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Kaddukhal seemed ideal location since it was on a ridge, and additionally the place was peaceful and away from settlement. We were more than delighted when we stepped out of the bus. We were overlooking into a beautiful valley. On our right side, we could see the way leading up to the Surkanda Devi temple. We bowed out of respect and started moving towards the left side of the road into the jungle. We had checked out with the local refreshment shopkeeper that there was a nice view from a certain point 2 km inside jungle. The place was ideal for tents and mostly foreigners visited the place for hiking and tents. We felt that we hit the right spot on the planet earth since that precisely was the call of the day. There was one serious problem. As per shopkeeper, there were certain instances of bear sightings in the jungle but the frequency was very less.
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It had been quite some time since I rode long distance on BB.  being out of action due to a bike crash, has a damping effect on a rider’s life. 

The effects of the nearing D-day were numerous… swinging between excitement and some feeling of fear as well… the knee was still on its way to being mended and I cannot strain it beyond a certain point as I start feeling the effects of the ligament rupture… Pain and then a very visible Limp when I start walking.  But a man’s gotta ride when he has the urge to ride… You cannot keep a biker down for longer than necessary and that dictates my life as well :-)

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I went to the Italian island of Sardinia for a four day break with 6 friends of mine a couple of months ago. We didn’t do much there but to chill on the beach, but since we had an awesome time its worth sharing anyway.

Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily. It is quite far away from Italian mainland but just a few miles south of the french island of Corsica. Sardinia is not as crowded as Sicily, and not as developed as a tourist destination as other Italian destinations. The capital is Cagliari which is to the south of the island.

We went to a place called Santa Teresa which is on the northern tip of Sardinia. The plan was to stay in a sea-facing apartment owned by parents of one of the group members. We flew to Olbia, which is a port in the north-east and serves as entry point to the posh resorts off the north-east coast, the likes of Porto Cervo on the Costa Smeralda (the Emerald coast), where the rich and famous of the world descend in their yatchs in the summer. We obviously had no plans whatsoever of celebrity-spotting, not even footballers and pop divas, so we headed straight to our less posh but much nicer destination a bit further north.

The apartment was wonderful with great views across the mediterranean (we could see the island of Corsica sitting in the balcony!) and the local harbour. We actually ended up spending quite a bit of time in the balcony enjoying long meals.

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I was at Benares and we were mulling over whether to do a trip to Sarnath or not. I was not feeling too well, long driving and June summer was getting the better of me. I didn’t want to stretch too much, since I was to drive to Darbhanga the very next morning. The shorter route from Varanasi to Darbhanga via Chhapra has been ruled out by multiple people. Almost every one whom we called asked the same thing, “Dont make it dark”, start early, dont drive in evening and so on. Finally, we had decided to go via Patna. That meant some extra driving. I have been to Patna many times and I was familiar with the road from Patna to Darbhanga but Patna was still 4-5 odd hours away from Banares. So mulling continued for few more split seconds before we decided to move on and do a quick trip. It would have been a shame to go till Banaras and not visit Sarnath.

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