The Backpack Nomad

Part I - Kota                I wrote this part at my hotel room in Kota. I visited the Garadia Mahadev temple today, because I had seen it in a Rajasthan tourism ad. I used to think that it was exaggerated in the ad, but I was wrong! The place is magical, but what makes it better is how you get to the place. Before we get into the details, there was a day and a half of bike riding that preceded my visit to Kota. Route to Kota                On Friday, the 15 th of December, I had my stuff packed and bike cleaned before I started for work. At 4 PM, I left office, loaded the luggage on the bike (camera, guitar and one more bag) and started for Surat, my halt for the night. It was 270 kms from office, and getting out of the city traffic took me an hour. It was much easier as I reached the Gujarat highway.           ...

Part II – Chittorgarh and the return journey The next day, I woke up at 8 AM, had breakfast and left the hotel by 930 AM. I got my spare tube from the Royal Enfield showroom, after searching for a while. I started for Chittorgarh by 11.30 AM.                It was a great day to ride, and I halted regularly for clicking photographs. I reached the hotel at 5 PM – Hotel President. Backpackers’ hotel, basic amenities, nothing fancy, most importantly it was comfortable. I took a walk around the hotel area, had some good food and slept early.                               Next morning, I left for my tour of the fort. It was at a great height, with a panoramic view of the city. I hired a guide to fill me up with the history of the place, including the famous jauhar in...

Goa - Travel Diaries I am sitting at a restaurant near home, having my dinner, as I write this. I had just returned from Goa, bike ride.  Enjoying the sunrise I decided to make the journey on Friday to attend a wedding. I really wanted to go, and ride on the highway overnight. After returning from work at 7 PM, I packed my stuff, had a power nap and started my journey at 8:30 PM. The highway was smooth and I could maintain a comfortable speed till Pune, where traffic slowed me down. After Pune, I was able to speed up again, but it was starting to get real cold now. I took my first halt at Satara, as the temperature started to dip unbearably. Dinner - Egg bhurji and chapatis served hot, and delicious. After dinner, I was ready for the next leg of the journey. Another 60 kms later, I halted for refueling. I was starting to feel very sleepy now. So I parked the bike at the petrol pump, and slept for an hour.  Belgaum, return journey I started again at 3:30 ...

Our tents, as the moon sets I woke up the next morning by 630 AM. No one else was up yet. I left the tent with my camera, washed up in the nearby stream of water and clicked pictures of the landscape around me. The moon was just starting to set and the sun was rising. The rays gave the dried grass around a beautiful golden tinge. I got my jump shot, walked around a while and came back to the tent. I took my guitar out and started playing it, at a little distance from the tents. This was amazing. People had started getting up, wishing 'good morning' and exploring the place. We clicked a lot a of pictures, till breakfast arrived. And then, tea was served.  Jump shot! Photo shoot While having tea up there, on that cold morning, I realized that nothing freshens you up like this! I was ready to trek further after sipping two cups of tea. We packed our stuff, put it all in the common tent and left for our next view point - Konkankada. It was just a ten-minute walk...

Entrance to the fort It was a long and tiring trek over the weekend. It's Monday, and I am still recovering from the tiring journey. But when I look back at it, it was all worth it. It started off with a facebook post about the trek to Harishchandragadh, which was supposed to have a session of poetry, and story-telling. Although "I am not a poet, and you all know it", I signed up for it, thinking I could entertain them with my limited guitar-playing skills. I asked around and there were three of us to trek now. But on the day of the trek, two of them backed out. Of course I went, with a guitar in one hand and the camera kit-bag in the other. I was out to trek with Utopia journeys. Our ride I woke up early on Saturday morning, by 5 AM, excited to start. I had to catch a 7:35 AM local to Kasara station from Thane, and I was at the station by 7:20 AM. The train was reasonably empty. I reached Kasara at around 930 AM, standing at the door, with both my bags...

On the way to Bhor On the morning of 30th September, me and a friend started our ride for Tapola, at 10 AM. This was my first ride on the new bike. The plan was to start at 6 AM, but obviously, we couldn't! I was on the Varandha-Bhor ghat route for the second time this year, but the road condition had deteriorated over the monsoon. We took quite a few breaks, coz my friend was on his first ride, and the landscape was amazing as well. A photograph waited on every turn!  ST bus at Mandhardevi Ghat   We halted at one of the stalls on the Varandha ghat to have some tasty snacks and tea. There were a lot of monkeys around who stole eatables from unsuspecting tourists! By the time we reached Bhor, it was 630 PM, getting dark and raining a bit. We decided to halt at Bhor for the night coz riding at night on the ghats would be risky. We stayed at this place called Maharashtra lodge for 500 bucks a night. The room was tidy, and the TV was showing live football! We dined...

Bhoothnatha temple This time, my travel list took me to the North of Karnataka, to this place called Badami. I started from Mumbai on Friday, in a VRL bus at midnight, delayed by an hour. But with the rains around, and the traffic, I'd say they did well to keep the delay down to just an hour. Nothing worth writing about the bus journey, not even a chai break. The bus reached Hubli at 930 AM on Saturday. After making to and fro trips between the new and old bus stands, I was informed that buses to Badami will be available at the old bus stand, but due to Eid prayers, the bus service was stopped for a couple of hours. I hogged onto my breakfast during this time, and tasted the famous Dharwad pedha. The jump shot I got my bus at 11 AM, and the 100 odd kms journey to Badami began. The roads were single-laned, but surprisingly in greatcondition. I reached Badami  at 230 PM. I checked into hotel Rajsangam International, which is exactly opposite to the main bus stand. I got ...

It's 7.30 PM and I am sipping a hot cup of tea made by mom as I write this. I got back from a ride to Panchgani, drenched completely in rains.  We left on Saturday morning, at 8 AM from Panvel - 2 hours late from the estimated time. There were seven of us - Sanket, Amit, Swapnil, Sanjay, Sandeep, Pranav and me. And Sanket ran into some trouble with his bike, which had to be fixed. Hence the delay. It was raining heavily when we started, and it was difficult for me to get used to it. The roads were messed up too, with potholes. But as we rode on, it got better. The rain stopped, and as we made our way to Varandha ghat the road and the scenery improved. We took the route from Mahad-Varandha Ghat-Bhor-Wai which was longer but a lot more scenic.  From Panvel, our first halt was near Mahad. A quick snack later we were off again. We took halts at will on Varandha gh at enroute to Bhor. Many waterfalls can be scene all along this route. By the time we reached Wai via Mandhar...