[Loading the bikes and getting ready to leave Ambala]
Late night drive yesterday meant, we did not get out of bed till 8:30AM today. After breakfast at Amar Palace, we were ready to leave only at around 10:30AM. I decided to drive a bike alone and not take any pillion today. All of us were in good spirits and hit the highway pushing the needle past 75KMPH. I even touched 90 KMPH for some time. But there was a persistent metallic clang comming from somewhere in the rear of my bike. I had to stop to investigate. I found I have a broken luggage carrier. The cast iron rod in the carrier had become brittle and just broken. SO I caught up with Jomy and transferred luggage from by bike onto his and together we started driving again. The noise had reduced but still not gone completely.
The sky was clear, the sun was soft and in the distance we could see a large, lonely dark cloud. As we drove towards this patch of cloud, it became colder, wind picked up and a few kilometers later it started raining. I had just enough time to zip up my rain coat before it started pouring. Jomy was already dripping wet and so we decided take shelter in a school building. But we met some very unfriendly people there, who drove us out of the school back into the rain. So, thouroughly pissed off and wet, we started driving in the rain. A few kilometers later, the dark cloud ended and so did the rain. The sun was out and it became very hot inside my rubber rain jacket. In the midst of all this, we had lost track of which bike is ahead of which, so myself and Jomy decided to stop only after reaching Ludhiana. We reached the city and stopped to take a breather and to find out where the others are. Having confirmed that we are the first ones to reach Ludhiana, I decided to make use of the time and buy some plastic sheets to wrap over our luggages. Ask directions to anyone in Luhdiana, you get only one answer ... go straight until you reach Ghanta Ghar and take right. So we went straight in search of Ghanta Ghar, but it was not to be found. But I did manage to find shops to get the plastic sheets in the old market.
More phone calls to the other bikers and we eventually sync up outside Ludhiana, only to get separated again. By now it was late in the afternoon and we had covered more than 100 Kms. So myself and Jomy decided to wait at the next Dhaba. Slowly, one by one the troops marched in. All of us settled down to have our lunch.
At the Dhaba, we met a couple of oldies, cooling off their afternoon in rope cot, discussing and solving world's most pressing problems. They showed us their knowledge on diesel engines, bullet bikes and generally tried to act surprised at our endeavor. But they did ask a very basic question :: Why spend 450/- per day, plus fuel for the bike, and travel all the way to Leh-Ladakh under so much hardship, when we could hire a Qualis from Delhi at similar rates and make the trip in much more comfort? Well, I for one did not know how to answer this question logically.
Speaking of logic, the analytical reasoning capability of the 16 somethings that were cooking at the Dhaba was commendable. They asked us two simple questions :: Where are you from ? -- Bangalore. Where are you driving from ?? :: Delhi.. ... So Bangalore must be a village near Delhi.
Perfectly logical conclusion from the answers we gave them ...
The food at the Dhabha was one of the best I have ever had. The lassi was so good and all of us had so much that they ran out of Dahi. After lunch, I inspected my bike again and found the chain guard had just broken off and making contact with the chain. Luckily for us, there was a welding shop nearby. So I welded both the luggage carrier and the chain guard. Another pit-stop at the nearest filling station and we were on our way to Jalandhar. We did make good speed this time, but still the problem of syncing up dogged us. We were just not ready to learn to bike in a neat formation.
We reached Jalandhar in good time and decided to press forward to Pathankot. After yesterday's experience, we were clear that we will not drive in the night. But outside Jalandhar, the wide, medianed highway gave way to crude, 2 laned, unmarked, undivided "highway". This made our progress slow. As we neared Pathankot, the road started degrading. At places, getting out of tarmac onto the side of the road was like descending into a deep valley. It was getting dark by now and headlights started bothering us. Blinded by lorry headlights, all of us made many trips down the valley on the side of the road and struggled to get up on the tarmac again. After a rather precarious skid-dance on potholed stretch of road very close to an oncomming lorry, we decided to stop for the night at the next town.
We entered a town and found a hotel to crash in for the night. We freshened up and got down to the hotel's resturant for dinner. At the table we found out from the waiter that the place we are staying for the night is called Mukherian and that we are about 40KMS from Pathankot. Not bad.... 240KMs in 8 hours. Good biking guys.
[Rather spacious room at Mukherian for our hard-earned sleep]
After dinner, we all took nice hot bath and slept, agreeing to leave at 7:00AM in the morning.
[Early morning views of Mukherian Town from my hotel room]
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