RajatGhosh Editorial Photographer: A short ride to Digha.

Monday, November 21, 2022

A short ride to Digha.

I am ready to Start out for Digha at 0620 hours but let me tell you,

I had woken up at 0520 hours and was sure I could leave by 0545, after all how long would I need to get ready and I was probably ready by 0545( or so I thought) but then I started putting on my clothes for the ride, and well there is trouser 2 layers, (yes its winter and temperature is 14degrres C, then there’s 2 layer of t-shirt and shirt and then riding jacket, my fanny pack and then another cut jacket, just when I thought I was ready, I realized, I need my shin and knee guards too, once done and riding boots on, I could well understand why kings needed there queens and maids to dress them up, so many layers of protection does make one stand stiff and unwieldy , I have a good mind to actually weight myself next time I am dressed up for a ride.

Now once down in the garage I was spoilt for choice, do I take the lighter bike (160 kg) or a heavy bike (220 kg) heavy bikes are better at doing high speed and on good roads they munch km’s a lot better, lighter bikes give a rider more control in tricky situations and to off road, One does not need to slow down at bad portions of the roads, float over speed breakers more easily and so on, the lighter bike has larger wheels facilitating these activities, thus making off-roading easier, as I was mulling on this, a friend sukhbir Singh Raja called to check on my ride status, a co-rider on many a ride, and he was of the opinion lighter bike was more apt for this particular ride, in case I feel like riding on the beach, making my decision making easier.

It was 0620 before I was on my way; GPS on, and KOGO bot on (am using Kogo bot to track my path of the ride, it also lets one keep track of the path and lets you inform your loved one’s the path the bike is taking) My mom always a trooper came down to see me off.

GPS had informed me it would take me 6 hours to Digha distance of 240 km approx., I was conversant with 110 km of the road and I knew it could be done in 2 hours so the last 130 km would need 4 hours and it made me think, it must be state highway’s passing through villages or bad roads to slow me to this speed.

Yes Jamshedpur to Sardia was 4 lane highway for most part, and excellent roads, n then from Sardia it was state highway, I would not recommend this road as for the next 30 km, there were quiet a few near misses, people on this road are very careless, and don’t pay attention how they are driving riding, often coming to the wrong side of the road while chatting on there phone and similar incident, I had to often honk just to catch there attention, n this in spite of riding with my lights on, well it was slow progress for 50 odd km and then I was beginning to pick up speed, I had fuelled up in Bahraghora so I was sure I would possibly not need to fuel up till I return back to Jharkhand ( fuel price is often cheaper in Jharkhand , compared to Orissa / west Bengal)

As I rode by 0900 hours stomach was rumbling and I was looking for a place to get off the State highway n have my lunch in peace, I was carrying Aloo Paratha and I spied a school building that was shut and decided to make it my breakfast pad, the place was Chandal bandh, Paschim Mednipur Ditrict.

there were a few chickens who took a fancy to my breakfast andI was happy to share my Aloo paratha with them,

The roads were good, the day was cool, and I was enjoying my ride occasional bad patches of road were not a problem as Radha

(My bike) was negotiating the bumps and bad patches with aplomb,

And then at a place called kankamathani, I was informed I could make my trip a little shorter if I undertook a river crossing, the bike could be put on a boat and I would save a good 20 km this way. My curiosity was raised and I decided to go this route, needless to say this would need me to ride on the sand for 3 km, and finally I was on a small boat, there was another bike so I was sure this was a safe path (hopefully) and we did the river crossing, the opposite bank was quiet steep and looked scary but once on the bike I was able to negotiate it ok( there was no going back now)

The way it works, there are 2 boats and as they both get loaded they exchange places across the rives Subernarekha ( this very river flows past my house in jamshedpur, Jharkhand where I had started the journey from today and here I was crossing the river approx. 160 km from home.

Approx 50 km before Digha I came across a small field of Kaash flowers ( this is actually a kind of Grass and blooms during October- Nov period) Another 45 minutes and I was in Digha.

Ready to spend the next 3 days camera in hand.