Roadtrip Day 29-30: Badli stay & then heading to Chandigarh on subsequent day [Apr 6-7, 2021]
Rest day after riding back to back for 3 days in Rajasthan
I had decided to have Day 29 as a rest day, as I was riding back to back from the time I had entered Rajasthan. I hurriedly entered & exited Rajasthan primarily because of the summer/heat . I was feeling a bit sad/sorry to do so as one of my major milestone when I had planned the ride, was Jaisalmer. But guess, the primary purpose was enjoyable ride & riding in the heat was not enjoyable at all. Plus it makes me drowsy.
I woke up at around 9 AM & soon Vijender ji, who was my host for the day, came in & suggested we should have breakfast soon. We talked for some time & then had breakfast at around 10. I came back & slept off again. Sleeping during day has become a luxury for me & I did not want to miss out on that on my off day :).
I got up again at around 2:30 PM. I had thought of catching up on all pending blog posts but felt too lazy to do so. Vijender ji was back at around 4 PM & we chatted till like 6 in the evening. The plan for later in the evening was for the entire Badli group to meet but then it looked like only few would make it that day. We dispersed to meet again at around 8. I spent time writing blog post (not sure which day post I wrote, probably Day 27) & then Mahesh ji & Vijender ji both came in. We then decided to go for dinner at Pind Baluchi in Metro Walk. Vijender ji kids decided to join us for the dinner & from the group, it looked like no one else would be joining.
We had a good time & as usual for me, Vijender ji did not allow me to pay the bill (or even share it). He just said that they will take a big treat from me for the Facebook/London joining but did not tell me when :).
We came back from dinner & Vijender ji & I had a walk at the park opposite his house. Both of us talked about our past & about our life decisions. Vijender ji has this uncanny habit of staying connecting with everyone that he happen to meet. He magically gets to know when someone is in pain & he happen to call the person just then :). I remember that Vijender ji called me when I was in Rajkot struggling with my bike’s engine work. I asked Vijender ji if he knew that I was in pain & he said, he does not know specifically what pain the person has, but when he feels like he should talk to xyz, it has so turned out that xyz was in pain :-D. I retired to bed at around 11:30 PM. The plan next day was to get up & ride towards Chandigarh (Panchkula to be particular). I have a few friends there who had shown interest to do Spiti ride with me.
I was up at around 7 AM. I was ready to leave by 8 AM. While packing my bags, I saw one bungy chord nicely placed next to my bike. I realized that I had forgotton to keep it & maybe, the person who cleaning street had placed it nicely there. I remember Vijender ji telling (& in general people say this) that Delhi is not safe & getting things stolen is a common thing. I just wondered why nobody talks about such incidences :).
After packing my bags, I was back at Vijender ji’s place for the last cup of tea. That is when I clicked this pic of Vijender ji & his wife. I also would like to thank Vijender ji for awesome 2 day hosting at Badli. It was great chatting up with him & knowing his super powers :).
I realized I had forgotten my sanitizer bottle at Sanjay ji’s place where we had party the night before. Sanjay ji did not let me leave his place till I agreed to drink something. I suggested butter milk & he quickly fetched some from store next door. Then he showed me his factory setup which is in the same house where he stays (on the ground floor) & some of the other setup nearby. At around 11 AM, I bade farewell to him & started towards Chandigarh. I was being told about Singhu border which is blocked by Kisan Andolan but from my previous time, I was confident that it would not be a problem.
I reached Singhu border in an hour & did not take the detour which Google suggested & where most of the vehilces are turning left. I continued straight as there were other vehicles going too. But this time, bikers were not as lucky. Everyone was forced to take the right turn into Singhu village & I followed suite. It was bit of a jam but bikes were able to navigate much more freely than cars. At some point, I thought of taking a detour into the farm on the right when I checked in the map that there are paths from there connecting to the road ahead. But soon, I hit a artificially constructed gate & a man came out asking me to go back to the main road. I tried requesting but he did not listen. So I decided to head back.
So far, I was thinking that I am not really that lucky as I was at the Rajasthan border. But it did not take me much time merging back to the main road & I was riding towards Chandigarh. At around 1 PM, I decided to take a break. I passed a restaurant named Mannat Haveli & what got my attention is their claim to say that they are the ‘original’ haveli restaurant. I decided to take a u-turn to service road & head inside. I was made to park at the far end of the restaurant at the back. I was concerned of my luggage safety but a guard ahead assured me not to worry as there are cameras positioned everywhere. The restroom came first & it was a fancy one with some nice poster work.
As soon as I entered the restaurant, I figured it is a fine dine one. The first thought was - dude this is a bad decision. I always wanted a quick/cost effective one. I asked the manager who came to me, if they have a quick serve place & he said - they serve everything quickly. I decided to have a seat anyway now that I am inside & have spent good amount of time parking bike & walking to the place. I decided to order Lassi which was for 95 bucks & aloo tikki was for 100 bucks. The food was decent (not the best) & the waiters become pretty nosy at some point where he asked me if I want to add tip amount while he swipped my card. I said no & I would pay the tip later in cash, which I dint while I left.
The road till Kurukshetra was bad in terms of dust on the road. There were frequent diversions too. I also crossed a checkpost which was taken over by Kisan bhai & they were having some kind of sabha there. Apparently, there was langar & they were serving food too. The truck drivers passing by that area were happily stopping & having lunch there. I also stopped by there & I was suggested to have lunch but due to the drowsiness which food causes to me in afternoon, I politely refused.
I started on the ride after taking a longish break. The ride became much more pleasant. I do not know if it is the time of the day or if I actually started to see more trees alongside the road. I stopped by to have sugarcane juice at a roadside cart as well. Closer to the place, there was a large farm. It was so large that till the point I could see, it was just the farm with the yellow crop.
The road after Kurukshetra was definitely very green & much more enjoyable. I crossed Ambala & took a pic of the railway station from the overhead bridge.
The dhabas also started showing a touch of real Punjab & I stopped by at one at around 7 PM to have tea. For the first time, I was feeling cold while riding & I was happy about it. This means that my subsequent day rides, I do not have to worry about the heat anymore :).
I called up Nilesh, my friend in Panchkula, with whom I am going to stay. I told him that I would reach by like 8:30 - 9 & he said he will be around at that time. Vijender ji called me up soon & told me that I had forgotton my power bank at their place & that is when it occured to me that I am having around 20% battery left on my phone. I called Nilesh again & told him that I would keep my phone in flight mode & if he try to reach me, the calls might not connect. I had figured that if you have maps open with flight mode, the GPS would still work & your location still gets updated. Although navigation wont work but I dont use the navigation mode anyway to keep my battery drain to minimum.
I saw that Nilesh’s house is around 17 km from my place & I reached there in another half an hour. Nilesh stay at AWHO, Vikram Vihar - a colony dedicated to Capt Vikram Batra, who got Paramvir Chakra during Kargil war. He came to recieve me at the main gate. The security guy was a sardar & was pretty much startled to know that I am riding all the way from Bangalore. Nilesh, CP (another friend who lives nearby) & I spent rest of the night having drinks. It was a long time that I partyed with friends & it felt good. Apparently CP will be joining me for my Spiti ride but he needs a few days. I have decided to head towards Dalhousie & come back before heading to Spiti with CP. I retired to bed at around 1 AM. I decided that I would give tomorrow’s time to make a concrete plan for rest of my journey. At this moment, I am thinking of doing Chandigarh - Dalhousie - Chandigarh. Then head to Spiti & back (apparently Kunzum pass is not yet open so have to enter from Shimla & have to come back to Shimla), then will head to Uttarakhand, will probably attend Kumbh, ride till Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri & then enter Nepal from Mahendranagar. I spoke to my friend Amit whomI had met during Brahmatal trek. He is from Pithoragarh & helped me to confirm that it is possible to enter Nepal from Uttarakhand. I had thought of entering Nepal from Uttarakhand & exiting in Sikkim & then head towards North East (possibly enter & exit Bhutan). This way I will bypass the heat belt & able to reach NE India as well. I would then do coastal ride of east India to head back to Bangalore. Lets see how this pans out.
Tomorrow will be spent meeting a mechanic to check if everything is all right. I would also get a new visor for my helmet & try to get my blue tent cover stitched/patched as it is torn at multiple places now. I might experience rain in NE & its best that I patch my raincover in time.