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North-East on wheels: 10 riders tour the Meghalaya circuit

19th July 2022, 14:04 by Ananth Iyer

The organisers received around 700 entries and they had to shortlist only 75 of them, who were to be divided into 6 groups, each group touring one state in the Northeast.

BHPian kvamshi04 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello, members, I am Vamshi from Hyderabad and this was my first post, and now it's the second one. Thank you mods for posting the first one, it gave me some confidence to go back to the assembly line and finish this one.

Prologue

2nd March 2022: My faculty and now a colleague sent me a Whatsapp regarding the event North East on Wheels (NEW) organised by Amazing Namaste Foundation as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Sponsors for the event were the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, DRDO, and the Tourism depts. of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, BSE,TVS, JAWA & Yezdi, Indian Oil, NRL, Novotel Guwahati, Countryrides, FAMOUS Innovation and Oddpartikle.

Calling riders to explore the magnificent Northeast.

Went home and applied for the ride, the results were to be declared on 10th March and on 14th I got my confirmation and the Meghalaya circuit was allotted to me. The organisers received around 700 entries and they had to shortlist only 75 of them (a huge challenge for the organisers), who were to be divided into 6 groups, each group touring one state in the Northeast.

After the confirmation from the organizer's end, took the printout and barged into my boss's office for his permission and a little bit of coaxing worked and got the permission granted. The same was posted to the official WhatsApp group and everyone knew, that I will be out of the office for a road trip very soon.

Next step: Transferred the tour cost, booked my tickets and waited for 8th April. In the meanwhile, I activated my social media handles and followed NEW(Northeast on Wheels), their social media handles were buzzing with activities and I couldn’t wait to be a part of this ride.

2nd April 2022: A much-awaited weekend, it was Ugadi (Telugu New Year) woke up early, went shopping, packed my bags and the sails were set to Guwahati. I had to pack everything as the upcoming week at work was about to get very busy, as we were attempting to enter the Limca Book of Records with 2 activities back to back.

The first one was, making 75 different types of Biryanis.

Budding chefs after preparing 75 types of Biryanis.

The second one was by making the largest flower arrangement with more than 53000 flowers, standing 33ft.tall.

The 33ft tall flower arrangement.

These events were open to the general public, and they went well phew!!

With one day to go, I uploaded everything on the official social media handles, locked the laptop and left for Guwahati the next day.

Day-0,the trip begins !!

8th April 2022: Took the morning flight out of Hyderabad. At the airport, met a co-rider, who had landed from Mumbai and was waiting for the flight to Guwahati. We reached Guwahati by noon, we were received by the organisers and met another co-rider, a Founder and Principal of a well-known school at Raipur.

Three of us were put in a cab and taxied to Novotel Guwahati, which was the stay for the night. Reached the hotel, checked in and had a look at the motorcycle lineup. Gradually all the participants started arriving and the bikes were allotted throughout the evening.

The lineup

Later in the evening, all the participants assembled in the banquet hall, where the organisers briefed us about the event and introduced us to our other team members and the support team which would be with us for the entire trip the ended with a dinner and with all the excitement went to sleep.

Day-1,lets ride

9th April,6:30am:

And it began, all of the participants assembled at the lobby and started loading our luggage into our luggage vans, I embarked on this 1600kms ride on a brand new Yezdi Roadster. With the pleasant weather and light drizzle, we head towards Meghalaya.

The Flag off

The expedition was formally flagged off from,the Assam Administrative Staff College, by Shri Ashok Singhal, Housing & Urban Affairs and Irrigation, Government of Assam and Shri Bimal Bora, Minister of Sports & Youth Welfare, Cultural Affairs, Tourism & Power, Government of Assam.

The flag-off!!

Destination: North-Eastern Hill University, Tura

After the inauguration, we embarked on our 1600 Kms journey and the halt for the night was North-Eastern Hill University, Tura situated in the Garo Hills. The distance was around 200kms. Crossing Guwahati was one of our first challenges and with a convey consisting of 11 bikes, one media car and three support vehicles it did take us some time, we took the scenic NH-17 and NH-217 to Tura, the road is a two-lane highway mostly well laid and a hoot to ride on.

A small break on the highway.

Our initial estimate was to reach Tura by 5:00 pm but due to a delayed start and a minor accident with one rider, we were slightly delayed and reached the university at around 8:00 PM.

We were welcomed with great fanfare, and a traditional welcome ceremony was organised for us. The university had planned some cultural events for us to witness, which helped us understand the different tribal dances mainly the Wangala dance.

Wangla dance troupe with the bikers.

After the cultural extravaganza we were treated to some authentic Garo dishes for dinner and a team of PhD students and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the university took very good care of us during the two nights, we spent at the campus.

The group leader and the bikers felicitated the Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

As we went to sleep, the ever-supportive team from Jawa/Yezdi took our feedback and checked the bikes for the next day.

Day-2, Ride to Williamnagar and back to Tura

10th April, 7:00 am:

At daybreak, the Commanding officer, BSF, Tura visited us with his men, and 2 men rode along with us to Williamnagar and back. Williamnagar is around 70kms from NEHU, Tura campus.

Bikers and the PVC felicitated the C.O. BSF, Tura.

We started around 9 am from NEHU, filled up our tanks and rode for around 2hrs to reach Williamnagar, where we were welcomed by bikers from Tribal Nation Rider's, a small meet and greet session and then reached Pa Togan Nengminja Sangma memorial park, Chisobibra and paid our homage.

Pa Togan Nengminja Sangma memorial park, Chisobibra

Our plans of reaching a waterfall were marred by rains hence we stopped at chisobibra, had our lunch near the memorial and chilled out for some time.

The restaurant is on the banks of the river, on an elevated cliff.

The view, with some food and juice.

After lunch, we started towards NEHU and took the old road, which indeed was more scenic and had negligible traffic. On the way back we stopped at Suspension Foot Bridge, a small trek that took us on the banks of Simsang River. The same team of PhD students and the PVC accompanied us to these amazing places.