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.