Adventure In Arunachal!

We ride the Mahindra Mojo in the difficult terrain of Arunachal Pradesh!

- Shankar Murarka

IT was pitch dark and we felt the cool breeze and temperatures plummet as we climbed towards Bom-dila. The roads were slushy and it was getting difficult to ride in the dark. We were not habituated to ride on such roads at night, from the 20 bikes; all of a sudden we were only 3. The rest had halted. I was leading the team and at that moment another rider’s headlight stopped working, we decreased our speed and continued. Suddenly just before a turn I lost control over the motorcycle and it skidded around 25 meters before I regained control. The same thing happened with the other two riders behind me. We were frightened and rode more cautiously, but after this our hearts were beating faster. Let me rewind and start the story from Day 1!

DAY 1 GUWAHATI TO BOMDILA VIA BHALUPONG [320 KM INCLUDING HILLS OF 80 KM]

There was a flag off ceremony at the start in Guwahati. The riders also filled up indemnity bonds. We got our motorcycles there, filled up the tank. The motorcycle was a muscular hunk in comparison to the massive looks the company gave it. After the flag off, we started for Bomdila and as it was a smooth highway, we stopped just 50 km before Bhalupong for lunch. There we refuelled our bikes and started the journey ahead towards Bhalupong. Just before Bhalupong, the place was beautiful and the weather superb. We stopped for security check and again started for Bomdila. It was dark around 5:00 p.m. and the roads beyond the check post were treacherous, full of slush and rocks. We reached Bomdila at 9 p.m. and called it a day.

DAY 2 BOMDILA TO TAWANG [185 km, roads were not good]