Day 1 - Pune - Murud Janjira - Diveagar

Me and Kashif went for a 2 days trip to Murud Janjira,Divegar,Shrivardhan and Pratapgadh.
This was another unplanned trip which happened last month.I know i am bit late..but ki farq painda he

The idea of the ride started with the lazy attitude." Ki chalo divegar jayenge..Beach pe aaram Pharmayenge..Sunrise aur Sunset dekhenge..Feeling ke liye thodi bahut Madira grahan kar lenge aur Sunday shaam muh utha ke wapis aa jayenge"

So me and Kashif discussed that we will start bit late as Diveagar is just a half day ride from Pune.Kashif was about to meet me at Magarpatta City main gate,I reached bit early there.So for time pass I had one tea..10 mins already and no sign of Kashif.

Meanwhile I saw the chaiwala has prepared Garama Garam POHA,damn being a big fan of Poha Jalebi I couldn’t control myself. One bite of Poha and it was such a relief, in sometime Kashif arrived and we had few more plates of Poha Jalebi and Tea. So all in all We were done with our Morning Lunch. We started from there around 8:00 AM.I took the lead because I knew shortcut from Magarpatta to Chandni Chowk,it was long one though :P
We took the shortest route between Pune and Diveagar,which is Pune - Mulshi - Nizampur - Managaon - Mhasala - Diveagar.

Rode non stop till Mulshi Lake, and it was time for a photo break. Calm Water of Mulshi Lake surrounded by the mystic sahyadri ranges. The sight was very beautiful

Day 7 - UDR Ride - 16 July - AGRA - GWALIOR - JHANSI - ORCHHA

Finally the day has come when i will get to see the One of the Seven Wonders of the World..Very much excited,I reached at the one of the entry gate of Taj Mahal at 07:00 AM.Taj Mahal is open for tourists from 06 am to 07:00 Pm and yeah Its closed on Friday .

Bought ticket for 20 Rs and Taj Mahal was all mine .It was Saturday and the place was expected to be crowded,so it was.

Thorough checking is done at the entry gates,You are not allowed to take any kind of eatables or drinakble'ss inside the Taj Mahal campus.Encountered one incident while cheking-in.There was one lady from Chennai who didn't knew Hindi,guards didn't allowed her inside with the Indian National Entry ticket. ..They asked her to buy the foreign national ticket as she failed to show any National ID as well.Fair Enough :P

Day 6 - UDR Ride - 15 July - AGRA - MATHURA - VRINDAVAN - AGRA

Friday 16-07-2010, I fell short on the Luck part. Every Friday Taj Mahal is closed and I came to know about it today morning when I was all ready to visit Taj and suddenly the Hotel gatekeeper asked


"Sir,kaha nikal liye itni subah subah".
I replied "TAJ dekhne ki barson ki tamanna ko poora karne".
But then he replied "Aaj toh taj band rehta he"
I said "Kyun"
Gatekeeper "sirji aap Taj dekhne aaye aapko itna bhi maloom nai,ki har Friday maintenance aur Namaz ke liye Taj band rehta he"

I said to myself Grrrr..Subah Subah dimag ki #&*#&@# gayi.

So that means either I have to wait for next day OR else I can move ahead without visiting the TAJJ !!
I still had half day in my hand to decide about it.
To wait or to move ahead..These thoughts were coming in my mind again and again and again. I took a walk to visit Agra Fort which was very close to the hotel I was staying.

Agra Fort

The fort is similar in layout to the Red Fort in Delhi, but comparatively in better preserved condition. As most part of the Delhi Fort was razed by the British after the Mutiny. Main attraction of this fort is its defensive structure and beautiful  red sandstone construction. This fort is also called as Red Fort of AGRA.

Day 5 - UDR Ride - 14 July - Shri Dungargadh - Jaipur - Fatehpur sikri - Agra

Woke up at 8 o clock in the morning, it was time to move my lazy arse to the next unknown destination. Plan was to hit Agra via  Jaipur.Jaipur was still 270 kms.That too single lane road with average traffic.Had an heavy breakfast at the hotel where i stayed. Started for Jaipur around 8:40.Did a 200 Km nonstop stretch, took a small but break and again zoomed ahead for Jaipur.
Initially my plan was to re-visit some places in Jaipur, but then after reaching Jaipur i decided to skip it and move ahead.

From Jaipur till Agra it was smooth-wide 4 lane, so i was riding at good speed-pace. But then i encountered some super heavy rains nearby Dausa.Wore the rain suite but no use, got completely drenched for second time in this trip. In these 4 days..Encountered heavy rains in the start till Gujrat,Deadly heat in Rajasthan and now again rains..Don’t know what is ahead :| ...
It rained for approx 30 mins..Removed the rain suite and opened up the jacket chain, so that while riding everything will get quickly dried up. Reached Fathehpur Sikri by evening. Visited JAMI MASJID and the nearby fort of Akbar,Jodha and Co's.

Jami Masjid of Fatehpur Sikri is also known as Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosque in India. It was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1571, with the supervision of the Sufi saint, Sheikh Salim Chishti and his descendants.


Poser Shot :D :D

Day 4 - UDR Ride - 13 July - JAISALMER - BIKANER - Shri Dungargadh

Today was the day to discover the beautiful Jaisalmer havelis and enjoy the ancient architectural brilliance. Different patterns carved and pierced incredibly into sandstone,
I enquired with the locals about the Haveli's and everyone turned up with the same answer "Only Patwon ki Haveli is worth visiting..Other Haveli's have been converted to private hotels or they are not properly maintained".
So I started for Patwon ki Haveli...after little bit of enquiry and struggle I found myself running in narrow street lanes...and then stone pathways and there I was at the Patwon ki Haveli.

These Havelis belongs to the Wealthy Jain merchants of that time. There was a nominal entry fee of 10 rs for PATWON ki haveli

Patwon ki Haveli - Patwon ki Haveli is the largest haveli in Jaisalmer. This is five-storied building and it was built by Guman Chand Patwa and his five sons whose gold and silver embroiding business was stretch between Afghanistan and China. Wow man !!...they must have been super rich :D :D

DAY 3 - UDR Ride - 12 July - PHALODI - JAISALMER

Today's morning started with a shock,while sleeping on khatiya..I slept over my mobile and its touch screen got broken.Damn,what is going to happen with my interview.What a start of the day.Had my morning tea at the dhaba but what  about the daily DO stuff :D.Filled water bottle from the dhaba in case of any emergency call  and started moving towards Jaisalmer.finally the call came and i started hunting for the place and finally i had to do it under a small bridge to avoid any unecessary attention :D.

Yeah,I made it

DAY 2 -UDR Ride - 11 July - CHITTAURGARH - AJMER - PUSHKAR - PHALODI

There is a saying about the Chittaurgarh Fort

"Taalon me Taal Nainital..Baaki sab Talaiyya
Raja me Raja Bhoj..Baaki sab Rajaiyya
Rani me Rani Padmini(or Padmavati !!)..Baaki sab Ranaiyya
Aur Garhon me garh Chittaurgarh..Baaki sab Gadhaiyya"

Today i am going to verify,how true is the last line.
To reach at the top of the Chittorgarh Fort one have to cross through zigzag paths interrupted at intervals by seven huge gateways(pols). They are named as Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Lakshman Pol, and Ram Pol.

One of the gateway

DAY 1 - UDR Ride - 10 July - Mumbai - Udaipur - Chittaurgarh

It was a lazy saturday and i was just lazing around from the morning.

Its been a while when i left my previous Job.
From the very morning and i was cursing myself for doing nothing.
I was sitting idle..eating..drinking..smoking..shitting.
In all wasting my self,money and time in the flush.

So all these events all toghether formed an unplanned ride.Now the question was where to go 

Packed my stuff and started rolling at 4 PM Saturday..Still undecided.I reached Western Express Highway where i had to decide which way and which places to go.If i go left i will be hitting NH8 and Rajasthan and if right i had to go thru the shitty traffic to reach the NH4 or NH17 for any Southern Soujourn.

In this way the laziest person in the whole planet (ya,that would be me) ended up visitng Rajasthan,MP,UP,Nepal,Uttarakhand and Spiti.

The moment i left Mumbai,i got heavy rains till the morning or i can say till Gujarat Border.even the rain suit i purchased in Ladakh gave up and i was all wet for whole night.

some relief i got from the rain,somewhere near to Daman

Day 4 Kushalnagar - Hassan - Tiptur - Hiriyur - Belgaum -Pune

In the morning time I went to the monastery again to notice what I have missed in the darkness last night. And here are few shots which justifies what I was about to miss

Day 3 - Gudalur - Wayanad - Coorg - Kushalnagar

Third day, last day of my long weekend. Tomorrow I have to be back in office..Which was highly impossible. Since I have come so far I did not wanted to miss the nearby beautiful places..Wayanad and coorg.So I decided to take sick leave..and trust me taking that is piece of cake :D

Last night I also had some conversation with my fellow friend anant(Pune)..He also advised me to cover the Gudalur - Wayanad stretch in morning time,as its very scenic.

So here I started, late as usual for today’s run...towards Wayanad.

People often gets confused by the name Wayanad, considering it as a place. Same case happened with me,i expected Wayanad to be a place like Dodabetta Or Ooty.But in Actual it’s a region..District. In which you can find beautiful and enormous tea gardens and places like edakkal caves-sulthan bathery.

Sulthan Bathery was just 60 kms from there, reached there in few hours. And I should say thanks to Anant for advising me to cover the gudalur - wayanad stretch in morning time. Encountered some very beautiful tea gardens along the road.