Tour of Nagaland 2022 | Day 4 | Ranchi to Islampur | 527 kms

Today was going to be a long drive again. I had to reach Islampur which was close to 500+ km. It was home to one of my closest friends from social media, Subhadeep Ghosh and so I had to reach there at any cost.

I started very early and was on the road before 6 am. It was very cold and the weather was foggy. I was driving with my fog lamps on. The roads were good with a lot of heavy trucks plying on them carrying tons of big lumps of coal. I was heading towards Bokaro town, known as Bokaro Steel City!

I drove non-stop from the start halting just before the Bokaro city for some hot tea. The time was 7:30 am and I had covered a total distance of 87kms. It was a refreshing cup of tea in the morning cold and the taste was enhanced further by making the tea over hot coal instead of direct flame of the gas. Coal was seen everywhere due to the large coal mines surrounding the area. I had 2 cups of tea from an earthen cup as 1 was not enough to warm up the body.

Subhadeep had updated me on the route to be taken to reach Islampur. Before Bokaro, I turned left and this route was the shortest one which passed through small towns, the road leading towards Bhagalpur, a major town route. There was no National Highway to ride upon from now on and it was on the the State Highways.

After riding for around 45 km and just before crossing the GT Road (Grand Trunk Road aka Kolkata- Delhi Highway) perpendicularly, I stopped for my usual breakfast. The area name was ‘Dumri’. The ‘Litti Chokka’ stall looked tempting after falling in love with this street food yesterday. The breakfast was super heavy which fuelled my energy levels to the fullest. I left the place around 9:15 am.

I had forgotten to notice that the driving mode selected on the ‘Google Maps’ was in ‘Bike’ mode. Google Maps made me traverse through small towns right after breakfast and this was causing a lot of pain mentally. The speed was not increasing as I had to slow down often passing through town. I took a small break on the way just to charge myself up with some munching on dry fruits. I sincerely wished this slow riding to end and instead get some windblast on my face.

Continuing further, the road conditions improved and the weather became sunny. I had already packed away my winter gear after I’d finished with my breakfast. I planned to ride non-stop to cover the lost distance due to slow riding. I stopped only once for some refreshments consisting of fresh sugarcane juice and also topped up my fuel tank. The time was 2 pm having covered almost 200 km since breakfast.

From there, I continued towards Purnia town which was close to 100kms. I had decided to break after every 100 km for a quick body recharge. The roads were good as I was able to cover 111 km in roughly 2.15 hrs as I halted just after Purnia city. The traffic was massive compared to what I’d experienced so far. I took a last break around 4:20 pm as it was about to get dark. I cleaned my helmet visor and munched some some bananas from some quick recharge before making my final push towards Islampur which was still 90 km to go.

The road condition had severely deteriorated by now and I had to carefully choose my path to not drive over potholes and uneven patchy repair works. This made me reduce my speed and I was driving cautiously. I was a stranger to this part so thought of not taking any risks and riding at a moderate speed. The auxiliary lights were made ON to assist in seeing the road surface.

I finally made it to my friend’s hometown of Islampur around 6:10 pm in complete darkness. The city seemed small by its outward appearance and gave an impression of relaxed and chill. There was hardly any traffic to be seen on the streets. I had already shared my live location with Subhadeep and he was already there to welcome me to his town. We both moved in the direction of my place of stay for tonight. He had already made arrangements in one of the city lodges not far away from his house.

After getting down from the bike, we hugged each other like long-lost friends. I checked into the lodge while Subhadeep went away to run some errands. Subhadeep was to call me sometime later and decide on the meet-up point after I got freshened up.

We both head out into the city with Subhadeep telling me more about the city and explaining to me the various locations. Since it was quite late in the night as per the city’s standards, the roads were virtually empty. We stopped at a tea stall which was quite famous in the area. Over tea, we managed to talk about general things about life and motorcycling. A few days ahead, we would be meeting again in person in Nagaland, both of us are going to attend the 12th edition of North East Riders Meet in Dimapur. The tea was great in taste. We thanked the tea stall owner and carried on ourselves further.

Dinner was done at a local restaurant after that Subhadeep showed me his house and also introduced his Wife and Dog to me. The time was almost midnight as I made my way back to the Shubham Lodge for a good night’s sleep. The day had been tiring owing to slow riding and bad roads. Tomorrow, it was time to enter a new state and officially mark my entry into the NorthEast for the 1st time on my bike. I set an early alarm and dozed off. The cold had taken over the city.