Day 7:
Perks of Family:
Baddi, reaching this place was not easy, it’s one of the industrial towns in Himachal Pradesh dominated by Pharmaceutical Companies.
I see it’s only pot holes all across except a few patches of the road here and there, may be cause these roads are frequented by huge trucks loaded with either raw material or end products.
My maternal aunt whose married to my uncle who is also in a way married to one of the pharmaceutical corporations here, beyond question they had to move far north of India which is now an added advantage for me.
Spending these four days here with my two cousins, aunt, and uncle helped me lift my spirits and also the thought that I could come back to my family post-Manali – Leh circuit made me more content.
Though Baddi was at the foothills of the Himalayas, my thirst for adventure took me to some of the most beautiful treks around.
The Plan:
After recovering with help of home cooked food with a tinge of affection helped me gain confidence to restart the ride and also If its postponed any further there are high chances of road blocks due to snowfall.
Though there was this little guy within who was shit scared , being his first time facing the might of the Himalayas , there was also this excited adventurous guy within craving for more.
Baddi to Manali is 226 km approx. , as per plan had to reach Manali in four days and its not fool proof, as I have no prior experience on mountains and unaware of my skillset on these steeps.
My sole is on the plateaus of Telangana : Ananthagiri hills located in Hyderabad which is barely 700 meters from sea level
On the other hand Manali being 2,050m above sea level and from there on I had to cycle through peaks and passes like Tanglanla which is 5,328 ( 17,480ft ) , apart from that the more I climb less the oxygen .
Time to Say Good Bye:
After almost two hours of packing resumed the ride at around 10AM, it was painful parting but I tune my mind to act cold , after a while that becomes a reality.
If one is ignorant like me , assumes Himalayan regions are always super cold, but even in the month of September the days were super hot.
For this reason I bought a Thermal flask along with another pre owned flask , I have two of them now only to care less about the ambient temperatures while hydrating.
Cycling for 20km stopped at a place to hydrate & munch on snacks prepared by aunt, break from the harsh sunrays started climbing the small incline of about 5km and then it hit me I’ve left my bottle behind.
It was so Irritating at the moment but then took that detour only to find I’ve lost it , other side of the road I see a juice seller trying to communicate accepting the invitation headed towards him.
The owner of the place smiling at me asked one of his worker to bring a chair and offered to have juice , instead asked for cold water.
After a long and friendly conversation , knowing my story he suggested me to start vlogging and also warns the people of the mountains are not trustworthy.
It was funny as I wonder how trust worthy people of plains were after I couldn’t find the bottle where I left
Also when it comes to vlogging , I’ve never really started this journey with the thought of making money, I just wanna be as close as possible to the nature and away from the concrete jungles or Digital world.
It’s just me , my bike and the road coming together to explore self and the unknown.
All I wanna do was meet natives understand their way of life who have developed the skill of living in consonance with nature.
Am I lost!:
After cycling for another 20km , the roads were getting steeper , sun was on it’s way down and the rule on the mountains is to end your ride by 6pm.
Especially when it comes to a homeless cyclist like me should scout for a shelter from 4PM onwards if not I’ll doomed along with the the sun in the darkness.
Unaware of the mountains aesthetics and paths to take I started to worry about my stay for the day , I see a bus coming from behind the bushes where I see there’s a small village adjacent to the mountain I was on .
With the help of driver who pointed towards a board standing tall with a symbol showing two single-edged daggers crossed at the bottom, sitting on either side of the sword and Chakram (circular throwing weapon), Khanda the symbol Sikh , Ah! its a Gurudwara my savior like always.
Assured that I’ll have roof over my head , started making calls to family as the network was back after a while, locals climbing towards Gurudwara smiled at me and were inviting me to come inside to rest.
The Addiction:
After cycling 1km steep hilly path to the path parting away from Highway , could see the compound of of Gurudwara JAI BABA JAGGO SAHIB overlooking twilight , this was my first sunset on the mountains.
Well I’m a Heliophile so no wonder I spent the next hour gazing this the sunsetting into the woods while the birds were busy complimenting all of this with their repeated yet non monotonous tunes.
Entering inside met the incharge of the place : man in his 50’s with long beard and turban the usual Sikh style , after I told my story and requested for a place to stay , he happily accepted and allowed me to sleep in the Langar hall where food is served.
After having some homemade curd rice and pickle from the morning hit the bed , my first day after while on the hills left me tired , back from my deep sleep at around 10 O’clock found out I was left all alone in this huge dark room.
Eyes welled up , wondering if I was feeling lonely with no cousins sleeping next to me , aunt to take care of or Mom to ask if I’m doing okay.