Seven States in Seven Days at Seventy
‘Again?’ said tHe wife incredulously. ‘seriously? i thought you were done with all your ego trips!’ she was referring to my 10-year-old ride through six states in six days at the age of 60. i had vowed to myself at that time that at 70 i would repeat that journey by adding one more state and the time had come. Giving her an indulgent smile i kept quiet, knowing it would not be long before she accepted the fact that my mind was made up. thus, without further ado and with her full support, i started working out my route and itinerary, etc.
i originally intended to head north and go through Gujarat, rajasthan, Haryana, punjab, Himachal pradesh, uttarakhand, and uttar pradesh but, on my first day, i got adverse reports about weather and roads. so, i settled for a less arduous route through Gujarat, rajasthan, madhya pradesh, maharashtra, telangana, andhra pradesh, and Karnataka, with the return ride to pune scheduled for the seventh day.
my tVs apache rtr 180 was the bike for this ride, naturally! i had full faith in its reliability and performance. family, friends, and aspi Bhathena, editor of Bike india, said the same thing: ‘Go for it! and Godspeed!’ my good friends sudarshan chemburkar and reuben solomon helped me in my preparations for this epic ride. i also received invaluable support from tVs themselves when i wrote to them and described my venture. my sincere thanks to Varghese thomas and Vinod Babu.
Day One
(Udwada to Godhra via Surat, Rajpipla, and Kevadiya; 320 km approx) udwada in Gujarat has been my Ground zero as it is always best to seek the blessings of the almighty before starting out. i also saw the much-vaunted statue of unity. it was quite hazy and i could not spare more time.
so, after a few quick clicks i was back in the saddle to face a mixture of good and bad roads.
Day Two
(Godhra to Mhow via Banswara and Ratlam; 366 km approx) excellent roads and soothing greenery up to Banswara. On reaching Ratlam, i was surprised to know that there is no border between Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. there was a superb area along the periphery of the indira sagar which was quite scenic. Ratlam to Pithampur was bad but the grand welcome i received when i rolled into Moolgaonkar’s bungalow in Mhow and their overwhelming hospitality made it worthwhile.
Day Three
(Mhow to Achalpur; 300 km approx)
My target was amravati but i had to stop over at achalpur because the sun had already set. i found a good hotel and dossed down there without hesitation. Mhow to Khandwa had a long ghat which took a long time to descend but the high point of the day’s ride was when i passed through the Melghat tiger reserve forest. spectacular scenery and superb twisties made for a great ride but, of course, no tigers sighted throughout.
Day Four
(Achalpur to Nizamabad; 403 km approx) i was beginning to feel the fatigue of riding for more than 1,200 km. My target was adilabad. if the roads are good and the traffic light, the throttle never rolls off and i always experience the zone where man and machine become one and the kilometres roll by without a second glance. i found myself going past adilabad and aiming for Nizamabad. since it was only 2.00 pm, i went for it. for the last 35 km, Nizamabad was off Nh 44. i had to face traffic and poor roads but i made it by about 6.00 pm.
Day Five
(Nizamabad to Kurnool; 411 km approx) National highway 44 was a dream up to hyderabad. then i took a wrong road and, to make matters worse, i had to switch to reserve petrol. Moreover, i somehow entered the ramp going up to Narasimha Rao expressway. Realizing too late that bikes were not allowed on it, i looked frantically for an exit. finally, i saw one but there was a policeman who immediately asked me to pull over. i apologized profusely and, seeing my out-of-state registration number, he relented and waved me on with a stern look. that was a close shave with the custodian of the law!
Day Six
(Kurnool to Akkalkot; 422 km approx) the road from Nh 44 to Raichur runs dead straight westwards but it passes through a number of small towns. also, roadwork was under way at every five or 10 kilometres which completely upset my average time. after finally losing almost one hour, i came upon a closed level crossing where all the traffic was being diverted towards a secondary road. a more hellish experience would be difficult to describe!
Day Seven
(Akkalkot to Pune, 306 km approx) it was sheer good luck that i stopped at akkalkot, because if i had tried to push on towards solapur, i would never have made it before dark. due to roadworks it took me almost 90 minutes to reach the solapur bypass to Pune. thankfully, the final 250 km were covered quickly and i managed to surprise the wife, who was not expecting me for lunch.
Overall, i had achieved my target of seven states in seven days. total distance covered: 2,900 km approx.
why did i do it? Because, these days we tend to rely heavily on technology to see us through each day. it still is possible to go out and survive with minimum resources, provided our brain is functioning the way it is meant to be.
and, in the words of frank sinatra, “But more...much more than this...i did it my way”