-Samual Johnson

The ‘shifting’ plan

Welcome back to my world of “Travel | Explore | Capture”. With the winter gods finally ready to ease it a little, it was time for me to get the cover off my bike and hit the open roads. I planned a road trip to the mountains for the upcoming long weekend with a friend but with a bike, a person has to be prepared not just with the readiness of the bike but the road and weather conditions too!

And that’s exactly what hit us, the weather warning about hailstorm and rains in the region. So, the plan changed to the city of Amritsar and Wagah border but wait, there was something else in store for us! Thursday night it started raining badly in Gurgaon and with indications that we might face the same in the northern plains, we once again changed our plans and decided to ride towards Sawai Madhopur and Ranthombore tiger reserve. Learning – a traveller, especially a rider should be prepared to play it by ear 

Preparation for the ride

I maintain a standard checklist on my mobile (synchronized with laptop) for my trips. So, it was easy to start checking out items like preparedness of the bike, documentation, download maps, photography kit and accessories, clothing etc. etc. Probably one of these days I can blog/ vlog about this list in much details. 

Riding gear – checked and prepared!

Google map showed alternate routes but keeping in mind the weather conditions, we took a much-used route via NH48 on Jaipur road till Manoharpur (nearly half the distance on a road with all amenities) and then took NH148 and 24 to Sawai Madhopur via Dausa and Lalsot, a total of about ~375km. And when we realized that Bhangarh was just about 15km off the route, we decided to make a stopover.  

The ride

Leaving early at 7 AM with a couple of other riders, we made a non-stop ride with our first break near Behror for breakfast of giant tandoori parathas at highway King. A cloudy morning with the sun trying to show up unsuccessfully, it was a great ride…It always is, hearing the distinguishing thump of the Royal Enfield! Leaving behind one of our friends to find his own way back, two of us continued on NH48 till Manoharpur with a small break in between at a Royal Enfield service station to get a lock fixed. This bike can virtually get serviced anywhere, be it in a city or a remote village.

Turning into the 2 lane road towards Dausa was a pleasant surprise. It was a super smooth road with a scenic view on both sides until we turned into the 15km road taking us towards Bhangarh. That was a road full of potholes and the constant jarring got one of my fog lights clamps to break and had to be administered a ‘desi’ jugad of clamping it back with cable tie which thankfully held for the rest of the ride. Learning – carrying tools and accessories help

Bhangarh Fort

After a 235km of the ride, we reached the fort at noontime. With no public amenities and just a little  ‘shop’ in a hut, it’s better to go prepared. We parked our bikes, latched our helmets (always a challenge with some expensive accessories) we bought our entry tickets and walked in carrying rest of our riding accessories ‘on’ us and the hot and humid weather didn’t really help.

Legends and folklores claim this fort to be the most haunted place in the country. There are also several stories about how this fort got to be deserted. One mentions a sadhu baba whose injunction was that any houses built in the precincts of the fort should not be taller than his house else it would lead to the destruction of the town and another one talks about a black magic wizard who fell in love with a princess and met an accidental death. So, take your pick!

This is an Archaeological Survey of India site and the information stones at various locations in the fort give us a brief about the history. You may also refer to the wiki for more information.

The fort had four entrances with a wall around it, and some of it can still be seen and you can also see a watchtower still standing on one of the hills. After crossing a couple of temples near the main gate we walked up the lane with ruins of small structures which used to be market and houses. We spent some time observing that most of them were partitioned in 3 parts and some of them also had stairs going up. While most of them have fallen to the ground level, there are still a few showing that there were multi-floor structures at one time.

As you walk up the lane you get to see the larger structures and also the prominent Gopinath temple and the palace itself, with four floors still standing proudly! When you walk up to the top of the fort (or rather what’s remaining) you get to see the complete spread of the town along with the broken outer wall. Now inhabited by no humans but monkeys and maybe ghosts… what do you think?

Continue to Ranthambore

After spending about a couple of hours we got back on the road towards Dausa. We stopped for a (not so quick) typical Rajasthani lunch at a Dhaba and continue towards Lalsot. The last 80km or so after Lalsot was bad with broken roads and invisible speed breakers that lead to us reaching Sawai Madhopur after dark. We spent an hour scouting for a hotel and after several tries got a lucky break and landed up at a recently renovated Shani Vikas on the Ranthombore road. We didn’t wait long to get into the room, dump the gear and the bags, hit the shower and grabs a lovely dinner. And soon we were in dreamland, for tomorrow is another day… Learning – If it’s an unplanned trip, it’s a good idea to identify the areas where most of the hotels are located, that way hotel hunting becomes easier!

Day 2 would unfold more about Ramthambore and Sawai Madhopur, so stay tuned…

As the Khoj continues…

Picture Album – Click Here

Background 

First hosted in 1987, this fair was brought up to an International status in 2013 with increased international participation, with 20+ countries this year. The venue every year is Surajkund (‘Suraj’ – sun, ‘Kund’ – lake/ reservoir) in state of Haryana, India. Every year there is one theme state, this year been Himachal Pradesh. 

Some logistics

• Dates – 1^st – 16 February  in 2020
• Timing – 10.30 AM till 8.30 PM, all days
• Accessible by local transport and person vehicles (with a large well-planned parking area)
• Tickets – available both at the site (and this time I noticed the ‘BookMyShow’ counter for online booking too!)

The Mela

The Mela spread over 40 acres of land with 3 entries and 1000+ work huts/ stalls can be overwhelming. So we tried to follow the numbers tagged to each stall to cover the grounds systematically and failed miserably because, the cultural activities, the colourful stalls and diverse craft continued to pull us in all directions.

Himachal Pradesh, being the theme state, you get to see a varied cultural and art exhibits from the states – Handicraft from woodwork to metalwork to clay work, Handlooms to fine dresses to woollen traditional wear! Equally matched was the handicraft work from other states.

Well, equally attractive (and more for me than my wife!) were the food stalls, ultimate satisfaction for my culinary longing. Variety of street foods from various parts of the country reinforced by a huge buffet by Himachal tourism and IHM, to name a couple.

The other attraction/ crowd-puller were the cultural activities/ programs. Traditional music-dance-songs by the traditionally attired performers were enthusiastically joined by the visitors.

What Else

We missed the evening light & sound show and the fashion show… plan enough time to cover all ground and see the evening activities! Also, if you plan for some serious shopping, visiting towards the end of the season is a good idea, you could get good deals!

Well, this short writeup hardly does justice to this magnificent event of colours, cultural diversity and our rich heritage. So, I have put together a separate gallery with my photos (click here) and videos (click here) to make up for some of this.

So, if you haven’t yet visited, go now! If not, put it up on your calendar for February next year!