Bike Ride from Sunder Nagar to Una, Himachal Pradesh

Hi,

I love to travel but not on buses as they make me feel somewhat confined within their roof and the crowd in them. The buses have their own timings, fixed stoppages, and the fixed routes. I can not possibly avoid the buses for each and every travel, but this time it was possible. I have a 100 cc motorcycle, better known as the TVS Sports star, that I bought back in June 2010.

I have had quite a number of short, two to three-hour rides on it. Let me list them here, just to refresh my own memories - Sunder to Shimla(2 times), Sunder Nagar to Hamirpur ( 2 times), Joginder to Palampur, Sunder Nagar to Manali (2 times).

 This time, the GATE 2014 (Graduate Aptitude Test of Engineering) became the reason for this bike rider. 

I had to reach Una on my little motorcycle. I have had seen Una quite a few times, but only from inside the bus while on my way to places such as Chandigarh or Delhi.  I didn't know the road very well. Who gives a damn about the routes and roads while traveling on the buses!? No one does! It is, almost, always on the bus that the eyes either keep shut, trying to get some sleep, or get fixed onto a far sight of a beautiful mountain, river, or jungle. I don't have a car, hence it was my first driving ('riding' is the word) experience on this road. 

Kandraur bridge, highest of its kind in Asia.

The examination center, where my GATE was to happen, was at KC Group of Institutes, the name I heard for the first time. It was as indicated in my admit card issued about one and a half months before the scheduled date. The date was 2nd Feb 2014. I am putting here the name and address of the college, just for my future references. 

KC Group of Institutions

Una-Hoshiarpur Road

Near Excise Barrier, VPO - Pandoga

Una

Himachal Pradesh - 177207

I searched for the given address on Google map and got a route map. The Google map is a beautiful utility for new riders like me. All you have to do is to put the names of the start and end destinations. 

The route was new, I was not familiar with the places on the route, yet a sight on the map filled me up with confidence. If Google knows the root, definitely it will not be that much difficult.  I waited for the examination day and kept my preparation running on daily basis. 

The Ride Day 

I had a nervous mind state as described my earlier post on my other blog which you can still read here but, I was excited to reach this new place. 

Around 1:00 PM I picked up my motorcycle and fueled it, full throttled. I estimated that ride was going to be around 4 km, so I packed myself with all the winter cloths around me and most important gloves around my hands.

Kandraur bridge- Highest of its kind in Asia

Once I am on it, I don't like to stop until I reach my final destination. Ghaghas was the end of my route along NH-21, from there I entered towards Ghumarvi. After clicking Kandraur Bridge, I stopped at a hill side restaurant for my lunch and asked one Sardar Ji for the further way.

He advised me, not to go to Jahu or Bhota, "Take the way through 'Shah-talai', this is the shortest route to reach Una. My home is at the place where you are going so, trust me.".

So, after fueling up my body, I went along the suggested path. If I remember it right, the road diverged from Ghumarvin, one to Jahu-Bhota and another which I took towards Shah-talai. 

The road was not wide enough, single-lane roads always have little risks attached to them if the traffic is high.

Traffic was not high so I was not delayed and I reached Una at 5:00 PM. The only spot where I put my heels down was "Govind Sagar view point", a widened outside edge of the hill road which, has a beautiful view of Govind Sagar lake stretched in front.

Govind Sagar lake as seen from Govind Sagar view point.

I clicked few photo-graphs after 5 minutes, I was again on the road. When I was on the roads at the Una-market I saw the banners of a hotel.

A single room was offered for INR 800, which sounded a little high to me. I asked him about the facilities in the room which, was replied with another question, "what do you want?". I realized what he meant which was totally un-expected for me. 

I asked my question in a different question, "Do you have TV and internet facilities in the room?".  Internet was not there and neither I needed it that much but, the question was asked only to clear up his mind. I put my bag in the room no. 303 and got out to take an evening view of the Una. I went along the road towards the Shah-talai. I reached at the rail crossing and turned back.

Then I turned my feet back, I relaxed against the parapet wall along the road for a while,  I signed into the Facebook and joyously thanked Amit Khurana(My batch mate from NIT Hamripur), and Ashish Sharma(My student from SIRDA), for wishing me good luck for my examination.

Evening view of Una - Feb 1, 2014

Next morning was foggy and ride on the motor-cycle to my final destination "Pandoga village" was a little uncomfortable. Hotel manager gave me the directions to reach the center of examination, "Take a right turn from Laal(Read) Batti Chowk, then carry on for 3 km along the road, then take a left turn along the Hoshiarpur road and after riding about 7 to 8 km you will reach KC institute.". 

On the way I got company of an uncle who was going to the same place so, I reached the spot about 45 minutes earlier i.e. 8:15 AM.

There were arrangements for the parking and a sitting arrangement was displayed at a distance of 8 m from the entrance GATE. One person(most probably a faculty member of the institute) was standing in front of the display to help the aspirants to find their venue. 

The Test - GATE 2014 Civil Engineering

Test started at sharp 9:00 AM, everything was online, I carried a non-programmable calculator with me. Three hours flew just like that in no time. I attempted to answer the questions of about 60 marks. The wait for the result of the exam started the very moment I left that computer screen, it would be a month, or two, long.

Ride Back to Sunder Nagar

On the way back, again, I took the same route. I enjoyed the road and scenery with a light heart and mind, as there was no hurry and tension of the exam. It was a bit tiresome, definitely, because I already had a three-hour-long exam biting on my head. 

Well, it took me four hours before I reached back at Sunder Nagar.
This definitely would be one of the memorable rides for me, in my upcoming years. I wrote this post just to remind myself of these days in my future.
Thanks!

Update - I updated the font and correct the grammar of this post on 02nd Oct 2021. Yes, it was definitely a memorable ride for me. More so, as I got more than the qualifying marks in GATE 2014, and pursued my higher education thereafter. As of today, I have my own Civil Engineering Website, where I post useful stuff for the students preparing for GATE Civil Engineering. This year, it is GATE 2022, and you surely should check my online quiz series, just in case if you are preparing for this examination. Click the link: Civil Engineering GATE preparations.