Day 8: 29 Under 30. Shillong Agartala (Dream) Reality Shillong Dharamnagar

Day 8:

Shillong-Agartala

Kms Planned: 430 kms

As it was the 8th day and the route from Kolkata to Siliguri had taken major toll on my butt, I was kinda late in getting up. I then finally got up by 8 planning to leave by 8:30. I finally started by 8:45 hoping to reach Agartala by about 6:00pm. I knew that in NE the sky would go dark by 4:30-5:00 pm.

With Phang Su a security personnel of the hotel 

I started from Shillong and as soon I reached outskirts of Shillong, it started drizzling. I rode on and soon reached the highway connecting Guwahati to Agartala. Roads in Meghalaya were butter smooth and so were roads for another 15 odd kms outside Meghalaya in Assam. I was so happy to see such wide and smooth roads.

A beautiful view of Meghalaya

Meghalaya- The abode of Clouds. Indeed!!

But my joy was short lived. As soon I crossed Kalain, reality hit me hard- Very very hard. I found myself on moon.  I started feeling  how beautiful roads in Bihar were.The roads were so bad that I found myself riding at maximum speeds of 15 kph. I could not change the gears higher than 3rd.

Can you call that a National Highway?

Take a prize if you spot any Tar.

Slush slush Baby

  

This was one of the few things that made me smile on such a pathetic road.

Tea Plantations of Assam 

Seeing the state of roads I quit my plans of lunch and kept riding. I just took a tea break and to my dismay even by 5:00 pm I was still riding in South Assam in rain & muck. I reached Churaibari (Assam-Tripura Border) by 5:30 pm and it was pitch dark.

Somewhere in South Assam braving the non existent roads

I had another 177 kms of un know terrain in the dark. I spoke to a couple of people in Agartala and they suggested me not to ride in the dark as the roads were not very great as well too much of trucks during night.

A Versys rider friend Praveen KM from Bangalore had given me a contact of one police department personnel in Agartala Mr. S K Das. I spoke to him and he advised me to ride to Dharamnagar and speak to the SHO there, I rode to Dharamnagar police station & met the SHO there. He was Mr. Jayanta Karmakar. He was such a helpful person. He called up a hotel nearby and arranged a room for me. I thanked him and went to the hotel. The hotel was an awesome place near to the Dharamnagar lake. I had my dinner and went to bed.

This is how my shoes & Knee guards looked like as I reached Dharamnagar

I called up Anijit from Agartala before going to bed asking him how bad my day tomorrow could be. He assured me that the worst was over.

Laying in my bed I was wondering how badly the North East of India & its citizens has been treated by the successive Governments of India.

Done for the day.

Videos of Day 8: 

Part 1 : https://youtu.be/j8lzaf_bUuI

Part 2: https://youtu.be/6OPWLWRCk0s

Route taken : Shillong, Jowai. Umkiang, Badarpur, Churaibari, Dharamnagar.

Road conditions: Shillong to almost near Umkiang  Roads were Great. Umkiang to Kalain the roads were moderately bad  with slush in between. Roads were almost non-existent in Lower Assam from Kalain till Tripura border.

What caused the delay: Hahaha... Watch the video.

Kms Done: 291 kms

Destination tomorrow: Dharamnagar-Agartala.