Tour de Brijghat
One fine night I and my friend decided to go on a road trip. The trip was desperately needed
as we were quite exhausted by our desk job. So, the biggest question was where
we can go and we have to keep in mind that we got only single day i.e. Sunday.
After some discussion and lots of thinking, we decided to head towards Holy
Ganges. But, the question was, were we
capable to go to Haridwar and return on the same
day? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
So, we came to know about one famous place
“GARH MUKHTESHWAR”. It is famous for one certain thing (I guess) that is nearest
point where NCR people can see the Ganges.
So, Buckle up. Here we go:
My alarm rang at 5:00 A.M. on a hot summer day of 19th April.
Immediately I went to freshen up then I woke Sujit (my friend) up. Trust me, it
was not an easy task to wake him up. He is a big lazy ass. But never the less,
we were all set to roll by 6:30 A.M.
On my Bajaj Pulsar-150, we begin our journey
from Noida City Centre Metro Station. My plan was to take the Route:
Noida City Center Metro Station à N.H.24 à Hapur Bypass à Babugarh à Brijghat
The question that was daunting my mind was how
the traffic is going to be on N.H.24. But, due to our early start I was a bit
optimistic that traffic would be less. We enter N.H.24 from ABSIT road. Traffic
was pretty smooth. I was driving around an average of 70-80 KMPH, which is a
decent speed for a biker (especially if you have a 150CC bike). Road was not
that smooth to be honest. Lots of bumps too & not to forget our great
people of Republic of Uttar Pradesh with their “I Don’t Give a Damn Attitude”
(Just Kidding).
Around 30-40 minutes of drive, we hit the Hapur
bypass. To be very honest I was expecting same kind of road which we got till
the bypass. But, the quality of road after Hapur bypass amazed me big time.
Road was dead smooth. It was complimenting its tag of a National Highway. So,
as we bikers always do, I increased the speed a bit to 85 KMPH.
After travelling for around 20-25 KMs more, we
decided to have breakfast at famous Shiv Dhaba. There is a plethora of Dhabas with
the same name. You will surely get confused which is “THE ORIGINAL” one. We
decided to not confuse ourselves as both of ours stomach was shouting for food.
We had a couple of mix parathas with
pindi choley and tea to start off with. Pretty much economical it was I must
say.
Having our stomachs stuffed with tasty stuff we headed towards our destination. Our
GPS shows that it is less than 30KMs from there. We were still on the Bypass
road and the condition was good too. After 20 minute or so we came across a
toll booth. The booth was a congested one and it took us some driving skills to
cross that.
A couple of KMs from the Toll Booth we saw
“GARH MUKHTESHWAR” written on one board. We got a bit confused as the road
going towards the direction pointed by the milestone was not looking in good
shape. To clear our confusion we asked some local guys who were present there.
They asked “AAPKO GARH JANA HAI YA
BRIJGHAT, YE RASTA GARH KO JATA HAI AUR HIGHWAY ME 6KM KE BAAD HAI BRIJGHAT”
(you have to travel on the same road 6KM
to reach Brijghat). We followed their order and kept going on the same highway.
The one big point you have to note is there is
no board or milestone pointing towards Brijghat. We saw one Police post stating
“BRIJGHAT CHOWKI”. So, we took the
gamble to turn right from the highway, and that decision was spot on. We didn’t
take the correct turn and over ran the
cut going towards Ghat. Again, locals came to our rescue and guided to the
correct turn going towards ghat. Actually it is the second left on the road
from which connects the National Highway.
Few turns and passing by cramped roads, we were
finally there. “THE BRIJGHAT”.
“Disappointed” was the word echoing in my mind
at that time. But never the less we started roaming around the ghat. People of
all age and gender were enjoying the dip in the holy Ganges. At one point we
were also determined to give a shot but then our love towards gadgets forced us
to not take a dip. The reason behind it was, you have to either submit your
belongings to the BABAs sitting there or someone from your group has to stay
behind to see after your belongings. We were not in the mood to trust any BABA
and taking dip alone has no fun in it.
There were boats too and the hawker were
constantly asking us to come for a ride. Trust me, Temperature around 35
degrees and Sun at its full swing, you cannot even think about the boat ride.
So, we gave a pass to that too.
For people who want
to take a holy dip or go for a boat ride,
please make sure to reach that place around 7 o clock in the morning. It will
be the best time for both activities.
We read in some travel sites and also on
Wikipedia that April-May is the best months when you can have sight of “GANGETIC DOLPHINS”. But, we are neither that lucky nor that patience to keep
staring the river to have a sight of
dolphins.
After spending 20-30 minutes on banks of the holy Ganges, we decided to head
back towards Noida. We took the same route and had a break at “THE ORIGINAL SHIV DHABA” (we are still
not sure about it). N.H. 24 was jam packed that day because of some rally of
Congress party. Few traffic jams and awesome anger management lesson later, we
finally hit Noida city center metro station.
My bike meter read 191.7KM. It was a good trip
with the disappointed destinationL.
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