Day 23: Rest in Peace

Disclaimer: I have tried to recreate the events, locales, and conversations from my memories of them. The below-expressed views, opinions or analogies are personal and may not be in line with the widespread conceptions. Please go to Motorcycle Diaries -> India: Ocean To Mountains (or Click here) to check out the previous events.

Date: 21^st August 2016; Intended Route: Jammu – Kishtwar – Killar – Dalhousie

 

 “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes…including you”

After almost 20 hours of sleep, my eyes were wide open. I could even stare at the sun without blinking, I felt rejuvenated. And we were grateful that we were still converting oxygen to carbon dioxide. Due to a general strike declared in Jammu, there were no restaurants open since the previous day. We were surviving on Rajma-Chawal. We were eating the same thing at the same place for both breakfast and dinner (luckily we didn’t wake up for lunch). And FYI, it was horrible. We somehow managed it last night but we couldn’t take it anymore, we were fed up with it. Today, we were not in a mood to eat the same thing again.

We decided to have our breakfast on our way to Jalandhar. We saw a hotel at the end of the ghat section. When we asked about the situation in Jammu, the hotel guy said he wasn’t even aware that it was Bandh in Jammu last night (*slow claps*). He said only the city might have been affected by it and there was not much of an impact at the suburbs. Anyway, we came back to the topic and asked him the options from breakfast. He said that the only thing they could serve at that time was Roti-Rajma. And I was starving. As you already know by now, we never got much of a choice, so we ate Roti and Rajma; yes, Rajma again. God, I hate it. I had to stuff it down my throat.

As we were following the reverse itinerary, we were supposed to ride via Kishtwar – Killar – Dalhousie, which is considered as one of the most dangerous roads in the world. But when we reached the intersection where we had to take the deviation for Kishtwar, we just saw it from a distance and said “maybe next time”. We already had enough adventure for one trip. And we took the divergence to Pathankot.

We reached there by 1 PM and had our lunch. And accidentally, there was no Rajma, God was merciful. After a long time, we were riding on plain land, an altitude which we were used to. And I was already missing the landscapes of Leh Ladakh. We could feel a drastic change in the climate. On our way to Jalandhar, I started feeling dehydrated. I thought of taking a break and top up the fuel. I also developed a craving for Lassi. I asked the guy at the fuel station where I could get the best Lassi in town. He directed me to a food joint called “Pappu Di Hatti”. Though the name was funny, the snacks I ate were quite lip-smacking. Even the Lassi was really good but not as great as the one I had at Amritsar. While I was enjoying the snacks, I also made a phone call to my home after a long time to let them know that I had made it out alive.

From there on, we started riding towards Ambala where we decided to call it a day.

To be continued – Day 24: The Curse (Click here)

 

P.S. And yeah, that night I was shitting pellets of Rajma 😛