Motorbike Adventure in Madhya Pradesh
YHAI Jabalpur unit organized a wonderful motor bike adventure trip. This was between 16th of Oct to 22nd Oct, 2011. Thanks to the three gentlemen Mr. Vishal Sahu, Mr. Sampad Basu & Mr. Sanjay Yadav.
We were all together 29 people from different parts of India on 17 motor bikes. There were people from Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Pune, Mumbai, Khatni, Bangalore and from Jablapur.
The preparation & logistics:
I read about this event in YHAI website in May 2011 and I had immediately applied to participate in the event. There was no need for me to prepare in any big way as this was one another bike trip for me. But all these days I did biking within nearby area and now I have to travel atleast 1400 kms (By train it is 1900 kms to Jabalpur from Bangalore) to do biking now. I found from the organisers that there are four more participants from Karnataka, two from Bangalore (Manjunath & Venkatesh) and two from Mysore (Dr. Satish & Dr. Veena Satish). I was in touch with Manjunath and we decided to take our bike in train as luggage. If we take the bikes in the form of luggage by train, we can take bikes with us on the date of travel and the bikes would be delivered to us when we get down at the destination. Luggage is 24 hrs services all over. Whereas for transportation in form of parcel, we have to book the vehicle for parcel atleast 3 to 4 days before and then some stations work during particular hours only. From the information I collected Jabalpur railway station parcel unit works only from morning 7 AM to evening 5 PM and do not operate on Sundays. As we were reaching Jabalpur on Saturday evening at around 7 PM it was not recommended for us to book the vehicle by Parcel
Corruption in railways:
One would need a Xerox copy of driving license and RC book to book the motorbike by luggage in Indian railways. We were told that the luggage costs were 1800 Rs. But to my surprise when I got the receipt in my hand we found that the cost is only Rs. 1700.00, Rs. 100.00 extra for the railway officer who will book the luggage. Above that we get the advise from this booking officer to pay something to the porters to load the bikes on train.
Now its turn of porters to demand from us, they would not load the bikes unless we pay them something. Initially they demanded Rs 200 per bike and then we have to negotiate that to Rs. 100 per bike. It’s a daylight robbery.
We were told that the bike would be delivered at Jabalpur station without any problems and the luggage would be safe????
Pathetic luggage services by Indian railways:
As we reached Jabalpur station we rushed to the luggage wagon to make sure that the porters take out our bikes carefully without any damage. As we reached the Wagon we had a big shock waiting for us – where are our bikes? They are not to be seen. They were down under many gunny bags and some tins. We could hardly see the wheels and handle of our bikes. The whole wagon was filled by sacks and tins.
Porters denied taking out our bikes as it was difficult. We requested the train guard to help us. The station in charge told us that the luggage cannot be taken out and train cannot halt for long time. We protested, but then we were resisted by the police and we had to let our bikes go with train.
The railway officials denied taking any responsibility for what happened. When we asked “how can you load luggage like that when you already know that there is no space for more luggage”, the only cool reply we got from them is “Kya Karen, hum kisi ko bhi mana nahi kar sakthe hain”.
We were not even allowed to file an application. The station master routed us to luggage delivery section and he in turn asked us to come only next day morning to give application to the concerned officer.
Mr. Vishal and Mr. Sampad from YHAI rushed for our help as soon as they came to know about the situation. They did whatever they could from their side. Also informed their contacts in next station to take the delivery of the bikes if possible and helped us to take back our bikes two days later.
I think cheating and corruption is in the genes of every Indian these days. On our way to YHAI unit in Jabalpur we experience a bus conductor and an auto driver trying to cheat us.
(Now I am in the process of filing a consumer case against Indian Railways. Let me see what will be the outcome)
Biking in MP:
To some extent what happened on 15th evening did not bother me much as I was mentally prepared for that. I had read about some incidents like this on net. That helped me to have good sleep that night.
It was a cool morning on 16th (Sunday). Woke up early and got ready ASAP. The morning walk was refreshing and I had a chance to look around the YHAI unit. I Played shuttle with Dr. Satish which was a good warm up.
While the registration process was going on I coordinated with Vishal to get two bikes for our group. One for Manjunath & Venkatesh, the other for Dr. Satish & his wife, I managed to tag with Mr. Vijay Deore from Jabalpur.
Day 1 (Shiva Statue, Balancing Rock, Madan Mahal, Rani Durgabathi Samadhi, Bargi Dam):
From youth hostels Jabalpur, we first started to Shiva Statue at Kacchar City in Jabalpur. That’s really is a very big statue and a beautiful one. Lord Shiva sitting in meditation will impress everyone.
After that we went to see the Balancing rock near Madan mahal. It’s a small boulder balancing itself on another. We climbed up to take some good snaps and after having fun at balancing rock we went to Madan mahal on a small hill very next to balancing rock. Nothing much is left there, but we can see the remains of the fort and the area. From here we can get a bird’s eye view of Jabalpur city.
From Madan Mahal we went to Rani Durgabathi Samadhi where we halted for our lunch and after lunch we continued further alongside river Narmada to reach Bargi Dam area.
Maikal resorts there provide water sports facility and also boat riding. We went on the cruise (45 minutes ride) which took us around the area. Bargi is a very big catchment area and very beautiful place.
The day was very sunny and the road so far was not that great. It was already getting late, so we had to hurry from Bargi to Duandhar our halting spot for the day one. Navigating thru the worst roads we reached Duandhar late in the evening. We could not enjoy the place as it was already dark.
Our group was little upset as the roads were very bad and it was very dangerous to drive in night.
That night we had some very interesting discussions on corruption. There was one guy employed in Indian railways and we started to discuss what happened with us last night and lotz of other incidents & examples others faced. Everybody tried to share their experience, advise and it went on for hours before we left to our tents.
Day 2 (Duandhar, Bedaghat):
Monday was really a good day for us for two things. Firstly the experience at Duandhar & Bedaghat was exciting and secondly we got a call that our bikes have arrived to Jabalpur and we can collect that.
Duandhar is an awesome waterfall. It’s an amazing view. There is a ropeway facility also to watch the falls from top and to enjoy its beauty. Also a holy place for man, I could see lot of people performing pooja/offering prayers there.
Me, Manjunath & Venkatesh enjoyed swimming in the river and taking some good snaps around that place. The place also has a big market area. The rocks found in this area are generally marble rocks and hence more of marble items are sold in these markets.
From Duandhar we went to Bedaghat just few kilometers away. Bedaghat is the most popular tourist destination around Jabalpur. The place is known for boating in between erected marble rocks. The most popular boating time is, night boating on a full moon day. Marble rocks in Bedaghat are in various colors like white, pink, blue etc. It’s a very rich experience and unforgettable experience. What made the boat riding more interesting is the commentary given by the boatman about the place. That cannot be expressed in words here; one should only experience that to fully enjoy it.
After the mind boggling boat riding, I got call from Mr. Vishal that we had to go back to Jabalpur to get our bikes from railway station. Me, Venkatesh and Vishal left to Jabalpur and rest of the people to Anhoni via piparia.
We collected our bikes in damaged conditions. My bike visor was broken, stickers scratched, dent of petrol tank. Manjunath’s bike’s mirror was missing and some small scratches. Dr. Satish’s bike’s meter glass was broken. The delivery officer completely denied taking any responsibility for the damage saying that the vehicle is unpacked and they cannot take any responsibility for that.
It was only Me & Venkatesh together all the way till Piparia from Jabalpur. We took our time to reach Piparia where we joined Vishal who already was ahead of us. I was rather disappointed that we had to take night journey to Anhoni and I missed enjoying the scenery around that place. On reaching Anhoni the team had already settled and dinner was ready.
Anhoni is famous for natural hot water springs. As soon we reached Anhoni, I went to these hot water springs, took a very nice bath to get rid of all the body aches from the journey. On this day we had travelled almost 250 kilometers.
Day 3 (Anhoni, Pachmarhi):
Anhoni is a place known for natural hot water springs. But here they have built concrete boundaries to these hot water springs. There are no water streams or anything like lake here. We saw hot water coming even in the bore wells. Anhoni is a very small village with countable houses cum hotels for visitors. The place is very remote & very quiet. There is also a temple in front of which we saw few sadhu’s preparing hukka.
Having got our bikes, we got those checked from the mechanic who was with us to address any repair requirements. I was happy that I do not have to be a pillion rider anymore.
From there we started to go towards Pachmarhi the most beautiful hill station area in Madhya Pradesh. The place was also known as Pachmarhi cantonment. It is popularly known as "Satpura ki Rani" (Queen of Satpura), situated in Hoshangabad district. The magnificence of nature in this area is well defined by rocky mountains, canyons, spectacular water falls, caves, dense forests, breath taking valleys, ancient temples..etc.
From Anhoni we reached Matkuli from where Pachmarhi is approximately around 40 Kms. Atleast 1 hour is need to reach Pachmarhi passing thru the ghat section.
We covered Bee falls, Reach Garh & Doop Garh (Highest Point) on this day.
After getting the tickets done at the forest office we first went to Bee falls, a spectacular place to trek down and take a nice bath in the falls. After playing in the waters for a while we finished our lunch at this place and then climbed back to go Reach gharh. Reach garh is a spot where two mountains come so close that it looks they are joined together. It’s a cave like place and enthrals the visitors.
From there we moved to Doopgarh the highest peak in that area. We saw the nature at its best on the way. Majestic hills looking like cup & saucers and in many other forms, valleys, everything we saw on the way enthralled us. The very steep & blind curved roads are fearsome. Doopgarh is known for watching the sunset.
From Pachmarhi we returned back to Saathdhara a place on the way from Pachmarhi to Chindwada/Nagpur road. It was a dark night and we managed to reach the place by around 9.30 PM.
After the dinner people had campfire, singning, jokes and other events as usual.
Manjunath from our group was very good in all these and he became the highlight of the campfire every day.
Day 4 (Saathdhara, Pachmarhi):
As the sun broke out we had a glimpse of the beautiful Saathdahara. Saathdhara is a place where Denva River forms 7 small falls. The waters are very good to swim and enjoy, but near the falls though the water was less but the flow was very intense and was dangerous. The rocks were highly slippery and many fell and had small injuries. We stayed at this place for two nights and we enjoyed both the mornings with lots of fun.
After breakfast we again started towards Pachmarhi. One need min. 3 days to go around Pachmarhi. On the way we first stopped at a place called Phansi Khad. That was a fearsome & breathe taking place. It seems that whoever got the death sentence those days were brought to this place and pushed down from here. People should be little brave hearted to go till the edge of the cliff.
On reaching Pachmarhi we went to Jatashankar, a beautiful rocky landscape just one kilometre away from Pachmarhi bus stand. We have to walk down the stairs to reach the temple in a cave. As we got down this narrow place we found ourselves covered with huge rocky hills on all the sides and that view was marvellous, brings a sort of peace to mind and make you stay calm and peaceful.
From Jatashankar we moved to Bada Mahadev caves where God shiva is installed in a cave. The road was not that good, lots of hairpin curves & little tough to navigate in Bikes. But it’s a very enjoyable journey. Very nearby to Bada Mahadev caves there is the Gupt Mahadev. It’s a cave wherein only one person can enter inside and after reaching atleast 30 feets a small area for atleast 5 people to stand will come at which one shiva linga is seen. Legend tells that lord shiva hid himself here to hide from the Rakshas Bhasmasur.
From here Chauragad is 3 kms walkable distance. We could not go their because of the time constrains. Chauragad is a famous religious / holy spot where shiva temple is there on a hill. Lot of thrishuls could be found at this place offered by the devotees.
After our lunch at Bada Mahadev we went to Apsara falls, a 2 Kms walkdown in between the jungle. Apsara falls is a nice place to relax and to do good swimming. As we were already late we missed the swimming. Just a few minutes from here is the Panchali Kund. If we walk half kilometre from Apsara falls we would reach Rajath Prapath (Silver falls). Here the water falls from 350ft above as a small silver lining. The falls is formed in between the splendid valleys of Satpura range in Pachmarhi and a superb treat to our eyes.
On the way we watched the pandav gupha and again like yesterday took the night ride to Saathdara to reach our camps.
Day 5 (Saathdhara, Tamia):
Tamia is around 40 Kms from Saathdhara on the way to Chidawada. We trekked to chota mahadev in tamia. After wlaking thru a trechareous route for almost an hour we reached chota mahadev where a small stream forms a waterfall. It is a nice place to take bath and rest in nature. We had our lunch here and then started to climb up and up to reach the sunset point. We got a chance to observe the best sunset during our trip and took the best possible pics of sunset here.
Patalkot is a remote place around 25 Kms from Tamia. The place is like a big crater formed on the land and many small canyons formed within that crater. From the top it’s a very beautiful view point. There are some villages within this area and I am surprised to see people living in that deep craters. There major earning for living comes from agri culture activities.
After packing our lunch boxes we started to get down thru that place between a canyon to reach Raja Koh. This is the place where one of the kings took shelter to hide himself from Britishers.
The place is covered by very dense forest. There is a stream where we played in water for some time. I had a very nice siesta after lunch. That was very relaxing and refreshing.
We took a separate route to trek back to our camps. That evening also I got some very nice sunset pics.
By now we had covered almost 700 kms on bike. Now we had to return to Jablapur (250 Kms)to catch our trains next day. I and Venkatesh decided that we shall bike back to Bangalore instead of going back to Jabalpur. Dr Satish and his wife also showed interest to join us. Manjunath was reluctant to join us and he decided that he would go back to Jabalpur and return by train.
We packed all our luggage, tied it firmly to our bikes and started at around 8 AM towards Bangalore. At Chindawada Me & Dr Satish cancelled our train reservations. Via Nagpur on NH7 we reached Adilabad and halted at the place. On Day two driving via Hyderabad we travelled upto Kurnool. And on Day 3 by evening 5 PM we reached my house in Bangalore. It was raining heavily as we reached near Bangalore. We were fully wet by the time we reached the home.
After some snacks and hot hot coffee Dr. Satish, his wife continued their journey to Mysore. And Venkatesh to his place.
Overall it was a very rich experience on this bike trip and I got very good new friends.
