This is one of the best trips of my life. That all started when I was in 3rd year of my college. Me and my friend Raman always talked about and made plans of bike trips but could not made that success until that day. I remember it was around 12.30pm and I was in LIC-lab, Raman & Dagar came to my lab and asked me to come out of the lab. Outside the lab they told me that a plan was ready. We would be going to Shyam Baba that evening itself. After realizing that its indeed a practical plan, I bunked my classes and started finalizing the trip with them. Maan, Mohit and Ganga also joined us for the trip. We had only two bikes that time. I decided to brought my bike from home. That was the toughest part for me. I had to convenience my parents to let us go. They even offered me the car but I refused as we were more interested in a bike trip then anything else. My elder brother told me the route to Shyam-Baba. It was NH-8 till Shahpura, then Ajeetgarh, Ringus and then Khatu.
So, finally we left the hostel at about 12am in mid-night. We reset bikes’ trip-meter at the start of the journey.
7-March 2009, Saturday:
We filled up our tanks at Mahipalpur. Petrol was around 44Rs/liter in Delhi that time. We decided to make our first stop after crossing 100kms mark.
At 2.30am we reached Behror and had some tea and snacks at a road-side dhaba there. It was pretty cold on the highway. The journey was smooth till that point except the traffic jam at Manesar. We were enjoying every moment of the trip.
Since it was Holi time, there was a lot of rush of Shyam Baba devotees. We spotted some devotees on bike from the NH-8 at Shahpura. We followed them for a few kms. The road-sides from Ringus (last 10-15 kms) were completely occupied by temporary shelters which also had the facilities of food and water. People left their chapels there to cover the distance bare-footed.
Some groups of people were carrying mobile DJs in tractor-trolleys and tempos and were playing bhajans. The whole atmosphere was amazing and worth the visit.
After Shyam-Baba darshan and Prasad, we left the place at 3.30pm and started the journey again towards Jeen Mata mandir. Its only around 15-20kms or 30mins drive from Khatu shyam. The place is surrounded by Rocky Mountains which adds to the scenic beauty of the place.
Our last scheduled stop was Salasar Balaji. Since it was further 50-55kms away from Jeen Mata Mandir, some of the friends didn’t want to continue the journey and wanted to make a U-turn towards home. But lastly it was decided that we’ll continue with the journey and spend the night at some dharamshala in Salasar. Also there was a war of words between Raman and Dagar enroute Salasar.
8-March 2009, Sunday:
After having a sound sleep and much needed rest at Ambohar-Dharamshala in Salasar, we paid our homage at the Balaji’s temple in the morning. After playing holi, we left for home at 10am and reached our NSIT-Dwarka hostel 6pm in the evening.
The route followed while returning was Khatu, Ringus, Neem Ka Thana and Kotputli NH-8.
Total trip distance 750kms,
Per head expenses 2800INR
