Day 15: Udaipur to Katoda
I had viral thoughts swirling through my head as I left Udaipur.
The plan was to get my head down and cover as much distance as possible. 5 km later I was held up by a 3 km long traffic jam. So much for my plans!
Thanks to the jam, I couldn’t stop for bread and butter and rode quite far out looking for food. Eventually I had to stop at a shady looking tea shop at a petrol pump. Shockingly, the bread pakoris I ate there were really good. Much better than what the fine establishment promised.
The afternoons in Rajasthan were killer. The heat was enough to roast me in quick time. All that I could do was take cover. I would stop for a 2-hour long lunch break at a dhaba during the worst of the noons.
Even though I was riding on arterial highways, the surroundings still felt like a backward region. It was as if I was riding through in the 90s. Chittorgarh being a bigger town, I expected to find a CCD or McDonalds there. Or something similar. Not because I am a fan of the food, but in the hope of finding a clean toilet.
There was nothing. Not even a dilapidated dhaba. The only sign of modernity around Chittorgarh was a handful of women riding scooters. A rare sight otherwise in Rajasthan.
The sun and me ready to set
Touring had stopped and endurance riding had started and I rode my longest ride till that date. It was a whopping 189 km long ride. Aided by a tail wind and a long descent from Udaipur.
For the night I found a ‘resort’ behind a dhaba. At least it was called a resort. It was basically a room behind a dhaba. Tirupati Resort might have been a bit of an oversell.
Beggars can’t be choosers, because it was the last bit of decent accommodation for quite a distance. And I was lucky to find a place to stay the night.
At the dhaba there I got the news that the Prime Minister had ordered a countrywide lockdown on the upcoming Sunday.
Immediately plans started forming in my head of how to deal with this impending disaster.