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2003-06-11 - Mandi - Katrain (Day 57)

My goals have become somewhat simpler for the rides - I have completely given up on a "perfect riding day" and just hope to not have an accident, unfortunately even this simple goal is not met today. I ride out of Mandi in the morning after to my surprise finding that I had already stayed 8 days at the Raj Mahal, (where did the time go?) and have a pleasant ride up over the huge Pandoh Dam. The road here while broken asphalt, is still pretty good and for the most part is wide enough to call two lanes, which is a much better situation then the rides from Chindi. The ride is quite pleasant and I reach Kullu without incident and feeling not at all tired so I press on toward Manali.

"Am I destined to meet every cliché on the road" is what goes through my mind as I come around a curve and find a 3 to 4 year old girl running across the road, of course not looking, directly in front of my bike. I had a truck coming the other way so I was locked into going to the shoulder on the left again and she just kept running, oblivious to the bike. It was either hit her or go into the ditch so I put the bike in the ditch again having it catch on a rock and drop hard on the saddlebags and this time leaving a gash on my leg. I crawl out from under the bike and watch the little girl run up the dirt path on the side of the road completely ignoring the situation - well, the way I am thinking of it, I saved a little girl's life today, she should not be alive. Again I was shaken but feel like dropping the bike in the ditch is becoming almost routine,I brush myself off and shake off the dirt. Four guys who were also parked by the road and saw me miss her and go down come and help me pull the bike back up to the road. Again, the bike survived pretty well except for having crushed the top of the saddlebag with the laptop. There is not any point thinking about if the ThinkPad has any lives left in it now, and I get the bike back on the road and limp into Raison town, which was just down the road. Only 5 minutes from the accident, there is an Enfield mechanic, I pull the bike in, and have the minor problems caused by the last two scrape-ups fixed.

The Enfield guys take me to the local sheet metal worker, which is a staple in any village as so many daily use items in India are made of sheet metal. I take in the saddlebag and ask him to make me a new one which I'm told will take 2 hours and cost 8 US$. I figure its best to take a break after the acident anyway and after finding all three of the Internet café's in town are out of order, just decide to go shopping. Having offered to give away gifts from India and the first drawing being just a few days away, I decide to splurge and shop for Kullu shawls, which are famous in India for their workmanship. I end up looking through 50 shawls but find the reputation for quality well earned and pick a shawl for the give-away.

After managing to lose 20 rupees to the local sharks playing pool, I drive back to the sheet metal shop to find he's not only finished the new box but also has hammered out the dents and replaced the metal where it was crushed in the old box. This is a bit awkward as when I see he has repaired the old box and wants 20 rupees for the work on that vs. the new box for 300 rupees. I am a little stuck. As I only have one carrier space, I cannot take both boxes and I just learned yet another lesson about repairing before replacing here. To make it more awkward, the new box does not fit in the holder, which is now a bit misshapen due to the various falls, and it takes more then a half an hour to pound it out so the new box fits roughly inside. Ah well, live and learn.

The clouds gather not long after Raison and I decide not to tempt the gods who to this point have been very considerate about telegraphing their plans for a deluge before it happens and as I come around a turn and find a traffic jam in front but a little hotel to the side, take it as a suggestion from fate that its time to stop. I find it funny how traveling alone, one tends to become much more aware of "intuitions" and "feelings" and listen to them where it would probably be just too silly to explain why I was doing something if someone else was along.

Another day of riding and another wreck, this is becoming a bit frustrating.

During dinner, a man came over and started a conversation about the bike, which ended up going on for several hours. The best thing about traveling alone is there are always opportunities to meet new people and this simple start introduced me to a squad of Black Cat Commandos. The Black Cat's are India's elite commando force who were also staying at the hotel assigned to protect the minister in charge of the All India Anti-Terrorist Front, a cabinet level position who was in Himachal for a week long vacation.

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