Motorcycling and the Art of Zen Maintenance

we have moved

2010-03-19T06:58:00.001+05:30

Vata dosha aggravation happened. also considering the M part of the trip is over.
so we have moved to a new blog
http://breatheoutbreatheindia.wordpress.com

mostly ananya with her current travels, and me with my past exp.

subham

week something

2009-11-01T13:28:00.001+05:30

well am in hampi right now, having come down from srinagar-bhagsu-amritsar-delhi-calcutta-vizag - hampi.

logs will be updated, eventually. :)

week 22 logs

2009-10-04T14:03:00.000+05:30

Day 148 sep 18 fri
Padum – Phey – Anshu - Penzila – Rangdum - Parkachik
158 km
Am up and about by 7.30. Pack my stuff and have breakfast. Wait for it to be 9. At 9 go to the petrol guy, still closed. Come back and load the bike. Swiss woman asks when if Im going to Nepal (was wearing last resort tshirt). Said had come from there 2 months ago. She says on bike? I say yes, been on road for 5 months. She doesn’t look like she believes it. Man talking to her says nahin Leh se liya hoga. I just smile and continue packing. Have tea and read OPWC – amazing book.
At 10, the delhi guys come. I say have to go get petrol, they say NP, we’ll have breakfast. Go to petrol place to see it closed, but another man comes and parks bike and says it will open. So I chitchat and wait. 5 mins later, petrol man comes. Suddenly 8 vehicles around. But all of them know I’ve been waiting since yesterday, so let have first go at the petrol. Fill up tank and some spare; basically buy 10 ltrs.

Come back to hotel to say bye to Nadeem and rabbits. The delhi guys have gone! Have another tea and head. This time do a speed run, which is still min 40 – max 45. But as there’s no stopping for photos, do good progress.
Reach Phey and stop at Lama Bicchi’s. Quite happy/amused to see me. Have lipton and talk to him and Gyatso, a ration contractor from Karcha. Spend 30 mins and then head. Catch up the guys taking pictures at Rangdum glacier. Take some pictures and then meet up and have mini ‘picnic’ at the pond. These guys rip, 50-60 on these roads. I stick to 40-45, cant have the welding coming off again.

Some GREF guys stop and ask if I have cigs. Give them one, they ask if there’s more, I can buy ahead they say. Give more, they offer money which I refuse. Stop at Rangdum and have biscuits and tea. Pick up beedis as no smokes available. Its about 3.30 now and at the rate stops for pics are being made, we think Parkchik would be best stop. I get stuck in a knee deep part of a stream crossing and somehow manage to keep bike on and also cross. But soaked in freezing water till the knee. Stop and drain freezing water from the shoes and socks. No use, the wind is cold and I cant feel my toes anymore. The sun begins to slink down and the meadows light up in technicolored glory, even the ponds take this translucent emerald green. Get wet in two more streams. Stop near a glacier and try to dry shoes, socks and feet. No use, even the engine becomes cold the moment the engine is stopped. Walk around bare feet which doesn’t help at all. Its getting dark as we approach Parkachik. Ask a sumo where a guest house would be. When we get to the PWD place, its closed, but a guy says he has the keys but its being renovated so unless we want to sleep on the floor with no electricity. The mosque calls out. It’s iftaar time. Ask if there is anything else, I recall seeing an Alpine hut board while going to Padum. He says its half a km away. Dixit goes to check but returns saying cant see anything. I go with the caretaker guy (am the only one with pillion capability). We go ahead while the others follow. He takes to the alpine hut, where the caretaker has gone to read namaaz. A girl is sent and we wait. The caretaker comes and shows us the rooms. Elec comes from 6.30 to 10.30, 3.30 to 5, And that’s it, which is probably better compared to Rangdum.

I head back to drop the guy. He asks to join for tea. I say ok. His name is Mohd. Hussain. Is a contractor in charge of renovating the PWD GH. Asks lipton or namkeen. Get recipe for namkeen tea. Talk about Bombay, me and him. Have quite a chat. We hear a bike outside, realize someone must have thought I had fallen off someplace. Go out to check, its Salil. Call him in and he joins for a cuppa. Drink my second cup and head back before a third guy comes looking for us. Unload bike and dump stuff.

Find tobbaco and roll and show M1 pics to these guys. Sandy asks for extra blankets, and the caretaker asks Sleeping bag nahin hai? All burst out laughing. Dinner is ready and we eat. Everyone passes out. Watch the matador before I pass out too.

Day 149 sep 19 sat
Parkachik - Kargil
90 km
Wake up at 6.30 and go watch the sun light up the mountain peaks from within the glass windows. At 7 we get our tea and I update yesterday’s logs. Everyone wakes up slowly. Have breakfast and load the bike. The others bathe and repack. Carrying a lot of stuff for a 15 day trip! Talk the caretaker Habib, while the others pack. Find out the heights of the twin peaks Nun Kun (you can see the west faces of the peaks from here. Nun is 7135m, while Kun is 7035m. Nun has been climbed many times but not Kun. He has 6 kids, 4 girls, all unmarried and studying, makes 7k. Has a field but is not enough. Others have 10 kids, but nowadays ppl are having only 2 -3 max. Everyone has fields, but bhatware se kuch bachta nahin hai. Think about it and realize its meaning. Suppose a man had 10 acres and 10 kids. When he dies, the 10 kids get an acre each. That man has 5 kids, those get .2 acres. Overtime… We are now in the Suru valley; two main valleys Zanskar and Suru.

Takes a while for all to get loaded and ready. Ask Salil to clean the persistent dust spot in the camera. Take photo of sky and see no dust spot on it, so its ok. He says to get it cleaned at a Canon shop will cost 2k! I have only 2.6k left J Icici really fucked my plans up by taking the 17.5k, but then again I haven’t paid my emis in almost a year now; had it coming I guess.

I head back to town to say bye to Hussain, who takes my number. Head back and join the guys, who start to rip off again. I begin to follow at their speed, but slow down. I have a much welded pannier, an 95% bald back tire (have to change soon) and generally a longer trip to ride Chughun on. Let them rip. It’s so much easier and faster if the bike and luggage is just one unit. I soon lose sight of them but I settle back down to my view and ride routine. Do my prayers and ride along the different rivers. Each river passing through a village has its own name, for example Parkchick has the Parkachik river; I guess they all meet into some main river which is called something else.

Cross the Kichore TCP. Sign in and ask the cop if 3 bikers from Delhi passed by. He says no. Am surprised, they should be atleast 10 kms ahead of me by now. He insists that no one can go by without him letting them. I come out and cross to the side to pick up smokes. Ask the shopkeeper who says ya they blew past. Give choclate to the bunch of kids that assembled and head. Kids everywhere come running and wave and shout something. After 3 days, I pay attention. Its Chaclatte that they say! Or Angrez. Some of them even throw something after you. Wag my finger at such groups. The sequence is pen, chaclate, paisa. But mostly chaclate.

At a village, a guy hails and I stop. Wants to be dropped at Sanko. As usual, they just climb on, while I grip and balance the bike for dear life. He’s a school teacher, who is from Sanko and did B.Ed from Kargil. Teaches Urdu, Science and Maths at Sanko. Ask him the name of the river passing along. Tells me that two main rivers start from the Rangdum glacier; one left to Kargil, one right to Padum. Cross two roadblocks caused by earthmover groups clearing rockslides. Reach Sanko and see the BCM touring gang waiting at a tea shop. As usual, you can’t have tea in public view.

Head to Kargil. The clutch is giving problems, my left fingers are hurting at the lower phalanges; the clutch oil is probably less? Have to follow an army school truck for a while, as the traffic increases getting close to Kargil. The kids at the back strike a conversation, which we carry out by shouting. As I come close to the overpriced Ge Zozila hotel, I see Sandy getting something fixed at a mechanic. Somethings broken off; not surprised! Salil is getting something welded. Ask the mechanic till what time he is open. Says 5. Decide to stay in Kargil and come back later in the afternoon. Head to the hill petrol pump to tank up and intercept Dixit. Everyone at the pump is impatient and try to cut lines. I stare back and use size of bike to maintain place. Kind petrol man remembers and asks where the can he gave is. Sandy arrives and we wait for Salil for a long time. These guys are thinking of reaching Leh at whatever time. I try to dissuade them from riding after dark. At their speeds, it can get extremely dangerous on the broken road till Lamayuru. After waiting, we head down and meet Salil on his way up. Head to have lunch. These guys don’t trust kargil and are reluctant to park their bikes on the road in broad daylight, though they eventually do. We sit by the window to maintain a ‘line of sight.’ Eat and then take parting photo. Wish each other godspeed and go different ways.

Head to the PWD guesthouse; had thought of going back to Caravan Sarai, but Salil says PWD is 180 bucks, and money is a premium right now. Get there and the caretaker says will have to ask someone. I wait while he goes to call. He returns saying call nahin ja raha hai. Asks me what I will do; I say Caravan Sarai. I head there and they tell me all lower rooms are booked, though upstair rooms are there at 600 a pop. I whine and one guy says go to guesthouse lower the hill. But main owner man intervenes and says take the corner room, flush kaam nahin karta hai. I say flush se mujhe kuch nahin. Asks what I do etc. Eventually wants me to design the room, but I say pehle budget batao. Don’t want to waste your time and mine. Dump stuff in room and take oil and head to mechanic. It’s already 4.30 p.m.

Near the bridge an enfield going past slows down and looks at me, I slow down, but don’t stop. They uturn and come back. I stop, wondering who it is. Two guys on it stop beside and ask Maharastra, I say ho, Mumbai. They say ami pun, kote. I say Malad, they say Borivli, I say Marve road, they say gorai. Shake hands. They are heading to Srinagar, then Uddampur and then train back. I say ami pun Sringar, pun kaal, atha mechanic madun. They shake hands again and head back, as they are heading right now. I say Jai Maharasthra J and head to mechanic. After a bit of waiting, mechanic comes and checks, says its ok, only clutch is bit tight; I’m like I know! check the oil, yesterday bike got submerged in water. We check and see the pus come out. Decide to clean it with petrol only instead of the appropriate diesel. But as time is running out (for him, namaz and then iftaar), not the other side. Change the oil, pay and head back to town.

Go to Internet cafÈ and check mail. Mail Ananya and the last of the patrons of this trip. It’s time to end Mataozm and get down south to family and a paying job. Have debts to pay and change from ‘Sirsasana’ to ‘Syampadasana’. No spiti, no rann of kutch, but its ok; like ananya said, I’ve had a great great run. And I still have the whole length of the country to traverse.Maybe work for a couple of months and then go with ananya to the north east. Pay off debts and then come teach at a monastery next summer? There’s another ‘adventure’ waiting, of ‘returning’ to the motionless world and dealing with it. Have no idea whether to write that book everyone keeps telling to, or even that coffee table book of photos. Time will tell. Zen? J Aham aniketah. Vimrsyaitad asesena, yathe icchasi tatha kuru.

All you have been, and seen, and done and thought,
Not you but I, have seen and been and wrought, ..
Pilgrim, pilgrimage and Road,
Was but Myself toward Myself; and your
Arrival but Myself at my own door..
Come, you lost Atoms, to your centre draw..
Rays that have wandered into Darkness wide,
Return, and back into our Sun subside.

Eat with the rest of the town. It’s a good feeling, communal even. Buy kebabs for some beggars. Stand aside and see all kinds of people eating all kinds of things. Except I’m eating veg and everyones eating yummy smelling kebabs and paya soup and what not. At such times, I get fed up of eating rice, dal, and mixed sabji for so many meals. But got to stay steadfast. Except for the smoking, have managed to keep it together. Still a long way to go. But am no longer bothered. Work has to happen to maintain physical body, the rest is clear. Even STD booth ppl are eating and shop is ‘shut’. Waves of sleep come over and I head back to hotel to crash.

There’s no three point plug in room! So boy gets an extension cord J Dump photos and begin to sort, when all enthu drains off. Been shooting in RAW, so huge files and so many. Sometimes I just sit and look at the photos and not sort. Relive the memories. Somethings that just happened in the morning seem so far away. It is physically, but mentally also?

day 150
day 151
lost logs- deleted file by mistake. nothing done really. chilling, reading, watching films, talking to people. Id happens - lots of joy and good cheer all around.

Day 152 sep 22 tue
Kargil – Barcha – Batalik – Hardass – Dah – Hanu- Dah – Batalik - Kargil
199 km
No need for permit, says hotel man – only 60 kms – 2 bofors guns with convoy – mp stares when I gawk at guns - shopkeeper says everyone looking at hair - leave after lunch – rise above kargil – feeling of joy returns – inertia has returned? But nevertheless, it feels good to be back on the road. Hambotingla pass 13202 ft– kid running downhill – intercepts and asks lift- walks 20 km to and fro to school – wants to become doctor- tea at barcha – fida hussain and mohd ali – riding along teal river and narrow river cut valleys- batalik – maratha regiment taking over from mahar – mein aur uparwala works everywhere– smoke donation to marathi major at Hardass! post, no tea, no takleef - Aryan valley starts – adi Dravidian in the valley of the Aryans - photo – promise to give tea on return – Dah– marathi manoos – dah village is up the hill – bridge deviation – tea and convo in chair – couple from Bangalore – turned back at dah – alternate road to kargil via karbo – head to hanu – cross only gorkha artillery regiment at hanu thang –sam maneckshaw – if a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either a liar or a gorkha- thin river valley – craggy mountains - 2 kms from hanu – sabji something post – need permit – only foreigner – get shown Indian citizen permit – pani toh piyo – chai? – return – give lift to kids heading down – kid from Nepal – wants to become driver – when given options doctor - - dah get waved past – stop at boulder road fork – army guys say cant go up – local passes – army guys tell show him, he will drop u – go up boulder road – cross wooden bridge and walk up – randi woman chuma attempt by local army porter – old ladies – family photo – solo photo girl – address taking – meet padum-kargil trio – they planning to make guesthouse man dress up to take photo – walk more along ridge village - feel scammed – walk around – dusk – cant stay – have to drop him – another attempt at girl pataoing – dark – drop him at village – cant go back so go ahead -no jacket no gloves – stop at hardass and bum smoke – mahar man makes maratha man make tea – drink and chat abt life – 2 hr watches – 1 yr rotation – family – politics – raj Thackeray – kargil 65 k from here – reach batalik – quick questions and pass – another checkpost – Bombay man chats – from mulund – other man makes long Q&A investigation – bbay man says eat and go – no – time – yes – wait and talk – almost 8.30 – get 7 chapattis and dal in tumbler – then rice in plate and dal in container – warm water in bottle – sit in bunker? Shelter and eat while he and jogi from belgaum shine light – finish eat and head – bloody cold without jacket and gloves – ride non stop – raccoons? Striped fluffy tail cross twice in headlights – too late to take photo – no traffic for 2 hrs – all alone under the stars – sing songs to forget the cold – mouth goes dry - reach kargil by 11.15. shoulder’s fucked from cold hunching – crash.

Day 153 sep 23 wed
Kargil – Petrol pump – Kargil – Karbo – memorial - Drass – Tiger hill road – zozila - sonamarg
146 km
Wake up, pack, another service tax argument at counter - pay bill, finish reading OPWC, say bye to all, jayanti lal, Deepak, ghulam-e-mustafa, owner – 12.15! – go fill petrol – come back - call ananya – line busy – eat lunch – say bye to Internet guys – head out – take photos of you are being watched by enemy – road full of small and big martyr signs - cross karbo – stop at memorial – get tour and info- 400 posts taken in violation of 1962 shimla aggrement – tiger hill, tololing- point 4872/batra hill – NH1D overlooking, rhino hill, third pimple, NH1 delta – mashcow valley – drass and batalik sectors – giant sunflower- gallery – photos – pvc, mvc, vc, photos of photos 2 pvcs stil alve - pandey– heavy iron pieces of rocket – cant lift rocket part - jharkhand major – photo – instant celebrity – drop guide to town – tea at drass - dropati kund – truckers filling water – craggy hills – pyramid hill – red, green yellow, glaciers-zozila pass – camera conks – confusion at zozila realignment - amazing vista at other side of zozila – battery removal – autofocus not working – crescent moon – emo moment – dusty road – good road – 70 kmph down zozila – sonamarg – sardar hotel – unpack – std ananya and mom- dad orphaned – amarnath not happening – 3 am departure and 13 km walk– dinner – cricket match – surrealness of seeing men in suits in ad –news – militant activity- ask and get told something in srinagar – but hothe ratha hai – champions trophy is on, watch for a while and then head up – I wonder what happened to some triseries we were playing - log update – possible deletion of last 2 days update :s, camera possible working fine – unsure. Doda hotel man – after November 12 ft of snow here – in april enter from first floor window and work outwards!

Day 154 sep 24 thu
Sonamarg – Ganderbal – Mansbal – Bandipore – Watlab – Sopore – Pattan - Srinagar
184 km
Wake up and go down for tea. The sun is out but the weather cool. Have breakfast and look at all the fir and pine trees, warming myself in the sun. Watch yet another hindi dubbed film. All the Chinese parts are not dubbed – such low quality work, but its not like I’m going to sit and do it; whoever is doing it knows just that much. All the actors across films have the same voices.

Pack quickly. The daily morning rituals are pleasing as they indicate a forward motion, something new will happen.

The daily morning set is as follows – (this should be a separate post, but will reorganize later; not procrastination J but flow)
a. wake up – it’s mandatory J Have incorporated the osho practice of smiling/laughing at the start of the day. It’s difficult for me to start laughing, me who never really laughs, but smiles big; but it’s a nice feeling and am getting better at it.
b. Brush and bathe – the bathe bit is subject to availability of at least slightly warm water.
c. Suryanamaskars – had stopped doing all physical yoga practices. Primarily coz of an unsubstantiated but firm fear that it, especially kriyas, would reduce the vata and make me want to sit in one place. Now that the trip is due to end, I have become ‘brave’ enough to restart. At the least, my sadhana will restart and the feeling of shitness at not practicising and the accompanying feeling of joy and contentment will reemerge. So far, the external sensations of seeing, hearing, and experiencing people and places fed them. Like the time after the solo manali- leh trip shortcircuited my visual cortex and I didn’t want to see anything for a while! Time to see if both can work in tandem. Back to the suryanamaskars; body has become stiff and can barely manage 3 before I collapse into shavasana. So much for having done a 108 set in one go! But practice makes flexibler.
d. Shambhavi mahamudra kriya – had sat a week ago to restart it, but had forgotten the sequence to my utter dismay! Ananya has sent the sequence and have started again; not doing the full times, but have started. So that’s good. My breathing is fucked! Can’t even hold for 30 seconds – everything seems to be a decline – from 2 mins to 30 seconds. But its ok. Practice karo, fruit kao. Am not ready mentally for kriya
e. Shoonya meditation – not the optimal time for it, but I can’t do it while on the road. Tried it once, and opened eyes to see a bunch of kids watching and fiddling with the bike! Will start GMCKS meditation in
f. Fight the desire to go back to sleep. Pearl’s Johnson’s baby oil where needed.
g. Read – one of the highlights of the day. Sitting anywhere I can catch some sun and reading. Some of the stuff I have been reading is so gripping and stimulating, I just settle in and then don’t leave for the day. If only staying didn’t cost so much money!
h. Breakfast – one sitting breakfasts – don’t talk, just eat. Buddha really knew what he was talking about.
i. Read more – till I think it’s warm enough to head.
j. Pack – this deserves a separate post, which I’ll write later. It’s a factor of how long I have stayed at a place; the longer I have stayed, the more time it takes to repack. Typically its 3 minutes. Do a quick check
k. Load bike -
l. Prayers – Done once I’m rolling. Om Trayambakams, the lord’s prayer, some bhajans, hymns. If I get distracted by traffic or anything, I continue when mind is back on track.

It’s warm and bright now, but the sky is dull. It takes me a while to realize it’s smog, no, not even that, it’s too warm, just plain pollution. Depressing. The Sonamarg mastiffs are stacked with pine trees, right up to the peaks. Packs of horses stand or trot around the plains; most of them tourist horses and ponies waiting for the next customer. The Khajwas glacier stands still, white clouds floating slowly over the peak; horses and sheep grazing around the streams that trickle down and then join the river – the Sindh I think. From the strange grey brown muddy hills to hills covered with trees as far as the eye can see. Probably seen more trees in 30 minutes than the last one month.

As the Khajwas glacier fades away in the rearview mirror, a man hails me to a stop and asks me if I can give him a lift. I stop and pick him up. Have got used to ppl clambering on the panniers and hold on for dear life. He tells me his horse ran away with another one and he’s trying to find it. He’s a gujjar bakkarwal, the bhed-bakri people. Horses often run away when it gets cold and there’s less food. Cross a bunch of people who have packed stuff onto some horses and riding some; a few sheep and goats tagging along. They too are gujjar bakarwals; my temp. pillion is one of them, and would be riding with them if his horse hadn’t run away. With this new information, every horse, and there are a lot of them, suddenly becomes special and maybe it. Drop him off at another gathering of the bakkarwals; still no horse, at least he is with family. Another man, another lift. Offers money, refuse. Maybe I should; be like Richard Bach in that book – thunderbird flights in the Himalayas. Off the Himalayas now though, places pass by at 1800m, the mountains loom in the distance far north.

It’s noon as I cross Ganderbal and reach the turn off to Wullar lake. I stop to decide; the road looks inviting. On the map, it goes right into Baramula district, the places we keep hearing militants are most active. But what the hell, it’s bright, sunny, and fields of green, yellow, and gold loom ahead; and with God and Amanya on your shoulders, all will be well. Take the road and ride across fields where men and women are busy cutting, grouping, stacking, and chaffing? the harvest, with scarecrows keeping watch. It feels like riding amidst fields of gold. Stop for a break; an army truck goes by with the men at the top wearing helmets against the wind!

Reach a fork where bystanders tell me to take a right. I take the right fork; they hail and point right right – into a dirtish road on the right. I stop to think; right up to now, there were nice big road signs that pointed straight ahead, definitely not any side track. I smile and think – not every man is going to be a subversive militant leading you down the path of destruction; and whatever happened to white roads. I take the road and ride through villages, where people are rather shocked to see me or rather a loaded enfield chugging past. At another fork, I stop to ask and some men say straight only, but first Manasbal lake and then Wular. Up ahead the road begins to disintegrate and I stop to ask. They say this road goes too, but is a bad one; turn back and take the first left for a better road. I do that and soon see a submerged temple. Stop – Bystanders tell me it’s a 1000, 2000 year old Shiva temple. I ask 1000 or 2000, there’s a big diference. They shake their head and say kisse pata hai. The big signboard at the side says Ancient Temple and that’s it, nothing else – the BRO signs at the passes have more information about the passes! A man tells me there is a temple by the lake and wants me to follow him. I go into the temple and walk around – fish float around the temple – the man wants me to feed the fish. I refuse – its back to the world of belief and money. My walk falters – its so easy to forget how the world is; But that world is part of the world too - Takes all kinds I guess. I walk out and walk towards the Mansbal lake. Nice walkway around it, with a park where families, couples, and friends sit and walk around. Shikaras dot the lake with people taking rides in them. Take some photos and head out to the bike.

Lunch offer, photo of pakodas, fields, lift, 13 number spanner, army convoys fully geared - bandipore, crpf – tank bag check, tea – sahil and mitoo, questions, terrorists – wular view –Sena police checkpost – tp – its more fun when u have a partner; don’t I know it - Sopore – more crpf, police, armoured vans at busstand –sopore city of apples – except one tree so far, nothing. 10 kms later, rows of apple orchards. Stop to take in the smell. 4 crpf emerge - apple grove - smoke – don’t come – check, convos, securing apples, 4 militants – 5 cops death previous day – should check and come – uparwala –

Pattan – tea shop – owner – something Lone – is 35 but looks close to 50 –shows me election card - from baramula – talk abt Kashmir – how independence is all they want – whoever wants pak is a harami – India is not any better – America- angrez – messing it up – but better with India, but independence is what we want. Was good before 90, before everything started going wrong. Is much better now, in 94, everyone would get beaten up on suspicion of being afghani. Even sitting like this and talking, me and even you would get beaten up.

Reach srinagar – city – pollution – eyes start burning. Ridden through shitloads of dust, but eyes never burnt. Ride from one end to another to reach boulevard road. Dal lake – ppl talk – usual qts – old couple from hyd; second honeymoon? – wife not really first time he’s ever taken me out. Decide against a house boat. Hotel aziz – negotiate and check in. Shocked to see so many things in room – TV, cable, phone! Have become a gavvar having culture shock in the city. Bathe. Lie down. Man says go eat, everything shuts down by 10. Go at 9.30 – 90% of city already shut; only cops and sidey characters around. Eat at bhojanalaya, along with young and old women from some convent from tamil nadu – Christians all. Hear comments about my hair in tamil – tempted to respond in tamil, but eat in silence. Come back and crash, watching champion’s trophy. News is the same as before – cricket, Pakistan, g20 – same shit – except there’s water on the moon now.

week 19 logs +

2009-09-20T21:25:00.003+05:30

ok got my weeks all mixed up. but...

Day 127 aug 28 fri
Leh
14km – 12819 kms
Wake up to a glorious morning. Get coffee and update logs for the last couple of days. It’s difficult to get back to keeping daily logs; have to update 3 weeks worth now. Daunting. Go with Karn to main market and find a doctor to get his stomach bug checked. Walk around trying to locate a Tibetan medicine doctor. No luck. Have breakfast at Neha Sweets – good stuff, except they macrowave the gulab jamun. Head back to the guest house and sit in the sun chitchatting.

Retire to the rooms and copy films from Karn’s hard disk. Laze around, oil body and hair. Bathe in hot water – feels like finally the dirt is gone. The lice have gone too! Hallelujah – no more scratching the head wondering what’s wrong. Thank you Pearl.

Get ready to go to the Stupa to watch sunset, but it’s too late. Stay back while the rest go to the Confluence festival. Show Megan photos from Kanyakumari to Mandu. She’s been in the country for 3 months, but only in Jharkhand, and now Delhi and Manali. Go for dinner, eat and get back. Logs not updated completely. Will update logs tomorrow.

The gang comes back from the festival and we congregate and chit chat about events – Omar Abdullah grooving, Talvin Singh, hippie chick flashing. Pearl has some new stories about Tibetans and her taxi ride. Talk till 1 till we all pass out.

Day 128 aug 29 sat
Leh
16km – 12835 kms
Brisk morning. Teach Karn and Megan Kapaal bhaati and Anuloma Viloma. Pearl joins in. Do autosuggestion shavasana for them. Do random things. Internet lunch I guess. Mind is still in freeze mode.

Evening head out with Karn for the Confluence – 1500 for 4 hours is super expensive, but what the hell. Get there to see a big wide place with stalls and 2 stages spread over the field. Get our carbon footprint calculations done by these two ppl from Bangalore who are volunteering for something called www.no2co2.in. Mine is less than Karn's :D

Meet the rest of the gang and settle down to listen to the acts. Terracotta was outstanding. The others were ok. Overall festival was poor, but the acts were good. Hardly any crowd and most were volunteers. Who wants to pay 1500 bucks a day.

Day 129 aug 30 sun
Leh
0km – 12835 kms
Girls head to PTso. Wake up at 5 and send them off. Pearl gives her media pass to go for the fest. go back to sleep and then chill the entire day at the GH only.

Day 130 aug 31 mon
Leh
0km – 12835 kms
It’s rained last night. Wake up but don’t leave the bed. Right wrist is aching; probably slept on it. Stay in bed and watch multiple films. Usual symptoms of stonedness – sloth; but beyond that a bit lost in the head. Similar to post mysore walk. Everything is distant.

Afternoon some chitchat happens; wander in and out of it. Megan is leaving tomorrow, so we go out for dinner. Walk the long walk to the restaurant. It’s drizzling now too.

Day 131 sep 1 tue
Leh
22 kms – 12857 kms
It’s the annual Ladakh Festival today. It begins with a parade from Chubbi and ends at the Polo ground, via the main market. 15 days of events at different centers on faith and commerce in the Ladakh plateau.

Check email at the only place that has Internet in Leh and head to the Polo ground. The sarkari speeches are on, with everyone trying to get a better spot.
Photos
Palace
Limping cyclist
Leh roads
Evening with drawing pearl, fresh apples
Pearl wants to go to Thiksey
Dinner at kc - move 4 times – purab
Films sleep

Day 132 sep 2 wed
Leh - Thiksey - Leh
44 km– 12901 kms
Wake up and feel more in tune with the world. Import photos from the last few days and am dismayed at the photo sorting that is pending. Since Delhi, my daily practices have stopped. I think the only practices I follow now are the bhakti yoga and vegetarianism. Feel real bad; it’s time to restart my kriyas. Let what happens happen. If I have to stop the trip and stay still at one place, I will.

Meet Pearl for breakfast – parathas made from veggies from the garden. Meet a couple of brits and give them gyan on where to go. I find it my duty now to guide people who are out to visit India. Have a brief convo on the pros and cons of LP. I am firm on the view that it’s a good starting point and after that you talk to different sets of locals- different sets coz lots of locals haven’t the faintest idea. Most have always traveled by buses, so know only the main routes, not the shortcuts etc. The best help is from middle aged to old. The Brit’s friend wants to do Nadi! Tell him about Vaitheswaran Koil and give them two garlic pods to accelerate their AMS recovery.

Leave for Thiksey. Fill air and fuel. Don’t take helmets so it’s a slow ride. Stop at Shey and climb the little hill to take top view of the stupa field. Try to find someone to ask what it is, but no one around, except worker taking dump.
Head to Thiksey and reach the monastery. It’s a visually Ok monastery, but then they are not there for our entertainment. Walk up, around, and see the sights. A huge Buddha in dhyan pose looks at you in this small room. Can’t use flash which is ok. Also can’t pose with the Buddha. Even pictures of the Buddha are holy stuff. All these rules about God. Wonder what Buddha would have said about this. Occupy myself taking photos. A peculiar disenchantment with religious structures has set in. Maybe it’s the huge number already visited, seen, and understood.

Head back and do round of Leh before heading back to hotel. Meet Juma and fix time for service of bike – tomorrow 9.30 a.m. Meet Karn on the way to lunch. Dump stuff at hotel and head to Wonderland for lunch. Poor breakfast and all this cold has made me super hungry, not to mention the #. Gulf down an entire pizza and then the remainder of Karn’s lunch. Head back and crash watching Roma. Woken up in the evening for next meal. Clean up and head down with Pearl. Meet the gang and have soup – can’t eat anymore. Everyone sits and practices the regal wave – Asha does it well – wrist wrist elbow elbow. Joints are rolled and passed around. My maal is almost over and I am glad for it. Time to switch from charsi to kriyawit; though I do write much better when high. Time and place for things?

Head to Bon Apetit for dessert. Pearl meets a friend Sethi something, who’s an NIDian who’s helped design this place. Pearl - Ananya’s common friend. Purab’s been raving about Hello to the Queen. It’s a fab ‘fancy’ place. HTTQ is nice, but then again I’m not a sweetie. Gawk at the almost full moon with its halo and Venus by its side. Walk back, say byes to Purab and Ashu. Ride back with Karn in the now cold cold night. Copy photos for Pearl and retire for the night.

Day 133 sep 3 thu
Leh
Pearl and Asha leave at dawn. Wish them safe passage and fall back asleep.
Sms comes – flight cancelled – they come back – full gang – go army shop shopping – pick up magic gloves, amry balaclava, and wool socks - lunch at wonderland – cold drizzly -11 deg at 2.30 pm – go to juma – get lift back to market – walk to GH – bhang and mush for ashu – head to bon apetite – whole Bombay gang inside rest – meet prateek – full respect for ananya – eat sizzler – chit chat – moon clouded – walk back - sleep

Day 134 sep 4 fri
Gang leaves – go in car – awesome snow cap with stupa in fore – drop at airport- get ride to juma – shops closed- back to hotel – routes disco – chilling - tell driver to come evening – chill – talk to prabhat 27 shillong – goa 9 k, work here, barren to green to barren – kashmiri flowers - friendships loneliness – vs. shillong – special leaf (taan – kashmiri pata for dinner) – meet Shams - eat lunch at gh – watch mad max 2 – sleep lots – evening wake up – wait for cab – no sign – ask galwan – shops still shut – stay back indoors COLD – hang with shams – stories – routes in arunachal – zero – along – pangim – siang river entry into India cliffs – tawang la entry stretch – eat sumptuous dinner with Taan - madmax 3 – madmax 1 – COLD sleep

Day 135 sep 5 sat
Cab comes at 9 and head to Juma to pick up bike. Stop at ATM. As usual long lines. Have convo with a guy from Buldana. General TP. Himmat comes up again. Get inside ATM and have heart attack – of 20k, can only take out 2.5k, rest ICICI has mod balanced. Wont even be able to cover leh bills. Head to Juma. Bike is ready, but get bad news. Seems there is tension on the Tibet-china border, so chushul and hanle will be inaccessible. Head back with bike. Pick up a 10 ltr can.

Back at the room, call ICICI from Karn’s phone. Seems some credit card ka payment ke liye – they say transfering me to CC dept, but after wait, comes back to main menu. Chuck it and head to market to have brunch. Neha sweets ka veg thali and some Internet. Do jugad for some floating cash. I’ll have to whore my ass off to repay my friends, but atleast I’m still solvent. Don’t even have a trustworthy bank account now! I guess ICICI waited? For a year before jamming my ass. Head back watching the snowcaps increasing around leh. Talk to Galwan about recent turn of events – how Leh is turning into Srinagar – how if China decides, they will reach Leh within a day – how much it will cost to rent a small place for a month here. He comments on my white lips – tells me to put cream or something! I must look a sight. Go fish out Pearl’s baby oil and lip it. The coconut oil I have melts for like 10 mins daily – if I miss that window, no oil for me. Snuggle inside blanket and watch film. Plan ahead unsure – we decide that its better than Karn heads straight for Uttarkashi, despite bleak chance of getting into NIM.

Around 5, head to market and ATM again. The usual 30 min wait outside the SBI atm. Idiot car parker knocks over Chughun. No harm done to bike. Person behind us strikes convo. Turns out to be a mountaineer,Avi, who’s done basic mountaineering course and is going to scale the not-so-technical but 20k ft high Kangri? peak (highest around Leh). Keeps taking till our turn to ATM. Karn and I withdraw money – one deposit has come through. Go to have tea with Avi – tells us lots of stuff about mountains, mountaineering, his trip with army help to Leh, and life back in Indore. Promises to send photos of successful scaling.

Karn and I head to Internet; chat with amanya. Chats with her are the best part of my days. Karn says that’s why I’m married to her. No idea when we will hook up together. Very keen on North east this year end. But don’t think it will happen. Update logs after 5 weeks! Lets not start on photos. Maybe when in Spiti. Talk about the prohibitive cost of mountaineering. Book Manali bus ticket for Karn. Head back and watch Gran Torino. During ‘interval’ head to Wonder land and have Chinese (fuckers. app. Helidropped food packets on some villages near Pangong – hence the tension) food. Pick up Pearl’s food bag from the shop they left it behind. Bag is full of sunflower seeds from TN. Crazy here we are eating cashews from Goa and sunflower seeds from TN; well also fresh apples from the tree! It’s fucking freezing. Head back, watch the rest of Gran Torino. Prabhat hangs with us for a while. Sleep eventually.

At 4.30 Karn wakes me up. Layer myself and go drop him at bus stand. On return, fingers start burning, despite gloves. Manage to park and crawl back into bed. Have a plan of action in head – marsimek la attempt, then head north and route back towards HP via Anantnag, Doda, Chamba. For the first time on this trip, have started thinking about ‘travel writing’ instead of just the logs. Have a lot of material not in the logs, but don’t knoÂw where to start. It’s not like I have any political or cultural angles. Mataozm has been the longest random impulse. Lets see what happens.

Day 136 sep 6 sun
Don’t remember. Went up to the Stupa.

Day 137 sep 7 mon
Market – oil - Welding – shams ideas – talk – blown – sleep – party – paragliding –AP – Surfing -

Day 138 sep 8 tue
Welding – third time I’m coming. Wait again. But happens. Internet – try to find our scene about travel writing – Smriti gives tips. ppl shocked that I’m still on trip – shams talks about his plans – forge ktop permit – Am thinking of them on Stok-Kangri

Day 139 sep 9 wed
Leh – Ktop – Leh
Have breakfast and leave – 3 bikes – Shams happy am coming – Am designated ridemaster – Ride up – dramatic views – keep stopping. Have one snowball fight with Yoran. Reach the top. Yoran and Shams eat. Meet 5 mumbaikars from RCF on unicorns who have done bbay- ktop in 9 days. Am instant celebrity. Take photos with me! Walk up and take photos. Am enjoying myself, but time is passing quickly. Already on top for more than 40 mins. Yoran is falling asleep.

week 21 logs

2009-09-20T20:18:00.002+05:30

Day 141 sep 11 fri
Leh – Nimmo – Chilling
71 km
NH-1D
Wake up. Say bye to Yoran and Shams – headed to Tso Moriri. Watch film and talk lots to Prabhat – he also wants to ride from Goa to Shillong now. Show him how to read map and plan route – tips on riding and gear etc. dump stuff including camera bag. Bags full.. where and what to dump?

Leave at 12. Go to Internet and tell ananya am off. Ride out of Leh is too intense. Rearview is dramatic. Ride to Nimmo was too intense – emotional – to almost tears.

At Magnetic Hill, ride up the hill – no use. Go park in the box. Switch off engine – bike moves up. Lil shocked. Go back and do again. Happens again. Ride almost 5 kms without starting. Cross pather saheb and come to Chilling turnoff. Take it.
More dramatic scenes – riding along Indus. More emo – dunno whats wrong. I thot I had recharged visual cortex. See rafters – water looks so so only for rafting. Many beaches.

Stop at Chilling 1 and take photo. Reach Chilling and go beyond. Road looks desolate. Stop incoming scooter man and ask. Says nothing ahead only road. Road being built to Zanskar – get hopeful, but he says will take years. Head back and head into village – end up at river bed. Village is up the hill. Ask someone who says ask at shop. Shop says yes room. Shopman says he got me back – till then hadn’t realized it was him! Too many faces seen - Room is big room with just mattresses on floor, no electricity even. Bathroom is open air no door enclosure. You decide rate he says (Gumbo) – I says 100. Ok. Have tea and ‘roti’. Come to room and fall asleep! Chilling is known for copper work – tea and chang pots among them. Try copying photos but battery goes. Phone also battery gone.

Woken up at 8.30 (prefixed dinner time). Rice sabzi. Two phirangs also. Eat in silence. Have no idea what time it is. Go back to sleep!

Day 142 sep 12 sat
Chilling
Wake up and watch sun rise move across the hills. Have tea and sit watching river. Cows and Yows (yak + cow breeded for more milk) chill on river beach. I join them. They leave in a while. Have breakfast.

Go for village walk – Wild rose and leh berry. Test beery with rudraksh (+ve) and then eat. Tangy, sweet, chewy. Keep picking and eating entire day. Walk in and around the fields – wheat. Want to check out copperware, but no ‘workshop’ in sight. Chance upon a group whose guide is also looking for copper family, 4 families in village who do copperwork. Main one not there, so smaller one who have only spoons. Buy one. Gang is NRI techies from Umrica on holiday. Had gone on 4 day trek (with 5 helpers!).

Head back and read bhagwad gita. Engrossed and decide not to leave. Think about popping, but decide against. Too intense already. Fall asleep. Wake up at 4 and have tea. Gumbo amused at amount of sleep. Walk up to the village. Village is bigger than I thought. Meet locals on way who ask usual. Ask if bike is mine! Take photos. On way back, yow and I meet. Stare at each other, Yow turns and walks back!

Head back and continue reading – Dinner time head down – Gumbo is not keen on cooking and despite making sounds about Maggi, I give in. He cooks and we talk. Rafting is not good now, less water. 70-80 ppl only in village. Once Darcha – Padum – Chilling road opens, no cold weather road blockage. TV was removed coz ppl would not work and just watch. Drunk gref guy joins us.

Come out – Sky is mind blowing, mountains all around with galaxies twinkling. Take photos. Walk to river – shiver. walk to river – shiver –Head back and dry up and slither into sleeping bag. Brief ponder about possibility of madness. Watch black bug lay still. Read BG. Do Osho Oos and blank out.

Day 143 sep 13 sun
Chilling – nimmo – khaltse – lamayuru – Fotula – kargil
NH-1D
228 km
Wake – no tea shop closed- pack – wait –Talk to Gurdaspur punju gref worker boy- both far way from home - breakfast –settle bill – 350 for 2 days including food :D Gumbo gone to Leh to get supplies. bus only twice a week sun+wed - leave – Back on NH. Decide to do Chaddar road , though in Summer. Road is broken. Cross Bagso castle.

Moon place is still freaky, but now just one more awesome landscape. Keep passing phirang couple who ride very very slowly; probably coz rider has half face helmet, and except a 30 min period, where I had to remove jacket, its bloody cold. Full cloud cover today. See crowded Lamayuru and decide not to enter – monasteries after a while are different paintings and size and form of Buddha. Tea shop ppl are excited and give tips about Padum and where to stay in Kargil – Ge Zozila they say. Shopkeeper notices extra helmet. Lots of people notice that and ask.

Pass GREF boys jackhammering side of hill – watch. This is how the roads begin.
PPl are chaffing the wheat. Groups of ppl do the farming together – like a commune.

Cross Fotula – highest point on this road – 13479 ft. Windy. Terrain changes to dusty mud-rock mountains. Camera getting jacked. Wish pillion was there to take photos. Yak couple. Male? Outwits me and covers the other! Ppl chaffing all over. Season is finishing and produce must be cleaned and stored for winter. Ppl bury stuff like potatoes etc. underground and then dig and use as needed. See cool wind powered prayer wheels. Also waterstream powered mini prayer wheels.

Cross Namikala – 12198 ft. At some places, there are pipes in the hills, which are used to fill up tanks. Villages pass by, the terrain becoming gentler and the flora thicker and more colorful. More birds too.

Hungry. Almost eat my chocolate cookies, but Wakha Wado comes. Stop opp. Previous stop. Have tea and khari. Usual questions, but this time from man who lived in Bangalore. Studied there, worked a while in Accenture, got fed up of timings, and came back and joined father’s construction business. Talk about cities and other things.

15 kms from Kargil, stop for photo. Meet Murad Ali, who speaks Purki (Baltic dialect). Seems Drass ppl speak their own, Batalik their own and so on. Eventually get to know his dilemma in life – couldn’t get married to his girlfriend as both parents were against. Got married, 3 years now, has a kid too, but still hung up and from conversation, still ‘seeing’ the girlfriend. Wife ke saath jamtha nahin hai and going home is unbearable. Roza is on, so wont drink even water. Head to kargil.

Last time, cold welcome is not there. Just another town. Go to Ge Zozila. 800, becomes 700. Decide to see room. Small double room. No TV also. Balls I’m paying 700. 3 polish bikers fixing their mega bikes. Say good luck and leave. Head into town. Speedometer case has come off. Mechanic can’t find appr. Screw. See another hotel Siachen something. Again 800; this time I don’t even bother seeing. Head into main market and see guest house sign. Head towards that, and stop in middle of junction. Ask someone where it is; man says come with me, I also have hotel ‘caravan sarai’ (stayed there last time) 400 bucks, I say ok and go with him.

Dump stuff and head back to market to ATM and Internet. ATM is ok. Withdraw last of monies. Internet won’t happen until after Iftar. Wander around market. Lots of shops selling kebabs and cookers selling soup + paya (I think). Walk into hotel and have to wait for veg food. Mutton kati and roti is ready, but veg have to wait. Wait and eat. Entire town is eating right now. Head to Internet and check stuff.

Head back and dump photos. No space on comp. Delete crap and move stuff to hdd. Update logs. Wondering why we don’t make travel films, considering all we do is travel and watch films. Its 11 and mullahs are still going full on. Hope I wake up in time. Tomorrow will be another battering ride.

Day 144 sep 14 mon
Kargil – Sanko – Damsala – Nunkun - Parkchik- Rangdum
133 km
Wake up with light fever. Wonder whether to leave today or not. Have breakfast and feel better. Pack. Hotel guys very helpful. Give tips on route and also empty bottle. Say to stay at Rangdum. Confused about whether to take extra petrol or not. Some say u get at Padum, some say u don’t. Head out to buy cans. Had left my 5 and 10 lt plastic cans back at Leh. Who knew I was doing Padum! Though it’s only 240 kms from Kargil, it’s a broken road ride. Find can shop but flimsy cans. Old man who’s been around strikes long convo. Decide not to take those flimsy cans after Manali Leh leakage. Ride around trying to find 2 ltr coke bottles. Can’t find, only 1.5 and that’s pointless, I think.Eventually say fuck it and head to Petrol pump.

At petrol pump, meet caravan sarai guy filling petrol. He asks friend to show me the Padum road, as usual road is blocked and u got to go round. Friend is a vet from Jammu working at Animal husbandry center. Ask him what the cross breeds are called; the yows are called Zho mo or just zhos locally. Petrol pump guy gives 5 lts oil can, yay. Full tank and 5 lts. Also gives plastic to cover the lid! He also adds to the list of people who have told me Zanskar is mighty cold.

Head off, drop friend at animal husbandry place and ride on. Still metaled road so good. It’s a nice morning, rather mid. Its almost 11.30 now.

At some village, ask only shop if he has tea. Says yes, I stop to find out he meant tea leaves. Have a Jumpin pineapple and head. At Sanko, bigger village/town, ask two guys if where u get tea. One says Roza ka time, so no tea. Other guy says you may find in that shop. That shop has a curtain at door. Enter and ask shopman. He says yes. A man with a girl kid are having tea. I step out and watch people and warm in sun. Lots of kids. Shopman comes out and calls me in. Tells me to sit and have tea. Probably don’t want to tempt the roza keeping guys! Another guy kinda hides behind the counter and has khari and tea. Its ok I guess; its extremely difficult to work without food in your belly in this cold.

Head out.. the kids here are different. Very few lo-fives, but more waves and random shouts when u pass. The road stops being a road soon, broken stuff. Pass through farms where chaffing and collecting work is in full flow. Wild rose and berry bushes galore, with the quintessential river flowing by the side. The Suru valley.

As I take a turn near Damsala, everything changes. Two magnificent icecapped, snow laden peaks loom ahead. Emo moment. Stop a passerby and ask him which mountains these are. He says something, I repeat, he shakes head, I ask him to spell it out. It’s the Nunkun. Is surprised I didn’t know. It’s a twin peak, nun and kun. Both about 7135m, that’s 23,545ft. JFC. Highest peak I know of that I have seen. Says quite popular with climbers, though very few have done it. He used to be a guide. Ask him if he has climbed it. Says ‘sawaal hi nahin utna hai’ – too difficult. Assume it’s not as difficult as Nandadevi (Tenzing had said Nandadevi was the most difficult he ever climbed. Everest is easy when compared!) As a precaution, he looks at me and says you need permission to climb it. I laugh. Say I can’t even walk a km in these areas, forget climbing.

Stop at checkpost just ahead. Give name, license number and bike number. After 10 years, I know my driving license by heart now! 3 little girls come up. One places a half broken rayban on the window sill and say pen. I say I don’t have. They say chocolate. I have just one, and I hold it out. All hesistate, so I place it on the window sill beside glares, and one pounces on it. Talk to the guard, random usual stuff. Everyone keeps asking me if I’m traveling alone and then about the second helmet. About 50 ppl so far (from Manali onwards!) – all know about ananya;s dad’s illness.

Ride on – this group of villages has lots of kids, all running around. So far 3 of them have tried to trip me over holding magnetic tape across the road and lifting it when I approach. When I brake, all of us have a good laugh. Lots of really pretty girls around – kashmiri I guess, and some mixed breeds, can’t says whether kashmiri or ladakhi. After Katmandu, the next place where such rampant beauty. Oh, there was a good stretch of road for 5 kms near damsala, and now its back to broken stony road. But the ride is dramatic with icecaped mountains all around, the river in the middle, and the red, green, yellow, orange, violet patches of soil and foliage. Its gotten quite cold. Ride around the Nun-Kun and keep going. Soon no more close grouped villages, except the road guys at random places or otherwise no humans for kms in a stretch. If there are cows, zhos, sheep, goats, rams, or the occasional yak and horse on the road, they gallop away when I approach. Funny to see cows gallop. I never thought cows could run so fast.

Cross Parkachik and such villages or rather settlements (too small to call them villages!). Some places have JnK tourism Alpine huts. Around 3.30 a cold wind starts blowing. Nothing to do with time, but valleys I guess. Chuck the beanie and use my new army balaclava. Its clumsy and I somehow end up breathing through my mouth.

Another checkpoint and he tells me I can reach Padum by 10.30! Rangdum it is for today I think. At some point, I see red flags on the road. As I approach them, from nowhere a man appears and tells me to wait, while he hails unseen ppl up the hill. It seems blasting had happened yesterday and today they are clearing it. This continues for a stretch of 10 kms. At yet another awesome icecap view, I stop and eat some chocolate cookies and take photos of myself.

The sun is sinking, the temp falls, and the wind gets colder. Rangdum is about 10 kms away, when fields pop up, with ppl working in them. One hails me and asks where I’m going and If I’m staying at Rangdum to check out ‘something’. I repeat the name wrongly as usual. Then he says also Dorje guesthouse. I say tell me one and how much. He says normally 300, but Indian ho toh 200. Ask if he wants lift. He says no, I’ll come later, have to work. About 30 ppl are working in groups all across the valley, collecting grass.

About 5 kms from Rangdum, a group calls out and I wave. Somehow feels more at peace, when I know I can say Julley and everyone knows. Had got confused near Kargil, where I just nodded to everyone I passed. That’s another new thing – I nod, wave or call out Julley to all I pass, sometimes even animals! This waving was somehow different, so I stop. A girl comes running down and says Rangdum chodo. She hops on briskly, while I stabilize the bike with all the wrist strength I have left.
Calls out to everyone on the route. Happy I guess. There are iron ass rides and now there are iron wrist rides (forget the iron back or spine parts, that u need anyway – thank god for the yoga TTC, my spine would have collapsed ages ago otherwise).

As I enter Rangdum, a village of about 20 houses nestled in this valley surrounded by snowcaps, a lady beckons me. I slow down but go ahead. Am sure she has a homestay too, but the guy had said the ‘something’ guest house was after the TCP checkpost, and I already have some sense of ‘loyalty’. Drop the girl off at the TCP and give the name, license, bike to the old guard. He has a radio on, and India is batting. Surrealness seeps in, and I ask whats the score etc. Seems Sachin has made another century. Yay. Do the usual chitchat and the second helmet story. Ask him where Dorjee GH is and its across the school hut. Ride to it and see NunKun guest house board. So it was Nunkun. So different when they say it. A lady comes and shows me the room, which is basically the living room. Its fine, but no electricity, but they have light with car battery. I don’t think I will get any better, so I ask how much. She looks at me and says 200 without food, and 300 with. I say fair enough and unpack bike. Everything is covered and soaked (yes its possible) in dust.

She asks if rice is ok for dinner; I say yes and please some tea first. She asks Lipton or mita. I says Mita. Lipton is the namkeen chai. She steps in the house and comes out with a pail. Goes behind the house and starts milking a cow!

Dump stuff inside the house and come out to see the sun set. Venus is shining bright. All around the cows, sheep etc. are being herded in, and people are returning with the grass bundles on their backs. One by one, lights come up in the houses, all car battery operated. I have my tea and walk down to the TCP and sit listening to score. In 5 mins, my feet are numb, despite the woolen socks. Its dark now and the houses and the sky is lit like a british Christmas tree. I can even recognize the patterns in the sky now. The same starting points of some stars and that galaxy in the middle. I trudge back to the house and read the BG. Around 8, a guy pops his head in and says pahuch gaye. I’m like huh, then I think it’s the same guy who told me abt the place, only I can’t remember his face! Around 8.30, dinner is served – rice and sabji dal, with a huge bowl of curd. Eat half, when another guy comes and asks if I want more. I give him plate, which comes back with double the rice. Somehow manage to stuff it all in. Original guy asks if I have mobile. I say yes, but doesn’t work. He says can you set alarm for 3 a.m. I am baowlaoed and ask him why. He says kaam hai.

I read for a bit and pass out.
(writing this after 4 days. took 1 hr to recall and write!)

Day 145 sep 15 tues
Rangdum – Anshu – Penzila – Phey - Saini - Padam
141 km
Wake up around 7.30. It’s a crisp morning. climb two ladders and get to roof of guesthouse. take
village photos. Ask about chortens and stone writings. Chortens are temples only. Writings are just like that. Like ppl tie threads etc.

As i head out, bunches of kids heading to school. They wave, i wave back, but one lot waves differently. Stop to ask what. One kid runs and practically clambers onto bike. And another one tries to follow - i nahi him off, the third friend will have to walk alone! Talk to the kid. wants to become a teacher. Drop him off at the bottom of rangdum gompa (monastery). There's an army post at the bottom beside a chorten memorial to 3 monks who were killed by 'enemy agents'. It's a mixed group of army guys- get prasad and tea; say no to breakfast. one guy from nasik; we talk in marathi. to pass time, they play volleyball, watch tv, play cards. Around 12, wind picks up. I joke so you fly kites, they say that also we cant do, they'll tear. Why are u going? its all banjar zameen. visit the gompa that you're here. I say uff not now.

Cross a valley full of color and marmots, families of them. try to take picture of a hole which one disappears into. Ride up Penzila. Icecaps all around. realize camera lens cover is missing, return 12 kms, back, no lid, penzila crossing, glacier, walk up and take pictures. sit there for 30 mins. a Lorry driver also stops and takes pictures from his phone. a stupa appears in the middle. crossing over from 'mozzie' territory into buddhist. enter zanksar valley, boring road, cows on road stop to drink water from the streams,

At a village, ppl sitting on ground do the different wave again. Stop. A old man in a monk looking outfit comes running and clambers on. And thanks me profusely. touches my face in gratitude. Is scared; when a rough part comes, he holds tighter and says om mani padme hum. Suddenly asks sharaab pite ho. i shake my head. he opens dress flap and shows flask, aise. i shake and say no. Wants to get off at Phey. Stop to drop him and he asks if i want sharaab again. i shake, he says paisa, i shake again. again the verbal and facial thanks and then he touches my feet. I say nahin nahin and move bike. Someone in a window nearby is laughing.

Stop ahead in village at an open shop and ask where i can get tea. They say nowhere. I anyway get off to take break and see what i can drink eat from the shop. They then say something in ladakhi? (can't be sure - here almost every village has its own language/dialect!) and then say go with this man, this man being a monk looking man. I am like no no, thakleef mat karo; but they insist. I think they are taking the lama's ass and shake head. They go quiet, so i say ok. Walk with the man, who turns out to be the lama/priest for this village. Go to his house and he makes tea for me. Life coming full circle - to think of all the priests and ilk i have made tea for :)
Sit and talk to him. Name is lama bicchi. My current 'saati nahin?' response of 'mein aur uparwala' evokes LoLs. Tells me to go check out zangla and karcha, and at karcha have tea with lama wangbo, who's his nephew. I take down memo. Can't remember the names. I give offering, which he refuses.

Padum is still a good 40 kms away, and I'm tiring. Its been a brutal ride. The villages are grouped closer. Town approaching. Kids returning from school. The wind picks up like no one's business along with the cold. Road work ppl are huddled behind rocks and even on the non-wind facing side of a road roller! 6 kms from Padum, paved tar road. woohoo, after 100 kms! Stop at Jnk tourism, which has place but only for a day, after that all booked caretaker says. I ask some kids whats the next best place. They say kailash. I anyway do usual town recce, but all hotels are grouped at start of town and some random guesthouse elsewhere. Head back and ask at kailash. they say closed yesterday for season, try in ibex. I go to ibex. has room. shows one but 500. i say boss single aadmi, cheaper. he says indian toilet, im like chalega! Dump stuff and get hot water and wash the dust of 2 days. Elec is supposed to come from 5 pm to 6 am, but nothing so far.

I step out for a walk, but the wind is howling now, bringing the cold from the snowcaps straight into the bones. Shops all around are shutting like riot affected shut like wildfire, wind wind wind howling cold wind. Cold cold. Ask where i will get petrol. they say puncture shop, but wont get now. its over. maybe after two days. I seem to have enough, but u neer know.

Step out for dinner at shop next door. 10 steps and im already frozen cold. Only food left is rice chana. No electricity coz of bad weather. Snuggle inside blanket and read BG. Pass out.

Day 146 sep 16 wed
Padam – zangla – karcha - padam
94 km
Elec comes at some point at night. Wake up at 3. Watch films. Have breakfast – feed rabbits. Talk to other guy, who's a guide for trekkers. Lamayuru to padum to darcha is 11 and 9 days. Total cost more than a lac. Mostly Europeans. In off season, goes to goa, then Nepal. Finish BG. Feel good, but still don’t know what. Petrol scene looks dicey. Ppl say need atleast 10. Might just make it. Pack day bag. Give dusty clothes for wash.

Leave for zangla. Good road. School kids – one behind, one on back carrier. Third climbs but bhagao. Pass stongay. Petrol seems to finish quickly. Reach zangla. Ride ahead, ask army jeep. Head back and into town. No one in sight. Ride to gompa. It’s a nunnery with gate closed. Head pops out. I head back, when they call. Park and walk up. Chomos cleaning stones using rope spade technique. Darshan. About 17 girls. Show other temple. Kids memorizing loudly. Show only apricot tree in zanksar. Take photo to show to lama wangbo. Bicchi is quite famous in these parts. Class going on. Lama jamyang. Kids from class 1 to 5. After that they go elsewhere. Jamyang has also studied for 3 years in benaras. Have tea. Both kinds. Refuse bread. Usual questions. Uparwala evokes smiles. Local man says we don’t feel cold. The biharis etc road guys start lighting the fire as soon as they get up. Even when there is (raises hand to show height – almst 6 ft), they still carry on doing whatever they do. Head to front area to say bye to first chomos. Ask who to say said apricot. After hestitation, wangmo. Mo is girl, bo is boy. Julley and head out to palace.

Wrong road, passerby says go back and up. Find route. Reach base. Old snobby couple climbing up with guide. Walk up slowly and then take pictures of palace and dramatic view. Major French help here. Helped rebuild chorten. Horses pack of trekkers go past. Sit for a while and take in dramatic views. You look and wonder about life and everything. No wonder these regions are so religious or spiritual. You cant help it.

Ride down back to padam. In middle stop to drink water and eat karn’s chikki. Sit for 15 mins. Just sitting, looking and listening to the wind and the river. U can just sit and not do anything for a long long time. Cold seeps in despite sun at noon. Head back. Petrol scene looks bad. Take turn off near padam for karcha. Those white spots on the faraway hill is actually the monastery. Take the road up to the monastery and enter the gate. Abt 15 monks sitting and cutting branches of poplar. Julley all and usual where from, how many, how long, why etc. uparwala makes them all laugh. Tell me to go have tea. Dirty cup and butter salty tea. There’s a whiteman helping them stack up the cut pieces. Name is Matt from England. Used to be a sports teacher, but now travels around world and teaches English wherever he can. Has been to south korea for a year, Nepal for 5 months and now teaches English here for the last 2 months, but will head home soon as visa is expiring and cant even go to Nepal as he has finished the foreigner limit of being in Nepal of 5 or 6 months. Talk to him for quite a bit, exchanging stories. Yoga, mountaineering, places in India, My visit to the UK, experiences of traveling as a ‘way of life’, what his folks say, when he will stop, how the momentum and constanscy of travel takes u to a place where u don’t know when to stop. Except for the visa and money constraints.

Stuttering old Lama gives darshn of 2000! yr old temple at foot of monastery. There’s a packed mandala that will go away to some place in a couple of days. Lama Wangbo isn’t here, has gone someplace. Come out and sit with monks talking to them and Matt. A girl with a few chomos comes, and talks to Matt, in a Bombay accent! Matt says even she is teaching English in some nunnery up north. After mustering breath, I walk up to the top of monastery and take in views. Main temple is locked but I knew that. Didn’t want to bother the working monk with the key. Walk back down and have lipton tea and goodday packet at 3 p.m. Young lama says why you didn’t see top temple. That bombay girl had key (crossed them when coming down); also adds that she said she’s bipashu basu’s elder sister! They are going to build a new room for guests who come visit. Even this place is helped by a French group. Have helped rebuild the kitchen and the dining room (doesn’t look like it, but there are some letters on the notice board showing a before and after; so am assuming it was much worse before).

Write down details of yoga course and mountaineering course for Matt and go sit by myself looking down at the valley. You can see the Stongay monastery to the left, Padam on the right and two rivers meeting in the middle, with snowcaps all around.

At 4.30, the wind picks up. I julley all, and say I have to go do jugad for petrol and can’t stay. Maybe will come tomorrow if possible. Ride back to Padam. On way, two kids wave out saying bike school. Same kids I dropped in the morning, now hanging out. This region is similar to Leh but a lil different. Everyone waves or wave when u nod.

Stop near the puncture shop to ask if petrol is available. They say nope, its closed and anyway no petrol in town and no idea when. Man says he can get for 100 bucks a ltr. I joke and say at this rate, he can open his petrol pump soon. He says that’s what he got it for, and come tomorrow morning. A group of teens stop by and ask what. I say petrol. One guy says let me ride the bike. I say nope. He says no ride, no petrol. I ignore him. Park bike outside hotel, dump stuff and go to find a phone. Two internet places in town and both shut. Call ananya but it says her incoming is shut off. Call mom and talk. Main news is death of my godfather. Am more worried about dad; his best friend now in the ground. Grandmother is with mom, speak to her too. She too wants to see me before she moves on. My last grandparent, and she has outlived so many uncles and aunts, but then again she’s only 2 yrs older than dad – thanks to child marriages.

Walk around. Chat with shoepolish guy who’s from Jammu. A maths teacher at the French-italian run school also chats. Says I can also go to some cooler places, but will have to trek for a couple of days. I say some other time. Walk around the market, window looking. Find this place selling king size Malaysian? Cigs for 20 bucks a pack. Smoke one – feel hit. We all joke about color of filter matching my face, and how this feels like smoking ganja. Have samosa and tea. Start reading Old paths, white clouds. Around 6.30, electricity comes. Notice there is no snarling wind today. Just breeze and cold. Dump photos, clean sensor of camera. Camera has dust spots, and display has a few scratches. I hope I don’t have to end up buying subbu a new camera, not that I can afford it now. And to think I wont find a camera cover till Srinagar – which is another 3-4 days away. Till then I have to use it wrapped in a cloth. Don’t feel like writing, so lay down and watch a film till 8 and go eat dinner. Come back, watch more and …

Day 147 sep 17 thu
padam
9km
At 4.30, someone knocks on door. Wake up and ask who. Says nadeem the caretaker. Open door and he gives me keys to 104, says 102 ka tank has frozen, so I wont get water. If I want, I can go to 104. I say thanks and go back to sleep. Wake up at 5.45 and watch rest of film. At 6, go and have tea. Start writing the logs since kargil. Its 8.30 now and I’m still writing. Have had breakfast, fed the rabbits (who have no names). Will go check out petrol scene at 9. May leave today itself or maybe not.

Read opwc. Nice one. Fall asleep and wake up at 3. Have lunch. Go to find 100 rs petrol guy. Hasn’t opened. Walk around. Get shoes polished. Watch cricket match. Hotel guy sends person to show petrol shop. Seems petrol has come to town, but now shop is closed. Another guy shows the house he might be in. almost everyone around hotel know my petrol scene now! Walk to the house; no one answers knocks. Walk behind to ppl getting ‘kali mutter’ out of chaff. Boy takes to room where petrolman has gone out and I’ll get petrol only tomorrow at 9. Walk back dodging imaginary bullets and real apricots from a little boy. Throw back some bombs. Go for my ‘walk’ and watch cricket being played with cork ball by teens. Sun is setting casting nice glows on the glaciers and snowcaps. Go to new shop to have tea and strike up convo with these 3 biker boys from delhi. All from BCM touring forum, one of them its moderator. Chat a bit, then decide to meet later at closeby bar. Come back and pick up shoes. Talk more. Another shoe polish man in town (there are 3) is from Khar Road!

Meet at bar, where they pick up booze. No soft drinks or snacks, so they pick up from outside. Then they get to know that drinking is 100 bucks more, so we head to their room in JnK tourism. They drink, I drink coke. Talk about bikes, delhi, money, my petrol shortage, routes, superbikes and their scene in India, other biking clubs. Again Praveen kumar’s name comes up. Seems he too has done a 6 month all India trip J we exchange cards and they ask me to join them on their ride back- will put up the req petrol. I tentatively agree and decide to meet later for dinner. It’s almost 10.30 when we meet and walk to the only open place where they say chowmein only, or go down the road and try another place. We head there, threatening to come back if that’s closed. Other place is open and we order fried rice, soup etc. Chat abt dubbed films being funny, casting couches, sachin, biker clubs, abuse those bald fuckers on MTV Roadies.. get back to room at 11.30. pack 95% of stuff, and watch film. Wake up on and off and watch film.

week 18+ logs

2009-09-05T18:55:00.000+05:30

Day 119 aug 20 thu
Delhi – Noida – Ghaziabad – Meerut - Muzzafarpur – Roorkee - Haridwar - Rishikesh
245 km – 11747 kms
NH58
The two coffees I had yesterday evening and night ensured that I stayed awake till 5. Wake up at 8.30 and clean up whatever is left outside and add to the bags packed yesterday. The day I leave Delhi is finally here. 2 whole weeks gone by. Say bye to Rajeev and then go load the bike. Come back up and eat breakfast with Smriti and then leave. Say bye to Smriti and sale-bhehnchod wala Aditya. Forget to say bye to the maids, but I had done my I’m leaving today to them yesterday. I must have said I’m leaving tomorrow 4 times already! It’s around 9.50 and bang into the middle of office going traffic. Reach DND (it’s Delhi Noida Delhi!) cor-it’s Delhi Noida Direct!) and have flashbacks of the time I used to work at Noida and take the same route daily from Munirka to Noida. Yet another past lifetime.

Get pulled over by traffic cop who checks papers, uses the now standard issue magic detection finger on the luggage, and says bike ko tempo bana diya hai. Ask our way around to Ghaziabad and then Meerut. Am a little surprised to see no cows. My strongest memory of Noida roads used to be those chilling cows. Ride gingerly through Ghaziabad – don’t want to be pissing off anybody here.

Reach Meerut; bypass Meerut. A whole bunch of engineering colleges along the way. Subbu wants a fatwa put on engineering colleges. Bike begins to slide along the road, puncture! I stop to check and it is one – I had skipped filling air in the morning with airpump and then at petrol pump, coz there was a line. But the Om Trayambakams at work again. I have stopped with the puncture 5 footsteps from a puncture shop! Get puncture fixed -Nail. Also seems like my starter is screwed. Subbu takes over the wheel and after ages I sit in the pillion seat. Realize the seat is fucked – Why didn’t Ananya or Saurabh tell me! Have to visit mechanic.

I can’t see over Subbu’s head so settle down and do my Om chanting and other song singing. See Kaminey posters along the way – so much for making Piggy chops act without makeup. All the posters have her in the single sexy pose she does in the film (the separating my boobs jhatak during her wedding baarat). I keep thinking I was a bit extreme in my first view opinion of Kaminey, but despite watching it twice, I still felt something missing. Jai Maharashtra.
Reach Haridwar. Feel a lot of good energy, also terrain changes and can smell Eucalyptus in the air. Somehow anyplace that smells of eucalyptus is a good place in my head. See the sun setting behind the giant Shiva statue, but can’t be bothered to stop and take camera. Sit behind and watch the sights – the pillion always has the best view – so let me enjoy it for once.

Reach Rishikesh. Nice to begin, but soon becomes that religious spot hill station with yoga yoga yoga schools. Pass through Sivananda nagar – yaay – see the Divine life society office and the ashram. Subbu goes for a 2 month yoga Vedanta course here from tomorrow. Purnam and mangalam bhavatu. Subbu heads to Laxman Jhula and finds the guest house he had stayed before. Nice place – at the edge of the hill overlooking the holy ganges, with view of the Laxman Jhula - have to find out the story behind LJ.

Unpack, and head out across the Jhula for tea. Return, sit on the terrace, watch the river and talk about experiences, Vedanta etc. We exchange cameras – now have Subbu’s Canon 350D. Have to figure out how to use it properly. Bathe, eat, and here I am now. I know I’m missing a few things from today, but can’t recall. Heading out to terrace again to see Ganga flow by.

Day 120 aug 21 fri
Rishikesh
18 km – 11765 kms

We wake up to sounds of bells ringing devotees’ wishes up to Shiva. Head across the Laxman Jhula for breakfast. Are too early, so suffice with tea and wake back. Plan is to drop Subbu at the ashram by noon. Roam around taking pictures and talking to people. All the spots are further on. No one knows why it’s called Laxman Jhula. Subbu heads ahead while I hit the book shop. Want to give Subbu the pranic healing book I had seen yesterday.

Superb bookshop = Siva Books Emporium, Ram jharoka mandir, laxman jhula, post- tapovan sarai, Rishikesh, Uttarkhand 249192
shivabooks@yahoo.com, sivabooks.com
Well, atleast for spiritiual and religious books. Pick up the Pranic healing and couple more for myself. Books have been the bane of my luggage, but there is no other weight I would choose to carry. They don’t have a book I want, but will get it by evening.

Head back to the room. Subbu’s all packed. We exchange cameras. Press the S2IS on him and get his Canon 350D with it’s bulky bag. Need to repack.
All set and leave for the ashram for subbu’s sadhu course. The last 4 days have been very different from the last 3 months. Conversations have been about spirituality, processes, ideaologies, people and so on. It’s true what they say about Satsang and the company one keeps.

Reach the office to find all tam brahms manning the holy fort. After all the formalities and chitchat, walk with Subbu into the ashram and look around. This was the original ashram built by Sivananda. It’s a huge complex now, but a lil stark compared to the Vishudevananda ashrams. The Vishnudevananda ashrams (True World Order?) are not affliated to the Divine life society ones. Ashram and disciple politics. Leave subbu to his studies and head towards town.

Find the Enfield mechanic and hang around waiting for the chief mechanic. Talk to Australian (Merri) who is on an India – Nepal – Thailand – Australia trip. Is caught up in the travels and the wife back home who’s waiting for him to return. A percussionist - has learnt to play the Indian drums in benaras. Is returing the hired bullet and will now head to Thailand. Asks me if I want a helmet. I refuse – already roaming with an extra helmet bouncing off at the back of the bike.

Head out, find ATM, find phone charging shop. Chitchat with shopkeeper gets a one-day rishikesh –manali route. It’s unclear but after Poonta Sahib I need to head directly into HP. Go back to mechanic and give instructions. Take a shared auto to the hotel. Get dropped off at main road, and then walk to the hotel, amidst devotees who are confused when they see me. Read my new book that got delivered– the Holy Science.

Subbu calls and says we can meet for dinner around 7. Start walking towards the main road. Reach main road but continue walking towards Rishikesh main market. It’s a long but splendid walk, with the river flowing to the left and people and stories flowing past. Observing the people tells you a lot about where they are from. Everyone gives me a wide berth. Haircut? :D

Meet subbu outside the ashram and walk to the mechanic. Work is done but the seat is not fixed. We throw out the seat and do jugad for a new one. After brief back and forths about whether to put an original thunderbird seat vs. just jugad for back seat, we decide on jugad. We walk around and have a really bad dinner. Bike ready, drop subbu back at ashram and head back. Sit by the river and read.

Day 121 aug 22 sat
Rishikesh
0 km
I read. I walk. Devotees, ashrams, temples, river, yoga centers, colors, beads.

Day 122 aug 23 sun
Rishikesh – Rani Pokhri – Dehradun – Poonta Sahib – Sataun – Minus - Newra
206 km - 11971 kms
NH72, SH1
Head out early. Subbu’s DL is at the ashram lodge. Send him sms to remind him to pick it up at end of sadhu course. Plan to come back here, but October onwards the entire lodge is booked for 6 months. There won’t be standing place on the roads.
Take the beautiful fresh road and bypass Rishikesh. Bypass Dehradun and head to Poonta sahib. See the magnificent gurudwara by the river.

From Poonta sahib, decide to skip the Shimla road and head north into Himachal. Hello hills, Hello landslides. Dry but amazing sight of kms of landslides. Do jugad to keep camera out. The landslides have now been cleared (thank god for the extended stay at Delhi, else good possibility I would have been stuck under one of these. But everything is super dusty. Ride along a river. At a village, give a guy a lift. He tells me it’s the Kasi river. Also points out that the Great Kali’s (WWE) village is close by. Drop him off. A few kms ahead, stop at a ‘spot’ – Am a bit happy meanders still make me stop to look. A kid walking around tells me on asking that it’s the Thamsa river. A river changes name in 10 kms? Take photos of the deodhar forests when a man asks kiska survey le raha hain and starts walking towards me. I wave, shake my head and walk back to the bike. Finish the cig when a maruti stops by with two cops in it. Make me show papers and do the usual QnA. Why I didn’t take the easier, quicker and safer Shimla road and am taking the Himachal ke khatarnak raaste. I say that’s why I’m taking this route. He says tumhe khatron se khelna ka shauk hain and lets me go.

Incidents like these and those numerous ‘himmat’ make me stop and think. Is this dangerous? How? I don’t even life or injury insurance. The best way to avoid all this shit is riding carefully and safely. I don’t care whether I am setting a record, just seeing, experiencing and moving on. The only ‘record’ ride was the Bangalore Bombay in a day ride – 1072 kms in 20.5 hrs. The only downside was the general inability to walk straight the next day; well and yes, the occasional sleep waves that happen during long boring stretches. We even managed to do the return trip to Bangalore in a day, except 70 kms from Bangalore at 2.45 am in the night, the bike seized; which we left on the side of the road and jumped onto a truck.

Stop at a place where a earthmover was breaking the landslide side of the road! Guess making it safer. Take photos– the earth mover driver wants his picture taken. Oblige and ride past. This entire stretch is surreal (a word used a lot on this trip) – see horses on shop tops, gorges, valleys, mountains, forests, rivers, birds, flowers. The people are now different from all seen so far. Facially, clothing, language – both men and women in the gardwalhi vests and caps. But one thing stood out, a lot of people in villages and across, look very similar – relatives? As I climb higher, the scale gets bigger. Intent has now been modified to reach Choupal. Reach Newra a small village along the Thamsa river. Locals convince me to stay here instead of Choupal. My tired body mind is more than glad to do so. Find a hotel and check in. Hotel owner who runs a shop below makes me sit and does QnA during registeration. On hearing previous job and salary, launches into prospects for his two sons. One doing BTech in EEE – I say good prospects as long as he does a CS course. Sad but true. I know only 3-4 people from the entire batch of 60 still working in EE. The other son is in the 12th Bio. What should he do? I say Biotech but how good is he? Not too good at studies. I say Nurse and then head abroad? Man is shocked – there are boy nurses? I say yes, my cousin is one, now abroad someplace in the Gelf(am not sure about this but it’s the natural progression). He shakes his head and says we have no male nurses in HP. I say paisa banana hai toh… Leave him pondering this. Eat dinner at a rundown place which is almost shut, but gives me some dal chaval. Watch the final hour of the Ashes. Yay England. Good bye Flintoff.

Day 123 aug 24 mon
Newra – Chopal – Theog – Kingal – Sainj – Ani – Jalori Pass – Shoja – Aut – Kullu - Manali
327 km – 12298 kms
SH2, NH22, NH21
Have breakfast and pack. Any public packing is a spectacle with a crowd watching with rapt attention, with the usual asshole who comes and asks bag mein kya hai. I just smile, or if he’s dangerous looking, says kapde spares. Best was that episode in Northern Maharashtra when I asked back, aapke bag mein kya hai.

Head out into this beautiful morning with the sun warming the hills slowly. Its cold as I leave the village, and after 15 kms of jittering into the deodhars, I stop and tug out the cold gear. Body warm but legs cold – thermals are in an untuggable region of the bag, and I’m not stripping in public.

After green stretches of heart melting vistas, I reach Theog and a paved double lane highway. Average speed just doubles. A brit duo on 600 cc bikes pass me, and then for almost 30 kms we ride together without a word. They stop at Narkanda, I ride past – need to get to Manali today and it’s still fuckin far, at current rate. So much for Rishikesh Manali in one day. Now I figure he probably meant I take the Shimla Manali highway – that would have been a day ride.

At Kingal, where I am to get off the highway and take the white roads again, I stop for tea. Talk to some army guys in the convoy that’s stopped for chai. One Maharashtrian army guy who confirms that I am from Bombay and have a house there. Also find out that I have to cross Jalori pass. Where did that come from – not on the map. Get a bit anxious – have heard it’s the toughest pass in India.

Cross Sainj and get back on the village road. Soon I am climbing Jalori pass; a 12 km long climb with good and broken roads. A couple of phirang bikers pass me, focused on riding their bikes, without the customary nod or hey. The final 4 kms are tough but well passy. Reach the top, say a prayer for G. Jani at the temple, and head down. Going down was harder than coming up; and the scary boards that say ride in first gear only and high probability of brake failure doesn’t help. Reach the bottom and one of more of India’s passes has been crossed. Pass the rest house at Shoja – found it funny.

It’s evening and will get dark soon. Do a speed run across more Deodhars and rivers. At some point, the Sutlej comes into play. Pass school kids returning home and the lo-fives begin. Am in a very nice happy mood. See some kids play on the road with those platforms on wheels – u sit on the platform and roll down the slopes. Major posing and photo session happens. Go ahead along the river, when at one point, I have to stop – at a meander, the Sutlej also seeps into this emerald green pool. I stop and take photos. A schoolkid is loitering around and I ask him if he wants a lift. He says no, I’m in the opp. Direction you’re going. Chitchat with him and take photos – he takes my mobile number for some reason.

Reach Manali at 8. Eyes are tired, but call Pearl and confirm lodging. Grit teeth and do the last 40 kms of the day rather quickly. Meet Pearl and gang at a café in old Manali. Find my room, say no to more hanging out, and pass out.

Day 124 aug 25 tue
Manali
12 km – 12310 kms
Wake up to a chilly but bright morning. Bathe the dust off and go meet Pearl. Catch up over breakfast. Pearl notices lice on my hair – the mystery behind my head scratching is solved after 2 weeks! Meet the rest of the gang and end up convincing them to not stay in Manali for 2 days but leave tomorrow and spend more time in ladakh.

Go with Karn to main market and find plastic 5 lt can, camera bag, and a beanie cap.

Walk around Old Manali, take photos of the red bridge. Sleep for a while. Evening head out again to town to tank up. Meet gang for dinner at People. Nice place. Walls covered with drawings made by customers. Pearl, Karn, and Asha have a go at their own drawings. Chitchat over colored pencils.

Day 125 aug 26 wed
Manali – Rohtang – Jispa – Baralachla - Sarchu
223 km - 12533 kms
Wake up to a brisk sunshine. The weather seems perfect for the ride to Leh. Decide to try the 2 day trip. Say bye to Pearl and gang as they head out in a Qualis. Pack, stock up on water, and leave Manali at 8. The ride to Rohtang was peaceful and rather quick - No drama like the last time. Reach Koksar and meet the gang eating brunch. Reach Keylong and then Jispa and there’s still a lot of daylight. Darcha goes by. I give up and roll a J. Solo has its benefits and just dust on your mind does no good. Darcha goes by. The scenes are the same. BRO workers, good roads, bad roads, more ice though. The initial tremor of doing Manali Leh solo has worn off. Its just another road; and well I double checked my air pressure. The foot pump gauge has conked off and shows a deviation of 8 psi.

Baralachla was a piece of cake. Just broken and good roads with dramatic iceladen mountains on view. Reach Sarchu and see the P gang trying to find acco. A group wandering around clicks a 100 photos of me entering the camp.

We decide on one camping ground and check in after bargaining. After tea, we walk around and start talking about the cold. Two hours later and we are still at it, in various aspects and tones. Play some word games. Have dinner and sit listening to a internation assortment of musicians singing and playing Beatles songs, and then requests like Rolling stones and so on. Good stuff, only I left coz it somehow reminded me of being at Totos and listening to the same track list since Totos Immemorial. We go out and watch the brilliant sky with the Milky way and all sorts of constellations. Everyone except Pearl see a shooting star. It gets colder and we retreat to the tent. Play dumbcharades (after ages) and then hide inside my sleeping bag and watch a Mithun film I picked up in UP while I pass out.
p.s. this was written after 3 days, so all the finer details are gone :s

Day 126 aug 27 thu
Sarchu – Pang – Tanglangla – Upshi - Leh
272 km – 12805 kms
Wake up around 7. It’s still cold outside, but thanks to sleeping bags, had a good night’s sleep. Have tea, breakfast, and pack the stuff onto the bike. Everything is stiff and cold.

Head out into the great wide open. Pass a large group of cyclists – mostly Indians, which was super nice to see. Through out the day, kept seeing different groups and types of cyclists – some with accompanying cars; large groups with buses, solo cyclists and so on. One couple even sat at the side of the road and had a picnic basket! Climb Gata loops. As before it was just another climb, only this time I try to take the shortcuts across the switchbacks. At one such shortcut, bike stalls and slips back. It’s a brake-twist handle-brake-slant bike-stop scene. Recover and head up the shortcut. Now operating in the 15000 ft range. Wherever there is shade, the temp. drops. Stuff my jacket into my gloves.

Reach Lachulungla 54 kms later to find the girls taking pictures with the BRO guys. Karn hops and we head down the pass till we reach the India gate (or Pearly gates as it has now been renamed. Karn hops off here and heads back into the car. Watch the terrain change into brown with the rock spires reaching for the skies. Reach Morae plains (or pang ground as it is known locally). The intense blue of the sky and the clear visibility of layers clouds for kilometers makes me gasp, all over again. Follow the bumpy dusty dirt track for the next 30 kms. It’s slow careful riding to avoid slip sliding along the foot deep dust grooves. Am still trying to figure out the depth of fields to use on the camera. Stick to 22 and 3.5 with random variations in between – basically want to capture what I see, so 22 seems to make sense, though it’s probably shooting to infinity. Will read up more and practice more.

Stop at this dramatic (yes, you can still keep getting awed by the surroundings despite the constant bombardment of wow sights.) spot and toke up. Trucks pass by, raising huge dust clouds, and trundle off into the distance till they become colored toys on the edge of visibility. The blue of the sky gets too intense and I stop looking up; as if it made a difference. Solo riding through such places creates this tunnel inside your head to a different world. Look out for marmots but no luck; instead see a solitary helmet lying on the road. Stop and wonder what’s its story. Reach the end of the plains and get back on the road. The mind has shifted momentum; am no longer doing a speed run, but hang the now dusty camera on the neck and begin to document.

Leave the plains and see some signs of civilization- stupas. The climb to Tanglangla begins. Probably my fave pass along with Baralachla – its one of those passes where you earn the right to be on top. The road is much better this time round. The Manali-Leh route is said to be one of the 5 toughest motor routes on Earth; but I think its true only if you do the stretch when the roads open; May end – mid June. After that, most of the roads are built and then it’s just another road. The climatic factors can be easily handled with proper clothing and a garlic pod.

You think you see the road to Tanglangla, until you turn right and see the road disappear into another long loop along another mountain that was hidden from view earlier (am sure there is a better way to write this sentence!) The temperature drops and the bike slows down, but trudges up the pass. Soon am riding along icecapped hills. No one to have a snowfight with. Reach the top and smoke the rest of the J. The world’s second highest motorable pass (or should I say the world’s third highest pass). Majority of the people know of Khardungla as the world’s highest pass, but there is Marsimekla too. The last time we had tried to scale it, we went at the wrong time. Throughout the climb to Tanglangla, was thinking about whether I should attempt another go, only having eaten and in the morning! Let’s see. With my bad spatial reasoning, I might just end up somewhere in Tibet.

Begin the descent from Tanglangla and step into yet another terrain change. How many greens can there be in the world? No idea? Well do the manali leh road. Reach the picture postcard Sasoma and Lya villages. Wait a while to let a group of 8 trucks go far away; have had enough of riding in zero visibility dust clouds. Sit on a rock and smoke. Some BRO workers – the labour kind – mostly Nepalis and Biharis, approach and ask for a cigarette. One cig becomes 6. All stand around smoking in silence, looking at the setting sun over the icy mountain caps. Sometimes your heart just cries quietly within. See the trucks at the bottom of the mountain on some good unbroken road. Head down maneuvering the last of the raw brokenness of the Manali-Leh road. The road is now buttery but a lil bumpy; but I’m still doing 40. Am glad I’m made this decision at Pokhara. After 2 weeks of trying to sight the Himalayas, I had decided to actually become the Himalayas, and here I am, riding along ice and freezing my fingers off! My right leg is numbish now. Stop and walk around. I don’t know where to look and focus. Walk in circles doing a 360 pan. I think my visual cortex will short circuit by EOD.

Pass school children who start the lo-fives. The stretch from Sasoma to Upshi is this magical journey, accentuated by the sunset and its attendant shadows. Reds, greens, yellows, oranges, browns, whites, blues –a force 10 visual orgasm. The Indus joins in the fun gliding along the road. Welcome to the Ladakh plateau – the land of passes leading to this spectacular plateau. And welcome to civilization – farms, people, cattle, buildings dot the multilayered landsuperscape.

From Upshi to Leh, it’s a race against and away from the sun. The rays are intense and almost unbearable to ride without sunglasses. Reach Leh to find out my phone doesn’t work. Airtel ka Dhoka. I recall that Leh ad of theirs as one of the parameters of me moving from hutch or whatever its called now to Airtel. I can see the network but get only limited service. What the fuck! Use STD booth to find out where Pearl and the grumpy but gorgeous gang is. Head out past resurrected memories to Changspa and along the Shanti Stupa to the hotel. I am a dust body.

Unpack and dump dusty stuff in room. Bathe and thermal up. Walk to the market and trace the GGG. Have dinner with some more friends of friends. Seems the Confluence festival has barely 250 ppl registered and the stage is still not set up; the event starts tomorrow.

Walk back, chitchat, and sleep.

week 15 logs

2009-09-05T18:44:00.001+05:30

Day 99 jul 31 fri
Pokhara – Davis Falls – Sjangja - Bartung – Butwal-2 km – Bartung - Tansen
204km –10217 kms
Wake up on time, pack, and leave. Its bright and sunny, but low clouds still hanging. No Machpuchhare, no annapurna. Head towards Davis Falls. Sceptacular it is. Thundering and disappearing into a hole. At one spot, the vapour is so strong, its like its raining there. Skip Mahendra caves and head south on Siddharta Hwy.

Its sunny hot. Spectacular ride – hill views of all kinds, waterfall after waterfall, rivers joining, meandering, splitting; valleys full of fields, high peaks, deep valleys. Stop at spots to take photos. Riding along quietly when Saga calls out. Look left. For 3 seconds, we see the peak of Machpuchhare. By the time, we park and come back its gone. Saurabh had seen a sign saying Machpuchare view restaurant and wondered where and looked left and there it was.  At some point, right rear shock collapses again. Hardly a month old – did the guys at Muzzarfarpur fuck me? Ride to next town Sjangja and smart efficient mechanic gets it welded. Ride on. Cobra passes in front of us. At tea stop, old bag lady looks at me and keeps saying in Nepali either bhairawa jaise kaala hain or Kal Bhairaw. Everyone else was in splits – the owner wouldn’t even look straight at me- with lil smile on face.

Tansen was a town I had wanted to visit; esp. the Ranighat darbar, known as the Taj Mahal of Nepal, but not this time. It’s a 4 hr walk from Tansen, and today is penultimate day of 16 day Nepal leg. Can extend, but chuck it. Bypass Tansen and head to Butwal to stop for the day.

It starts pouring as we cross Tansen and 2 kms before Butwal, yes 2 kms after riding for 200, 2 kms away from stop for the day, we see a traffic pileup and a bunch of people on the road ahead. Strike, roadblock? No landslide, and a massive one at that; like half a hill is on the road. A truck is caught in it, and the mudrock is upto 8 ft. 2 earthmovers are at work. Park bike and walk to take a look. Boots sink a feet into the mud. It starts pouring again, and more mud is washed into the landslide. A brand new waterfall appears right beside the bike. Some persistent bikers get a blocking bus to move out of the way and recommend I head to Tansen, coz this will take time and unsure when it will clear. It stops raining and the new waterfall disappears! Get Saurabh who is sitting inside a bus, and head back to Tansen. 50 new waterfalls are flowing now, lots across the road. Mudslides we hadn’t seen an hour ago are now blocking the road, but manageable. Ride on the opposite side of the road to avoid getting stuck under any new landslides! Its look ahead, down, left, left up, and ride along. Right shock collapses yet again. What is it with the right rear shock! Have to get it changed, hopefully at Butwal.

Reach Tansen and find a hotel. Crappy, but has DVD shop selling Korean dvds below. Go to other hotel, check room, dump stuff and rush back to DVD shop in wet clothes. Buy DVDs, return, eat, and well here I am.

This log doesn’t do justification to today’s ride. Ranks among the top 5 days (ridewise) in mataozm’s now 99. Spectacular and dramatic. Tomorrow day 100 of mataozm. What a journey it has been. 10000 kms and now 100 days. Hope jugad happens so I reach the top of India.

Bed bug infested mattress and cover. Can’t sleep, can’t pull cover for cold. Fucked.

Day 100 aug 1 sat
Tansen – Butwal – Sunauli - Gorakhpur
179km –10396 kms
NH29
Wake up, pack and leave for the Border. I decide to skip the Mahendranagar leg and get out of Nepal via Sunauli – cant do 400 kms with a broken suspension! Reach Butwal, well 2 kms before Butwal to see the same traffic jam. Yesterday’s landslide is still at the same state, a bit more worse than yesterday. It drizzles, but tapers off as the sun comes out. Have breakfast and wander around in the muck. Walk down to the river and find spot on rocks between a waterfall and the river. After watching spiders fight against the current for a while, fall asleep on the rock.

Wake up 4 hrs later around 3.30 pm; the clean up work is still on- two machines at work now. Around 4.15, its done, and bikes are let through. Quickly wriggle our way through the cars parked and then across the superslush still on the road. Its taken us 23 hrs to cross 100 metres!

Cross Butwal and head out to Bhairawa. Have snack and last chiya in Nepal – after 2 weeks of weak tea, looking for to kadak chai. No one stops us at Bhairawa and we ease into India at Sunauli where no one stops us either – its Saturday evening – everyone’s chilling. You kinda know you are in India automatically – the India side crowd is 10 times the crowd Nepalside. It starts pouring and all the muck, dust from Nepal is washed away from us and the bike. In the plains now, and everything looks, well, plain! Now I know why they are called plains! Its getting dark and I want to stop at Farenda, but can’t find a hotel; decide to just make it to Gorakpur. Reach Gorakpur bustand and check in a hotel by 8.30. Eat and pass out early.

Day 101 aug 2 sun
Gorakhpur – Basti – BaraBanki - Lucknow
279km –10675 kms
NH28
Wake up and leave quickly. Skip fixing the shocks; another 200 kms and I can get a full service at an authorized service center. 20 kms later after a bump, a smack and sproing sproing sproing- Just like the cartoons – the rear right spring goes bouncing on the road. Stop the bike and check status. Wondering what to do when a group of people at the side of the road ask what happened. Tell them and ask where the nearest mechanic is – 5 kms ahead they say. Come back to bike and try to see if it can take just my weight or do we need to remove the luggage etc. The main man of the group calls again and says our trolley is going there only, u can load your bike on it – no need to pay anything. You will also remember that you had come to Gorakhpur. After a few moments of hesitation and wondering what their angle is, we accept. The labourers help load the bike on the tractor trolley and off we go, standing holding the bike. 5 kms and 20 long mins later, we reach a mechanic shop who says he can do it. We offer the trolley guys 200 bucks which they refuse to take – then we tell the driver, give it to the labourers.

Go with the mechanic on a cycle rickshaw to get new shocks. Today the ride keeps getting slower – from bike to tractor to cycle rickshaw. Go to shop and get shocks for 1840; the muzzafarpur guys had sold it to us for 2300! After chitchat, the shopowner gives only for 1800 and says baaki choot aapke himmat ke liye. Everyone keeps talking about himmat – it takes courage to do a roadtrip? Find ATM, water, and get back to bike, which mechanic quickly fixes. We leave and wow the new shocks are kickass.

Keep going on the highway; boring, just trucks and buses and fields on the side. Reach Lucknow after dusk and head to Hazratganj area. LP reccos are over budget. Then a man says come with me and Saurabh goes with him to look at cheaper hotels. One hotel is full and I get pissed – why would he take us to a hotel which was full. I stay back and Saurabh goes with him to another one. He calls later and tells me to come to a hotel. Seems that man wasn’t an agent and was generally helping us out! Wow what a day. Helpful people everywhere and just the fact that we are outsiders makes them go out of their way and help us. Thank you UP. Tomorrow’s plan is to leave early and get to Saurabh’s hometown Syana in time for Rakhi.

Day 102 aug 3 mon
Lucknow – Sandila – Sandi – Fatehgarh –Farrukabad – Amritpur – Allahganj – Katra - Bareilly
330km –11005 kms
NH24, SH25, SR26, SH29,5W, SH53 (bumpy), NH24
Wake up at 8 and plan to take village roads today – bored of highways. UP roads have been very good so far – animosity towards Mayawati has reduced considerably. I decide to skip seeing the Bhulbaliya (maze) at the Bara Imambara, and just do the home delivery today. Syana is about 380 kms away and its already 9+. Take the Hardoi road out of Lucknow and pass the Bara Imambara. Its quick impressive from the outside and just stop and take pictures. Some other time, if there will ever be such a time.

Head out of Lucknow traffic. I keep feeling we should take highway as we have to do long distance trip, but we persist. Take an inner road via Sandi bird ‘scantuary’ and suddenly we are on this supernice highway. At a town, manage to get my phone recharged – have been trying for two days and its always been unsuccessful. Nice village scenes – fields, school children, cows, buffaloes, tangas, buggies, etc.

Reach Farrukabad and encounter a bumpy poing poing road SH53. Get mindfucked after a while – can’t do 400 kms in a day if you’re doing an average speed of 23kmph! Stop to ask for alternate directions and the man gives directions and also asks us to come home for tea. Very tempting but no time, so we gratefully decline and return and take offshoot from Allahganj. Return to the highway. At Faridpur, close to Bara Banki, major traffic jam. Weave our way through to finally come to a standstill. Kawariya processions are on- one on each side of the road – full on with DJ, big speakers, carts with a blue Shiva and other characters dancing. Takes a full 45 minskawariya dj procession – Barreily – stop

Day 103 aug 4 tue
Bareily – Rampur – Bilari – Sambhal – hasanpur – Gajraula - Syana
244km –11249kms
Nh24, 154-W, Redroad 69, NH24, SH54
Leave Bareily. It’s not the Sonia Rae bareily. Encounter major traffic jam – it’s been there since last night –kawariyas again. The month is ending. Ride extreme left, right, wrong side, weaving as much as one can with luggage! At Rampur, get fed up and take the white road; it’s empty, but takes longer. No bottled water, but Pepsi everywhere. Ride across village roads, schools, farms.

At Hasanpur, have to get back to the highway as the road on the map is broken. The approach to Syana is quite fresh. Reach Syana at 6! Meet the hospitable friendly parents. After dinner, have a stupid conversation where the dad is talking to me but really to Saurabh. Happens in every household huh? Electricity problems here too. See my face in a well lit mirror; it’s become black. No wonder Nepalis kept calling me Kal Bhairaw. I do like him!

Make some phone calls. Jugad for another 25 days is done. Yay – mataozm rolls on. The kindness of friends.

Day 104 aug 5 wed
Syana – Buland Shahar – Ghaziabad – Noida - Delhi
134km –11283 kms
Nh24, 154-W, Redroad 69, NH24, SH54
Leave Syana after saying bye and taking blessings. The bike feels so light now that only my luggage and no pillion. Reach Buland Shehar and get stuck in traffic jam at bypass chowk. Riding in UP is an unique experience – roads including national highways have cows, horses, tangas, buggies, cow carts, tractors, tractor trolleys, bikes, cars, vans, buses, trucks, 18 wheel carriers, dogs. Regarding the dogs, after the smart non accident dogs in Nepal, its back to being wary of dogs on Indian roads. Atleast there are no suicidal chicken in India; probably all dead in some butter chicken dish.

Reach Ghaziabad and thunder past. Riding in cities is a bit spiritless; the large buildings, the rushing people, the shops, the traffic – everything looks nicer but less real. Slip into Noida – it’s grown bigger but is the same as any other city. Cities are truly depressing after the rest of India. Does it cost much to add some design to our urban structures? Concrete blocks, with just paint and the random dome to spice things up. What happened to all the construction artistry in India. Are we reduced to paintings of nude goddesses as the apex of 21st century Indian art as a way of life? Or is the new art swimming pools and gyms? We have structures that have stood for 1000 years, paintings for 6000 years, but a Metro, a new age construction we are to be proud and happy about, crashing in 6 months.

Noida – Delhi. A bit of amazement at the BRT? Lanes and the bicycle lanes in south Delhi. Though motorcycles and autos ply the ‘bicycle’ lane, it’s still a surreal sight in India. The VIPs have the best run of it all; they just use the BUS only lane and speed past the 5 min signals of South Delhi.

Otherwise somehow Delhi looks a bit nicer; and more importantly feels nicer. Reach Malviya Nagar and Smriti’s house. Dilli 17, here I am.

update

2009-08-29T16:29:00.000+05:30

in leh now. logs of week 15-19 will be up shortly.

Notes found on phone - blore mysore walk

2009-08-13T09:16:00.021+05:30

Stuff that I had noted down on my phone while doing the Bangalore Mysore walk in October 2008. can't make sense of quite a bit, but ..
~~~~
Travel bag. Trip planner. Map distance app.

day 2 918 breakfast. Wonder la. script. different directors. Actors of choice. 915 pm ram nagar main st, opp. 138 am kengali.

day 3 624 am coughing old man. tree and the diff borders. Square, round, filled. shame shame puppy shame. lil dicks. Why,

Old man. No money no home. short film. T shirts. Love story. Comm thru trees. If house was in forest. Trails. Why push. saw eagle. Slept at bus stop. Woke. 4 pm. short. Plan to destroy village. photos. photo shop. day 3 sleep at 830 pm.

day 4 wake at 5. The ety of suffixes. ions. sions. Ity. capable. what is the most useless intention. flying flying lover. Changing distance params. Place. total. km. each km. law club. 20 qts. to make guy confess. Climax. yes no.

Day 6 5 am. Deleted entire memo mistake. Body parts convos, How to find water. 16 km from man. save 10k each month for cam. what will a villa full of bougainvilla be called? goals. when short term becomes to be able to reach something 50 metres away. fantasy house. nurse maid teacher cook.12 long bath wash chill photo session over. At peace and calm, Roll and leave. 4 pm 12 km from mysore. 7 pm 8 km from mysore.

Day 7 345 am the kilometre of a smile.Entering mysore. checkpoint nothing. 510 am surrounded by atleast 5 mullahs singing. surround sound. 4 diagonals. 520 addition some temple dance song with flute solo et al. Moz gone quiet except one. sleepy. at 530 infant church starts ringing bells for a min. Tipu circle is no longer one. 7am at hanumantus. Closed! thats why missed on first sweep. 1020 am ananya and messai come. 5kms from top. ghats. what will you do when zero.sit. drink. find a place to eat. Life will go on. 210 pm t.

awesome sunset

taking a break

aaah

hit and run victims

bedroom

face during hamstring and ankle packup

clothesline

bathroom

refreshment on standby

bored of the road, so take a train track

divine directions

they say take pictures, leave footprints. where does this fit in?

fresh milk delivery line at mysore

progress with no trees

road beautiful road
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

photos from walk
day 1
day 2
day 3
day 4
day 5
day 6
day 7

week 14 logs

2009-08-08T12:37:00.006+05:30

hardcore maoist territory - gorkha

gorkha ke log welcomes us

festival dance at bandipur

hen sitting on not 2 but 12 chickens!

most hardcore position seen among all kajuraho type temples so far

pasu and panchi pati

gameplay in fort wall at gorkha darbar

where eagles dare at manokamna

meanders throughout nepal and how

the one rupee coin is mine - yaay - at devi's/davis/devil's falls wishing spot

when the fog steps to block views, u take photos of yourself

lovism or premvad - these images all over nepal

trek break view

famous golghars at rampur near bandipur

nepali army guys doing morning drills at nagarkot viewing point.

week 14 photos collection on flickr

Day 92 jul 24 fri
Nagarkot – Sankhu - Katmandu
dirt roads, pitch road
32km –9684 kms
I ended up staying up the entire night watching films. Around 5, its dawn and look out of the window to see low clouds ☹ - no Himalayas. Watch it get brighter, then head up to the terrace to see the sun to our right. Saurabh is up taking photos. We decide to head to the view tower to get 360 degree view. Takes us a while to find out where it is. It’s marked in the map, but I didn’t spot it; Saurabh eventually does and we head there. The sun is up but hidden behind clouds. We cross an army camp with armymen jogging up the hill and doing push ups over the stormdrains. Reach to top just at the time the sun peaks out. The top is full of army men in groups, who leave in a while. Take photos of whatever we can, but the sun disappears soon. Well if you want to see the Himalayas, don’t come during the monsoon.

Head back, pack and leave. Despite yesterday’s events, decide to take a dirt road via Sankhu (which locals say will become pitch (local for tar road) and not the pitch ‘to Bhaktapur’ road. Its always been a ‘policy’ not to return by the same road ever since I started roadtripping, so no rocky path is going to change it. Find a crack in the pannier – will fix it in Katmandu, hope it holds till then.

The dirt track is downhill so yay. It’s bad but not that bad. Pass by the Changu Narayan temple, but decide not to walk up. Enjoy the inner Nepal village scenes of farming etc. After 15 kms, pitch happens, and not a ‘tease road’. For the first time in 200 kms, I cross 60 kmph. Just as I’m about to enter a town, see a barricade manned by some youth with dandas who are turning away vehicles from the other side. Luckily there is a road to the left, which a local says to take. Take it and follow other vehicles taking that road and emerge back on the main road in the middle of town.

Enter Katmandu and enquire our way to Jochhne/Freak Street. At the exhibition ground road, see a man selling porn on the road, the cds clutched under his arm! As usual, the recommended place in LP is full, though sometimes its full coz we are Indians. Here too! Find place in a lodge just beside and settle down. Head out to call Ananya and then check mail.

Its strange and funny. So much has happened, but in the ‘outside’, it’s just been two days and its ‘the usual’. I wonder what life holds in store for me when mataozm ends. I don’t even know when it will end. If I just stopped working after the Bangalore-Mysore walk, how does this compare! Money keeps coming in somehow and the road doesn’t end. But logically I suppose it will end after I enter India. Whether I do the Himachal, Ladakh, JnK leg is unknown. After that its basically heading south without ‘sightseeing’. The east- northeast leg (which was actually the initial plan is still a mystery). With a 3 lac (now probably 5 lac with interest!) debt on my head, a job seems the sensible option (sensible :D), but then no east north east leg. I don’t see myself heading out on any more roadtrips after this. Chat with friends who are trying to get into some contest called the Great Indian roadtrip. Seems you have to drive around some route within a particular time and keep blogs or something. Why do you need a contest to do that! If you want to go, just go. Spend some money of your own! (and/or of some kind blessed friends :D). Just pray for them at all the religious places you end up visiting. Punya baato.

Find out that Ashu is in Katmandu. Ask friends who are online to put in some money in my phone. Pearl and Joy help out. Send Ashu sms and email. Go to Thamel to the palce where Ashu is staying. Guards says oh only foreigners are allowed to stay here, no Indians. I say hato and go to reception. Ashu has gone out, so leave him a message. Go to Last Resort office in Thamel to pick up my bungy DVD. Also buy other DVDs. Saurabh and I get separated somehow, and after searching for him and not finding him, I beat a quick retreat from Thamel and its DVD shops. Go back to hotel and after smelling hash smoke for a while, ask hotel boy to score for me. Thamel is like Calangute or Varkala, it sucks you in. Apparently the local dealer got arrested so nothing now, maybe later. I’m somewhat relieved. Though I don’t know why; I still have bhang from kajuraho in my bag, and I haven’t used it. Anyway settle down and watch films, resting my body and wrists.

Evening I want to eat something different, so we go to sandwich shop nearby and have well a sandwich. Walk to the durbar square and watch people. Come back to no electricity. So can’t check email as I had told Ashu. Unsure whether to go find him at night; he should be out someplace. Crash.

Day 93 jul 25 sat
Katmandu – Manakamna – Mugling – Abu Khairne – Gorkha
Mahendra highway
151km –9835 kms
Wake up and chill. Head out to find welder. Am too early at 9, shops or atleast workers open at 10! So ride around till I find an open workshop and get welding done. This time remove spark plug and the battery wires. Head back, do some Internet, and return to hotel.

Pack and leave. We decide to skip Patan (which is supposed to be best of the 3 cities), but maybe next time, and head towards Pokhara. Traffic on the way out. Eat lunch at a dhaba? The roads are good and winding along the base of hills. Ride along at 70-80. At Naubise, 4 other bikes join and we keep speeding along the road. Until at one stretch, one brakes for some reason, another bangs into the first, and goes down. I screech and end up bumping into the fallen bike, but still standing. Phew.

Reach Manokamna around 3. Take the cable car up to the temple. Our companion is a local Gorkha boy who gives us info about the place and even some towers! The cable car is Austrian made and a far cry from the jerky one at Rajgir. It rises from 300 m to 1300m over the river. A bit spectacular as it rises sharply, then coasts horizontally, and then rises again. The cable car also has a few to transport goats, which are then sacrificed at the temple. This happens everywhere in Nepal temples, especially at festival times, when 108+ goats and chicken etc are sacrificed.
Check out the temple, then darshan (only for hindus again). See the sub temple where and head back. Coming back is a wee bit freaky as we are right up looking down at everything, the mountains, the river, the fields and Saurabh’s jungle man. It seems looking down from heights is going to be normal in this trip ☺

Next stop we decide will be Gorkha. Though the road in the map is similar to hiking trail, we take it. It turns out to be pitch. See No Vote signs and paintings everywhere. This is inside Maoist territory. Slow down whenever I see a group of people. But nothing happens, except chicken who go psycho as I pass and one bangs into the bike. Feathers fly but the chicken moves on and so do we. At one point, there is a truck parked across the road, with people milling around it, and another small truck lying on the side of the road. Heart freeze, maoist roadblock? Creep along the truck and see that they are just trying to get the fallen truck out. I pass only when a man says to pass.

Reach Gorkha, and spend the entire sunset finding a valley view place. Even though its offseason, all the valley view places are full! Find a place, settle down, and eat dinner. Watch films and pass out. Shalaam Shab.

Day 94 jul 26 sun
Gorkha - Abu Khairene – Dumre - Bandipur
Mahendra highway
61km –9896 kms
Wake up with a chest cold and light fever. Update logs and eat late breakfast. Pack and head up the dirtroad to the darbar of Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of modern Nepal. Rains have destroyed the roads, and general self confidence is a bit low. Keep letting Saurabh off and taking the mulchy slippery and rocky curves alone. Its not that bad, but don’t want to take any chances. Finally at the top, park the bike. Have to climb another 1500 stairs. Man approaches asking if we want to be guided. Ok.

Takes us up and around. Small place but distinct from most we have seen so far. Even unseen so far sex positions on the ‘kamasutra’ temple. Peacocks on the walls. Meet indigenous violin? Player who plays and sings a song too. Kanchi re! Guide is a non stop talker, mostly related to his poverty. Meet another Bombay returned person. Human nature is the same everywhere – the moment you know you’ve been a place, you want to tell the other than you have been there too. Some people even ask if we know X person- X from a population of 18 million people! The odds and gods have been favorable so far and I don’t know any of them.

After the tour, guide asks if we want tea at his place. Of course. Go to his tiny huthouse and listen to more poverty and history. Also talk about government and Maoists. He’s congress man and anti Maoism (or atleast their kind of rule), while his wife is maoist. Offers ganja which I accept. Roll and smoke while the water boils. The rideas come rolling back. Been 3 months since I smoked. He gives us his address and after tea and chicken watching, we leave. An idea of spending more time in the hills is formed.

We maneuver our way down to Gorkha and then onwards to Bandipur. Cross Dumre and see this 45 degree dirt track going up, labeled bandipur trail. Wisely decide against taking it and go ahead looking for a road, and find one. Full pitch right up to Bandipur.

Find a place to stay – homestay @200. Woohoo. Nice room with mountain views, only it starts raining and no Himalaya views. Have kinda resigned myself that I wont see anymore. Only thing left is to stop ‘seeing’ the Himalayas and be the Himalayas. Ladakh calling? As we go to unload luggage, it starts pouring and doesn’t stop like the next morning. Park the bike at the parking outside the village. Bandipur is one of a kind village, preserved and non polluted.

Have a snack and then walk to Tundikhel to see the Marshyandi valley and the ahem Himalayas. A man approaches and says ganja. I say tomorrow maybe. He anyway pops in home and accompanies us to Tundikhel and points out places. He also shows a bunch of really old (1 yr) maal. I score nevertheless. Watch the spectacular valley, no Himalayas of course, but still. Return to the hotel and settle down in the room watching films. At dinner served by Nepali houselady who doesn’t know Hindi. So conversation is confusing and slow, but she is persistent and we manage a decent conversation. Both her and her English speaking son are always smiling. As we finish dinner, we hear kids howling and drums and cymbal sounds. We find out that today is Nagpanchami and some traditional dance happens in the main road between the temples. We go to see a small group of people walking playing 2 drums and 2 cymbals, led by a swaying man with a hood clutching a carrot and a radish. The main hero or villain is a man with long fake hair and a evil full face mask, whose main purpose seems to be to scare the radcarrot man. Often the main men disappear into one of the side houses to tank up.

We return, watch films and sleep. Still raining. Tomorrow Nepal’s largest cave, Siddha cave?

Day 95 jul 27 mon
Bandipur
0km –9896 kms
Wake up to see the rains haven’t stopped. Have a bunroti (bread) and jam breakfast. Decide to laze in bed today. Rest day so to speak. Spines and backs are a bit bruised. Spend the entire day in bed watching film and film, with the occasional look out of the window. Have a late late lunch and return to room. Eat dinner and watch films till we sleep. Have caught up with Startrek, Wolverine, Blindness, Hangover, IOUSA, Bruno etc.

Day 96 jul 28 tue
Bandipur - Ramkot
0km –9896 kms
Wake up again to see rain. We don’t move and spend time watching the window and films. No food, we don’t have enough to sustain meals. Eat a bag of pistachios we had.

Around 2, the rains subside and we get up to leave for Siddha cave. Meet a man outside who says its very slippery and leechy. Also as first timers, its better to go with guide for route and also see inside the cave, but no guide now. We think maybe tomorrow morning we go after breakfast. We wonder what to do now, and he suggests go see Ramkot. We start walking along the trail. On and on we trod along slippery mudsteps and stone steps for 2 and half hours. Finally we reach Ramkot, find the golghars, and meet some locals. It’s already 5 and we need to get back. So we start trudging along in the drizzle. Its almost dark by the time we reach Bandipur. With no food in us, its been a good walk.

After tea, we wait for dinner, which we then gobble up. Pass out soon. We leave tomorrow for Pokhara, where we hear its been raining and people are wading in water.

Day 97 jul 29 wed
Bandipur - Pokhara
76km –9972 kms
Wake up and watch the rain. It stops and we set out to see Teendam, a waterfall engineering to come out in 5 stone sculptures of crocs, each one for one god/dess; shiva, durga, saraswati, hanuman, and Buddha. Walk back to town and order breakfast, which takes ages to be prepared. Sit, bask in the little sun, and read newspaper. It’s a bit strange to read about India from a third party perspective.

Get back, pack, and leave. The sun is out, and there’s even heat! Ride along the highway, passing gorges, and rivers, and finally reach Pokhara. See mountains of clouds – no Annapurna, no Macchapure. Ride around the lakeside trying to find cheap acco. After 3 different agents, we find one, bargain massively, and settle in. After a break, head out to call ananya and mom, and Internet. Slow internet, and it starts raining outside. Walk back, meet Saga at a tea shop, have bun tea, and head back to the hotel, and lie on a soft bed and watch films. I have begun to abhor soft beds. Fuck my back up as this bed does too. Time to start suryanamaskars. Spend some time imagining how this place would look with mountains in the background.

Day 98 jul 30 thu
Pokhara – Sarangkot - Pokhara
41km –10013 kms
Wake up to see rain. Do photo sorting until its bright outside. Head out to Sarangkot to view tower. The whole ride was a bit funny, as we couldn’t even see Sarangkot in the fog and clouds. I keep getting the feeling, seeing the Himalayas is not meant to be, but to go and become the Himalayas is what needs to be done. Have to check rain scene in Himachal, Uttaranchal, or just make a dash for Ladakh.

Around noon, it clears up. We leave, have brunch by the lake, and ride along the lake to see how big it is. Submerged fishing nets, guest houses, and restaurants. Pokhara looks downright deserted right now. It starts drizzling and we head to Sarangkot. Almost miss the turnoff. Uphill dirt track but without luggage it seems so easy now! We ride around and then think we go beyond where we are supposed to, ask our way around and finally reach the top view point, which by now is almost invisible itself. Massive fog and drizzle rain. We stand on top looking at the fog. Wait for 30 mins to clear, in vain. To think there are 8 mountain tops behind the fog, from the 8100m annapurna to the 6900m Macchapuchare.
We walk back to the bike, and knock on door to ask for tea. The shop owners don’t come out until they hear the bike sound!- come to collect 10 rp parking. Have tea and head down in the rain. Halfway down visibility changes from 20 ft to well 2 km. Its pouring now, we skip the mountaineering museum plans and head back to the hotel.
Dry off and head to Internet place to upload last weeks photos. Spend 3 hrs doing just that. Chat with ananya. The Internet has become this limited use space now. Can’t think of any sites to visit. Just the ones related to ‘work’ now. Check out the lakestreet, pick up some dvds, meet saurabh on the way and have dinner at this bhojanalaya where owner kept talking about it being only real veg place around and definitely come for breakfast.

Come back and crash early. We leave Pokhara tomorrow morning by 8. Will return to Nepal during its summer. I think we have completed 10000 kms – need to cross check, but around that ☺

mataozm 100 days amanyart

2009-08-07T13:51:00.001+05:30

route question

2009-08-07T13:42:00.001+05:30

does anyone know if the
Shimla - Theog - Rampur - Wangtu - Khab - Sumdo - Kaza road is open, esp. the Wangtu to Kaza stretch. Do we need permits for it (looks pretty inner bound area to me). If permits, can we get them at Shimla or someother place?

Do let me know by phone or email (9611906358)

week 13 logs

2009-07-29T16:58:00.004+05:30

Day 85 jul 17 fri
Raxaul – Birganj – Hetauda – Bhainse – Kulekhani – Katmandu
154 km - 9326 kms
Wake up by 7.30, the earliest in a long time. Pack and head out to the border. Indian side they just ask whether the stuff we have is for selling or personal. At the Nepali border, they ask nationality, see passports and tell us to go ahead to get bike entered. No Nepali stamp on passport L. At vehicle place, do paperwork. They ask how many days; after brief random thought, we decide on 2 weeks - must get a Lonely Planet. From brief internet research so far, the only places I know of Katmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur, and asia’s highest bunjee jump near Tibet border. Its 100 INR per day, so shell out 1600 for it. The guys at the counter, all dressed in casuals, enquire where from etc. When we asks for routes to Katmandu, they give 2 choices – a. the niche wala road via Narayanghat, which I had already decided against, and b. the route I had shortlisted, via Daman, which is hilly so less frequented. On further asking, a third route is put forth, via kulekhani, the danger route. One guy says take it if u want, but be careful. Other guy says don’t take, the roads are bad and the inclines are – in hand movements – 60 degrees. I decide to decide at Hetauda where the branch-off is.

We leave the border and find a petrol pump. The 9000 km long game of only putting petrol at HP pumps (except at 2 places; when the bike is on reserve, the game has to stop, esp. when you haven’t the faintest when the next petrol pump is) will have to end. Find a unnamed petrol pump, but think it’s Indian Oil (small board of servo). Petrol is 56 bucks! Fuck, I should have filled up on the Indian side. Bill comes to 950 for 12.5 l. We don’t know the conversion rate and give 1000 INR to get back 650 Nepali or NC as it is called here (nepali currency). Saurabh does some calculation and says its 1 INR to 14 NC. We are a bit overjoyed; it looks like we can do the whole of Nepal in the change we got :D

As the trucks give way to open road (not bad, nothing great, but after NH28A, big relief. Enter forested area, it’s Parsa Wildlife Sanctuary. The road starts slowly climbing – from the Gangetic or Gandaki plains to the lower Himalayas. It’s been 3 years since I have been in the Himalayas – last time being the once great Himalayan trip. Soon the terrain and feeling is like being in Munnar, except no tea plantations. Big smiles on my face – don’t know what it is about being in the hills, but your internal feel changes.

At Hetauda, some automatic response system kicks in, and I ask for road to Kulekhani. Its to the right, and tall hills loom on the right. A lil woohoo and I am off.
Shortly, the road becomes a mixture of paved and broken single lane road with steep inclines and hairpins with no warning signs. Not much traffic except the odd local bikes (mostly pulsars and ilk – form being sporty) and jeeps. Have to ride mostly in second gear, then just first gear. After the close call at Mudhumalai – Ooty, I stop at regular intervals to let the bike cool. A bit too cautious, but without the bike, Mataozm is over, so..

Nepali women are good looking, almost all of them. Babies are nice and fluffy round. As the road progresses, it moves to broken bumpy road; slow progress, 20 kms per hour is good. The roads are bad, but it was expected; so at peace, maneuver the bike.
Get stopped 4 times; once at a police checkpoint where you got to sign in the bike. Have tea and engage in coversation with police man, which goes from roads to religion. As we exit the village, 3 dude boys ask for 5 rs, and give us one of those printed receipts. Can’t make sense of it. LP had mentioned that some places Maoists also make you pay a tax to go ahead. Its 5 NC so we quietly pay and go ahead. Atop a dam, another police/army checkpost, where we are told to stop, then asked where from and ok go. Arrey. Atleast do the usual pressing the bags with your fingers to do the now usual ‘superfingers contraband detection technique’ that all cops in India and now Nepal do. Anyway, the checkpost was facing a green lake, which is the IndraSarovar. Chill and then proceed, not before sneaking another ‘prohibited’ photo. In the age of google earth and maps, they still have these stupid signs around. One good thing that has happened is that in almost all spots in India, no charges for still cameras. Probably got tired of telling people that even cellphone cameras are cameras.

We are now in the high/low mountains around 2247 m/7371 ft. (1m=3.3ft). I recall AMS, and rue not having brought garlic. Light headaches happening from time to time. We are good until we reach 2500m, then the real ‘headache’ starts. Keep stopping often to rest my hands and fingers that are taking a toll with the rough roads and constant braking, turning, up, and down. We are glad we got that NC at the petrol pump as all the tea shops in the villages don’t accept INR.
At a turn we see Katmandu spread out in a valley, surrounded by hills. Quite a view, with monasteries and temples and a thin river, pine and all sorts of trees. See 4 different kinds of butterflies at one point – reminds me of Kashmir. Soon the road becomes pucca and I speed up. At Katmandu outskirts, get stopped by checkpost, and finally made to open our bags. Well not all of them 2 of them. At this checkpost, everyone has to say where they are coming from or going, even locals.

We enter Katmandu to see everyone snappily dressed, well, at least the young ones. As we have no idea where to go, we ask for city center (shity shenter) and then get directions to some place. I’m already tired, so decide to ask for central bus-stand, which is on the opp. Side of how we came. It turns out where are on a ring-road around the city. Considering we are on a ring road, we decide the bus stand must be some new out of town place, so again we ask for shity shenter, and get told to ask for New road. We reach new road and boom, it’s a road surrounded by old palace type buildings, stonewalks, and fashionably dressed people doing their thing – not just foreigners (hmm, gore, considering now even I’m a foreigner here) but locals and all look good; no one is garish or whatever. Saurabh says most pahadis are like this only; similar to what ananya told me about Seoul folk.

Park, find a bookshop and buy the LP-Nepal; 2200 NC meaning 1300 INR. Saurabh hesitates but I say buy buy. We find out that conversion rate is 1 INR = 1.6 NC; so much for 1:14 and seeing Nepal on our change. Read the LP and figure out we have to head for Thamel. Pop into a cybernet café to check where KP had said to stay, and find out he had said Thamail. Decide to go to LP recommended place. have to maneuver through small lanes with heavy traffic – how some people think they have take a Sumo through a lane which can’t take 2 bikes side by side; but somehow we all manage. Reach to find it’s full; so find place at another one just beside. It’s just out of Thamel, which is like the next area, so quieter and probably cheaper, though we don’t know.

Freshen up, but neither has the energy to look around. Nap for a while, before heading to find some dinner. LP again comes to the rescue. Lots of places to choose from, but it’s almost 10 and most places are shut or shutting. We walk through the lanes of Thamel, which looks and sounds like Leicester square – pubs, restaurants with live bands, lavazzas, etc. One guy approaches and asks if we want to see a dance. Both our testerones are a bit high – I guess it’s seeing ‘modern’ women after 2 months of rural folk.. We walk on looking for a place that ‘calls’ us to eat. Saurabh has no preference, as usual, so we finally go into a Tibetan place I recall from LP. They say closing, I pat my stomach and make sad face; so lady says thugkpa ok, noodle soup. I say ok and sit down. We both eat thungpa in silence. Saurabh seems to be a quiet mood. He doesn’t want to do the bunjee jump.

Return to the hotel, read my new Jeffrey Archer, which turns out to be about a guy who most probably climbed Mt. Everest first, 30 yrs before tenzging et al. What coincidence.
Crash.

Day 86 jul 18 sat
Katmandu
12 km - 9338 kms
Wake up, take a nice hot water bath to loosen the stiff muscles. First task is to get bike serviced. Oil leak, creaky clutch, and general touch up. Head out to find out where the local Royal Enfield service center is. Haven’t seen any enfields on the road, so a bit concerned – have to get it serviced before the next mountain leg. Find out about a place called Himalayan Enfielders in Laximpat. Ask and reach Laximpat. People give directions in minutes here; on pressing approximate kms; have to make 4-5 direction stops. Stop for tea and find out its near the Israeli embassy. Shopkeeper makes conversation; seems 2 more computer engineers from Bombay are in the locality.

Find service center, only to find it closed. Saturday is a holiday here. Come tomorrow at 10-10.30. I head back to the hotel and rest back and body. Book bunjee jump - Watch films and laze.
Evening go Internet and upload half of last week. Eat at momo place beside dance bar beside dance girls. Head back to hotel. Crash after watching films.

Day 87 jul 19 sun
Katmandu – Bhaktapur - Katmandu
52 km - 9390 kms
Get up and leave for bike service point. Saurabh wants to drop out after Nepal leg. Service place says won’t happen today- all booked for the day - Come tomorrow. Not a good day so far J. Head off to Bhaktapur to see sights. Dustiest highway ever – no wonder Katmandu is one of the top 16 air polluted cities in Asia; people walk around wearing air masks. Try to find the parallel road along the airport, but don’t find it.

Get to Bhaktapur. Get SAARC ticket and ride to the middle of this old city; one of three capitals (Katmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur – Gorkha is another, but that’s for another day). Not much crowd and we say no to a couple of kids who want to guide. After lunch, another older guide approaches and this time we take. Its difficult to just use LP descriptions and look around.

Nepal is basically temples (just like India), mountains (most of the highest peaks on earth here), rivers (about 20 of them), and tons of adventure. There are three styles of temples here; Nepali Newari, South Indian Shikara, and .. I forget! Quite a few of them are replicas of temples in Katmandu; built because of regional conflicts and people not being able to go to Katmandu – so you have Pashupati and other temples replicated here. Also a shiva parvati temples with animals in kajuraho pose. Every darbar square (all cities in Nepal have one) has a temple with erotic/sex pose sculptures. Basically since there weren’t playboy or fantasy, to be couples would learn about the cycle of sex from these. They usually start from ‘hey how you doin’ to ‘doggie’ to ‘childbirth’. Aside – Nepali culture from what we see and hear is ok with premarital relationships.

Check out the Taleju temple, who is the patron goddess of the kings. Durga basically. Only hindus allowed inside. I have so far entered 2 of about 10 such places, basically depends on my mood. This one I don’t. You can’t take shoes, cameras, mobiles, leather stuff inside. Saurabh checks it out. A lot of sun and moon imagery on most temples. Also wooden sculptures, only a few have stone sculptures; stange considering there is so much stone around J, but then again also lots of trees. The king’s temples will have a pillar in front with the king atop facing the temple. We end with the highest temple in Nepal, where people hang out, couples chitchat and others smoke. A lot of the temples were destroyed in the earthquake in 1934, and with the help of countries like Germany and Japan, have been rebuilt.

After the tour is over, we try to find the biggest shivling in Nepal by the river. We do find the place, but what I see is quite small, so I’m not sure. Its drizzling and we pass through this strange space with little stupas, hanuman, Vishnu, shiva etc idols, etc. Mixture of two religions seamlessly; then again Nepal is this almost fit-to-fit mix of Indian and Newari culture. Most watch Hindi movies and TV channels, and roam around singing Hindi songs on their ubiquitous mp3 players. Miss having Juju Dahi (Kind curd) – supposed to be a speciality here.

Head back to Katmandu through heavy traffic. I roam around Thamel streets, pick up some DVDs. We leave for dinner but don’t feel like entering any of the 100 places to eat. After standing at street corners wondering where to go, we see this Thakkali (people belonging to a region near Gorkha who have kind of specialized in running hotels and restaurants) restaurant. Get in and eat the thali. Very good – like Indian but different. Stuff myself. Walk back waving off whispers and walkbys of people asking us if we want lady, man, hashish. It’s past 10 and the nightpeople are out. See ppl, including local street kids, toking up and sucking out of a plastic bag. Scenes from a past life.

Day 88 jul 20 mon
Katmandu
12 km - 9402 kms
Get up and go to bike service place. Another 2 bikes getting worked on, with their owners sitting by. Decide to stay put to - get my work done and avoid getting it pushed back by bikes with owners who sit and get it done J. End up spending the entire day there; first time in 3 years where I sit by and watch an entire service! Learn a bit too. Get new rear wheel brake pads, oil filter, and gasket. Bikes and kids keep whizzing in and out; like an hangout. This place was started by an Enfield riding club who couldn’t get good servicing done - so they started their own. The old guard has spread across the world, but the service center remains and new kids hang out here now. It’s 6 by the time I get back.

FYI for enfield riders who want service in Katmandu, here’s the address (can’t find it online).
Himalayan Enfielders
Next to Israeli Embassy, Main road, Lazimpat.
Is closed on Saturday.
Good service, but spares are expensive. Import duty from India! There is a 100% tax on such stuff. E.g. Enfields cost like 3.5L NC, that’s 2L IC. So get from India or pay more here. Also on that note, tank up in India, before entering Nepal.

Am starving. Go do some internet timepass, and see a bakery and buy some stuff to take back – get 50% coz its after 8 pm. Come back to hotel to see Saga hasn’t eaten, so we head out for dinner. End up going to the thakali place again. Come back and watch films, while Saurabh goes out to check out alternative nightlife in Katmandu.

Day 89 jul 21 tue
Katmandu
9402 kms
Wake and watch remainder of film. Saurabh sleeps till noon. So we decide to skip Patan and see Darbar square. Take the walking tour from LP and follow the routes, trying to locate the places. Good fun, take some wrong turns, so see new things. Its like 500 yr old things are used to sit on or keep helmets on. See this spectacular window is called Deshay Madu (there is no other like it) – its true! Also a 5th century standing Buddha statue in one corner bracketed with bathroom style white and blue tiles! If we didn’t know better, we could think callous! There’s this block of wood at one corner to which coins have been nailed – its for the toothache god! At Asan tole which used to be main spot for India Tibet caravans, there is an Annapurna temple and a vegetable market J Buy a garlic pod for future AMS use.

Reach Darbar square and a guide approaches, whom we hire. Walk around seeing the sights – though most of the temples are similar, very subtle differences – But mostly the same. So if you see one darbar square you have kind of seen them all! Not really, but you get my point. Do you?

Go to Kumari Devi’s house. Now she’s the living goddess of Nepal. Something similar to Dalai lama, except.. They start looking for the devi in 3-4 yr old girls, who must fulfill some criteria. Then these girls are put in this chambered place where frightful sounds, faces etc are present – the one who doesn’t get scared, becomes the Devi and then lives in this kickass house. More like a prison; gets to go out 13 times a year – gets tutored at home etc. Not bad huh? Ppl come to worship you and all that.
Alas, like every other dream, it ends when she gets her first period. She is reverted to normal human status, chucked out of the house, gets a pension. Also finds it extremely difficult to find a husband. Stories range from the one who marries her dies within a year (manglik?) to no one wants to get married to someone who was a goddess and is accustomed to living and being treated like one. The current devi is less than a year old in her avatar.

After the tour, we have chai with the guide, watching the crowd walk by. We then walk to Theku to get Saga’s helmet fixed – the helmet fell down and the visor broke when we reached the hotel in Katmandu. Walk from shop to shop, but no one has this kind of visor. Most ppl in Katmandu use these funky helmets. Anyway, end up buying a new helmet, full face of course. Meet some engg. students at the shop. They also want to do such a roadtrip; practically everyone we have met so far wants to do a roadtrip; well good luck. Tired from all the walking, so take a taxi back to Thamel. Feels nice to be driven around for a change.

Want to eat something different, so scour LP and decide to have Chinese. End up eating non-veg fried rice, my first non veg since last December! Pick up more 50 NC dvds and head back. Saurabh heads off to check out nightlife. Comes back having done ethnographic study J. I watch films, till I pass out, tomorrow is a big day. Total solar eclipse, bungy jumping, and maybe Tibet border. Keep 3 alarms for the morning before I pass out.

Day 90 jul 22 wed
Katmandu – Bhaktapur - Dhulikhel –The Last Resort – Kodari
Arniko Hwy
121km –9523 kms
Wake up 5.30 a.m., 5.45, 6.15. Go up to the terrace to see the total solar eclipse. It’s a bit gloomy with clouds in the sky, but the sun is still out there. Around 6.40, the crows start going beserk, so I settle down with my sun glasses and camera. Don’t think camera will do any good, already the sensors are fucked, but… Around 6.50, it begins; it’s a bit difficult to judge, but I can see the curve moving over and then suddenly it’s like watching moonlight. A bit -disappointed would be the word – I was expecting the skies to go dark and be like nighttime – it was actually, like moonlight, but no blackout. Sit watching it, now and then wondering if im going to lose whatever little eyesight I have left. It’s a bit amazing that the sun and the moon are the same size! Around 7, the sun is out again, the only way I can make it out is the rays and the heat that has come. My first solar, total or not, eclipse.

Return to the room and watch remainder of the last night’s film till Saurabh wakes up. We pack and then head out. Go to Thamel main street (Paryatan road) to sell new books and Saurabh picks up Che Part 2 DVD. Ask for the airport and reach it – want to take the parallel non-dusty road to Bhaktapur. Reach the airport, but take some road which brings us back to the Arniko Hwy. It has rained so little dust. Reach Bhaktapur and go beyond, leaving the traffic behind. The air becomes cleaner and everything is uplifting. Saurabh points to the left and pow, ice capped mountains are visible.

Reach Dhulikhel and we stop at a point where we can see a range of ice capped mountains. Saurabh takes photos while I get a bit emotional and just watch. We are not sure which mountains these are, but speculate that one of them is Mt. Everest – will have to check. Enter the fabulous Panchkhal valley. The road is good, air is clean and crisp, and ..

We reach Dholghat where the Kosi and the Indrawati meet. I’m sleepy and stop to have my second chiya to clear the cobwebs. We head out and then ride along the Bhote Kosi, which is raging. Soon the first of soon to be many waterfalls appear. Wow moment. Every 50 metres a waterfall or two fall by the road. In 10 mins, waterfalls are everywhere till the eye can see. We also encounter mudslides and have to slowly maneuver our way through. Boots get covered by mud.

We are now creeping along the Bhote Kosi at 12-15 kms per hour. After crossing Barabhise and about 10 mudslides (thankfully cleared or rather cars, buses have ridden over, so we can ride between the channels), we reach the Last Resort. We see the suspension bridge and cables hanging off it. Park and take a look at whats happening. A boy takes the jump and then I set out on the bridge to do my jump. Asia’s highest bunjee jump, higher than anything even in NZ. Can’t even see the river from the sides. Just walking on the bridge is spectacular with the trees and then the river far below. I show my papers and am told to go to the office. Cross the bridge and get weighed – with boots 56.5 kilos. Go back on the bridge and the guys prep me up in 2 mins. Cables are attached to me, with quick info on what and why. Guy takes video and asks name and how im feeling – tense and excited.

I stand at the edge of the plank, mountains in front of me, the raging river below me. Everything else is blank. It helps that they do everything so quickly. Am told to push my head forward, which I do.

[events that followed are experiential – go do your own bungee jump]

I grab the bamboo pole and am guided to land, where the cables and harness are taken off. Have to walk up (no one told me that – I though you get towed up or something). After falling 160 m, now I have to climb up some 250 m. The walk up is rather nice, following the stones, walking by waterfalls, between two waterfalls, walking on waterfalls flowing along the path. Have to keep stopping to take in the view, wash my face, and catch my breath. Reach the top and make my way to the lunch area. We eat lunch, watch the video of me falling, and make convo with staff. Find out that this place is owned by 4 guys – Dutch, New Zealander, Australian, and Nepali. Its at 1200 m, 500 less than Katmandu.

Head off to Kodari. Its drizzling but who cares. It takes us over an hour to do 12 kms, more mudslides, rain, and streams. We reach Kodari and get pulled over just in front of a gate. Hello China. Both of us are quite excited and happy.We can’t go past without a visa – what happened to Hindi-Chini bhai bhai.

Find a lodge, dump our stuff and pass out. Around 6, we wake up and go out for tea. Buy soap for the first time in 3 months – so far using the soaps we used to get at hotels!). Back at the lodge, I find that my right ankle hurts when I rotate it anticlockwise – Bungee or general rough road or both? Find the Tiger Balm and apply it. Walk to a bridge which is over a big waterfall with light green (jade) water, which meets the raging brown Bhote Kosi. Saurabh takes photos, while I walk around, watching people play cards and carom by the road. By chance, Saurabh asks a man where the trail goes. He says to a village, and asks where we are from. We walk along with him, conversing about India, and China. They all say China not Tibet. He’s a customs official, and everyone along the road says hello to him. Must be important man – customs, of course, has to clear anything that ppl take to and fro the border.

He gets us to the border and also the Friendship bridge. Two local women who have come from across the border laden with goods want not to pay some tax, so guards and them having major long convo. Finally women sit down on bridge – wait them out? We are 30 ft from China! See a Chinese army/police doing some drills. The border is now closed, only people from China can come past, no Nepali can go across. (Police is more powerful in China, and employ youth only from 18-25. After 25, the cops retire with pension!). Saurabh takes secret photos (ahem) on the bridge. Customs man tells us that photos are not allowed, but we can take from Nepali side. Tells us a few things about Chinese rule etc. Shows us the Khasa (Nepali) market, which is Zhangmu in Chinese. Locals from a 30 km radius can pass across to China (again 30 km radius) without visa etc. Beyond that even they need a visa. We thank him and walk back to the hotel. It has stopped raining. Photos and looking at ‘China’ across the Bhote Kosi from our lodge balcony.

We have tea and tell them to call us when dinner is ready, which they do and which we eat. Come back, watch films and sleep. A day of extremes ends – total solar eclipse, fucked dirtroad biking, 100s of waterfalls, australasia’s highest bungee jumping, and China border.

Day 91 jul 23 thu
Kodari – Dhulikhel – Banepa – Nala – Dhulalgaon – Mohan Pokhari – Nagarkot
Arniko Hwy, rain destroyed dirt roads, hiking trails!
129km –9652 kms
Wake up to the sound of the thundering Bhote Kosi. Have tea and go to the terrace to look at Khasa market town/Zhangmu. Update logs – haven’t for 3 days, already forgetting little details. It takes an hour to update logs for one day! Today’s the 23rd! 3 months since I set out on Mataozm – who would have thought – have lasted three months without having a single paisa of my own, and am at the China border. Thank you all who have helped us out in one way or the other. God bless.

Wait till 10, hoping the now blazing sun dries up any mudslides that happened yesterday. It’s rained here the entire day yesterday. Pack and load the bike. Go to the customs office to find and say bye to C. K. Suba, the guy we met yesterday, but can’t locate him after a brief search. Come back to see trucks backed up 200 mts with no gaps through. Wait at the lodge and watch people playing pool. It’s already 11 am. After 15 mins, the trucks move ahead, and we slowly start maneuvering through the gaps. Say bye to China and follow the Bhote Kosi. The mudslides are drier and we rattle our way through. Encounter three checkposts where the guards do the superdetective finger press contraband detection technique. Only one place makes us open the tank bag - sampling? Have lunch at Barahabhise.

Cross the Last Resort; no action today. Bungee and swing happen only on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Saurabh says once more J Reach Dhulikhel and have chiya. No views of the icecaps today. Thick low clouds L. On a whim, enter the town and ride around to see Newari area. Not much different. See a road going up and follow it, only to see it break up. We follow it nevertheless coz we see a board that says Panorama view lodge. A local says there is a temple at the top. Rattle, bump, rattle. We reach the top to see a huge valley. Walk around and take photos. Saurabh remembers his school days at Nainital, where he would make paper planes and watch them fly. Use the old insurance paper to make planes and let them go, but not much flight. Head down to Dhulikhel. Plan is to see Nagarkot via Nala and then head to Katmandu.

Turn off the Arniko highway at Banepa. The policeman we ask for directions tells us kacha road hain. We reach Nala and then go beyond. At a checkpost we ask to find out we have crossed the Nagarkot turnoff. They say road is bad but bike can go. Don’t remember anything like a right. Come back to see this 45 degree stone path. Take it.

After bounding and bumping up the stone, mulch 40 degree road for a while, we stop to ask if we are on the right road. Yes, but we will have to walk, says one old man. I scoff and go ahead. 3 different people at 3 different times say Nagarkot is 1 hr away – like we made no progress at all. Road is still at 60 degree incline. Engine goes hot, clutch goes weak. Stop and wait for it to cool. See watery oil dripping. Clean the pipes and oil filter. We carry on, until we see the road go up at 45 degrees for 150 mts. Ask Saurabh to get off and go 20 mts before clutch gives up. Saurabh walks ahead and does recce- road is the same for another 200 mts. I let the bike cool and do a route mapping along the road. 300 mts later, the road becomes 70 degrees, and the terrain is like a nightmare. I retrace removing potential stones from the path.

Come back to the bike to see people talking with saurabh and giving directions and options. 30 mins later, 6 p.m., I get the bike up another 100 mts and stop at a fork. If we go straight, we go to Mohan Phokari and then right on pucca road to Nagarkot. If we take the direct road on the right, the road is the same and becomes steeper. I’m still ready to do the direct road. Temporary insanity, would be possible if no luggage, solo, and cooler. Two Hero Hondas pass by taking the road with relative ease.

We have tea and this big group of people make convo. View is spectacular with the sun making shafts lighting up swathes of the valley below. An English speaking guy who is studying M.A. talks about eastern philosophy and both our eyes light up. We ignore the rest of the group and talk to him. We then go to the rice mill he works in.
It’s almost dusk and I decide against direct road. Sensible boy I am. Faint hope in the head that atleast the Mohan Phokari road is good.

We proceed with the sun setting across the valley to our left. The skies look like they are on fire. Road is still fucked, but atleast it’s mostly flattish. Saurabh says Izzat wala road hain. My wrists and hands are fucked. Tar road appears as we approach Mohan Pok., only to disappear after 100 mts. Tease roads these are called. At one mulch strip, riding in a groove - bike sinks, ask Saga to get off, and turn to better patch, when bike slips and pachak. Thank god for the panniers, or would have been like those scenes in the movies where the hero/villain/comedian gets his face full of mulch. Heave it back on and proceed. Its beyond dusk now and the dusk bugs are full on. Just as it goes totally dark, we reach the tar road and turn right for Nagarkot. Only 10 kms away. Yay.

Yay? 10 kms of non-stop winding and uphill road; and its getting cold. No wonder everywhere goes off to Dhulikhel for Himalayan views. But no, Nagarkot is supposed to have the best views and that’s where we will go – nevermind that its bang middle of the monsoon and we may not even see a glimpse. Another 50 mins later, we enter nagarkot. My wrists are tender and hands are cold – need to take out my gloves if I continue doing this. Stop for tea when a guy approaches and asks if we want rooms. We says yes, but after tea. Have tea and look at LP. Nagarkot in general is expensive! He hangs around and we say ok, show us the place. Saurabh stays back at the tea shop, while the agent and I go into town to the hotel. Shows me 3 kinds of rooms at different prices. Choose the best one and bargain it to half the price. Try to get it lower, but the guy won’t budge – so probably good. Head back to get Saurabh.

Check in, apply TBalm on wrists, order dinner, eat, soak wrists in warm salt water, and update logs. Have to wake up tomorrow at 5 to catch sunrise over the Himalayas. Everest if the sky is clear will be like a dot, but there are other mountains. Let us all pray that tomorrow morning, we get to see the icecaps. Amen and good night.

week 12 logs

2009-07-18T17:05:00.003+05:30

dekho madarchod muth raha hain. jai ho.

12 weeks on the road - feels surreal.

Day 78 jul 10 fri
Varanasi
0 km - 8330 kms

Wake up and bathe before leaving for the Panchtirti yatra – unsure whether to walk it out (too long and hot), take the boat (expensive), or take cycle rickshaw. Head out to Assi ghat for the first of five points. The southern end of the ganga ghats where the Assi river meets the Ganga. Varanasi is called so coz it lies between the Varana and Assi rivers. Take quick photo, give bag to richshaw guy and go take dip. Do gayatri and mahamrityunjaya mantras. Quick in and out – never done this before. Decide to stick to cycle rickshaw yatra who is either called Ram or Rahim.

Head back to Dashashwamedh ghat for second point. Little slower – getting the hang of it. Focus on whom to pray for. Mostly ananya’s dad only.
Next stop is Adi Kesava ghat and no one knows where or what it is. We think it’s the Adi Kesava temple – it has to be where the Varana meets the Ganga. People direct us to varana ghat which happens to be 13 kms north. The sun is up and the cycle guy keeps at it. Reach a ghat after asking 15 people who know or point to some arbit ghat. Reach the ‘Varana ghat’ which is labeled Lal Bahadur Shastri Ghat. Look up GPRS internet, asks people at the hanuman temple at the LBS ghat. No use. Finally one man who thinks he knew calls someone and confirms. It’s near Raj ghat, near a college. We head back into town but different direction and finally after 2 hrs, find it.

See the temple, ask the pujari to open the door for darshan. He tells story of the place – How Shiva when he got bored here (Kasi is called land of Shiva) headed for Mt. Kailash for tapasya. The king Adi Devdas? didn’t allow anyone else to come into town. So Brahma-Vishnu gang up and send the 33 crore devas in human form. But King was too smart. Point is none of these deva-humans left Kasi. BraVish get perturbed and Vishnu comes to town, manifesting at this ghat. He decides to talk to Shiva and Shiva agrees to come to town. Vishnu throws Sudharshan chakra which falls at Manikarnika ghat. Then onwards, Manikarnika to Assi was Shivpuri and Manikarnika to Adi Kesava was Vishnupuri. Vishnu installs a statue of himself and proclaims a darshan of this murti is equal to a darshan of all beings. – Do darshan and go do dubki.
Oh did I mention that visually it felt like walking into a gutter!

Next after some thums up and finding out that rickshaw guy name is Shyam, push up the cycle rickshaw up the slope and head to Panchganga. Reach Dashashwamedh ghat and drop bag in hotel. Saurabh still there, but heads off to BHU. Meet Chucky and find out that he has been forbidden to take money from us by Uncle-Aunt! I head off to finish panchtirti to Panchganga. Its mid afternoon, hot, still, and not many people around. Dubki. Walk to final stop – manikarnika ghat, where all the dead get burnt to attain moksha- shortcut I say. Walk past 5 burning bodies, with two more being Ram naam satyaed in. Take dubki – doing the Jaggi V thing of self, family, friends, world, universe circles.

Go have lunch and sweet dahi from the kali mandir ke saamne sweet shop where we had the famous benaras rabdi yesterday. Rabdi only in the evening. Head back to hotel and take a good scrubby bath, before passing out.

Wake up in the evening, and sort photos while laptop is being charged, while Saurabh goes to see ganga puja from the boats. Head out to find cybercafe when I run into Saurabh near sweet shop. He sits and chats with the old man, while I talk to ananya on phone before charge runs out. Then uploads logs on blog, and photos, but leave in a while as we have to get back to lodge by 11. So go out to see Saurabh still at sweet shop; has made friends with the man; get free sweet to eat before heading back to lodge. Crash – have to wake up ‘early’ and leave for Bihar.

Day 79 jul 11 sat
Varanasi – Sarnath - Bodhgaya
NH2, NH56, NH83
269 km - 8599 kms
Wake up and pack. It’s raining outside, but once it slows down to a drizzle, we pack, say goodbye to new friend Rajnikanth (deputy manager types who said some deep things during tea time chats). Weave through the gullis, through people, cows, bikes and what not, till we reach main road; then more weaving through psychotic honker traffic to Sarnath – take 1 hr to do 12 kms.

Still drizzling as we reach Sarnath; finish tea when man approaches and says guide. We accept and head to see the sights. Hold umbrella for Saurabh while he takes photos. See the stupa, the different temples made by Japanese, thai and sri lankans. Seems like after Ashoka and gupta period, no Indian has bothered to do anything about the Buddhist religion. Ok maybe Ambedkar but that’s another story. Buys some books on Buddhism at a temple. Visit the museum – has stopped raining, but clothes wet, so freeze in the AC. Help out French family decipher some statues! – all this seeing India has enabled to identify some idols and periods – wah.

Leave for Bihar! Get onto NH2/Grand trunk road and belt across. The Grand Trunk Road, first started by Sher Shah (the guy who finally conquered Kalinjar but died doing it) is about 350 years old and cuts across India from Amritsar to Kolkatta. Cross a hugeass (3km? long bridge over a semi-dry river – the Son river). Stop just over the border and eat lunch, dahi pakodi with roti, at a dhaba. Explode into sweat – food loaded with chili, onion, and garlic. Head back on the road – almost fall asleep – hate highways. Lots of mud houses; poverty? But who knows – one only sees what they want to see. Lots of small hills; maybe all the mining has made them collapse in.

Am zooming along NH2, when I see a bunch of cops standing around a cop jeep
outside a desi aur vilayati sharab ka dukhan. One constable hails out, I go by, another
constable waves his dhanda at me; balls im stopping for cops outside an alco shop. No one following in rearview mirror, but increase from 80 to 85 kmph.

Bihar so far looks like a poorer version of UP – now that’s saying something. As we approach Bodhgaya, the light is amazing and the land is more fertile for some reason. A week ago, 35 people were killed by lightning in Bihar and Jharkhand! – so need to get indoors before dusk and the inevitable rain.

As we approach Bodhgaya, we see the sun hide behind some clouds and only a diagonal shaft of light beaming out towards land. We say someone is getting enlightened and zoom on. Enter Bodhgaya and do recce seeing the temples from the road, till we find the Welcome hotel and check in. There’s an internet café in the hotel itself, so go and upload the photos and organize. By 9.15 most of the shops are shut, so the momo place is shut; eat thukpa at the hotel restaurant and well, come up and update the logs.

Day 80 jul 12 sun
Bodhgaya
9 km - 8608 kms
Wake up mid morning. Leave to see the sites around 12. First is the Mahabodhi Mahavihara – Vihara/Bihar means monastery. Hire a guide who takes us around the 7 spots Buddha spent seven weeks after enlightenment. I’m not sure whether I have said this before, but the bodhi tree is not a different tree, but the peepal tree. Time and again, the usefulness of a guide makes itself clear. How much ever you read up and go, a guide always provides orientation, direction, and a little bit more; and you can always bargain, esp. off season, when you don’t look for them, they look for you.

Buddha basically spent time at seven different spots (clockwise direction) around the bodhi tree. First week – under the bodhi tree. Second week – stood under another closeby tree (now has a smaller temple) staring-nonstop unwinking single-pointed focus for one week at the bodhi tree. Third week - he walked around the tree and lotuses bloomed under his feet – whether he trampled them while walking around for a week is another tale. Fourth week - he sat at another point and meditated on the causal law. - 5th at another spot, where he tells a Brahman that man is not a Brahmana by birth, but by deeds. 5 different lights came out of his body (white, yellow, green, blue, red – the 5 colors of Buddhism – u can see it on all their flags). 6th week –sat meditating when thunderstorm broke out and the forest animals came out to protect him, esp. a snake that covered his head with its hood – there’s a lake there right now. 7th week, at another spot, where 2 burmese merchants give rice cake and honey offering and take refuge under him, leading to Buddham Saranam Gachami, Dhammam Saranam Gachami – Three pillars, represented by the circles atop the Buddhist places are first-buddham, second-dhammam (religion), third-sangam(community).
End of Buddhist history lesson. See photostory for sequence.

Head out after waving off people selling peepal leaves, wood and radium statues of Buddha.
Go to the other monasteries around the place – there’s sri lankan, Tibetan (4 of them), Japanese, Bhutanese, Bangladeshi, Vietnamese, thai etc. So many different stories painted on the walls; so many different buddhas, some fat, bony, princely. During a break Saurabh says we are in Sid’s land! (Sid for Siddharta- his preBuddha name, for the unknowing).

Around 5.30 reach a monastery where the prayers are going on. Meet a Buddhist from Calcutta (31 years in India and I don’t know a single Buddhist; strange considering 3,00,000 people converted to Buddhism along with Ambedkar). He’s a normal person who felt deeply when his father’s wish of seeing his son wear the robes was unfulfilled when he died. So he’s here now for the 3-day program!; apparently, you can do a 3-day, 7 day or 14,21 etc. day program when you wear the robes and follow the monk way. He was amazed about the artwork in the temple and how the Tibetans send their kids away as children to the monasteries – how Indian culture is different and even if the parents had crores and many kids, they find it impossible to send away a child – in most terms, forever.

Saurabh talks to a lady and gets invited to join the dinner – seems its an auspicious day and some feast is happening. When the prayers end, about 150 kids, from age 4 to 15? Walk out singing a prayer. We go for the dinner and after waiting around gingerly, join the end of the line and get the buffet meal – looks like Chinese – momos, boiled rice, chowmein, noodle soup, fried bhajiyas, boiled veggies, palak paneer, and a mango. Surprise was no water but a 500 ml choice between coke and mountain dew! There is some felicitation of some guests, and we also get a CD and a photo! Eat after a short prayer, but at 6.30 sharp, the kids start chanting something, which goes on and on and on. And ends at 7 – 30 mins of us clasping hands and listening to the chants. After the chants ended, some people finished their dinner!

Leave and head back to hotel and Internet. Saurabh goes to take pictures of the lit up temple at night. Check out Nepal, and slowly find out there’s a quite a bit to do. So yay. KP calls from umrica and chitchat happens. Says blog can be improved – well yes, but all the time at internet gets used up uploading photos and logs, and catching up a bit with the world. Least I can do is change to first person and improve formatting. Saurabh gets some sponsor friends for the trip, so some money coming in to aid our travels. All the sugar drunk keeps Jedi awake till late.
Did I mention our UP leg (Allahabad and Benaras) was sponsored completely by the Lamechs – yay for kind people. Thank you. Also to the others who gave generously during the giveaway/sale at Bangalore, and Dinesh and KP who have sent money to add more kilometers to mataozm. Thank you  Will name some hills after you, and pay back when and if I get a job.

Day 81 jul 13 mon
Bodhgaya – Rajgir
NH83, NH82
101 km - 8809 kms
Wake up late and update logs. Saurabh reads the Dhammapada. Leave hotel just by 12 pm check out time. Go see the 80 ft (64 ft + 6 ft lotus pedestal + 10 ft platform) Buddha in sitting dhyana position statue. Impressive – even with the two beehives formed under his eyes. The Japanese are behind this. Something keeps biting me in the right shoe; so take it out to find a black beetlebuggy thing fall out – its been damaged by my wriggling and is finding it difficult to walk. Normally I would have killed it to relieve it of its misery, now I’m not sure. I watch it till it wriggles out of sight. Note to self: Bang shoes not once, but twice on floor before wearing.

Leave for Rajgir and see more of Bihar. The mud houses are here too and lots of them. As you looked closer, you see houses that have brick walls, but just one brick thick; some have just bricks and no cement – just stacks of bricks and a roof. No plaster or paint – just bricks.

The land is green (it has rained quite a bit here), so the fields are lush, with the low mined out hills as background. Again, a closer look shows one cultivated field in 20 grass-growing fields. Many structures are abandoned or broken down. Feels a bit sad.
See a lot of palm trees – wonder why no coconut trees. Haven’t seen a single coconut tree for days now – last one was probably somewhere in Andhra Pradesh! Again strange, coz the favored offering at temples are coconuts – meaning all the coconuts used in all the temples in north India are imported?

Reach Rajgir by 3.30 and eat. Late lunch so overeat; decide to stay back and see Nalanda properly tomorrow and then head to Patna. Find out that the ropeway to the Worldpeace stupa closes bookings by 4, so buy tickets and go join the line. The cars are basically single seater chairs and getting on is a slightly dangerous proposition as the line of chairs keeps moving with a very short stop at a particular point – you time and get on or let it go and wait for the next one. It’s a nice long way up and the vista broadens with each pillar.

Reach the top and proceed to the stupa. Getting a bit tired of stupas, but it’s the worldpeace stupa made by the Japanese, so Om namo narayana. It’s a mordern stupa with no paintings or stuff. Walk around chanting ONNs. Keep hearing a drum go dum dum dum non stop, so check out the nearby Buddha temple (Buddha was against temples and wanted all temples razed to the ground!). Head back down and this time just watch the people – the men don’t care (almost all), the kids are either terrified and back in their chairs, or thrilled with glee on their faces, the women are scared and hold the grips hard. Bus loads of orange clothed people keep saying Bolo Bam on their way up. One little boy in orange holds the grips hard and says Bolo Bam with a serious face.
Ride around town trying to find a place – the lonely planet recco was too expensive, more than Hyderabad – so KMA. The next place was 150 bucks, woo hoo, but no three point plug, so sorry. The next place was 450 bucks, govt., and well we take it. Saurabh falls asleep. Jedi does weekly Monday evening mom call.

Buddism would have died out in India if not for the Sri Lankans and other east/south east asian countries. So what’s the oldest surviving religion on earth? What do the Greeks and Egyptians believe in?
Rajgir has another son imprisoning and killing father story – Ajaypatrasu and Bhimisara.

Emergency update: Bihar has so far been full of mosquitoes. The smartest purchase on this trip so far has been the mosquito liquid repellant. But have to remember to put it on before dusk, or rush to put it on when the mosquitoes attack in hordes. Two days in Bihar and already bites all over the body. But have to buy mosquito coils – whats the use of liquid repellant if there is no electricity.

Also television is central and northern India is mainly hindi channels, which is fine considering it’s the local language – haven’t seen English news in a month now. You have all sorts of hindi channels which is fine; but it will help to have atleast ONE English channel, so that you don’t have to spend money on sending your kids to VETA one day. Oh, there is one English channel everywhere without fail, and its Fashion TV! The only chance to listen to English on TV is one some programmes on DD, which I don’t think anyone watches anymore, except when the cable guy’s electricity goes off and you have a inverter/generator. Astha seems to be the channel with the most viewable program – ramdev giving a yoga talk to 100s somewhere. I like life – it is full of surprises; from a period when astha and the ilk would be skipped by without even a slight consideration, now can comfortably sit and watch and even contribute!
Sports news is only cricket, football, tennis, F1, and golf. How many people play golf in this country? I just don’t get it. Apparently they show FTII student films on the Doordarshan Lok Sabha channel.
The hottest program on Discovery? Is Man vs. Wild. Its like everytime that channel comes on, it’s the program running. Good program, though everything is handled and dusted within the show time period. Misleading, like everyone after watching lions and tigers on animal planet roar and leap in slow motion, expect to see a tiger in the only 2 hr safari they take during their weekend trips. But good program – khatre bhi asli, hero bhi asli.

Go have a late dinner. Kickass marwari thali. Return to see the sky light up – its so clear that you can see star clusters – I wonder if it’s a galaxy or a cloud; saurabh confirms it’s the milky way.

Check email and see one from someone from Tehelka, who wants to do something on people who travel as a way of life. Travel as a way of life; never really thought about it that way. Now that I think about it, it has always been part of life, but the why has evolved over the years or over trips. …

Day 82 jul 14 tue
Rajgir – Nalanda - Patna
NH82, NH31, NH30
115 km - 8924 kms
Wake up late again. Pack and leave. This time have brunch on time, well 12 pm is better than 3pm. See one schoolboy hit a smaller boy, who cries for a while, and Head out to Nalanda to see the one of the 3 greatest universities of its time. (Taxila, Nalanada, Bhaktapur) Buy the ticket when a guide approaches – 60 bucks - ok.
Enter to see a series of brick structures in different sizes. Find out that the bricks belong to 3 different periods and are not new bricks, but 1500 (Gupta), 1300 (Kannauj), and 900 (Pala) yr old. Wow. And to think the Delhi and Mumbai metros are crumbling while construction. Bhaktiyar Khilji in 1200 AD did the now expected razing! The books and buildings burnt for 6 months. On another note, I wonder if Buddha would have been a little happy, considering he wanted all temples to be razed, but Mahayana Buddhism

The British as usual excavated it, though only 1 sq. km., while the records according to Chinese scholar, traveler Huen Tsang mentions 10 by 14 km dimensions – had to be if it had to house and school 10000 students. Grass is growing on the structures; some of the excavations are at a stand-still – no funds the government says. Its true – why preserve old stuff when you can build new statues of yourself.
I wonder if the British hadn’t come, whether we would have any of our past left in India – like that zamindar in Sanchi who broke down the Ashoka pillar and used it to pound masalas – or all these new age Bhaktiyars who throw bottles in wells, scratch their names on walls (some use markers!) – or folks who break off part of a 900 yr old brick, SMELL it and throw it away.
I wonder why we are not taught these things in school. I try to remember my Civics lessons and all I can remember is about the parliament and democracy. Over this trip what I think should have been taught to me are:
1. Yoga asanas and pranayama
2. Ayurveda or naturapathy
3. Common trees, birds, animals of the country
4. Common road laws (when on highway use highbeam, but dip when approaching other vehicle; DO NOT OVERTAKE on curves)
5. Common rights (women - stuff like cops can’t arrest women between 6 pm and 6 am unless accompanied by woman cop; RTI)
6. History – Cultural history (complicated topic- but hey)..

An interesting bit was the admission into the university was controlled by the gatekeepers, who were so learned that they were called Dwarpundits. Aspirants would have to answer some questions by the dwarpandits to get admission.
After seeing the ruins we leave. Saurabh goes to check out the museum, while I sit outside and drink Limca. It has replaced Thums up as my preferred drink. Maybe because it has isotonic salts to quench your thirst; does it still?

Head off to Patna. See entire villages made of the brick only and nothing else structures. Stop at a 50 km ass break and a farmer/buffalo herder wanders by. Saurabh switches to his UP/Bihari accent and does chitchat. We find out that nearby is Nitish Kumar’s native village. As we approach Patna, lots of jeeps with kawariyas inside and atop them zoom past. Saawan is apparently Shiva’s month and major religious time, probably like Sabrimala time down south. Did I mention that the local transport jeeps in Bihar have been the most crowded. Stuffed inside and a mindboggling 20ish people on top. Try to mentally figure out how people sit on top- give up. Before I forget yet again, must mention the Tata Magic van – after jeeps the most popular vehicle on the road in MP, UP, and Bihar. I hadn’t even heard of it before this trip.

Stop just before entering Patna. Have chai and get directions from 3 different people on how to get to Fraser road. Find our way through Patna, which is like any other city, and check into Amar Hotel. Settle down and watch more Aashta, though there are 5 more religious channels; basically if ramdev is on, it stays on. Roomboy comes for dinner order; after what hmm for a while, we decide to order in. Find out justdial’s number 6999 999 and find out pizza place. Call and order veg supreme. Eat and eventually pass out.

Day 83 jul 15 wed
Patna
12 km - 8936 kms
Wake up and start photo sorting of past week. Should be crossing the border tomorrow and don’t know when I’ll next see Internet. The unhangable Mac hangs just when I’m saving a 11 image photostory. Lose the work. Anyone who ever tells me the Mac is this almighty machine will experience some disturbing vibes from me. In the background, we watch the Lok Sabha channel watching zero hour and other discussions. In the evening we watch HRD minister make a speech for grants for the HRD ministry and the plans for education in India. Right to education and the plans sounds good. Lets hope it goes through. Its been in the works for 16 years!

Leave around 3 to see the world’s oldest, no longest it seems, fossilized tree. The Patna museum is quite nice, though it looks like the stuff in it was compiled in 1928 when it opened, and never after that. Most have no labels; the stuffed animals and birds look fossilized. But the museum has some very nice stuff. The Didarganj yakshi was found in the early 1900s when a snake went into a hole and people dug into the hole.
The Patna history section has some nice info on Patna – the city or atleast the area has been around from 6 B.C. Buddha had prophesized that a great city would be built here, but would be plagued by fire, floods, and feud. Pataliputra the famous capital of the Mauryas, which Greek ambassador Megasthenes (4 B.C.) said was better than Susa, and Chinese traveler Fahian (3BC) said was built by superbeings, disappeared until the early 20th century, when during excavations they found and then correlated that Patna was indeed Pataliputra. The Mauryans had first developed the road to develop Indo Greek links between Taxila and Pataliputra, which later became the Grand Trunk road, now NH2.
It looks like its closing time, all the babus making the moves. So I enquire and find out where it is. Everyone here speaks like Lalu .
Watch a youth getting slapped by museum guard, and then made to do the hold-your-ears-and-squat 5 times. Seems he was found scribbling on a showcase with a pen. Serves him right. Should ask all the people in the museum to write on this face with inedible ink. As he leaves, his friend tells him dekhne ke liye hain ye sab, likhne ke liye nahin.

I had actually walked by it. It’s a 53 ft long wooden beam attached to the side of the wall. 200 million years old- washed along a river, getting buried in clay and mud for centuries, millennia, the carbon turning to silica. Now it lies along a wall of the Patna museum. 200 million years. Even pre-history falls short. Sneak a photo from phone – hoping I don’t get caught and slapped around.

Ok history lesson. There are three periods of time;
1. Pre historic – where there is evidence of life but no written records
2. Proto historic – where there are written records, but no one can decipher them
3. Scientific historic – where there are written records, and humans can decipher them

1. Paleolithic
a. Early – before 40000 yrs ago
b. Middle – 40,000 to 20,000 yrs ago
c. Late – 20,000 to 9000 years ago
2. Mesolithic - 9000 to 4000 yrs ago
3. Neolithic – earliest human settlements (harrapan comes 3 millenia ago)
4. Chalcolithic (copper-stone)
Paleo, Meso, neo come under pre historic, with Neolithic being a time of ‘revolution.’
Class dismissed.

Check out the other parts of the museum. There’s Buddha statues recovered from as far as Afghanistan, including the now famous SWAT valley. A world war 1 memorabilia section, and a thangka section with thangkas of most dalai lamas including the first one, Gen Dum Dop, are also present. The thangka’s were presented by Tibetan monks to an Indian monk who traveled from India to Tibet.

Leave the museum and visit the Gol ghar. Climb up the spiral staircase around the semispherical granary built by the British to avoid famine in perpetuity. Kickass views of the city and the Ganga to the north. Pass by what I think is Amar Singh’s house.

Enquire and find helmet shop. First shop we try, we get the helmet fixed – the visor part kept falling down – extremely annoying and big change from my got-used-to city traffic riding. Been looking for a place to fix it since Bhopal! What to do, no one wears helmets anywhere. Also get my visor glass changed. Now helmet sits well and the glass is so clear, everything looks sparkling 

Go to a sweet shop and have hot samosa, kachodi, halwa. Yum tum. Return to the hotel and sit, watch tv, and sort photos all the way to and past dinner. Tomorrow will make a run for the border 

Crocodiles despite being a ton heavy can move quickly and eat almost anything. But they can live for a year without eating, that’s why they have been around for 200 million years. And yea so has a tree. FYI the oldest living tree is the Gingko, found in China, 270 mill years old.

Day 84 jul 16 thu
Patna – Hajipur – Muzaffarabad – Motihari - Raxaul
NH77, NH28, NH28A
236 km - 9172 kms
Wake up at 8 for once. Tea and look for bank. But all banks here open at 10.15+. So come and pack. Today will hit the border – will see whether I cross or not once I get there. Funny thing is that Chughun has already seen Nepal, and not I. Will be taking Asia’s longest roadway bridge, the Gandhi Setu, 7.5 kms.

Do the bank and post office work. Visit book shop while waiting for DD. Meet Som, second generation bookshop owner. Seems very poor reading in Patna; publishers even bother because they have fulfill some quota for every state. Get DD, find secret post office in next building, and rush to vacate hotel. Leave by 12, and hit the Gandhi Setu bridge. It goes over the Ganga and is one of those will-rumble-when-truck-passes bridge. Heavy gusts of wind almost knocking bike over. See banana trees after a long, long time - yellow bananas. Palm trees too, nongu trees.

After a railway crossing, 2 army/cop/uniformed men ask two different bikes to stop; one goes off; the other too, but a cop runs behind and grabs the backrest. We slowly head off.

Cross Muzzafarpur and have lunch at a dhaba after a quick, fruitless search 2 kms in the city. As we leave, hear a sound from the bike. Check to find the right back shock absorber broken. Bad stuff. Call Bangalore mechanic and find out details. Head back to Muzzafarpur to find mechanic. As soon as we enter the city, the roads, no not roads, potholes surrounded by tar, begin, and it doesn’t end till we leave the city. So this is the real Bihar road and not the NH kind we have seen so far.
Roadside motor shop says go to ImliChutti, which we do. A bullet mechanic checks and says can either fix rod or replace. We decide to replace. Sit and talk to mechanic who refers to Biharis being beaten up in Bombay, and goes out of his way to be nice to us, saying two wrongs don’t make a right, and to tell when we get back how we were treated by Biharis. Tells that road ahead will be nice 4 lane highway right upto Raxaul. We ditch plan B of staying back at Muzzafarpur and head out to Raxaul. Get shocks fixed and leave. It’s already 4.30 p.m.

Within 5 kms, the road starts breaking; construction is going on – a 4 lane WILL come up but not soon. The ditches become potholes, the potholes become craters; riding becomes a jerk, break, swerve, ease, rumble, jerk out, swerve – mind fuck; and it doesn’t end.

Pass by a road accident where a bunch of people surround a body lying on the road. They try to stop a Sumo, which refuses and speeds away. They don’t bother us. After a few seconds we head off. Nothing we can do. Plus the lonely planet warning of extreme poverty leading to people creating fake road accidents to trap tourists preys on the mind.

Potholehipura. Not Patalipura. Wrists start aching, middle back, and coccyx ache. But a spectacular sunset with a big sun on the left, and a huge dark cloud on the right, with lightning striking at regular intervals, keep the mind off of the road – not really, but you get the point. Have never seen lightning from such a view. The lightning is generated and dispersed from within the cloud. Never really wondered where lightning started from.

It’s dark now and progress is slower. This is not even a white road or a state highway. It’s an NH for god’s sake. Am just glad it isn’t raining. Every village we cross, it has just rained. We stop to watch the lightning cloud amidst dark fields, sounds of crickets, frogs, and fireflies.
35 kms from Raxaul where the road turns right, we stop for tea. Saurabh asks the shopkeeper how the road is ahead. He says thoda tutafuta hain. A little heartened, we proceed. It takes us 2 hours to do 35 kms. Nightmare road. Craters in which a sumo can go in, stand, and roll up and out of. If the road becomes better, it’s only for a few metres, before ditch boom. What timing to have new shocks. Providence. All the Om trayambakams at work I guess.

Zen destroyed. Third time in 84 days and 9000 kms. I abuse all the people who are responsible for the roads. All the past and present leaders who have let Bihar become the worst state of the country – from what glory to what shame. I’m not just talking about the roads, all infrastructure – Patna loses electricity like it’s a joke – at midnight, in the morning, whenever. There are no schools; the ones we see are broken down buildings – a mahavidhalaya, which I assume is a college, is like the workshop block of VIT. Houses look like the ruins in Nalanda. Saurabh points out zero presence of government policies at places, unlike MP and UP. Whoever funny laloo might be, he and others have done nothing. At least Nitish, from what we hear, has stopped the goonda raj, and is trying to do something. Please pray for Bihar, it needs all the help it can get.

We reach Raxaul and find a hotel, and order food. My hands and back are fucked. Sleep in shavasana. Tomorrow a different country!

zen maintenance - google search no 4!

2009-07-11T19:34:00.002+05:30

mataozm is now no 4 and 6 on google zen maintenance search :D.
sitting at bodhgaya uploading pics - checking out whether anyone is reading mataozm, considering lack of comments etc. so many lurkers :D

week 11 logs

2009-07-10T22:02:00.010+05:30

Day 71 jul 3 fri

Kajuraho

0 kms, 7737 kms

Wake up late. This nightly watching of films is taking toll, plus it seems we need 8 hours of sleep. Decide no leaving today by 12 so chill more and do more photo sorting. Dreading having to sort kajuraho set – already racked up 600 photos between the two of us, and one more visit to go.

Walk up and down the market trying to find a place that scans. No use. Meet/accosted by dude youth. Jedi walks off after 15 secs – after a while, you can sense who’s making convo and who’s trying to do bukchodi. Some kids try to sell marijuana – jedi walks on – yay.

Leave around 2 and go see the western group of temples – the big ones. Spectacular is not the word. Tiring too. If you ever come to visit, take your time and come early!

Girl asks Jedi if tamil, makes chitchat. Everywhere people feel some strange comfort in their ‘group’.

Head back, find out that right beside our hotel is the scanner! Give maps to scan, and come back to finish the pranic psychotherapy doc. After finishing, drink some bhang and go to Internet and upload week 10. 10 weeks on the road – baap re.

Day 72 jul 4 sat

Kajuraho – Pandav Falls – Panna

62 kms – 7802 kms

NH76

Wake up around 9 and pack. Head to check air in the bike and load. Jedi sees that the carrier has broken – needs welding. Goes to welder to see that he doesn’t have electricity – happens to be just outside the perimeter of ‘World Heritage Area’. Find another welder and get work done. Come back and pack and leave. Roam around trying to find the Hanuman temple – see other smaller ones, but not the one we think it should be. Eventually leave towards Allahabad. Bike battery seems fucked – Jedi thinks while welding the battery got raped, though he had removed the spark plug.

In the Panna Tiger Reserve, there is a place called the Pandav falls and Pandav caves. Yes, you guessed right – the Pandav brothers stayed here. India has basically three kinds of places – i. where Ram did something, ii. Where the Pandavs did something, iii. Others did something. Falls not in full flow, but very nice place. Almost empty. Very scenic – will probably be spectacular post rains. Photos, and swimming. Jedi almost drowns himself, but limits it to panic and focused getting to safe rock. This place is infested with bees, or beehives and swimming is not allowed – only that we read the board only after coming back up J. Is not infested with bees but lots of beehives. See the green beeeater birds swooping on the pond and picking off insects. See small orange dragonflies - ananya in spirit? J

Start the bike, with high rev, and proceed through nice forest. Reach Panna and bike stops. Saurabh has to push and it starts. Ask for battery shop and reach center of town. Bike stops again. Stop for breath and tea. Most shops shut – looks like a Sunday, which is what we think. See a mechanic shop 10 feet away and roll the bike into it. Mechanic checks and thinks armature is gone. Puts the battery to charge after adding distilled water. Don’t the service guys check this? – apparently not. It rains and everything turns gloomy. Go to buy new battery, which has acid but no charge – no electricity. Its already 4 – Jedi decides we stay here and get this fixed; coz bike now running only on battery and no idea when and where it will fizzle off; even with the spare battery. Also locals say no point going to Kalinjar now – not safe. Mechanic by now thinks Rectifier is gone. Saurabh finds out about the diamond mines nearby and in conversation with a local, makes plans to pick up land and start looking for diamonds.

We go check in a nice hotel – in MP every double room is around 300 bucks.

Go back and find the only ATM in town. Eat chat at Mama’s shop.

Give the other battery to charge – leave the bike there. Come back and do photo sorting. Mechanic calls and says he’s fixed the problem – seems a wire had burst.

Go and get bike – Rashid mechanic – good man. Eat a nice thali and come back and crash. Jedi glad that all the bike stuff is happening now and not in the mountains.

Day 73 jul 5 sun

Panna – kalinjar fort – Chitrakoot - Allahabad

334 kms – 8136 kms

SH71 (UP), NH76, SH11 (MP), NH27

Jedi finds out that today is Sunday – so why were most of the shops shut yesterday?

Leave and head across the ghats to see the impregnable Kalinjar fort. Along the way, we see some mines which we want to think are diamond mines and saurabh gets quite happy. The fort is just across the UP border – a river is the demarcator. Big fort, mostly in ruins – most standing buildings seem like Mughal bldgs – Sher Shah was the first person to conquer the fort in the 16^th century after centuries of people, including Mahmud of Ghazni, trying and failing to conquer the fort. In addition to the cattle, we see horses too.

When u see the fort from outside and from within, you know why. Vast plains stretch out below while the fort runs along the steep hill. Only a few places show the Kajuraho and Chandela mark. You see historic rubble lying around, like no one cares. Not a single board – only one with the places in the fort which has rusted and is of no use. No water. Nothing. Only villagers and one temple pandit who says they have been doing the puja here for 3 generations. The sun is beating on our heads and we eventually retreat. Saurabh is Ghazni ke baap.

Next stop is Chitrakoot, but after 8000 kms of kickass road almost everywhere, this road – a SH, is a massive shock, to us and the bike. Potholes, lumpy road, more patches than road – we get onto NH76 but no difference. Start abusing Mayawati and make statements like if we broke all the Mayawati statues and filled the roads, it would be fine. Now we know why people here breed horses, easier and nicer to ride horses on such roads.

Reach Chitrakoot, the place where Ram stayed with Lax and Sita for 12-14 years (everyone says 12-14 years!) during vanvas. Surrounded by hills, its another temple town, with Ram this, Ram that, and hordes of tourists – ok not hordes, its off season- even for Ram, but still shitloads. Ask cig shop for places to see, and after chitchat say Gupt Godavari and Anusuya. We head to see these places – apparently Chitrakoot is in MP-UP border, spots in MP, town in UP.

Gupt Godavari – as the story goes, was a friend of Sita, and when she heard Ram was here, she wanted to do charan sparsh, so she came secretly (why I dunno) from nasik and manifested herself as a river here. That’s the story. Everyday I get to hear a new story – India is truly a land of stories. Jai Amar Chitra Katha - the main source of our India history lessons. We remove our shoes and pay the 10 rupee entrance and walk up to the 2 caves. Nice cave with RSL (ram sita laxman) idols and shiv ling and pool of water which all priests sitting around all these things say is the godavari. Each priest calls u and does tikka stuff and then asks where u are from, and then the sales pitch. After two of them, you feel sick. You move to the next cave which is basically water flowing through a narrow cave, this is more fun, until you reach the end where two more godpimps sit and do tikka and ask for money – if u say u already gave, they say this is a different god. All you do is walk away. Still overall nice place – just ignore the priests and arbit ppl who rush to do tikka and then ask for money. Outside we have to brush off an old man who says he was guarding the bike and wants 5 bucks. Jedi is already pissed with the godpimps and tells the old man to hadd, who then calls him bosadine. God bless you too.

We head to Anusuya, who is the ascetic wife of sage Atri. This lady’s claim to fame is that she’s the one who turned brahma, Vishnu, shiva into babies coz they did something – don’t remember what. She also gave the sermon on Patidharma – loyalty to husband by a married woman. Also created the Mandakini Ganga. We reach the place, but Jedi stops and has tea – after the roads and Gupt Godavari, has no interest in seeing another temple. Sits and talks to the assorted people and babas. Saurabh returns from the river, also not having seen the temple. Locals say come so far but not seeing – here no tax or priests – no money, go. Go go. We say thanks but tata.

Head back to main village and main highway. Smriti’s parents call and asks where are you – we tell about 116 kms away, but 3-4 hrs away. Uncle says road is good in patches. We head, but more of patches held together by road. Jedi takes option B of traversing such roads . Option A is ride slowly taking the bumps and holes gently; Option B is go fast enough to fly over the potholes. Finally after 30 kms of crap road, there is a good stretch of road for 60 kms where the road is good. The sun sets. Night riding and again bad road and trucks. See some men with guns, but mostly peaceful.

Have nice samosas.

Reach Allahabad around 8.30 and meet them at the high court where they escort us home. Lotsa of chitchat and exchange of travel stories. Also information on Mayawati’s rule and the things she has done, like getting rid of the goondas and making UP safe – building roads to the villages (we just happened to be on outer border road) – local UPites love her and really don’t mind her building all those elephants and statues of herself, as long as UP is safe for the common man. Dinner, and sleep follows.

Day 74 jul 6 mon

Allahabad

10 kms – 8146 kms

Laze. Jedi goes to find welder with person from uncle’s office. No electricity, so have to wait till 1. Goes to meet Joy at his house. Chitchat. Find out about Jhunsi, vilayati imli, and ulta kila. Goes to welder and gets partial work done; enough but not what Jedi wanted.

Sit and talk with uncle, aunt, banu and his family – get to hear some fun stories, including the behenji story. Go out for kulfi after dinner. Banu goes with Jedi on the bike and reminisces about his biking days. Makes plans to get his friend’s bullet and ride with us to Jhunsi tomorrow. Jedi and banu go to friend’s house to see 7 men totally sloshed. Bike will be needed, so tomorrow. Head back, watch Matrix Reloaded and pass out.

Day 75 jul 7 tues

Allahabad (All Saints Cathedral, Sangam, Fort, Anand Bhavan, Ag)

20 km - 8166 kms

wake up late and have breakfast. Uncle is getting the cathedral open for us and banu is taking us around allahabad. So leave in A/C car and see the sights. The cathedral (1845 AD) is nice, but not kept very well. Walk up the turret? On bat shit and ducking to avoid the fluttering bats. Reach the top and see Allahabad view. Meet the priest and make chitchat.

Go to Sangam and wade through some traffic. Processions and DJ Mix vans and people with all sorts of containers. Saavan is starting shortly and Kawariyas are here – ppl who take water from the sangam and walk barefoot to benaras and pour the water there. Some babas call jedi baba and then rajnikanth. Jedi walks away. The sangam shifts with the rise and fall of the ganga. Right now the Ganga is just a stream. So the line of boats in the water keep moving. Lots of people taking boat rides to go to the sangam point.

Head back and go to foot of the fort, but return when we see no cameras and weapons allowed. Fort is taken over by Army. Go to Anand Bhavan, where the newest emperors of the Indian empire started. Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru lived here. Indira got married here. But couldn’t go inside the house as it was lunch time! And no one at the ticket counter. See some stuff through the windows and leave.

Head back and plan to leave tomorrow. Already 2 and if we want to see Jhunsi etc. will reach after dark. Aunty has fixed up place for us at Yogi lodge, a friend’s son’s place. Decide to do Jhunsi today itself, but fall asleep.

Wake up in the evening to hear there is a get together of Ag – Agriculture Institute of India Alumni (Uncle and Aunt studied there). Eventually mothers and 3 kids who want to get into Ag for Intermediate turn up and old Ag stories start flowing. Jedi is unsure what to talk about with people almost double and half his age. Good fun. For the first time in his life, he has to eat from a separate vegetarian food counter J Grateful that hardcore non-veggies are making and eating veg food just coz of us.

Get to hear about why and how the power situation is so bad in UP. People run up bills to 10k, then pay the elec guys 5k, who then eat 3k, make bill for 2k and declare all dues till now paid- and the cycle continues. Morever, people steal electricity by slinging wires over the overhead poles – mostly at night. As a result, the transformers that are supposed to give 2kv electricity according to the on-paper usage, have to give more and then burn out, resulting in transformer ud jaana. Privatization is protested against though eventually it will be cheaper than the current usage of inverters and generators.

Go to drop one of the kids to the Ag guest house. Nice ride over the yamuna on an old bridge. Jedi cant sleep and stays up till 5.30 am.

At some point in the day during some conversation, Jedi feels that the Afghans are simply bearing the brunt of karma – after decades of invasions and destruction of other countries, okay in this case India, from 10^th AD to 15^th AD, now its coming back to them. Bad thought but it happened. They still haven’t changed – the Bamiyan statues!

Day 76 jul 8 wed

Allahabad – Jhunsi – Sita Madhi – Varanasi

164 km - 8330 kms

Uncle wakes us up at 9.30. Its been raining and if we leave quickly, we can skip the rains. Pack and head out after good byes. Uncle accompanies us till the high court and then pays for a full tank! Thank you Uncle. Two days of total pampering and then this.

Head out to Jhunsi and locate the Ulta Kila. The fort isn’t inverted, but buried in mud etc. Caves etc. are there, but hardly anyone there. This is the fort of the king (Andheri Nagari- Chaupat Raja) who made everything 1 taka, whether its gold or grain – chaos reigned. Walk around trying to find the Vilayati Imli, one of the first tamarind trees to be brought to India from South America. Can’t find it, but find a bunch of peahens chilling on the trees. See other ancient trees. Enter one ashram type of place where one baba gives some gyan about the place. Take top view photos of sangam and leave. Enroute it pours and we get wet.

Reach Sita Madhi, which is the place where Sita took Samadhi by entering the earth. Many stories exist about why – what Jedi heard long ago was that she was pissed that she had to take a paternity test post her Ravana of Lanka kidnapping- so after passing the test, she broke open the earth and returned to where she came from. Other stories are her work was done so after handing over Luv-Kush, she said tata. Anyway the place has a temple made by some folks, which was closed when we got there. The river Tamsa meanders there before it meets the Ganga nearby. Down the road is Hanuman temple with a hugeass Hanuman statue, and even further near the ghat, there is a temple for Luv-Kush with the Aswamedha (horse they caught and wouldn’t let go even when Bharat Laxman came to get it for some Ram’s yagna – Bharat Laxman didn’t know these were Ram-Sita’s sons. Look up more details someplace. Walk down to the ghats and take photos. Nice clean water and people chilling, taking bath and having fun. People enquire where from and why we are here etc. – the usual. One guy even tells us which position and angle we will get good photos. The skies have cleared and look quite spectacular. Saurabh goes and takes Sita’s pictures now that the temple has opened.

Its 3 pm and we head for Benaras after some chai-samosa. Uncle-aunt have hooked us up with Chucky, the son of a close friend, who runs the Yogi lodge in Benaras. Reach Benaras, without getting wet again, though see lots of lightning and thunder. Its always just rained everyplace we pass.

Miss the turnoff at Benaras and go ahead, ask directions from locals and after riding through numerous water fucked roads, reach the Kashi Viswanath temple. Call Chucky and he sends someone to pick us up. A boy turns up – without the mentioned Yogi lodge tshirt, and says ganga lodge etc. we say we already have booking at Yogi lodge – he says I’m from there only. We say no. no tshirt, no going with you. Eventally a yogi lodge tshirt boy comes and leads us through thin lanes with shops and people and other vehicles and 5 police checks. The first 4 press the bags with their fingers as if they can tell that the haversacks have something dangerous with their fingertips. Ask us few questions and let us go ahead. The final check point, on hearing our story ask us to show some letter etc. where it says we are on a trip. After showing Collabis visiting card, and also latest trip photos from camera, they let us go ahead after some 10 minutes. Reach the lodge and check in. Nice clean place, small, but it’s a budget traveler’s place. For that its excellent. Only pain was that no electricity point so can’t charge our gadgets. Book a dawn boat ride along the ghats for the morrow. Chitchat in the room, before going out for dinner and Benaras ka famous rabdi. Go to the ghats and sit watching the full moon shimmering in the river. Hear people singing along with the cellphones, but only adding bad words to the lyrics. Dialect reminds Jedi of Ankur and has phone conv. With him. He’s apparently from Chattarpur near Kajuraho! Misses Ananya a lot.

Come back and read stuff about Varanasi/Benaras/Kasi from the Lonely planet. This is a 3600 yr old city, thereby probably the world’s oldest living city. From the Kasi tribe who came here 1400 BC to now, it has seen so much. Aurangzeb came and did his chutiyapa here too. Jedi is keen on doing the Panchthirthi yatra. Get to hear that the boatman was uncontactable, so tom morning boat may not happen. Then get the money we paid for the boat trip refunded – seems Chucky wont take our money! Suspect Uncle-aunt have an hand in this – will find out tomorrow! Pass out.

6 hours in Varanasi, and it has a special feel to it. Can’t explain it.

Day 77 jul 9 thu

Varanasi

0 km - 8330 kms

Get woken up at 5.15 by the hotel guy – the boatman is here. Quickly bathe and follow the boatboy to Lalita Ghat from where we start the boat ride along the ghats. The skies are cloudy but enough light, though not the ‘magical’ light- no rain, so yay.

Watch the ghats float by as the boatboy, Manish, tells us the gist of most of the ghats- basically who built them and why they are called so. How the rishis who were staying at the Scindia ghat, cursed the place after being chucked out by the British, resulting in the temple and the entire ghat being lopsided. – The ghat where Mandakini puts flowers into the Ganga in Ram Teri Ganga Maili. How one mahal was built by the sale of one gold bangle, a building that even if you gave crores you couldn’t build now– The mosque built by Aurangzeb (who happens to be in the most disliked person in jedi’s mind now) which had two minars from which you could see Delhi ka mosque using telescopes – the minars now destroyed, one by some govt. guy and the other by lightning? – can’t remember.

Manikarnika ghat, the famous funeral ghat, where you are not allowed to take photos (we did sneak some), does do complete burnings and the bodies floating in the Ganga (we saw 2) are of 5 types and not half-burnt; pregnant women, sadhus, kids, stung by snake, people with white spots, these people are wrapped in cloth, taken by boat to the middle and put into the ganga; when the binding comes off, they float.

After a while, the ghats get monotonous, though then we tend to focus on how filthy it is. Everyone is taking a bath, lots of people washing their clothes, the sewage flows into the river, the sides of the ghats are covered with rubbish. The houses/mahals etc. facing the river have people living in them who pay a rent of Rs.1 or Rs.2, and who refuse to leave. We turn at the point and head back, this time much slower, against the current. Jedi asks about the panchtirta yatra and the boatboy explains and also gives the spin on kushi gift to the kevats (boatmen), citing Ram and Janaki’s trip, and also how Sita gave her earring. We do the rotate the money over your head 5 times before giving.

After a while, he says your time is up (it was supposed to be a 2 hr ride, and it was 2 hrs, but we weren’t back where we started.) We get off at a ghat, not very far off from where we started, but Saurabh is not happy. We walk back along the ghats, only to see human shit along with the quintessential cow dung; see a dog shitting for added measure; sewage pipes gushing sewage into the ganga. Major mind fuck. Jedi and Saurabh have discussion on how filthy it was; Jedi says it just adds degree of complexity and faith to it. We walk through the wood stacks at Manikarnika, between cows and cow dung. By the time we reach Dasawamedha, the mind is raped. Have breakfast and come fall asleep in the room. Jedi calls it the Ganga gutter. No power point in the room, so can’t charge stuff.

Wake up in the afternoon and laze around. Saurabh suggests skipping Bihar and heading straight for Nepal. Jedi says lets finish the ‘circuit’ – Jedi wants to see Nalanda, though he knows he’s headed for more sorrow! – it being sacked by the Afghans (tsk tsk) in the 12^th century.

Evening, find out where daal mandi is and walk to it. one street where you get everything on earth, including mutton! Jedi does his thing and buys two dvds! Return and the ghats towards the south side. See a film being shot - tamil soundtrack - digital video. Jedi get approached by a dealer; jedi refuses - what days are here! from a person who would hunt and score to refusing a free sample and buy if u like deal.

Go wait for the ganga pooja - it starts for a while, when it starts drizzling - everyone evacuates. we head out for some chai and return when the drizzle stops and the puja starts. like Karthickaye said, quite a polysensorial experience - makes more sense when you know what the different rituals stand for - fire for fire element, water for water element, flowers for earth element, agarbatti for wind element, conch for ether element. Jedi joins along whereever he can.

Return to find our phones charged, partially atleast - had managed to learn that we can use the reception place to charge our stuff, only when awake though. Eat dinner while we charge laptops. retire to watch new films before battery runs out and pass out.

amanya

2009-07-03T21:40:00.003+05:30

week 10 logs

2009-07-03T21:01:00.003+05:30

Note: sorry about the super detailed posts. more for ananya than anything else.

Day 64 jun 26 fri
Bhopal

Wake up and start photo sorting. Never ending – panoramas are a bitch. Jedi gets on high horse and bashans saurabh. Smokes the entire day. Try to find royal enfield service center online, in vain. Vijay finds a center in Vidisha! Around 2, Jedi heads out and asks motor spares shop man, who says its right around the corner. Take bike and give for service – sprocket gone – needs replacement. Come back and do more photo sorting and titling. Saurabh sleeps.

Photo sorting finally finishes at 7. Go and pick up the bike – also replace the switch. Again andhi hawa and rain. Walk to find mobile repair shop to fix his phone display, which conked off yesterday in the rains. Shops shut. Go to internet café and upload stuff, until electricity goes off. Pass movie hall – decide to watch. Jedi buys tickets thinking Kambakt Ishq. Enter hall to find Terminator Salvation in Hindi. Christian Bale saying Isse nast kardo. Not a single girl in the hall. Man does loud biz call in the hall – have to intervene after long patient wait.

MTV has become a reality show channel. Young girls have to wear shorts and do car washes to win a contest. have Rakhi Sawant is having a tele-swayamwar. Tomorrow finish the uploading and head for Sanchi. Jedi still going insane whether to head east or north. The monsoons have reached MP, so tending to head north. The east continues to remain unknown, but U.P., Bihar are possibilities.

Day 65 jun 27 sat
Bhopal
Wake up and walk to Internet café to complete unfinished photo uploads. Spend 3 hrs. Return around afternoon and spend the day in. Mostly silence prevails in the room. Jedi going insane wondering where and what work to find. Zen almost destroyed.

Divert mind by planning further route. So here is the proposed route – Sanchi (v) – Udaigiri Caves (v) - Sagar – Kajuraho (v) – Naraini – Chitrakoot – Allahabad – Benaras (v) – Sasaram – Bodhgaya (v – mahabodhi tree) – Gaya – Nalanda (v) – Patna (v – Patna Museum – world’s oldest fossilized tree 200 mill yrs) – Muzafarabad – Motihari – Bettiah – Raxual/Birganj(Nepal) - [Simara – Hetauda – Daman – Katmandu (v) – Pokhara (v) – Butawal – Mahendranagar – rough beyond this,; should probably head to Delhi and find a job. If I get this far that is. Rameshwar – Almora – Ranikhet- Karna Prayag – Joshimath – Hemkhund sahib/Badrinath – Valley of Flowers – Joshimath – Karnaprayag – rudra prayag – srinagar – Rishikesh – Dehradun – mussoorie – nahan – Solan – Shimla – Fagu – Kingal –

(supposed to be road to Naygma, Sumdo – but dunno whether allowed – if yes, have to get permit etc. NTFO) – Kingal – Rampur – Wangtu – Khab – Chango – Sumdo – Attargo – Kaza – Kibber- Losar- Grampho – Tandi and so on.

Kingal – Shoja- Aut- Kullu – Manali and so on.

Jedi stays up till 5 a.m. watching films.

Day 66 jun 28 sun
Bhopal – Sanchi
70 kms
SH18, NH86 extn.
Jedi wakes up at 12 and packs. Leave the hotel and ride around Bhopal to see the lakes. Then try to find a helmet shop to fix both our helmets – no one wears helmets in Bhopal, but we find a shop, where the guys says ho sakta hain par kal aaho. Kal kisne dekha, so we left. Head out to Sanchi when suddenly we see a board that says Tropic of Cancer. Take photos.

Reach Sanchi around 4 and see the museum where we see the famous Ashoka Pillar lions – the top part with the lions on it. Cant take photos here and Jedi doesn’t even want to bother.

Go to the Stupa – similar to Leh Stupa but without wall paintings, but pillars at all 4 sides with beautiful carvings which tell many stories. Get a guide for 100 bucks (off season) who tells us the stories. 3B.C. to 10 B.C. See the rest of the Ashoka Pillar. So much history, so much art, so much skill, so much devotion. So far from 66 days and half the country, beyond the 15^th century nothing of note has been made in India. 3 types of Buddhism – one which has no idol worship; inline with Buddha’s views – wanted temples to be razed. – the other 2 have idols of Buddha. U can see all of this here in one place.

Go to see the Stone bowl when we see a peacock fly across the greenery, with another following on foot.We are now in the Vindhyas having crossed the Narmada which separates the Satpura and Vindhya ranges.
Too much to tell. Photos should say more. But basically one has to come here to see and more importantly feel these places.
Om Sanchi Sanchi Shantihi.
Guide recommends lodge in Sanchi and advises against going to Vidisha as was planned. Seems as it is a World Heritage site, it has 24 hrs electricity, as compared to the rest of M.P. Saw ppl on TV going insane in Delhi and Rajkot over electricity and water shortages. Don’t blame them – I went little nuts in Mandu when I had to wait for 34 hrs to get welding done coz no electricity till then. Even normally 4 hrs daily plus 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Settle in room and teach Saurabh full yogic breath.
Jedi plays Om chants during dinner – immediately feels ill. Body saying you can’t smoke, even if its gudang garam and do Om chanting at the same time. Jedi does 108 AUMs daily while riding. Quickly makes list of practices to restart from tomorrow – starting with suryanamaskars and shambhavi kriya.
Jedi and ananya smsing each other after almost 2 years, since ananya’s phone mysteriously stopped sending or receiving smses from jedi’s phone – despite jedi changing his number and service provider. Her dad still on ventilator – do 27 trayambakams.
Sit and make list to calculate kms so far – 7354 kms since April 24^th. India vertical length is 3200 kms and horizontal is 3000 kms. Annie calls – have long talk.
Staying in the room where Fred Klien of Motorbike WorldTour -2005.
suzifred@hotmail.com / fredontour.de has stuck a sticker with name, email, website, address. – so assuming he stayed here. Maybe I should stick one of the mataozm stickers and go J

Day 67 jun 29 mon
Sanchi – Udaigiri Caves (Vidisha) – Maladevi temple (Gyaspur) - Sagar
156 kms, 7510 kms
SH18, NH86 extn, NH86
Wake up at 9 – sleeping late and waking late these days, have to change.
Jedi tried to fix Saurabh’s helmet – if man at shop said it could be done, then wy couldn’t we. Takes screwdriver and tightens the screws and voila. Helmet fixed.
So much for 2 engineers! Its taken 2 years to fix this helmet. Sorry ananya.

Leave for Vidisha to see Udaigiri Caves. Almost bereft of people – no guide; walk around; kickass Vishnu Boar avatar sculpture/rock carving. Most have their faces chopped off. Mughal handiwork again. See a cow and buffalo mela on the way back to Vidisha. Then also see a ritual which acc. To Saurabh is done when a girl is born in the house – 2 women carrying water pots on their head connected by a covering cloth surrounded by people and some youth wielding swords!; led by band baaja.
Ask for directions and then cross two rivers, the Betwa and the Bes, to reach Heliodorus Pillar, a 3AD pillar made by a Greek from Taxila (Pakistan – Earliest universities in the world?) who came to India and eventually became a Hindu. Its called Aam Baba or Khamba Baba now, worshipped by fisherman and locals.

Head for Gyaspur where something is supposed to be there acc. To saurabh’s friend. Reach but see only a hindola toran from the road, go left and see a semi tiny fortish used as a house by people. Take the left and see the sign for a temple – not in the mood for temples but almost there so go ahead. Park and walk down the path and lo behold mother of god – brilliant temple – partly in ruins at the edge of the hill. 10^th cent Jain temple for Maladevi but over the years Hindu stuff added. Ganga, Yamuna, Chakreshwari on an eagle etc. Again almost all idols have faces scraped off – Aurangzeb. Jedi gets emotional and angry – Begins to understand the rage of the Hindus, even vis-à-vis babri masjid – tit for tat it seems. If they can come and break off the faces of all idols coz their religion forbids it, why can’t we? Anger subsides to sadness. Tragic all this damage – what 1000 years of sun, wind, and rain couldn’t break, one man of power of a different religion. Fundamentalism can kiss my ass.

Jedi turns anger towards assholes, who probably scratched their names on their mother’s womb, who now write their names over such places. Cools down and thinks of compromise – Maybe the ASI should just make a wall for such assholes to write their names and go off- but then again, some one will want to be different, daring, and cooler and write on the actual structures.

Go to the Hindola Toran and actually enter it – to see another what would have been a magnificient temple now rubble except 4 pillars and a gate. Again Vishnu boar avatar connection. More head damage for the idols and Jedi.

Head for Sagar over broken road. Stop at a junction for chai when a drunk man approaches and says Saab bula rahe hain and points to man across road. Jedi asks kyon. Bula rahein hain. Kyon. Chori ho yagi hain yahan. Aap kahaan se aaye ho. Bambai se and aage ja rahein. Unko yahaan bulao. Aur aap daaru pike humse baat mat karo. Hum daaru piye hain, par woh nahin. Aap jao and Jedi walks away to shop. Man walks away.

Some tea later – another younger man just high, not stinking comes and wants to ride the bike. Jedi says no. Asks name. then surname. Also Saurabh. Says baniya. Oh Jain. Saga says Jain nahin. He says baniya jain sab ek hi. Chalo sath mein chalthe hain. Points to bus. Jedi gets up to leave. He puts hand of Jedi shoulder and asks sharaab pite ho. Jedi says mein woh sab nahin karta and walks away. Drunk man friend also says jaane do. Jedi plans to move Buck knife to trousers. Bihar route working on his mind!

Reach Sagar and try to find hotel. See Vodafone store and stop to get Saga’s phone fixed. Seems battery is problem, but without warranty card, no fixing. But you can get a Mini Store down the road. So we go asking and after 3 shops selling duplicate battery, finally buy duplicate battery from original Ministore! Find a cheaper hotel after first try by asking around and settle in. Jedi sees bag shop and asks if they will fix broken bag zips. No but B.K. Repair will fix. Jedi empties bag and goes.

After wait and walking around market while B.K. has lunch? Dinner? At 7.20 p.m., BK fixes bag and asks bag dothe nahin ho kya. Jedi says 2 mahine ka trip etc. Then man starts on what about Sagar. Seems local, Dr. harish Gaur, who went to London and did barristery single handedly built the Sagar University with his earnings, and gave everything to it after death also. Talks about how he in his youth cycled from here to Delhi, though plan was till Kashmir- how team members backed out etc. Also seems if you get letter from Minister or someone, u can stay at all circuit houses for dirt cheap. Now which minister do we know!

Jedi heads back with repaired bag and sees Bhang shop. Has bhang, despite Indore disappointment. Comes back to hotel and soon is in nice mood. Good shit. Go out and eat dinner. Wedding happening and full dance baraati going on. Sequence of procession = generator van, van with equipment and speakers blaring dance music (Alankar DJ), group of people, mostly kids and youth dancing, some elderly ppl walking, then horse carriage with done up groom sitting with a kid on either side, more people following. Eat dinner and return to see two baraatis going in opp. Directions. Traffic jam on other sides of road, as baraati road is totally blocked. What happens when the baraatis cross? Is good though – like saying its my day and u chill and join the baraati. The rest of the world be damned.

Day 68 jun 30 tue
Sagar – Chatarrpur – Kajuraho
215 kms, 7725 kms
NH86
Wake up and go to the main road to have tea – Yesterday we had heard a jeep go by saying shut shops tomorrow. Today as we had tea, most shops were shut; a group of 6-7 bikes with young men on them went along the road, telling the still open shops to shutter down. We head back to the hotel and asked – seems there is a rally in town.

We pack and head out to kajuraho. See the Sagar lake on the way.

Have brunch at Shah. This is cattle country – cows and buffaloes everywhere. Almost like dogs elsewhere in the country – have to keep swerving and avoiding – cows are quite deceptive in length and movement.
Ride across scrub? Forests and dry dusty towns, everyone eyeing the bike and then us.
Gotten used to it but somehow still makes you notice how we stand out. Yesterday, at the bag repair shop, the image of how he crossed his arms and slowly shook his head as soon as he heard how much had been spent on this trip so far – he asked the question!

See a fort on a hill and decide to check it out. Through the village and to the base. A bunch of youth loitering around. Man asks if we are generally traveling or come to do a survey. Youth including a teacher accompany us up to the fort and chitchat. First brick fort we have seen – Govind Singh’s fort, though looks mozzy. Not much idea about it. Another man (another teacher) comes up and introduces himself to Saurabh in English – is shocked when he hears his name and then explains that villagers told that negro have come. Jedi introduces himself as the negro J Seems 65 lacs have been sanctioned and ‘spent’ on restoration of the fort – hard to see where it went.

Head off towards kajuraho and stopover for tea at Chattarpur. Meet another education department man at tea shop. Seems like all education dept. people are loitering around here! Little chitchat and head off.

Enter Kajuraho when man accosts us and promotes Hotel Gautama. We listen and then push off for our usual pre-stop recce of the place. 20 ft later another man on a bike talks to us and we decide against brushing him off and stop to listen. Seems he is the owner of Gautama and also senior guide. We listen to his proposition and then say fine, we’ll come back in a while. He looks disgruntled and says Aapka quality nahin hain and looks at the number plate to see where we are from. We head off and do a round. Go and stay at Lakeview as was original plan acc. Lonely planet. Bargain and get rate down. Constantly joking about which one of us has low quality.

We clean up and head off for the light and sound show. Too early, so walk around the market and stop to have nimbu pani. Jedi’s stomach still spasms from time to time. 3 days now – getting better but still there. Jedi go has a dose of bhang in expectation of light and sound show. The temples from outside look spectacular.

Sit there drinking NP when thousands (not exaggerating) of birds birdsound and fly over settling on the trees. Identify them as mostly parrots. Tremendrous scenes with the half moon right above. Sounds like one of those suspense thriller sounds of birds screeching on and on. For the second time on this trip, Jedi spends a better part of 15 mins looking up with his mouth open – last time was at hameediya golden beach and the hundreds of kites/hawks and eagles.

Go for the LnS show and settle down in the lawn amidst the trees and the temples. After a long soundcheck it starts sharp at 730 p.m. As expected it was AB’s voice. Informative show – nicely sets the platform for tomorrow when we actually see the temples. The Chandelas and their Kajuraho. Saurabh records the audio on his Dictaphone and takes pictures. Jedi’s first LnS show and he likes it. Saurabh doesn’t.

Head to Swiss Raja Café to have a different dinner. Jedi eats European Thali and Saurabh Vegetable au gratin.
Back to hotel and Marilyn Monroe films. The Misfits is quite nice.

Day 69 jul 1 Wed
Kajuraho
0 kms, 7725 kms
Wake up and do nothing. Jedi calls his mom to wish her on her birthday. Calls Smriti and gets Allahabad contacts. Stomach still spasms, though less, and feels weak. Jedi decides to skip day tour and rest. Saurabh goes ahead and visits the western group of temples.
Jedi sleeps and watches films. Washes his clothes.
Evening go to a place that serves Japanese food, only to find out that Japanese cook isn’t there. Leave and go to bhojanalay to eat local food. Korean people everywhere. Feel like we are sitting in a Korean film. Learn that its Korean season – 2 months Korean summer.

Day 70 jul 2 Thurs
Kajuraho
12 kms, 7737 kms
Wake up and laze around. Finish watching the fellasleep parts of last night’s films. Jedi feels fine and ready. Shaves. Around noon, head out to have lunch and call the guide we met day before. He says too hot now, lets meet at 3. We check out the museum. Jedi is moved. Head back to hotel and do photo sorting/photostory (jedi) and ebook reading (saurabh).

Leave at 3 to see the southern and eastern group of temples. Impressive and exciting, esp. the mithuns (erotic) sculptures. See the Vamana, Javari, DulaDeo, Jain temples, and a newly discovered/being excavated temple. See photos for imagery – can’t/don’t want to detail. The govt. has taken over the local land (90 crore ka teka – villagers given other land and money) to do proper excavations and parks.

Head back and have 3 glasses of pudina nimbu pani. Then go to the terrace of the hotel and watch the sunset. Soon the parrots and other birds, parrots in the thousands, sqwaking above and onward to the trees. 20 minutes and still they keep coming from the south. On the east, lightning and dark clouds gather. Surreal.

week 9 logs

2009-06-26T20:15:00.019+05:30

World's largest Shiv Ling - at Bhojpur - 11th century!

Saurabh at Omkareshwar

Omkareshwar

Saurabh tickling Narmada's navel

Nabi kund - narmada's navel - middle point from Amarkund to Arabian Sea

Party - drums, group and couple dance. 8000 yrs old

Gallery cave - 3 overlays across centuries

500 yrs ago and now. same manual labor

Disgruntled vandal foreigner - cant do the conversion! see note below

well where ppl would jump to escape invaders - who think they commit suicide. but they come out via this route :)

India's first Arabic university-later Asharafi mahal - fat women from the 15000 strong harem would be made to climb up and down 7 floors.

Roopmati's pavilion-erected in 48 hrs for her to see the Narmada.

Jedi asking - for trouble?

rest of the photos as usual on Flickr

Day 57 jun 19 fri
Sendhua – Mhow - Indore
NH3
168 kms
Decision to skip Mandu and head to Indore where we can get cyber café access and ICICI bank. More of crap highway and heat and winds. Stop at bhang shop and gingerly try one glass between us.
Cool stop at mhow and cybercafeing. More cocky boys. Lots of boy/teens loitering around in MP. Electricity cut so travel plans cant be solidified in Mhow. Head to Indore.
Reach Indore and find cyber café. Finalize ananya travel plan to Calcutta and book tickets. Have to repack and reach airport. Find the airport – actually miss the entrance and have to circle back. Only 2 hotels so far in this stretch. Head back and find place near gangwal bus stand. Jedi gives up the books and extra clothes – hopefully should be lighter load. Jedi and ananya both emotional. Leave ananya at airport and return to hotel. Feeling disoriented and unsettled.
Jedi skips Friday moun vrat. Crash early.
Day 58 jun 20 sat
Saurabh will join trip tomorrow morning. Jedi to stay put in Indore. Trip should last another 10-15 days before money runs out. Jedi starts to think about job options; debts have to be repaid and food needs to be eaten. Spends day in hotel, watching films and generally repairing mind and body. Amanya has reached Calcutta/Kolkata. Maoists – police battle on on place which would have been on original Calcutta bound route!
Jedi does photo sorting and log updates.

Day 59 jun 21 sun
20 kms
Jedi waits for Saurabh to come from pune. More photo sorting. Saurabh reaches at 12.30. Finish sorting photos and then go out and eat lunch at Jain Bhojanalaya at Gangwal bus stand. Search for cyber café but most shut as electricity cuts. Go to other side of town and find one. Upload photos and logs. Update titles for photos when comp. crashes. Do it all over again partially when electricity goes off again. Hang around and go eat samosa and sikhanji which here is ras malai ka paste. Go to Indian coffee house! And have coffee. Electricity comes back but cybercafe shut. Gone to watch T20 final. So we return to hotel and jedi starts watching and slowly passes out by 8! Wakes up 12 hours later!
Day 60 jun 22 mon
Indore – Ghat Bilod – Bagdi – Mandu/Mandav
NH59, SH31,
104 kms
Wake up and pack stuff. Bags much lighter. Jedi and saurabh exchange emergenc in case we die contact numbers. Head out on Dhar road and encounter aswewish traffic. Do the mistake of asking for a place instead of a place closerby and get routed to better road at Ghat Bilod. Do the white bumpy roads and jedi does the usual something in the bag is poking me and pushing me bits. Saurabh also finding helmet unwieldy etc. Jedi says be patient. Jedi sees more birds that he doesn’t know. Much excited about the baobab trees.
Reach Mandav and do recce around town. Huge fort with lotsa monuments. Decide that we need to stay here today to see all. Have brunch – aloo paratha. Discuss whether guide or guidebook. Guides who approached said 300 bucks for 22 points. Guide book is 25 bucks. We buy the book.
Find a place and rest for a while. Mandu or Mandav as locally known, gets about 4 hrs of electricity in the day despite being major tourist spot. Hotel owner talks to us and is quite forthcoming with area details. Seems he was senior guide and guide for big ppl like Nehru etc. Shows us a magazine with his name in it. Saurabh takes out his voice recorder and records the stuff the owner says. Good stuff. Also tells how to identify the baobab tree and its history. Read the lonely planet and the guidebook. Fairly confident on what we want to see. Jedi feels sad that ananya is not here.
Somehow electricity comes on and the owner says oh maybe some VIP has come and then runs off. We go to rest and promptly fall asleep and wake up around 4. Go the closeby Jahaz Mahal and buy tickets where a guide approaches. Jedi sees size and scale of place and decides yes guide needed.
Guide shows us around – so much history – from 11th century – Raja Bhoj! To Akbar, across 4 dynasties. Friendly good guide – shows us extra stuff. See Mandu post for details – first attempt at guide-to-place. Golkonda still kicks ass when compared to this, but this has a better love story. As has been the case so far, wherever we go, the rains follow shortly. Andhi type winds start and skies darken. We rush off triples to Roopmati Mahal zone. See Baz Bahadur palace and then to Roopmati Pavilion. See the Narmada amidst body pushing winds. We then fix up with the caretaker via guide to come back at night to photograph the Mewar plateau on this Poornima day – if the skies normalize and we can see the moon. Come back to bike to see left side carrier broken at the joint. Have to find welder.
Go to Rewa Khund and watch the guide – Lalsingh Keer – do his poornima diya across the pond. Go at Sawariya Dhaba – kickass thali.
Head back and wait for electricity due to come one at 9 p.m. Its 9.28 now and still no electricity.

Movie – kinara was shot at roopmati’s pavilion (song – aa laut ke aaja mere meet)

Day 61 jun 23 tues
Mandu/Mandav
6 kms
No electricity whole of last night. Woke up at 9.30, rather woken up by hotel owner. Lots of robins around. Have poha at Sawariya. Found welder right beside but no electricity. Seems something has fallen due to wind. Went to Echo point near Dai tomb and did echo stuff. Walked around Dai maqbara – had kickass reverb? Sound under the dome – almost 8 seconds long. Walked around dai ki choti behen ka maqbara, caravan sarai, lal bagh (non-existent, but being worked on by ASI) – work going on all over – banake ticket katwayenge. Another mosque made from old temple parts. Then went to Jami Masjid, one of India’s biggest mosque and also Hostang Shah’s tomb. Walked inside and around. Lots of photos. Saw lots of baobab trees and bought fruit for amanya.
Still no electricity. Went to Ashrafi Mahal or Madrassa – once upon a time, one of India’s biggest Arabi universities. Met the guard who was very friendly and talkative – turned out he was ex-baba now here because of Mohammedan girl, is also Betul ka Raja, comes from rich family but can’t go with mozzy girl etc. didn’t scam or ask for money. Told us why maqbaras are made etc.
Went to Sawariya and had lunch and came back to hotel to wait for electricity. Had timepass intellectual discussions. Hotel boy came and rambled in his tottla local dialect. Watched the skies turn stormy again. Walked to have tea and saw someone else’s tomb. Almost dusk and light flickered. Sped back to hotel to get bike, only to see light go off. While nearing see official cars speed by – locals say - ab toh batti aa jayegi. People keep calling us Angrez.
Took the bike anyway and went to welder who says come tomorrow at 7. Go up to the resort which has full power. Go back and vent on why if they can lay fiber optic cables, why not also electric cables. Electricity comes at 9 and we charge everything. Work on dumping photos – some 500 odd in 2 days . Work on amanya when power goes off again to come back in 15 mins. Watch the rest of aloo chat before sleeping late. Keep alarm for 7 a.m. Have to tons of panaromas. Today only some 15! Jedi plays civilization till 4 a.m.

Day 62 jun 24 wed
Mandu/Mandav – Dharmampuri – Maheshwar – Omkareshwar – Punasa – Satwas – Khategoan
NH3, white roads, dirt tracks
276 kms
Wake up at 7, then 7.30 and rush to welder who hasn’t come. Ask and find another one who does the work. Also get bottle holder and jutting pieces of carrier fixed. Come back and get saurabh for tea. Met Betul ka raja who treats us to tea and also plays harmonica and sings Purani jeans and another orig comp. Also he explained the importance of gular tree we were sitting under – root is mixed with water to form opaque semisolid liquid which is drunk to negate ‘hormone’ loss. Pipal and Bargad ka trees were also around.

Leave for Dharampuri to see Roopmati’s narmada. Reach and take panorama –what else! When she went to Mandav, she used to see the diya at the Nageshwar temple. We try to see the temple but miss the turn and then say fuck it.
Head across to Omkareshwar in searing heat and bumpy roads. Reach the place and walk to the bridge – see the temple in the distance, stop, buzz off temple darshan touts, and take photos and then leave.
Take money from an ATM in Badwah(in Hindi) and Barwah in English. Take photo just to capture the town name. Make jokes about it.
Target is to reach Karda which is the closest city? To bhim betika caves, but get directed to Satwas which is in the opposite direction. Dusty villages with villagers who warn us to head quickly coz of forest area, and you know what forest area at dark means in MP – dacoity adivasis. Reach a new dam called Indira Sagar – kickass and then ask at the Narmada Nagar whether we can stay. Again yes but sun is still up, so head to Satwas beyond the dam. First ‘track’ in the Eicher Map book taken in 62 days! Road was kickass – newly laid amidst hilly road beset with trees laid by govt. to forest the damned land. But surreal ride, speeding across the curvy road, with the sun setting with almost dry trees in red soil. Also the scare of getting stuck. At an ass rest stop – Saurabh getting introduced to the dark side of roadtripping, Jedi finally takes out the Buck knife and tries throwing it a tree. Knife falls down – hard tree!
We reach Satwas, but Jedi wants to get to Khategoan to see Khate pithe log. Night riding across thin road with tractors – note – when u see two lights in tractor land, steer wider than the lights, coz behind the lights, many tractors have trailors which are wider than the lights.
Reach Khategoan and find lodge – Saurabh lodge! – rate 175! Only with air cooler and TV! Has inverter but only for fan.
Go to have dinner at tava ki roti (ppl ask whether tandoor ki ya tava ki – tava ki is apparently better. Kickass thali for 20 bucks. MP has good food. Hotel man talks and tells us to check out Navi Khund nearby.
Electricity goes off shortly and Jedi passes out under fan.

Day 63 jun 25 thurs
Khategoan – Nabi Khund (Newawar) – Nasarullahganj - Bhim Betika – Bhojpur - Bhopal
NH59A, NH69, NH12, white roads, track
200? kms
Get up, have tea, and head for Nabi Khund, 14 kms away from Khategaon. Reach and talk to someone for directions, who then shows us the spot. It’s in middle of the river and needs to be reached by boat. Take his friend’s boat and go to the navel of the Narmada river (if she were a woman, this would be her navel – basically middle point from Amarkhand to the Arabian sea at Gujarat. Very peaceful – sounds in the distance, people at the temples doing what they do at temples. Bathed in the water – sweetest water Jedi has tasted. Even the ‘health plus’ packaged water (narmada water) has a coconut water after taste. Come back to shore and head back to Khategaon for lunch. Pack and leave for Bhimbetika.

Take track – first kacha rasta so far. Foretaste of baralach la? Again hot hot. Pour water in helmets to have A/C effect. See for the first time, automated iron stamping? Machine which bangs red hot iron rods into sharp edges.

Reach Bhim betika and walk around a bit before asking for guide. 200 bucks. No no. walk around seeing paintings without feeling anything. Old man sitting asks usual kidhar se etc. and then says guide lelo, and we say ya ya – but guide has gone balti leke – he thinks party leke and says 200 is normal rate. He goes on - how he is senior guide and shows photos and then gets up and shows us a few things – 100000 (1 lac) year old man-made holes in the rock. 1 lac! The signs all over say 6 BP, not B.C., or A.D. Guide comes and we head off – 200 bucks. Saurabh gives his Dictaphone to keep in pocket.

Kickass tour – must do place for everyone. White, red, green, and yellow rock paintings, from Mesolithic (10000-5000 BC) and Paleolithic (last ice age – before 10000 B.C – somewhere in the middle is the stone age!). BP meaning Before Paleolithic? need to confirm. Paintings are from different eras – I just used eras in a sentence literally and not figuratively! Also shows how man learnt to paint, draw, use colors, new animals – hunting, dancing, horses, bison, elephants, drums. Evolution. Still get goosebumps as I write this. A 8000 year old man’s skeleton was excavated here. This place is from Pangea times. All this has been carbon dated etc. Vindhyas after all are India’s oldest mountain range and probably the world’s.

Guide ends with headsup to world’s biggest shiv linga at Bhojpur closeby. So we head there. Raja Bhoj had rocked his times. 11th century stuff still around. From Mewar to Malwa (mandav is the border – still defined by the wall erected by Raja Bhoj 10 centuries ago). Raja Bhoj Raja Bhoj aur hum sab Gangu Taili!
Reach the temple and bigass shiv ling. Jedi unsure if Dhyanalingum at Isha Ashram is bigger or smaller. But still – this is 10 centuries old! That’s 1000 years.
All too much to take in one day and we head to Bhopal, and see signs of the 21st century. Though on retrospect the refrigeration for all the thanda pani was very much 20th century!
As we enter Bhopal, spot a storm brewing and speed up but as we hit the outskirts, the heavens open and like how. Buckets, tanks, khunds – a literal vertical river – but we still persist and ask whoever is still on the road for Hamidia road (LP recco for budget places near bustand-railway station), until it starts hailstoneing. Park the bike which is doing willgiveupsoon sounds and wait till hailstones stop. Reach hamidia road and find a hotel and drip into the room. Dinner and Doordarshan follows.

Note: ABout the Shame on India for charging different rates for Indians and foreigners.
Have wondered about it for a long time, right from childhood when I had to take some guests to the Prince of Wales museum. Even as a kid, it felt wrong. But now I think its kind of ok. Imagine asking a western to pay 5 rupees (indian rate) as compared to 100 rupees - its like 10 cents for them. Mentally i had to to pay 10 paise to enter and see a place - what value would i associate with it. and having travelled quite a bit and seeing how some foreigners treat the place, esp. israelis and russians, sorry, but thats how it is. am sure u have ur own gripes abt Indians, I feel the different rates is ok,not right but ok.

week 8 logs

2009-06-21T16:37:00.015+05:30

panoramas coming shortly. enjoy.

diya stand walls. imagine how it would look when fully lit.

ramdas jail and the shaft of divine light

ananya goes to golkonda

india's once biggest university front view.

Day 50 jun 12 fri
Hyderabad
12 kms
At some point last night, ananya wakes up to see a fire in the room. Jedi had fallen asleep while the water to soak his hands was being heated. His tongue cleaner was only metal, the mug melted and burning, and the tumbler heater on the floor. Ananya raises alarm and jedi wakes up, sees the fire and puts it out. And shortly both go off to sleep. Jedi needs a new tumbler heater.

jedi’s maun vrat day so ananya has to do all the communicating for him till 6 pm – Hyderabad traffic sucks, everyone drives like they have poor eyesight and keep bumping into each other, also in any direction and irrespective of traffic signals –Hyderabad traffic hasn’t changed in 10 years – has gotten worse – while Bombay has snarling traffic, it has a sense of order – Hyderabad is terrible – from auto drivers to bikers who swerve from right most lane to leftmost lane – jedi doesn’t like the place. find servicing place and give bike – go to multiplex to watch Angels & Demons – ananya and Jedi kill 2 hours by doing ‘city’ stuff like eating at MacD’s, book shopping, blood sugar check, BMI check, looking at shops and people, drinking hot chocolate and reading our new books on the stairs – jedi gets call from hsbc advocate saying case or settlement –
after the film return to hotel then leave for Roshan’s place in Hi-Tech City – MRT/MNNS? tickets are dirt cheap – an old man opposes the existence of a lady’s line and shouts at the women standing in it - ananya is felt up several times in the dirty crowd and doesn’t want to take the train so we take the auto that asks for the least money (meter allergy runs rampant here as well) –
traffic and rain make it a long ride – Roshan’s mom and dad are over – everyone talks about yoga and health – it’s great to have home made food after weeks on the road.
Hyderabad drops to bottom of cities jedi would want to live in – overall bad energy
his hands are changing shape! - Jedi wants to rest; 50 days nonstop on the road –probably another 30 left before money runs out – hopes we reach atleast padum. Jedi starts thinking of job prospects!

Day 51 jun 13 sat
Hyderabad, KBR National Park
30 kms
wake up, laze, have brunch, and fall asleep again. Wake up afternoonish and get to get the bike. The bike is still not ready at 3.30 pm – was supposed to get it yesterday at 7 p.m. head to a cybercafe nearby and upload logs and photos. Roshan comes and then take the bike. Skip original Golkonda plan and head to KBR National park. Give gyan on yoga and karma during walk amidst peacocks under a setting sun.
Head back to the hotel and do Lord’s Prayer meditation. Want to eat something other than south Indian, so head to Aromas of China which has 30 min waiting- so head off to Mainland China and have a sumptuous meal courtesy Roshan.

Day 52 jun 14 sun
Hyderabad, Paradise, Big Bazaar
12 kms
Wake up, chill, have room service breakfast – jedi falls asleep again and wakes up in the afternoon. Go to Paradise at Secundarabad to meet Karn K. Enroute we get the bag people at Rastrapati Road to make a new bag for the tent, which has seen no use but massive damage! Also get new tumbler (called baby) heater/immersion coil. Meet Karn and have veg biryani! Not bad- well ya. Talk about each other’s trips.
Go shopping in Big Bazaar for the ‘list’ – plastic bags, zip lock bags, teaspoon,clothes scrubber etc.
Jedi watches India lose, while ananya makes South India consolidated map. Jedi and ananya make plan for amanya photo.

Day 53 jun 15 mon
Hyderabad, Golconda Fort
25 kms
Pack our stuff – fed up of all the extra stuff – must dump in Calcutta. Go to Golkonda fort via gullies. Hire a guide who gives a nice tour of the impressive fort. All the sound, light, water and defense engineering. 900 yr old temple still exists. Quite happy. Have altercation with impatient asshole army watchman.
Return to city and have meals at Tehran hotel before stopping by Big Bazaar again for triphala gritham box. Jedi has badam tea. Go back to room, decide to stay over, and promptly fall asleep.
Wake up in the evening and go get the next set of maps scanned. All the maps on this blog and the official map book for Mataozm is the Either India Road Atlas – the best possible road map for India and select cities. Do Internet surfing while waiting for scans. Eat dinner at Kamats – the best food we have had in AP was at Paradise – everything else has been this spicy hot food which we think is the cause for all the hyper chaos in AP and Hyd in particular.
G Rajasekar calls and gives new route to Lonar. We head into Maharashtra tomorrow.

Day 54 jun 16 tues
Hyderabad – Zaheerabad – Bidar - Gangakher – Parbhani
363 kms
NH9, unlabelled road in Karnataka, SH217
Finally leave Hyderabad - get stopped by cop who asks for papers. jedi gives license. cop asks for PUC and insurance. jedi gives PUC and waits. his insurance expired in May and the Bombay bike guy hasn’t done the insurance work. cop sees PUC, says August and says ok go – ride till sadashivpet where beggar girl in school uniform hassles jedi. Does normal stuff, then spastic sounds, laughs at herself. Jedi says drama ke liye paisa nahin. She starts touching and then touches face when jedi blows up and raises hand. Her eyes expand and she moves on –

After breakfast, head towards Bidar. No one knows about any shortcut from sadashivpet; so have to go through Zahirabad. Reach Bidar and see old structures. Had heard about bidar connection to Golkonda yesterday. Swerve into town and see the clock tower chaubasa – the centerpiece of old bidar town. See the huge mosqueish building, which we later learn was the biggest university in India at its time, where ppl from abroad used to come. Finally we enter the fort, which has the same anti-elephant entrances. Have a cool stop, where the enquiring shopkeepers tell us to go check out with help of guard. We enter and wander about and see all locked gates and doors, when the guard?/guide comes himself and says 150/45 mins. We want to see the rangeen mahal so we say yes and after yesterday’s Golkonda guide experience have kinda decided to use guides. We says 30 mins and 100 inr. He agrees.

He opens and shows us the 16 pillared mosque with its unique acoutics. Then the Turkish queen’s palace. The 1000 roomed 7 seven storey (now only 3.2 are standing) with the unique bidri soil – explains the process. The buggy khana (2 wheels are tanga, 4 wheels are buggy). The bidar festival (3 days-feb) area where sonu nigam, kanada actors, hyderabadi qawaals etc. perform. We then go to see the rangeen mahal and see the families of langurs who scatter. See real bidri work. Also see carvings of a dove and peacock in the walls – out of place in mozzy architecture. 3 moats and lots of other things.

We part ways with guide and then have another cool stop. Again the shopkeeper says not seeing cannon? Go see. 40 ft long – among india’s longest. So we go find and see it. LONGGG. We leave the fort and go to see the Narsingh Zarna – apparently u had to walk across chest deep water to do darshan. We went. Saw a lot of people. Walked to the outside and walked back.
We then target Lonar and hope to atleast reach Parbhani. We are in Karnataka and its quite obvious from the roads. Broken, bumpy, bad. So bad that they haven’t put any markers on the road – atleast construction is going on. At some point in the afternoon, some local on a bike stops abruptly, and jedi brakes, honks and bumps into him. Words are exchanged and then after license kisne diya jedi rides away.
We enter Maharashtra and the road becomes better and now is SH217. The deccan plateau is HOT, brown, red, dry, dusty; dust somehow sticks to the helmet; have to wash it off.
We finally reach Gangakher at 6 and try to find a place to stay. Another shithole of a town; the lodges from afar look like nightmares, and the govt. guesthouse is booked full; some mata has come to town. Caretaker suggests Parbhani – this is taluk, that is zilla. We fill petrol at BP (second petrol pump deviation of trip) and gun towards Parbhani, which we reach at 7.10 with the sun just going out. Jedi was shocked to see egret type birds in the dustbowl beside some buffaloes!
We circle the bus stand looking for a good place to stay and finally see one and turn, when jedi bumps into another bike. Says sorry and the other bike goes away pacified. Bike topples and front mudguard is scraping the tyre. Check in. 300 rs place with clean but ‘uncared for‘ toilets.
Jedi feels extremely body rattled and sleeps while ananya goes on tea hunt and brings lassi. Have early/late dinner and pass out. Electricity goes off often.

Day 55 jun 17 wed
Parbhani – Jintur – Mantha – Lonar
140 kms
SH217, SH220, SH171
Wake up and leave around 10. When leaving, old man comes outside hotel and asks for chai pani – jedi says kyon? Man says ‘yeh arrangement kyon? And walks away. He wasn’t beggar type. Jedi replays throughout day thinking was it philosophical statement? Ananya kicks the mudguard into place.
Have powa and missal breakfast at Jintur. Jedi still can’t figure out what thank you in marathi is. So calls chotu and finds out. Take the Bamni road, which 3 ppl have said bad road, but after asking again and again, they say ya ok. 7 kms into the road, we ask a person who says no chance, u have to ride through chest high water at purna. So we decide against and head the mantha way.
Bike is leaking oil, so we try to get 20w50. None at jintur, wont get also, says shopkeeper, try at mantha. So we stop at mantha and ask 3-4 shops for 20w50, no luck. We buy more water. Finishing 1 ltr every 30 kms! One guy stops and asks ‘bag mein kya hain? Jedi gets pissed and says aapka bag mein kya hain? Apna kaam dekho. Man’s face falls and starts bike and heads. Hint – don’t ask travelers whats in their bag!
Head towards lonar drinking water by the liter. Reach lonar and take side road and have first glimpse of 50000 year old hypervelocity impact crater in basalt rock – second largest in world and only in India. Kickass – green color water with trees u wouldn’t expect to find here and hundreds of birds – small, tiny, big.
Head into town and go to bottom of crater and end up in some other temple which has spring gomukh. Go back to Govt. rest house, which has path down but no rooms. So go to MTDC and get a room. Refresh, drink icewater which has icebergs in bottle.
We pack the stuff for the ammanya photo and go in the evening to the crater, walking down the stone steps, ananya doing the same gingerly. We pass a family of peacocks, second in a week, and see another peacock fly across plants. Photograph more birds and then do the ammanya photoshoot. Second use of tripod in whole 54 day trip. Walk along the shore shooting more birds, while thunder and wind kick up a storm around us. Jedi hopes to see peacocks dance, ananya says no chance, need lots of water for that. We start climbing just as the heavens open with level 2 rains. Try yogi technique for climbing easily and find we are back to clavicular breathing! Local boy we had met before is sitting midway and says aap aaye tho bearish aaya. Iske pehle itna thanda nahin tha. Yet another place where the rains follow us. We reach the top and walk to lake view point close to MTDC and wait for sunset. The rains have stopped.
Suddenly we see about 30 youth, male and female, run down a path from top to bottom of crater and beyond. A coach/master type person comes and monitors and goads ppl from the top, and eventually gets on a bike and goes to end point we think.
Sunset happens and we head back to find our room in darkness unlike all other room. Jedi goes to caretaker and talks entire sentences in marathi. Some phase problem.
Have chaha and powa.
Jedi planning to go to nagpur to get bike checked up, while Ananya wonders that we haven’t seen a Stupa. Closest should be Sanchi, and when we check on the map book, it’s a day’s ride away. So plans are made – Nagpur, then Sanchi. Then lonely planet comes out and MP is looked at. 30 mins later, the tentative route is Buldhana, Mandu, Bhimbetka, Sanchi, Khajuraho. Decision to be taken at Kraho whether Benaras or straight down to chilka. Vizag and Borra caves are collateral damage.
Thought for the day has been how this trip has been a demystifying trip. After 3 years of wanting and waiting, lonar is now BTSTWN.

Day 56 jun 18 thu
Lonar – Buldhana –Ajinta - Jalgaon - Sendhua
SH171, SH206, SH176, SH24, SH8, NH6, SH6, SH4, NH3
366 kms
leave lonar northwest heading towards baobab trees in mandu. Take a series of state highways in intense heat – hottest day so far. Dry fields line the highways. All ploughed and ready for the rains. – no 20w50 oil anywhere, buldhana, jalgoan, nowhere. – jedi finally gets noseburn. Skin burning in the heat – see a series of crazy men wandering along highway, one every 50 kms; 6 seen so far.
Bypass ajinta caves, already seen them.
Jedi eats first batata vada. Memories of vada pav lunches
Take the ‘direct’ route till we hit MP, where ghats start and NH3 begins. Trucks, heat, and high velocity winds; almost pushing the bike off, esp. when overtaking trucks. The sudden gust bangs into the bike, strenuous riding. Wrists and shoulders taking a hit.
Scenery changing; similar to tiger territory except flatter and scrub. Losing time. Plan to take white road to bypass 50 km highway, but get warned off by local who says take highway – after persistent why long route, man points at bike and says yeh sab nahin rahega, and then points to tribal standing opp. And aise log milenge. Ananya also supports with frequent robbery area. So take longer highway crap slow route. Just riding in the plateau saps the peace of the ride. Also as we go north, people are changing – more cocky and mocky friendly. No more subtle, whispered convos about us and bike, but audible commentary.
Sendua pink hotel is like godsend and settle into room. Jedi and amanya’s body taken hit.
Jedi sits and watches semi final when ananya sister calls and says her dad has had stroke. Jedi sleeps while ananya does phone call planning and pranic healing.

week 7 logs

2009-06-13T15:51:00.020+05:30

tada to pulicat

pichavarm jetty

joined/mating? bugs at theosophical society chennai

jedi's hands

birds at pulicat lake

hard idol

mines at yerraguntla

belum caves

ananya at the 'banyan tree' at belum caves

sri sailam siva and co

coracle at nagararjuna sagar reservoir just below the dam

one of 1000s of anthill/snake pit at nagararjuna wildlike sanctuary

charminar

pulicat lake from sriharikota side

Day 43 jun 5 Friday
Velankanni – Nagapatinam – Thanjavur – Papanaasam – Kumbakonam – Chidambaram
SH9, NH67, NH45A, SH64
201 kms
Leave velankanni and do long stretch to Thanjavur. Check out the ‘big temple’, Sivan temple, which is terracotta coloured and so a little different from the ones we’ve been seeing, brightly coloured murals inside but not well preserved at all. Outer parikrama? Full of series of lingams and murals. All along the diff temples there is stuff written in ancient tamil – architectural and visual change from the temples of the nellai-ramnad region - this temple was thrown open to ‘harijans’ in the 50’s by the raja and was lauded by Gandhiji, feet burn on the hot paving – post lunch 2.5 hrs long internet updating session –

Thanjavur palace, built by the maratha rulers – the 17th century they ruled maharastra, and bits of Karnataka and thanjavur, before the empire grew to cover the whole of India. Palace is also ill preserved but has surprisingly bright interiors in places, scattered with ‘royal junk’ mainly, has bat pee smelling entrances to underground passage - Serfoji II’s (1798-1832), their best ruler, student of German missionary Swartz, built this very impressive library, now called Saraswati Mahal Library, finely illustrated books on anatomy, botany, Chinese punishment, elephant breeding, etc., palm leaf and paper manuscripts of ancient texts, early printed docs, illustrated Ramayana and Mahabharata, Tanjore paintings. Also has the original Agastya and Sivan nadi volais. he had first printing press in South India - Joins jedi’s list of kickass places list. Climb up precarious narrow and dark bell tower stairs, ananya is scared to but finally does with terse reassurance from Jedi.–

back on the road, witness accident at Papanasam cool stop, 2 bikes collide and go flying, older rider comes to fight with younger one, both hurt on legs – Pass through Kumbakonam – the place of 1000 temples – supposedly a super holy place – southern equivalent of Kasi/Benaras. Don’t stop – kinda tired of seeing temples, except for little mental prayer stop. little adventure of dirt road detour around the Cauvery as highway to Chidambaram is being fixed. Close to mouth of Cauvery – Jedi’s yoga mat falls off on the way, we only discover when we check in. Signs of weather changing – the rains should be here soon. Jedi unsure whether to be happy or sad. Jedi manages a decent moun vrath. Still needs absolute shutupness.

Day 44 jun 6 Sat
Chidambaram – Vaitheeswaran Koil - Chidambaram
NH45A, SH64
53 kms
Visit the Nataraja temple – no photography allowed, though sneak a few. Impressive huge temple – though most temples we have seen so far have been huge – again that subtle change in architecture and idols on the gopurams – glad to see the energy generator patterns here too on the ceilings – lots of priests in the temple, they look different from the ones we’ve seen so far, with wide shaved foreheads and hair tied on one side – eat brunch at secret hotel – lots of Brahmin boys roaming around, probably bunking shastra class.

Go back and jedi goes into his now usual morning nap – wake up and head to Vaitheeswaran koil after finding out that there is no nadi in Chidambaram – ananya wonders why jedi wants to do again – but jedi feels the need – does the Siva nadi – better match this time, also gets history checked before he selects the leaf and pays – heady stuff written – head back to Chidambaram and find hall to watch film – 40 min early so head back to hotel and then don’t go. Jedi settles to watch cricket while ananya goes to cybercafe – for dinner, look around and luckily find meals place.
Jedi again passes out before India Bangladesh match.

Day 45 jun 7 sun
Chidambaram – Pichavaram - Puducherry (Pondicherry) – Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram)
NH45A, ECR
170 kms
Leave after breakfast and visit Pichavaram; climb the tower and see but don’t go on the boats – jedi learns what mangroves are – reach pondy and do dvd shopping – skin is burning from the heat. Have a big meal at surguru and then hide in a cybercafe to wait till the sleep haze and sun fade – finally leave at 4! And then reach mahabs and ride past the sights – check in to Rs.700 place very easily haggled down to Rs.500 – for dinner go to sea side place and eat veg korma rice in a place reeking of seafood.

45 days on the road – feels surreal. Also the heat is getting to us – possible signs of travel/road/heat weariness. Also tired of seeing temples. Andhra Pradesh seems to be bleak in terms of spots (non temple i.e.) even lonely planet discards it after a few pages. But still decide on a cross AP route – Chennai to hyd to vizag. Post msg on FB asking for locals to pitch in aka wheninrome!

Day 46 jun 8 mon
Mamallapuram – Kovalam – Chennai - Tada
ECR, Mount Road, SH1, NH5
170 kms
Do calculation of kms done so far to know whether service is due – the speedometer cable had broken again some 1000 kms ago – find out that from cochin (prev service) we have done some 2600 kms! And in total 4700ish kms. Jedi decides to service in Hyd only.
Skip the sights of Mahabs – been there seen those done that – head to Kovalam (Cove Long) – see the cove! Now seen Kovalam beaches on both coasts – West coast is party place and east coast is hmm buttermilk drinking place –

look for the snake park despite getting notice that its closed on Mondays, but LPlanet says Wed-Mon. find it closed – well, some other time or some other park – defn. not real time (sic) snakes – head to Chennai to do 3 things – a. fix bike speedometer cable b. eat at Adyar Anand Bhavan in Adyar c. visit big banyan tree at theosophical society.
Reach elliots beach for Cool Stop and call RE to find that service center is at Tiruviyanmur (which we had already crossed) – so jedi says fuck it- lets do it in one go at hyd. Also remember that we should visit Pranic Healing center – jedi wants to get chi generators if possible. Get address by phone and gprs.
We ask ppl for big banyan tree and no one knows till finally big tree? Oh big alla maram (banyan tree) ya ya there there (tamizh). We reach to find that visiting hours are 8-10 and 2-4. There are visiting hours!

We head to pranic healing center in nungambakam and find place. Check it out and get one more book! And some other material. Ananya says haven’t read the books we have so far and one more book! Jedi is sheep.
We ask directions back to Adyar and gentleman offers to ride ahead and show the way and we accept. 4th person on trip who has done this so far (coimbatore, cochin, Virudhnagar, and Chennai) – reach besant nagar and go to Subway – jedi and ananya need a food change! Eat sub and watch Pakistan get ass kicked by England. Jedi thinks about all the friends he had in Chennai who are no longer in Chennai!

Head to theosophical society and walk around the place and see the different religious structures – parsi temple, synagogue, liberal catholic church, gurudwara etc. – all from the outside. Finally see the world’s largest banyan tree. 250x235 feet. Second big banyan tree of the trip (machinabelle lake side is first - day 3 I think). Ananya says world’s oldest is in Calcutta. Guard asks jedi if he is driver for madam and then whole story about trip and recent marriage and why no signs of marriage etc. again chai pani money!
Unsure about which route to take to Pulicat lake (Pazhaverukadu) as white roads lead to Pulicat where there is no place to stay. As we leave Chennai, it starts darkening and then raining. This time defn acid rain. Speed past marina beach, Chennai university, fort st. george etc. jedi makes mental reminder for the 100th time to call Barry – whenever he remembers its either too early or too late in the day!

At ennore, jedi skips the minjur ponneri white road and hits the NH5 highway – the white roads must have got mothered in the rain with all the trucks – see the refinery spouting flame from those refinery flame burning things. But when he shows it to ananya, there is no flame. Did the rains put it off or did they just turn it off? Can these things be put off by rain?
Anyway again the watching the rain clouds from far only to finally end right in the middle of it happens. Reach Tada while seeing spectacular sunset. Finally out of Tamil Nadu – Kerala circuit and in Andhra Pradesh. And is it hot or what! Check into AP Tourism GH – rotating fans and the room is HOT! Water in the tap is HOT. This is at 6.30 p.m. jedi calls his mom for usual weekly call. eat fiery meals for dinner, watch films and sleep late. Ananya is looking like bronze idol. Tomorrow pulicat, sri kalahasti and then towards hyd. Happy birthday itisha.

Day 47 jun 9 tues
Tada – Navapetu (Pulicat Bird Sanctuary) – Sri Harikota – Pulicat/Sulurupet – Sri Kalahasti - Rajampet
NH5, G.N.T. Road, MDR65, SH61, SH31
206 kms
wake up late. Pack and head out to find the bird sanctuary – don’t expect to see any birds – its blazing, but .. find a board pointing down one dirt track, which we take and are soon riding in a village and then onto walk tracks – ananya gets off and does recce, some turns and twists later around the outer pools of the million year old lake, we reach one watch tower. There we spot a couple of birds and a map of the lake, where we see that there is a road to sri harikota – no such line in the mapbook. So we decide to check it out and head towards sulurupet and then right to sri harikota. Soon we are on a long straight road bisecting the lake – more like pools of water amidst large dry salty lakebeds with the main lake in the distance. We reach sri harikota and circle the front entrance of the space project and head back.

Take another road and ride into the lake. Walk along the edge of the lake and see bird tracks, some small some big. Quiet exciting. A must do during season. Could be a great place to camp if any dry sandy stretches are still available.
We head back starving and try to find a place to eat in sulurupet. Finally find one and have our second spicy Andhra meal. Two meals for 20 rs!
We then head for sri kalahasti – should be our last temple till konark I hope. Another large complex with lots of deities. Ananya gets held back coz of camera and then doesn’t want to go in. jedi goes in and gets trapped in the free darshana line – has to go thru the entire circuit before he can come out.
Jedi runs through 2 bottles of water quickly heading across the dry hot hills around tirupati. Gets into reserve but doesn’t fuel up, wanting to fuel only at HP as he has done all trip/5000 kms – gets to 3 HPs but either diesel or no fuel. Finally with probably 10 kms left, he goes to Indian Oil and puts little. Ananya feels upset stomach so jedi finds her a lovely potty spot under a bridge. Finally stop at rajampet instead of cudapa and check into lodge where they are unsure whether to let us stay and ask a million questions.

Day 48 jun 10 wed
Rajampet – Cudapah – Tadpatri – Belum Caves – Nandyal - Atmakur
SH31, MDRx, NH14, SH27
325 kms
pack and head out – meticulous lodgekeeper erases our names from his room chart - confirm belum with mangal – eat breakfast at cudapa; udipi sambhar tastes the same everywhere – pass 7 cement factories, 1 steel factory, countless limestone and cudapa stone quarries – hills being mined and quarried – refuse/rejects? Being dumped high into artificial hills – surreal. Kilometers of the same.

Reach belum caves and find out its underground – awesome place – esp. the banyan tree and water spigot. Millions of years old and formed by river movement – probably chitravati river?
Lots of cool stops today – jedi feels his head is baking in the hot helmet – wets the helmet – white roads are bumpy in AP, back feels broken, stomach churned, ass mashed – aim for srisailam – end up at atmakur – check out two lodges before settling for second – jedi shoos beautiful blue and red frog from the loo for ananya, she is reptile phobic – jedi rests in shavasan

Day 49 jun 11 thu
Atmakur – Srisailam - Hyderabad
SH5
320 kms
day starts with karmic rain in return for ananya’s complaints about the heat the day before – ride through the forest in the rain, looking for tigers – Andhra food has been disappointing so far – rain stops, the Nagararjuna Srisailam Tiger Sanctuary forest is lovely but no tigers, flying insects try to eat Jedi and die a pathetic death – spot the great Krishna river. – a peahen and wild cocks
Srisailam looks like a typical religious town but Jedi explores on and happens upon ropeway down to Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir – Jedi’s first ropeway ride – boatrides are available from the bottom of the ropeway to million year old caves but we don’t take it as it will take more than a couple of hours - Nagarjuna Sagar is huuuge, the dam is the tallest masonry dam in India/the world (?) – more forest, spot different kinds of birds but aren’t quick enough to shoot them - walk into ant/snake stronghold of forest to see the ‘octopus’ (a part of the Krishna river) - a huge salamander barely saves itself from our front wheel – after 200 kms of dramatic forest and hills, almost forgotten how the plains look –
There are nature walks and treks on the Hyderabad side of the sanctuary but give it a skip – want to reach hyd today.
finally reach outskirts of Hyderabad, takes ages to creep in with the traffic, then it takes ages to find a hotel we like near Nampally station – cities are always so expensive

week 6 logs

2009-06-05T11:37:00.010+05:30

week 6 photos on flickr
includes Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi, Neyyar Dam, etc.

Day 36 may 29 friday
Neyyar Dam, lions safari park, steve Irwin crocodile rehabilitation center
Morning satsang, yoga is there, so we do and then have a hearty brunch – jedi is feeling nauseous from major chest congestion, ananya does some pranic healing – jedi feels better and we head for lions safari park – first we go to the silent walk place and try to see agastya mountain, but as usual just the main bits are covered by clouds – so we go to the pavilion and ananya takes her panoramas – we then go for the lion safari in the boat – see 6 of the 8 lions up close.. as much as one can see through a caged bus – then we see magars (crocs) in the steve Irwin place – some deer also. Thrilling.
Bunk the evening satsang and crash.

Day 37 may 30 saturday
Neyyar Dam
Jedi’s chest has gotten worse – bunks classes and goes to see doctor who gives like 5 meds – some to be taken for 6 months! – ananya goes for the classes – on taking meds, jedi starts melting from inside and sneezes the entire day – jedi plays civilization – ananya starts reading bhagavat gita (Sivananda version), again

Day 38 may 31 sunday
Neyyar Dam
Sposed to leave today- while looking at the map to decide route, jedi coughs hard and pulls a shoulder muscle - same as last time – agony – ananya does some healing, feels better but more is needed. Decide to stay for another day- cant ride with thsi shoulder. Jedi gets a good full body ayurvedic massage and rests the day – nikhila comes over to talk, shortly followed by sasi who goes at it for 2.5 hrs. good to hear stuff.

Day 39 jun 1 monday
Neyyar Dam – Kattakada – Nedumangadu – Kolaithupuzha - Sengkottai – 5 falls/courtalam - Tenkasi – Tirunelveli – Tuticorin
NH208, NH7
A280 kms
no yoga session - pack and go to kattakada and buy meds at kottakal arya vaidya – ananya is addicted to chanting gods’ & gurus’ praises and sings bhajans incessantly, also pops dairy milk éclairs incessantly – jedi tries to remember what non-veg tastes like while we eat iddiyappams and peas curry - bhagaoed from scenic bridge side location in Kolaithupuzha by stupid policemen, jedi calls them idiots –Kolaithupuzha is gorgeous with teak, rubber and other plantations. lush place.
Ride road over saddle dam near Kolatupula Dam – eat mangostines at Courtalam 5 Falls, which turned out to be more of a popular bathing destination than culmination of five waterfalls – jedi remembers what mutton tasted like when eating kuska– the end of hills and chill weather. just heat from now on. had managed to escape the heat, but the rains have given dhaga and have to start heading north.
reach beach by old harbour in Tuticorin, dark blue sea, gulls fly around, cricket match is on, moon is up at 5 pm, man is shitting – check in and have mega large dinner

Day 40 jun 2 tuesday
Tuticorin – Vembar – Kilakarai – Rameshwaram – Danuskodi – Rameshwaram
NH49, white roads
212 Kms
take the white coastal roads – Salt fields and fishy smell all the way – mega wind constantly tries to flatten bike - this is the land of the street hawks/Kites/eagles, they’re everywhere, hunting for fish in the sea, or flying in one place –amazing sights of them flying/hovering 10 feet over our heads - also mid-air fights over caught fish- when dropped, other bird swoops and catches before it falls to ground, then fight continues...videocam battery no charge
heat, heat, heat – more sea panoramas from what ananya thinks is the ‘engineering marvel’ Pambam bridge to Rameshwaram, railway line goes over the sea just a few ft above the water and even opens up to let ships through – go beyond Rameshwaram to Dhanushkodi Indian Navy Post, no vehicles beyond this point, take rear plank ride in dune buggy truck till actual Dhanushkodi point (Abdul Kalam's birthplace), beautiful blue-green waters of Palk Bay on one side and Gulf of Mannar on the other, can’t see Adam’s Bridge – Sri Lanka (Talaimannar) is 18 kms from this point - next stop is abandoned Dhanushkodi railway station – village was destroyed in 1964 cyclone and they never built it again. church by sea where a sadhu refuses to let the villagers use his sweet well water but gave to visitors – locals grumbling in background– marine national park board says there are sea cows, whales, turtles and sea leeches (in tamil, though looks like sea cucumber) – return to Rameshwaram and find food and place to stay near the temple. Tomorrow tanjavur.

Day 41 jun 3 Wednesday
Rameshwaram, Oviyur, Muttupet, Point Calimere, Velankanni
NH49, ECR
320 Kms
Get woken up at dawn by the temple prayers. Being one of the holiest places for Hindus on Earth (4th most for vaishnavites it seems; char-damPuri in the east, Rameshwaram in the south, Dwarka in the west, and Badrinath in the north) - this is where Ram built his bridge across the seas. also where ram prayed to shiva to forgive him for killing Ravana (apparently shiva's greatest devotee and also a brahmin) . have breakfast and visit the Ramanathaswamy temple with its world famous 1200 m long pillared corridor.
then go see Ramar Padam- ram sighted the front of ravana palace from here and the back from another spot (to be visited by chance later in the day! near Point Calimere).
We then head up the coast towards Point Calimere - another tip of eastern India. quiet roads with little to no traffic - we spot a board for the John de Britto shrine church at Oviyur. so we turn left.
its a big church as expected with two parts, one old and one new. also school and other things.
local old man tells story - around 330 yrs ago he came frm portugal or italy and set up shop here. king of place had 3 wives - john tells him boss - have only one - one of the queens gets pissed and gets him hacked to pieces. later on his relatives come and make up shrine etc. less than 50 years second big church was made. has fest in july simultaneously with Velankanni- his relatives are still living somewhere and come visit. local also tells me to get haircut.
velankanni? hmm. close by. maybe should visit.
we head upto muttupet and then to Pandi where we turn right and curve to point calimere. when we reach, it looks like a smuggler's beach - assumption reinforced by black Bolero that whizzed behind us into cargo area. anyway beach was dirty and the water murky - after 40 days of green, and blue green and all other shades in between, this sea was a downer. saw sunset again in the east.
we leave and visit the vedam... bird santuary and climb up the watch tower and spot spotted deer and few birds. off season for them. See the other Ramar Padam - Ram saw the back of Ravan's palace from here - how we don't know but he was the ultimate man and 7th reincarnation and all that, so he probably could. ananya bit off the heads of some rajasic tam brahms who said ur not hindu, u shouldnt be here.
head off towards velankanni and reach after dark. do a recce and get disappointed. 6 church like buildings and systems similar to all the temples we have visited. another commercialization of religion.
check and watch india pakistan. jedi has new ritual of heating water for his medicines. have VCR for dinner at Mallu place.

Day 42 jun 4 thursday
Velankanni
Wake up early and have meds. go visit the Shrine and Basilica etc. Each structure has a different purpose - tonsure, meditation, confession, - services in different languages. its a religious center almost similar to all others in India, except its Christian or rather another Amman/Mary. same head shaving, vibhuti (sorry holy oil), hundi, archana /mass (70 inr), candle offereing (300 inr) and so on. But end of day, its a faith center and thats what matters.

The shrine is called Our Lady of Good Health - and only Mary to wear a sari! is said to have given 3 apparitions over the years to 3 diff groups here. Mary birthday FYI is Sept 8. also sivananda's bday! :)
eat breakfast and go back and fall asleep in room till 12. jedi says lets stay in today and rest. watch films on hbo rest of day and laze around. have discussions on how our yogic practices have taken a hit but still retained the veggie diet and the other smaller ones. eat icecream and chocolate.

week 5 logs

2009-05-29T17:05:00.005+05:30

Day 29 may 22 Friday
Virudanagar, Madurai
NH7, NH49
52 kms
Jedi’s cold is full blown, not an allergy – those 2 days of riding in the cold rain. We pack our stuff – need to buy tarps. Whole plan of bypassing the rain has failed, though glad that we managed to hide in the hills most of the summer. post breakfast, we go to class and learn more on how to heal using prana, for diff ailments.– also learn distance healing, self healing and other stuff. Complete the course – still lots to learn and tons to practice, but is a good feeling.
On receiving our certificates, we pack and head out to Madurai for the 3 day advanced pranic healing and psychotherapy course. Once on the highway, we see clear weather and long open highways – after a month of riding in the hills at 30 kmph, a bit strange and unsatisfying to ride on the plains highways at 60-70 kmph. Near Madurai, we spot a huge rain cloud and its raining someplace – not someplace, but north and we are heading right towards it. Here and there, we pass around the rain, but as we enter madurai, its really close. We reach the place and call our contact who manages to guide us to the Center we are staying (for free again) just moments before the rains starts pouring heavily. Spend the evenng with the center head Mr. S. R. Ramesh Babu who is a karate teacher and also a pranic healer. Quite cool – heals both our auras which are congested. – feel lighter immediately. Have dinner.
Ramesh’s son is staying back and Jedi talks to him and finds a bundle of DVDs which he spends till 2 am watching and copying some stuff to watch later. Both ananya and jedi miss the Silence days this week.

Day 30 may 23 Saturday
Madurai
Wake up and do our kriyas and asanas – from june 1 should start all the practices – finishing a month on the road for mataozm – almost 3 for jedi – pongal for breakfast - 1st day of advanced pranic healing – learn to heal with colours – in the evening go shopping for ‘tumbler heater’ with Ramesh Babu, who picks up gift watch for his 10th boards super scorer daughter – watch shopman is attracted to jedi’s aura and on learning his name predicts that he is meant for great things and should become an advocate to help people with his powers of counseling/convincing and giving right advice though without proofs currently.

Day 31 may 24 Sunday
Madurai
Idiyappam breakfast at Bharma Ediyappa – steal seats from a baby – 2nd day of advanced pranic healing – more healing practice for serious illnesses like heart disease and cancer – our teacher Uddya is a clairvoyant - Chettinad and Karaikari dosas dinner – Krishna temple visit to hear Ramesh Babu accompany his musician friends on the tabla

Day 32 may 25 Monday
Madurai
Pranic psychotherapy class – learn of the psychological aspects of the chakras and how to improve relationships between people and help people quit smoking among other things – jedi and ananya are keen to start using their new learning, starting with family – Ramesh Babu gives Jedi a prosperity generator - evening shopping for tyre tube and rubbing alcohol (dirty energy cleaner for pranic healers) – looks like no one wants to sell alcohol to us (think it’s the way Jedi looks) – finally get it at a veterinary medicine shop and it’s called Surgical Spirit – pack to leave the next morning. Unsure whether to go to rameshwaram or kanyakumari. To decide in the morning.

Day 33 may 26 Tuesday
Madurai – Kanyakumari
238 kms
NH7
Leave the GMCKS Pranic Healing Centre in Myna Tippakulam, our home for the last 3 days – visit the Tirumalai Naick Palace which is being restored – far grander than what we imagined from outside, with the fattest pillars ever! – only 1/6th of the original palace remains and is being repainted in brilliant colours little by little – the court, theatre and the harem -

Tirumalai Naick Palace photos on Flickr

next stop Meenakshi Amman Temple – Madurai traffic sticks bumper to bumper – buy plastic sheets to rain proof our luggage – the shopkeeper is from Jodhpur – Jedi does some expert parking under very trying traffic conditions – the gopurams are gigantic and crazy colourful - the temple security think we are terrorists from Bangalore and examine Ananya’s swiss knife and camera, also forbidden to use phone inside – thousand pillared hall – Jedi taken by lady perched on peacock – the statues have boobs like orbs – poster showing visualization of emotions – the ceilings are covered with energy generators –
we sneak into the Shiva Temple that loudly forbids non-Hindus from entering, it’s the most crowded part and stifling hot - Meenakshi Amman’s hall has martian green pillars and murals of her doing cool stuff like flaying a sword or watching a dance performance – this is around the tank with the golden lotus that Shiva told us stories about - the temple elephant goes for a shit and nods his head once done – Jedi says it will take weeks to check out the entire temple complex -

Meenakshi Temple photos on Flickr

we set out for Kanya Kumari – mostly smooth highway so we keep zipping down – at a cool stop encounter a tiny orange super swift half snake half lizard – smog over a cement factory looks very hazardous for the people who work there - Ananya and Jedi are stung by the same insect while riding – she on her left ankle and he on his left hand – see the southern ends of the Western Ghats with fluffy cloud icing, Jedi says ‘it looks like a painting’, add to that cranes flying overhead - nearing the cape, windmills for as far as the eye can see (asia’s first largest windmill farm- must be 1000s ) – in Kanyakumari the first guy who approaches us promises a room with a sunrise view so we take it and the room is very much worth it with church and sea view and all – shoot some sunset panoramas on the non-sunset side – watch last year’s emotionally charged premier league final thinking it is this years – Ananya practices distance healing on her aunt and brother

Day 34 may 27 Wednesday
Kanyakumari
Wake up just in time to shoot sunrise from hotel balcony – inaugurate our tripod – Jedi has fever and chest congestion – Ananya does healing for him and her aunt – Aunt calls to inform to check if ananya had done healing as she is feeling much better – Jedi feels better too so we have brunch and take the ferry ride to Vivekananda Rock – the tri-sea is choppy – pay the usual visits to all the buildings on the rock – speculate on how and why Vivekananda came here and what it must have been like for him - do Shoonya meditation in the dhyana mandapam on the rock– check out book shop – super windy – take photos –
next, ferry to Thiruvalluvar statue – pose for photos on his feet – Jedi does headstand between his feet under extreme windy conditions – try to take panoramas of all 3 waters – ferry back – futile DVD shop search – nap – Jedi’s fever is back full force – watch TV, have dinner – more healing on Jedi. Jedi plays facebook mini prank saying reached rock bottom. Jedi keenly watching Aila path and aftermath. During meditation gets idea to visit neyyar dam ashram to buy yoga dvd – idea which by night becomes 3 day stay plan.

Kanyakumari photos on flickr

Day 35 may 28 Thursday
Kanyakumari – Neyyatinkara - Neyyar Dam
100ish kms
NH47
Another dazzling sunrise and we leave. Head to neyyar dam – weather is holding out – quite nice weather actually – the weather guys said 26th – today’s 28th! Good for us.
Jedi gets road rage – why do people overtake on curves? What is the basis of their angle and speed? Divine vision or too much EA Sports F1 in indestructible mode? Chants om 108 times to cool down. At one spot, a chicken truck has smashed into another truck of unknown cargo – chicken feathers and squishy stuff all over road. Jedi feels sorry for kerala- the entire state is one big city – just people, and traffic. Total urbanization. Also gold crazy – the biggest and most hoardings are for gold shops – josco, alukkas, and joyallukas.
Plan to have brunch in kerala but give up after marthandam traffic and stop to eat at Friends Hotel to celebrate the imaginary story based one-stop-all-shop near kaniyakumari (friends and co). eat brunch and ride on to see that we had stopped 50 metres before the border! Give trivandrum a skip and take neyyantikara route to neyyar dam –
Reach the ashram and check in – the yoga vacation batch is almost over, but it doesn’t matter – meet shreya’s sister who is doing work-study here – attend last moments of cooking workshop and eat seera. attend 4 pm yoga and get ass kicked – supper and satsang and crash. Tomorrow is holiday at ashram so not sure if yoga classes would be there.

week 4 logs

2009-05-26T08:03:00.013+05:30

All Photos of trip to Laksadweep Islands (Kalpeni) on flickr

Week 4 photos on flickr

Day 22 may 15 Friday
Allepey – changanacheri – kottayam – edapally
Kms
Indian coffee house on beach – shut – Indian coffee house on mulackal street breakfast – found in 1958 at trissur – checkout and head via kottayam – lots of questions and turns – but mostly straight – in lemon soda country – soda in branded soft drink bottles – ride between back waters – duck growing? Land – lots of churches

– ananya says ‘ the people here eat duck eggs.’ – punished by jamming her left foot during a aerial segment of the ride at a sudden yahoo bump and scraping her left foot along the road. – after 9 Ow, owu, Awu.. and zero ‘STOP’s, a confused rider stops and lo behold, blood on the dustfloor. Blood red in color, this blood oozing out of what used to be rightmost space of her left big toe and for added color, the right skin of her longest toe. After this near fatal accident, ananya repackaged her toes, using her trip special first aid kit. Jedi helps by watching and asking all the right questions. Savlon, cotton, guaze, filipino alcohol swab, swiss army penknife scissors, water- roadside repair. – grand houses in kottayam – slow riding – palatial mansions here and there – kerala has the highest number of road accidents in the country – public transport has right of way and road cops also support that – man shook hands during a stop and asked the usual questions ending with congratulations – 3 months is a shocker – feels strange to say from Bangalore – but stick to it. – grey colored sada coffee – mango juice by roadside fruit seller cum generator juice maker. –

entry to cochin via some junction where we stop and wait for reshmy’s father – in a short while, reshmy’s house – tea and carrot cake - medical clinic – friendly doctor with tips and info about kerala and people – recommends rest, bandage, pills, and tetanus.

Dinner at alwaye at bread world.

Day 23 may 16 saturday
Thirkakarra - edapally
8 Kms

elections – all good – appam breakfast – royal enfield bike place closeby – give for service – walk back – drink mango time and bad tea – walk back and have sharja shake (milk banana chocolate?). get bike – go to Indian coffee house and snack tomato sandwich and other savories.
Languages need to be learnt – what are the 10 essential words or phrases that need to be known – 1? Where is 2? How much 3? 1-10 4?thank you 5? No 6? Help 7? What food is there? 8? Road bridge ..? observation – people when giving directions invariably use their hands to give visual cues to their audio and most times u can just watch the visuals and use key words and make up the directions, mostly correctly. Or simply, understand the directions.
Ananya roy says every road leads everywhere.
trip names idea – ananya – photaka devi - jedi = papathi
kerala men on the road don’t acknowledge the being of women. They look at or they look through. People drink boiled pink warm water. North kerala, they drink tea with their food.

Day 24 MAY 17 Sunday
Edapally- Willingdon Island – Arabian Sea!
15km + 154 nautical miles!

Breakfast and head for SPORTS (Society for Promotion of Nature Tourism and Sports)- Laksadweep office in Willingdon Island – park bike at office hoping it will be safe – be gone for 3 days! – get boarding passes and gift bag with laksadweep tshirts and caps. Go to Cutin wharf – M.V. Minicoy. Inside it looked and felt like a very big video coach – yaay- only showing malu films (not good ones at that). – walk around once out at sea – watch cochin go by and then the wide open sea – the further we go, the more the rolling and the spray – soon all around ppl start throwing up – we too feel queasy – drink welcome drink and then dinner – ananya skips –keeps body perpendicular to movement of the ship - jedi queasy but eats both dinners – crash for the night. – tomorrow laksadweep –

Day 25 may 18 Monday
Arabian sea – kalpeni island – thilakam isle -
M.V. Minicoy – get up early and go check out the sunrise – little spectacular with crescent moon (see photo) – good – after yester even’s disappointing nonsunset at sea.
Spot lighthouse and get confused coz map doesn’t show lighthouse on kalpeni – so think we are headed to minicoy – but its actually kalpeni – ship drops anchor – actually some maneuver with a bouy – little boats come from shore – they open the cargo and take out bananas, tyres, boxes etc. we go down the rope ladder onto little boat and head to land – the water is blue, green, clear, fishy.
Get on jeep and get taken to koomel bathing huts and drink our welcome coconut drink – and then breakfast – note on notice board says lots of things planned for day, but jedi gets urge to smoke so we go hunting and walk around the island – finally find shop that sells wills and also a board that says kalpeni lighthouse – so we light up. At the lighthouse, there is only a gardener who says we can but have to wait till some main man comes. So we wander around the beach and take photos and say aah ooh. We head back and convince the main man to let us see it now and not at 4 pm with the group which he says will come. We get a universal cochin lighthouse district pass and walk up the lighthouse – fantasic views – talk to the gardener who is from Andrott – no tsunami here, but some generations ago, one washed away an island. Main export from kalpeni is coconut, and its very obvious (see photo). We head back and everyone else has disappeared. We hang around, take photos, do headstand etc. until the motorboat comes and takes us to thilakam 2 isle where everyone else is. Immediately we are taken snorkeling! And wah. We are hooked I think. We head back after seeing something really new in life.
Ananya’s bandage gets wet. Back at kalpeni island, we find out that we have no more gauze. We have to go to the primary healthcare center and get before it shuts at 1 pm. So we walk again and have the wound bandaged, get gauze and betadine. And its FREE. Was a bit shocking and then we figured its government – now having lived in Bombay and well paying for everything – and never really going the government way – it was a nice feeling. We had watched Sicko recently and we felt a little happy. Back at koomel, we have lunch and then watch some guys do the local dances, which is more like a dancy martial art. We are taken to the local hosiery factory and see how they spin cotton. Then onwards to Tip beach where lots of snails and corals. Ananya sees shells that on seeing her run away. then back to koomel where we have tea. Then off to see corals at sea in the glass boat – midway the motor starter cable comes off, but the man quickly fixes. Coral in a shop and in the sea are so diff. somehow manage to get the lower mouth to meet the upper. See shoals of fish jumping in the water and birds diving into them…
Watch the sunset and then head back to the jetty. Its already dark and M.V. Minicoy is glittering. We do another midsea? Rope ladder climbing from swaying boat to rocking ship, but all goes well. Back on the boat, but this time like seasoned seamen.
See the nurse/doc/? From the primary health clinic on the ship and now understand his see you someplace on mainland India. Overhear lotsa conversations – esp. the one with the teacher from Andrott going for interview at Pondicherry. Have dinner and crash.

Day 26 may 19 tuesday
Arabian sea – willingdon island – edapally – devikulam
154 nautical miles, 137 kms
NH47, NH49

Get up at dawn and watch the sea. Soon a few birds fly around – surely there must be land nearby – more ships in the horizon – get to see the main deck and all the instruments – XO gives tour of equipment – is impressed that we know about fathoms J (not used anymore – only metric system) – have breakfast and almost miss sighting of land – entry into cochin – no free docking place at the BTP (boat terminal point) so they maneuver MV Minicoy along side MV Amindvi. We have to cross to the boat and then onto land – kickass trip –
back on land – head to SPORTS get bike and then on to reshmy’s house – pack and head out in a drizzle – monsoons are supossed to be early around 26th May, but why on May 19th? What premonsoon showers nonsense. Head off for munnar – have to be in Virudanagar by 20th evening for our Basic pranic healing course. Beautiful ride – bypass munnar and end up at the same place we stayed last time we came this side. Crash. Lotsa stuff is still wet.

Day 27 may 20 Wednesday
Devikulam – theni – usilampati – peraiyur- virudanagar
178 kms
NH49, NH7

Leave devikulam after having complimentary breakfast – excellent ride – as soon as we cross the kerala border – the hills give way to the plains – think TN should be glad they atleast have ooty and kodai – more rain as we cross usilampati – its like we are going along the premonsoon shower trail – every break we take the rains catch up! Wet wet wet – thunderbolts striking the ground all around – scary – enter virudanagar and ask our way to the teacher’s house – about 150 mts (in retrospect – we didn’t know then) on the flyover, we get a flat! Push the bike down the flyover (its still raining), and lo – there is a bike fixer – second time this trip there is a bike fixer at hand – get tube changed – again the valve has conked – decision to increase air pressure and CHECK daily without fail. – find teacher’s house and get treated to dinner – go to the center and our free room – open everything and let it dry –

Day 28 may 21 Thurs
Chidambaram Nagammal Medical Hospital, Virudanagar
Most things have dried, though still. Two days of acid rain? Also everywhere is hard water. Get breakfast from teacher’s house and then off to class. Basic pranic healing!
Learn how to see auras, scan auras, and lots of other cool stuff. Even after these months of knowing and understanding prana, to see it is a bit freaky. Ananya tries to heal jedi’s cold.
Lunch again brought by teacher. Evening check out Burma Hotel. Crash.

week 3 log

2009-05-17T12:17:00.005+05:30

Day 15 may 8 fri
60km
Ananya heads to Isha Yoga center for Shoonya and SHakti Chalana – jedi stays at cbe – Chill and upload stuff at internet. Then afternoon drop ananya at isha.

Day 16 may 9 sat
Ananya shoonya – jedi cbe – bike insurance

Day 17 may 10 sun
Ananya shoonya – jedi cbe

Day 18 may 11 mon
Ananya shoonya – jedi cbe – insurance scan

Day 19 may 12 tues
Coimbatore – Pundi – Cbe
60 km
Pick up ananya at alandurai. Internet. Chill at hotel.

Day 20 may 13 wed
Coimbatore – cochin- allepey
NH209, NH47 –
252 km
Leave cbe and head via palakad road to cochin to find out abt lakswadeep. Highway annoying constant kerala traffic. Reach coimbatore and find way to SPORTS office. Ex navy man on bike who did courses at INS hamla rides ahead and shows route. Also offers lunch which we decline. Go to office and find details. 3 island 5 day trip is 17k+ each. No way to go on own, unless u have sponsor and fill up some form. Alternative is 3 day 1 island, semi sleeper, which we book 4.8k per head. Need to be at sports on 16^th at 1 pm.

Head for allepey. Reach alleypey around 5 and stay at ‘home’ stay. Travel options according to KDTC S? is houseboat for 22 hrs for 4k (dunno if its 2k per head per day or general house boat rate) or shikara for 350 rs. Per hr.

Day 21 may 14 Thursday
Allepey – kottayam – allepey
10 km, and then by boat 60 kms
Wake and do kriyas and asanas. Ride around allepey looking for food places, ride along canal edges. Find Indian coffee house on mulakhal road after many tries for aryaas (disappeared). Go to jetty and take public boat going to kottayam. Like riding in bus. Little strips of land surrounded by water, birds and plants. Astonishing how the houses stay and don’t crumble into the water! More new birds. Houseboats are huge. Gets boring after a while. Need to see top view of lake to figure out what the block R etc are. Reach kottayam after 2 hrs 40 mins. Take auto to kottayam city center and go to book shop and buy books. Mango milk shake and then back to jetty. Almost miss the boat. Ananya thinks boat was waiting for us. Back to water ride and photing. Reach allepey. And back on bike. Go to allepey beach and chill. Then another Indian coffee house for supper. Back to hotel and ipl. Heartbreaking loss for bbay.

Allepey photos on flickr

Photos of third week on flickr

week 2 log

2009-05-08T10:46:00.012+05:30

Week 2 of Mataozm is over and as the trip takes its own shape, along with the luggage and our senses, here's the weekly log.

Select photos from week 2 on flickr

Day 8 – 1 may 2009
Kookal - Mannavur - Kodaikanal - Kookal
85 kms
Chilling, chilling, chilling
ATM trip to Kodai and back - sunset
Films – 48 Hours, Maharathi, Apocalypto

Day 9 – 2 may 2009
Kookal – kodaikanal – palani – pollachi - palakkad
White roads, NH209, SH156?
220km
chill morning, packed and left kookal. crowded! sathya sai baba had visited kodai on the first - so major crowds. decided against munnar route and stuck to quicker pollachi route. to the plains after 4 days. very warm. plains are nice to ride after the 'stressful' non stop hairpin ghats with all that luggage. checked into fancy hotel.

Day 10 – 3 may 2009
Palakkad – Trissur - Palakad
NH47
138km
reached trissur for trissur pooram around 10 –saw 15 temple elephants for some ceremony – got into the exhibition trap - saw foetuses and cirhossised? livers - walked around all sides of the circular temple - met an architect working in the conservation of the temple – got to go to the upper part of a gopuram. packed with tv and newspaper guys sprawled on the floor on top of each other trying to get the shots. left and went to Vinod's office - met Venus - night ride to palakad
Poorum photos on mataozm flickr

Day 11 – 4 may 2009
Palakad – Mannarkad – 10 km towards mukkali and back to mannarkad
68 km
Lazy morning at hotel – search for palakad breakfast – eat dosa! – internet café – slow photo upload – skip palakad fort – back to hotel- chill and leave for silent valley – unable to get thru to any hotels. – starts raining while climbing mukkali ghats – return to mannarkad – find lodge – cheapest room so far – 300 – door doesn’t latch properly. Film, smoke and pass out. Doesn't look like Silent valley is going to happen.

Day 12 - 5 may 2009
Mannarkad – mukkali – Silent valley national park (sairandhri) – mukkali- agali
91 km
Head to mukkali – call – no response/all full no point going to mukkali – alternate plan made, but by stroke of luck? turn left for mukkali information center (named after highest peak anegundi or something) – get permission and guide/jeep to go inside. Go on kacha road for 23 km to sairandhri – no road road – road been left as is to preserve natural aspects – ppl not allowed normally – vehicles enter only till 1 pm. Must come with previous booking. They have website. Silentvalley.gov.in. Guide – yesu 30 years exp – driver – subash – scared of elephants – elephants have had baby elephant and have been rampaging last few days. Cautious driving..

Reach sairandhi (name of panchali – britishers gave silent valley name coz no cicadas then.) in 1985 plant to build dam across kunti river, but rajiv Gandhi came and made it national park – 89 sq. kms core area,. Also has buffer area. Kunti river 20 kms no man touch. So 2^nd purest water on earth – medicinal also. Yesu made us pour out the bisleri and fill this water. went up watch tower and smoked a j.

Saw nilgiri langoor, giant malabari red squirrel, butterflies, medicinal plants, itch causing leaf plant and bark tree, markings of angry elephant tusks, hoof print of sambhar. Went to suspension bridge. Miss getting chased by elephants on return trip. Everyone at park para abt the elephants. Saw shatavari, aloe vera, chirali (strongest tree- king of forest trees), Eatai (thinner than bamboo – elephants fave food) – didn’t spot lion tailed macaq (only place on earth) but lots of whythey are here – fave food - karani trees – eaten when small and non thorny. Tumeric, kodom?
5 types of weather zones, 12 types of diff forest. 104 orchids including one that’s only found here on earth – orchid plants growing like moss everywhere – flower in oct- nov - .kunti did tapasya here. Pandava angles..
got route options from warden. Kottakara, muli, manju, ooty. 44 hair pin bends! Have to bribe.
returned to mukkali and then bike parked in parking lot with all luggage intact. Tea at mukkali and then decision on route – already 5 so stay at agali – ride along sunset. Govt guest house turned away coz of no vacancy. Stay at mkr lodge in goolikadavu 1 km away from agali.
200 bucks cheapest so far. No tv though. Dinner at thalaserry rest – veg while traveling is very limited. Got to go yogic in a week. Happy birthday to all the May people.
Happy areas – churches, mosques, fields. Different dreses across religions – muslims maxis, nighties – hindus - ? christians – typical like in comic books. overall kickass day and lots seen considering so little time spent and so much seen and learnt.

Silent Valley National Park photos on Flickr

Day 13 May 6, 2009 Wednesday
144 km
goolikadavu – kottathara – mully – manjoor – ooty
43 hairpins, 4 km of bad road before mully, 20 rs. Bribe/toll!
More hairpins towards upper bhavani – total around 63 hairpins done today.
Felt like private road. total of 20 vehicles in a 60 km stretch. Scaled ooty from 3 sides now – north, west and south. Mudumalai side most diff with really steep hairpins. Must stop in middle to allow engine to cool.
Ooty – small city with big crowds –
went to Botanical garden – houseful crowd, but good place.

Botanical garden photos on flickr

Photos. Snacks. Chocolates, aloe vera juice. Dasaprakash has disappeared.
Did maps at the lodge. Nice blue lines on a green country. More trees and green. More birds. Heat wave in Andhra-100 dead in orrisa! Cold in ooty. Skip dinner.

Day 14 May 7, 2009 Thursday
Ooty – Doddabetta Peak – Kotagiri - Coimbatore
SH15, NH67
102km

Woke up and stood in two lines to get on the toy train to coonoor. Built 100 years ago with the steepest gradient in Indian Railways - rising over 6000 ft (mettupalayam - coonoor stretch) Nice ‘never been on before’ road (Ooty-Kotagiri-Mettupalayam) through tea gardens. Elephant (big and baby) spotting, birds spotting, monkey watching. Now approached or descended the queen of hills - ooty from 5 sides :). As we head down, away from the nilgiri biosphere, the heat increases. from COLD to Warm in 80 kms. Speedometer conks off. have to visit mechanic, get bike insurance renewed in Coim. Stay at now usual lodge in Coim.

Next week

Around coimbatore and then maybe west or east - who knows. Om :)

week 1 logs

2009-05-01T11:55:00.000+05:30

And so it begins.
chughun, ananya, and jedi set out to maintain their zen !

Week 1 photos on flickr

Day 1 – 24 april 2009
Bangalore – katpadi
230 km
NH7 to krishnagiri, NH47 to Katpadi
Meeting the parents
Drama ‘unwanted’ letter
Finding maal
Repacking - adding tent and helmet – chucking laptop - give to naz – meet at k giri
Chucking jeans but more clothes

Day 2 – 25 april 2009
Katpadi – Pallikonda- Gudiyatam – Pallikonda – Ambur – Pernambut – Venkatagiri Kota – Kolar – Bangarpet – Malur- Sarjapur – Bangalore
260 km
Meeting aunt at gudiyatam
Wedding gifts
Taking vgiri kota route to return to Bangalore to give laptop
Smoking up – ideas
Recording voice clips
Trip gets relaxed
Qt – most common trees and birds reference book – update on group
* Detachment vs immersion in senses
Stages in life – seek spirituality, answers to life purpose etc (Tibetan book of death)
Heat shimmer on road – same thing happening to heads
Portraits need to be taken
* Making Sense Trip
* route ideas – lakswadeep?
Head to ooty via mysore.
Too late – stay at bangalore
Puncture 2 km from sarjapur turnoff
Need to get new tyre and spare tube

Day 3 – 26 april 2009
Bangalore – Great Banyan Tree & Machinabele Lake – Mysore
200 km
SH17 to Mysore
Bike do-up before heading out– new front tire, bicycle locks, puncture kit
Bye-bye to Saurabh and Priya
J & A discovered that they have lost substantial amounts of ass over the last few months, and that it’s bad news for their tailbones
Banyaned place. so many banyans.
Watched goats feast and chill at machinabele lake. stay away from desolate areas :)
New food - Mallur Vada, Ragi Dosa
Stayed the night at a Lonely Planet ‘budget’ option – Dasaprakash, Gandhi Square, Mysore

Day 4 – 27 april 2009
Mysore – Bandipur – Masinagudi – Ooty – Pykara – Ooty – Coimbatore – Isha (reached late) – Coimbatore
340 km
NH212, NH67
36 hairpin bends uphill from masinadugi to ooty – v. v. steep. Nerve wrecking with the weight on the bike. Did not take easier 70 km route via gudalur.
ooty – another big town – just on the hills
fascinated with huge trees – emerald lakes - went to Pykara. nicer road!
strike on road before coonoor – women, from a local factory that had not paid workers, were protesting on the road and had stopped traffic
coonoor to metupalayam – 14 easy hairpins
more ideas for repacking
man helped way out of coimbatore by riding ahead for almost 7 kms to lead towards isha road.

Day 5 – 28 april 2009
coimbatore – pollachi-palani-kodaikanal-kookal
NH67, NH209, white roads
260km
Huge brunch – exiting coimbatore – lady in burqa gave us wrong directions and we went around in circles for a while
Hot – water stop – coconut water stop
Palani temple from far away
Ride up long but nice. People asking where we are coming from and then wishing us all the best
Nice light.
Kodai – 5.30pm
Shopping – chocolates (roasted almond, roasted cashew, rum & raisin), namkeen, eucalyptus oil, vicco toothpaste, cigarettes, paper, matches, honey, coconut oil
Met Das for the magic.
Dark. Ride to Kookal, slower, darker, almost bison – huge cows? Black cows? Cold – thumb freezing numb – right shoulder ache – bag from behind pushing forward and squashing balls – serious need to reorganize/repack
Yesterday queen of hills – today princess of hills
Road speed is 1/3 of usual. 300 kms taking toll.
Cigs and tea to be phased out. What replacement?
Cigs – pranayama – tea?
Happy to be in Kookal again, with Ravishankar, Suzie and Beauty and hot dinner

Day 6 – 29 april 2009
Kookal
Chilling
Eating lots
Stroll around the carrot/bean cauliflower fields
Films

Day 7 – 30 april 2009
Kookal - Mannavur- Kookal
Still chilling
Beautiful mushies with chocolate – lake, dragon flies, birds, J’s headstand on the edge of the water. Evening trip to Manavur. Films – Mad Max 2 & 3, Gulaal

Why mataozm?

2009-04-26T10:11:00.002+05:30

a question that a lot of people have asked and not asked.

apart from the obvious answer that its a motorcycling trip where 2 people are trying to maintain the zen state. its like the definition of the highest yoga by swami sivananda - bear insult, bear injury. but on a more personal level - its about 2 people trying to make sense of their lives.

as for me, due to my new yogic influences and a trend thats been on for the last year, its also about detaching. true peace and bliss is supposed to come when one overcomes the body and mind -stating with the 5 sense. But mataozm - by nature - is a trip that will be deep end immersion into experiences from all 5 sense. in other words - we are making a sense trip.

so a new 'title' to our trip
Mataozm - the Making Sense trip - on both counts :)

Mataozm plan for Apr-May 2009 (as usual tentative)

2009-04-24T03:44:00.000+05:30

Apr 25
Bangalore - Kolar Gold Fields - V.kota - Pernambut (jedi's grandma) - Katpadi (jedi's parents)
Apr 26
Katpadi-
Apr 27
Coimbatore - Isha Yoga Center(Ananya) | Coimbatore (Jedi)
Apr 28
Kookal (Jedi)
Apr 30
Coimbatore (jedi+ananya)
May 2
Trissur
May 3
Thrissur Puram - Elephant festival
May 8
Coimbatore - Isha YC (ananya + jedi?))
May 12
Coimbatore - Aluva/Nagercoil?/Madurai- Rameshwaram-Pondichery
May 20
Chennai
...

shoulder testing 1 2 3

2009-04-23T14:45:00.006+05:30

disclaimer: am writing anything after a long time, and even i can see that the thoughts are fragmented and bahy but...

after fracturing my right shoulder on the 21st of dec 08, i was laid low with the arm in a sling . it helped that i was living the life of a bum then - i had nothing to do and nowhere to go. the pranayama kept my head up and made the Hampi trip happen. at some point sitting in a rocky crack on anjaneya parvat, mataozm got its basic shape. the plan A of 2007's drug fueled haze was resurfacing, although in a less extreme shape.

chughun, ananya, and I back on the road, without the numbing restrictions of evil time.
i was already jobless and ananya due by march end. but would the shoulder be ready? would the spirit be ready?

I had to postpone my yoga teacher training course (TTC) from Jan 09 to March 09, with the hope that the shoulder would be ready. The doctors had said it would take 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, they said good progress, it will actually take 12 weeks. 12 weeks made it March 21st and TTC started March 15th..

By april, we would have no house either. So i had to take Chughun along.
So on the 10th of March, I left with chughun and head out to Kerala via Katpadi, Madurai and finally Neyyar Dam.

Briefs

Vellore / Katpadi: is where my parents have retired to. Vellore (land of spears) is a really old city by the now dry river Palar and used to be a battleground - hence the land of spears. Is famous for the erm famous Christian Medical College (and Hospital) - CMC and the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT/VEC) - my engineering alma mater. It's mostly a dry shitty place extreme weather and no entertainment other than cinema halls and your own head.
It's famous for 7 things - 1. a fort without a king, 2. a temple without a diety, 3. a river without water, 4. hills without trees, 5. women without beauty . don't remember 6 and 7. Anyway, met parents and visiting sister and brother in law. had a big 'family discussion' about ananya's and my illegal live-in and how its so terrible for them (which it is) . Vellore on Wikipedia
Madurai - I leave home and head south to Madurai on NH 7 - meet brother in law's brother in law (i think) who's a medical anthropologist (wow) and an adventurer. Madurai is like the london of India, with the Vaigai river bisectiing the city and is the oldest inhabited city in South India (pre 3BC!). Its the land of the Meenakshi -Amman temple, probably the most famous of south indian temples - ok maybe Tirupati also. NOTE: The Madurai railway station has (had? 2006? Joel's wedding trip data) high speed FREE Internet access, when airport, Chennai airport, Madurai airport and all other 'fancy places didn't! Jai BSNL. Madurai on Wikipedia
Trivandrum - reach Thenmalai by evening and slow down to take in the deep forests and old stone bridges and consequently have to travel along the windy Kerala hills towards the Sivananda Ashram - reach the general area around 9 p.m. and just go to Trivandrum (after calling the ashram and finding out its ok to come the next day) and a warm bed. The last time I had visited TVM was when I was little boy and had come to a church member's wedding at Chenganur. Faintly remember going to some church (surprise surprise!) or was that Adoor? Anyway, TVM was clean and lotsa nice colonial buildings - even the temples were different - rather unique. The churches are big and old. The mosques big and imposing. Guess its secular. I break the fast, and head off to Kovalam - might as well considering i'll be in the hills for a month and i'm just 16 kms away. Trivandrum on Wiki
Kovalam: This deserves a separate listing, coz it's a beach :D. But i was shocked. the last time i was here (Dec 2007), it had white sand. Now its crowded and the sand has turned black (in most palces) coz of the motor boats that take you deep sea to see the colored fish and what not. I guess the slowdown in Goa has pushed paying people down south. Checked out Groves, eves and lighthouse beaches (no difference, same stretch, with rocks in the middle) - become hmm hi-tech with red, green flags and whistle blowing lifeguards.
Neyyar Dam: Final destination - the Sivananda Dhanwantari Yoga Vedanta Ashram for my 28 day yoga teacher training course. Am glad I had already visited the Isha ashram in Coimbatore, so i know how an ashram is supposed to be. But still - 3 days is one thing and 28 days! It's a beautiful spot, nestled in the hills overlooking a green lake and a lion's park. Neyyar on Wiki. Every morning, during meditation, u'd get a jerk when the lions' would start roaring. The ashram is full of trees (ayurvedic - with labels) and a set routine, which initially irritating, but at the end, calming. Twice a week, we would go for silent walks - once evening and once morning to the lake and once to Kali para. Some walk photos Made some new and nice friends. got rid of the beard, lethargy, and agitation (yes, i had both) In and Out of the Ashram At some point, I called home and told them about the impending wedding with expected reactions. Every Friday, we would get the day off. During the 4 Fridays off, went to 1. Kovalam, Kanyakumari, 2. Varkala, Kovalam, Poovar, 3. Poovar, Kovalam, Varkala, 4. Kovalam
Yogi Siromani - It's the title u get when u pass the written and other tests during the TTCourse. It means jewel of the crown. Also registered for and got a spiritual name - got it for kicks, now its more fun. They apparently observe u and discuss in staff meetings ang then give u the name. I'm now Omkara (the sanskrit letter, a linga = energy body) Last days at the ashram.
I have to head back to Bangalore for the paperwork wedding. i have 3 days. Plan is go to Kookal and pop, then bangalore. primary idea is to work the hills (the western ghats or sahyadris) from neyar dam to bangalore via idduki, munnar, Sathyamangalam (land of Verrapan), Dimbam, Kanakpura)
Idukki: It took a while to pack and say goodbyes, and the windy beautiful green hilly kerala roads plus the now 'sattvic' rides, where i don't cross even 60 kph - by 5 i'm near Idduki and settle down in a kerala tourism guesthouse at peermedu - 40 k from idduki. Intention is to score some gold, but recalling a conversation with sabir and a timely sms from him makes the higher mind come into play over the lower mind. Anyway settle down and fall sleep. 240 kms and the shoulder is acting up. Unsure if its the winding roads, or the 108 suryanamaskars done 2 days ago, or both. The next morning, head towards the forest and the dam. Have been passing atleast one dam or diversion something every 50 kms. The idduki dam finally is a kickass V shaped dam. felt like i was in an action film frame. The dam and other return trip photos After some confusion over whether to head to Thekkady (visited already during Kookal - Periyar Wildlife sanctuary - munnar- bangalore roadtrip 2 years ago), i head towards Munnar via the white roads (white roads are the little village roads on the map or not that mostly found after some persistent dialogue with the locals, and multiple dialogues at that - most locals have never even left a 30 km radius - or just travel by bus, and know only the main highways). More beauty and the slow ride helps.
Coimbatore : I eventually reach Coimbatore around 9. (another 300 kms only - for someone who has done 1072 kms in 20.5 hrs non stop - 300 kms feels like going down the road to a tea shop) - Stay at the hotel stayed when the shoulder was broken. in the plains after a month, and its warm and slightly sweaty.
Dimbam: Its on NH 209 and is a ghat with 27 hairpin bends. Nothing great, except that not all bends are labelled, so if ur chilling and enjoying the curves, one of the hairpins will spring up on u and u could fracture ur shoulder. felt rather silly for someone who's ridden the himalayas and both the highest motorable road (Khardung la 18,380 ft) and hihgest motorable pass (Marsimek la - 18634ft), but rode very very carefully.
Bangalore: reached around 8 pm. another 350+ km stretch. surreal ride through evening returning from work traffic. no emotional attachment. just another place. felt weird, so went to SLV and had a few sips of filter coffee. ananya has already reached bangalore airport from Calcutta. Go to vijay's house. end of a 2600 km trip.
Shoulder Status: Sore. stiff. again not sure if its surya namaskars or the ride. but bottom line is if i stick to 200-300 kms per day (on hilly terrain) - all should be ok. also sattvic ride is good fun. Plains are going to be scorching. but mataozm is a definite go.

On the Move Medical Mojo

2009-04-15T08:05:00.004+05:30

For the last 4-5 months, as part of our ‘decluttered unpolluted life’ initiative, Jedi and I have switched to using natural remedies for minor ailments. It’s exciting because these actually work and never leave you feeling gross (the way my painkillers and anti-allergens would). Continuing to use these while travelling will involve carrying a bit of ‘extra baggage’ but before I reveal the contents of my med kit here are some self healing remedies and precautionary practices for common ailments on and off the road.

Acute Mountain Sickness

AMS can randomly affect even the most experienced mountaineer who has had no previous history. The following precautions may not guarantee you immunity from AMS, but will help ease your discomfort to a great extent
Avoid heavy meals, alcohol, smoking and regular exercise till acclimatization is complete
Start fluid intake of 4-5 litres a day 48 hours before ascent to altitudes above 10000 ft
Follow a carb rich diet low on proteins
Work on good aerobic fitness before the trip as this is necessary to increase red blood cells
Ascend slowly and rest at progressively higher altitudes
A night’s halt should be at an altitude lower than the peak achieved during the day
To cure AMS headaches chew a pod of raw garlic or take Ferrum Phos 30C (homeopathic)
Immediate descent and professional medical aid for malignant AMS (symptoms include breathlessness, double vision, severe headaches, confusion, irrational behaviour, dry cough, pink froth)

Colds & Flu

Avoid dairy products, fried food, sweets, wheat, meat and iced/cold drinks
Drink lots of hot water throughout the day
In case of chronic mucus, fast on warm ginger water for 2-3 days
Practice Anulom-Vilom breath to clear sinuses and ease lung congestion
Wrap up and keep warm
Steep fresh ginger root in hot water, cover your head with a towel and use it as an inhalation to clear nasal congestion
Soak 2 parts fresh ginger root, 3 parts cinnamon and a pinch of cardamom in a cup of hot water for 10 minutes, then add 1/2 tsp of honey. Drink several times a day
For colds with a cough, crush 1 tsp fresh ginger root with 8 fresh tulsi leaves, 2 black peppercorns, 2 cardamom seeds, 1 cup of water, 1/21 tsp turmeric powder, 2 cloves and 5 fresh mint leaves. Boil, filter and add 1 tsp of honey. Drink 2-3 times a day
Take Sitopladi (as instructed on the package)

Constipation

Avoid wheat products and meat
Increase intake of high fibre foods like leafy green vegetables, oatmeal and fresh fruit. Bananas, raisins and stewed apples have a mild laxative action
Drink at least 2 litres of water a day
Take Triphala with warm water before going to bed
Dissolve 1 tsp of ghee in warm milk and take before going to bed
Practice Surya Namaskar as this stimulates the peristalsis movement
Practice Kapalabhati as this massages the intestines and promotes healthy elimination

Coughs

Avoid sweets, wheat, icecream, cold drinks and dairy products
For dry coughs, mix 1 tsp of turmeric powder with 1/2 teaspoon natural sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of ghee. Take 2-3 times a day
Crush 1 tsp fresh ginger root with 8 fresh tulsi leaves, 2 black peppercorns, 2 cardamom seeds, 1 cup of water, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 2 cloves and 5 fresh mint leaves. Boil, filter and add 1 tsp of honey. Drink 2-3 times a day
Mix 1 tsp of mustard powder with 1 tsp of dry ginger powder and 1 tsp of honey. Take 3 times a day
Take Sitopladi (as instructed on the package)

Diarrhoea

Stew 2 apples until they are very soft then add 1 tsp of ghee and a pinch of nutmeg. Eat this slowly, chewing each mouthful really well
Mix a cup of cooked basmati rice with 1 tbsp of ghee and 3 tbsp of plain curd and eat in small portions
Mix 1 tsp dry ginger powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp natural sugar with 1/2 cup of water. Drink this 3-6 times a day. If you suffer from acidity add 1 tsp of coriander powder to the mix
To prevent dehydration drink small quantities of ginger tea throughout the day. Add 1 tsp of natural sugar, 1 tsp of lime juice and a pinch of salt to a bottle of warm water and drink this throughout the day

Fever

Avoid iced/cold drinks
Get plenty of rest
Wrap up and keep warm
Fast on warm ginger tea. Mix 1 tsp dry ginger powder in 5 glasses of water, boil, filter and drink throughout the day
Steep 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp coriander seeds and 1 tsp fennel seeds in a cup of hot water for 10 minutes, strain and drink
Once the fever has subsided follow a simple diet to avoid upsetting your digestive system and eat small, regular meals to restore your strength

Headaches
If throbbing, confined to the back of the head or starts at the back of the head and spreads to the front:

Take a warm shower to relax and ease muscle tension
Massage shoulders with warm sesame oil
Make a paste from a little ground nutmeg and water, smooth it over your forehead and leave it on for 30 mins

If burning, penetrating, located around the temples:

Make a cooling paste from sandalwood powder and a little water and smear it over the forehead and temples
Boil 1/2 tsp of ground cumin seeds and 1/2 tsp of ground coriander seeds in a cup of hot water. Drink after cooling

If due to nasal congestion from cold or allergies:

Make an inhalation using 10 drops of eucalyptus oil or fresh grated ginger root in hot water, cover your head with a towel and inhale the steam
Apply a paste made from 1 tsp of dry ginger powder and a little water to your forehead and sinus area

Heartburn

Avoid hot, spicy, fermented foods and citrus fruits
Avoid overeating or eating when you are upset. Only eat when you are hungry
Avoid combining incompatible foods like fish with milk, or fruits with milk
Allow a gap of 3 hours between your evening meal and going to bed
Add 10 drops of lime juice and 1/2 tsp of natural sugar to 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and drink immediately
Practice Shitali breath as it is cooling and improves digestion

Sore Throat

Gargle morning and evening with 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp of salt dissolved in a cup of warm water
Make a soothing herbal tea with 1/2 tsp of grated fresh ginger root and 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon stick. Drink up to 3 times a day

Stomach Ache

Follow a light diet of home-made vegetable soups or plain boiled rice and drink plenty of fresh ginger root tea after each meal
Combine 1/3 tsp of ground cumin powder, a pinch of asafoetida and a pinch of rock salt. Chew it well and wash down with warm water
Dry roast 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds and 1/2 tsp of coriander seeds. Mix them together and chew about 1/2 tsp of this mixture at intervals throughout the day
Mix 1/2 tsp of ajwain powder with 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Chew it well and wash down with warm water

Common herbal medicines like Triphala and Sitopladi are usually sold at most medicine shops. You needn’t carry rest of the stuff. Water, whole and powdered spices, fruits, vegetables, rice, honey, ghee, milk and condiments should be pretty easy to procure in inhabited places. Water can be heated wherever you stop for the night or using your camping stove. Sugarcane juice, muscovado sugar, brown sugar and gur may be used as natural substitutes for white refined sugar.

So, what’s in our medical/first aid kit?

Nutmeg powder
Cinnamon powder
Dry ginger powder
Whole spices - pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, star anise, mace, nutmeg)
Aloe Vera capsules (with honey, the powder inside eases post menstrual cramps)
Aloe Vera Gel (eases post menstrual cramps)
Brahmi capsules (brain and nervine tonic)
Triphala capsules
Sitopladi Churn
Tweezers
Sterile dressing/plaster/bandage/bandaids
Savlon
Antiseptic cream
Mosquito repellant

Never to be used except in dire dire dire straits:

Paracetamol
Pain killer
Anti-allergen
Broad spectrum antibiotic

Ofcourse, the bigger idea is to keep physical/mental/spiritual illness at bay through yoga and ayurveda!

Noseburn Destination: Sunderbans

2009-04-11T18:46:00.006+05:30

Why?
· World's largest delta formed by the rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna
· World’s largest estuarine forest
· India’s largest Tiger Reserve and National Park (2585 sq. kms.)

· Dark and foreboding mangroves

· Swimming man eating tigers, mudskippers, Olive Ridley turtles, estuarine crocodiles, sharks, poisonous snakes, pirates and a plethora of birds
· Bonbibi, Dakshin Ray, Kalu Ray

Getting there:

· (by road) Kolkata – Basanti/Sonakhali (3 hours) – (boat to) Sajnekhali (3 hrs)
· (by road) Kolkata – Basanti/Sonakhali (3 hours) – (public ferry to) Gosaba (1 hr) – (boat to) Sajnekhali (2 hrs)
Boats and guides are available for excursions through the mangroves from Sajnekhali.

dear icici and hsbc and others

2009-04-03T13:02:00.002+05:30

as u probably already know, i havent been paying my EMIs.
i wont be for another 6-8 months, though i have all intention to do so.
once i return from this trip, i will start working again and pay off.
so till then do the interest adding and all the other u do.

if u cant wait, we all lose. so wait.
if u want it now, come and seize my bike and laptop (thats all i own and have now!)
if u want to be nice, sponsor some parts of the trip :)
so be patient and interesting.

non institutional debtors(?), hang on as well. will do it eventually (sic)

suchna sammapth.

signed in virtual blood/
jedidiyah alfred