HIGHWAY PLAYERS

Ride to Jaisalmer

Well, they say good things come a little late and that was true for our Jaisalmer Trip which was a much awaited ride for us all. So, all this started with a discussion of long ride at Mr. Amit Tiwari’s residence (Haveli for reference) in Noida on 13th July 2019. After having a good time over the drinks and a great supper, everyone opened up and expressed their urge of going on a long trip in the August long weekend (15th August onwards). Some voted for Spiti while others wanted to go to Ladakh ride for the breathtaking adventure it offers. Discussions settled over and Mr. Parveen Kumar, aka PK, told us all that we should apply for leaves in advance and that the trip will happen. The thought of going on a long bike ride amazed us all and started our tick tock clock much in advance.

So the preparation got started and PK informed us all that there can be three options for location i.e. Spiti, Ladakh & Jaisalmer. As expected, most of the riders wrote their name for Ladakh and Spiti leaving the Jaisalmer group with a less number of riders. But only God knew what he had in bucket for us. So after much of discussion, 7 riders were ready for the adventurous ride. Anuj Singh, Amit Tiwari, Paramveer Singh Gill (Gill sahib), Dhruv Puri (myself), Pradeep Sahadev, and PK with Monu bhai as a pillion – all of us were ready for the ride which was about to become a life time memory.

Now, after convincing our bosses and applying for leaves, some of us took our bikes to the service station while others were getting the horses ready by installing some accessories for the long ride. All excited for the ride, 6 of us got ready and took our horses to Dhaula Kuan Bus stand on 16th August 2019 around 11pm. And yes the 7th rider, Gill sahib went ahead of us and left Delhi early morning that day to attend some urgent work there plus to avoid night driving, which was something we were about to experience with a little surprise.

While waiting at Dhaula Kuan for Pradeep bhai, who was tying his bags on his bike, I got a call from my parents that all of Rajsathan & Gujrat is facing a flood like condition and government has made a high alert in these areas. And with our enthusiasm reaching the skies, we took this as a normal routine scenario. I remember PK bhai saying that “Rain Coat mat daalo, agar baarish hogi to thodi der hogi “. To this, I was laughing at myself since I was not carrying any rain cover.

Well, leaving all the uncertainties behind, all of us geared up after wearing our special ride t-shirts and pull the string of our horses and started moving towards our first stop which was Jaipur, 270 km from Delhi. Just after reaching Manesar, we faced a little drizzling which got converted into a storm later. And from that time onwards all 6 of us kept thinking that the rain is going to stop in a while but a child in each one of us kept us saying that “Is baar baarish mein hi bike chalayege “. And ignoring this rain – a deterrent, each one of us throttled up their bikes with multiple stops. And a journey which was just for 4 hours took us whole night and all boosted up, we reached Jaipur early morning around 5 AM.

Jokes of Amit bhai and little fun with Anuj bhai kept us going that far in that mad rain. Now the sun roused and we saw a bunch of watery clouds coming towards us in the sky. But that little child in us was so stubborn that we kept riding in that extreme weather. I believe this was the first time for us all that we faced such a havoc rain in our lives. Not even a single part of our body was dry, some of us also started shivering. But all this felt like a part of adventure that this ride offered us with no misery.

Making fool of our minds that a little journey is left, we kept riding since we wanted to cover as much distance as we could to reach our destination Jaisalmer. All the things like visiting Laungewala temple, enjoying the Desert Safari, riding the bike in sand dunes, etc. were keeping the motivation high. Throttling up our horses and all drenched we reached an off-beat location – Beawar which is a small town in Rajasthan district. To no surprise, everyone was in a need of a good breakfast since no one had anything after lunch a day before. And to this point, reaching Jaisalmer started looking a little difficult as the distance was more than 400 kms and rains started impacting our body with aches.

After eating the thickest yet delicious paranthas of our lives, all of us decided to stretch ourselves for Jaisalmer and not staying in Jodhpur where Gill sahib was already waiting for us. Geared up again, we all went straight for Jodhpur just for a pit-stop and planned to reach Jaisalmer the very same day. After this the journey became so beautiful as we entered Pali district. After the hard work we did at the night, the nature had a pleasant view for us which included green mountains and at that point we all felt amazed and lucky to be a part of this road-trip.

But with wide open roads and less traffics all of us got scattered since there was a difference in our speeds. In addition, paranthas and the rain started showing their impact by making us sleepy. I, PK, Monu and Anuj bhai stopped over for a fuel refill but we could not find Pradeep bhai and Amit bhai behind us. Then some locals told us that 2 bikes went ahead of this road. After waiting for 40 minutes and changing our clothes, we again started riding towards Jodhpur. And I would like to mention here that rain had not stopped till this point. Yes, you read it right, we were riding continuously in rains from last 12 hours till a checkpoint where a bleak of sunlight smashed through our helmet’s visor and made all of us smile. This was a place around 40 kms before Jodhpur where we 4 (PK & Monu, Anuj & me) stopped to make ourselves dry and to have a cup of tea.

Meanwhile, PK bhai was trying to get in touch with Amit bhai and got to know that both Amit bhai and Pradeep bhai has reached Jodhpur. To this, we headed up to Jodhpur and we decided that now the bikes will stop in the hotel parking only. Entered Jodhpur around 2 PM in the evening we started getting a glimpse of Rajasthan with a beautiful fort around in the city and this was the time when city traffic and sunlight was making us feel much better. Searching for the hotel that Gill sahib was staying in, we roamed the tiniest streets of Jodhpur and finally after much effort and re-routing we reached Hotel Heritage which was a cherry on the cake after a hectic ride.

We decided to stay in Jodhpur as at that point our bodies started making noise along with our bullets. We all got our rooms and suddenly without any surprise, I started feeling feverish. Ignoring this, I started to unload my luggage from the bike like others were doing. And then the funniest yet pity moment welcomed us as all of our clothes got drenched inside the waterproof bags and every room asked for a iron to dry the clothes. I found a pair of shorts and a t-shirt which got dried up easily.

Adding to this, the trickiest part was taking the bath. This is because every part of our body was covered with mud, removing which was hell of a task. Consequently, we all got ready and went on our bikes for a much needed lunch. And suddenly after the lunch my body started giving up and needed rest to which I told all the riders that I am going back to the room. And to accompany me, Monu who has been a pillion in his journey, joined me and said that he will also take rest.

All other riders went ahead and planned to have a look around the city. From watching the glimpse of the whole city from the top of Jodhpur fort to driving the bullets in full swag in the streets of Jodhpur, all the riders enjoyed a lot in the short span of time and also gave a try to the local delicacies like hot milk, etc.

On the way coming back to hotel, Monu bhai helped and I took a strong medicine to cope up from the fever and cold. Plus, I was making myself ready for the next day as we were supposed to hit the roads the very next morning reaching to Delhi. At that point, it felt like the ride from Delhi to Jodhpur was a rehearsal for me and the way back will be the actual ride. This was because I got myself a raincover and then reaching hotel, I felt dead asleep and that was indeed a good decision on my part.

At around 9 in the evening, PK bhai came to my room to wake me up for the dinner. A tasty yellow daal with tawa chapatti is what made our stomachs full. The delicious food signalled our sleeping senses and we all fell asleep after that like a wooden plank in our rooms and decided to leave early the next day around 7 AM for Om Banna Temple and to Delhi after that.

We woke up the next day and after leaving from the hotel, we visited the quite notorious Janta Sweets in Jodhpur. All of us wanted to take some delicious sweets along for our family members who were waiting for us all. So we took Ras Malai Laddo which indeed was the best sweet dish I ever had. Me, Gill sahib and Pradeep bhai also took some Kachori’s from there and then we headed our bikes for the much awaited Om Banna Temple.

Om Banna (also called Shri Om Banna and Bullet Baba) is a shrine located in Pali district near Jodhpur, India, devoted to a deity in the form of a motorcycle. It is located 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Pali and 53 kilometres (33 mi) away from Jodphur on the Pali-Jodhpur highway, near Chotila village. The motorcycle is a 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet RNJ 7773. Hundreds of devotees turn up every day to pray for a safe journey.

This temple was like a treat for us all as this was the only tourist attraction we were visiting on this trip. Now the story of this temple can be found everywhere on the internet. But to cut it to short, this is a temple where no God or Goddess is worshipped, not even a sculpture. All that is worshipped is an Old Bullet.

After visiting Om banna, we had a good lunch nearby and headed for Delhi. Somewhere deep inside we all were feeling a little sad that trip was going to end yet we collected some amazing memories which were going to last a life-time. Adding to this memory was a scenario when Anuj bhai was declared as the lead of the trail. And with a surprise Anuj bhai handled the group very well. Keeping the speed of around 90-100 kmph plus taking very few stops helped us to reach Jaipur around 6 pm in the evening.

Every rider on that trip will remember what a burst of laughter we got into after taking a stop for dinner after crossing Jaipur. The fun talks held at that dinner stop literally made that evening even more special and memorable. But no ride is complete without some pain and this is the real meaning of life that life will never remain the same. Hurdles and obstacles will come your way but you have to bounce back and fight for all the contingencies. Now, after having a great dinner, when we started heading for Delhi, Gill sahib’s bike got in a pothole and since there were alloys installed in the bike, the front wheel got damaged and air blew out of that wheel. To our luck, there was a puncture shop exactly at the point where this happened. This time, Anuj bhai and Amit bhai was ahead of us all and stopped somewhere around 15kms ahead of us.

At that point, I remember this old saying which says – “Where there is a will, there is a way.”

Finally, after the effort done by Monu and that local puncture guy, our bike got restored and was ready for the ride.

Leaving that place around 10 PM in the evening we all moved our bullets way back home. The last stop that we made was near Dharuhera where we exchanged all the stuff with each other like sweets and also exchanged the experiences that each one of us had during this ride and then after reaching Manesar toll, we all met and hugged each other and parted to meet again and reached our homes safely.

Concluding this story, I remember these amazing words by Freya Stark –

To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure. You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown.” – Freya Stark

Keep Riding...

Thanks for reading guys !! Till next time !!
Dhruv Puri