“Guru ka speaker bole langar chakke jayo ji” (the speaker of the Guru says to eat the langar and then go on). These were the words which I could hear all the time during the 3 days of the Paidal yatra to Dera Baba Nanak.

Firstly, this yatra was the main reason I visited Punjab. Every year, on the 1st of March, in remembrance of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Sikh Guru, this yatra is carried out by hundreds of thousands of people. It is said that the Guru settled and mingled with God near the village named Kartarpur, a village right across the border in Pakistan. In Kartarpur, the first gurdwara was built, also called Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, where Guru Nanak Ji died. Later, the Guru’s descendants built a new town in India called Dera Baba Nanak named after their ancestors.

The journey happens over 3 days starting from the village of Dasuya to Dera Baba Nanak (border of Pakistan), which is roughly 90 km. When I told my host that I would like to walk the distance, he was shocked and a bit sceptical about it. He advised to go on a motorbike but I insisted on going with the religious battalion. I chose to do this, firstly to have a first-hand experience and secondly to test my endurance.

On the first day, we started at around 8:00 am after having breakfast at the Dasuya gurdwara. There were 2 official vehicles: one jeep carrying the local guru with some important people, and the other was a trolley in the front, where all the donations were segregated and accounted for. The first day was exciting, it was cold and it started raining in between. I did not have anything to protect myself from the rain. Meanwhile, some random group of people were really kind to accommodate me in their trolley. I was lucky that my host knew them. Once the rain stopped we decided to carry on walking with the rest of the group. People were offering us food all throughout our journey from lassi, oranges, sugarcane juice, poori, roti sabzi, pakodas, badam milk etc. They pleaded us to have some food and it was really hard to say no. At around 7 pm we reached the gurdwara in Mukerian where there was a kirtan followed by dinner. My body was completely drained from the physical exhaustion. We took a spot at one corner of the gurdwara and I just fell asleep like a baby.

The second day, we woke up early to finish the necessary stuff before it got crowded. We had our breakfast and set out for a long journey ahead at 5:00 am. It was dark and I was still feeling sleepy. There was no way I could escape, but I am known to sleep in adverse situations (behind a bike, sleeping in buses). This time, it was a bit more adverse as I had to walk. Adding to my adversity, a woman gave me a huge stick with a flag and asked me to carry it. I was carrying this huge flag with a bunch of other people behind the vehicles and was literally sleepwalking. After an hour or so, I managed to hand over the flag to another person and moved in front of the vehicles to walk with the volunteers. As we were in the region of Gurdaspur, police started escorting us as there were too many people on the road. I was volunteering in the front to make way for the vehicles. I happened to make conversation with the police staff and they were really friendly. Everyone was quite surprised that I came to Punjab on a motorbike from the southern part of India. After a long, tiring day, we happened to reach the gurdwara at around 6 pm, had our dinner, and slept off.

The third day, our journey started at a similar time; my host was really tired and suggested hitchhiking in a trolley. I agreed with him although I wanted to complete the journey I had started. So, after roughly 75km of walking we decided to finish the last leg of the journey taking a trolley. Interestingly, the owner of the trolley was also from the same village as my host and he happily agreed to accommodate us. At around 5 pm we reached Dera Baba Nanak and gave a visit to the main gurdwara. It was the second best gurdwara I saw after Golden Temple. We tried to find some accommodation in the gurdwara but it was full. So, we decided to sleep in the trolley. It was extremely cold and we didn’t have a lot of protection. The night passed and we woke up early in the morning at 3 am. The toilets were not in the best conditions but as a traveller one has to be adaptable. We took a shower near the lake and went for a morning visit to the gurdwara and had langar. We came back and rested for a while. At around 10 we visited the Chola Sahib and went to have a glimpse of the Kartarpur Gurudwara in Pakistan. Yet again I had goosebumps when I saw the Pakistan border (may be the feeling of being an Indian). Later, we visited the Tanot Devi Mata temple built after the temple in Jaisalmer, where the Pakistani missiles didn’t explode. After all the important visits, we started our return journey and reached our village in the evening.

These were 3 amazing days of my life. I got to experience many things although it was physically and mentally challenging. Hope to have many more adventures in the future.

Following are some interesting observations I had during the trip:

a) Donations: I am always surprised to see huge amounts of money being collected in the name of religion. Within these 3 days, they collected around 1–2 million rupees ($30,000) from donations. I am not sure if people will do the same to help a fellow human being in need. I have seen families fighting with each other for money and donating huge sums to religious institutions. Being an atheist, I would rather help people in need than donate huge sums.

b) Langar: I really like the concept of langar. People offer food with love and passion. One really nice thing about Sikh religion is that they offer free food at their gurdwaras across the world. I have seen gurdwaras in various countries offering free food to the homeless on the streets. I really appreciate this principle and would like to see all religious institutions adopt this policy one day.

c) People are beautiful: All throughout the journey I got to meet interesting people from different classes of society. It was intriguing to talk to the labourers, rich/poor farmers, students, kids, mothers, and grandmothers. Of course, most of them did not speak Hindi but I managed to have some interesting conversations. I spoke to them in Hindi and they replied in Punjabi. Luckily, Punjabi and Hindi are quite close in the language tree so it was not difficult to understand the main content.

Any journey which makes me ponder upon different things is an amazing journey.

After a great stay at Sim’s place in Ludhiana, it was time to move to the next destination as per the plan i.e. Chandidas village near Dasuya, Hoshiarpur. After having tasty Aloo Parathas from Babhiji, I hopped on my bike and started the shortest ride of my journey (120 km). It was a nice journey through the fields, surrounded by trees on both sides of the road. I saw some riders on the way going towards Manali which gave me an option for my next destination.

Meanwhile, I called up my hosts and informed them that I would be arriving for a late lunch. I reached the Dasuya village and tried to contact them, but strangely couldn’t reach them due to network issues. So, I typed in Chandidas village on google maps and started riding towards it. I remember Jaswinder bhaisab showing me his house on Google Maps and telling me it’s next to a Gurudwara. I reached the Gurudwara with the help of the locals and tried calling my hosts. This time around I could get in touch with them and informed them that I reached the Gurudwara. They were surprised to see the accuracy of Google maps. Bhaisab came to the Gurudwara and guided me to their house. I felt like Shahrukh Khan from Swades where the kids guide him to their house. The only difference here was instead of a caravan it was my bike. I took off my ninja gear and took the blessings by touching the feet of the elders, Bulli aunty and Jaswinder bhaisab. It is a custom I have been used to since my childhood and it also works like a charm as a first impression.

I met Bulli aunty and Jaswinder bhaisab in Rajasthan during my friend’s marriage. My first interaction with them was really funny as I asked Bhaisab if Bulli aunty was his daughter and everyone started laughing. Sometimes, however curious you might be it is always better to wait before asking a question :). From then on, I started calling him Bhaisab and his wife aunty to redeem myself :). As you might have known from my earlier entry that I happened to stay longer at my friend’s wedding and during this time we became closer. That is when they invited me to their village in Punjab. I asked them if they had any special event in their village which I could visit and they said there is a yatra (journey) which happens from their village in March. I instantly said I would see them in March then. I have a theory, to know the culture the easiest way is to attend some event (festival, weddings, local celebrations). It works mainly because people are really happy celebrating it and it is a perfect time when people would be excited to share about their culture.

Somehow I always had the perception about Punjabi families that they were a happy-go-lucky type of families (“khate peete families” - love for food and party) (Courtesy: Bollywood movies). They have interesting nicknames — “Jassi”, “Happy”, “Lovely”, “Ruby” — and I really don’t know how they come up with these nicknames. Surprisingly, girl and boy names are similar except for the endings. If it is a boy, it ends with Singh and for a girl it is Kaur (this rule works most of the time). The most important thing in their life where they don’t compromise is “Food”. Paratha with makkhan (butter) and a big glass of lassi is the most popular combination. My stomach was full all the time and I had to prepare myself to say no because they always fed two servings more after I said enough. Most Punjabis are religious, following Sikh or Hindu traditions. I knew about the religion before but I got to know their belief system when I stayed with them. Of course it did not change my ideology of being an Atheist but I will talk about it in detail in my next blog post.

Initially my hosts were a bit sceptical whether I would be okay to stay at their place and whether I would like the place. After a few days they told me about their first doubts and my reply was “as long as you have a small place for me to sleep, I am fine with anything”. As a traveller, I have always been okay with anything (no toilets -> no problem, find a spot in nature and bury your deeds :)). I don’t mind if I get any facilities or not, as long as one gives me love and affection, I am a happy man at the end of the day. I always tell my hosts not to do anything special for me and always tell them to treat me as one of their own instead of a guest. Being a guest comes with a lot of responsibilities :D.

I like the village life for it’s peaceful and scenic beauty. I did some unusual things which I usually don’t get to do. I showered outdoors and saw the cows enjoying my naked view, slept on the foldable beds called Charpai, brushed teeth with bush branches, pumped water from the hand pumps for shower and morning strolls between the fields, rode 3 people on my bike for long distances inside the village (this was the exact feeling as in Swades :)).

I also bonded really well with the kids as I was free for the day (thanks to the bad internet connectivity). I played badminton with the kids and taught them some cool tricks in maths. I just loved the way people treated me. They didn’t know anything about me and they treated me like an ordinary common man. I really liked this feeling, which I missed in my great grandfather’s village, where I was always treated as a great-grandson of the village head. Our roots are from a village but somehow having stayed in the city for a long time, I really missed the beauty of a village life.

I was quite lucky that my hosts took me to various historical places mainly Temple and Gurudwaras. It was really nice to know the history and understand their beliefs. We also visited lot of their relatives and everyone treated me like one of their own. Most of the people asked me how I managed to come there on a bike.

Overall, I started loving the love and affection of Punjabi families. I was lucky for being treated as one of their own and I am sure I will visit them back sometime again.

I guess for most of the solo travelers there comes a time when one feels drained and needs to energize to continue the travel to Punjab. The same happened to me but too soon, I didn’t expect it at all. So it was time to move to a friend’s place to refuel myself. I was riding from Rusirani village via Alwar to Delhi. The ride was amazing, considering I was going up and down the mountains. Some stretches were really bad and took some serious concentration but overall it was a great ride. The most hated part of the journey was the Gurgaon Delhi expressway. Horrible traffic jams and never imagined Delhi was so polluted.

I had a week to recover and meet friends before my journey up north to Punjab. Thanks to Rahul and his roommates, we watched movies, partied, and had a great time together. I planned to work again but was not expecting any internet connectivity further in the journey. So, I thought of applying for all alternative PhD positions and Research Assistant positions abroad if my applications get rejected.

As far as my next destination, I opened up the couchsurfing app and looked for a place at around 300 km radius from Delhi on the way to Dasuya village (the Punjabi couple who invited me). Ideally, Patiala (also known for the Patiala peg) was one such town I was looking to stay in, as I am not into cities. I sent messages to a couple of people in Patiala, just 4–5 days before my travel. I was also taking a chance by sending messages to people from Ludhiana, in case the hosts from Patiala were busy. I started getting acceptances almost instantly within 1 day. But there was one message which came instantly written “Sure Bro”, it was from Sim. I read his profile again and I instantly decided that I was going to his place. He was a traveller himself, so it was not a hard decision for me as I could get to listen to their stories. I got a couple of other requests as well. When I told them that I had already committed to my host, they were pretty cool about it. They gave their numbers just in case I was free to catch up for a meal. I already started feeling the Punjabi love.

On Feb 26th, I started my ride from Delhi at 10 am to Ludhiana. After an hour-long manoeuvring in the Delhi traffic, I managed to reach the NH1. One of the awesome roads I had seen so far. 4 lane roads with free-flowing traffic. After taking a couple of tea and pee breaks, I reached the outskirts of Ludhiana. Sim (couch surfing host) instructed me to call him at a checkpoint. After following his directions and entering the city, I met him at the Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev statue. I was waiting there and checking my messages suddenly a guy with 700cc bike comes in front and instructs me to follow. I followed him for some distance and we stopped at a place where there was less traffic. We introduced ourselves and he instructed me to just be at his tail end. I have reached their home roughly at around 5:30 pm and met his family. He had two guest rooms for travellers and the room was awesome. After quickly freshening up, we had tea and a long introduction. We shared our travel stories and had long discussions. He shared his couchsurfing experience and he really loves hosting people.

Sim basically does business in the Automobiles industry. His love for bikes speaks for itself. Sim is definitely a brother from another mother. He and his family are the best people I have met on Couchsurfing. A perfect family man, left his job and decided to come back to Ludhiana when his father retired. He knows how to keep everyone happy and comfortable. He is a traveller, likes to explore new things. Further, he planned for a backpacking trip to Europe with his son (Karan) in the summer. I think he will have finished his trip before I publish my blog post.

His family is really welcoming and in one word “awesome”. I had a nice long discussion with Babuji (Sim’s father) ranging from Punjabi culture to the current state of politics. As he worked in the Railways Planning team, he had a lot of insights about the work culture inside government offices. He shared stories about various projects he took up during his tenure. He specifically mentioned about a project he took up in Ludhiana which saved crores for the Government. Karan (Sim’s son) took me to play a football match with his friends on the next morning and we had a gala time together.

Later in the day, Sim and Karan took me to their village to show me their farms and we met their relatives. We also went to Mehdiana Sahib where the sculptures depict Mughal’s torture on Sikhs. It was amazing to hear about the sheer will power of Sikhs. Do watch “Chaar Sahibzaade” which is an animated depiction of what happened during the Mughal reign. It was an awesome bike ride and finally to end the day on a high note, we went to a nice brewery to have a couple of beers.

I really did not feel like an outsider; I felt as if I had come to my relatives’ house. I told Sim many times that he was just like one of my uncles. I would like to see myself as Sim — “The perfect family man” one day. The friendly nature of the family, the awesome food by Bhabhiji, and the great hospitality of Sim score 10/10 for being a lovely host. I would love to host him wherever I am. We had a plan to travel to Bali together.

For some lovely pictures: (link)

During my stay in Jaipur, I was researching for interesting places nearby. I saw on TripAdvisor that there was a village named Rusirani which was based on the concept of village tourism. I was surprised to see amazing reviews for this organisation. I was curious and went through each of those reviews. I instantly liked the concept because of two reasons:

1. The money they collected from the guests was used to sponsor a girl child’s education in the village.
2. I was curious to know more about the idea of village tourism.

After two days of travelling like a tourist, I got the opportunity to experience the simple village life. The village is located on a hilltop surrounded by Aravali mountains. It is roughly 100 km from Jaipur, near Tahala town, near Alwar. It is popularly known for its Abhaneri step well (8th century marvel), 10th century Harshat Mata Temple and some ancient ruins. The village was named after the queen of Alwar. It is said that the queen was upset and she left the Alwar fort to stay in this village. The King, as he could not resist a woman’s word (as usual), built a fort for her at the centre of the amazing landscape. I think these stories are mostly man-made but you know we always like these stories.

The road to the village is easily on the map but the road is not that great. The road from Jaipur to Dausa (NH11) is really nice, especially when driving through the hilly areas. But for roughly 30 kms the state highway is bumpy and broken. I reached the village by 11 am as per our discussion, but I could only meet them at 12 because of weak network connectivity. Also, not many people knew the village by “Rusirani”. Finally, after some wait I managed to meet Giridhar, who is the only person from the village who speaks English/Hindi. Most of the people in the village spoke Marwari. Incidentally, Giridhar worked for Wipro in Bangalore and came back to his village for good. He runs the village tourism and helps the villagers in their daily activity. He told me about the program and I was fascinated how they managed to pull it off.

After formal introductions and chai, we left to the village on the hilltop. It was a scary ride going on a bike to the top of the hill as there was not any proper road, it was a beaten-up one. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the adventurous ride and the scenery. Imagine riding to a place on a mountain and surrounded by mountains. For me it was like going to a different world like in Narnia, so beautiful and pure.

Once we reached the village, the villagers welcomed me with a warm heart. They were just chilling out discussing about some concerns. Looks like in villages after morning work there is nothing to do and people just chill. They noticed tattoos on my arms and we started discussing about them. Incidentally, the old man had a tattoo of his wife’s name written on his arm. He was telling his story of getting inked. It seems someone told him to get drunk before he gets tattooed but unfortunately it did not work. We had some interesting debates about child marriages, village life, education etc. I also smoked up hukka (regular chillout thing) with the villagers. It was strong for me, I could feel the high just after a few puffs.

Giridhar and his friend showed me some old ruins and temples left in the village. I got some amazing pictures of them. We came back from the village visit and had to refuel ourselves. The food was tasty and I had a lot. After an awesome lunch we went to a dilapidated fort. It was an awesome adventure, hiking to the fort and jumping across the fort walls to enter it (please don’t try it — it’s risky). The fort seems to be of historical importance. It seems, as the story goes, it was the fort where Aurangzeb captured one of his brothers (I tried to find evidence but couldn’t). Strange that it has been left in ruins. The panoramic view from the top of the fort is just amazing. I have never seen a fort surrounded by mountains with such a terrific view. Sometimes it feels really nice when people don’t make it touristy. The whole point of making an adventurous effort to reach the fort is really interesting.

After an amazing adventure time was up for a big meal and chilling out smoking hukka (again). I think the best part of chilling out is discussing any random thing. After some healthy discussions time was up for a good rest. Sometimes I feel lack of electricity in the villages is an advantage that people go to bed on time and wake up early to the natural alarm (chicken).

It was really cold that night but I took the advantage of sleeping under the stars. It is so strange that you don’t get to see stars in the cities these days. Overall I had a perfect village life experience.

Thanks, Mr. Giridhar and villagers, for the awesome hospitality. One thing that they told me while leaving was that I was like water and whatever colour you put in it, it would take that colour. I will never forget this compliment and I will try to live up to it. Thanks for everything.

PS: If you see this and decide to go to the village, please don’t insist Giridhar to take you to the fort. It is a challenging hike and risky. He asked me particularly not to upload the pictures but I couldn’t resist to share the beauty.

After an interesting stay in Bikaner, I cut short my stay and planned to move on to Jaipur (the pink city). Usually, I send a message to couch surfing hosts at least a week in advance, but this time as I had to cut it short, I was a bit less hopeful about any acceptance. I got only one positive confirmation from a host (Feeroz Shammi) and even though he had a neutral review I thought to take a chance (part of the adventure).

My journey got delayed because of the heavy fog in the morning. Nevertheless I started my journey by 11:00 am in the fog. The disadvantage is that you cannot cruise your bike. One has to be aware of the road, as the visibility was low. I almost got hit by a peacock crossing the highway. Incidentally, the highways of Rajasthan were perfect for driving which helped me to quickly complete my ride with short breaks.

I reached Jaipur by 5 pm and called Feroz. He received me and showed me my room which was an under construction building. Definitely not a great place to stay, but I was so tired that I didn’t mind continuing to stay. After sometime he came to me and asked for the advance. I was a bit shocked because ideally couchsurfing is not about money, it is about experience. He told me that ideally the room was for 600 Rs a day and he charged me 400 Rs (I did not buy the story). Finally we settled for 300 bucks and decided to meet later. The room was spooky and not worth 300 at all, but I was in no mood to have a fight or search for a new one. My couchsurfing experience so far was interesting. In the first stay, I did not see my host and in the second I was being charged (adventure continues). Feroz gave me all the pointers for places to eat, places to visit and their timings in Jaipur. After an awesome meal near by I planned for the next day.

The day starts with a super cheap and awesome breakfast at the Indian Coffee House. It looks really old but it serves some awesome food. Top of the list were Keema dosa, Omelette and Banana/Caramel milkshake. Perfect way to start a day and go visiting the touristy places. I usually don’t like to travel as a tourist, but in some places it is inevitable.

One thing that mesmerised me in Jaipur was the architecture of the old buildings and forts. A few on the list were:

Hawa Mahal: (Palace of winds) Essentially it is a wall built for the women of the royal household so that they could see the street festivals while being unseen. The amount of breeze you get inside the palace could be compared to that of an air conditioner, it is indeed an architectural marvel.

Amber Fort: A huge fort between the Aravali mountains. A perfect kingdom where the enemies have to think twice before they attack. The fort has a natural fortress of the mountains which makes it the strategically best place for a kingdom. As history says, the fort was never attacked because of its strategic positioning. It is worth taking a guide as this fort is quite big and he will also give you some historical significance of the place. Don’t miss the sound and light show, it is one of the best I have attended so far. The fort looks amazing in the night lights as well.

Jal Mahal: Jal Mahal is situated between Amber fort and the city. A typical Rajasthani palace built in Rajput and Mughal style providing the picturesque view of the lake. Unfortunately it is not accessible these days. The rulers in the olden days must have had a great view out there.

Jantar Mantar: Also known as “Magical device”, it is one of the historical astronomical observatories built by Maharaja Jai Singh. I have heard a lot about his intelligence and this definitely inspires me to read about him. One such anecdote is the name of Sawai Jai Singh. It is really amazing to see how creative and scientific these instruments were at Jantar Mantar. One thing that intrigues me is that there was no Google then, but still people amassed vast knowledge.

Albert Hall Museum: One of the oldest museums in the state. It has a collection of old art, armoury, musical instruments, and lots of carpets and furniture. Nothing really special about the museum except for the architectural heritage structure of the museum. Worth a short visit as it is quite close to the city.

Nahargardh Fort: I realised there are two different ways to go to Nahardgardh Fort thanks to Google Maps. As always it showed me the shortest path, but this time the place was not wrong but the path was really old. It was an amazing feeling to drive my bike on that path. There was minimal grip and I had to be really careful. As soon as I reached the entrance of the fort, I realised that the big tank was from the movie Rang De Basanti. The city view from the top was picturesque. The fort was nice as well, but less maintained as compared to Amber fort.

Jaigarh Fort: Jaigarh fort was built by Raja Jai Singh and it overlooks the Amber fort. It was built to protect the Amber fort and its palace complex. The fort also features one of the world’s largest cannons which was only fired once. One thing which was interesting was that a secret path connects Jaigarh and Amber fort. I went to Amber fort really late and missed walking through the path, so the next day I walked from Jaigarh fort to Amber fort and back. It was not really a surang (an underground passage) but it was still a secret path from Amber to Jaigarh.

Well, I split my visit into two days as they took up the day, especially if you want to walk and explore the place. After my first day’s visit, Feeroz called and said he would bring some home-cooked food. I waited for like 4 hrs and finally slept. He woke me up at 11 pm and we ate some homemade food. It was tasty food after a long wait. Then we went out riding our bikes to have some chai at midnight. We had discussions about his life, Hindu Muslim culture and many more. He is really a nice person, hard working and he is trying to help his parents while studying. I really like the way he accepted the challenge. Just that sometimes I realise the first impression has an effect for a long time. However nice he might be, being dishonest at the first place just overshadowed his goodness.

Anyway, 2 days in Jaipur were just amazing. I had an amazing stay and it definitely recharged me a bit for the journey ahead. The next stop was Rusirani village near Alwar district, Rajasthan. I always loved the countryside and I was pumped up for the adventure ahead.

I had a great time at my friend’s wedding and at the end of it I was part of the family. I enjoyed the local delicacies and to top it all the Rajasthani love. After an awesome stay at Jaisalmer, time was up for a new destination.

As per my original plan I planned to ride back to Jodhpur, Udaipur and reach Gujarat. Incidentally I met a Punjabi family at the wedding and they invited me to come to their house in Punjab. I asked them if there was any cultural event/festival in a couple of months? They mentioned that there is a yatra which happens from their village to Dera Baba Nanak (border). I instantly said yes to them. I was quite excited mainly for two reasons: (a) it would be a physical challenge to walk 90km in 3 days (b) an experience of the village life. Having a flexible timeline always helps you to plan spontaneously. I decided to go north.

I called my go-to man my Ramesh Mama, who incidentally saw most of India (coolest profession). He gave me an idea to visit Bikaner which is 280 km from Jaisalmer. I used to pack my luggage every day and decided to leave, but my hosts did not allow me to. My plan of staying in Jaisalmer for 3 days turned out to be a week. I was almost the last one to leave.

One fine day, I planned to start at 10 am but it got postponed to 12:30 pm, as my aunt insisted I have lunch. I packed all my luggage on the bike (I tied it in a different way this time), wore my gear and set on the journey to Bikaner. After filling up the petrol, I left the city at 1:00 pm. I knew it was quite late. I had a long journey ahead and I hated to drive at night. I called up my first couchsurfing host and informed him that I started from Jaisalmer.

The highway from Jaisalmer to Pokhran was really nice, so I was cruising at 100km/hr. Suddenly, I heard a sound and I realised I had more room to sit than usual. I slowed down my vehicle and saw that my luggage was dangling behind my bike (thanks to the bungee cords). I stopped my vehicle on the side and readjusted my luggage to the usual setting. After an interesting episode earlier, I decided that I would not eat outside during my journey. I finished the leg of 280 km in just 5 hrs with 2 breaks on tea, biscuits and water.

I met my host and realised that the couch wasn’t free that night :(. As their couch was in an independent guest house, they could still accommodate me. There was a Punjabi group who were staying there for a couple of days. I met Sukh and Balkar who were riding a bullet across India. They were heading to Jaisalmer in the next morning and I shared my lovely experiences from there. We shared a lot of interesting stories having tea and biscuits. I lost track of time and I realised that I wouldn’t get any food that night as it was really late. Sukh told me that they had prepared some paneer curry and told me that I could have it. I rushed to the kitchen and served myself the tasty food. I thanked them for the lovely dinner and went to sleep in my cosy sleeping bag.

The next morning Sukh and Balkar were leaving and they woke me up to say good-bye. I took a farewell photograph of them and went to bed :). I decided that I would relax for the day because of the hectic journey I had the day before. The main reason to rest was India vs South Africa world cup match. I was quite lucky that the couch had both internet and TV. I prepared myself a nice lunch and watched the cricket match. After successfully cheering India to a win, I decided to go to the Junagadh fort. The fort is a typical Rajasthani style one, but the history is quite interesting. After hearing the stories, I added Rajasthani Kings to my todo list to read. Right outside the fort I had a lovely masala dosa at a roadside stall (being a typical south indian). I bought some fruits and went back to the room.

Bikaner is quite popular for the ‘Karni Mata Temple’ (rat temple). The Punjabi couple mentioned to me that it was a bit hyped. Being an atheist I am not really into temples but I am interested in understanding people’s belief in them. Especially, how can a rat temple be such a big thing considering rats are one of the top disease-carrying rodents. I always wondered: a rat that we would like to kill if it is in our house — how could people worship them in a temple? So I set out on a journey to see for myself what a rat temple actually looks like. When I told my grandmother about my visit, she was really happy that I was visiting a temple and she wanted me to feed the white rat. It is said that if you get to feed the white rat your wish would come true.

I rode roughly 40 km from Bikaner and as soon as I entered, I saw rats running and jumping all over the place. I just couldn’t bear the smell of rats, and rats climbing on your feet is disgusting too. I quickly took some pictures and got out of the temple. I was like — no white rat, I am just going out of here. I felt disappointed, as I had driven 2 hrs to reach this place in scorching heat and I didn’t spend more than 10 mins. After reaching Bikaner, I decided to do something worthwhile, so I planned to go to the Jain temple as suggested by the Punjabi group. I managed to reach a Jain temple only to see that it wasn’t the right one. So I searched for the next closest point that people had suggested but ended up in a completely different part of the city. Finally, after hours of riding the bike through the gullies of Bikaner, I reached the right Jain temple. The view from the temple was awesome but the temple was closed on that day :(.

I had a horrible day; it was a feeling where you have tried everything but nothing works out. It was seriously a bad feeling for a traveller. For the first time in this journey, I actually felt bad for being alone. I knew it was bound to happen for a solo traveller, but I didn’t expect it would happen so early in my journey. These are some moments in life that one must embrace. I called up my friends and family and spoke to them about my feelings. I usually try to get out of it by pampering myself. I checked for a place to get a Hyderabadi biryani and spent 500 bucks in a costly restaurant in front of the Junagadh fort.

I realised time was up for my next destination i.e. Jaipur.

After my friends left the wedding, I planned to visit Kuldhara, the lost village in Jaisalmer. I usually search for the place on Google maps and start the navigation. This time I clicked through the Trip Advisor pin for navigation. I wore my biking gear and set on my search for the lost village (Kuldhara).

The navigation system took me through the crowded market streets to a state highway. After a while the state highways condition deteriorated and I started to have a bad feeling whether I was going in the right direction. I pacified myself by saying how can TripAdvisor be wrong, because a lot of people follow the app. I thought the path to the lost villages are usually bad. So I stuck to the plan & rode the bike as suggested by the google maps. At one point a proper tar road vanished and dirt road continued. It had the track marks of vehicles, seeing that my confidence was back. But soon my doubts started to pop up as I did not see any vehicle for an hour. Ideally, as per Google Maps, I should have reached by now as I had already driven for 2 hours.

Suddenly to my surprise, I saw a guy on a bike and asked him for directions. He was like “Sir you came in the wrong direction”. I was like how can that happen, I could not accept that the app was wrong. I was arguing with him that the map cannot be wrong. He suggested me a way through a village. As soon I reached the village I saw few kids playing. I asked them for the direction and each one of them pointed in a different direction (Kids will always be naughty). I pleaded them to point me to the right direction and after sometime they gave a unanimous decision. I went ahead riding through the desert and I noticed someone. This was the same motorist I met earlier. This is when the screwed up feeling popped in my mind, I was going in a circle. The motorist realised it wasn’t easy driving in an unknown desert as all the dunes look the same. On top of it the sun was also set and there wasn’t any point of reference from the nature.

I realised I wasn’t going to make it to the village and even if I did make it I wasn’t going to see anything except for the ghosts (it is a haunted village). It was getting dark and I had two choices: (a) go back the long and crappy way or (b) try to find the nearest highway. I chose to go with the second one. The motorist accompanied me to a point and gave me directions to the main road. This time, I was lucky that the tracks were back; I kept on following them till I saw the path through the desert sand. The 220cc bike was struggling to move, I had to push the bike with full throttle and my body. Now things started to look scary, this is when I felt I was LOST.

Driving the bike was becoming difficult and the cold night was making it worse. I started to make my backup plans. I realised if I don’t make it in time, I have to find a place to stay otherwise I would freeze in the desert. On my way back, I saw a hut and I kept a note of it. I decided that if I don’t find the road back home then I would come back to the hut for help. I kept on riding in the path only to realise that the path was actually created by a tractor. To ride a tractor in a desert is a cake walk, but not for other vehicles :(.

After riding for a while in the low visibility, I saw some light at a distance. I stopped at a point and was figuring out whether the light was a stationary one. I saw that the light was coming near me, this is when I realised the road shouldn’t be far. My enthusiasm came back and within a few minutes I reached the main road. At this point my sense of direction was totally lost. I typed in Jaisalmer fort in google maps and I rode back home. The only thing interesting I saw in this whole ride was a deer running across the road in the dark.

I reached home and I was contemplating what actually happened. I realised that all throughout I was riding to a wrong point on the map. Later on, I saw that there was a direct path to the Kuldhara village from the main highway, which I managed to take the next time. Nevertheless, this was the second time something like this happened to me. This is what an adventure is all about — it pushes you out of your comfort zone. Coming out of these situations makes you feel on top of the world. “Long live the adventure enthusiasts”.

A lot of people complained that I didn’t call them before coming to Germany. The main reason why I couldn’t call was that I lost someone really close and it was quite hard on me. This post is dedicated to my dear one from whom I learnt a lot. I am sharing my story so that people might start believing adoption is beautiful.

I couldn’t sleep the night I heard the news that she was no more and the only way I could express my feelings was through writing. The following is the letter I wrote in the train in the middle of the night.

Dear Buzo Junior,

I can’t imagine that I will be writing this letter at 2 am in a train. I just could not sleep, your memories were popping in my head all throughout. It is really tough for me to accept that you are no more with us. Why Buzo? Why?

You came into our lives when we were least expecting you. On June 23rd my Dad was sitting on a bench in a park and you came to him with that innocent and cute face. My Dad called out for my Mom and both of them asked around if you belonged to someone. Since no one claimed you, my parents just couldn’t let you be by yourself as you were weak. When I woke up, my mom gave me a news that we have a new member in our family. I rushed to the place and saw you sleeping on a mat. I cuddled you for a while and could not understand why would someone leave you. You looked weak and scared, I could not imagine what you had gone through.

My parents asked me to name you and instantly only one name came in my mind “Buzo”, our little Dachshund when I was a kid. We prepared a small basket for you and took you to a doctor. You had skin problem all over your body. You were just scratching yourself all the time, we couldn’t see your pain. We gave you a nice bath and you didn’t make any noise. We were quite skeptical whether you had a voice. We were in awe of your cute little face.

You drank some milk that day and you vomited. I was quite scared and I tried to take help from my friends who have worked on similar cases. They told me that it was just the effect of de-worming that you vomited. I was quite scared mainly because you were not eating or drinking anything. You even tried to go under shady small corner places. I tried to use my whistle sound as a bait for you to come out. My friend (Koumudi) created a WhatApp group consisting of Nita (blue cross), Ammulya (doc). I was regularly updating them regarding your health condition. I was even sending photographs of your poop constantly to check if it was alright. They helped me to understand about your skin problem, diet and medication.

I distinctly remember the day you came to our house, it was raining heavily at night. My mom woke up in the middle of the night and kept you in a safe place. A similar incident happened a few days later, but this time it was me to check how you were doing. I understood that this was the beginning of the attachment I was growing towards you.

I was quite surprised initially how intelligent you were. You tried to find the least visited places in our house to pee or poop. After a few days we wanted you to get used to doing your business out in the garden area. You were quite impressive, you gave us a signal to open the gate and we were quite impressed of your intelligence.

I couldn’t work for a few days because every now and then I used to check your condition. I used to check if your food reached to you in time. There were days when I woke up early in the morning just to see your face and play with you. When my Mom was out of town for a few days, I felt the responsibility to spend extra time with you. We had a strict rule that we couldn’t allow you inside but I just could not help for the few days. I used to take you inside the office room and make you feel comfortable. I still remember the day when you first spoke. I was giving you a lecture to behave and you shouted at me.

Today afternoon I was talking to my brother about you. I was telling him that I felt really sad when we were leaving to Bangalore. It is strange that I project to this world that physically and emotionally I am a strong character, but just the thought about leaving you behind made me cry. I almost had tears in my eyes. I was having a chat with myself, “Avi you are getting too much attached with her”. I couldn’t help it, I was in love with you.

In a couple of days I was leaving to Germany for a PhD and I knew it would be really difficult for me to say good bye. I was hoping to spend the few days I had in India with you and I had no idea that our last FaceTime would be my last memory of you. When my brother broke the news to me, I just could not believe. I rushed to my berth to take my phone and call home. I enquired about what happened and I was speechless. I just cried “1 day”. I wish I did not cancel my yesterday’s ticket and reached home by today. I might have protected you from the accident.

I am having tears writing this letter but I think this is the only way I can express my feelings for you. I love you Buzo junior and I will be missing you for the rest of my life. You are one of the most beautiful beings I had ever met in my life. Every single day I spent with you will be remembered for life. The unconditional love I got from you will stay in my heart forever. You made me grow as a great human being. Thank you for everything.

Life is strange, I was supposed to fly on 23rd June and things got postponed for a month. You came to our life on the very same day and you left me forever even before I was leaving you. This isn’t fair.

I still have a feeling when I walk past the gate tomorrow, you would come running towards me and pull my jeans to play with you.

Your Loving Avi

A perfect book for sports enthusiasts. Rafa is undoubtedly one of the few sportspeople who have built their career from sheer hard work and persistence. To be one of the greats, one needs to understand one’s own limitations. Rafa has definitely done that, he knows his strengths and weaknesses.

I have always admired people who succeed through hard work rather than pure talent. Strangely, I never saw Tennis players in that way. I liked Boris Becker, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer more because of their playing style. I started following Tennis in the era where serve and volley was the most popular style. Slowly, as I grew up, the serve and volley game started to fade and behind-the-baseline and all-round/all-court became more popular.

I still remember the days when I supported Federer over Rafa during their epic clashes. Somehow, I always saw Fedex’s playing style as a perfect class and Rafa’s as brute power. But I could not deny that Rafa was definitely more hard-working than Fedex, as Fedex was naturally gifted. This is when I wanted to read more about Rafa Nadal. Okay!!! enough of the background about the book, now I will get to the review of the book.

It is a well written book describing both personal and professional sides of Rafa Nadal. What we usually see on the court is the aggressive side, but off the court he is calm. He has a closed entourage which includes his family, extended family, coach, physio and agent. Rafa is just a finished product, it would not have been possible without a great family. They never treated him as a celebrity. Everyone shares what his mother calls “a doctrine”, for how to conduct themselves in the world. As a family they anchor stability and create a safe haven. I think this is the major reason behind his modesty. Success has never got into his head. Just imagine a 19-year-old winning a grand slam title and what could have happened to him if he was not set with the right example. One excerpt that I distinctly remember when he talks about Roger Federer, “Toni was right. His serve is better than mine, his volley too; his forehand is probably more decisive than mine, his sliced backhand definitely is, and his positioning on the court is better too”. This shows his down to earth nature.

Another favourite excerpt of mine is when Rafa talks about his experience at the Beijing Olympics: “My first experience of taking part in the biggest sports show on earth. I enjoyed it immensely and it taught me a lot and most of all, how lucky I am “…” I understand better than ever just how privileged we professional tennis players are, and how unjust is the predicament of so many Olympic athletes. They train incredibly hard, at least as hard as we do, yet the rewards tend to be far smaller.”;

Some highlights of the book are his first-person narrative of Wimbledon 2007, 2008; Australian Open 2009; French Open 2006-2011, and US Open 2010 finals. You will get to read what a player goes through during an epic final. The rituals/routine before the match, nerves during the sets, endurance, injuries, coming close to the win or going through a smashing defeat are worth reading. I think Rafa’s journey has been a memorable one. The way he won those grand slams, coming out of a major injury and many more.

Overall a gripping narrative about the life of Rafa Nadal. Rafa and the ghost author, John Carlin (author of Invictus) have pulled off an unorthodox memoir. I would give 4/5 for the book.

Jaisalmer is called “the Golden City” and the secret is that the majority of the structures are made of yellow sandstone. In the above picture you can see how the fort glows under the lights. One must definitely not miss the night view of the city, glittering like gold from the top of the Jaisalmer fort. I was quite surprised to see people living in the fort. It is a strange thing for someone coming from the south, as we always heard that Kings and Nawabs lived in the fort. I was amazed when one of the aunts said that she lived inside the fort.

India is a vast country, traditions in southern part of India are quite different from that of the north. I think the diversity is what makes India so unique. Weddings and festivals are few events where you get to see the culture and tradition. I was lucky to attend my friend’s wedding at Jaisalmer. I was keen in attending all the events of the wedding. Starting with the bridal ceremony to sending off the bride (Vidhayi). Having been part of all the events, I actually felt like family. The marriage traditions were quite different, but one thing was common, “Athiti devo bhava” (Guest is God). Wherever you go in India, a guest is always treated like a God.

So here are some of my experiences in Jaisalmer: (places to visit, likes, dislikes).

3 places to visit:

• Local site seeing: Patwon ki Haweli, Jaisalmer Fort, Gadisagar: Jaisalmer is definitely a touristy place. Old forts and monuments are well-preserved.

• Kuldhara village and Sam – 1 evening (Total 100km): Kuldhara: The so called haunted village that disappeared overnight. The story of the village is that roughly 200 years back the king of Jaisalmer liked a girl, who happened to be the daughter of the village head (Brahmin). So the king asked her father for the girl’s hand. The village head told that they don’t eat meat and felt that it would be an embarrassment for the village. So everyone fled away from the village overnight. Listen to the story as told by the villager in the video below. Not sure how authentic the story is, I just hope it is not a stunt to attract tourists.

  Sam dunes: One other must visit place in Jaisalmer. Camel ride and the sunset are the best parts of the visit. The only source of income for the people in Jaisalmer is tourism. So they will try to project higher prices, ideally do bargain for a worthy price.

  Tip: check for the dates of the Jaisalmer festival before you go; it usually happens in the 1st or 2nd week of February. I missed it by a few days and I have heard that the event is culturally rich.

• Longewalla and Tanot - 1 day trip (Total: 280km) Longewalla has a historical importance for India. During the 1971 Indo-Pak war a huge battalion of Pak army attacked the Longewalla border during the night. The small unit at the border held the surprise attack till the next morning when the Indian Airforce got things back in control. This is one of the epic battles which was also portrayed into a Bollywood movie named “Border”.

  Tanot devi mata temple: This is the only place where Pakistan’s missiles did not explode. They still preserved the missiles in the temple remembering the miracle. Sometimes miracles are not explained. I recently went to Dera baba nanak border in Punjab and saw another Tanot devi mata temple. The army built this temple in belief of the miracle happened in Rajasthan. Indians are strong believers, I must say.

3 things I really liked:

• Love and affection of people: People are so welcoming that you don’t feel like leaving the place. My plan for 3 days got extended to a week. The love and affection I was shown by the families was just the right beginning of my journey.

• Traditions: Rajasthan is one of those places where the traditions are still intact. Sometimes it is good to see the old traditions, which is what makes it different from others.

• Local stuff: (food, music, dressing style): The food is full of spices. There is a custom where people sit around a big thali and eat from it. Sometimes they also feed each other. It is actually fun sharing the food (as long as you don’t force others :D). As far as music is concerned the folk music is quite prominent. Below is a sample from Ritu Khan from Jaisalmer.

  
  The dressing style is also quite unique. The “Pagadi” in Rajasthan is tied in a unique way. Traditional dresses reflect the colourful culture of Rajasthan. I got an opportunity to dress in a similar fashion (a modernised version).

3 things I did not like (where I would like to see a change):

• Freedom for girls: Strange that it is a strongly male-dominated society in Jaisalmer. Before marriage a girl has all the freedom to do whatever she wants, but after the marriage things change drastically. Girls usually don’t have a say in anything, there is a parda to cover their face, they have to speak in low voice. I have also heard that a girl has to sit on the floor in front of her mother-in-law. This is actually quite strange to me. I would like to see this change in this equal world.

• The idea of not leaving the city (A frog in the well): Most people from the city usually stay in the same place. If one doesn’t travel he/she will feel that their world is the best. To know the colours of the world one must travel. One would actually get to know life is actually larger than what they have seen.

• Caste system and untouchability: Strange that after 67 years of independence people still follow the caste system and untouchability so strongly. When people asked my name, they usually asked which caste I belonged to. I firmly said that I did not know and I did not bother to know. I told them that I don’t believe in the caste system. I tried to explain it to them in my usual way. I also wanted to ask them whether they would not host me if I were from a lower caste, but I could not. People did not eat food made at a restaurant if the owner/cook is of a lower caste. I definitely would like to see it change soon.

Overall these are some of my views and experiences from my trip to Jaisalmer. It was a great experience to travel to Rajasthan for the first time. Thanks to my friend (Bhagawathi) and her family for all the love and affection. Hope to have many more visits to Rajasthan.