Through the Bicyle

On any given day, a 600 km ride with an extreme fight on a climb is a preferred choice than writing its story. Writing a blog is much worse than I thought it to be. But I feel it was needed to be written for the awareness if not for the story itself.

               And as for the last word for the errand goes. The experience of the ride was just like a cucumber passing through a grinder. An alteration in the physical imprint while keeping the essence intact. The big adventure has changed the way the things are perceived now. Though it is hard to give a reasoning thought of how and why. But I feel, the child in me has come to love Cycling and The Bicycle even more. Sometimes, the intimacy does make me talk to my bike and she responds too, though not that easily.

The day when I learned to ride a bicycle still rings in my memory. It was a classic “Father and Son” moment. Cycling then was always a mode to pass time. A drive-away, to an already-visited place on feet, just to experience the perspective shift of a place through the bicycle.

  

On a Bicycle, the time turned slowly and the road unraveling the mysteries of the world kept you speculating. “So, What`s next? ”.

Day 8 - Dec 10 ,Friday

December rains. It was raining heavily around 7.00 am when I called to check on the guys and where they have reached after the start. But the rains caused the delay and they left around 8:00 am whereas I started my chores bathing in the morning sun and cleaning and repairing my byk at home.

Temple near Vengurla

The Route

The road to Terekhol from Aravali is a small, well maintained road that passess through small hamlets and then passes through Shiroda, a junction illage. A 6 km road after Shiroda is through a hill section on which you would encounter a heavy traffic of dumpers due to presence of big Tata Metallics kiln in Redi, a small village 9 kms from Aronda backwaters. Just after reaching Aronda, an under-construction bridge is been built to crossover to Goa. Till then the Kiranpaani jetty will continue to work as a means of local transportation to cross the Maharashtra-Goa border. At the jetty you can have a view of small dinghies floating on the creek and extracting sand from the bed.

The last span

Kiranpaani jetty

 

The Moment    

The Pump view, Arambol

There it was, Our first cycling print in Goa just after crossing the Kiranpani ferry. Well, Its hard to describe what it feels like to reach our final destination. But I certainly know what it takes to reach Goa on cycle.

Eight days and just about 600 kms. Sore calf muscles reminding you of every climb that looked indomitable. Affliction in thighs prompted while squatting for the morning chore. The big realization of the existence of your butt as such an important muscle for Cycling. And a state of fatigue where your soul projects an inner smile never to be reflected on your physical self. 

The celebration

Calangute stay

Improvised Reward

As for me, Goa loomed, the very next day when I pedaled 40 kms alone to reach Calangute where the other guys had landed up after the celebration. A journey started together was ended together in yet another King`s beer bash followed by a classical concert featuring Zakir Hussain in Panjim.

Day 7 - Dec 9 , Thursday

Our Malwani host

Homestay in Tarkarli

With Goa just looming at 50+ kms from Tarkarli, the feeling of  “yes-we-have-done-it” started gushing in our veins. Our host, a beautiful 60 year old granny, understood and applauded our journey in Malvani words,

“Bara kelyaat, Cycli war ilyaat taa . gorryan sarkha jhala. Hyaka kay petrolichi garaj nasa, pedal maarlyat ki vatek sutla.”  
( Good job coming on a cycle. Just like the foreigners do. No need of petrol. Just a pedal and you are set on your way.)    

Malwan-Devbag road

The Plan 

A Small de-tour was decided for the day. The de-tour was to end our days journey at my native place in Talawade about 15 kms from Goa border and reach Goa the next morning.

The Route 

The day started on the Malwan-Devbag road with a view of beautiful little hamlets and House-boats on Tarkarli backwaters, a sign of growing Tourism on Konkan belt. Devbag, a small fishing hamlet, is the face of old Konkan with aesthically very beautifull houses and an ethnic setting leaving us dumbfounded, giving a very spiritual experience. 

In Devbag

 

Ferry to Bhogwe

We hired a personal boat to cross ourselves from Tarkarli to Bhogwe. Getting down from the ferry , we continued on the road to Mhapan. The road to Mhapan goes through absolutely red mud tracks and little hamlets and coconut plantations. The road onwards to Vengurla is a series of painstaking climb. The continuous fatigue of the earlier days were making even the smaller climbs of the day look like a man trudging through a waist deep mud. One of the most beautiful temple encountered was overlooked only because it followed a steep climb ahead and nobody wanted to break the rhythm. The degree of fatigue was just unimaginable. After a flat plateau and then gliding through a big descent at 35 kmph, Vengurla`s coastline came to life and we breathed a sigh of relief for lunch. 

  

The Red mud trail

Near Mhapan

Cyclogy

A Bicycle helmet

Every road we traveled followed a staring look from men saying  “You do not come from a world where I belong” and the reason lie neither in our cycles nor the riders. It was a cause of the colorful, fancy plastic shell on our heads. A Bicycle helmet. Well, it took us quite a while to understand that a bicycle helmet serves much bigger purpose on long trips than just a design to attenuate impacts to the skull of a cyclist in case of falls.

It`s a Symbol of a Wanderer having a heart beating with natural curiosity for the road and the world beyond. A cognitive representation of a self-belief that the world is within your reach and up for the grab.

 

Misfirings

It was already 4.30 pm when we finished our Lunch and Cocktail Ice-cream and were confused where to go. A dilemma. To go to Rahul`s friends home in Aravali or at my native place. There was a big split. Instead of splitting in half, I took a call for me to reach out for my home and Rahul, Bani and Dibakar moving to Aravali and meeting again early morning to complete our journey to Goa. But tomorrow never came for me and they continued their journey to Goa.          

Bani , Rahul and Me

Dibakar

The Ache

 Big Ache of the day

 It was first time ever on our entire trip that Dibakar
 and me got off from a bike on a climb just 5 kms
 away from Vengurla, out of fatigue and decided to
 walk. On our entire trip, Dibakar was fighting really
 hard with his big black messenger bag considering the
 fact that the bag swiveled constantly through and fro
 around his shoulders while riding. 

 

Home

On the walk up this climb, he tried to balance that bag on the frame of the cycle. It fell. Once. He looked in disgust and tried to balance  it again. It fell again. Out of anger and fatigue, Dibakar banged the bag again and cried “ Bhen*** . Haramkhor bag, ek jageh par reh , kabse idhar udhar gire jaa raha hai.”.
We were in laughing fury when we talked about it and this time our stomachs ached more than the legs. Only reason, now I can think of the big laugh was our body was acting in defense against fatigue and even a small silly act was turning into a laugh-out-loud scene.   

Rewards

In Aravali

Home is Everything. Cycling all the way from Bombay and reaching my native home, where I have spent my childhood`s most beautiful days turned out to be a much improvised and meaningful destination. The sense of belonging and happiness that Goa as the final destination never promised.

As for the others, they bathed in the sea of Aravali and would find their happiness tomorrow morning in Goa.   

Day 6 - Dec 8 , Wednesday.

The Day of Reckoning.It was 6:0 am and we left Jaitapur. Starting up early morning was something that we tried but never happened. But the early night bivouac in a temple forced us to wake early as the idea of people finding us in our sleeping bags didn’t look too convincing. And Rahul seemed to be happy with our early Headstart following a great Sushine morning on a small fishing creek running to Vijaydurg.   

The Mornings

Sunshine

Cyclogy:  Mornings and Evenings, when the sun is low and temperature is cool remains the best time for cycling . Any another time is an unnecessary battle.

Noon comes with a mandate of dehydration pangs, unbalanced body temperature, unnecessary fatigue and a boredom questioning why exactly are you doing this. And Night is a game of light and shadow and a constant fight against not getting hit and possibly killed by a speeding vehicle. In India on urban roads, walking people commands more respect than a guy with a cycle.The story though is quite different on the Outskirts.

Turning up for breakfast, Near Padel

Through check post

 

The Route: With dawn still looming in the distance we climbed a to-be-road and continued on the road through Niveli and looked for a bridge at Jambhari where we climbed a small hill and entered Sindhudurg district. There is a check post after the climb that separates Ratnagiri from the Sindhudurg district. After a small inquiry about our journey by the officer at check post, we continued our way to Padel from where one road leads to Vijaydurg and other to Malwan.

Dabhole, Water break

Street play

 The road to Malwan from there is a well maintained 
 State highway with pretty big villages and schools and 
 then it enters an inner road from Dabhole. The red 
 blooded laterite soil ,buoyant smell of cashew trees 
 and the sweet Malwani dialect overwhelms our way 
 and me with a sense of being home. On our way ahead
 we left behind few holy spots of Kunkeshwar and 
 Rameshwar near Mithbav and had a rest of about 2 
 hrs and a wholesome lunch of Veg Thali. With few 
 turns and small climbs we reached Achra around 4.30 
 pm and watched a small streetplay by a local body 
 campaigning the Sarva Shikshan Abhyaan.

Improvisation: After an hour ride from Achra under the setting sun, we reached Malwan. We spotted a Kingsfisher bathing in the sunset on a cable wire and enjoying the view. After reaching Malvan Bandar, we were caught in a dilemma, whether to move ahead to Tarkarli which is heard to be very Beautiful or stay in quite populated Malvan, which was our planned destination for our days end. However, we decided to move ahead and reach Tarkarli. The 8 km road to Tarkarli turned out to be a beauty and an unimaginable cycling track with a feel of another extra wheel below you, gliding you effortlessly. 

The Kingfisher

School in Malvan

Malwan

The Rendezvous: Rahul`s two friends , architects by professions came to meet us at our Tarkarli Homestay and told us few fascinating stories .

a)      Gaavpalan. An event held in Achra where all the residing people of the village with all their belongings and herds go and stay together at a some far away place for few days. The ritual is said to resolve disputes and boost family bondings. Not strange though considering the fact that the new found business world employs it in the name of  “Corporate bonding” process.

b)      Jeff, one of the guy, revealed about a courageous man who cycled Bombay Goa inspite of an unequal leg length deformity with a technique called “Scissors”, Kaychi a local word and he being an inspiration for him to cycle Bombay Goa someday.

c)      And talk about how globalization and government policies are making the locals and their villages vulnerable to forget about the cultural and architectural values of their ancestral homes and turning them into bigger concrete boxes and the new face of developing Urban India.

The Giant bringing beer on the Bottle cage

Rewards:  The day ended in a big night-out with splendid Surmai thali loads of beer till 3.0 am and heavy discussion , Bani and me against Rahul and Dibakar. A classic debate between an Engineer and an Architect.

One projecting a Functional and Utilitarian motives and other proposing Aesthetic and Cultural Values of our Villages.  

  

Day 5 - Dec 7 , Tuesday

With Ganpatipule, we reached our half way mark of the trip and started to breathe a sense of joy and achievement though not obvious by our fatigued gait.

Dibakar`s baggage puller

Goa now , started appearing to be a possible dream.

“No matter, how big the climb or in how many days? ”. All the questions turned irrelevant.

However, the group dynamics had changed. Guys riding ahead for the first four days started appearing at back whereas Dibakar and me started leading. A Strange purview considering the fact that I was riding the heaviest Bicycle with least lower gears and Dibakar with lower aerobic capacity appeared to be carrying all his wardrobe on the bicycle.

The dugout to Ratnagiri

“ Hmm, Yeh teeno Bombay se aaye hai aur main direct Manali se aa raha hu .” as Dibakar used to joke for carrying so much baggage.     

The Route
The route sets of with a huge descent which is a newly tunneled shortcut through red soiled mountain where the Sea follows you all along and traveling on a Bicycle grants you a much larger time than a fuelled transport to gape and be amazed by the Unboundedness of the Sea.
The 22 km ride to Ratnagiri is a pure bump free ride along the coastline with villages which airs the smell of predominant dry fisheries and a view of people`s dependacy on the marine habitat for a living.
Ratnagiri is the biggest city on the Konkan belt where we loaded our wallets with some money and refreshing sugarcane juice and continued on the road ahead to Purnagad. 

In the Ratnagiri Creek

Ratnagiri city

 Kashel, On the way to Purnagad

The 15 km ride till Pawas comes out to be one of the most boring and dehydrating rides under a blazing sun with long stretches of hayed barren lands and industrial complexes. After a big climb and a hairpin descent looms Pawas where we took a break from the heat with Maaza and some 20 small-plastic-packed locally made lassi-pepsis.

Local Kirana che Dukaan

The road then leads to Purnagad passing a long bridge over the creek with a lone house after the bridge that pets three dogs of variedly different character. The white - the most playful and restless , the blackie being very quite and friendly and the third who demanded more time for character-defining.

Bridge to Jaitapur

Unavailability of any food on the route made us lunch a wholesome Veg thali and an ice-cream around 4.0 pm in Wadapeth. After  a heavy trudge of 6 kms, we took a  right on the inner roads where all of us rode like having rockets under our seats and cruised at average speed of 30kmph and covering about 9 kms in just about 20 minutes which passed through small villages with primary schools and post offices. A newly build bridge on the creek takes you to Jaitapur which is supposedly the place of India`s biggest Nuke plant ever and a place of most beautiful evening of the  trip.

Local Sonar`s House

 Improvisation
 The decision to end our day in Jaitapur demanded lots
 of  worldly affair. As Jaitapur sports neither Hotel nor a Homestay, the
 idea for the stay  necessitated visit to people who commands authority in
 the Panchayat to the Head of committee of the Kul-temple of the village.
 Atlast, permission granted for a bivouac in a temple and a Strict-No to
 beer and non-veg, due respect to The Gods.

The Evening of the Trip

The Setting Sun bears magical powers, spreading scarlets which makes every surrounding thing more beautiful and alive and leaves you with an inexpressible feeling and words which defy human languages. A Moment – Memorable, Serene and Never to be re-created again ever. 

The Creek lit up in the evening fire and a Chacha fishing on a 6 x 2 ft dinghy stands up to Azaan and begins his Namaaz to remember his Creator, to thank for the life granted and ask for guidance along the Straight Path. 

  

Chacha and his Dinghi

Jaitapur creek

The Thank you

The Scene Personified 

Every Life is more beautiful than what we think it to be, which serves a greater purpose in the Cosmic plan of Nature and deserves a Thanks than a Sorry.

 

Rewards
Sleeping in a temple broke our routine and was a welcome change from the regular-night intoxication and also gave us an unexpectedly the most beautiful sunrise of the trip.