Day 2 : Belgaum to Pune (26th Aug 2014)

The alarm went off at 5:20 am. The moment I woke up I could hear the rain tapping on the window pane. I forced myself out of the bed, quickly took a shower and started arranging my luggage. This time I was all geared up for the rain with gumboots & rain cover pants which I had got from Decathlon.

The ride started at 7:30 am and it was raining heavily.

 When you ride alone you witness humanity at its best. People are eager to help you and if they can’t help you, the least they do is smile at you.  I have been witnessing this humanity outburst since yesterday. Today I asked one man for a petrol station direction & he directed me accordingly. Since it was very early in the morning, the petrol station was closed. When he saw that the petrol station was closed, he walked out in the rain and showed me the way towards another petrol station. I could only thank him for his act. Once I reached the petrol station there was a truck in front of me. Seeing me wet, the guy in charge signalled me to come up front and filled my petrol tank first. After inquiring about my trip he said, “Enjoy the trip” with a smiling face.    

While checking the route to Mumbai on my phone, I learned that there was a fort nearby. Since it was on my way, I decided to check it out, and good that I decided to do so. The fort was still manned by the Indian army. 

Pic : Belgaum Fort

On my way out I had to ride through an army temple and I was amazed to see the priest of the army temple wearing an army regimental cap. In common man's language, he wore a maroon colored Nehru cap with a badge on it. A sight which I had never seen before.

Pic: Army temple at Belgaum fort

I stopped to have breakfast at 8:30 am. The rain was so intense that by now I was completely wet despite the protective rain cover. Buying another rain cover was now a matter of survival. Wanted to try something new for breakfast so I ordered for misley pav. It was a bad choice, but the special tea was good. 

Once the breakfast was done and I had answered all the questions of the curious onlookers, I got into the act of draping myself with rain cover much to the amusement of the lorry drivers. Just when I was about to start, one of them shouted, “Bhaiya, side stand”. I had forgotten to put the side stand back. God bless him for reminding me.

Another few hours of riding into the heavy rain and water had seeped into my gumboots as well.

The rain cover pants from Decathlon had also started leaking. After all, there was only so much the cover could protect against. I decided to buy the cheap plastic rain cover as I guess it would be the best bet.

Riding hard to reach Mumbai sooner, I saw a puppy walking dangerously close to the highway. He seemed to be searching for something. I stopped, took him to a safer place away from the highway and bought some biscuits for him. He tried to nibble the biscuits, but his teeth failed him. Getting wet in that heavy rain for a long time had changed his priorities. He left the biscuits and he started to walk under my rain cover. He chose a warm & dry place over the food. The local people told me that his mother was run over by a truck a few days back. I doubt whether he would survive, but if he does, he will have some survival story to bark.

                                                           

The hilly terrain ride towards Mumbai took me through my first tunnel riding on a bike. I must admit that I was a little scared to enter a tunnel where I couldn’t see the light at the end of it.

That stretch also has a couple of rock falling zones and I saw some rocks being cleared which had fallen on the way. I stuck to riding on the middle of the road while crossing such zones because it’s comparatively easy to dodge a falling rock than trying to stop it from crushing me.

10 hours of getting wet in the heavy rain is a reason good enough to call it quits for a day. I decided to stop at Pune, but it was good two hours ride away. I had never felt so wet & cold ever in my entire life. My body was shivering & my teeth were chattering despite trying to control it. I had the same frame of mind that the puppy I tried to save had. My only priority was to get dry at the earliest.

Once I  reached Pune at around 6 pm, I bought one more rain cover on the way and checked in the hotel. That night I was feeling little unwell and feared my condition worsening. Had an early dinner with mutton (just to keep my body warm) and hit the bed by 9 pm.

At the end of the second day , I had covered 356 kms.

(Do read the other days chronicle listed in the same page)

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