Note: A draft(information of the first day of the expedition, nothing more) of this post had been lying in my account for 4 years. I decided to complete this post in January 2018 but the only data I have is photos and some notes taken by Antik. I failed to take any notes as my Nokia N82 was dying. Even though I rack my brains to recall the 4-year old details, this post will be missing a lot of information and relevant technical details. I have not been able to dedicate time for proof-reading either, hence, mistakes could be found. I apologize and request the readers to bear with me 🙂
While I have tried to include aplenty photos in this post..
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During our last visit (August 2012)to the three Degree of Confluence points, the notion of a bike expedition to Madhya Pradesh had germinated in my mind. Due to reasons aplenty, it materialized only in the beginning of 2014. My friend Antik made his resolution clear by buying a bike(Pulsar 200 NS) exactly 7 days before we begun our expedition, he deserves a special credit for the same 😀 I spent hours to build a feasible itinerary – a Herculean but indispensable task crucial for any trip. I neither got any appreciation for the task nor did people read the meticulously created document for the same 😛 Sanctioning of leaves only a few days before the D’Day, people felling out and other such hiccups manifested. Loads of preparations were done by each of us. I had insufficient quantity of suitable clothes and had to undergo a painful shopping session to replenish my supplies 😛 Our helmet visors were awful for night rides, we didn’t have gloves, masks, backpacks etc. We were tempted to buy saddle bags for our bikes but we thought it would be hasty! Mandar and I were a bit apprehensive about the whole trip and we had a chat about it on Thursday(January 2, 2014) evening. Our chief concerns were :
1. The duration and distance to be covered – we had to strike a balance between exerting ourselves and missing places to visit. The planned dates were January 4 – January 11, 2014 and the estimated distance was 1800 km.
2. The luggage – Our bikes were no way customized or suited for long expeditions and the inventory for an 8-day expedition meant considerable amount of luggage
3. Unknown locality – While India is a very friendly country by Nature, this was our first trip, that too on bikes, deep within a state which we had neither visited nor knew much about. E.g : We didn’t do any homework regarding the paperwork one must do while taking the bikes to a different state; we received contradicting information from different sources regarding the mandate of any papers. It should be noted that we didn’t face any issues from the traffic or the regular police in Madhya Pradesh.
On the evening of January 3, 2014(Friday), we were 4 people(Alkesh, Antik, Mandar and myself), 3 bikes(Pulsar 200 NS, Suzuki GS 150 and Avenger 220). Given the sheer weight of the two huge backpacks, I decided to tie those to the back-rest of my bike and Alkesh would ride pillion on Mandar’s GS 150.
Day -1 : January 4, 2014 (Saturday)
We(Alkesh, Mandar and I) started from Panvel at 0530 hours. We were supposed to rendezvous at the food mall as Antik was coming from Borivali. Our objective for the day was simple – before the dusk, cover as much distance as possible. As the thumb rule goes, we had a king’s breakfast. Antik’s bike had started stealing the show and it remained the star till the conclusion of the expedition. Whether to stay at Palasner or at Sendhwa was the question to which the answer would be clear only as the day passed. The ride henceforth was quite uneventful. NH3 is a bliss till Nashik – 3 lanes per direction and almost NO patchwork on the road. But beyond, it became 2-lanes per direction, a bit uneven and had village-nodes at short distances, forcing us to check the speed and be alert. The fuel stations and eateries, too, dwindled in number. We halted for lunch on a genuine ‘dhaba‘. I had a word with the owner regarding our plan for the day. He suggested us to discard Palasner(which, as per him, didn’t have any lodging facilities) and proceed to Sendhwa. We took the cue and decided to hit Sendhwa. Just before we reached Sendhwa, we came across a rider with a high-power bike customized to carry luggage, tent etc. Later, the same bike arrived where we decided to turn in – Hotel Shanti Palace. Our faces first turned pale(as we didn’t own it) and later, lightened up(after all, you are in vicinity of such a thing).
Till we reached Sendhwa, I was planning to visit the Sendhwa fort. The locals informed me that the fort is lost amidst the commercial and industrial area and that it would make no sense to visit it in the evening. This is a frustrating fact about India – the sheer ignorance and irreverence about it’s historical monuments! To avoid exasperation, I dropped the idea.
Route : Panvel -> Sendhwa
Start-of-Day : 0530 hours
End-of-Day : 1630 hours
Distance covered : 451 km
Day -2 : January 5, 2014 (Sunday)
The day begun as expected – there was some trouble tying up the backpacks on my bike. The breakfast we had at a sleepy ‘dhaba’ turned out to be dismal but it was quite early(around 0730 hours, I guess). Our objective for the day was a DCP(Degree of Confluence Point). We continued on NH3 northwards and took a left(actually, a right) turn for Julwaniya through which a road passed to Baroda(308 km). The road was in a good condition. Rangaon, Rajpur were some of the villages/towns that we came across. Later, we took a left turn (south ward) for Talwada Buzurg. My GPS tracker was behaving erratically – at some instances, it showed DCP at 400ft and then suddenly 3.8, 4.1 miles.
We started to trace the DCP amidst some fields(I don’t recall the crop). After wandering fruitlessly for around 3-4 km, we decided continue southwards on road to Borlai Pir and check the coordinates. When we came out on the road, a middle-aged gentleman approached us, greeted us, asking our whereabouts and reason to be in his fields. I explained to him about the DCP. He said that he was just curious as the people working in the fields reported that some city-bred guys with gear and bikes are trudging the fields. He had been to Mumbai and had some relatives there. He offered to host us for free, if we wished but we had to head south. The narrative of how we located the DCP and the relevant photographs can be found here.
The DCP mission concluded at around 1315 hours and our next destination was Maheswar. In Mumbai and whatever parts of India I have visited, you don’t need Google Maps or any navigation software – just open your mouth, be polite and ask for directions. We requested a passerby gentleman to guide us to Maheshwar. He fed a bit more information than required and we were dumbstruck. He figured out that from our faces and took out a piece of paper and marked those. Antik guessed that he was a teacher 🙂
We headed to Thikri for NH3 which was around 45km NE. The road was shabby and we were starving. Around 5 km further from Thikri on NH3, just ahead of the bifurcation for Khargone, we had an pleasing lunch at ‘Jain Shri Bhojanalay’. We crossed a bridge on the great Narmada river and then came a bifurcation for Dhamnod on the right.
We reached Maheshwar at 1645 hours. We checked the ‘Narmada Retreat’ but decided to settle down for some cheaper resort rather than resorting to extravaganza so early 😛 Close to the Ahilya fort(?), we settled in a home-turned-lodge which was very cheap money-wise and decent too. I would like to present a viewpoint here. I am not against staying at luxury resorts or in general, about being extravagant about accommodation but I do exercise some caution:
- Luxury is complete only if there’s time at disposal. You check-in a luxury hotel late in the evening/night, sleep for a short duration and again head out for the next destination. In such cases, the investment is almost wasted
- A backpacker or even an average roadie should be comfortable with any accommodation that adheres to the basics of hygiene. This inculcates tolerance, robustness and discipline in an explorer’s psyche
- Money saved can be invested elsewhere e.g: Some sights have visiting fees, parking may be paid, petrol expenses can be covered and so on. Overall, more can be achieved in a stringent budget
We stayed in a small room which could barely accommodate four of us but it was on the first floor of a house just outside the main entrance of Ahilya fort, hence, the location was strategic. The landlady was busy with her kids and she handed over the keys and asked to call her in case we need something. We put our bags in a corner, eased up a little. Sipped some tea on a nearby stall and headed for the fort.
The visit to fort was a pleasant experience.At dusk, there wasn’t much hustle-bustle – the only annoying part was the petrol/kerosene powered noisy boats running in Narmada. The cleanliness was commendable. The only disappointment(during the entire trip) was little or no information provided about the monument! The ‘ghat’ adjoining the fort was/is a perfect place to experience a calm and enchanting evening but somehow, we didn’t hang around there for long(probably, all were hungry and tired 😛 )
Route : Sendhwa -> Sajwani -> Anjad -> Thikri -> Dhamnod -> Maheshwar
Start-of-Day : 0070 hours
End-of-Day : 2000 hours
Approx. distance covered : 150 km
Day -3 : January 6, 2014 (Monday)
We were up by 0600 hours and quickly left the room for the fort. We had ‘pohe‘ and tea for breakfast. Hailing from coastal Maharashtra, I was quite happy with Madhya Pradesh – anywhere you go, you get Pohe which is also a staple breakfast in coastal Maharashtra.
We started the day with visiting the fort again and wanted to explore it in a bit detail. As with many monuments in India, the information on the boards was scanty and too mundane to be interesting. First, we visited the ghat again as Antik wanted view the sunrise by the banks of the river.
Then we visited Ahilyabai‘s ‘सदर’. The venerable lady not only governed her territory well but also undertook aplenty projects for public welfare like building roads, water tanks, wells, dharamshalas and so on.
I saw several students, some of them whites, taking some measurements and notes, carrying drawing boards with ruler, compass etc.. I guess that they were architecture students out for a field assignment. Ahilya fort is a must-visit historical place in Madhya Pradesh.
We started from Maheshwar around 1130 hours. Next destination was Mandavgad a.k.a Mandu which is an ancient fortified city/town. The road was narrow but in an acceptable condition. When the Mandav hills came in sight, I spotted a fort-like structure well ahead of the original fort. We halted at it’s gate, it was named Songarh and there is a minuscule information available, even Google Maps rejected my place edit despite of providing relevant GPS location and photographs.
We passed by the ‘Chorkot’ gate. We reached Mandu by 1330 hours. Our first objective was to secure an accommodation. Yeah, we had not booked a single accommodation and relied on finding something at run-time, not a wise approach! The dharamshala there was overbooked and having run out of options, we headed to Malwa Retreat but they had no space either. They asked us to check with Malwa Resort and thankfully, we got a place there. We dropped our bags, freshened up a bit and rode back towards the Mandu sights.
Honestly, Mandu deserves a separate blog entry. With an area spanning 35-37 sq.km and more than 10 gates, it has aplenty sites. If you have a knack or knowledge about architecture, it’s a treat!
Starving, we decided to grab a quick snack for maintaining glucose levels. A frugal dal-bati to rescue 🙂
We headed for the ‘Jahaj Mahal’ which had grand Jacuzzi for royal baths. The water filtering system, a couple of wells are enough to intrigue about the traditional water management systems in India.
We then headed to view the Jama Masjid, it was almost 1800 hours so we didn’t have much time to explore before it was dark.
A hilarious incident took place. A group of school kids, dressed in uniform, approached me and asked how much I would charge for each photo if group and individual photos are required. I said that I would have loved to help you kids but my camera doesn’t have a print facility. Then, a but elder girl in that group realized that I am a tourist and not a photographer selling services and she scolded the rest of the group and apologized. I said that I took no offence in that and I am disappointed that I cannot help you kids.
We were back to the hotel around 1900 hours. Had shower, followed by dinner. My idea was to take some notes on in my notebook as my phone was dying. Antik turned on his TV and despite my opposition, we watched the Marathi movie ‘Sumbaran‘. It rubbed salt on my pangs since my teenage – gradually getting uprooted from your native place!
Route : Fort Ahilya -> Mandu
Start-of-Day : 0700 hours
End-of-Day : 2000 hours
Approx. distance covered : 110 km
Day -4 : January 7, 2014 (Tuesday)
We had allocated some more time for exploring Mandu. We started from the hotel a bit late, owing to the breakfast timings. We visited Roopmati Palace, Baz Bahadur Palace.
We reached the hotel at 1030 hours. We realized that we had not neither captured the surroundings of the hotel nor had taken a single pic. of the entire group. We took a few snaps and took our time to pack our stuff on the bikes. This was to remain a time-consuming and menial task for the rest of the trip as we didn’t have saddle bags for our bikes. It makes no sense to carry backpacks, 12-15kg each on backs while riding! If tied incorrectly, it can result in a disaster but if done correctly, it’s a savior.
Our next destination was Ujjain, particularly, the temples. Though I am not devout, I do visit temples and other devotional places. We rode at ease, first on the AH-47 and SH-27. I don’t recall where we had our lunch, all I recall is that we were lazing 😛 . Our plan was to stay at some hotel on the outskirts of the city so that we can avoid traffic, also, it would be easier as we had to head south the next day, towards Indore. Without giving much thought, we checked-in at Hotel Shanti Palace. It was around 1800 hours and it would be dark soon. It was quite cold, even the floor was icy. We checked the temperature and it was 6 degrees! We wore our warm clothes, left one bike(which one?)at the hotel and set for the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga. It was quite close(4km) but we were freezing a bit. All of us were born and brought up in hot and humid climate where the minimum temperature, that too, once in a blue moon, reaches 18 degrees(average 30 degrees). We reached just in time for the ‘arati‘. It was quite crowded and we had to queue up for the ‘darshan‘. The linga is visible but one cannot touch it, you can draw a bucketful of water and offer as an ablution. I had several questions about that place but the crowd and our hungry stomachs forced us to leave asap, it was 1945 hours already. We then headed for the Kalbhairav temple which was around 6km. The only reason I included this temple was my interest in the tantric tradition. When we reached the entrance of the temple, we could smell a sharp odor of liquor, there were several shops selling liquor bottles and they called upon to buy some ‘prasad‘ for Kalbhairav. I was alarmed and we ignored them and headed for the temple. Instead of ‘Nandi‘, the ‘dvarpaal‘ (gate-guardian) deity was a black dog. I wasn’t surprised as this could be related to the tantric tradition. Several people in the queue offered liquor as prasad to the deity, the whole temple was filled with liquor odor. While I am curious about the tantric traditions, being a teetotaler, I started nauseating at the strong odor. The biggest mistake I did was not to carry a good smartphone during the trip. Not only did I failed to take notes, I missed the opportunities to read and understand more about the sights that I was visiting ! We left soon and by the time we returned to the hotel, we were as chilled as ice :P. Soon we turned in and slept like infants.
Route : Mandu -> Mahakaleshwar -> Kalbhairav -> Hotel Shanti(Ujjain)
Start-of-Day : 0800 hours
End-of-Day : 2100 hours
Approx. distance covered : 170 km
Day -5 : January 8, 2014 (Wednesday)
We started around 0900 hours from the hotel. We had left our bags at the hotel and I was riding pillion(I prefer it, whenever possible, provided, I trust the main rider) as it gives more opportunities to look around, take pictures and notes and so on. We visited the Gadkalika temple, then headed to the Kaliadeh Palace. I had absolutely no idea about the palace but was more interested in viewing the sun temple in the palace and the surrounding . Alas ! Some of it’s parts were locked and there was no information about either the palace or the nearby 52 ‘kund‘as. This is the most maddening fact about the historical sites in India – if they are not famous, there’s no information available, on-site!
We quickly headed to the Jivaji Observatory as we wanted to invest at least a couple of hours there. Both Antik and I are enthusiastic about astronomy but we haven’t done much to enhance our theoretical and practical knowledge 😦 We hired a bit garrulous guide to walk us through the traditional machines used for astronomical studies. I don’t recall having received much useful information from that guy. When I asked him about the nearby locations from where the Tropic of Cancer passes, he said that it passes through the Mahakal temple – this was intriguing but I haven’t verified the claim. Till date, I deeply regret that I had not studied/revised the astronomical terms before visiting that observatory. It had a series of ancient machines used to observe, measure celestial bodies e.g: The ‘Digansha Yantra'(Instrument is used to find out the the Altitude (distance from the horizon) and the Azimuth (angular distance from the east or the west point measured along the horizon) of any celestial body), the ‘Shanku Yantra'(With the help of the shadow of the shanku(Gnomon) the angle elevation and zenith distance of the Sun can be determined. The Altitude of Ujjain is determined by the mid-day shadow of Shanku Yantra when the day and the nights have equal length), the sun dial etc. The instruments seemed simple, I was upset that such practical things were not taught in our schools, the site visits were absent, we just had picnics.
Our objective was to reach Indore by latest 1800 hours so that we can relax a bit and then set out to satiate the gourmets within us. We left the observatory around 1230 hours.(I have forgotten whether we had lunch). While there was no compelling reason except I reading a few blogs about the archaeology-related department, we still decided to pay a lightning visit to the Vikram University. We goofed around the artifacts and remains that were excavated from several sites but in lack of a guide, we quickly lost interest. While we were chatting among ourselves about the need of a knowledgeable person to help us understand better, a gentleman approached us and greeted us. We introduced ourselves. He was quite surprised and delighted to have young visitors from another state and interested in genuine information other than the popular sightseeing. He turned out to be the director/some HoD of the university. We expressed our dissatisfaction about the lack of proper guides at the Jivaji Observatory. He suggested us to visit the upcoming Dongla Observatory which is dedicated to astronomical studies combining the modern and the ancient techniques and machines. He also gave us the contact details the head of the observatory. It was almost 1430 and we had to take a call – either head straight to Indore or first visit the Dongla Observatory(around 60km from Vikram University) and then head Indore. The latter option would add almost 120km to the run. We took a poll and all voted for the second option 🙂
We tried to ride a bit fast and followed the road signs to Dongla. In the haste of taking a short-cut as advised by a local, we hit a bad road but variety is spice of life, also, the bike ride 😛
It was past 1600 hours when we reached the observatory. We met Mr. Raman who greeted us. He showed us the ‘Bhaskar Yantra’ which was used by Dr. Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar to find this spot that on summer solstice on 21st June, the sun rays are perpendicular and do not cast any shadow at noon. As per Dr. Wakankar , instead of GMT, DMT, the mean solar time at Dongla should be used as a international civil time standard. We were again dumbstruck as we lacked the basic knowledge about the solar time and relevant calculations.
He showed us a under-construction site where a Telescope: 0.5 metre or 20” Planewave CDK Telescope was installed so that students and researchers need not travel far for accurate observations. We thanked him for this time and information provided to us.
We tarted from there around 1700 hours. Now, we had to rush to Indore. While the ride on the state highway was smooth, we had some tough time to make it through the heavy, slow and rowdy traffic in the old Indore locality. I don’t recall the hotel where we stayed but it was close to the Gangwal bus stand. By the time we reached there, it was 2030 hours. We quickly unloaded our bikes, got freshened up a bit and rode off to Sarafa Bazaar, a renowned street-food court. A local told us that it starts at 2100 hours and continues till 0200 hours or so. We were delighted as we would now have aplenty time to eat, let it digest, then eat more :P. We devoured sweets and items like ‘garadu chat’.
After winning(losing?) the food battle, we turned our attention to buying some ‘sev‘. Madhya Pradesh is home of this Indian snack food item and there are hundreds of varieties available. We visited a shop where these varieties were displayed and you could taste and buy the ones you like. The shopkeeper soon figured out that we are from some distant city and asked us if we plan to buy sev to take away back home. We nodded. Enthusiastically, he stuffed at least 5-6 handfuls of sev in my hand, for tasting. I said that I was full and cannot eat that much, he joked about the poor appetite of the people from Mumbai 😛 All of us spent considerable time to buy sev, mainly due to the abundance and the space constraint(we were on bikes so had to be prudent). I bought 4kg of sev of 8 different varieties. We returned to the hotel quite late, drowsy because of the day’s ride and stuffed tummies 🙂
Start-of-Day : 0900 hours
End-of-Day : 0100 hours
Approx. distance covered : 210 km
Day -6 : January 9, 2014 (Thursday)
I guess we started around 0830 hours from the hotel, our next destination was Omkareshwar. We parked our bikes, I don’t recall if we hired a locker or we carried our backpacks but I am sure that when we reached the temple, we weren’t carrying any backpacks. The temple is situated on the Mandatha island which is around 2.5 sq km in area. We had an exasperating experience, common at the popular devotional places in India. The priests were chasing us for some offerings and negotiating their fees. We politely declined saying that we will offer only fruits and flowers. One kind priest told us to walk straight to ki the temple, have darshan and not get distracted by any such chasers. We followed his advice. After the ‘arati’, we left the temple. We decided to have a boat ride in the Narmada. I am loss of memory to recall how much we paid for the boating service but it was reasonable. There’s a power station nearby, we didn’t know that earlier and later, we didn’t have the bandwidth.
It was around 1400 hours when we started from Omkareshwar. Our next target was DCP 22°N 76°E. I won’t elaborate the blunders we committed between 1430 and 1800 hours. To summarize, we took a wrong road and ended up riding more than 55 miles(88 km), left our backpacks unattended on road, despite of having considerable trekking experience, committed fundamental mistakes in navigating through vast fields and so on :P. The readers interested in that embarrassing tale can refer to the DCP link where I have summarized the difficulties we (created!)faced before reaching the point. I guess we were now getting a bit exhausted. It’s always essential to have a day for resting after every 3-4 days of travel and exploration but in India, leaves are still a luxury(for companies, they are favors done to employees and NOT their basic rights :X )
In-line with the experiences so far in the Indian villages, the locals were helpful. A group of boys escorted us from the fields(where we were lost after returning from the DCP) to the main road where the bikes were parked. They also provided us the names of the adjoining villages which helped me in the DCP write-up. We thanked them. None of our luggage was stolen or missing, despite our bikes being unattended for almost 2h on the road.
I don’t recall where we stayed that night, not even faintly, as if it’s wiped out from my memory 😛 . Maybe Badwah, near some college. I didn’t even take a GPS note. We may have turned in quite early, around 2100 hours as the next two days were gonna be long ones, in terms of riding.
Route : Indore -> Omkareshwar -> Sanawad -> Daudwa -> Bhikangaon -> Boruth -> Badwah
Start-of-Day : 0830 hours
End-of-Day : 1930 hours
Approx. distance covered : 190 km
Day -7 : January 10, 2014 (Friday)
We started quite late, around 0830 hours. Our return journey was to begin and, as it happens, you feel that your home is calling 🙂
We had just two objectives for the day:
- Visit Bajirao I‘s ‘samadhi‘
- Head south, as much as possible, and stay at a place from where we can reach home comfortably, the next day. We had dropped the idea of going via Burhanpur (which has a couple of forts) because of the increased run and also the uncertainty of the accommodation facilities.
Since my teenage, when I first read a bit in detail about the Maratha Empire, Bajirao I had been a reverent figure to me. In the early 20s, I had decided that whenever I visit Madhya Pradesh, I am gonna visit his ‘samadhi’.
*Retrospective: Then, SLB had not unleashed his demons mutilating the history by creating movies like Bajirao Mastani. Bajirao was still (sadly!)unknown to the young masses outside Maharashtra and only History lovers would visit his ‘samadhi’ located in the hinterland of Madhya Pradesh.
Finding the road heading to Raverkhedi(Sanawad -> Bedia -> Raverkhedi) wasn’t a challenge but riding on it proved a bit messy. My Avenger, being a low-lying cruiser, turned muddy, so did my legs 😛 The consequences of off-roading
When we reached the village, people(looking at our attire, luggage and bikes) inquired curiously about our objective. I stopped by a house and asked for some water to wash off the mud from my pant and shoes. The ladies there asked the same question, I told them that we wished to visit the ‘samadhi’. They were astonished, one lady even asked me whether I was out of my mind to ride so far just to visit the ‘samadhi’. I politely explained that we had been to many places but that cemented her opinion about us being a deranged travelers.
The visit to ‘samadhi’ aroused mixed emotions in my mind – pride, honor, exasperation, sadness.
We started from Raverkhedi around 1230 hours. Via Katora -> Pipalgaon -> Kasaravad, we joined the AH-47 We planned to halt at either Sendhwa or Dhule. We were now famished and riding slow. We took refuge at a ‘dhaba’ by the way and I recall we had to settle for some substandard food. Since Dhule was less than 200km and we already had stayed earlier at the hotel Ganpati Palace, we decided to stay there. We were riding slow, taking breaks. I recall we had tea somewhere near Palasner. My bike’s upper headlight malfunctioned by the time we reached Dhule and I fruitlessly searched for an original replacement in the town. We freshened up and had our dinner and dozed off.
Route : Badwah -> Raverkhedi -> Dhule
Start-of-Day : 0830 hours
End-of-Day : 2000 hours
Approx. distance covered : 270 km
Day -8 : January 11, 2014 (Saturday)
The last day, the last lap of our expedition begun around 0800 hours. It was a bit cold(around 10 degrees) and we could feel the chill. We rode non-stop(around 160km) till Nashik, where we had lunch. The later ride was mundane. We bid Antik good bye as he headed for Borivali. Even at the cost of an increased distance, I was NOT prepared to take the Dombivali -> Taloja -> Panvel route(it gets on my nerves!), I opted to take a long route via Thane -> Belapur. We reached Panvel around 1600 hours. Mandar head for his home, Alkesh and I had made up our minds to go to Alibag. We quickly offloaded the unnecessary stuff, the ‘sev’ to be distributed in the offices and got riding again. Reached Alibag around 1830 hours.
Route : Dhule -> Nashik -> Thane -> Belapur -> Panvel -> Alibag
Start-of-Day : 0800 hours
End-of-Day : 1830 hours
Approx. distance covered : 410 km
Reflections – from 2014 to 2018
Till date, this remains my longest(2018 km) bike expedition. It boosted our confidence as a team. Within a month or so after we returned, we chalked out a couple of plans, ranging from 4k to 12k km. Even after 4 years, and I am sure, in future. I regularly visit the photographs and the GPS logs, just to cherish.
Having stayed for more than 3 years in Scandinavia and after having a glimpse of Europe, when I retrospect my explorations in India, I feel enchanted and eager – within just 8 days(2 days only for riding), we could experience a diversity in sightseeing and food. While Europe does have several lovable destinations, it’s no match for India’s diversity. Each state of the Indian republic is a country in itself, if we think from the perspective of sightseeing and exploration possibilities. I look forward to explore more of India(previously, I had confined myself to Maharashtra).
Life is about being kinetic 