Coudn’t sleep much previous night because of the adventurous previous day. Had reached late and slept late but still had to move on the next morning as planned. Next destination was Gwalior and the route was Seoni - Narsimhapur - Sagar - Jhansi - Gwalior. Got up early, saddled up and started on my onward journey. Just when i was about to leave the city limits i remembered to get the basic bike check done again because of bad roads that had shaken up my whole bike. Though I was shaken but not stirred ;) Saw a small garage there, immediately went there and asked the mechanic to have a look. He quickly adjusted a few things, checked the air pressure and offered a few jamun to me. Now why would i deny such a tasty offer?? I had those tasty jamun, thanked him and headed for the highways. It was still dawn and sun was about to rise when i hit the roads. One of the most beautiful times of the day to start a ride. The sun came out in a while and looking at that divine and beautiful scene made me forget all my fatigue, pain and gave me enough energy to continue for another day.
I continued towards Narshimhapur for about 80 km. The last 30kms was again some tough riding. It was huge open planes around the road. Strong wind gusts which were almost blowing me off the road. I had to hold on to the bike and my beloved self to stay on the lane. I noticed a police station where I stopped to to get information of the location and getting some details of roads conditions ahead. So i entered and asked the hawaldar there:
me: Bhaiya Narsimhapur jana hai muje. Yehi rasta hai na? Kitna door hoga yaha se?
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| Pics of early morning :) |
me: Bhaiya Narsimhapur jana hai muje. Yehi rasta hai na? Kitna door hoga yaha se?
Hawaldar: Madamjee, Narsimhapur jaane ke liye aapko 30km pehle left jaana tha.
me: :( Kya??? kab? udhar board to nahi tha kahi par!!
Hawaldar: Madamjee, is road se bhi jaa sakte ho par road ache nahi hai na. To aap hi soch lo.
me: Thanks you Bhaiya.
Came out of the station thinking should i go back 30 km or continue? But then the experience from previous day’s bad roads gave me some sense of what i could be heading for. (Some shivers down the spine) and i decided to go back 30km so that i can continue on better roads. One of the wisest decisions of my trip ill say :)
So after the return journey and starting on my actual path, i saw some decent ridable roads, with crazy village traffic ;) people coming head on towards the wrong side of roads without any indication of it. You could be assuming they are going but reaching closer to only find out, ‘Ohh hell that tempo is heading towards me’. For others who are planning to go through this route, make sure you ask around a lot for the correct directions because it contains a lot of diversions which can come out of nowhere and take you to another direction if you are not careful.
So after some miraculous such encounters, I reached Sagar around 4 pm. The roads from Sagar to Jhansi is just awesome. Four lanes, well marked and with reflectors. But no traffic. This was not a surprise as this road is not recommended by anyone.
When I decide to go through Jhansi, I was advised against it. ‘You crazy?? why do you want to go through that stretch. People get mugged, kidnapped, murdered. And you are woman riding alone’. But as they say ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going’ I was more determined to take this route to prove that its not the road or the location or the people. A bad incident can happen to anyone in any location. Its not the place but the people who make the world as it is. One can be a victim of an unfortunate incident in any part of the world, but that doesn't make that place or all the people in that place bad.
I only met some nice people and had a wonderful ride going through Jhansi from where i continued to Gwalior. Road conditions from Jhansi to Gwalior was not so great but rideable. Reached Gwalior without anything dramatic that day around 8 pm. Checkin to the hotel and before i knew I was already deep in sleep.
Thanks God for the journey so far. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Excited about the days ahead. Stay tuned….