More often than not, the journey is more enjoyable then the happiness of reaching the destination. If you are a travel enthusiast then you know what I mean. Its not that final destination is boring, but there is something about the journey that makes it worth while. I don’t know if it’s the anticipated excitement of reaching the destination or the enthusiasm of going some place; but whatever it is, it makes the journey fun filled.
May be once you reach your destination, you are disappointed and in the after thought you find the journey to be more interesting; or may be because you enjoyed the journey so much, that you are disappointed once you reach your destination. What the hell, it is not making any sense.
Anyhow, few days back we went for a road trip [by bike] to Bhangad. For those who have never heard of the place, then please use the services of Google. I’ll tell you that it is in Rajasthan and is famous for its ruins and is popular as a haunted city.
As always, it was just one of our various glorious plans, which just happened to have materialized. To tell you the truth I had never expected it to be, but guess it came true all of a sudden, is the reason why it was thoroughly enjoyable. So 6:15 in the morning Shantnu was at my place and next thing I knew at 6:30 we had already hit the road on his red R-15.
Our plan was to go Bhangad via Alwar, Sariska and then spend the night at the haunted city and come back via Jaipur next day. Everything went according to plan and except for a small 22 km detour in Sariska we were on course. Reached Bhangad by 2 in the afternoon and by 4:00 we had already left. So much for a 200 km drive, when we didn’t stayed there for 2 hours.
Well Bhangad was not a bad place to visit. An ancient castle ruins, destroyed city and of course the stories of the place being haunted was enough to spend the day. But a day which is not hot and have nice breeze blowing, A day on which you have carried a cold water bottle along with and some snacks to satisfy the appetite. But this was not that day, plus there was no sign of the caution board by ASI which prohibited entry after sunset and before sunrise [the board whose pictures you can see on the net].
Now the initial plan was to reach Jaipur and spend the night in some nice hotel. But when we reached there by 5:30, then it was only matter of seconds that we decided to head on our way back home, a drive of just 250 kms. The beauty of a road trip is in enjoying the drive and that’s what we had gone to do.
Now the trick is to cover distance which you are comfortable in doing and 400 kms in a day is the distance which everyone is comfortable with; we were no different. When we decided to head back we had only travelled 350, so there was no sign of fatigue yet. But once we started our journey and we crossed the 400 km barrier every kilometer began to matter. Covering those last 200 kms were the most difficult part of the journey, we were tired, it was night, a highway without lights, trucks all around and of course it rained. But when we reached the Manesar Mc-D at 10:30 and stopped there for a bite, we knew the worst was over. By 11:15 we were back on road at 12 I was at home after covering 600 kms in a day.
Although my complete body was in pain for next 2 days, but God what sadistic pain it was, immensely pleasurable.
