"Fear can hold you prisoner, Hope sets you free"
- The Shawshank Redemption
Preface
From the 12th to the 29th of May, 2014, I had been on a solo motorcycle expedition from Chennai, India to Kathmandu, Nepal, and back covering almost 5200 km. I know this is not much of an achievement, but in terms of satisfaction, it offered plenty.
I hope this literature is useful to those planning for such trips in the future.
I undertook this trip on my 2011 Royal Enfield Standard 350 UCE, after getting it serviced from Southern Motors, Anna Nagar, Chennai. The lead mechanic there, one Mr. Tamil, had fitted my motorcycle with a 500 cc clutch plate which made the performance top-notch.
There are plenty of car, train and flight rides that I've had, yet, there is no satisfaction which a motorcycle ride offers. The wind in your ears howling past at 100 kmph, the tarmac inches below the feet, knowing it's there, keeping your feet straight and level, banking on corners, and the fact that you're in the scene rather than just being a spectator, is an awesome feel.
There are plenty of car, train and flight rides that I've had, yet, there is no satisfaction which a motorcycle ride offers. The wind in your ears howling past at 100 kmph, the tarmac inches below the feet, knowing it's there, keeping your feet straight and level, banking on corners, and the fact that you're in the scene rather than just being a spectator, is an awesome feel.
I had purchased saddle bags which can be hung on either side of the rear seat, a very convenient find, I tell you. Also, I had a magnetic tank bag of 18 litre capacity and the things that it could carry amazed me.
Ok, now getting to the specifics.
Day 1- Chennai to Hyderabad (660km)
@ Ongole, Andhra Pradesh The turn to Hyderabad
I started from Chennai at 11 AM, since I got the delivery of my bike after service only at 10 AM. I was supposed to get the bike earlier but I forgot that 10th may was a saturday and went to the service station at 5 PM, by which time it was closed. Anyway, I know I should not have taken it for a long ride immediately after service, but I was hard-pressed on time, and I was cornered, so I left after seeking blessings from my parents.
It was May, so indeed very hot. I proceeded on National Highway 5 from Chennai to Ongole after which I had to take a left to proceed to Hyderabad. I chose Hyderabad because my brother lives there and I could spend the night there with him and his friends.
The vast stretch of the highway is a little tiring because there is no variety of driving judgement, and there are just plain old roads all the way. I reached Ongole at around 5 PM and took the left to Hyderabad. Till Ongole, the route was NH5 and the roads were good. After taking the left, the roads were state highways and for the most part, the quality of the roads was fine. Some potholes here and there, village roads etc. But the dusk through rural roads was amazing and the sunset was mind-blowing. The roads less travelled by the heavy trucks, the paved village roads are simply the best.
I met a fellow-motorist from Prakasam District by name Rajesh Khanna who was on his way to Hyderabad too, and gave me company on the roads for some time. The road along the Outer Ring Road to Hyderabad is the best, and I could have entered the city through Gachibowli to reach my brother's place at Manikonda, but I decided not to use this road and I decided to take the road through the city entering through Mehdipatnam. The reason - the ORR is desolate and long, and there are no mechanic shops in case of emergency, and at this time of the night, i did not want to run this risk. I finally reached my brother's place at 12.00 AM and slept like a log.
Rural Andhra
Day 2 - Hyderabad to Hinganghat (430 km)
The night was long, and the previous day's travel was the longest stretch I had planned in my entire journey, so I was very tired by the time I reached Hyderabad, and naturally, I had slept a little longer than planned. I was able to start from Hyderabad only at around 10 AM.
I should say that the next three hours were the toughest in the entire trip. After leaving home, I reached my brother's place and I spent time with my brother and his friends. So naturally, the thought set in my mind that I would be on my own for the next fortnight, and I started feeling homesick. After 70km, i could not control this feeling and thought of returning back to Hyderabad, stay there for some days and return back to Chennai. I was constantly disturbed by this homesick feeling and stopped my bike for a while on the road side and thought over it. I asked my bike, who was to be my only known companion for the next fortnight as to what I should do, and he suggested that I keep on going - my bike is not some inanimate object, but someone with whom I was communicating for the first time in its life and thus developed a special bond. So I just mounted on it, it started moving forward. Again, at 100km, 110km, 125km and 150 km from Hyderabad, I had this urge to return back due to homesickness, I had nothing to prove to anyone but me, but on the other hand, I also had the feeling that I could not defeat my own purpose. I left the decision to my motorcycle and it decided to keep on going. The roads were good, and I reached Adilabad on Andhra Pradesh-Maharashtra border at around 6 PM and stopped for tea at a rural tea stall. The election results of Telengana Assembly were being counted that day and there were political discussions in the tea stall. I had my tea and discussed with the village elders who were present there regarding my tour and told them that I planned to reach Nagpur for the night. But one elder gentleman told me that the road to Nagpur was in a very bad condition and asked me to spend the night at Adilabad. I paid heed to his advise and went inside Adilabad but the town didn't bode well with me for reasons unknown. Call it instinct, if you will, and I decided to leave for Nagpur.
I crossed the Andhra border into Maharashtra and reached Bori at around 8 PM. Man, then the woes started. There were virtually no roads, and this was NH 7! There was rubble, gravel, dirt and dust kicked up by the trucks, potholes and my motorcycle and my back had to bear the brunt of these conditions for more than 150 km, that too, in complete darkness, save my headlights. At some stretches, there were no lights, since there was no major town nearby and I had to travel in the dark to hunt for a town with accommodation facilities, and finally, amid this struggle, I reached Hinganghat at 11 PM and settled into a decent hotel for the night.
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| Somewhere in Maharashtra on the battered no-roads |
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| The last good road |
Day 3 - Hinganghat to Jabalpur (360 Km)
Starting from Hinganghat in Maharashtra, the road was good till Nagpur and I rode on Nagpur bye-pass leading to Jabalpur.
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| Enroute Jabalpur |
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| My first selfie |
I had lunch at Puneet Singh's Dhaba on Jabalpur highway, where he told me that they were originally Punjabis, and his father had worked in the coal mines nearby and after his retirement they had started this Dhaba to help fellow travellers like me! Again, the roads were no good, I was shocked by the maintenance of NH7 (or rather, the lack of it).
The roads had some hill sections and passed through the Pench tiger reserve. I initially had certain apprehensions about entering tiger reserves, the roads passed only through buffer zones, I knew this, yet there are these untold fears created by travelling alone. I met two Tamil truck drivers near Kurai and had a little chat as to where they were from and what load they were transporting. I asked for the routes and they told me it was a straight road to Jabalpur.
First time in the trip, it started raining unexpectedly, the clouds were looming, the wind started howling through the tiger reserve and I had to stop at a Dhaba to install the rain covers for my luggage. I had some light refreshments and two tribals started to talk to me and enquired about my trip. Well, you can no longer imagine the tribals in their customary vestments, these people were dressed like us and rode on motorcycles of their own, and they were getting impatient to go to a friend's marriage party, and the rains were playing spoil-sport.
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| Entering Pench National Park and tiger reserve |
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| After the rains |
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| The Dhaba inside the park |
Travelling through Pench National Park, I took some village roads leading into Jabalpur. I asked for directions from a middle aged gentleman, who spoke little Hindi and more of the regional dialect, and I could only make out that his son had recently died after drowning in a river and this man was seeking peace. I told him that his son had moved on to a better place, and there is no way he is coming back. I told him that he had to accept this bitter truth and move on. I finally reached Jabalpur and settled for the night at a hotel. There were a Tamil family from Delhi who were visiting Jabalpur that day, and they asked me if I had travelled this far on my motorcycle. I knew I had travelled far from home, and those people knew it. There was no going back now. The feelings of homesickness was now gone, I had made up my mind not to be disturbed by these thoughts. I washed my clothes, had dinner and slept with the cool breeze emanating from the noisy air cooler.
Day 4 - Jabalpur to Rewa (325 Km)
The manager at Hotel Imperial, Jabalpur said that NH7 till Katni road was no good if intended to reach Varanasi, and briefed me on a different route - Jabalpur - Kundam - Umaria - Barhi - Maihar - Rewa - Varanasi. The title reads Jabalpur to Rewa, and this story is how I could not make it to Varanasi on this day.
I got my bike inspected at Royal Thumpers' service station near Water Tank, off Dr. Barat road at Jabalpur and left for Varanasi.
The roads were an absolute breeze upto Maihar, as the hotel manager had said. Though only two-laned, it was perfectly paved and level, so riding through was comfortable. And the scenery was amazing. At some parts, it was like the wild old west, with its vast expanses of dry flatlands, as you would imagine seeing in a Clint Eastwood classic, and some other stretches were lush green forests. I happened to pass through the Bandhavgarh Tiger reserve, the mecca of Indian tigers.There is a saying about the Park that goes: "In any other Park, You are lucky if you see a tiger. In Bandhavgarh, you are unlucky if you don't see (at least) one." But the situation is not like that nowadays and spotting a tiger is rare, and only one out of 10 tourists is able to spot a tiger.
From the year 1992 to 1995, we lived in a place called Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh, and I intended to visit this place and meet my old School principal, Sister Lissy Augustin of Good Shepherd Convent School, but I couldn't manage to find time as it was getting dark. It was the one thing that I had planned on doing, but you know what happens to plans when it's me executing them.
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| The wild west! |
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| Enroute Bandhavgarh |
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| Entering Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve |
I reached Maihar at around 8 PM, and I knew I couldn't make it to Varanasi. So I initiated a chat with one Inderjeet Yadav, a local resident who advised me to reach Rewa for the night. He told me the roads were bad, but that I could cover it in an hour. Man, that was the longest hour, the ride to Rewa took 3 hours. As earlier, complete darkness, potholes, large ones this time, and all the other festivities as described earlier. I reached Rewa at around 11 PM, and scouted for good hotels but none were available, and I had to stay at a cheap hotel, in which the best room cost me Rs. 250, and it was bad. Fortunately, the valet there, Patel, was helpful with my luggage. Anyhow, I stayed there for the night with lizards and cockroaches to keep me company.
Day 5 - Rewa to Varanasi (230 Km)
I woke up at 6 AM, earliest on the entire tour. And I had to face one of the worst stretches of road, cursing the officials and the persons responsible for this irresponsible connectivity and the pathetic condition of NH7 which connects the length of India, almost. Just to maintain sanity, I had to take frequent breaks, for the condition was so pathetic that I felt like crying. All these roads made my tummy rumble like mad, and I had to reach Varanasi for, you, know...
I couldn't risk leaving my luggage unattended at some highway motel while I did my job.
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| Riding the Modi wave @ Varanasi |
As I entered Uttar Pradesh after crossing Hanumana, the cops pulled me over for checking my papers, the only time it happened during the entire ride in India. I had all original documents at hand so no worries there. They promised me that the road up to Varanasi was good. What they actually meant was, that it was paved. That's it! But the road was bouncy, not level, and they clearly did not know what good roads were. I thought I should have taken the Rewa - Allahabad - Varanasi route but I chose the Hanumana - Mirzapur - Varanasi road, and it was bad. However, once I reached Uprauth, AH1 led me smoothly to Varanasi. Enroute, I met one BJP party leader Mr. Shailesh Pandey who was travelling in his car, and stopped it to ask me regarding my travel, obviously seeing the contraptions on my motorcycle and my registration plates. It was the Parliament elections results day (May 16) and Shri Narendra Modi was leading in Varanasi by a high margin. So he asked me to join the festivities that evening at Assi Ghat at Varanasi.
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| Me? |
I reached Varanasi at 4 PM, took a bath, donned saffron clothes and left for Assi Ghat. There is absolutely no words to describe this wonderful city and the presiding deity, Kashi Vishwanath. This city reminded me of my hometown, Madurai, with its old city walls, narrow corridors, yet presented a powerful scenario which the metropolitan cities cannot. I was flabbergasted with the power of the mighty Ganges at Assi Ghat, and I spent quite some time there, alone, yet not lonely, connecting with my higher self.
I was lost in my own thoughts as I sat and contemplated on the banks of the Ganges. The power of the place was so high that it took immense effort on my part just to remain conscious. I thought I would be lost in this maze of energy that was radiating out of this place. There were others who were busy about their own jobs, maybe they didn't feel the intensity that I was feeling.
I called the BJP leader on his mobile with the business card that he had given me earlier, but there was no response. He might have been pretty busy I guess.
I met a linguist, one Silvio from Zurich who was a part-time student of Sanskrit at BHU and struck a conversation on great epics. He talked about The Iliad and The Odyssey and Beowulf and I told him about the five great epics of Tamil language, which he was unaware of till then, even though Tamil is the oldest surviving language. We then parted ways after a long talk and I retreated to my hotel room after having the famous Thandai of Varanasi.
Day 6 - Varanasi to Arrah (200 Km)
Okay, right away, as soon as I departed from Varanasi, I knew I was on the wrong route. I intended to reach Nepal border through Ghazipur - Kagzipur - Ziradei - Motihari - Raxaul. But I started off on rural roads in this direction, but the locals did not know any place called Ziradei and I had to change route to reach Patna which cost me a day. But this detour took me through roads I never imagined were even there. There was a stretch of sand for 1 Km through which I had to ride, you know, the beach sand type. But fortunately, there were metal sheets laid on top of it which made riding a little easier. And there was a floating bridge with the same metal sheets, and this bridge rocked up and down as I rode through. Experience!
Again, the main roads were bad, and I managed to enter Bihar. I took the Mohaniya-Arrah road to reach Arrah by 10 PM and settled there for the night. I could not make it to Patna because of the bad roads, again.
Day 7 - Arrah to Raxaul (270 Km)
By far, this was going to be the worst day, but the best experience on this trip. I departed Arrah towards Patna, the state capital, hoping that the roads would be good. You do not know what 1000 Km of bad roads can do to your sanity. You tend to lose it, and mine was already on the verge of blowing out fully by the time I reached Arrah. Man, this is not how a capital city ought to be connected. I was supposed to bye-pass Patna to reach the next town Muzaffarpur, but I took a wrong turn and went through Patna city and then reached the Muzaffarpur road. The Mahatma Gandhi Setu across the Ganges at Patna was being repaired on one side and there was heavy truck traffic and a traffic jam which caused undue delay.
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| The Final Diagnosis |
I had made some enquiries about accommodation at Raxaul (Nepal border), and finally decided to stay at Hotel Kaveri at Raxaul, and I had talked to the manager there who told me that he will have a room reserved for me on arrival. So after crossing Patna at around 2 PM, I heard a noise from the engine like a tappet noise and this worried me a little. I asked a roadside mechanic as to what the problem was, and he said that I needed to go to Muzaffarpur and have it checked out. I rode slow till I reached Muzaffarpur and located a Bullet mechanic, one Mohammad Jalal on Amar Cinema road, and he tried to diagnose what the problem was and disassembled the fuel tank and checked the cylinder head and other parts. After trying to locate the problem for almost 30 minutes, both of us were clueless as to what the problem was which caused the tappet noise. Then, he noticed that the bike was running dry on engine oil. It turned out to be an Occam's razor after all. It was a Sunday, and most of the shops were closed that day, and the mechanic Jalal went above and beyond his call of duty and roamed the city for almost half and hour and brought the 4 litres of engine oil (by the way, engine oil is known in those parts as just 'Mobil', adopting the generic name, and that was news to me). After filling the oil tank up, the noise ceased and I was able to depart from Muzaffarpur at around 8 PM. I called up Hotel Kaveri and informed them that I would be arriving late, at around 10 PM.
But as you would already have guessed by now, I did not imagine that the roads would be in such a hellish condition that I was fully covered in dust and my body and lower back were in agony by the time I reached Raxaul at 12.30 AM! In fact, I had faced such bad roads that I do not feel like highlighting the fact any more. But of course, I had to wake up early that morning and enter Nepal through Birganj.
Day 8 - Raxaul to Kathmandu (140 Km)
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| Entering Nepal @ Birganj |
I was pretty excited to enter Nepal that day, and I fuelled up and proceeded towards the Nepali entry post where I filled up a form, showed the original Registration and Driving licence and paid the fee of Nepali Rs. 500 for 5 days' access for my motorcycle. The entire process took about 15 minutes since there was no checking of my luggage and I departed towards Kathmandu.
I should say that the roads in Nepal's Terai region were a lot better than the roads I had encountered so far, and the drive to Hetauda was a breeze, which I reached at around lunch time. I had lunch at one Vishnu Ji's hotel, and upon enquiry, he told me that he had worked for three years at Chennai (Egmore), and naturally, he became quite friendly. His son Santosh ran the hotel and I had a wonderful lunch there.
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| Nepali kids to whom I gave a hitchhike |
Days 9,10 and 11 (Kathmandu)
One thing I noticed about Nepal is the that the people are large-hearted and very warm in welcoming and caring for foreign tourists. The landscape is amazing and the even though Nepal is a small economy, the infrastructure even in rural areas is well-maintained, except some issues with electricity-generation. Nepal has huge hydro-electric electricity-generating potential but because of budget constraints they are unable to execute projects on a large scale.
The Pashupatinath temple in Nepal is one of the Jyotirlingas and i came to know that the chief priests are Bhats from Karnataka. The power of this temple is very inspiring to the spiritually-inclined and offers a lot to the tourists and devotees. I also had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the upper Himalayas on a mountain flight and the view of Mount Everest nestled among the other highest peaks in the world is a must-see!
Finally, after having spent 5 days in Nepal, I had to depart for the journey back home.
Day 12 - Kathmandu to Muzaffarpur (275 Km)
By the time I left Kathmandu, I gained some knowledge on the terrain and the Hill roads, hence the return journey back to the Indian border was a lot easier than the onward journey. I started from KTM at around 10 AM and reached the border check-post at 4 PM. Some strange event occurred at the border check-post (or rather, did not occur), and I will definitely not reveal it in this open platform! Anyway, I reached Muzaffarpur at 8 PM, and the roads leading to Muzaffarpur felt better this time, maybe because of the daylight. It felt good to be finally back to India.
Day 13 - Muzaffarpur to Barhi (Jharkhand - 275 Km)
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| Welcome to the Land of Enlightenment and Salvation |
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| As I stood at at Railway level crossing |
I had to refuel at Muzaffarpur, but the problem was that none of the petrol pumps around the area of my hotel accepted credit/debit cards, and I was carrying very less money at hand. Ok, so I went to the ATM to withdraw some cash, but what I did not know was that there were long queues at all the three working ATMs around that area and almost 30-40 people were standing in each queue. I knew this would be a long day for me, but left with no other option I stood in the queue, and by the time I could finish my business it was 12 PM, and after refuelling, I departed towards Ranchi (that was my original plan). By the time I crossed Patna it was 6 PM because of the repair works on the Mahatma Gandhi Setu. I then passed through some beautiful stretches of rural Bihar and reached Gaya, 'The Land of Salvation and Enlightenment' at 8 PM, but I could not make it inside the Bodhi temple as it was already dark and I was way behind schedule. The road from Gaya Airport to the Mahabodhi temple was one beautiful stretch of road, built to welcome Buddhist devotees from all around the world. When Indians don't have roads for self-use, devotees from all over the world get to travel on world-class roads and this epitomizes the Indian concept of 'Athithi devo bhava'! It was already very dark and I traversed through the highways of Bihar and entered Jharkhand and stayed at Barhi, Hazaribagh District.
Day 14 - Barhi to Jamshedpur (250 Km)
I left Barhi and rode through the buffer zone of the Hazaribagh National park and decided to make it to Balasore (Odisha). The roads were fine for some distance, then I stopped at the outskirts of Ranchi and another biker friend on his journey told me to stay put at Jamshedpur for the night since the roads from Jamshedpur to Odisha were no good. At moments like these I am immensely thankful to such fellow-riders for their guidance and expertise on the local geographia, especially after what I had experienced in the days prior. Hence I arrived at the great city of the Tatas to spend the night.
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| This photo is now my desktop background in all my PCs - National Highway near Ranchi |
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| Through the Dalma-Chandil Elephant corridor |
Day 15 - Jamshedpur to Jajpur Road (250 Km)
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| Odisha welcomes me with a storm |
Hands down, this stretch was one of the best and had one of the most scenic views the whole ride. I departed Tatanagar in the AM and entered Odisha. It was raining at the time and an old gentleman was holding his umbrella at the border, sans the two of us, there was not a soul there. Lush green trees and fields, moderate rain and the typical-Odia style village houses were such a pleasure to my sore-eyes then. I enjoyed the ride on this stretch as it passed through the Similipal National Park and through many villages with ponds, lakes, forests and rain all along! They say a thing of beauty is a joy forever, and though I did not take many photographs, Odisha during the rains would be etched in my mind forever. By 4 PM, it started to rain heavily and there was nobody else on the road to keep me company. The visibility was very low, and coupled with the slippery roads, it presented a difficult situation. Finally, I managed to request a Tata Sumo driver to act as my escort and he happily agreed. He would go in front of me at 50 Kmph and I would follow him on the single stretch of less-wet roads left behind by his rear wheels. This way, I arrived at Jajpur road for the night. This was the most fascinating stretch in the entire trip and the best part of it was the hotel which I had spent the night in. It had a spacious bathtub and a very comfortable bed which rejuvenated me for the remainer of the journey.
Day 16 - Jajpur Road to Srikakulam (430 Km)
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| Final Destination |
Only from Jajpur road could I link-up with NH 7, the better road in this journey. My original plan was to book my motor cycle at Puri Railway station and take the train from there, and I had also booked train ticket for the last leg of my journey, but as imagined, because of the bad roads, I was behind schedule by a couple of days and hence could not make it in time. I was reminded of the Kamal Haasan and Madhavan starrer 'Anbe Sivam' where the duo miss their flight because of a cyclone and wait for the train to arrive at Ichchapuram at 'Two to Two to Two Two'. I was following the same route back home and enjoyed every bit as the duo in the movie. Initially I thought of covering Puri and Konark, but as time went by I became uninterested in visiting places of interest and became much more excited to reach home, and thus wanted to cover more miles than smiles. Even though I passed within 10 Km of Chilka Lake, I was not very keen on taking a look for the reason mentioned above. My destination was Vishakapatnam, but I could only manage to make it to Srikakulam as some insects were hitting on my helmet visor at 80 Kmph and causing much disturbance.
Day 17 - Srikakulam to Eluru (400 Km)
A Dhaba Srikakulam filled me up for the morning and I left for Vijayawada. Nature tested me to the fullest this day as it started lashing heavily and visibility was very low. But since the roads were smooth, I decided not to halt. Thunder and lightning were doing their best to keep me off the roads, and I was soaking wet, but I pressed on, eager to get home. I could make it only to Eluru because of the rains, and the hotel accommodation proved difficult because the next day was supposedly and auspicious day and all hotels were fully booked. I somehow managed to find a decent room and rested for the night.
Day 18 - Eluru to Chennai, Home (510 Km)
This was perhaps the hottest day of the entire journey and I consumed 4 litres of water before noon. In a trip, always the last leg of the journey is the most dull, boring and exhausting. The same happened with me. I was uninterested to drive, and at many a time I thought that I had two choices - either to wake up from this dream and rest, but the entire tour would be just a dream, or keep going, battle against all odds and reach home and then day-dream about the trip. You know what happened next. I crossed Vijayawada, Guntur, Ongole, Nellore and finally entered Tamil Nadu at Gummidipoondi at around 10 PM. I got down from the bike, kissed the earth and rode the last 50 Km happily. I reached home with all the memories and nostalgia hit me hard, even though I had been away for only 18 days. There was some pomp and show at home with garlands, video etc. But I could rest only after eating the curd rice prepared by my mom.
- The End -
I have tried to keep this blog short, and I have taken efforts to make sure that no major event has been left out. However, should there be any questions or comments, please feel free to drop a mail to magesh.p@lawyer.com. Your valuable feedback would be appreciated.
