YOUR RIDEs
Sarvajeet Sen, a former sales executive, quit his job to learn hairdressing in Goa. once done, he decided to ride back home to Kalyani, a quiet town in West Bengal, on his royal enfield Classic 350. en route he encountered sprinting deer, was almost mistaken for a terrorist, and, of course, had a ride of a lifetime over those three days
Himachal Pradesh to Pune was my first solo ride. after a couple of years, it was time to move back to my home town, Kalyani, in West Bengal. I never wanted my bike, an enfield Classic 350, to board a cargo vehicle. therefore, it travelled with me, from the plains to the hills to the coast.
the journey started on 27 april 2018 from Goa. the route, as advised by one of the best mechanics and riders in Goa, was Goa– Kurnool–visakhapatnam–Kalyani.
Day One (598 km)
the first day of a long ride is always the toughest. I had to travel from humid Goa to the relatively cool clime of Karnataka and then on to the hot and dry Kurnool.
I started from altinho, Goa, at 5.30 am. the ghats in Karnataka tend to be pleasantly cool in the morning; any rider would love that kind of a start to their journey. as I approached the Karnataka-andhra Pradesh border, I was stopped by army personnel and policemen. Since election is round the corner in Karnataka, rigorous checking was going on for each and every vehicle crossing the border. my bike was laden with luggage. I parked it and got down to find an army officer pointing a gun at me and another with a camcorder recording my activities and statement. Phew! I was asked to dismantle and open my luggage and to prove my identity. I requested them not to make me dismantle the whole luggage for I would lose valuable time packing everything back again. they were convinced when I showed them my identity proof and told them about my solo ride back home. after that one of the army officers very kindly offered me a seat and water to drink because it was quite hot.
I moved on and for the entire day was busy dodging potholes and negotiating my way around road work. I was tired on account of the bad roads as well as the temperature hovering around 50 degrees Celsius. However, I still had
to cover 100 km to reach Kurnool. the road leading to Kurnool was single-lane and narrow. all of a sudden, I had to slam on the brakes as I saw something jump across the road just in front of me. I looked to my left to espy a deer jump beside me at the same pace, waiting to cross the road. I wish I could capture that moment! I slowed down and the deer sprinted across to the other side.
the landscape now consisted of wide, barren tracts of land dotted about by a few huge rocks, with a herd of deer for company. this gave me a mental boost to reach Kurnool just in time. the hotel by the highway where I checked in was decent and offered some basic food.
Day Two (771 km)
I was up by 5.00 am and on my way by 5.45 am. the dawn on a highway is always serene. today my destination was visakhapatnam. I zoomed past the morning traffic to get to the highway. the Golden Quadrilateral, asian Highway 45, is the best road to travel on. this super smooth six-lane highway is an experience to ride on and I had the reassuring knowledge that this stretch would lead all the way to my final destination.
I had a wonderful experience crossing the nallamala forest: a narrow, zigzag road flanked by forest on either side with scarcely any population. the Chenchus, a tribe of forest dwellers, inhabit this part. they remain cut off from the modern world even today. although not much wildlife was sighted, a variety of avians, a few monkeys, and wild boars were encountered on the way.
as I gathered momentum, a wild boar decided to cross the road. I had to brake hard to avoid a collision. though
I did skid for a few metres due to loose gravel on the road, I succeeded in avoiding a bad fall. just when I touched the highway again, I stopped off for breakfast. I had the best idli-chutney of my life. By now, the temperature had soared and a long ride with minimum hydration stops lay ahead. at that point I suddenly realized that I had travelled in the wrong direction for nearly 20 km!
the road was very smooth and I touched 121 km/h. Incidentally, this was the top speed recorded by me during the whole ride. maintaining average speed of 90-100 km/h, I reached rajahmundry and from there the outskirts of visakhapatnam at about 6.00 pm. It was already dark and I was hard put to dodging the high beam of lorries and potholes at the same time. after an hour of this I found a room close to the highway and called it a day.
Day Three (1,004 km)
I overslept that night and started my journey at 6.30 am. the winding roads of odisha, the forest, and the Chilka Lake, together in one frame, were mesmerizing.
around mid-day the sky became overcast and I could feel a cool breeze. thus recharged, I rode towards Chilka where I stopped over for lunch. I made up my mind that if I reached Balasore before sunset, I would push on homewards. Bhubaneswar greeted me with traffic and it took me quite some time to get out of it. I reached Balasore at 5.00 pm. Still 290 km to cover before reaching home. my only concern now was that the engine oil was leaking. Usually, I carry a spare oil jar and it was sufficient for a top-up. I also tightened all the nuts.
I informed my parents that I would be home that very evening and embarked on the final leg of my long ride. It was dusk and the breeze felt even cooler now. It was then that I noticed a headlight in my rear-view mirror. It was coming closer at a steady pace. Since this area is notorious for being prone to naxals, I had the wind up. as it turned out, it was another royal enfield rider who, having noticed me at a toll 10 km from the border, wanted to tag along till West Bengal. We rode together for 55 km and waved at each other before parting ways.
I stopped when I reached Kolaghat. It was 8.45 pm now and Kalyani was still a few kilometres away. I would be passing by the place where my parents in-law live. Since my wife was also there, I decided upon a quick detour to pick her up. for the last 20 km I had her as the pillion, the rucksack on her shoulders.
the thump of the royal enfield’s engine filled the air at 11.00 pm in front of my house. my parents had already figured out my arrival by that sound.
all in all, it was a highly thrilling experience.