Leh, Ladakh

I should have died on top of Baralacha la pass, but for some reason I'm still alive.

It was yet another ride, with just me, the bike and the mountains. There're no people around. I asked myself, where have the people gone? Weather was harsh. It was hot and dry during daytime and freezing cold in the night.

Second time I'm caught up in a mountain pass. This time it is Baralacha la pass. The oxygen was very low. I was fighting every second to keep myself alive, breathing with my mouth wide open. Biking was another challenge. Forget biking, it was hard for me even to walk and push the bike. I couldn't walk 10 steps while ascending to Baralacha la. My body was cursing my mind.

As I reached Baralacha la it was pitch dark. I couldn't see a thing. The place seemed haunted and I felt so lonely. My palm and feet had gone numb; I couldn't feel them. I had no energy whatsoever to pitch my tent on the pass. I had no energy left to walk or bike. I stood in the pass holding my bike, not knowing what to do.

My body had almost given up. I was freezing and my body was ready to die. I started to remember my past life, but I never cried. I felt I had a good life and yes, I have nothing more to do. All my wishes have come true. The last dream being cycling 3000km from South of India to Himalayas and I had already completed 3000km.

Amidst all this emotion rushing through me, with my body ready to die, my mind had some other plans. My mind still wanted to keep me alive and had not given up yet. I felt energy coming back to my legs and I walked few steps to see a light blinking far away. At this moment I remembered, what the local guy said to me, while having lunch at base of Baralacha la. I recollected him saying to me, If you reach top of Baralacha la, there is a camping tent, run by a family, a little further down. He was not sure if the camp was already closed.

As I saw the light blinking once again, I got on to my bike to hit the downhill. I couldn't see a thing, but aimed for the place where the light was blinking. I was rolling down reaching out for my life; perhaps the last survival instinct of my body. It was last chance for me. If I find a camp at the place where the light was coming from, I could live. Finally I reached the place and saw that it was a camp. I kept the bike aside and rushed into the camp. There were people warming themselves up by reaching their palm to the fire. I was shivering and couldn't speak out a word to them. I think they knew exactly what had happened to me and asked me to bring my hands on top of fire, to make my body warm. I got my life back, I survived for some reason.

Next day morning, I woke up to find that it was the last working day of the camp and people were bringing down their camp and moving back to their home town. I just thought, If I had been late by a day, I would have died on top of Baralacha la.

I went check to my bicycle and found that water in bottle was frozen, which reminded of what would have happened to me last night; I would have frozen to death.

Risen from the almost dead and carrying all this thought in my mind, I reached Leh, my final destination of this trip. I was done with biking, I was done with my little dream of cycling 3000km from Bangalore to Himalyas.

Darcha, Himachal Pradesh

I had a good sleep in Keylong, under a warm blanket. I woke up late.

I was in two minds if to leave Keylang or rest for a one more day. After, having a chat with the hotel guy, I decided to keeping moving since I could find a tent to stay for the night, 30km away from Keylang, in a place called Darcha.

I reached Dharcha, by afternoon. Found a tent camp with a beautiful young lady from Nepal, who was in charge of this camp. It was interesting too see their cot. they had piled up stones and had laid a bed on top of this pile. I had some tasty chappati & daal for dinner.

I didn't have a clear plan beforehand and was planning my ride every day by asking people I met en route.

Keylang, Himachal Pradesh

Last night was a nightmare. I was cold, almost freezing cold. I woke up in the morning to see a layer of ice formed on top of my tent. It was a windy morning and I was feeling pain in my joints due to cold.

With so much pain in my fingers due to cold, somehow I folded-up my tent, prepared the bicycle. Spending a night at top of Rohtang was an insane thing to do, considering what I experienced. Perhaps being brought up tropical climate my body couldn't take in cold weather.

I started to pedal my bike, but couldn't ride after 10meters. I oxygen was low and I was gasping for air with my mouth wide open. I pushed the bike till the point from where the descend started.

Next challenge was the descending roads. Infact, there was no road at all. With roads being fully destroyed by landslides, It was like a trail wide enough for a car to go, with rocks and puddles. If you make a small mistake you can fall into the valley and never wake up.

After tackling the last 8km of bad road once gain, I reached a small, but nice & warm hotel, in the outskirts of Keylang. The hotel manager said, cycling till Leh may not be a good idea. The climate is getting cold and even the bus services to Leh will be stopped soon due bad weather. I listened to him and imagined how tough it was for me at almost 4000 meters altitude in Rohtang. If I had to reach Leh, I had to cross passes which were even higher.

I didn't have any clothing for cold weather and after what happened in Rohtang, I decided to buy some.

Rohtang Pass, Himachal Pradesh

After a day's rest and exploring in Manali town, I start for Leh. Rotang is the first pass in himalayas that I have to cross; Rohtang means 'pile of corpses'. Soon I will be facing death.

Winter had already arrived in the Himalayan regions and it seemed that I was bit late to do the Manali to Leh ride. My first point of halt and today's destination is Rohtang. It's a mountain pass that closes down in winter, due to snow fall and ice formed, which apparently closes the road connectivity. Little did I know what I had to face today, what it means to be cold.

The initial stretch of road from Manali-Leh Highway was a death trap. The roads were broken due to landslides. However, after initial stretch the roads got better and I was enjoying some of the best Mountains and valley views of my life.

I met the first bicycle tourist in my entire life. His name is Petras and he was from Greece. He gave me few tips on how to ride uphills, especially with luggage on. I was still learning how to use a geared bicycle. He advised me to use more of the endurance muscles rather than using the power muscles of the legs.

I had met Petras while having lunch and he left soon after lunch. I didn't see him anymore that day. He was a very good climber and zoomed away as I watched him finishing my lunch.

The oxygen was getting low and I was feeling it slowly, as I climbed the mighty mountains. It was pitch dark when I reached Rohtang pass. The wind was making the temperature drop and I felt cold seeping into my bones. My palm and feet were almost numb. It was windy and I don't know how I did I pitch the tent and got inside and quickly jumped into my sleeping. Now that felt warm for a while.

With the wind blowing, the temperature was soon getting low and my sleeping bag was not good enough for subzero temperatures. I was freezing. My feet went very cold even inside the sleeping bag and I couldn't sleep in the night.

Suddenly, I heard a tapping sound on top of the tent. I started to wonder what's happening.

Manali, Himachal Pradesh

The original plan was to reach Kullu and the plan B was to ride till Manali. It was a smooth ride, very good road and panoramic mountains surrounding me.

Two young men stopped near Pandoh dam and one of them said "I have seen many white people cycling this way. It's good to see a crazy countrymen men like you doing this crazy stuff".I smiled at their comment, had a short chat with them and kept riding on.
I reached Kullu and my bum was very sore. I knew once again I have endure all the pain, if I had to reach Manali. I started for Manali. Yet another adventurous (perhaps I'm fool enough to say that) ride in the darkness of the night, under poor visibility. But yeah, I reached Manali and it was 9:00pm. Found a budget place to stay. My stomach flu had began to subside.

Went out to Manali town. Had some Momos(first time in my life) and a cup of hot 'Gulab Jamuns'.
I will take a rest day in Manali and start the most sought after ride, for adventure junkies, the Manali-Leh cycling.

Mandi, Himachal Pradesh

Woke up late today and started to Mandi, my next stop. I was expecting steep climbs and bad roads after what I had gone through yesterday, but was surprised with better roads and rolling terrain. It was long downhill from Sundarnagar, a beautiful valley town with a big lake in the middle.

Again, people were saying hello, hi and I was waving back. I reached Mandi in 5 hours. There was some special festival going on in a Hindu temple in Mandi and town was busy.

My stomach was slowly healing. The plan is reach Kullu, a hill station, tomorrow.

Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh

I never had a clue how today's ride was going to be. Started a bit late from Rupnagar, since my stomach was little upset. I was riding next to Sutlej river for a while; it was beautiful.

Soon I was welcomed to Himachal Pradesh, with a never ending climb to a small town called Swarghat. The climb was tough with really bad roads, trucks passing by and on top of all, my bad stomach. It seemed to be a stomach flu and I realised that I'm having diarrhea. But I kept climbing. At one point, I couldn't control my bad stomach, ran into the bush and flushed out. I was really tired now and was nearing a stage that I may faint and fall. I lied down on the road side next to a Hanuman temple and fell asleep or perhaps blacked out. I woke up after sometime, with little energy. I was only drinking water and didn't feel like eating since my stomach was having problems. I pushed my bike for more than an one hour and to reach the hilltop of Swarghat. I was out of water, my throat was dry and I could hardly feel saliva in my mouth. Drank some water with banana sitting at one side of the road. A cow came to me and wanted to have some banana as well; I gave couple of banana's to this cow and started to roll down the hill to Bilaspur.

Night had fallen, it was pitch black and I had not reached my destination yet. There were no street lights on road. I switched on my tiny front light bought from Chandigarh bike shop and was riding on rocks, broken roads and mountains edges. It was a risky ride as well; I had slipped and fell couple of times due to poor visibility. However, I had to reach Bilaspur and kept saying to mind that nothing will stop me from reaching there.

The roads were really worse today. With my illness, this ride was the toughest one I had done till now. My cycle computer reads: 93km with 9.5 hours spent on saddle.

Rupnagar, Punjab

It's time to find a breakfast point before the ride and I went to near by bus station where I saw a restaurant with many people. Being from South India, It was a new style breakfast for me. Paratha, curd and butter. Those butter slices were too big for me. Seems like butter was inexpensive, since they kept serving on when I asked for more.

Being a city, I thought of giving the bike a check up before leaving further. Found the address of the nearest bike shop with the help of my sister who was far away in South; thanks to internet & google search.

I was riding in Chandigarh city and was amazed by the planning of this city; so well planned and green. Found the bike shop with help of few rickshaw drivers. Finally, I bought front light for my bike after many days of riding in the dark and the bike shop did a free bike check-up. The mechanic told that they went to Leh, Ladakh for biking last week and mountain passes were still open. Manali-Leh road remains closed for ceratin time of year when winter starts and snowfall becomes heavy.

My riding target of the day was to reach Rupnagar, a small town in Punjab. Chandigarh city limits were big. It took me 13km of ride to finally get out of city and find the signboard showing Rupnagar. It was a beautiful ride to Rupnagar!

Chandigarh

Leaving the town of Karnal, the plan was to reach Ambala and call it a day. I entered the town limits of Ambala and it was 5:45pm. I haven't entered the city centre yet and asked one of the Sardar walking on how far is Chandigarh. He said it may take 2 hours on bicycle. I was hapy to hear and thought to pushing off towards Chandigarh.

It was highway and I was speeding to reach Chandigarh. It was 08:30pm when I finally ended up in there. Being a well developed city, I just overlooked the fact of finding a cheap stay in Chandigarh. A modest lodge quoted me a price of Rs. 2650 per night. I said I can spend max of Rs. 1000 for a night and he offered me the room. I just learned to keep away from main cities while taking a trip and you are on a budget. It was the most expensive room of my whole ride till now.

Oh yes, I saw the costliest bottle of Aquafina drinking water bottle, with price printed as Rs. 30 for 1 litre bottle; couldn't believe it at my first sight.

Above all, Chandigarh has separate lanes for 2 wheelers, which was something new for me. Time to forget all pain and have a good sleep.

Karnal, Haryana

I woke up feeling fresh and ready to face the roads. Was searching around for breakfast and found one shop which was just opening. The shopkeeper offered bread omlet and milk tea. The town of Rohtak had hardly woke up and I wanted to leave the town before the traffic swallows me.

I started riding and once again my problem with left knee started to pop up. I had to take breaks and rest my left leg before I could bike any further. Amazingly, I had no pain when this was happening. It was just that I temporarily lose my power to pedal with left leg and things became alright after resting my leg for 5-10 minutes. I understood that I cannot power my left leg to it's max and will have to ride carefully without pushing to it's max power.

My bum was badly sore today.

I reached Karnal by early afternoon. Karnal, a beautiful and clean town. I saw a big park with people walking and children playing. I heard songs from hindu temple praising epic characters Rama & Hanuman. I saw people going to Gurudwara, with sikh men wearing turbans.

One thing that struck me today was the size of buffalos in Haryana. Boy, they were really huge. It was great to see lot of mechanisation in villages of Haryana, quite a contrast to many other villages I saw during my ride.

Today I have time to take good rest. I'm going to explore this town on foot.

Rohtak, Haryana

Again cycled on really bad, bumpy roads from Rewari to Jhajjar. Lots of highway road construction going on and I had to take deviations, one after the other.

It was early morning traffic-jam in small town of Rewari. I got really pissed-off one time when an auto-rickshaw driver bumped on my rear wheel. He did is again and I stopped and pulled my bicycle to one side of the road and asked him to rush to hell :-). I was angry, but soon came in terms by saying myself that I cannot expect all people to be nice towards me.

When I reached Rohtak town, asked a police officer for a lodge around and he said something which I could hear properly. I just rode to a place where he pointed to and found a small lodge( which was under renovation) for the night's stay.

I was very tired by the time I reached the lodge.

I was riding for more than 10 hours and at one moment, I heard a cracking sound from my left leg knee. I was climbing an overbridge just before Rohtak town. Something had gone wrong with my knee. I felt like my knee cap was rubbing on thigh bone and also I couldn't pedal the bike; it seemed to me that I had lost my power to pedal with left leg. I had overworked my knee, I knew. I never trained on bike before this trip and I had just began biking few days back, after a gap of 10 years. I never rode a bicycle every day for 100km on a average, day after after. My legs were pushed to their limits. I thought, will I be able to ride the rest of my journey to foothills of Himalaya?

Behror, Rajasthan

Riding through busy streets and old fort gates, I leave Jaipur city. Accompanied by trucks and cars, I ride next to many farms and farms houses.

Reached Behror before sunset. The only place I found to stay was a "Dharamsala", a lodging facility provided by a Hindu temple. There were 7 old men sitting outside the Dharamsala and one of them was the caretaker of this Dharamsala. I asked if it's possible for me to spend a night there and the caretaker said yes. I paid 50 ruppees for the night, with a very basic room and a common bath outside. There were lot of other pilgrims in there, spending a night before continuing their own pilgrimage. I was also a pilgrim, on a pilgrimage to find the unknown inside me.

Freshening up, I went to a small restaurat and had 7 seven rotis, with sabji(vegetable curry) and kadi(yoghurt curry). The roti's were very different in size and taste, from the one's I had till now; they were delicious!

@ Jaipur

After a good sleep, I woke up with great hope. I was in Jaipur and now I can get a spare tube.I started pushing bike from hotel, in search of the bike shop.

Located the bike shop after few calls to the shop owner. When I reached there, it was 9:30am and bike shop was not open yet.

I was standing outside the bike shop. Seeing a stranger in pink city, with a bike and loaded carrier, people near by the shop gathered, thinking what am I doing? And now, yet another conversation with people began.

Seema, a lady from near by "chai" shop, who was among the people I spoke to, invited me to her shop, just to sit, relax and chat, until the bike guy comes and opens the bike store. Seema was an entrepreneur, trying her hands in 2-3 small scale business. She said: "I never believed stuff shown on adventure TV channels. But hearing your journey, I think, people do crazy things like this".

My search for inner peace through a bicycle tour, may seem crazy to others, but never to me.

Soon Sanjay Bhai, the bike shop owner came and opened the store. I spent a day in the store, where they serviced my bike, changed tires and made it ready for the ultimate challenge, "Manali to Leh ride".

Sanjay was a Jain and he arranged a Jain rest house for me to stay for the night. I started to the rest house by 8:00pm, saying good-bye to Sanjay and thanking him for all the help with the bike.
Reaching the Jain rest house, the person in-charge asked: What's your name? and what's your surname?
Further, he said I cannot stay in this rest house, since it was meant only for Jain people and I'm not a Jain. I started to wonder what religion has done to people.

Bhilwara to Jaipur, Rajasthan

Couple of hours into the ride and it was another flat tire in the rear. Patched it up and continued the ride.

Cows just don't care for anything on a National highway

It was close to 2:00 pm and rear tire once more surrendered to another puncture. I was unable to locate the puncture this time. Pushed the bicycle to near by 'tyre works', a small road side workshop. They repair only truck or motorbike tires and agreed to fix the puncture, when I told that I can remove the tire from bicycle and just give the tube to them. They tried, but couldn't fix it. I thought may be the tube is worn out.

It was a tea break at the workshop and I was also offered a cup of tea. A truck driver who was present there, offered me a ride in his truck to Jaipur. I was more than happy to take the offer. They mounted my bicycle on top of truck and we rode towards Jaipur.

My bike on top of truck

I was wondering about how much money should I offer the truck driver for his help. Closing in towards Jaipur, the truck engine started making a strange noise. The truck came to a stop, almost 28 km before Jaipur. All felt like a movie; first my bike tube terminated its life and now his truck engine failed. I offered truck driver some money for his help, but he didn't accept it and wished me good luck for the onward journey.

It was almost 7:30 pm and I was very sure to reach Jaipur by walking the bike all the remaining 28 km. I'm still unsure on why I decided to do that.

After 12 km of pushing the bike, I was tired. Just to work around the flat tire situation, I thought, may be I could pump the air to rear tire and ride until the air lasts. But the air would last only for a minute or so. Seemingly stupid, now I was pumping air and riding; pumping air again and riding again; this helped to cover 12 more kms, where I found a small hotel to stay. It was 12:30 am. I had few slices of bread with fruit jam and went to sleep.

Chittorgarh to Bhilwara, Rajasthan

The previous day,  I had bit of rest and explored Chittorgarh fort and town. After a rest day, getting back on the saddle was bit of a pain for my bum. With a cloudy day and cool weather, it took some time for the body to get warm and return to cycling mode.

Today I had my 6th puncture fixing session on the road. Without a spare tube in hand, I was wondering if another puncture could cost me dearly and I may have to stop riding until I get a spare tube. Anyways I hope things go fine until I reach Jaipur and find a spare tube at the local bike shop there.

Reached Bhilwara, had some samosas and sandwich and called it a day.

Chittorgarh town seen from the fort

A random view of  Chittorgarh fort

Monkeys, the current residents of the fort.

Mandsaur to Chittorgarh, Rajasthan

Left Mandsaur by 6:30am. Saw many disciples of "Ram" (Hindu God) walking by the roadside. They were on a pilgrimage to one far away temple. My target destination for the day was Chittorgarh.

Riding around 40km, it came to my memory that I had forgotten to take my id card from the lodge, I stayed at Mandsaur. I was in no mind to ride back to get back the id card and finally decided to forget about it. Sometime later, I got a call (luckily I had entered my phone number in the lodge register) from the gentleman at lodge. He said that he could arrange with a bus driver to send my id card to Chittorgarh bus station the next day. May be it's not time to lose this ID card, I thought at that moment.

It was so kind of the gentleman at lodge that he decided to send me the ID card, which he could have easily thought of not doing. Something I have experienced during this trip is that, people are very kind towards a person whom they never know. It's an interesting to understand how we react to strangers. At times we are defensive and at times very kind and ready to show the best of human character, "empathy".

Nearing Rajasthan, I could see the texture of soil getting changed; it was fine, dusty. I had to cover my face with a muffler and wear glasses to see the road through dust sprayed all around by the trucks passing beside me.

Soon I saw a huge traffic jam with trucks lined up in a long line. I had to make a choice; either to wait for traffic jam to get over or take the muddy side lane, which was not in riding condition, with dredges created by the truck tires, deep enough to take half of bicycle into it. I decided not to wait and take the side lane. If I could compare this lane to something back in Kerala, it's exactly like water logged paddy field before planting paddy seedling. Soon the bicycle, its derailleurs and my feet was fully covered with this clay. I didn't stop and continued  to ride. It was almost a 10km stretch that I had to pass, riding through  the clay and get out of the traffic mess.

I reached Chittorgarh before dusk. My legs and bicycle were fully covered with clay; felt like I came right out of a clay spa.

Tomorrow will be a day-off to cycling, firstly to give a thorough clean up to bicycle, secondly to collect my forgotten id card and lastly to explore Chittorgarh fort.

Ratlam to Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh

Today was the day of onions; I was riding through many onion farms, onions on tractor, onions on truck, onion markets and even piles of rotten onion by the road side.

Then suddenly I heard two men calling out loud. They were working on an onion farm and I was riding a bicycle. I stopped hearing them call me.They came running to me and asked if I had water to drink. Seemed quite unusual for me. They were very thirsty; I gave them the 2 ltr water bottle that I had hung on the bicycle and continued my ride. Made me wonder, did I ride all this way to reach that place at that particular time so that I could provide some water to two thirsty farmers?

Another youngster came to me and asked, " Why I am giving so much pain to myself by riding a bicycle, all this way, all alone". I thought may be I found a pleasure in this pain.

Tomorrow I will hit the roads of Rajasthan.

Dhamnod to Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh

Another day with rain, climbs and pot hole massager roads. It never feels better than riding in the rain. Today I passed through the Mandu hills, with lot of villagers staring at me. I felt as if I was not welcome in their villages.

Mandu hills felt very much deserted and almost like a forest. I could see ruins of palaces, children playing cricket, herds of cow, ladies carrying loads of firewood on their head.

The ride through Mandu was always accompanied by peacocks crying and flying here and there; although couldn't watch them dance. Later on, I got company of two kids who where enjoying their holiday and cycling towards a water stream near by for a swim.

Mandu climbs soon got over and I was greeted by more bad roads. The roads were nice massagers, with me shaking and shivering for hours on the bicycle; had to stand up from the seat to aerate by bum many times.

Nearing Ratlam rain became heavy and I felt awesome. Today it was another long ride with 154 km in total.

In Ratlam town, many people stopped me to have a chat, to know what I was doing and also to have a look at the bicycle. Kids commented : "Arey woh dekho gear waali cycle" ("hey look there is a geared bicycle"). Some gentlemen were keen on counting the number of gears on the bike.

Shirpur to Dhamnod, Madhya Pradesh

Got an early morning start from Shirpur. I felt the Sun really bright and shadows long. The service roads next to the National highway was a pleasure to ride, with lot of farms on one side.

Soon I reached the border of Madhya Pradesh and was greeted by steady climbs. The hard part of the climb was negotiating the truck traffic. Once the climb was over, it was relaxing ride with rolling hills on either side, covered with light green grass. The roads were awesome and I was riding fast.

By noon I had done almost 100km. I was thinking that I could do another 70-80km by evening. Suddenly, I heard a sound from my front tire with air gushing out fast. I have got my 5th puncture of the trip.

I pulled the bicycle down to a near by tree, so that I could rest a little and fix the puncture. This time, the puncture was a real deal. It had created a hole big enough that the punture scabs I had were pretty useless.

I didn't have a spare tube and was wondering how am I going to ride from there. Meantime I was watching a farmer couple working on their fields. It's always a great feeling for me to watch farmers on field; I guess my farming ancestry just connects with me at that moment.

A farmer who was going on his bicycle (after the work on his farm) saw me sitting beside my bicycle. Since I  looked like an outsider to him, he came to me asking "What happened?". I said: "I'm unable to fix the puncture". He said he could help me to take the tube to a bicycle repair shop in nearby village and get it fixed. I trusted him and gave the tube. He came back after half an hour. I inserted the tube into the tire and pumped air into it. It seemed fine for a minute, but puncture reopened again. He said one solution may be to seal the puncture by applying scab using some heat fixing technique, which they do on motorcycle tubes. The farmer went again and got it fixed this time. Perfect! I thanked him.

Although I don't believe in God, but this instance of a stranger farmer helping me without expecting anything, could question my belief.

It was already 4:30 pm and I thought riding ahead was pointless. May be pitch my tent there and call it a day. However, the farmer suggested that I can find lodging in Dhamnod, 25km away.

Considering the clouds hanging in, I thought it would be better to find a lodge to stay for the night.

Dhamnod had more medical shops than any other shops. Made me wonder, Is this a really sick place?

It was dark and the lodge I took was filthy and poorly maintained. But I had no other choice. Couldn't   sleep that night and was waiting for the morning.

Just made me think how people perceive cleanliness so differently. The lodge guy had showed room and said it was the best they had. It was huh.. rusted iron bed, torn mattress and unclean. Anyways that was an experience for me; never lived in such poor condition.

I'm starting to realize that majority of India is all about adjusting to situations and finding fulfillment in whatever you get or wherever you are.

Jalgaon to Shirpur, Maharashtra

Today's plan was to take a shortcut through Asigarh hills and ride to Khargone. However, I was apprehensive about the route and was thinking to change the plan.

In the morning, I was figuring out how to get out of Jalgaon. Met Mr. Kulkarni, a police inspector. He offered me a tea and asked questions about my journey. After the tea he rode with me for short time, showing me the way to enter the National Highway towards Chopda.

Nearing Chopda, a dog started running beside me. From my experience, dogs don't like strangers in their village and I thought this dog also wanted to chase me out of the village I was riding through. But it appeared that the dog just wanted to run with me. I was cycling and dog was running. Once dog was tired, it would slow down and would catch up with me again. This went for around 4kms and the dog finally gave up when another dog on the roadside barked at him.

On the way I met two ex-military guys. We had a little chat and I asked them the way towards Asigarh hills. One of them suggested that I go through Shirpur, instead of taking Asigarh route as the route is not pleasant with chances of me getting looted. Although I was doubtful of taking up the hilly route in the morning, but after hearing from this guy, I was pretty much sure of not taking the Hilly route and rode to Shirpur instead.

It was 4:30pm and I was few kms away from Shirpur. An old man joined me with his bicycle. He was going back home after his daily work. He rode with me till Shirpur town.

At the entry point of Shirpur, three guys on one motorbike saw me, enquired what I was doing on a bicycle and commented "Aap jaise log bhi is duniya me hain kya ?". (Does people like you exist in this world?).

Ajanta to Jalgaon, Maharashtra

Rode to Ajanta caves by 9:00 am. I had been informed that seeing Ajanta caves will take anywhere between 3-5 hours. Although, tourist spots were not a priority in my travel, but just wanted to give Ajanta a try since it was off-season.

Road towards the caves from the checkpoint was peaceful and only authorized buses were allowed to pass through. I liked that fact that they also allowed bicycles to go in.

I was the first customer to reach the cave ticket counter. An archeological guide named Vishal approached me and started saying about the services he can offer. What I wanted was a safe place to park my bicycle and didn't want people to play on it. Vishal said he will look after the bicycle while I walk around the caves.

Inside caves it was tranquil and I felt the silence just penetrating into me.
"Budham sharanam gachaami, dharmam sharanam gachaami"

I had a quick view of caves by walking around for 3 hours and later, walked up to the viewpoint   and got a better view of waterfall near to caves. The local guide said that waterfall had seven steps and was nature-made. I was amazed when a local guide told me that the whole Ajanta caves were dug out from the hill. Towards the end of cave walk, more souvenir sellers came to me and I ended up buying some needless stuff.

Reached Jalgaon by evening and it was raining there. Found a lodge near railway station. The lodge owner said to have dinner "Thali" from Arya Nivas restaurant, and I found it to be second best dinner I had till now. The best was from MTDC hotel in Ajanta.

Aurangabad to Ajanta, Maharashtra

A foggy morning at Aurangabad; many people were enjoying a walk or run on the roadside. I felt like it was an ideal start for the day's ride.

Unable to locate any signboard, getting out of Aurangabad city towards Ajanta seemed to be tricky.  I rode through some pockets roads with the help of auto-rickshaw drivers, a bakery shop owner, a school security guard and many more rushing for their morning jobs.

Soon the weather changed and it started to rain. It was mildly weeping rain that lasted all day long.

With the rain never taking a break, it was wet ride through villages, with kids waving, dogs chasing, people staring and even few cows staring at me.

I was climbing Ajanta ranges. It was raining and the views were beautiful. Soon the downhill started and bicycle was gaining speed; had to apply breaks all time, to not let the bicycle go out of control.

The bicycle gear shifting was giving some problem, with the chain reluctant to fall on certain gear. Since, I didn't know how to fix it, I hoped to find a modern bicycle repair shop before it got worse.

It was evening and still raining. Reached the entry checkpoint to Ajanta caves, but didn't go further as it was closed for the day. Took a room in an MTDC budget hotel. Had tasty chapattis and vegetable curry for dinner.

Tomorrow, I will ride to Ajanta caves.

Beed to Aurangabad, Maharashtra

Morning ride to Aurangabad was hectic, with many trucks and cars honking at me and I had to get off the bicycle now and then.

At the beginning of the ride, one guy on motorbike who saw me while riding in opposite direction, took a U turn and came to me. He was curious if I was cycling with any message, religious or anything else. I said that my cycling journey is the message; I share my story with people I meet on road and I wish I could inspire them to follow their heart to fulfill their own dreams.

A soon as I left the Beed town limits and entered into the villages, I was treated with wonderful views of little green hills.

In between, a motorbike guy near one village junction stopped me and inquired about my bicycle trip. Soon a kid came to me asking for a test drive on the bicycle. I was hesitant to give the bicycle, but the people gathered around forced me to do so. The kid took a round, followed by an adult taking the bicycle to spin around.

Met two teachers on motorbike, 30km ahead of Aurangabad. We had a chat while riding and they left wishing me good luck. Soon, a marketing executive working for a fertilizer company said hello to me and invited me for a cup of tea. He was curios to know, if I have been interviewed by any news media and was about to call his friend working for a news channel. I said that I'm not doing this for any media attention.

Met couple of engineering students at the lodge I stayed for the night. They asked me lot of questions about the bicycle journey. They said about their plan for a Ladakh ride on motorbike, but ride on a bicycle that long was unthinkable for them. One of them took a picture along with me.

For most of the people I met on road till now, doing a solo ride was unimaginable, once they analyze the risks on road. But I had turned off the risk analysis part in my brain before this journey.

Today the bicycle crossed 1000km, I guess a  milestone for bicycle and me.

Barshi to Beed, Maharashtra

It was 7:30am and the rain had calmed down a bit. I decided to start from Barshi towards Beed, without waiting anymore for the rain to stop. Soon I was riding in heavy rain. I decided not to get off the bicycle this time and enjoy the ride in rain. I should say, riding in the rain was awesome.

Till 2:00pm, I had a job in hand i.e. tackle the pothole while riding in rain. By far, this was the most adventurous ride in my trip till now.

Jerky ride through the potholes, along with the lubrication provide by the rain, had made the rear rack strap slide down and it was now resting on the disc brake unit. Once the rain stopped I had to re-adjust the rear rack, for the second time in this trip.

20km away from Beed, I got my first excitement of a downhill ride on a bicycle. With speed more than 50kmph , I was learning how to tackle the turns in a downhill.

The downhill came to an end and I was greeted by two guys named Vijay and Amol on a motorbike. They had come to visit a waterfall over there. Being youngsters, they were very much thrilled after hearing about my trip.

Few kms later, I entered Beed town, took the road towards Aurangabad and stopped in front of the Bus station to find a lodge for night stay.Couple of guys on scooter stopped near me, asking to take a picture along with them.

Ahead I met a group of police guys. They helped me in locating the lodge and wished me good luck for my trip. Soon an auto-rickshaw driver gave me 50 rupees, asking me to keep it for "Chai-paani"(for tea/water). I denied to accept the money, but the people nearby said to take it. I guess they were thinking that I was a pilgrim and helping me is a good deed. 

Before sleep, I went to the hotel below the lodge to get some water. Had a chat with the middle-aged hotel manager, who was settling the account for the day. He asked me where I was from and why in Beed. I said about my journey and soon he shared his bike ride to north India during his youth. He offered me a tea and we spoke for some more time.

Riding through the villages today, one particular thing that struck my mind was the number of Swami ashrams on the way. Seems like villagers are very much affectionate to Swami ji's.

Solapur to Barshi, Maharashtra

As usual, I started early to escape the traffic in the town. People were moving to their offices for their daily job. On the way, a fellow cyclist rode with me to show the road towards Barshi from Solapur town.

Moving ahead, I met Mr. Boghle, a police inspector. He was incharge of the checkpost from Solapur to Barshi. We spoke as he rode his motorbike, keeping in pace with my bicycle. He asked me to stop at the check post ahead, for a cup of tea. Mr. Boghle who started speaking to me in Marathi and then in Hindi, was now deliberately speaking in english after knowing my education background. He offered me tea and also entered my name in the check post register just to commemorate that a "Traveller on bicycle" had passed through his check post.

I started from checkpost thanking Mr. Boghle for the tea. Further, I was stopped by a bunch of police guys. They asked me where I was going and wished me good luck.

Around 5 km from the checkpost, couple of local guys on motorbike slowed down by seeing me. Hearing my story, they invited me for breakfast at a dhaba in a vilage named Gunvanchi, few kms away. I was about to reach the Dhaba and I saw them waving at me. Mr. Chandrakant Rauth, as he introduced himself, asked me what I want for beakfast and said that the Dhaba belongs to his brother-in-law. As I waited for the breakfast, Mr. Rauth said "It's amazing to meet peope on road whom you might meet only once in a lifetime".

Cycling ahead through the villages, many motorbike guys rode along with me asking me similar set of questions which I was getting used to now, like, "Where I am from?" "Price of the bicycle?" "Where I was going?" "Why cycling alone?" "Where I sleep during night?" "Where I will have my food?"

Road towards Barshi had many potholes, but the views were excellent. As I was cycling through the villages, I could see farmers enagaged in agricultural activities, with their farms having vegetable, banana and sugarcane cultivation. One farmer invited me for lunch at his farm.

I reached Barshi by 4:00pm and stopped near the town entry, seeking help to find an accomodation. The people near by gathered and asked me about the bicycle trip. They helped me in locating a budget lodge for the night stay.

Normally I keep to myself, but now I was feeling great while getting attention from people. Altogether I felt that people in Maharashtra were more curious and welcoming. I enjoyed their hospitality.

During night, it rained in Barshi. It was "Angry rain" and poured so heavily for hours that the town was almost flooded. I could get the smell of sewage as it rained all night.

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"When it rained, the towns smelled like sewage and villages like cow dung."

Bijapur, Karnataka to Solapur, Maharashtra

It was a late start from Bijapur. Not much of views in the beginning and the road was busy with trucks.

Couple of motorbike guys stopped me and few others passing by joined in, wondering what was happening. Again, it was a story telling session for me. By seeing the bicycle, they were asking about its different components. Some of them were very eager to play with the cycle gear, wondering what would happen. Some said I could have rode on motorbike, instead of a bicycle. I just smiled back.

An old farmer on the road side smiled at me and asked if I was coming from outer space. Seemed like, with a bicycle helmet and a raincoat on, I resembled an astronaut.

Clouds were just hanging around in the sky. It was getting hot and I wished for a rain, but it didn't happen.

Entered Solapur town by evening. Stopped to have coconut water. A young boy was selling the coconut. He couldn't believe that I was cycling from Bangalore. I was very tired and my bums and back were in lot of pain. Asked direction towards the Railway station, to find a cheap accommodation for night stay.

Solapur is pretty much a developed town. I was cycling towards the railway station and was stopped by few auto-rickshaw drivers. After having a chat with them, they directed me to the best place for the night stay within my budget.

It was time for another heavy dinner and I refueled myself with a  delicious thali along with few vada pav and bananas.

Prior to the sleep, I was getting a burning sensation on the top of my palm; seemed like it was heavily sunburned from past few days of riding under the sun. A hand glove could have helped to avert the sunburn, but I didn't buy one, thinking that it's of no use.So another piece of lesson learned on importance of hand glove.

Today was also the end of Karnataka ride and beginning of Maharashtra.

Anand Restaurant(Badami) to Bijapur, Karnataka

Had a disturbed sleep previous night with mosquitoes all over me. Woke up early and made my bicycle ready for the ride. All the restaurant workers were sleeping. Saw one lady in there and I asked her to say my "goodbye" to all those helpful guys.

Cycling began and I was feeling good, despite a bad sleep. The feel good factor didn't last long as I was cycling through the village with dogs chasing me now and then. Three times I cycled fast and one time I shouted at the dogs, getting fed up of them chasing me. Anyways, I escaped from being bitten by some mighty village dogs.

The roads towards Bijapur had plenty of downhills, which I enjoyed very much. I was around 70km away from Bijapur and the roads were just awesome. It was a "Wow" moment for me; beautiful sky and light green landscape with new plants just sprouting up after the rain.

I had parked the bicycle under a tree, having some bread and jam, while watching farmers working in the fields using traditional methods. As soon as I started from there, I rode the bicycle into a sharp wooden chip; got the 3rd puncture of the trip. A farmer passing by the road, asked "what happened and where I was going". He told me that there is bicycle shop 2km away, in case I needed help to fix puncture.

Heavy winds started to flow and I thought it may rain. Fixed the puncture quickly and started riding again.

Throughout my ride, I saw farmers working very hard from dawn to dusk. I wondered how much they would earn for their hard work. They are our food producers and it seems that we never think about them.

Today was also marked by a long bridge crossing, around 4.5km over river Krishna.

Met many local motorbike guys on the road all asking question like Where am I from? Where to? and What is the cost of the bicycle? . For cost of bicycle I gave them different answers like 5000/10000/30000/40000 ruppees. All the people I met today were asking the price of bicycle; hearing them, I thought how the paper money is ruling our lives. So for a change, now I started answering the price question saying: "I don't know the actual price, my friend has gifted me this bicycle for the journey."

On the ouskirts of Bijapur, two guys on  motorbike caught up and rode with me till Bijapur town. We had a nice chat and they told me to visit different places in Bijapur.

Hubli to somewhere near Badami, Karnataka

Got my bicycle serviced. The shop guys were thrilled to hear about my trip. They introduced me to some customers who came in to purchase bicycle. All wished me good luck and took a picture of me with the bicycle.

Started off from Hubli at about 11:00am. I could hear the bicycle tires making a buzzing sound, while  cycling  fast. I thought may be it will go away after sometime, but that didn't happen.  I had already cycled 12 km towards Badami and now decided to return back to Hubli to check if something was wrong with the bicycle tires. Reached the bike shop once again. The mechanic guy was waiting for me, since they forgot to fix back the front mudguard on the bicycle.He said there was no problem with tires and the sound is due to  tire taken out from the rim to fix the puncture, and will be ok after riding for a while. I took his words and started to Badami again.

Badami was about 100+ km. It was late start and I had already lost time by riding from/ back to Hubli. It was already 2:30pm and I knew Badami is out of reach for the day. Never mind, I kept riding and thought would stay in my tent during night.

It was getting dark and I was searching for a place to pitch the tent. Rain started once again and now I was in trouble being caught up in rain and not having a place to stay for the night. I stopped cycling and was pushing my cycle thinking that If I don't find a place to sleep, I will have to keep on pushing cycle until I was too tired to fall asleep somewhere on the road.

There were no lights on the road. Suddenly, in the dark, I saw a place which seemed like a garden to me initially. I went inside and was very happy to see a human face. I asked him if there is any restaurant near by . He said that this place is a Dhaba and will open shortly. I was instantly happy. My next question to the same guy "Bhai Saheb, can I pitch the tent in your garden and sleep for the night.". He said that he was a worker in Dhaba and I have to wait for the owner to get permission. Meantime, he suggested me that there was a bus stop, a few km away, where I can sleep.

I was waiting for the restaurant to be open. Few workers started coming in and were wondering what I was doing with a bicycle there. They could speak Hindi, so I was relieved. I said my story and they were pretty amazed. Now, I was the hot topic in their restaurant. I waited for Daal and Roti for about an hour and there it comes; it was soo tasty.

A kind guy named Mamath said that I could sleep in his house, but its bit far from restaurant and he will finish his work only by 2:00am. 2:00am until sleep, was beyond my limits as I was very tired and wanted to sleep soon. I thought of going to the bus stop and sleeping there. Mamath said that's risky and spoke to his manager. Met Sadiq, who was the relative of the restaurant owner, we spoke about my trip and he said that I can sleep inside the restaurant.

A teacher turned police guy, friend of Sadiq, came to me by hearing the story from others and asked me whether I was not afraid of riding bicycle that long, all alone. I said "Yes I'm, but have to fight with my fears to achieve my dream". He wished me good luck.

I parked my bicycle outside, locking it up with an iron pole. Took the sleeping mat and headed towards the workers room where guys having morning shift in the restaurant were already asleep. I went into sleep, thinking about how kind the villagers were to me, offering me a space to sleep without knowing me or expecting anything from me.

Haveri to Hubli, Karnataka

Yet another cloudy and beautiful morning. I started from Haveri by 6:00am. A farmer in the field asked me where I was going and I said this way straight.

It was a fine ride with good roads and scattered clouds. By noon it started to rain again and I was riding in the rain once more, getting all wet with nature and enjoying the beautiful farms beside the road.

On a uphill ride, I found some pieces of beer bottle glasses shattered on the road , just after riding my bicycle through it. And there it comes, got the first puncture on rear tire. I never repaired a puncture before, but had learned it by watching few YouTube videos. So this was going to be my first hands-on, fixing a puncture.

On the roadside, there was a bus stop and I took my bicycle into it since it was drizzling. Turned the bicycle upside down, removed the wheels, took out the tube and fixed the puncture. Some curios villagers approached me thinking what I was doing asked me something in Kannada. I couldn't understand what they asked, but taking the situation into account, I said to them "Tire..puncture.." by showing tire and the glass piece that I had taken out from tire. Watching me fix the puncture, they all were commenting something about the bicycle that I couldn't understand because it was all Kannada.

After the puncture was fixed, I continued my ride. Now, the air was leaking slowly from the front tire, but riding was manageable. Next stop is at Hubli and I knew Hubli had a bike shop, where I can service the bicycle and check the puncture too.

There was a police check post on the way and vehicles were lined up. Couple of police guys saw me and asked where I was going. Hearing about my trip,police guys were simply thrilled. Said bye to them  and I moved on. After a while, a truck came from behind, honking at me and stopped in front.  They truck guy gave me few oranges and said that the oranges were from the police guys, whom I met few minutes back. I thanked them and rode ahead.

Approaching Hubli, the rain got heavy. The trucks going beside me were splashing water on me and the bicycle. I decided to stop and take a break since I couldn't ride anymore due to poor visibility and rain hitting all over my face.

Reached Hubli by evening and asked for the bike shop address. One youngster was able to help me out in locating the bike shop. While entering the bike shop, the shop guys were all surprised to see me all wet, with  a bicycle and a luggage on the rear rack. I said to them that I was coming from Bangalore on bicycle and they were all surprised to hear that. Gave the bicycle for service and took out my mobile phone from raincoat pocket to note down their number. Oops...my phone was dead. I could see the water bubbles inside phone's touch screen. Seemed like the rain had flooded my pocket with the phone inside.I knew that's the end of my beloved phone. RIP my phone; you are a going to be a memento of my journey.

Took a room near Hubli railway station with the help of bike shop guys and had a good night sleep.

Chitradurga to Haveri , Karnataka

It was raining for last two days in Chitradurga and I was in lodge room all time. Finally, the rain took a pause one fine morning and I was back on the road. The lodge guys had allowed me to park the bicycle in their store room; however security of bike was always a concern for me. Bicycle seemed ok, when I took it out of store room, but when I started riding the gear sounded like it was getting stuck. Seems like someone played with the gears while bike was parked in store room. So, a lesson learned; next time try to keep bike along with me if I stayed in a hotel/lodge or better take room in a lodge if they allow bicycle to be kept in the room itself.

It was raining lightly all the day and wow... I was riding in the rain. Pitching a tent in rain didn't seem good idea for me and I continued riding towards Haveri, a small town, thinking that I could find a lodge there, to stay for the night.I reached Haveri by 9:00pm. The night ride was bit of a adventure; I didn't have the front lights on the bicycle and was riding on the National highway with the help of headlight beams from fellow trucks and cars.

I had taken only minimal things for the tour and my bike accessories included only a multitool and puncture kit. I didn't have even the spare tubes since they were unavailable and also thought travelling minimally will add to my adventure and also help me cycle better with only less load to carry.

Finally, found a lodge in Haveri (guess that was the only one). The hotel rooms were unclean, but had no other choice since it was raining. Only positive about hotel was they allowed me to keep my bicycle inside the room.