BoP Ride to Ranthambore

2020 was a year where I truly counted my blessings. After an amazing ride to Nepal in January, I also visited Vizag and Bangalore briefly before the Covid lockdown started. Indeed, Bulls on Parade (BoP) planned and almost went ahead with the Khirsu Khukris ride, but wisely cancelled, otherwise we'd have been stuck there for 3 months! The lockdown gave me more opportunities to feel blessed - although away from family, I continued to be employed with full salary and had an entire 4 BHK to myself (almost) - none of these elements to be taken for granted. I did my part, buckled down and called on my inner reserves of introversion (and beer and whisky....) to coast through. 

The club did meet a few times July onwards, at BBB sessions or short 1-day rides. We were all itching to hit the road for a long ride again though. A second Khirsu plan was considered and cast aside in August; a third in November (cancelled again, very close to the ride day). Finally in December, a firm plan was made for a 4-day ride to Badnore in January, exactly 1 year after the Nepal ride. Due to a spate of cancellations caused by personal reasons, only Kora and I were left and we were in no mood to cancel a 4th time. We instead changed the destination to Ranthambore and made it a 3-day ride.

Dates: 23rd January to 25th January, 2021

Route taken/Places visited:

While going - Gurgaon - Manesar - Rewari - Neemrana - Dausa - Lalsot - Sawai Madhopur

While returning - Sawai Madhopur - Lalsot - Mala Khera - Nuh - Sohna - Gurgaon

Riders:

1. Krishnatreya Brindavanam - Silver RE Electra 5S - Katori pehen ne wala

2. Pravin Kora - Battle Green RE Classic 350 - Animal behaviour expert

Total distance traversed: 788 kms

DAY 1 - 23rd January: Gurgaon to Sawai Madhopur

An early start was decided upon, at 5 AM. We anticipated fog and also traffic jams due to the ongoing farmer protests at the borders. Since it was just the two of us, Kora and I decided to just meet near my place instead of our regular meet-up point at Leisure Valley Park. I'd packed alu paratha for breakfast and Kora was getting pulihora for lunch. 

We crossed Manesar without incident but the truck traffic was getting heavier. Near Dharuhera, we spotted a complete road blockade with trucks. Not even a motorcycle could pass through. So we followed the rest of the traffic on the wrong side and turned towards Rewari. We then looped around the blockade and rejoined the highway some 15 kms before Neemrana. We soon stopped for chai and had our breakfast there itself, before continuing towards Sawai Madhopur. Shortly after Neemrana, a second blockade appeared in front of us and once again, we went off the highway and into village roads to loop around. This time, it was a smaller loop of 9-10 kms and we were accompanied by a bunch of superbikers who seemed a bit worried about the damage their bikes might incur on these village roads (where the Bullet is perfectly at home).

Despite this ~30 kms detour, the riding was smooth, the cold wasn't particularly bad (as compared to the Nepal ride) and most importantly, there was no major fog. We were even lucky enough to find a 3rd blockade materializing in front of us, as a crowd was moving barricades into place and we simply went off the road for a few meters to avoid it. In this manner, we continued on and stopped for our first beer. Thekas in Rajasthan are generally set in the fields in wide, open spaces which is exactly what we preferred in these times.

The sun was up now and all the layers I wore in the morning were making me hot and stuffy. Uncharacteristically, we decided to stop for a second beer around 60 kms later. You'd all have heard or tried the famous combination of beer and biryani. This day, we had beer and pulihora! Post lunch, I removed my thick jacket along with the 'surgical' gloves inside my main gloves and rode in a more relaxed manner. We had a bit of misnavigation after Lalsot, but turned around and found our way back (BoP ride after all, how can we not misnavigate).

Despite our many breaks and riding almost 45 kms extra, we reached our hotel Tiger Haveli at 4 PM. Although small and hard to find, it was a clean place and had received rave reviews for the courteous and welcoming staff there. True to the reviews, the owner's son Anshuman patiently answered all our questions. I wanted to have authentic daal baati churma, but he told me very honestly that it's not that well made here and suggested chane ki saag and gatte ki sabzi instead. Such honesty and humility!

We relaxed in the room for a few hours, enjoying hot chai and excellent pakodas. We both wanted to take a walk around the city to get rid of stiff muscles and joints. As advised by Anshuman, we took an auto to the main market and walked all around. Pretty soon, however, we realized that there wasn't much to it. The town is small and basically runs on the tourism income brought in by the national park and maybe the fort but Sawai Madhopur in itself doesn't have a lot to do. The auto driver confirmed our theory and said that the lack of foreign tourists since the Covid crisis was a big blow to the town economy. 

We went back to our hotel to start our BBB in earnest. Continuing BoP's streak with rooftop restaurants, we settled in the open area. The weather wasn't particularly cold, but the hotel guys arranged for a bonfire. We consumed our beer and talked but the true highlight awaiting was the food. We had ordered 3 curries, not being sure of the quantity - the aforementioned chane ki saag and gatte ki sabzi and the much-talked about laal maas for Kora. All three curries were cooked in the traditional Rajasthani style - rich in oil and spices and very heavy. Combined with bajre ki roti, we entered a state of foodie bliss. We asked the leftover curries to be kept aside for the morning and went to take a second walk. This is when we engaged in a deep discussion on animal behaviours, particularly animal conflict-avoidance behaviours, an area Kora is well versed in. Little did we know that we'd be witnessing a practical demonstration of the same next day at the safari!

DAY 2 - 24th January: Ranthambore National Park

I love safaris. I have been only on two in my entire lifetime - first to Ranthambore when I was in school (and saw nothing but a tiger's tail) and the second was a night safari in Ooty (the highlight of which was a massive wild gaur). I was looking forward to getting lucky this time and spotting a tiger.

First order of the day was breakfast. Delicious parathas with last night's curries and pickle and cups of chai, eaten on a cold morning with weak sunlight. At the risk of repeating myself - blissful! The plan was now to ride to the Ranthambore Fort and return by noon for lunch, post which we had a safari booked on a canter (an open truck seating 20). It was a short ride to the fort, the last few kilometers through the jungle. The roads were paved with large cobblestones, presumably to force visitors to ride at a slow and safe speed. We parked our bikes and started climbing up towards the fort. My fitness had taken a toll during the lockdown and I was huffing and puffing within 10 mins. The only saving grace was my 2-week old attempt to get back into shape, which helped me reach the top without collapsing in a heap somewhere. Overall, it was a well-maintained fort with some good views of the national park around it. We clicked some pics and left soon.

Back at the hotel, we had a light lunch - kadi and sabzi with rice. We really needed that after the previous 2 heavy meals. We rested for a bit and the canter arrived exactly at 1.45 as promised. We were heading towards Zone 3, purportedly the best zone to spot tigers (although we suspected that's what they said to everyone). The canter picked people along the way, even going far ahead of the park entrance to pick up a party of 4.

Our guide introduced himself and we entered the park, turning into Zone 3. Safaris here are either made on a canter or a Gypsy. Gypsies are costlier but are more maneuverable and can seat an entire family. This does not seem to dampen the canter drivers' spirits though. Highly capable drivers, they manage to swing around their large vehicles with equal agility on the narrow forest paths and position themselves perfectly. As demanded by their job, they are also experts at reversing at terrifying speeds. The safari sights apart, it was a pleasure watching these drivers in action too.

Soon after entering Zone 3, our guide motioned for us to be quiet. We were at the edge of a lake, ringed by tall grass and there were whispers of a tiger sighting here. I squeezed my way to the front, right besides the driver and guide to get the best sight. Lo and behold, we spotted the tiger's head behind a tree trunk, as it lounged. As we squinted and angled our heads to get a better view, a huge male sambhar deer casually strolled into the scene. The tigress (named Riddhi, we learnt by now) looked up, leaped out of hiding and gave chase. It was too far though and the sambhar streaked past us, hollering his lungs out in fear. All was over in less than 5 seconds, but for a heart-stopping second in the middle, the powerful hunter's chase seemed to lead her straight towards our canter. What an awe-inspiring sight and what luck, seeing such Nat Geo style action less than 800 meters away!

The guide and driver then took us a bit ahead and we spotted Riddhi's sister Siddhi. In a large clearing, surrounded by dozens of vehicles and at least a hundred visitors, Siddhi lounged in a little pool of water for 15 solid minutes. Not giving a damn to anyone, majestic like a true alpha predator, commanding her viewers to stay silent and just watch. The only worry Siddhi had, however, was sibling rivalry. Seemingly, both sisters had been fighting for territory (the driver showed us a video of their fight; you can view it here - *not my video*, all due credit to Ajay who shot it a few days before). We were all excited about a similar showdown today, as Siddhi got up and started marking her territory with scent marks. The canter turned around and followed her as she casually strolled through the jungle, staking out her territory. Soon, her sister started following her at a distance. To our disappointment, however, no fight was going to take place today. Showcasing the same animal conflict-avoidance behaviours Kora and I talked about the previous day, the tigresses kept their distance from each other.

The guide then predicted that one of them is off to hunt and guided the driver towards a potential spot where we might witness a hunt. But time was running out and after waiting for a few minutes, we turned towards home. We did a bit of bird-watching and saw some crocodiles, but after all the excitement with the tigresses, these sightings were akin to the end credits of a non-Marvel movie!

We were dropped off at our hotel at around 5.45 PM. We tipped the guide and thanked him for a fantastic experience. Next up - BBB! After another chai and pakoda session, we set off walking to get beer (one of the caretakers got it for us the previous day). Contrary to the caretaker's emphatic insistence that the wine shop was very close, we ended up walking around 3 kms to and back from said shop. Today, we wanted to start and wrap up earlier, as we planned an early start next day.

Once again, beer, bakchodi and knowledge flowed in ample quantities. This night, it was much colder and the bonfire was welcomed with open arms. Shortly thereafter, we were joined by two people from Faridabad. After being subjected to an onslaught of animal behaviour and human behaviour knowledge respectively from Kora and me, they went to another table to have their dinner. We finished dinner, settled up all expenses at the reception and turned in for the night.

DAY 3 - 25th January: Sawai Madhopur

The first thing we did as we woke up at 4 AM was to pull aside the window and peep out. As we dreaded, a thick fog blanketed the locality. But what we dreaded more was getting stuck at the border or having to stay there for a day or two. 30 mins later, we were on our bikes.

Riding at a torturously slow speed through the fog, we found our way out of the city and onto the "highway" - with the fog, all roads looked the same. Over the course of the next 3 hours, we rode a grand total of 64 kms. This is included 2 short stops on the way for chai. The heavy fog led to dew deposits on our clothes and we were soaking wet soon, adding to the cold we were already feeling. At the 2nd chai stop, we were served by a terse villager with nary a smile or acknowledgement to what we said. After paying up, Kora asked, "ujaala kab hogi?" (when will the sun rise?). The guy simply replied "ho gayi, yahi hai ujaala, aur kitni chahiye?" (the sun already rose, what more do you want?) and broke into a broad smile. With less than 50 meters visibility and darkness enveloping us, it was hilarious and philosophical at the same time. I still chuckle at that straight-faced delivery of such an enigmatic and ironic statement and wonder what he meant by it!

Soon however, there was some light, albeit with no decrease in fog. I was soaking once again and now, the rubber gloves I wear inside my main gloves were soaked too. We had enough of this and at 7.30 AM, we simply stopped besides a bonfire, huddled around which were a bunch of villagers. As is typical, the group made space and invited us graciously to sit by the fire. It's such a simple but welcoming gesture that I have seen all around India. Over the next hour, as our clothes and gear dried slowly, we fielded many questions from them. The most important one was addressed to me, focusing on my 'metallic' knee guards - "je ghutne pe katori kyu pehen rakhi hai?" (why do you have bowls tied to your knees?). I was stumped for a moment, but he was correct. I cannot unsee it now, the image of me tying steel utensils to my arms and legs as I embark on a ride. 

We stayed here for more than hour, consuming many cups of chai and learning about the farmers' lives and thoughts about the agitation in Delhi (short answer - barely impressed or supportive of it). The fog was slowly dissipating, so we decided to make a move. As we were gearing up, Kora's client Gaurav called him up and told him he was nearby. He was on a solo ride, visiting an engineer friend of his who was working on a highway near Lalsot (30 kms from where we were). We decided to ride back together. 

By the time we reached Lalsot, the sun was up and shining brightly. As we waited for Gaurav, we had our packed breakfast - rotis and alu curry, prepared and packed at Tiger Haveli the previous night. He turned up shortly and after catching up and talking a bit about the remarkable coincidence and timing of his call, we started in earnest to cover up for the lost time.

The plan was now straightforward - more riding, less bakchodi! Well, OK, more riding with adequate bakchodi. We decided to skip the highway and take a different route, through Nuh and Sohna. Barring a misnavigation that led us through some obscure villages and around a kilometer of dirt track riding through the fields, the route was fantastic. Normal levels of traffic, no blockades and green fields lining the 2-lane highway all the way till Sohna. At around 2.30, we stopped for a final extended tea break, deciding to skip lunch (we finished the remaining rotis and curry though). We bid our goodbyes here, 60 kms before our destination, as we all wanted to ride non-stop to home now. I reached at around 4.45 PM, almost exactly 12 hours later!

Apart from being the first proper long ride since the Nepal ride, it was a landmark trip for me because of the highly successful safari and the awesome food we had at Tiger Haveli. 2021 thus started brilliantly (I mean, so did 2020.....) and I look forward to more riding this year.

Adios and Jai BoP!