Kolkata -Jharsuguda trip----sudden interruption

 
23/04/2010

“What will u have sir” a charming KFC attendant with sugary politeness asked me

“Well, two ginger with coke”   I replied with little bit change in accent, putting an impression

“no soda for me, I will take crusher" Tippu interrupted the luring process.

. We were in the KFC(Kentucky fried chicken) of ESPLANADE (Kolkata)

We had traveled 840 kms from Jharsuguda via Bhubaneswar to Kolkata. We were celebrated our long awaited touring mission of Kolkata trip in KFC.{reference-- http://itallstartsinthemind.blogspot.com/2010/08/on-road-again-day-1.html)

26/04/2010

“Hey what’s up? What’s the plan of getting back” Tippu asked

“It will be day after tomorrow” I answered

“Mmmmmm we have a problem here, bike is not ok, it’s self is almost failed but……………..” Tippu doubted

“But what?”

“Ummm I was wondering that would it be possible to you to have the return journey by your own without me, actually I have an interview in Chennai. And I have to be there on 29^th.” Tippu jerked me…..

“Little bit perplexing……………..well ok then …..No problem …..I will manage, but when will be your bike ready” I asked him

Tippu enthusiastically replied “don’t worry about the bike, it will be ready by then”

“Ok then, 28Th will be final” call ended

28/04/2010

Exactly at 5:00 am, Park Street, Kolkata,
I was ready, bird ready; all the extra and protective wears were set, plugged in my walkman, the finger just excited enough and press the button having the electrical signal marked on it ,the bird started roaring instead of chuckling and here the journey started after 15 secs warm up.

So me and bird (black n tough) Royal Enfield twin spark thunderbird (350 TCI) had started journey from Kolkata to Jharsuguda (Orissa).

Route was

[A]Kolkata-20,NH6-120, NH5-[B]Kharagpur-65 , NH6-[C]Baharagorah-160,NH6-[D]Keonjhar-111,NH6-[E]Deogarh-87,NH6-[F]Sambalpur-52,SH10-Jharsuguda[G]. 



View Larger Map 
pathway

Time estimated 13 hrs including 2 hr halt. Distance estimated 615kms

We departed from Park Street leaving Kolkata passing through 2^nd Hooghly Bridge or Vidyasagar Setu and geared up on kola expressway on NH6.We were on our high spirit flying with an average of 80kmph.

NH5,6 lane highway with both sides dedicated, dividers are barricaded. Smooth road even 80kmph was too slow to match up the rhythm of its pace. Filling station in every 10 k ,mostly of HP accompanied with BP and IO.

After crossing Dankuni,there came a toll gate and we caught the NH6/NH2 highway.

At 6:00 hrs ,Reached the HP filling station, we weren’t aware about the HP system, I had asked to vendor guy about the turbojet fuel whether it was a petrol or diesel, he assured me that whatever he was filling was the premium petrol, meter was showed 55 rupee per litre

Clock was clicking 06:30 hrs we just came across that we were heading towards the Durgapur which was unfortunately just opposite to our desired direction that was of Kharagpur.

After confirmation we turned back but the self start system was just fucked up. The capacitor connecting to batteries was not working. The milestone showed the 55 mark towards the Kolkata.

So we had tried for kick but it was also not working too, it was getting jammed , I called Tippu our auto expert and gave the brief. My first question was whether turbojet was premium petrol or diesel though  I had very much assured that fuel in tank is petrol but if it was found diesel then there might be chances of seizing of engine.

One thing more :-- black bird was Tippu’s,he had previously done many more experiments on this bike, as it was given problem in starting earlier also. Already the twin spark plug had been changed, electrolyte had been filled in battery. But one thing he forgot was to topping up of engine oil.which had cost me to crawled the damn by 3 kms to nearest filling station

So after concerning, Tippu told me that turbojet was diesel but as I had driven around 8 to 10 kms after filling, it was confirmed that fuel was power not turbojet. So we then were looking after for engine oil . So now we needed engine oil of 5t grade which was difficult to found in highway. But with the help of local guys in nearby filling station we managed to found Motul 20SWE50 grade oil.

After filling, kick was smoother and after around 20 kicks engine was again getting alive

Now the time was 08:44, almost 4 hrs had been wasted in all these mess, round about 70 kms added to estimated distance, just because of wrong path.

Tippu advised me to come back to Kolkata and started it all again  from the next day. But WE didn’t want to waste any more day, so we were heading to Kharagpur 150 kms away from that point.

We reached kharagpur at 11:15 hrs, switched the NH from 5 to 6 ,and were on the way to Baharagorah which was long designated for MUMBAI.

Baharagorah  was just 65 kms from Kharaghpur  come in Jharkhand state.

It was the junction point where NH 33 was channeled out from NH 6 for Jamshedpur (Tata).

We continued with NH6 headed for Keonjhar.

The national highway headed towards the Keonjhar  comprises the outskirts of Simlipal National Park, Simlipal National Park is a national park and a Tiger Reserve situated in the Mayurbhanj district in the Indian state of Orissa. Simlipal National Park derives its name from the abundance of Semul or red silk cotton trees that bloom vividly. One can enter into Similipal through Pithabata (22 kilometers  from Baripada) and Jashipur. Similipal National Park remains open from 1 October to 15 June only. Simlipal is home to ninety-nine Royal Bengal Tigers, 432 Wild elephants. Besides Simlipal is famous for Gaurs (Indian Bisons), Chausingha, as well as an orchidarium.

At 15:00 hrs we reached keonjhar ,gave a halt for gaining some thought about the baffling which continuously freaking us out about the completion of trip

to be continued......................