Solo Byk Ride (Mapusa, Goa to Shenale, MH)
Fear has a big appetite, its a feaster. But it could make a great pet too, whence we give it a name ¨caution¨.
My confidence has been carefully (cautious?!) restored gender-wise over the years post being little and then being a woman. I guess i only hold the fear that haunts humans against humans, the same fear that sinks in making silence heard and then the wonderful heightened sense of awareness, irrespective of gender.
Now thats just the prelude...as i mind prep for a solo ride from Mapusa, Goa to Shenale, MH and its likely that there is infact such a prelude, coz am a woman riding solo.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season: Monsoons.
No other empirical data/fact mattered really ! All other data like distance, food, byk gear etc are soluble in water - is what i realise!
Anyways, held on to the fear, that definitely helps grow the extra antennae. Its distracting yet keeps you focused in terms of self preservation, quick decisions and pushing your limits.
I start from Peddem, Mapusa, Goa at around 6am in the morning. Light early morning drizzle quietly sneaks into the dawn after yet another wild rains´ night-out. So the light soft drizzle is a welcome start to my ride. It even ends (luring me in!) within the next 15-20 minutes. I had decided to travel light so left most of my stuff behind, lugged my two small bags (and sleeping bag, all properly waterproofed...so i thought!). They all held snug by bungee chords. The bags might´ve been about 5 kilograms in all.
The ride up to Shiroda (the first town i hit as i crossed the Goa, into MH, border) was great. It was easy, no rains, almost flat and the dead end was the lovely, shacky, quaint beachside with little ponds and distinctive little shops (it seemed a mis en scene out of a studio ghibli production!). And the studio feel enhanced coz it was indeed a dead end! I see no roads than a ´whee´ ride into the beach itself. No one apart a for a nimble-footed on fours that seems to rise up with the slight breeze, floats towards me. I ask her for directions and she questions my snack knacks, i let her sniff some of the energy bar (given to me as i left the home of my lovely warm hosts in Goa), she sniffs it long and hard and chooses not to give me directions. I see a man emerge out of nowhere (sorry about that frilly tone, its the place that makes me versify it like that) but clearly towards something more important, perhaps his daily musings...
He was happy to point me to a hidden path winding out and promised that it transforms into a road beyond. Thanked him, quickly looked for the dog which had returned to its sleep-trench (lest it turns cold again!) and byked down the winding path and lo! on to a road that did look promising.
Wouldve loved to spend more time in Shiroda...but another time, soon.
Now, this was the beginning. The real ride all the way to the last.
Vengurla was the next town and the start of the ghat section, the entire village house by house was laid out along the slope of the hill. I see school children walking uphill and downhill hurrying up and down. Shops opening up, women spreading out their catch at junctions. I get all the attention so i just had to shout out the name of the next town ¨Malvan¨ and fingers to readily point me and assure me of the direction i take. Felt great and confidence surging as i latch on to the feeling of my cognizance of spatial-ability. [Note: Not relying on digital navigation thus far. Lazy to stop, not equipped with gadget mounts and in Vengurla rains started to slowly seep in so no way am risking my water-hyper-phobic electronics]. So its Malvan on repeat mode in my head. So geared up to hit destination (wrong state of mind, never ever ever think of the destination and do not get too excited about getting there).
Malvan is up the ghats and down the ghats, up and down, and yet again up and down. The pattern emerges. A beautiful (the first few times only! later this bridge is a warning and then its something you are wary of and then you hope you do not see one) bridge over an exquisite voluptuous river bursting at its seams, dusky monsoon brown. And then immediately and without any warning the hill rises up pitting gravity against you. So enjoy the bridge and the river, take it in (a deep breath! i mean). And up you go.
I mustve crossed about 7 hills with a couple of such bridges in between. Really hoping Malvan is beyond the 4th, 5th, 6th and then 7th ghat section. And lo! finally, its 10km to Malvan and the lands opens up to welcome you to the last 10km wide and a celebratory neon expanse.
This is a surreal, a very very strange scape. Its short cropped neon grass as far as your eyes can see, large laterite rock (not bricks) compound walls holding vast grasslands within, not a single human being in sight, on road or off. And you in the middle of the cresty narrow grey patchy roads...like as if the road was laid out just for you! Spooky actually.
And those compound walls, they seem like they are growing out of the land, like a part of the ecology, they could be trees with a name, only they grew short and mostly in large squares and seemed to trap the glistening grass in between.
This went on for a good 10-15km. riding against strong head winds and by now, it was pouring in sheets, so it felt like the landscape was moving but my GPS is stuck....like one of those tacky gyms where you are on the treadmill with a large screenery in front of you.
Malvan maybe, Malvan in a bit, Malvan now?, Malvan up, malvan down?, malvan in sheets, in winds and in time and space riding against me and riding me down! I am cold or tired physically but the mental fatigue of green-short-neon-grass-consquaric-brown-rock-walltrees-grey-wound-blurry-vision gets to me. Malvan neverland!
Just Ride - there is nothing else one can do given the conditions (no lifeforms of any sort, no shops, no vehicles with or without humans in them, no nothing!), just ride...no stopping and admiring the scenery - its been beautiful the last 5km and is going to be beautiful 5km ahead, so no point, just screenary.
Finally that ends, i cant say exactly when it ends and cant say how it does. But i know that it just did. A few shops in sight, i stop briefly to pick up some peanut laddoos and am on my way again with the sugar and crunch giving me some hope and happiness, as my mind clears up a bit, vision still blurry beyond a point coz of the rains. So from Vengurla to Malvan (nearly 40km of rains), reached Malvan at around 1:30 pm and decided i should continue to ride till my next destination (final stop for the day!) - kunkeshwar (or Devgad, where ever i reach before its 6pm. The one thing i am sure of is that i am not to dare riding past dark or beyond 6pm each day).
Again, the bridge and the ghat sections, but this time there was more flat expanse between the ghats and i guess i crossed about three ghat sections in all in between, before the last 20km to Kunkeshwar.
And the last 20km to Kunkeshwar, by now i have learnt my lesson - Not to look at milestones and not to expect 20km is a standard measure that is universal (coz contours change and the land contours in the case are actually ripples). Open spaces vs urban roads: Open spaces have the overall effect of space looping on themselves, or of that of a large hemisphere where there are holes out of which space leaks. I am completely lost on measuring and anticipating distances. The only thing that matters is orientation - onwards destination.
The town of Kunkeshwar dotted (state of mind filter!) with hotels and home stays and then ride further into the darkening sky. I decide to ride upto the temple, now barely visible from a distance. I reach a junction atop a road sloping down, with the temple tucked into the dead end. Wedged in between a dauntingly small, nearly pyramid-like green hill (with a tarry road rising up challenging gravity 80 degress...almost!) & the sea with her waves crashing against the rocks that lay by the temple. The waves seem determined to breach into the foundation of the temple but the undaunted hill adjoining the temple stood by it coolly, the temple itself was a single ´gopuram´ like structure quite like a jaggedsaw in the puzzle out of a horror movie.
I am completely horrified by the crashing waves, the nippy hill and the wedgy temple against a darkening sky. But only for a brief moment (did not have much time on my side) with grey, heavy rains sharp nudge, alerting me to my bones, mind and heart. I ride down to the temple (without a second thought...but holding that image which quickly exaggerates on me). I find small shops close to the temple and they are all covered in blue tarps, ropes ripping their shapes into bulgy masses - that the rain avatar. But am i delighted to see humans....inside the temple. Ask for accommodation and i am pointed to a rather mucky, narrow, street behind the temple where their room service reception lay!
Finally some tubelights (some warmth but the glossy floors reflecting the light disturbs as if the lights lost all warmth into them), and a receptionist under the lights, in front a largish PC monitor with clips from CCTV cameras - not a welcome sight at all.
He asks for my ID (rules!) and i blurted (am all nerves by now) out a ¨No ID but need a room with an attached bath¨ demand, he scans the prune i have made myself for a few seconds, i think i catch a glimpse of sympathy and disgust all at once. But he does agree to give me a room nonetheless (my stare right back at him leaves him with no choice already).
The room! The room is full, full of cots (two double cots and one single cot) with a just about a walking path between them to the bathroom. I can smell the beds, the people who were there a few minutes back perhaps, the shapes they left behind on the sheets and bed, the dampness of sweat and rains mingled. But had the receptionist given me a pigsty with an attached bath - i wouldve taken it happily, the bathroom itself is clean and that is a huge relief - a brief moment of happiness until i notice jocks hanging in the bathroom - a yellow and black one, the rather kinky types. Cracks me up - and thus Kunkeshwar comes to be aggrandized ´Kinkeshwar´.
All my stuff in the bag are soaked (phones bubbled, sleeping bag slightly wet, clothes all past damp tending to forever-wet state!) I just hung out everything, turned on the fan full speed - hoping that will dry them out a bit. Surprisingly changing into damp clothes from the wettest clothes make me warm and the fan did not bother me at all [i am extremely sensitive to the fan!], i cocooned into a sleeping bag i had borrowed from a dear friend (couldnt thank him enough coz the warmth and smells of familiarity in the sleeping bag put me to sleep instantly). The sleeping bag also separates me from the sordid bed...in more ways than i can imagine.
I start from Kunkeshwar early next morning (drizzle). Hit Devgad within the hour and from there on, the brief period when rains stopped and the wet sun made an apologetic appearance - i decide to speed up and hit my first stop - Ratnagiri! The final destination was to be Dapoli or Chiplun by end of day.
Ride to Ratnagiri is not every eventful, i ride like a horse with blinders, a very focused ride and through many stretches of NHs, ¨men at work and inconvenience regretted¨ (now thats a generic universal fact applicable at all times). For the most initial part of the distance the NH bulldozes its ways through mountains/hills and does not care to work around them, so my elevation levels now lay ahead and along than around and spirally which makes the ride boring but certainly faster. The last few kilometers to Ratnagiri does end with the ubiquitous ghat section, the city itself is perched atop one (seemingly, not verified)
The Maruti Mandir ´Circle´ feels like home (you´ll understand if you are from bluru), Ratnagiri is the perfect blend of a town and a buzzing city. To my wandering, wet, urban soul, the city lay. I reach Ratnagiri around 330 pm and the next destination was 80km away, and at this point i really had to get in touch with my deprived citified self.
(Also had to touch base with folks at home and elsewhere to let them know that am off grid but alive and safe.)
Change into warm clothing and the invite to wander around the quaint little city checking out shops and looking for my first big meal in the two days of riding. I find the soul food called ´methi laddoo´ - love it and afterwards i continue to look for good methi laddoos (minus the all the overwhelming grease of ghee and oil, found none like what i found in a little shop in Ratnagiri which was devoid of any oil but densely packed with a lot of methiful aroma, roasted to crunch and right infusion of a mild sweetener)
I find a basic accommodation, clean sheets and floor - fell asleep after a tummy full (at a smallish shop/hotel with the best customer service ever...he went looking for shops that sold good methi laddoos when i told him of my love for them). Back in my room and asleep before 8pm.
I am awake in the morning/night?!, and then it was anxiety alarms every few minutes coz no phones also meant no time on me., the room has no clock either (very basic acco) and the rains outside is not making it easy for me to guess the time of day/night. After some restless walks up and down the corridor i decide to wake up the security for time ! A wake up call asking for time mustve left him confused, but he manages to mumble an approx time - it was 10 minutes to 5am says. I warn him of my early departure. Quickly check on my bike and realise that the rear tyre has been slowly losing air. Thankfully the basic acco is equipped with a bucket and mug of water and the security guard scurries for a pen (too sleepy to be shout at me perhaps) and hands it to me. Without a pen and water - finding and marking that slow puncture would have been impossible. I fix it and am ready to leave at 5 45am
Now i head towards Chiplun. Again the initial stretches are mostly NH cutting through the ghats, lots of JCBs and ´inconvenience regretted´ again alongside some stretches of really bad gravelly roads, blocked roads, roads upside down and buried roads. The last few miles is back in the ghats and Chiplun seemed like it shall never appear. It seems distant and the wide roads and disappearing towns behind hills make it extrememly difficult for me to keep my hopes high, the rains ofcourse is running down whats left of it. The last 15 km, i mustve stopped atleast 5 times checking on the whereabouts of Chiplun to be met with the ¨wide swinging arm of good samaritans¨ - a gesture meaning its far away. By now am offended by the wide arm-swing, i think its rude !
I reach Chiplun, heavy on my mind and the mental fatigue has set in, colours fade out, visual sense shut out and all i need now is the feeling of breathing dry air, i dont care about the wet clothes, wet bones, wet everything, just need some dry air into my lungs and on my face would be a bonus! I reached the bus stand and desperately look and hope for a ride that would allow me with my bike. And so i am allowed entry and ,my bike was an outcast to ride on top of the bus. That was an unnecessary effort coz the first bus from Chiplun to Khed, the smart and benevolent driver allowed me to keep my bike inside the bus and let it hang by the driver´s seat, the second bus from Khed to Mandangad wouldnt listen, grumpy fella asked for my bike to be thrown atop the bus. Reached Mandangad (what i believe to be my final destination/ home)
Shenale is just (faith!) 7km from Mandangad and the ranch is in Shenale! So i decide to coast the last 7km to reach home before its dark. But then this stretch is going to be tricky coz i do not know the route, there is no connectivity by public transport and am gadget-challenged. So i ask around with some initial luck at Mandangad who confirmed the 7km ride to Shenale. I touch Shenale in an almost celebratory mood, happy and feeling the surge of energy and awareness trying hard to intuitively be lead homewards, the discernment...
I find a woman tra-la-laing down a narrow path and i ask her for whereabouts of the ranch (giving her the name of the person that owns the ranch and the description of what the ranch looks like), everything matches and she responds with absolute knowledge of the man and the ranch but BUT she says it is far away, i would have to cross three villages and that its going to take me atleast an hour to bike down. And the final shatter -- ¨Woh GAIL company ke bagal mein¨ she throws in. WTF is GAIL company? I have been to the ranch twice and have seen nothing of the sorts of any company or anything remotely company-like close to the ranch. Now my mind starts to race and i want to scream! I find a few more passers by and i beg them to tell me otherwise, but they all seem involved in the conspiracy against me, partaking in the cheap thrill of tormenting the creature from another world. They agreed with the woman. I flag down a motorbike on the path and latch on to them to be shown the way (but in all this, everybody seemed to know the ranch and the person!) - they agree and i hurriedly follow them up-down the rabbit hole (the path was windy and narrow with up and downs and was full of such), after about another 7km of biking - the dilapidated shack! the rotting shack! the brown wet shack! the brown wet straw soggy shack, the abandoned shack, the shack that i recognised, the shack that neighbors the ranch! the shack that stood against time and identity! the lovely beautiful shack!!
Home...i could ride some more perhaps. But sleep first..
Thanks to all those who quietly tolerated my unpreparedness and helped me as much as they could. Small little things that went a long way and warmed my spirit inspite of rains that soaked pretty much everything else. Loved the rains too actually, cant say if i´d enjoy doing this under the sun..shine. Early monsoon is great time to attempt this. I skipped the last 80km and did 306km out of the targeted 386km of which atleast 200 was kilolitres! End of the firsts of my Drippy Trippy byk trip.
My confidence has been carefully (cautious?!) restored gender-wise over the years post being little and then being a woman. I guess i only hold the fear that haunts humans against humans, the same fear that sinks in making silence heard and then the wonderful heightened sense of awareness, irrespective of gender.
Now thats just the prelude...as i mind prep for a solo ride from Mapusa, Goa to Shenale, MH and its likely that there is infact such a prelude, coz am a woman riding solo.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season: Monsoons.
No other empirical data/fact mattered really ! All other data like distance, food, byk gear etc are soluble in water - is what i realise!
Anyways, held on to the fear, that definitely helps grow the extra antennae. Its distracting yet keeps you focused in terms of self preservation, quick decisions and pushing your limits.
I start from Peddem, Mapusa, Goa at around 6am in the morning. Light early morning drizzle quietly sneaks into the dawn after yet another wild rains´ night-out. So the light soft drizzle is a welcome start to my ride. It even ends (luring me in!) within the next 15-20 minutes. I had decided to travel light so left most of my stuff behind, lugged my two small bags (and sleeping bag, all properly waterproofed...so i thought!). They all held snug by bungee chords. The bags might´ve been about 5 kilograms in all.
The ride up to Shiroda (the first town i hit as i crossed the Goa, into MH, border) was great. It was easy, no rains, almost flat and the dead end was the lovely, shacky, quaint beachside with little ponds and distinctive little shops (it seemed a mis en scene out of a studio ghibli production!). And the studio feel enhanced coz it was indeed a dead end! I see no roads than a ´whee´ ride into the beach itself. No one apart a for a nimble-footed on fours that seems to rise up with the slight breeze, floats towards me. I ask her for directions and she questions my snack knacks, i let her sniff some of the energy bar (given to me as i left the home of my lovely warm hosts in Goa), she sniffs it long and hard and chooses not to give me directions. I see a man emerge out of nowhere (sorry about that frilly tone, its the place that makes me versify it like that) but clearly towards something more important, perhaps his daily musings...
He was happy to point me to a hidden path winding out and promised that it transforms into a road beyond. Thanked him, quickly looked for the dog which had returned to its sleep-trench (lest it turns cold again!) and byked down the winding path and lo! on to a road that did look promising.
Wouldve loved to spend more time in Shiroda...but another time, soon.
Now, this was the beginning. The real ride all the way to the last.
Vengurla was the next town and the start of the ghat section, the entire village house by house was laid out along the slope of the hill. I see school children walking uphill and downhill hurrying up and down. Shops opening up, women spreading out their catch at junctions. I get all the attention so i just had to shout out the name of the next town ¨Malvan¨ and fingers to readily point me and assure me of the direction i take. Felt great and confidence surging as i latch on to the feeling of my cognizance of spatial-ability. [Note: Not relying on digital navigation thus far. Lazy to stop, not equipped with gadget mounts and in Vengurla rains started to slowly seep in so no way am risking my water-hyper-phobic electronics]. So its Malvan on repeat mode in my head. So geared up to hit destination (wrong state of mind, never ever ever think of the destination and do not get too excited about getting there).
Malvan is up the ghats and down the ghats, up and down, and yet again up and down. The pattern emerges. A beautiful (the first few times only! later this bridge is a warning and then its something you are wary of and then you hope you do not see one) bridge over an exquisite voluptuous river bursting at its seams, dusky monsoon brown. And then immediately and without any warning the hill rises up pitting gravity against you. So enjoy the bridge and the river, take it in (a deep breath! i mean). And up you go.
I mustve crossed about 7 hills with a couple of such bridges in between. Really hoping Malvan is beyond the 4th, 5th, 6th and then 7th ghat section. And lo! finally, its 10km to Malvan and the lands opens up to welcome you to the last 10km wide and a celebratory neon expanse.
This is a surreal, a very very strange scape. Its short cropped neon grass as far as your eyes can see, large laterite rock (not bricks) compound walls holding vast grasslands within, not a single human being in sight, on road or off. And you in the middle of the cresty narrow grey patchy roads...like as if the road was laid out just for you! Spooky actually.
And those compound walls, they seem like they are growing out of the land, like a part of the ecology, they could be trees with a name, only they grew short and mostly in large squares and seemed to trap the glistening grass in between.
This went on for a good 10-15km. riding against strong head winds and by now, it was pouring in sheets, so it felt like the landscape was moving but my GPS is stuck....like one of those tacky gyms where you are on the treadmill with a large screenery in front of you.
Malvan maybe, Malvan in a bit, Malvan now?, Malvan up, malvan down?, malvan in sheets, in winds and in time and space riding against me and riding me down! I am cold or tired physically but the mental fatigue of green-short-neon-grass-consquaric-brown-rock-walltrees-grey-wound-blurry-vision gets to me. Malvan neverland!
Just Ride - there is nothing else one can do given the conditions (no lifeforms of any sort, no shops, no vehicles with or without humans in them, no nothing!), just ride...no stopping and admiring the scenery - its been beautiful the last 5km and is going to be beautiful 5km ahead, so no point, just screenary.
Finally that ends, i cant say exactly when it ends and cant say how it does. But i know that it just did. A few shops in sight, i stop briefly to pick up some peanut laddoos and am on my way again with the sugar and crunch giving me some hope and happiness, as my mind clears up a bit, vision still blurry beyond a point coz of the rains. So from Vengurla to Malvan (nearly 40km of rains), reached Malvan at around 1:30 pm and decided i should continue to ride till my next destination (final stop for the day!) - kunkeshwar (or Devgad, where ever i reach before its 6pm. The one thing i am sure of is that i am not to dare riding past dark or beyond 6pm each day).
Again, the bridge and the ghat sections, but this time there was more flat expanse between the ghats and i guess i crossed about three ghat sections in all in between, before the last 20km to Kunkeshwar.
And the last 20km to Kunkeshwar, by now i have learnt my lesson - Not to look at milestones and not to expect 20km is a standard measure that is universal (coz contours change and the land contours in the case are actually ripples). Open spaces vs urban roads: Open spaces have the overall effect of space looping on themselves, or of that of a large hemisphere where there are holes out of which space leaks. I am completely lost on measuring and anticipating distances. The only thing that matters is orientation - onwards destination.
The town of Kunkeshwar dotted (state of mind filter!) with hotels and home stays and then ride further into the darkening sky. I decide to ride upto the temple, now barely visible from a distance. I reach a junction atop a road sloping down, with the temple tucked into the dead end. Wedged in between a dauntingly small, nearly pyramid-like green hill (with a tarry road rising up challenging gravity 80 degress...almost!) & the sea with her waves crashing against the rocks that lay by the temple. The waves seem determined to breach into the foundation of the temple but the undaunted hill adjoining the temple stood by it coolly, the temple itself was a single ´gopuram´ like structure quite like a jaggedsaw in the puzzle out of a horror movie.
I am completely horrified by the crashing waves, the nippy hill and the wedgy temple against a darkening sky. But only for a brief moment (did not have much time on my side) with grey, heavy rains sharp nudge, alerting me to my bones, mind and heart. I ride down to the temple (without a second thought...but holding that image which quickly exaggerates on me). I find small shops close to the temple and they are all covered in blue tarps, ropes ripping their shapes into bulgy masses - that the rain avatar. But am i delighted to see humans....inside the temple. Ask for accommodation and i am pointed to a rather mucky, narrow, street behind the temple where their room service reception lay!
Finally some tubelights (some warmth but the glossy floors reflecting the light disturbs as if the lights lost all warmth into them), and a receptionist under the lights, in front a largish PC monitor with clips from CCTV cameras - not a welcome sight at all.
He asks for my ID (rules!) and i blurted (am all nerves by now) out a ¨No ID but need a room with an attached bath¨ demand, he scans the prune i have made myself for a few seconds, i think i catch a glimpse of sympathy and disgust all at once. But he does agree to give me a room nonetheless (my stare right back at him leaves him with no choice already).
The room! The room is full, full of cots (two double cots and one single cot) with a just about a walking path between them to the bathroom. I can smell the beds, the people who were there a few minutes back perhaps, the shapes they left behind on the sheets and bed, the dampness of sweat and rains mingled. But had the receptionist given me a pigsty with an attached bath - i wouldve taken it happily, the bathroom itself is clean and that is a huge relief - a brief moment of happiness until i notice jocks hanging in the bathroom - a yellow and black one, the rather kinky types. Cracks me up - and thus Kunkeshwar comes to be aggrandized ´Kinkeshwar´.
All my stuff in the bag are soaked (phones bubbled, sleeping bag slightly wet, clothes all past damp tending to forever-wet state!) I just hung out everything, turned on the fan full speed - hoping that will dry them out a bit. Surprisingly changing into damp clothes from the wettest clothes make me warm and the fan did not bother me at all [i am extremely sensitive to the fan!], i cocooned into a sleeping bag i had borrowed from a dear friend (couldnt thank him enough coz the warmth and smells of familiarity in the sleeping bag put me to sleep instantly). The sleeping bag also separates me from the sordid bed...in more ways than i can imagine.
I start from Kunkeshwar early next morning (drizzle). Hit Devgad within the hour and from there on, the brief period when rains stopped and the wet sun made an apologetic appearance - i decide to speed up and hit my first stop - Ratnagiri! The final destination was to be Dapoli or Chiplun by end of day.
Ride to Ratnagiri is not every eventful, i ride like a horse with blinders, a very focused ride and through many stretches of NHs, ¨men at work and inconvenience regretted¨ (now thats a generic universal fact applicable at all times). For the most initial part of the distance the NH bulldozes its ways through mountains/hills and does not care to work around them, so my elevation levels now lay ahead and along than around and spirally which makes the ride boring but certainly faster. The last few kilometers to Ratnagiri does end with the ubiquitous ghat section, the city itself is perched atop one (seemingly, not verified)
The Maruti Mandir ´Circle´ feels like home (you´ll understand if you are from bluru), Ratnagiri is the perfect blend of a town and a buzzing city. To my wandering, wet, urban soul, the city lay. I reach Ratnagiri around 330 pm and the next destination was 80km away, and at this point i really had to get in touch with my deprived citified self.
(Also had to touch base with folks at home and elsewhere to let them know that am off grid but alive and safe.)
Change into warm clothing and the invite to wander around the quaint little city checking out shops and looking for my first big meal in the two days of riding. I find the soul food called ´methi laddoo´ - love it and afterwards i continue to look for good methi laddoos (minus the all the overwhelming grease of ghee and oil, found none like what i found in a little shop in Ratnagiri which was devoid of any oil but densely packed with a lot of methiful aroma, roasted to crunch and right infusion of a mild sweetener)
I find a basic accommodation, clean sheets and floor - fell asleep after a tummy full (at a smallish shop/hotel with the best customer service ever...he went looking for shops that sold good methi laddoos when i told him of my love for them). Back in my room and asleep before 8pm.
I am awake in the morning/night?!, and then it was anxiety alarms every few minutes coz no phones also meant no time on me., the room has no clock either (very basic acco) and the rains outside is not making it easy for me to guess the time of day/night. After some restless walks up and down the corridor i decide to wake up the security for time ! A wake up call asking for time mustve left him confused, but he manages to mumble an approx time - it was 10 minutes to 5am says. I warn him of my early departure. Quickly check on my bike and realise that the rear tyre has been slowly losing air. Thankfully the basic acco is equipped with a bucket and mug of water and the security guard scurries for a pen (too sleepy to be shout at me perhaps) and hands it to me. Without a pen and water - finding and marking that slow puncture would have been impossible. I fix it and am ready to leave at 5 45am
Now i head towards Chiplun. Again the initial stretches are mostly NH cutting through the ghats, lots of JCBs and ´inconvenience regretted´ again alongside some stretches of really bad gravelly roads, blocked roads, roads upside down and buried roads. The last few miles is back in the ghats and Chiplun seemed like it shall never appear. It seems distant and the wide roads and disappearing towns behind hills make it extrememly difficult for me to keep my hopes high, the rains ofcourse is running down whats left of it. The last 15 km, i mustve stopped atleast 5 times checking on the whereabouts of Chiplun to be met with the ¨wide swinging arm of good samaritans¨ - a gesture meaning its far away. By now am offended by the wide arm-swing, i think its rude !
I reach Chiplun, heavy on my mind and the mental fatigue has set in, colours fade out, visual sense shut out and all i need now is the feeling of breathing dry air, i dont care about the wet clothes, wet bones, wet everything, just need some dry air into my lungs and on my face would be a bonus! I reached the bus stand and desperately look and hope for a ride that would allow me with my bike. And so i am allowed entry and ,my bike was an outcast to ride on top of the bus. That was an unnecessary effort coz the first bus from Chiplun to Khed, the smart and benevolent driver allowed me to keep my bike inside the bus and let it hang by the driver´s seat, the second bus from Khed to Mandangad wouldnt listen, grumpy fella asked for my bike to be thrown atop the bus. Reached Mandangad (what i believe to be my final destination/ home)
Shenale is just (faith!) 7km from Mandangad and the ranch is in Shenale! So i decide to coast the last 7km to reach home before its dark. But then this stretch is going to be tricky coz i do not know the route, there is no connectivity by public transport and am gadget-challenged. So i ask around with some initial luck at Mandangad who confirmed the 7km ride to Shenale. I touch Shenale in an almost celebratory mood, happy and feeling the surge of energy and awareness trying hard to intuitively be lead homewards, the discernment...
I find a woman tra-la-laing down a narrow path and i ask her for whereabouts of the ranch (giving her the name of the person that owns the ranch and the description of what the ranch looks like), everything matches and she responds with absolute knowledge of the man and the ranch but BUT she says it is far away, i would have to cross three villages and that its going to take me atleast an hour to bike down. And the final shatter -- ¨Woh GAIL company ke bagal mein¨ she throws in. WTF is GAIL company? I have been to the ranch twice and have seen nothing of the sorts of any company or anything remotely company-like close to the ranch. Now my mind starts to race and i want to scream! I find a few more passers by and i beg them to tell me otherwise, but they all seem involved in the conspiracy against me, partaking in the cheap thrill of tormenting the creature from another world. They agreed with the woman. I flag down a motorbike on the path and latch on to them to be shown the way (but in all this, everybody seemed to know the ranch and the person!) - they agree and i hurriedly follow them up-down the rabbit hole (the path was windy and narrow with up and downs and was full of such), after about another 7km of biking - the dilapidated shack! the rotting shack! the brown wet shack! the brown wet straw soggy shack, the abandoned shack, the shack that i recognised, the shack that neighbors the ranch! the shack that stood against time and identity! the lovely beautiful shack!!
Home...i could ride some more perhaps. But sleep first..
Thanks to all those who quietly tolerated my unpreparedness and helped me as much as they could. Small little things that went a long way and warmed my spirit inspite of rains that soaked pretty much everything else. Loved the rains too actually, cant say if i´d enjoy doing this under the sun..shine. Early monsoon is great time to attempt this. I skipped the last 80km and did 306km out of the targeted 386km of which atleast 200 was kilolitres! End of the firsts of my Drippy Trippy byk trip.
Comments