Road #5 Pune – Mahabaleshwar – Pune

Basic Info:

Number Of Traveller(s): 6

Transport: Pulsar 150, Pulsar 200, Honda CBZ

Place: Mahabaleshwar, Maharsahtra

Total Distance Covered: 300 km

Date: Somewhere during March, 2011

Total No Of Days: 1

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Intro – The Night Roof Top Party…

This trip was done when i was in 3rd year college and i completely lived on my parent’s money. We had rented an independent Row House which had two floors and it was a beautiful house, there was plenty of open space all around the house, and we could also see the western ghats mountains from the roof top.
So the party began at about 9 pm and we all gathered for some amazing time at the roof. A friend of mine really liked to cook, and he volunteered to cook chicken for all of us, and so we decided to bring everything(including the gas cylinder and stove) to the roof top and cook some chicken. In the end it was all about drinking, laughing and cooking chicken. The party was going on great and the cool night breeze made it even better.
Finally, the Chicken was ready and without wasting any time we all ate it and by god it was delicious. We thanked Sunil who had volunteered to make the chicken and he was a a very jovial and a enthusiastic guy. Good man, who made some gooood chicken!

“I want some strawberry after dinner” – The Plan gets hatched.

After the dinner got over, someone, i don’t remember who, said that he wants to have some strawberry, and this demand actually was the spark that led to this midnight trip to Mahabaleshwar. I can’t remember who the damn guy was, but thanks to him everyone then wanted to have strawberry after dinner. And of course we did not have strawberry with us at that time, but we all knew where to go and get some the best strawberries in India – In that moment we decided to ride on our bikes to Mahabaleshwar.
I decided to ride pulsar-150 which belonged to my friend Dhiru, actually i had learnt to ride on this bike only. There was another pulsar that belonged to Sunil, and we had a CBZ which belonged to my friend Arun. So, total of 6 guys on 3 bikes decided to ride through the night, along the western ghats and reach Mahabaleshwar before morning sunrise. My pillion rider was a cool guy from Goa named Partha. He was not in the party but he joined us later for the ride.

The Bike Ride through the ghats…

The road was pretty awesome, specially the long tunnels made by cutting the mountains, and at times i felt as if i was the great Italian Moto racer legend Valentino Rossi riding through these well lit tunnels. At night the road through these ghats had no traffic at all, and at times no lights and no villages nearby…it was completely dark, and the only lights that were visible were the head lights of our bikes. Like a wolf pack, we rode through the twist & turns of these magnificent ghats. In about 4 hrs we had reached Mahabaleshwar, and the time was, i think, 4 AM.

Finding a place to stay…everyone goes down…except the 3 of us – Avi, me & Partha

After reaching Mahabaleshwar, we had some tea and something to eat. After talking with each other for a while and checking our bikes, we decide to find a place to put down our bags and some of us were feeling a bit sleepy too. So we found a place nearby, pretty cheap at 300 Rs, and after resting for a while, me, Avi and Partha were the only guys who were still awake. We decided to go to a magnificent fort of Shivaji and see the morning sunrise there. Though, we were also feeling very sleepy, but the morning breeze of Mahabaleshwar rejuvenated us and infused a fresh strength in the three of us.

Unforgettable Morning Tea At Shivaji’s fort. Gods descended down…conversation with Avi.

After reaching the fort, i just stood there for a while, then i sat on top of the fort wall with my feet facing outside. The view was mesmerizing. Just then a boy came to sell some tea, we decided to have some and wait for the sun to rise. Finally the sun came up and as soon as the first rays landed on my eyes, i was completely engulfed in total cosmic peace. I felt as if Shivaji had himself come and blessed us who were sitting on this fort. The mind was calm and no thoughts came at that moment…it was a godly feeling that cannot be expressed in words but only can be felt through an experience. Avi was standing close by and i remember telling him that this place is blessed with a great positive energy and the experience of which i will never forget. After a while we all left and came back to our hotel….and we crashed on our beds.

Breakfast with everyone – Strawberries finally! & the ride back to Pune.

After a while we all went out, ate some breakfast and finally we found a strawberry farm a few miles away. We stopped, we saw and we ate like Kings. We also got almost 10 kgs of strawberries packed to take it with us back to Pune. The ride back was also good, not as thrilling as the ride at night, but it was still good to ride through the ghats again. We reached back to Pune in the evening and after reaching we again sat and ate strawberries that we had brought from Mahabaleshwar.

Conclusion

So, this short trip was completely impromptu, i will remember this trip for the delicious chicken prepared by my good friend Sunil, for the midnight ride through the ghats, the strawberries of Mahabaleshwar, and the early morning tea at Shivaji’s fort. The friendship that i had with my buds became even more stronger after this trip. Thank you all for reading this blog, let me know what you think in the comments below. Cheers!

Road #2 Delhi – Lansdowne – Delhi

Basic Info:

Number Of Travellers: 3

Transport: One Honda ivtech

Place: District Pauri Gharwal, Uttrakhand, India

Total Distance Covered: 560 km

Date: 18th Sept 2015  to  20th Sept 2015

Total No Of Days: 3

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Prelude:

I started planning for this trip when one day i was navigating through google maps, and i saw this small cantonment town named Lansdowne, tucked away in the Himalayan mountains of Pauri Gharwal district, in the Indian state of Uttrakhand. I started reading about it, i saw a lot of beautiful pictures of this place on the internet, and right then i decided to travel to Lansdowne in a few days.
Initially, i had decided to ride to this place on my Royal Enfield classic 350, but when i told my parents about it, while talking to them i realized that it had been so long since i had gone out with them. I was going to places with my friends or on my own at times, but not at all with my parents. So, i finally decided to drive to Lansdowne with my parents, rather than riding there on my Enfield.

Lansdowne is a very small town, there are not many options where one can stay, but there are a few hotels near the center of the town,there are also a number of huts maintained by the GMVN(Gharwhal Mandal Vikas Nigam) at a place called "Tip-n-Top", a few km from the center of Lansdowne. The cost of one hut, per night, ranges from Rs2200 to Rs 6000.
A few options were available to us, but we decided to stay at the amazing Gharwal Rifles mess. My father had asked one of his former fellow officer and good friend, who was a former Gharwal Rifles officer in the IA(Indian Army), to book a room in the officer's mess inLansdowne. The booking was done two days in advance from the day ofdeparture.

Day 1 (18th Sept 2015, Time: 5:30 am)

We left our place at around 6:30 am, crossing through sarai kale khan road in Delhi, i took a turn towards the Ghaziabad bypass road and eventually arrived at national highway-58 towards Merrut. Till Muradnagar, there is some traffic, but after crossing it there is the normal highway traffic. I was able to maintain a speed of around 80-90km/hr. After bypassing Merrut, we reached a small town of Khatauli, where we took a 30 mins break. From Khatauli, we left the Muzaffarnagar road and headed for Bijnor, Najibababad and Kothdwar route. This highway is also known as Pauri highway. From Kotdwar, the mountainous road starts all the way till Lansdowne. The total distance from Kothdwar to Lansdowne is about 50 km. After crossing Kothdwar, comes a bridge over the mighty Ganges river, and  there is a small Shiva temple named sidhbali near a well maintained ghat, which one can also visit.
After going on for a few km, something terrible happened, and as a result i learnt a lot about mountain driving, the hard way. A truck was coming in the opposite direction, the road was narrow and only one of us could have passed through. I stopped my car on the left and allowed the truck to pass first, but as the truck approached, i somehow misjudged the space on my left and as a result the front left wheel went into a small ditch. One of the back wheels of the car lifted up and hence i was not able to reverse and pull the car out of the ditch. I was in a soup! While we were deciding how to get the car back on the road, a local guy travelling in his car saw us, he stopped and offered to help. So, here is what we did, we took two big stones and placed them just behind the front wheel. Some more people came in and with the strength of their arms they were able to put weight on the back side of the car so that the back wheel gets back on the road. I took the wheel, put the car in reverse gear, and with a little bit of accelerator, we all were able to get the car back on the road. It was a good team work, and before going we thanked each and every one of the local guys who had helped us. This incident also shows the optimistic and helpful nature of the people of Gharwal.

Road to Lansdowne

I learnt that driving in the mountains has to be much more disciplined than driving in the plains. There are a few things i would like to share with the readers regarding some basic rules of driving in the mountains, for a safe journey, these basic rules must be kept in mind.
Firstly, if the road is narrow, then the vehicle that is ascending has a right of way. So, the vehicle that is coming from the top should give way to the ascending vehicle. This is because, the tyres of the ascending vehicle have a risk of skidding, losing control, and sliding downwards while breaking and then accelerating.
Secondly, if you are going slower than the vehicle(s) coming behind you, then it is your duty to give it way and let it overtake you.
Thirdly, one of the most important rule to follow is that the gear in which you go up should be the same gear in which you should come down. Fourthly, never ever change your gear to neutral. The car/bike is in much more control if its in gear, you will have much more control over your vehicle.
All these rules are courtesy my father, he has extensive experience driving in some of the most dangerous mountainous roads in Sikkim and also in Kashmir.
The road going to Lansdowne is a narrow two lane road, and at certain turns there is not enough space for two vehicles to pass simultaneously, so the vehicle going down, generally, stops at one of the, purposely built, wider turn at every few km, and it makes way for the other vehicle to pass. After passing through some awesome twists and turns, we finally reached the town of Lansdowne, at an altitude of 5,600 feet.

After reaching the place, we directly went to the mess of the Gharwal rifles, and to my amazement, the guest bungalow was over one century old. It was built in the early 1900s by a British Indian army officer, named Lt.Col Robert Montgomery. The bungalow had a total of four huge rooms, each converted into a guest room, our’s was the Roberts’s#4 room. In fact, the entire bungalow was named after the officer.
When i came out of my car, the first thing that i felt was the sweet fresh air! The air was so smooth and sweet, i could feel the oxygen reaching the inner most parts of my lungs. As i walked the short distance towards the bungalow from the car parking, on my left i could see the beautiful, lower Himalayan range of the Pauri Gharwal, it was a beautiful first sight from Lansdowne. I walked further and reached the huge entry gate of the bungalow, i noticed a small board on the left side, which had a few lines written about the bungalow and its original owner.
The story goes like this, after Lt.Col Robert had built the bungalow, he decided to put some stairs and raise another floor over the ground floor, but that night when he had decided the plan, a group of angles came in his dream and they told him not to built another floor as it would become an obstruction to their path to the holy Kedarnath shrine in the upper reaches of the Himalayas. Ignoring what the angles told Robert, he decided to go ahead with the construction of the floor. Robert did complete the construction, but just after a few days, legend has it, that he went completely blind, and died. The first floor that he had built still stands. The bungalow, was built with huge stone walls, which can still be seen, the interior has wooden flooring and a huge ceiling height. The stairs were also completely wooden. Entering the bungalow, i went back 100 years, such was the beauty of Robert’s place.

Robert’s Bungalow from the outside

Robert’s bungalow from the inside

I sat outside, with a cup of tea in my hand, i could not think about anything else but the mesmerizing beauty of Himalayan mountains.

There is something truly mystic about these mountains, they bring in a lot of peace within you. No wonder, many Indian sages and saints travel to these mountains for dhyan(meditation) and gyan(spiritual knowledge). After resting for a few hours, we went to a place called Tip-n-Top, which was another 5 km ahead of Lansdowne and at a height of more than 300 feet above Lansdowne. This place has got some good independent huts to stay in. There are a lot of view points here, you can go to any one to them and have a look at the breath taking scenery. After tip-n-top, we went to the local market, which barely had a few shops surrounding a circular junction. There is nothing much in the market, the entire place is just huge cantonment area of the IA’s Gharwal rifles, it is also a huge recruiting and training center for the men of the Gharwal.

Just after sunset, we were back to the mess, after having some snacks and a bit of walking outside, it was time for dinner. The dinning area was a 5 min walk from the place where we were staying. The army mess served a typical fauji food, not too lavish, not too ordinary, it was just perfect, i mean everything was just perfect, just like everything else in the IA. After having dinner,  i went outside for a long walk, i must have walked for about one hour in the amazing weather of Lansdowne. After finishing my walk, i went back and off i was to sleep. Tomorrow, we had decided to go to a 3000 year old Shiva temple named Tarakeshwar. 

View from tip n top point

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Road #1 Delhi-Alwar-Bhangarh-Sariska-Delhi

Basic Info:

Number Of Riders: 1

Transport: One Royal Enfield Classic 350

Place: District Alwar, Rajasthan, India

Total Distance Covered: 600 km

Date: 1st Jan 2015  to  4th Jan 2015

Total No Of Days: 4

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Prelude:

The idea to do this trip came to me, when i read about Bhangarh fort, near Alwar, and the supernatural stories associated with it. I also read about the experiences of many people who visited Bhangarh, and my curiosity grew as i wanted to go and see the place for myself. The pictures, that i saw of this place, on the net were so beautiful, the road, the fort plus the amazing Aravali range surrounding the place, all of this inspired me to ride to this place on my Royal Enfield.

So, around the end of December, 2014 i started planning my trip, the routes that i'll be taking, all the stuff needed and most importantly getting my Enfield serviced so that i have no major problem during the trip. I and one of my very good college friend decided to do the trip starting on 1st Jan 2015, but then i got to know from my friend that he did not have a holiday on the 1st and hence he will not be able to accompany me. This was very unfortunate for me as one of my very good friend was now not coming along and also i knew that my parents would not at all allow me to go to Bhangarh on my own and that too on a bike, as they knew that the Indian Highways are not very safe and i did somewhat agreed with them. So, there was a brief deadlock before the new year and i began to think that my plan for a solo trip will not take place.

But, then i made a choice, a decision that would be very sacred to me, i decided to do my first solo trip. My parents of course did not agree with me and i understood their concerns but i somehow convinced them on the morning of the 1st and i left, a bit late, at about noon.

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