week 12 logs

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!

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

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

week 10 logs

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 3 AD 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.