Bidar - Revisted

After a lot of dilly dallying, falling sick with vertigo, umpteen postponements, we finally went to Bidar.

This was my 2nd time to this holy place, but first time for Soniya. This time we went by lightning, with a couple of more friends - Manav and his wife Nidhi.

Since the distance was just 120kms (confirmed by my last blog), we decided to take it easy. We were to leave by 8am, and only go to the gurudwara. The route out of hyd was ok. The main difference I see between a bike and a car are :

• I have to wait patiently behind other cars/trucks/tractors, sing a song etc, as I don't have much chance of overtaking on a single lane highway.
  
• There is a breed of drivers more dangerous than the 3 wheelers in the city. These are the white indica cab drivers.
  
• The second most dangerous drivers are uncles in Maruti 800s.
  
• On a bike, you dont even realise the above as there are too many big gaps to overtake on.
• You can listen to songs, but if you have been driving for long, the songs become stale. You crave for switching them off, but when you switch it off, it becomes boring and sleepy.
  
• The day which is perfect for biking is one in which you switch on the AC in the car.
  
• You can eat and drink while driving.
  
• People usually see you.
  

Our first stop was to be at the Reliance A1 plaza, but it was closed. I don't know whats with the reliance and AP, but all the plazas are closed it seems. So, we went on further and came across an AP tourism stop point, where we had tea and coffee. The only thing they had on sale was some puris - nothing else. Wonders why the govt even bothers to open up such places.

The turn off to Bidar is at Zahirabad. Last time the road from here onwards was not very good. However, this time round the road had been metalled up and was pretty good to zip on. My wife drove here and was just enjoying the drive.

At Bidar the gurudwara is on the main road. Just keep following the road and you come across an arch on the right side which has something written in Gurumukhi. Cant miss it. Turn in from there and a short descent later we were at the gurudwara. Being a weekday , it was quite empty.

Darshan at the Gurudwara

We spent some time at the darshan, and soaking up the atmosphere. There is something wierd about the atmosphere. The sikhs there sing the holy songs - which at first sound quite jarring, but if you just sit there inside the gurudwara, a feeling of peace steals over you, and you start enjoying the songs , which just a while back were getting to you.

The gurudwara has a 24 hour langar (food for the faithfuls) which ate. Just prior to leaving the gurudwara, we went to see the spring adjacent to the gurudwara. Legend has it that when Guru Nanak had visited Bidar, the area was under a severe doubt. He stuck his sword in at the ground , and a fresh water spring came out of the hole. This spring is that one. We took a sip each of the crystal clear water, and it tasted really good. People were filling up bottles with the water to take back home.

The fresh water spring

On the way back we stopped at a Bharat Petroleum Ghar. I think they are starting on a similar concpet to Reliance A1. This one though was operational, and the food was good. I would recommend it to people who are travelling on this route and want to stop for some food.

BP Ghar

The way back was uneventful except getting frustrated with the traffic and the road. I remember this road being the same for god knows how many years. On both sides the road widenning has started, and then forgotten. Took the turn at BHEL to avoid further traffic buildup and crused home via gachibowli, avoiding the people sauntering across the road - jumping in your path as soon as you draw level with them.

I enjoy touring, but I dont like coming back to the city!