Plant tree ride- Day 2

Day 2

Day 2 has always been my toughest day physically and mentally. When I woke up the second day morning, my body ache, legs hurt, bums hurt, hands hurt and I think to myself why am I doing this! Every second morning I do this, a part of myself tells me to quit, to stop this nonsense and go home. The other part then makes a deal, ‘lets go a bit further and see what happens. If it hurts too much, we will go home.’ 

That day I woke up around 4:30 and while lying on the bed I was making this deal inside my head. Then finally left home around 5:30. Everyone was sleeping so I sneaked out and started my journey. Today’s goal was to reach bankura. After leaving midnapore town, I was looking for chai stall, at that time, not many shops were open. When i look for a chai stall i have a few requirements, except that it should make chai, it had to have a wall or pillar or something where i can support my cycle as it does not have a stand and also the shop should be less crowded as i dont want to bring much attention.

So after having tea in a suitable stall I finally started the ride. The road was good. But temperature was high. But overall it was a enjoyable ride. Then when I first entered the sal forest I cheered up. I don’t know for some reason i love sal forest too much. The green leaves, brown straight and tall tree trunk, red earth gives me euphoria.

But today’s jungles are not very big, only a few kilometres stretch at a time, then agricultural fields, small localities, again agricultural fields, then jungle again. This pattern repeated itself from midnapore to chandrakona road. Along this stretch I also passed the Indian mint, salboni. After chandrakona road the forest has vanished totally and temperature was really rising. I was also having a bit problem in my right knee. It was not paining but sending me message that ‘dont push me too much or i will break down’. So i had to be careful as i have 4 more days of ride. 

At around 30 km before Bishnupur town, the temperature was really high. I was tired. And the right knee was really giving me trouble. My mobile stopped working due to overheating. So i had to rethink the route. I made two major changes in the plan. Firstly i will finish todays ride at Bishnupur. Second one is that i will not go to ajodhya hilltop. Instead i will go to mukutmanipur directly from Bishnupur. I couldn’t take risk with my knee on those high climbs. So i called one of my friend who stays at Bishnupur and told him about the plan. He said he will come in the evening. Then i got up and finished my last leg of the journey and reached the hotel where i have planned to stay. Though it was not as smooth as it sounds. I had to stop every few kilometres because of intense heat. I reached the hotel at around 12 just as i had planned. 

In the evening the weather of Bishnupur town was very good. And we celebrated with biriyani.