Insane Bike Ride 3

This one was quite special, in the Shivalik range of the Himalayas, after a long while-owing to exams ;)

This time the difference was, i wasn't alone, sister was accompanying me.

The journey was planned but only till half-way, the remaining half got added later. Desperately being in search of a bike in Himachal, i could not find it with any of my relatives :(

So, i changed the plans of originating station, went to cousin's house, dint carried any sweets as per the tradition - in a hurry; met her hurriedly, took the keys of their 9 yr. old bike which wasn't used for past 4 months, hence the battery was dead.

At 2:00 p.m. started off in style with sister being their as pillion, the bike dint started even in 3 kicks. All the old ladies and cousin sister watching me with awe. They instead of questioning my driving skills, scolded the bike ;) and offered me to take the car keys.

Sounded good, but na... a car wont give the same thrill and fun that a bike will.

Finally managed to get the bike started using choke, with sister apprehending about the time we gonna take ~ the unknown curvy roads that we gonna traverse through ~ with not much time in hand.

Steep turns weren't far away from the house; in next 3 kms. until i reached the gas station, i met with no less than a dozen of big 4-6 wheelers passing by with at least twice my bike's speed. I on the other hand, was handicapped, no battery ~ no horns.

A couple of times i heard my sister shouting, bhaiyya, let's go back. We will take a bus, we cant move further without horns. We will sit much comfortably in a bus. But, whose gonna listen to her; the day - the ride was what, i was awaiting for. More fun, thrill, excitement, danger, unexpectedness was awaiting us, apart from goddesses at the two temples :P

It wasn't a straight road ~ a typical hilly road, narrow, pot-holed, curvy & sloppy to say the least. It took more than 40 mins to drive down the 10 km. hill ;)

And, if you think i was driving too slow, you should be there to listen to the shouting & beating of my sister. For me reaching the destination, alone is not important, but also to enjoy the beauty of the drive - the local huts, the difference in shops over there, flora and mother nature, particularly on that stretch of the road.

We instead of driving fast, stopped at dozen of places, took snaps with so ease as if we had no plans to return back the same night. But, we were right to ourself, we wont be coming to such places time and again, we cant & shudn't miss taking snaps at the gorges, the dams, the beautiful valleys, the tunnel, etc.

By 4:50 we were at our first destination ~ Jwalaji Temple. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Jwalamukhi ~ flaming mouth. Being a weekday we got over with the darshan in an hour, it is by this time at 5:50 p.m. i told my sister my plans to visit another place ~ Chintpurni Temple, goddess here is believed to remove the worries. By this time the sister knew, there's no point arguing with me, with little hesitation she agreed to divert 52 kms. away from our initial route :)

Ah, slowly the winds are showing their true colors, till then i hadn't realized their might; speedy cold winds ~ they will shake you up. You want to stop driving for a while. Riding without gloves in that chilling wind on a hill, and holding on to the accelerator wasn't an easy job. At times, i asked myself, why i am doing this, should i still drive further or take the return route. With sister sitting quietly at the back, i rejected all the notions running in my mind - of not going further.

Thanks to the earphones, she was now enjoying music and not quarreling with me. Another reason being, i earlier had put this thought in her mind that we should not crib/fight/argue, particularly when we are about to visit some shrine. Maybe later being the more valid reason she dint spoke anything during the ride. Sat idly, a good pillion, i must say. Atop the hill, the continuous, steep, 360degree curves became the norm. Vehicles turned up with strong dipper lights to leave me devoid of my eyesight for a while ~ much enough to derail the bike.

So after 2 such turns, i was insisted to wait off-track, for the another vehicle to pass by. Sometimes you must listen to the pillion too, particularly when she is your sister, because at the end of day, she is gonna describe each and every thing (part of the journey) in the most negative manner to the parents and relatives, about the insane drive.

The headlights switch of the motorcycle was damaged earlier in an accident and could not be easily operated to switch on, after a short try i gave up thinking the headlights too are not working. It wasn't too difficult to drive, until 7 p.m. when we reached Chintpurni. But, we both knew, it would not be possible for us to go back 88 kms. back at 7:30 p.m. without headlights, particularly through the hilly, steep, curvy roads.

So, we bought a torch. Hardly i had crossed 500 mtrs. when i realized, sister was not comfortable holding the torch on my shoulders through those bumpy roads anymore. So, it was time for me to take over the charge. Got the hold of torch on one hand & accelerator on the other. I would not give way for the vehicles coming from back side to the extent possible, so that, i could drive faster using their headlights.... insaneness.

For a while we even waited for a bus or truck, so that, we can follow it. It was already an hour since we had started driving and the milestone ticked just 22 kms. Regardless to mention that the old bike was working without speedometer and odometer. At 8:30p.m. it was way too late to drive the vehicle and reach my cousin's houseon time for dinner; which was still some 60 kms. So, we called up the cousin sister, informed of our extended journey, current location, time we would be needing more to come back & condition of bike.

Knowing, that we were traversing without headlights, just the help of torch, uncle pulled out his car to reach us, particularly considering that i was traversing through the inhabited hilly area with a girl. Yes, they probably would not have come if it were me alone driving the bike ;) This was the least i would have expected; to disturb them to pick sister and accompany us. Meanwhile, we crossed another leg of 30 Kms. before he could reach us.

Delicious non-veg food was awaiting us when we reached home by 10:30 p.m. But, oops my hands were still too frozen to pick up the food and chew it. The ride, definitely stands to be counted as one of my best, unforgettable, insane rides.