suspicious. To avoid any worse thing from happening, I decided to fly back to the city hotel from Desert safari in night. But riding through the heart of the desert around 10 pm in the night, with the only light coming from the head & tail light of my bike (and from the stars in the sky) and especially alone, was quite an experience. Anyway, the two days in Jaisalmer was a cheerful memory.
Though I was much more cautious and controlled in later part of the ride, I made another mistake on the way to Jaipur from Jodhpur. I was running out of cash in hand. I found an ATM near Jethana Village but that was not working. So I decided for Card payment at the fuel stations but most of the fuel stations did not accept Card on that road. On that chilling night and being tired I stopped myself from freaking around for ATM, rather decided to refuel with less amount and continue riding towards Ajmer, where I got a big Petrol Pump accepting Cards. It also had an ATM machine installed there. But the fact is that, it is always preferable to carry enough cash rather than trying on Luck. But my short Stay in Jodhpur was memorable with architecture of those historical forts.
While in Jaipur, I already had started feeling the loneliness of a Solo rider as well as hearing the call to back home. So I dropped the plan for Agra for that time and rode back to Chittorgarh. So went for a quick sightseeing in Jaipur. There is always a Second PlanJ.
In Chittorgarh, for the first time in the trip, I hired a guide to see me the Place. The reason was my knowledge about the place very less as well I was extremely tired to freak around. It was quite enjoyable tour in and around Chittorgarh with him. But he left me an impression that sometime you need the correct person (especially local tour guides) to guide and enrich you with very minor details, which may not be documented in history.
After sightseeing in Chittorgarh, I decided for a nonstop ride back to home. But alas, bad luck was still chasing me. It was 12 o’clock in the noon as I reached the highway crossing of Golden Quad in Chittorgarh. At that time, this part of GQ was recently renovated and road signs were yet to be installed. Getting confused, I asked a local farmer the direction to Udaipur. May be due to language problem, he directed me in the wrong direction, which I discovered when I reached the outskirts of Kota. So those misunderstandings lead me towards another 300 Km of useless ride. And thus I understood the necessity of GPS system, but alas, my mobile was as useless as a dead phone (no active SIM card).
Finally on the 8th day of the ride, I got back to my home, sweet home, after a long continuous ride of approximately 1200 Km. in 22 hrs. It was around 3800 Km ride in total, with a time span of 8 days and nights. I came back home tired, irritated of the lonely feeling of a solo rider, and with a knee injured. But at the same time my heart was full with joy, happiness of completing a long tour and with a promise to get back there in future. A promise of another long ride and a dream of doing it with a better, bigger bike- a dream of a road trip on a SBK to this state of India again. I know half of the Dream is already reality - possessing a SBK. Now it’s the wait for the proper time, a leave from daily life confined in office and home, A WAIT TO BE FREE AGAIN!!
After that ride, I have made numerous solo rides to different places like- Bangalore, Chennai, Vijayawada, Hampi, Ganpatipule, Tarkarli, Pondicherry, Visakhapatnam but that Rajasthan ride in Jan'09 was the beginning. The most satisfaction I got from that ride I did not escaped rather faced that challenge. Perhaps, it is the best time end the Blog with a famous quotation, which realised so closely through this Ride –
“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”
— Sydney J. Harris
