
I attended the 1015 hours class at MDI and loaded my luggage on to my Avenger. It was about noon now and it was time for me to take leave. I reset my trip meter to ZERO and zipped out of the college gate .....
I tanked up with fuel at Ghaziabad and zipped off on the average to good grade NH 58 (Ghaziabad-Badrinath Road). Took my first break at the famous Jain Shikanji shop (recommended to fellow travellers) in Modinagar, savoured some hot mixed pakoras and a glass of spicy Shikanji. Moving on, it was a 4 lane double carriageway road till I branched off it at Meerut by-pass. It was now that the road began to lose it's tar and got lost into innumerable diversions and ugly potholes. It was a bumpy ride and my next stop was at the Reliance A1 Plaza (after Khatauli - Average grade restaurant attached to Reliance Petrol Pump) where I got myself a cup of tea. It was about 1630 hours by my watch and I decided to ride on the trot till Haridwar, arriving at Swami Sarvanand Ghat opposite Har-ki-pauri at dusk ........
It were 9 hours that I had been riding my bike. Still fresh and raring to go, I cranked the engine and resumed my seemingly never ending journey to the Valley of Gods! I reached Devprayag at about 2200 hours and manoeuvred past the traffic barricades on to the other side of the river. It is at Devprayag that the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanada meet giving rise to the Ganga.
Note: Traffic is not allowed on NH-58 (as on most other mountain roads in Uttarakhand) after 2200 hours for safety reasons. However they do not stop bikewallahs as they normally constitute local traffic and are headed to the next village.
I kept on riding and saw packs of jackals sitting by the roadside on numerous occasions. Going past many such tarffic barricades at places like Srinagar and Rudraprayag, I kept on moving. It was about 0200 hours now and I was nearing Karnaprayag. The road was turning from bad to worse and the rain drenched mountain soil was resulting in numerous small to medium landslides. I had some difficulty in negotiating them at night but kept moving still. While I was crossing the bridge (0230 hours) on the Pindar river, a traffic cop pulled me up, "Kahaan ja rahe ho itni raat?" I told him I was headed to Nandprayag and he immediately went all crazy and told me to stop right there and not move ahead at that hour. "Jaan pyaari nahin hai kya jo is samay sadak par nikle ho ??" I asked him for the nearest hotel and he said its' about 50 meters further ahead. I started moving ahead on the pretext of stopping at the hotel and raced away in the dark while he kept shouting behind my back !!! However it was an extremely rough and 'dangerous' track further ahead and it did force me to finally take a break. I stopped by a 'Varsha Shalika', i.e. Rain shelter (a kind of a bus stop) on the road at about 0315 hours. Took out my sleeping bag and went down on the floor of the shed, fast asleep I was after about 15 hours of bike riding! Never did I worry about the threat of a wild animals, slept out in the open inside my cosy sleeping bag. Got up early at 0500 hours while it was still dark. Brushed my teeth, and rolled in my sleeping bag. It was a Tuesday and a day of fasting for me, I had to keep on riding on an empty stomach. It was drizzling in the morning and I started at about 0530 hours. It was on this stretch that I clicked a lot of photographs.
The rain washed road to Badrinath, the day after .......
A hands on view of the road to Badrinath ....
It was a bright and lovely morning and I was making steady progress. I reached Joshimath at around 0900 hours and topped up my fuel tank. Had to wait for 15-20 mins at the pump due to a power outage in the place! Thank God the wait didn't extend any further as the next petrol pump was way far ahead.

Waiting for the traffic jam to clear up ......

Road to heaven looks like hell .....
However the opulent greenery of the mountains and the awe inspiring scenery was enough to charge me up as it welcomed thy soul to the Valley of Gods ....

I was very close to the holy shrine of Badrinath and it started getting cold as I ascended pretty steeply up the now well metalled road between Hanuman Chatti and Badrinath. The Alaknanda river had now started looking more playful and youthful as it bounced and frothed over the boulders.


Just 10 more kms to go for Badrinath, the milestone instilled a sense of achievment in me. The scene was captured in picture:

Hugging the milestone .....
And this was another board that compelled me to stop and take a pic ....


The official Badrinath - 0 km board ....

Posing infront of the imposing Sri Badrinath Temple .....
I stopped at the Badrinath temple for about an hour and half. I purchased prasad and tulsi ki mala as an offering to Lord Vishnu, the presiding deity. Fortunately for me, the temple was not crowded and I could get darshan without any trouble whatsoever. Maybe the Gods were kind to the soul within this battered body!
I started on my return journey at about 1400 hours, after having a tea outside the temple complex. It was a long journey back and I decided to take a different route home. I took a detour at Gopeshwar on the Kedarnath link road.
Jai Badri Vishal, Thanks, Visit Again ......
The path after Gopeshwar towards Chopta was exceptionally green and the surrounding fields created an awesome spectacle. I couldn't stop myself from clicking a few pictures .....

The following morning was a new and a long one for me. I started from Chopta at aout 0615 hours and moved on towards Ookhimath on NH-109 (Rudraprayag-Kedarnath road). The scenery was again good and I clicked a few pics. This signboard on the road really enthused me:
I was back on the same road (NH-58) at Rudraprayag and subsequently moved on to Srinagar. I again took a detour here and came back via Pauri-Kotdwara-Bijnor-Meerut to reach MDI Gurgaon at about 2245 hours. Here is a photograph I took near Pauri/Lansdowne:
In cloud territory ....
Having reached MDI before hostel gates closed at 2300 hours, I thought I would rest in peace. But it was not to be, being my birthday the next day (14th August)! The customary Ass kicking ceremony ensured that the last ligament in my bottom was torn apart ...... :-)