Day 8: Delhi to Chandigarh (1st Sept 2014)

Woke up at 8 am. It was the brightest morning I had woken up to in the journey so far. However, I did not rule out the rain.
Loch throws in another 'friend trick'. He starts cooking brunch for me. Now I could understand why he bought the chicken last night but didn't cook it. After having a tasty chicken curry and rice for my brunch I finally started my ride towards Chandigarh at 11:30 am.

 I was running low on petrol, so I decided to get it refilled at the petrol station right next to the Delhi haat. Once the tank was filled to the brim and the tyre pressure adjusted, I continued with my ride. After riding for about 800 meters I realized that I had dropped my riding gloves. When I was paying at the petrol station, I had removed the gloves and kept it on my lap but forgot to wear it on after the payment. Comedy of errors indeed!!! Losing a protective gear before the real ride starts, was definitely not a good start. I knew that the chances of getting it back were really slim, nevertheless, I wanted to give it one shot, so I took a U-turn and rode back to the petrol station looking for my riding gloves. I asked the guy who had checked the tyre pressure, but he said he did not see any riding gloves. Dejected, I continued with my ride. 50 meters from the petrol station I found one glove lying on the road. It was the right-hand glove. The left-hand glove was not to be seen but I was still happy to find at least one. I put on one glove and continued riding very much aware that I was looking odd. About 200 meters ahead I saw the left-hand glove drifting further away with the wind of each speeding vehicle that passed by. My joy knew no bounds when I saw it. I waited for some time for the vehicles to pass by and then hurriedly dashed towards the orphaned glove to fetch it. The pair was now complete.

I was stuck in the flyover near ISBT for almost 45 mins as there was some religious procession. The scorching sun added to my misery. Few people who were running their bikes on reserve petrol had even more difficult time when they ran out of petrol midway. I snaked through the gaps and got myself out of the jam much faster than the not so lucky four-wheelers.

The road from Delhi to Punjab is in an excellent condition so it didn't take me much time to reach my destination. I had reached Karnal by 3:30 pm and by 5:30 I reached Chandigarh. 

The fertile land of Punjab

The Chandigarh entry point was manned by two huge Sardar cops. They were only two of them, but they looked like a battalion of an army. If someone would paint them green, they would look exactly like two Hulks. Am sure they were strategically placed there as no man, or beast would dare mess with the duo. 

Chandigarh is so well organized that it’s very confusing for someone new. The entire city is spread across various cubical sectors.  So, everyone residing in Chandigarh has their own map in their mind to reach from point A to point B. 

I wanted to stay somewhere near the highway towards Manali so that I would face no directional issues for my journey early next morning.  As I had no GPS, I had to ask some of the local people for directions towards Manali highway. Every time I would ask for a direction, I would be advised to take another 'much shorter route'. For one hour, yes one hour, I was riding from one sector to another in search of the elusive 'much shorter route' towards Manali highway. Finally, I met one old sardarji at one traffic signal. Luckily, he was heading towards the Manali highway too, so I followed him. Once we reached the Manali highway he had to part ways but before leaving he advised me to rest overnight somewhere nearby as he didn’t want me to ride to Manali during the night. Bless you sardarji.

I reached Ropar at 8:30 pm, which is about 50 kms from Chandigarh and checked in the hotel City heart near the old bus station. One cheerful old sardarji helped me with my luggage. He also told me that it had not rained in Ropar for 10 months.  He was due for a delightful surprise as my chaser, the monsoon clouds, were not too far behind.

At the end of 8^th day, I had covered 350 Kms and it was the first dry ride in the trip so far.

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

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