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TRIP UPDATE - 10 (January 27-30, 2007)
Haridwar to Basti via Bareilley and Lucknow
January 27 2007. Haridwar to Shah Jahanpur via, Bareilley (My first crash)
Started off from Haridwar as planned at about 8.00 am and hit the Najibabad road. The road snaked across the river and past tall hilltop Chandi Devi temple and into the fringes of Corbett National Park. The temple accessible via a steep foot path and a relaxing ropeway is dedicated to goddess Durga and is thronged by pilgrims. As we travelled further on the smooth surfaced Najibababd road, we felt that it was a great stretch to ride. Flanked by tall trees whose thick foliageous cover prevented sun rays from reaching the road.
Soon we crossed borders and entered India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh (UP). As we entered the Hindi heartland state we felt a sudden change in the surroundings, weather and the crowds. The change was quite severe, Uttaranchal was a sparsely populated, naturally beautiful and endowed with smooth and wide roads and strikingly different from overpopulated, dusty and potholed roads of UP. As we entered Najibabad town, chaos, disorder and total anarchy on the road welcomed us. Here even the cyclist and rickshaw puller wanted to be in the center ofthe road and just wouldn't give way even to big trucks. Oncoming vehicles were driven as if meant to cause accidents and mow down anyone who comes in the way. It was a tortuous experience to get out of Najibabad especially when we got stuck at a level crossing and it was perhaps the most traumatic ride during the past 55 days of our journey. There were vehicles of all sizes and shapes on both sides blocking each other's paths and nobody was willing to budge or give way. We somehow managed to squeeze out of this jam and get out of the town and hit the road to Moradabad.
I would call it a trail and not road, the Najibabad-Moradabad road is marked as a state highway in the map but as far as we could see there was no trace of asphalt or concrete. Only long stretches of red mud and rocks. There was absolutely no difference between the fields and road and I wondered which is which. According to some locals the was being widened and hence dug up for improvement and it was over a year since and only progress is the old asphalt was removed and large quantities of mud was poured over the road. Every vehicle including ours raised cloud of dust and our riding gear, panniers etc became caked with dirt as we rode on this 55 km stretch. At some stretches local villagers had poured water on the muddy surface to prevent dust from raising and this had created puddles of slippery areas where we had to exercise extreme caution and get across.
Finally after about 2.5 hours we reached Moradabad from where the road quality improved substantially so we could make good progress and by 8 pm we reached Bareilley town. I had taken the address of Seva Bharathi guest house at Bareilley and had planned on halting there. Moreover the long ride through bad roads had taken its toll and I was feeling quite tired and had a sore bottom sitting on the bike for more than 8 hrs at a stretch and we still had about 180 km to go before we could reach Lucknow. But Kishore had other plans which I found quite absurd. He wanted to ride all night and reach Lucknow by morning and leave our bikes for servicing so we can save a day. When I expressed my desire to stop at Bareilley Kishore made highly insulting comments and humiliating jokes about my state and insisted on riding ahead. Not wanting to fight with him I agreed and though I didn't endorse his idea even one bit I decided to go ahead with his plans.
We refueled our bikes and moved ahead on the highway towards Lucknow. As we proceeded into the night a cold wind along with thick fog started rising and at times visibility became totally zero. And by the time we reached Shah Jahanpur it was about 11.00 pm and the fog and cold had made it virtually impossible to ride ahead. Kishore suddenly decided to stop for dinner at a dhaba and sleep there out in the open on the highway. I didn't feel safe at the dhaba, though the owner claimed to be an ex-army man and spoke pretty courteously. After dinner Kishore promptly unrolled his sleeping bag and settled down to sleep on one of the wired cots in the dhaba. I just couldn't sleep and hence was awake wandering around all night like a spirit. Little did I realise that my troubles were only beginning as I sat up and tried to kill time that night.
January 28 2007. Shah Jahanpur to Lucknow (My first crash)
The day started rather shakily for me. It was a cold and foggy morning and at about 6.00 am Kishore insisted that we start riding towards Lucknow. After the sleepless night I wanted to rest and just get out of this damn dhaba and reach our lodgings at Lucknow. I agreed and we started riding but after about 10-15 km the fog on the open highway became so thick that it was impossible to ride ahead. I insisted that we stop and went to the extent of saying that if he wanted to go ahead he was welcome and I would follow him after the fog lifted. He relented and we took shelter inside the guardroom of a petrol bunk. But even after about three hours the fog show no signs of lifting, in fact the fog was increasing and there was a light hail too.
Since the petrol bunk employees were getting cash ready to deposit in the bank they asked us to leave and left with no option we started riding towards Lucknow. After some time Kishore fell back and I rode ahead alone following a fairly fast moving truck. We saw several trucks, buses, tractors, cars battered in accidents due to less visibility in the fog. Thinking it would be best to follow a moderately fast truck for better lighting and visibility I moved behind a truck and was at a steady 50 km per hour when another truck suddenly came from behind and tried to overtake me and the truck in front. But since there was another truck coming from the other side, the truck cut in front of me and I slammed the brakes... I don't know what happened, the next moment I was being dragged on the road along with the bike... luckily there was no truck behind me otherwise I would have joined the ranks of the dearly departed... Anyway a villager came running and helped me get up and get the bike up also... muddy, bruised and my arms and legs paining I stood there shaken, angry with Kishore on insisting to ride and at my own lack of control on the bike and trying to recover. My left wrist and knee were paining a lot. My jeans was in tatters and thanks to my long johns (inner pant) my knee was not hurt much... there was a big gash of about 1 inch diameter on my knee bleeding.
Thanks to the riding jacket bought at Cramster, Bangalore my arm and shoulder were not broken. Cramster panniers saved me from getting too much hurt as I got dragged and took most of the impact. Despite this crash the bags didn't get torn there were some signs of wear but it held on. Meanwhile Kishore arrived and asked "Hey, what happened? You had a crash?". "Yeah I fell, not much damage luckily," I replied. "I didn't not go above 20 km per hour," said Kishore as if indicating I was too fast and hence crashed. Anyway I didn't want to have a long dialogue on the road and after dusting off the bags I started riding again. The gear lever on my bike had gotten bent and it was a wee bit difficult to change gears but I somehow managed. The fall and sleepless night were taking its toll and I was feeling a little giddy. As we rode ahead we saw several bloody accidents where big vehicles like trucks, buses and tractors had been battered badly and only their mangled metallic remains could be seen on the road. I had never seen so many accidents on the road in my life.
After riding another 50 km we stopped for tea and biscuits at a dhaba about 120 km before Lucknow. "I wanted to experience fog riding. I wanted to see how truckers managed in such hostile weather. That is why I insisited on riding through the night," said Kishore with a mirthful laugh. I didn't respond and just sipped on my tea and munched biscuits. Luckily for me fog had started clearing and sun rays were illuminating our road. We proceeded ahead and reached Kamlapur town about 50 km before Lucknow and seeing an ancient temple like building, I suggested we stop and take a closer look. Surprisingly Kishore agreed and we wheeled into the complex through its large wooden doors, we were pleasantly surprised to see a beautiful temple, Sanskrit Vidyapeeth and several other heritage buildings inside the complex.
As we parked our bikes we were accosted by a group of curious students of the Sanskrit Vidyapeeth. One of them went to call their principal and teachers. Being a residential school the principal was available on a Sunday too. As we interacted with the principal about our tour and mission he was highly impressed and asked one of the students to bring whoever was there in the premises to interact with us. Meanwhile he took us around the campus and showed the various buildings and temples in the complex. "This is a 116 year old building and our Vidyapeeth is about 112 years old. Over 250,000 children have been educated here during past century and even now we have over 450 students enrolled here," said Sudhir Sharma the principal who holds a Masters degree from Lucknow University.
We spent about an hour interacting with the students, staff and some villagers who had walked in seeing our bikes before hitting the road again to Lucknow. It was about 2 pm and I was really hungry and wanted very badly to stop for lunch but not seeing any decent dhaba we proceeded straight to Lucknow where we were hosted by Keshava Shishu Mandir, trust which runs several education institutions in the city. By the time we reached Lucknow and settled down it was already 5.00 pm and we just decided to have dinner straight and hit the sack early.
January 29, 2007. Exploring Lucknow's Islamic architectural heritage
Our first task of the day was to leave our bikes for service before 9.30 at Speed TVS as directed by Rajeev Rewatkar of TVS. We reached the service station and were welcomed by Anand Pandey the manager. After taking into account our complaints he asked us to collect the bike the same evening. "Tomorrow is a state holiday due to Moharaam festival and we are closed," explained Anand and further advised us to be careful on the road to Gorakhpur as we would be passing through some pockets of Muslim dominated areas and there is usually trouble in these areas. As we were preparing to leave the service station Rajeev Rewatkar drove in and welcomed us to Lucknow and asked if everything was ok with the bikes.
"What are your next plans? Where will you go from here?" asked Rajesh. We replied that we were headed toward Gorakhpur and further to Nepal via the Birganj-Raxaul border. "Don't go to Gorakhpur. There is curfew due in the town since 2 days due to communal riots. You stop at Basti, I will book a hotel for you and enter Nepal through the Sanauli-Bhairava border," said Rajesh. We were shocked to hear about the disturbance and ask for more details about which road we were supposed to travel on to reach Basti and further to Sanauli. He took out a state map and showed us various places to go to before reaching Basti and how to get to Sanauli from there. "There are two broken bridges near Bansi, only two wheelers are allowed on the bridges right now. You can go across and reach Sanauli by afternoon from Basti. I will make arrangements for your stay at Basti," reiterated Rajesh and made a few calls to his colleagues in Basti and booked us a hotel room.
We further set out to explore the city of Lucknow, promising the service personnel that we would be back by 5.00 pm. Since Kishore had already seen Lucknow and was familiar with the sights he took the initiative of deciding where to go. We took a mini-tempo to the Bada Imambara, one of the oldest monuments in the city. Enroute we took a peek at the grand Legislative Assembly building also. The Bada Imambara is a massive palace with several architectural marvels. The main hall in the ground floor is a massive mosque with excellent calligraphic motifs. Above the Imambara is the Bhul Bhulaian, a labrynith of passages with over 489 doorways where one can get easily lost and be searching for a way out as there are only 4 entrances to the labrynith.
Then there is the Bholia well which was built to escape in case of a surprise enemy attack. The unique feature of this well is the facility to fill in water above and below a certain area of the buildings where the royals would hide during an attack and come out when the situation is safe. It has been built in such a way when someone enters the courtyard of the Imambara his reflection can be seen in the waters of the well. Impressive techniques which have been lost during the passage of years. Considering UPs roads and public buildings, these monuments are in a fairly good condition and maintained pretty clean and neat. But one irritating feature of the monuments is the ubiquitous presence of beggers all over the place.
From the Bada Imambara we came out only to be accosted by several cycle rickshaw pullers who all promised to show us the other important sights of the city. We engaged one of them to take us to the Clock tower, Art Gallery and the Chota Imambara. He insisted that we visit a Lucknow Chikan factory and see what it has to offer. We relented and went ahead with him to the chikan factory where Kishore purchased a saree for his wife. Lucknow Chikan work is exquisite hand embroidery designing done on sarees, kurtas, dresses, table cloth etc. One thing I must say is that Kishore shops like a woman, he saw so many sarees before choosing one for his wife. Though I was getting bored and feeling hunger pangs I had to wait patiently for him to finish his shopping. It was nearly 3.00 pm and we hadn't had a crumb to eat since morning.
Anyway as we exited the Chikan factory our rickshaw puller guide took us past the tall and majestic looking Clock Tower to the Art Gallery and showed us the Chota Imambara a little distance away and told us to walk across and that he would return back to get new customers. The Art Gallery comprises a beautiful colonial building and displays only about a dozen odd large paintings of the various Nawabs and former rulers of Lucknow and an equal number of miniature works of art. There are few freelance guides who come forward to explain the unique features of each painting only if a suitable sum is paid as fee. The government could put up signboards next to each painting explaining the features to facilitate visitors. There are absolutely no signs explaining the history or unique features of the painting or the artist. After a quick tour of the gallery we moved out and walked across the road to the clock tower which is sited in a large ground which is half occupied by UP police and remaining half serves as a play ground for local youth. This majestic tower could be much better maintained and converted into an attractive tourist spot if only the government wishes to do something. But in the Hindi heartland where the chief minister himself is a wrestler there is no encouragement for tourism.
From the clock tower the Chota Imambara is just about 100 meters away and the preparations for tomorrow's festival were in full swing so we could not really explore the monument properly. We could visit the royal bathroom where the princes and kings would bathe. The technology employed in designing the water jets, bath tubs, showers are simple and functional and reminded me that whatever comforts we enjoy were enjoyed by these kings over 500 years ago. Inside the Chota Imambara is the palace of mirrors which houses several mirrors of different shapes, sizes and types.
We returned back to the TVS showroom and our bikes were ready to move. We took delivery of the bikes and proceeded to the showroom to say thanks to Rajesh Narain the owner of the showroom. He was encouraging of our venture and advised us to keep our papers handy and be prepared for a lot of harassment by cops in Nepal. "Every policeman will want to see your papers and check your motorcycles," said Narain adding that we should try and visit Narayan Ghat also apart from our plan of visiting Lumbini, Pokhara and Kathmandu. After sometime we started back to our lodgings. Enroute we went to a hotel and had the first and only meal of the day and settled down for the night.
January 30, 2007. Lucknow to Basti
We started from Lucknow at about 9.30 am, late because we were invited to visit the regional office of TVS where Rajesh would introduce us to the regional manager and try and get some publicity for our tour. We set out on the Lucknow-Ayodhya-Basti road and as we passed through the city's main roads we noticed that nobody followed traffic rules. Every motorist jumped red lights and when we stopped road users were abusing us for blocking traffic. Lucknow is a city famous for law breakers and nobody bothers about cops who man the signals. Even the cops seem unconcerned they seem lost in their own worlds chewing pan, smoking cigarettes or drinking tea at the local shops.
We reached the TVS regional office at about 11.30 am and being a warm day we were sweating inside our heavy riding gear. At the TVS office we spent quite sometime chatting about our tour and discussing various biker topics with the regional manager and other executives of our sponsor company. We also designed an obstacle track for an upcoming Apache event at Lucknow before proceeding ahead towards Ayodhya.
Enroute Ayodhya we saw several colourful Moharrum processions, congretations and prayer meetings and festivities going on adjacent to the highway but didn't stop to take any pictures because we were warned by people in Lucknow that this is a day when communal riots can break out anywayere and these guys might attack anyone on the road. We were told to be careful and just ride ahead and reach Basti before nightfall. We reached Ayodhya at about 4.00 pm and proceeded to visit the controversial Ram Janam Bhumi temple. As we parked our bikes and approached the shrine, I was shocked to see the security arrangmenets there. This temple or rather structure is more heavily guarded than the India-Pakistan Border at Wagah. So much force, fencing and security for what??? I don't understand. It sounds very stupid that the government should spend so much money to protect this crumbling building rather than the education of the millions of poor children across the country. So heavily guarded that even pen, pencil, toiletries, leather belt, mobile phone, cameras etc are not allowed to be taken inside the complex. The security guards even asked us to remove our jackets as they suspected the shoulder and elbow pads in our jackets might contain weapons. And with my beard and long hair I was a definite suspect.
At Ayodhya I again saw the ugly, materialistic and extortive face of Hinduism, Everyone in the small temple town seems out to get your money. There are touts who offer guidance, shops selling incence, temples collecting donations in the name of Lord Rama etc. It is not a wonder that people of the majority community of this country are losing faith in the religion, thanks to these unscrupulous godmen who can't think of anything other than money. As we exited the Ram Janam Bhumi shrine complex there were hundreds of touts offering us accommodation, guidance, food etc etc. Kishore wanted to visit more temples in the city. "There are over 3,000 ancient temples here. Go ahead and visit whichever you want to see. I will wait for you here at the bike parking place," I told him. I was tired, hungry and didn't have enough energy or enthusiasm to get off the bike, remove the shoes and walk in and out of any more temples. Moreover the frisking at the Ram Janam Bhumi complex was pretty traumatic and I didn't want to go through another process again. Kishore surprisingly agreed with me and we decided to move ahead.
It was 5.00 pm and we hadn't had anything to eat yet. The days in UP were perhaps one of the most painful days of the tour. I don't know whether Kishore feels the same about these days but I definitely cursed my luck at having to go hungry or survive on one paltry meal a day. As we left the temple city we crossed the near-dry Sarayu river over which a long bridge has been constructed. As we progressed fog was setting in quickly and we moved ahead at moderate speeds. I had kinda feared that this might happen and didn't want to suffer another fall so I rode slow and with great care. We reached Basti at about 8.30 pm and reached Hotel Pratap where our room was supposed to be booked. Though there were two executives from TVS staying at the hotel and were well aware of our travel they hadn't bothered to book a room for us. When we reached they scrambled to the managers office and tried to book a room. Since none of the ordinary rooms were available we were accommodated in the deluxe room which was priced Rs.950 per night definitely not within our budget. The mistake we made was not to ask them who was expected to pay for the room, we assumed that since TVS had booked the room, they would pay for it. But we were in for a rude shock when we were presented the bill by the hotel. We must have clarified and when it was obvious that we had to pay we would have gone to a different hotel and taken an affordable room to stay. Anyway this was a great set back to us as we were travelling out of the country next day.
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