February 10. Kathmandu-Motihari (India)
The cold mountain air sweeping through Kathmandu kept us in bed longer than necessary. So we got off to a late start at 9 a.m. The air was cold and we looked forward to leave the cold mountains of Nepal and get to the plains of India. We raced down the Thribhuvana Rajpath or the National highway-2 which links Kathmandu with the Raxaul border.
The road to Raxaul is narrow and the terrain is steep and rugged. Although there was hardly any traffic on the road, we reached Damon by 12.30 p.m. The next stretch of the road was the most challenging we experienced in Nepal. It took us over three hours to cover the distance of 65 km because of sharp and curvaceous nature of the road. Moreover shortly out of Damon we encountered sudden fog and low visibility. Recalling my crash and providential escape in foggy conditions in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh (see EW May ’07), we were unsure about continuing our pilgrim’s progress. Fortuitously we met up with an Indian jeep driver traveling from Raxaul to Kathmandu who informed us the depth of the fog was only 5 km. Thanking him we rode cautiously down hill through the fog and reached Hetuda (130 km). From here it was a smooth and easy ride upto Raxaul border from where we crossed into India.
The Raxaul border outpost was less orderly than the Sanauli border crossing. For one there’s no checking of incoming traffic on the Indian side of the border. Vehicles and people have free access into India through perennially open gates. The customs post was full of uniformed officers but they were engrossed in a game of cards. We zipped across the border into Bihar (pop. 82 million) which by common consensus is India’s most under-developed and crime infested state. Our destination Motihari 51 km away to rest for the night. But we hadn’t budgeted for Bihar’s raods, which are mere rough hewn tracks. For the entire stretch of 51 km from Raxaul to Motihari—designated a national highway I didn’t see even trace of asphalt. And this stretch has been notified to be part of the prestigious Golden Quadrilateral Project. Bouncing along the road at an average speed of 15 km ph we finally reached Motihari at 9.00 pm and checked into a hotel with a dormitory (Rs.50 per head per night).
February 11. Motihari – Muzzafarpur
We started off from Motihari at 8.30 a.m heading for Muzzafarpur in light drizzle. The road was barely visible and traffic chaotic, with every vehicle rider/ drive on the road following his own rules of the road. Traffic lights, signals, signage boards and policemen were conspicuous by their absence. As we exited the city and hit the highway, road conditions improved somewhat. But rain played spoilsport, impeding our progress. Finally at 12.30 p.m we stopped at a Reliance A1 Plaza (hotel attached to petrol bunk), Panapur, about 65 km from Motihari for lunch. We got there just in time because no sooner we stopped, the heavens opened up.
The proprietor of the A1 Plaza, franchisee Lt. Cmdr (retd.) Shashank Shekhar, was highly accommodating and allowed us to bunk down in the Plaza's A/C room instead of the common resting area. He further introduced us to Col. Harjeet Singh, head of the local NCC (National Cadet Corps) unit, who invited us to breakfast in the morning.
February 12. Panapur-Muzzafarpur-Naugachchia
Day started early for us as we got up and freshened up in the new concept petrol bunk-cum-resthouse pioneered by Reliance. The A1 Plaza offers all the comforts for a person on the road, hot meals, clean toilets, hot and cold showers, comfortable, resting areas with facilities to lie down for sometime, ample parking space and a utility store. With several standardized A1 Plaza petrol bunk-cum-resthouses having sprung up across the country, a huge boom in road tourism is imminent.
We arrived at Col. Singh’s NCC unit at 9.30 a.m and were treated to a sumptuous breakfast of piping hot alu parathas and refreshing cups tea. After brief interaction we proceeded to Lt. Cmdr. Shekhar's Honda showroom to formally thank him for his hospitality and proceeded towards Siliguri jostling for space on Muzzafarpur's narrow streets. At 1.30 pm we were able to exit the traffic-choked streets of Muzzafarpur and get on to the highway to Purnia.
Deciding to ride non-stop to reach Purnia by 7.00 pm, the best we could do on the narrow potholed road was 40-45 km per hour. Being an arterial link road between Lucknow and Siliguri, truck traffic on this highway is dense. Moreover our progress was painfully slow because of the need to negotiate deep potholes. Craters which could easily accommodate a small car are commonplace on this road. Finally after a commendable 256 km we called it a day at another Reliance A1 Plaza near Naugachchia town where also the staff were courteous and accommodated us in their resting area. Grateful for the hot meal served by courteous staff, we hit the sack at 10 p.m to sink into deep sleep.
February 13. Naugachchia-Baghdogra
This direct route from Naugachchia to Baghdogra is only about 240 km. Buy since we were not agreeable to paying for ‘special permit’ charges to ride in Bhiar to a police outpost in Purnia, a town 60 km short of West Bengal border we were deliberately misguided by them to an alternate circuitous route which added 80 km of the mud and gravel roads of rural Bihar to our itinerary. This detour cost us dear and we reached the BSF camp at Kadamtala at Baghdogra at 9 p.m — three hours behind schedule.
In communist-ruled West Bengal, we immediately experienced superior road conditions and some signs of law and order. Col. Harjeet Singh of NCC, Muzzafarpur had phoned ahead to commandant of BSF frontier headquarters in Baghdogra asking him to accommodate us. We were given an enthusiastic welcome by Mr. R. Ramaswmy DIG of BSF frontier headquarters and accommodated in the very comfortable officers mess.
