Episode 270 : The Devbhoomi Experience- Part 16

Day 16: October 15, 2008

I think it was at Mussoorie, with my feet firmly planted on the ground and not on a pair of foot-pegs, that I properly saw the sun rise.

The sky slowly turned from a hue of dark blue to a flaming red before turning into a golden yellow.

Our stop for the day is Rishikesh where we will leave our bikes at a Royal Enfield dealer for servicing and go off to a camp by the river.

Tiger and Ron start off first; Ron's plan is to go into Dehradun and rejoin us at Rishikesh. Zim, Srini and I start together a little later. The road from Mussoorie to the highway to Rishikesh is steep and the heavy vehicle traffic makes it difficult for us to overtake them on the two-laned road.

Srini manages to overtake a bus and go ahead; my endeavour to do the same are frequently frustrated by a bend in the road or an incoming vehicle. As a result, I have to use the brakes frequently to slow down.

Suddenly Zim begins to honk and I look in the mirror. He waves at me, and I seeing nothing is amiss, continue riding down. He soon overtakes and gestures at me to pull over!

I think something is wrong with his bike once again. So I ask what happened.

'Your rear brake is smoking da!'

Huh?

I go back to my motorcycle and sure enough, there is a smell of something burnt- the brakes shoes have worn out because of the frequent braking. Zim makes some calls and gets in touch with a "Bullet rider" in Dehradun. We ride down together and I stick to slow speeds- which is no fun at all! Once we descend to flatter terrain, we take off towards Dehradun.

I had wondered why Dehradun was never in the plan and was secretly sad at not being able to see it. It looks like this wish will also be taken care of.

61375 @ Dehradun

Lucky, the guy Zim called, takes us to his mechanic. The mechanic opens up the rear brake and the brake shoes fall out- in pieces.

'Oh, if you had continued with this you would have had a tough time on the road' he exclaims, little knowing that's why we went to him in the first place!

An hour later, the motorcycle is ready and we push off towards Rishikesh. The traffic is worse and we are unable to make headway. Everybody likes to drive on the wrong side of the road and Zim and I are at a loss. We manage speeds in the mid-60s and get to the outskirts of Rishikesh.

61404 @ Rishikesh

Tiger tells me the way to get to the dealer's showroom and twenty minutes later I rejoin the rest. We leave our luggage at the showroom and taking our essentials (read alcohol), we get into a Sumo and go towards Mahadev Chatti.

The Sumo drops us off at a spot and we walk towards the camp in pitch darkness. The camp guides use their torches and we just about manage to get there without twisting our ankles.

It takes a while for us to get used to the darkness. Soon the moon comes out and we see that the camp is on the river bank. After a leisure dinner, the alcohol and we go and sit by the river bank.

The guides tells us about their work and life in the hills and I think every one of us secretly envied the life of the simple hill folk.

The alcohol flowed freely, but there is something about pure, unpolluted open spaces which prevent you from getting too intoxicated.

The others continue with their conversations and I idly look around. The moon had peeked over the hills and the river is bathed in its soft light. I wander off to the river; with the guides' warning not to get into the water ringing in my ears!

I stand on the river's edge and let the water gently lap at my feet. I thought, if I could stay here for the rest of my life, I would! I kept going back and forth whenever fancy struck me, till a thought crossed my mind.

Finding an empty bottle, I walked back to the river and filled the bottle. What I had wanted but could not do on our way back from Badrinath, becomes possible at the camp at Mahadev Chatti. I also pocket a few smooth pebbles to take back with me.

After what seemed like many many hours, we retire for the night. And I think, we began this ride with a stay at a camp and we end it with a stay at a camp.