Bike ride from Hyderabad to Thar Desert, 4,200 kms.

And finally I reached the desert. There were huge sand dunes on one side of the road and a carnival on the other. Several hawkers tried to stop me, trying to tempt me with camel and jeep safari, dinner and dance and a night's sleep in a tent. But they didn't know that I was no ordinary tourist, I was a backpacker and a biker. I travelled 2000km over six days to reach the periphery of the Thar desert from Hyderabad. I saw and experienced things which I never would have had otherwise.

A night's stay in the humble hut of a watchman, sleeping in my tent outside a lonely Dhaba on a ghat road on the way to Panchmarhi, listening to woes of the driver who managed to flip over his overloaded truck, watching wild camels drink water from an oasis, left stranded due to bike problem twice, finding fellow campers in middle of a desert, caught by police patrols often times for venturing into expressways and many other small but memorable incidents made this a truly memorable trip.

Jayanth, camels and the desert!

Carnival in the desert!

Sands of Time

Reminds me of some episode in Ducktales!

I had driven from Hyderabad through Nagpur, Panchmadi, Indore, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer to reach the Sam dunes. The ride from Udaipur to Jodhpur was something which I will never forget. I travelled through all kinds of roads from four-lane national highways to one of the scariest ghat roads, the village kacha roads, isolated roads connecting villages, national highway under construction infested with monstrous trucks spraying construction dust all over me, at night, blinding me and stuffing me with dust.

Though I invested a lot in getting myself a Cramster riding gear with full protection, looking back, it was a highly dangerous ride and I did a remarkable job coming back alive.

My R15 is a living thing. It whines like a happy puppy when I caress it and knows when not to breakdown. It had loose wiring, thanks to careless Yamaha service, but it didn't let me down in the scary isolated stretches of road where bandits or animals could get me. It stopped just twice,  once in front of a Dhaba and again as I just entered Pokhran. The trip meter was then reading 1,934kms. It was the distance of Pokhran from Hyderabad via Nagpur, Panchmarhi, Indore, Udaipur and Jodhpur. I stopped at each place for a day, for sightseeing and resting.

In Panchmarhi, I had been to Dhupgarh and Bee falls, in Indore I had been to PatalPani where I hiked on the railway tracks, in Udaipur to Fateh Sagar Lake and Lake Pichola, in Jodhpur to Mehrangarh fort and Umaid Bhavan Palace. Maharaja Umaid Singh has won my heart.

'Sir Umaid Singh reformed and reorganised the Jodhpur State Forces and the judicial department, introduced a scheme for extending primary education, revised the land revenue settlement and established state pensions and a Provident Fund for state employees. Enjoying a distinguished military career, he died at his estate on Mount Abu on 9 June 1947 after a reign of 29 years, aged but 43.'

Duphgarh, Panchmarhi

On the way to Indore, stopped to answer nature's call!

Not sure where this was, but awesome road!

Fateh Sagar Lake, Udaipur

Lake Pichola, Udaipur

   

Local roads I had to conquer at night!

         

Dal 'n' Roti outside Udaipur before hitting off for Jodhpur

Village kaccha roads!

Camels near an Oasis

Amazing ghat road!

I was forced to visit Pokhran too, a small town, which closes by 7pm in winter. Pokhran Fort and The Nuclear test site are the only places to visit but the test site needs security clearance. I had no intention of stopping in Pokhran but I lost my way from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer and then my bike died a couple of kilometers from Pokhran. I stopped to put on my gloves and the bike refused to start. I had to get my toolkit out, open the front panel and twiddle with some wires to coax it to start. But it roared to life in about ten minutes. I was way behind schedule.

The winter of Rajasthan was piercing through the layers of clothing threatening to freeze my bones. I was debating whether or not to stop in Pokhran but my bike had taken the decision for me, it stopped again right in front of the biggest hotel in town and adamantly refused to start.

So there I was in Pokhran, taking a room in the biggest Hotel in town for Rs1500 a day. After Jodhpur where I had to stay in a pigsty because of the Holiday season, I decided it was fair enough to pamper myself, my limbs needed some stretching anyway. The room in Jodhpur was so dirty that I had to abandon the bed and use my sleeping bag.

After a goodnight's sleep in Pokhran, I got ready early morning and got out to see the Pokhran fort. I put the key in the ignition and turned it 'ON' hoping a night's rest was all my bike wanted. My heart sank. There was no familiar buzz, no indicators indicating the usual self check. I turned it 'OFF' and back 'ON'. Still quite as a grave. I knew I had to get to the bottom of this now lest the bike should trouble me in the dead of the night in the middle of nowhere. I opened up the panel and the cowling. I could see an assortment of wires running along the body. Two wires were jutting out from the ignition and common sense told me that turning the key would just short-circuit the wires. I shorted them by hand but still nothing. Now desperate, I decided to get my service guy on the phone. Looking up the phone number in the manual, I called up the service station and asked to speak to a mechanic. After hearing me out

'Sir, get it to the service centre or tell me where you are I will send someone there'.

'I am in Pokhran, near Pakisthan'.

The reply came back after a few seconds,

'Sir, Please don't go that far'.

I decided to ignore the fatherly advice and  started describing the wiring. He asked me to short the two wires. I told him that I just did that. Knowing that he could not be of any more use to me, I decided to debug the problem myself and cut the call, I was on roaming. I traced the suspected wires and opened up a few more panels and there I saw it, The BIG Hack. Two wires were crudely inserted into a resin joint because of some problem with the joint. I randomly moved those wires and the bike roared to life. The crowd which gathered applauded. I couldn't help smiling. Yet, cursing the mechanic responsible for the hack, I cut everything up and used a cello tape instead, a better and more permanent solution.

I was happy, also because I knew where to look for if the problem resurfaces. All this delayed me and I had a bit of a problem during checkout because I was two hours late. The guy behind the reception asked me to pay three hundred bucks extra but after a quick hourly calculation I claimed I owe the hotel only forty rupees. Unable to refute my claim, he quietly made the bill with no extra charges.

Refuelling, checking tyre pressure took a little more time and by 1pm I was out of Pokhran and on my way to Jaisalmer 100kms away. I reached the outskirts without incident but was then mugged by Jaisalmer tourism. Most of the Hotels in Jaisalmer have complete packages for the desert and employ hundlooms who ride numberless bikes and stop tourists before they enter the city and force them into buying a package which is typically ten thousand per couple. I managed to outmanoeuvre most but a pair of them riding an R15 V2.0 managed to corner me. They asked me come with them to buy the package, I said NO. Then they told me they would help me find a room. I said NO. They asked me why I am even going to Jaisalmer. I told them its none of their business. They let their guard off for a couple of seconds which was enough for me to start my bike and zoom away. Listlessly, they started pursuing but gave up as I entered the city.

The Golden city is beautiful. The divider on the road, street lights everything felt archaic. But it was like any other city, there was no desert! After a few enquiries I found out that Sam dunes were a further 40kms from the city. I began to doubt if I would ever catch the elusive desert.

Finally I was there just as the sun was setting. It was beautiful. Camels in the desert have a different charm. I stopped by a Dhaba to have a drink and to decide the next plan of action. I was planning to setup the tent I was carrying in the desert but wanted to ask around if it was safe.  A group of drivers in the Dhaba recognised me as the biker who overtook them on the way to Jaisalmer and were commenting on how fast I was riding. I felt proud. It was the Dhaba owner who changed the whole experience of my trip overnight. Madanlal, came out and started admiring my bike and gave me an advise which I should never have taken!

'Remove half the air in the tyres and try riding in the desert. We do it all the time'. 

I was tempted but knew the risks.

But soon with the help of his half smoked bedi, we partially emptied the tyres. He said he would help me fill air later by borrowing a pump from a truck. I happily rode off into the desert hoping to race some camels.

It was fun until I tried to climb a dune. I was stuck and for the first time I rev'ed up the engine to touch 12000rpm hoping to turn the bike around. Sand flew and the air was filled with smell of burnt rubber. I immediately left the engine to idle while the radiator started whirring and whining to cool down the engine. It took Madanlal, his helper and me ten minutes to get the bike back on road. I had enough and wanted to fill the tyres and get back to normalcy. The 2000km ride back home was looming ahead and I wanted to be in Bangalore or Mumbai for New Year which was just a couple of days away.

Stuck in the desert!!!

I wanted a photo first before getting 'unstuck'

Evil MadanLal

The pump was did not work. How much ever we tried, tire pressure would not increase! On close inspection, I noticed a gap between the tubeless tyre and the rim. My hands started sweating. I had no idea what to do. I decided to call the service centre again. It was already 6pm and the mechanics would be leaving. Luckily I could get him on the phone. With a tch tch he told me I need to find a place where they can realign the tyre to the rim. In middle of a desert? After I cut the call, Madanlal meekly told me that there is a puncture shop in a village 6kms away. I conceded, left with no other choice. He arranged a trolley who charged me ₹400 for the 6km ride. But it was worth because the high pressure pump fitted the tire back to the rim with a big bang and the pressure slowly started climbing. Relieved, I started my journey back to the Dhaba having decided to setup my tent beside it.

As I approached the Dhaba, I saw a Mahindra XUV and then three guys setting up a Quechua T3 tent in exactly the same place I decided to camp. It was really a pleasant surprise! It was how I met Mayank,  Neelesh and Amol, three businessmen with a magical XUV. They solved all my problems in aninstant-food, security, company and my bike tyre. I introduced myself and we soon became good friends. These guys were carrying marinated chicken tikka, malai chicken and salami which only needed to be roasted. They had tandoor and organic coals, and a foldable table for four, vegetables for salad, bread and provisions to make lemon chicken and finally alcohol! It was the best unexpected dinner I ever had. Mayank was a biker and when I told him my recent misadventure he laughed and told me their XUV was also stuck in the desert the previous day and a jeep which came to help them  also got stuck. Finally a tractor got them all out. As a precaution, I requested Mayank to examine my bike. To my dismay, the rear tyre was flat again! Mayank told me not to worry and that they had a 12V pump with them. He promised to help me the next morning. However, I was worried and had a very disturbed sleep. The harsh cold of the desert did not help and even my sleeping bag could not keep the cold away.

Table for four, they were three and I was the fourth! Divine intervention!

The magical XUV!

I woke up at 6am and stepped out of the tent. It was still freezing! By 9am, the sun was out and it was getting warmer by the minute. Desert indeed cools down fast and heats up fast too! Mayank and me set out to tackle my bike while Amol and Neelesh got busy with a DSLR and a tripod.

After 10 minutes we gave up. The 12V pump, lazily pumping in air, was no better than a hand pump. I was running out of options when suddenly I had a brilliant idea. Why not put a tube in the tubeless tyre? I conferred with Mayank and we decided its the best option. I hired the trolley again and headed back to the village hoping they could pull off the trick. Somehow the puncture shop guy was familiar with this trick and immediately agreed to do it. He had a bit of a trouble taking out the rear tyre and a lot of trouble putting it back and just missed breaking a sprocket. By the time he was done, the sprockets were totally out of calibration and the chain was making a harsh grating sound. But at least the rear tyre was inflated. I cautiously went back to the camping place and was itching to go back to Jaisalmer to find a Yamaha service centre and give the bike in for servicing. But the rest of the gang were busy with a photo session. Photo session was followed by breakfast of scrambled egg and toasted bread which Mayank prepared in the Dhaba with ingredients from the magical XUV and then we started back. I was still very cautious with the bike and never exceeded 80kmph. We were back in Jaisalmer after a little more than half an hour. I bid farewell to the gang who were heading back to Delhi and took a room having view of the fort, Hotel Mangalam. Hotels in Jaisalmer are expensive and this one costed me two thousand rupees but with the bike in a delicate state I didn't want any more hassles.

Unfortunately, it was a Sunday and the service center was closed. I decided to explore the tourist attractions. Jaisalmer fort was magnificent. One can sit in one of the many roof top restaurants, enjoying the splendid view of The Golden City while devouring momos. I just loved it. Sunset point and Gadsisar lake were mediocre except for the flock of pigeons, sub-flocks of which periodically take off and scour the lake for food. I missed going to the Tanot Mata temple, which was very close to the Pakisthan border and manned by the Indian army, because of time constraints. I heard artillery shells can be found scattered in the desert.

Truly a golden city!

On top of Jaisalmer fort. I love this place because there are neither guards nor restrictions!

A tourist enjoying the view, and moms.

Rooftop restaurent

Walking tall and strong, Jayanth in Jaisalmer fort

Through the arch, Gadsisar Lake, Jaisalmer

After sightseeing and a good night's rest, with my bike chain still making a harsh sound, I went to the service centre the next day. It was an extremely small shop manned by a single guy. But he was an expert. Not only did he solve my current problem but he solved other problems which the Hyderabad guys couldn't. He also assured me that riding with the tube is just fine. At 11am, I checkout and started for Mumbai.

It was 30th December and I had a little more than a day to make it to Mumbai in time for New Year. Jaisalmer to Mumbai via Ahmedabad and Vadodara was 1500kms. I rode like a maniac, all day and all night, without rest and without sleep. After 24hours of food, fuel and go, I was 300kms from Mumbai and very sleepy. After having narrowly missed hitting a van the second time I dozed off while riding, I took a dilapidated room for five hours and slept.

It was good catching up with Nishit and his wife Madhura for new year, and Rahul and his wife Shruti the next day. We met for the first time after college after 6 years! A treat in Mad Over Donuts and three boxes packed for the journey was the cherry on the pie.

The ride back was quite eventful - caught twice by the Mumbai police for inadvertently venturing onto the Mumbai expressway and having to cough up Rs200 and Rs800 (why don't they have proper signs?) and much later, stopped by the police patrol only to be told that a green car was tailing me with the intension of robbing me (fabricated to extract some cash out of me for the good advise), and some really bad roads around Bidar, I was finally home.

This 4,200km trip had several after effects on my bike and me. Soon after returning, the headlights, side indicators and the horn stopped working. As for me, for a couple of weeks after the trip, I was hallucinating blurred images of lights zooming past me-when sitting, eating, coding and more when trying to sleep. But it sure was one hell of a trip!