avoiding the usual alibag revdanda route to murud, looked up the maps and opted for the slightly longer mumbai-indapur(NH17) and then right on the state highway for another 40 to agardanda, which is 10kms south of murud. of course it isnt the picturesque winding road through the coconut and betelnut farms of revdanda. but holds its own for the rural feel and very sparse traffic. the road meanders along the river here and there and then crosses the murud creek at bhalegaon and leads to agardanda parallel to the backwaters.
work at site done, started the journey back the same route. but 5 kms on took a u-turn and decided to try another. the murud-roha road. and what a discovery that was.. the monsoons adding to the romance.
its a narrow well paved road passing thru lush green forests going up and down a couple of hills and with a heady smell and sounds of the jungle. it was hard to keep the helmet on, which smelt of soot and died out the sound. stopped for a while to soak it all in, half expecting to see some wild-life grace me with an appearance. passed a few dirt tracks shooting into the woods and then decided to try the next one out to the right. two stips of terracotta seperated by a strip of flouroscent green snaking its way into a lush green canvas. the recent bike breakdowns weighed heavily on the mind as i ventured deeper inside but didnt have the heart to turn my back on this pristine beauty. it led to a small clearing and a trekking path ahead. a woman with a few kids was washing clothes by the pond. lazed for a while and then headed back, shooting a video of the ride, handling the bike with one hand.
back on the road, feeling heady with the off-roading experience, uphill at the first tight turn, i screamed, "oh shit!!!" ... then BANG!!!... an indica had sneaked right infront of me coming out of the turn, downhill. i am not sure if i was in his lane or he in mine, but its a situation every biker dreads.
its a tiny fraction of time. u see the car, u realise you are going to hit it, u hit it and u wait for the result. all depends on a combination of your talent at causing minimum damage to yourself and your bike, your luck and his determination to kill you. was talented enough to get the front end of the bike out of his way and bang the sidecar to his bumper, stupid enough to bang my head to the helmet on the tank (yeah, wasnt wearing it) and lucky to escape with a cut lip and nothing else. it bled like a river but i was busy checking if the forks were alright.
thankfully all was well. no damage at all to the bike except the bent crashbar telling the tale. in time the lip stopped bleeding too and the mind off the accident.
what i missed at the time was that to my left was the phansad bird sanctuary and i cud ve taken a track to the left into it. its now on my "next to do list" and wish to explore this region a lil more.
this beautiful road ended as it went down to roha and hit the NH17 at nagothane.
No comments:
Post a Comment