Cycle Wali

The weekend of 18th-20th Aug was long awaited as i had plans to visit Uttranchal with a friend. The visit was planned to explore the place for some investments and spend some time with the locals to understand their idea of community living and self-sustainable projects (objectives of Shikshantar).The time was too short to wrap up so many things in one visit, but i was highly optimistic and excited about this trip. The weather was perfect to be in the hills and it was pouring on and off. But my dear friend was too occupied with work that the trip did not kick off.

The corporate refugee was too restless to spend the long awaited holidays in Gurgaon and Nandini's plan to cycle to Alwar at the eleventh hour came as a big respite. It was on Friday afternoon, that i switched my mind from the hills of Uttranchal to the Aravalis of Rajasthan. Everything happened so sudden, and we left for Alwar the very next day at 5:45 am

Dad was feeling not so great about this new adventure. His reaction was quite usual and normal. He accommodated and I got the permission to go :-)

We took the NH-8, cycled through Dharuvera and Bhiwadi before we hit the toll road leading to Alwar. The entire route before the toll road was choked with trafffic. We spent almost 4 hours in the high traffic zone, unable to speed up. The heat was picking up and so was humidity as we crossed the border. We were 65 km's short of Alwar when we took our first halt to refill the water bottles.

The toll road was welcoming and we thought of speeding up but the hot and extremely humid weather was pulling us down. There was hardly any tree/shade en route, though there were fields with green vegetation, primarily cotton, on both the sides of the road. We stopped at the 65km mark, then at 80. The 80-100 km stretch was tough and 100-120 km was a killer.

Post 80km, our halts were frequent. We interacted with the local villagers. They were welcoming and nice and inquisitive on why are we on cycles and not using public transport for such a long distance. The passersby slowed down and discussed us, our colorful attire, bright helmet and the super bikes

Tiredness was piling up because of humidity. Sun was bright and shining and finally, at 120 km mark, we gave up and kicked our bikes, refusing to pedal further :-)

Courtesy Lt Col Rajesh, we had our accommodation arranged in the Army Cantonment. The Tijara regiment's mess was a huge palace. In fact it was the hunting lodge of the King of Alwar at some point of time, and was very tastefully done. By the time we reached there, it was 3 pm. The happy but tired souls rested for a while before hogging the exotic lunch. Weather outside was warm and humid in the evening too. We were tired and lazy to venture out. Another round of meal and i went to my room to hit the sack again.

It was a lazy morning. I got up early, but in no mood to make an effort to slip out of the bed. My I pod playing all-time favorite - Gulzar and Jagjit Singh. Post breakfast, we left for the site seeing. Sprawling across a wide expanse, Siliserh Lake is located within the forested incline of the Aravalis. The boat ride was quite refreshing. The lake forms the backdrop of Siliserh Palace and is bordered by number of domed cenotaphs. After spending an hour and a half, it was time for temple hopping. On the hilltop was a fort like structure and a temple by the side. We met Digambar Jain Muni here who was busy attending the fan / followers.

Lunch was arranged in the Mess. We had Maggie in the evening before we walked to the 8 Jat Regiment's mess where Rajesh had to meet one of his school alumni. It was around 3 km of walk and we were sweating badly because of the warm and humid weather. The walk was in the forest area which was dimly lit. The army officer was from Kangra and was happy to receive the guests. He treated us with mangoes, yummy mangoes, and juicy mangoes. After spending some time with him, we got dropped back to our campsite and had dinner. I wasn't hungry at all but forced 2 chapattis with Amul butter as it was important to park carbohydrates for tomorrow’s ride. In the desert were chocolate pastries which could not be refused. We got the air pressure checked and made our bikes ready to hit the road, the next day.

I packed my bag and went to bed to wake up early. I think i was too tired to get some sound sleep and was up and ready by 5. Forced 1 liter of water, a slice of bread and a banana post the natures call. I just hate to eat / stuff early morning. We thanked the staff for taking good care of us and started pedaling at 5:35 am.

It was a pleasant morning, unlike our onward journey. Return journey was planned through a different route, which was more scenic and less crowded. First stop was at Ramgarh. The road was nicely tarred, with lush green fields by the sides of the road. We saw a few migratory birds as Dove and Blue throttled Indian, and some with no identification. Our first chai stop was at 40 km. We again stopped at Naya Gaon, about a km ahead, for Dal ki Kachori's with aloo ki subzi and lahsun ki chutney. We could not refuse to taste the freshly baked milk cake. Simply irresistible :-)

The weather was supportive and we were fresh and energetic to enjoy the ride. We were heading towards Mewat, a small town thickly populated with Muslim community. It was Eid and the lanes were crowded with men in white attire. We could hardly see women on the roads. Trucks full of Muslims were approaching Mewat, as we crossed it. The locals could not resist passing comments. Someone shouted “cycle wali” and some referred us as “firang”. We appeared as the highlighters on the white board. We decided to speed up, pedaled hard and crossed the most notorious and high on crime city of Rajasthan.

Next stop was to be Nuhn. We were feeling fresh even after 80 km of riding and unwilling to stop as it started raining. We pedaled in the rain and slipped in the taxi after completing a 100km mark ahead of Nuhn.

Completely tanned, i was back home by 1:30 pm. A warm hug from Adit got me a smile and took away all the tiredness.

Thank you, Nandini, Rajesh for such a wonderful getaway.