[saket77]

Friday- 04th July 2014.

Huh? Come again? You want to ride all the way to Digha & Mandarmani? What do you think you have? A CBR? And where is this Tajpur?

Before this came, I did not know that someone can ask 6 questions in one breath.
Well, make that seven…why don’t you take the car instead? Asked my wife. Ummm...Eight. Why are you not taking me with you?

Half an hour earlier.

A window pops into my mailbox and its Swapnil on IM. He was probably the happiest person when my weekend family trip got cancelled due to some reason. Meant that I was free that weekend and he proposed that we ride to somewhere. Ideally a day trip. He’s got a new Yamaha Fazer and he is itching for a ride after his running in period completed. Hmm…Understandable.

But I said, I am not going for any ‘day’ trip. So, either he suggests something good and a little far or the plan gets scrapped. I was open for a 2 or 3 day trip. In a flash, he suggests Mandarmani. Well, now he’s talking. But it’s already 01:00 in the afternoon and we have don’t have much time to plan. He further cements it: it is something like ‘dil mein chhupa hua armaan’ to ride to Mandarmani on his bike for long. He is at home, chats with his parents (read: convince/ plead/ beg or whatever you deem is necessary) and wins the argument finally. Supportive parents I must say.

Then I call my wife and tell her about the plan. Since, it’s a bike trip (again read: boy’s trip), that too a marathon, unfortunately she cannot come. But what do come are the eight questions above. Convincing (pleading/ begging or whatever…) wives for such a trip is exponentially more difficult than convincing parents. Unmarried BHPians, please take a note.

Me: Well, it will be about 450 kms and we will be on two bikes. No problem. No, not a CBR, but still it’s a CBF so, it is just a difference of F & R…so no problem. (No, I am not that illogical otherwise) And taking the car for just two guys will be an overkill. And then we lose the fun of riding too. I promise to be safe, call often and ride sane, as always. Promised some more goodies after I will be back, I am almost there. A nice dinner in the evening to wrap up things and I finally win it. Dropped her at her parent’s place, topped up the fuel and came back home.

Swapnil comes for the night so that we can start from common start point and on time. He is a master in oversleeping and I cannot trust him on this matter. If you guys have read our log of Hirni falls, then it’s all documented there!

[saket77]

Our plan is to leave by 5 in the morning, Swapnil on his Yamaha Fazer and me on my Honda CBF125. Don’t anybody dare call it a Stunner. I just hate that name. Don’t know what the Honda guys in India were smoking to be unable to name the bike the way rest of the world knows it?

The Fazer has just come from a service, but my bike needs new engine oil, brake fluids and a brake bleeding. I have already done about 5500 kms on that Castrol Power 1 Racing (fully synthetic) in there and thankfully, I have a new pack of the same. Have the KBX brake fluid too. We start the self-service of the bike. Drained the oil, put back a fresh pack in. I love the clear golden red color of this oil. Like something very pure. Cleaned the spark plug, changed the disc brake fluids and finally bled the brake linings. Now the brake lever becomes soft and the braking is now super efficient. It is almost 12:15 in the night now, but the job was worth the time. I rushed for packing my stuff in my bag pack.

It would take one to be insanely out of mind to miss out packing the stuff there in the prepared check-list. Yes, it was me playing the devil this time and I missed packing a lot of stuff that were there in the checklist! Thankfully, among other things which I did not miss putting in was a good raincoat, extra engine oil, brake fluids, some tools to carry basic repair jobs in emergency and some medicines & eye drops. Tools were also necessary as we were taking routes which would not have any mechanics or workshops for miles.

At about 01:00 AM, well past midnight, we started exploring the route options. We initially had planned for the Ranchi> Jamshedpur> Bahragoda> Kharagpur> Digha route but a call to Arunabh (//M) earlier in the day turned out to be the best decision we took on the entire trip. We knew that the Jamshedpur-Bahragoda section of the NH-33 was in shambles. Not that Ranchi to Jamshedpur section of NH-33 is exactly a billiards table, but compared to the section ahead of Jamshedpur to Kharagpur which is even a trucker’s nightmare, it is very much driveable. The alternate route, the Ranchi> Dhanbad> Asansol> Kolkata> Digha had very good surface but would turn out a lot longer; hence we were in two minds. Talking to Arunabh, made it three, but then when it comes to route options, one can trust him blindly. He suggested that rather than West Bengal, we go through Odisha and take Ranchi> Jamshedpur> Rairangpur> Baripada> Digha route. In hindsight, that was a great advice.

Thanks Arunabh, you definitely rock!

Finally, with the help of my navigator (Map My India) and Google maps, we took down the details of the route on paper – for convenience and avoiding straying down on wrong roads. The detailed route workout was as following:

Ranchi> Jamshedpur (NH-33)> Hata> Rairangpur> Baripada(AH-46, NH-6>NH-5)> Amarda Rd (SH-61)> Jaleshwar Chanadeswar NH60> (sharp right)> SH-57> Digha-Mandarmani (NH-116B). Total 424 kms.

One should sleep well before the travel. We went to bed at 02:15 AM. Effectively less than 3 hours of sleep. We woke up at 5 and I prepared the breakfast. Packed with stuff, bag packs, and armed with proper protective gear, we were down in the basement of my apartment at about 06:15 AM. Though, he is a good rider, but I offered some advice and tips to Swapnil for riding safe in a very serious tone, called our loved ones, a thumbs-up and started for the long ride.

[saket77]

Riding against the cool breeze with scanty traffic is a fantastic feeling. As we hit the NH-33, the road to Jamshedpur, we were very particular of one thing: Zero risk taking. This is not a track known to be kind, esp. to the bikers. In fact, the sheer number of total accidents that we witnessed in this route was far more than what we saw in entire route combined during the trip, which included a totaled Verna, M800, Indica and a few toppled trucks and a crashed Sumo.

Thankfully, except for a slight drizzle which did not bother us, we did not encounter the rain. Rode the 140 kms Ranchi Jamshedpur section in about 2.5 hours, which was good enough. We reached Jamshedpur, the home city of the Tatas by about 9 AM. Now, since we had to leave NH-33 from here (I would say it was a good riddance) to join the Jamshedpur> Hata> Rairangpur route for better, unfortunately, there is no by-pass. We crossed the city making our way through the daily the city traffic. Some were astonished to see us with protective gears.

Fuel is good 8 bucks expensive in West Bengal; hence, we thought that it would be a good idea to top up whatever fuel we had used in Jamshedpur only. Plus, we needed fuel receipts so that we do not encounter any problems with Odisha & WB R.T.O. authorities for out-of-the-state registration. The fuel bunk manager was impressed seeing us all armed and broke into a small conversation asking about our travel. He was further impressed when we told that we are riding from all the way from Ranchi to Mandarmani/ Digha. He wished us luck and happily issued us fuel receipts personally. He did not even let us walk to his counter; instead, he walked all the way to us to give us the receipts and wrapped it up with a big ‘thank you’! Nice service. We thanked him and moved on.

It took us about 1.5 hours to intersect through the city and reach the Tata-Hata section, and we were greeted by a very scenic & beautiful State Highway. Add to this the fabulous weather! The section was a blast to ride. We kept thanking Arunabh for his great route advice. After covering about 40kms, we reached Odisha border. The place is ‘Tiring’, about 175 kms from Ranchi. Since it was our bike’s first experience of crossing the state borders, not clicking some photographs would be a blasphemy.













We continued riding to Rairangpur in Odisha, which is the next major town after Jamshedpur. Felt like a nice city with good all round facilities. Our maps showed a left turn, which we confirmed from the locals before getting into. Though, we had researched the route extensively and jotted down some landmarks too, but confirming with a few locals is a good idea as venturing down on a wrong road would mean a lot of useless delay – something which we can do without.

[saket77]

The roads continued to surprise us with good surface and we too made good use of it to make-up some lost time. In the process, we hit the top whack of our bikes a few times.

Fazer is a solid & stable performer, there was no doubt about it, but what may come as a surprise to many, the CBF 125 is not at all short of power for highway runs too. In fact, most of the available torque comes at a high 6.5K RPM, which means a very good pick up in this range. This made overtaking other vehicles literally a piece of cake. No up-shifting and all that stuff, just a twist of the wrist and it accelerates aggressively. I have always admired the braking ability and the stability of this bike. The only shortcoming in this bike is that it is slightly short geared, means speeds come with high engine RPMs.

The Yamaha Fazer, the other Japanese sibling to Honda, looks aggressive from the front and completes its bold statement with a fat rear rubber. It is an eyeful to look at and is very stable at high speeds too. The broad contact patch with the road means a very controlled braking ability too.

Moving on, we encountered a beautiful ghat road with swooping corners before reaching ‘Bangriposi’ which went through very dense forests & a tiger reserve. We spotted quite a few monkeys on the road and then a white Tata Indigo, JSR registered standing on the road shoulder.

















Mr. Harpreet, a nice lad, about 35, was feeding monkeys with some bread. He had probably driven here with his friends for a joy drive from Jamshedpur. Watching us stop and taking pictures, he comes to us to shake hands. He is happy to know that we have ridden all the way from Ranchi. We chat for a good 5 minutes and he wishes us a nice ride to our destination. He also confirms the route upto Baripada from that point. Soon after, the wheels are set into motion. There were some lovely corners on the road which we made full use of while cornering, but without compromising on safety. Remember, we had pledged a ‘Zero Risk’ policy for the entire trip.

We reached the town of Baripada by 2 PM and despite having prepared a good route map, we managed to confuse the minds in us. Thought the best bet is to take lunch at a restaurant and enquire about the route further from the hotelier. We stopped at Maa Mangala restaurant and were served within 15 minutes. Had lunch, called the loved ones again, took some rest and confirmed the route.



Once started moving, we took a left from the next circle to take the SH-61, through Amarda road. Though a single lane, but the surface continued to be good with occasional speed breakers. Most of this route is through forests, fields, farms and villages. No facility is available in this stretch; hence travel with ample resources of your own. Chances of finding a mechanic or any other repair facility is next to nil. Heck, there are no fuel pumps in this section too.

Once through this section, we joined a 4 lane section (NH-60?) for 20 kms and took a right turn to enter SH-57.

Digha is about 55 kms from this point which meant that we can add another 20 kms for Tajpur. The SH-57 is similar in terrain to the SH-61 which we encountered from Baripada to NH-60. Good surface mostly through fields & farms, and villages with minimal resources. Gets little better as one approaches the Odisha/ WB border.

Since, it was already 5PM by my watch, we decided to cover this leg in one go without any stoppages. We continued moving briskly and just before 6 PM, we reached the WB border which greeted us with a lovely tight corner which we gulped happily.

Soon, we entered Digha and had an opportunity to have a look at the crowded beaches there. Since our original plan was to halt at Tajpur, we decided to continue riding to Tajpur which was about 20 kms away. Some time was lost due to the local traffic and the crowded road side market and we finally reached Tajpur at about 6.45 PM, well after the sun had set, after clocking a total of 424 clicks on my odometer.

[saket77]

We checked in Sagar Kinare Resort which was just opposite to the sea beach. For some reason, the song Sagar Kinare (by Kishore Kumar & Lata Mangeshkar!) stuck into our heads for the entire trip! There was one more song that did stick in my head at least. I will come to that.

The resort had good & safe parking premises for our bikes and to satisfy the foodie in us, the food was simply amazing. The rooms were very comfortable and clean and the service staffs were very polite. Definitely recommended.

























We just checked in, secured our bikes, dumped the luggage in the room and ran to the beach! The beach is separated from the resort by a very narrow road and a small but thick tree forest. Since, it was completely dark and with no ambiance or street lamps, it was a little scary venturing in this thick forest with just cell phone flash lights. We could easily hear the roars of the sea in the dark night. We crossed the plantations to reach to the sea beach and it was a great experience to watch a dark sea roaring with waves stretching to infinity.

Now there is some faint music in the background, playing somewhere at a distance. Typical loudspeaker material and a pick straight from the 90s bollywood music. Wait, I have heard this before during my childhood, but have conveniently forgotten it for good.

Gule gulaigoo…plays in background. Somebody is partying hard there.

This is Kumar Sanu I said. Swapnil asks where bhaiya?

Lines repeat…Haan, galaigoo…Kumar Sanu confirms the gulaigoo factor, followed by Alka Yagnik. Somebody ought to be partying hard.
The volume has increased much since beginning.

But the sea is still adorable. Definitely we don’t have owl eyes but still we could make it out in the silhouette. It is a lovely sight to behold. This has made us forget all the exertion of the 424 kms trip that we have just ridden. We spend a good 10-15 minutes there and walk back to the resort.

What is this ‘gulaigoo’? I ask. Swapnil nods. We decide to shrug it off. I keep contemplating in my head that who wrote the song.

Gule gulaigoo...haan gulaigoo…as it continues to play in the background.

[saket77]

Apart from the answer to the questions above, what we needed was food. We were extremely hungry by now and ordered Chicken Curry and rice at the hotel restaurant for dinner. Took a good nice shower while the food gets ready.

Knock knock…Food ready sir!

Lovely, please serve, we will be there at the restaurant in a moment.

Probably we reached before him.

Leave alone the hunger factor; we even normally go down quite heavily on cooked chicken. Add some fabulous preparation and hunger to this equation and this explains quite few plates of chicken and some servings of rice to keep company with. The dinner was awesome, perfectly cooked and we dined as if we are having food after days.

After a heavy dinner, we lay on bed and counted the events of the journey of today. Some general conversation and we fall asleep before we know.

When I woke up, it was already about 8 AM. The plan for the (only) day is to enjoy at the Tajpur beach, then travel to Mandarmani and return by evening.
We take a breakfast, as they say in Bengali: luchi tarkari (poori sabji) which was again awesome. Then we made our way to the beach.







The vast stretch of the endless sea washing the shores welcomed us. Had some fun in water followed by a small photo session of the bikes on the beach. During the photoshoot, the Fazer fell while parked due to soft sand of the beach and then refused to start. After trying a little by cranking the engine by the self starter followed by the kick starter, I decided to give it some desi treatment. Push start looked like the only way to burn the excess fuel which had flooded the carburetor. This worked out finally and the bike started hesitantly. I burnt the excessive fuel and soon it was behaving fine. I thought it was perfectly fine for the bike to show some dissent to revolt against our carelessness!

[saket77]

We went back to our room and took a shower and headed to Mandarmani, some 20 kms from Tajpur.





Mandarmani has a nice beach too, but much more commercialized than the new Tajpur. Also, a little more crowded. Some nice resorts have come up to cater to the high number of tourists.

















We took lunch at a small beach restaurant. Ordered some prawns, pomfret and chicken with rice. As you see, we were making full use of the lovely preparations Bengali cuisine has to offer. As we were having our lunch, we broke into conversation with a gentleman who had come down from Kolkata with his wife and a cute son. He saw our registration plates & was amazed to learn that we have traveled all the way from Ranchi to Mandarmani on our bikes.

Mr. Subroto is a fun loving man, young, both by heart and age and posed with us and our bikes for photographs. Swapnil gave his son a nice ride on his bike too. He told me that he has come from an Esteem and we broke into a conversation that how freaking insane that Esteem as a car is! I told him that I have a Zen, another freakin' enthusiast's car. He asked ‘The old Zen?' And I answered in affirmative. I could see his eyes shining with passion. He must have been a petrol head for sure.





















As we started to move, I went to pay the bill for our lunch. Seeing this, Mr. Subroto stepped in and what he said was really touching. He said ‘You guys are visitors from Ranchi and thus our guests. We don’t let our guests pay here!’ I tried my best but he did not budge and did not let me pay. Perfect ambassador of his place! We thanked him for his lovely gesture, shared our contacts and moved. He wished us a safe journey on the way back.

On the way back to Tajpur, we decided to visit Shankarpur too. Paid a short visit to the place, spent the evening sitting on the rocks. A middle aged gentleman has traveled from Kolkata with his family in his white Indigo. He was excited to see two JH-01 bikes there and soon made out that it belonged to us. A lovely chat followed and he was really excited to see that we have ridden hundreds of miles on two wheels. We exchanged pleasantries and finally waved a goodbye to the gentleman and came back to our hotel in Tajpur.

A day well spent. Next morning we had to leave for our way back to Ranchi. We decided to wake up early, watch the sun rise at Tajpur beach and then start our journey. To save time and hassle, we settled the hotel bill at night.

[saket77]

I wake up at about 4 in the morning. It looks like Swapnil is completely struck by the beauty of this place and that is reflecting in his somniloquy. He is still sleeping but uttering something in his sleep. I can make out that he says ‘Tajpur’ quite a few times, followed by something in bengali. I decide to get hold of some more of this stuff, but soon he’s silent. I also wonder that with his record of sleeping, I am going to have a tough time waking him up at this unearthly hour. However, a couple of gentle quivers on his head and he is up! Not bad, I say.

We get ready soon and made our way to beach at about 05:00 AM. Within a few minutes, we witnessed the big red golden ball rising swiftly from the east. What an exhilarating sight that was! A lot more red crabs on the beach in the early morning than we saw the previous day.













We took some shots and returned to our hotel to pick up our luggage. We take some tea and some chips as a mini breakfast. Armed with protective gear and the bikes, we started for our return journey at about 06:15 AM with my odo showing 497 kms.



Soon crossed the WB-Odisha border and stopped at a fuel station as it would be cheaper to re-fill in Odisha than WB. Filled the tanks upto brim, and marched forward again. With the Rath Yatra festival around the corner and being in Odisha, we saw a lot of folks extracting money in the name of the festival. All commercial vehicles were being stopped to get whatever they could extract. Some people tried to flag us down at a couple of places too, but we did not bother to stop.

Took our first break at Jaleshwar-Chandaneswar NH Junction, about 60 kms from Tajpur, had some water and clicked some pictures. Then moved quickly and soon crossed the Subarnarekha Bridge on NH-60 and after travelling about 20 kms on NH-60, took a left for Baripada, through Amarda.






This again is a lonely single lane stretch and made the most out of it. The bikes kept eating miles with ease and by 09:15 AM we reached Baripada. We took breakfast at the same Maa Mangala Restaurant where we had lunch two days back and they were happy to see & serve us again. We took some rest and moved only by about 10 AM. After clocking about 35kms on NH-5, we reached Bangriposi and soon started the winding roads of the dense forest valley. We enjoyed taking the lovely corners of the ghat roads. Soon crossed Bisnoi and reached the town of Rairangpur where we witnessed a light rain.

[saket77]

Jamshedpur is about 80 kms from Rairangpur, and planned it to be our next stop for lunch which we would reach by about 01:30 PM. After clicking about 33 kms on the odo, we reached Tiring, which lies on the border of the Odisha and Jharkhand.

We hailed the homeland as well as our entire motherland India for the showing us such lovely landscapes, sea and mountains. The vastness & variances of our country is unmatched. From the mighty Himalayas, the vast endless stretches of the triplet seas, to the central plains, the Deccan and to the great deserts.















We had entered the home state of Jharkhand and continued to move to Jamshedpur via Hata. We reached Jamshedpur by 01:45 PM and it took us another painstaking hour to negotiate through the dense city traffic so as to get on NH-33. As soon as we crossed the city and hit NH-33, we stopped for the final meal of the trip. Had a moderate lunch and by 3 PM, we started for our final destination, Ranchi which was about 130 kms away.

NH-33, from our experience has to be the most tiring and unforgiving road of the entire trip. The roads are narrow, full of undulations, frequent potholes though small and it has taken a lot of patchwork to keep it going. Rash driving by private buses, SUVs and small cars make matters worse on this stretch. In fact, the state highways which we had witnessed in the last few days were infinitely better than the Ranchi Jamshedpur NH-33.

We started our ride and maintained moderate speeds. Made up some lost time at sections which were comparatively in better shape. Just before the Taimara Valley, about 40 kms from Ranchi, it started raining considerably. This was our first encounter with rain but since the weather was on our side for the entire trip otherwise, we did not complain. Stopped at a safe point and put on our raincoats. We started again and the rain consolidated after a little while into a drizzle. I was aware that slightly wet roads are far more dangerous & slippery than fully washed roads after a heavy rain, so I warned Swapnil about it too. We tamed our average speeds and continued to march ahead.

After about an hour, we reached Ranchi. Swapnil wanted to divert to his home from there only, but I thought a marathon ride like this deserved a better ending. Hence, I asked him to ride to my home first. We reached my place at about 6 in the evening and were treated with some cakes and snacks by my wife. She had a lot to ask and we a lot to tell about the entire trip. We 3 chatted excitedly for a while narrating our experiences of the road, of the places we went, the awesome food we had and the warmth showered on us by some nice people we met. We exchanged all the photographs and finally Swapnil left & reached his place by 8PM.





Our marathon run has completed. The experience of the 916 clicks on the odometer cannot be described into words, or at least, I am not such a good story teller, but the 3 days that we stole for ourselves from our own otherwise busy lives is something that will be unforgettable for long. The machines performed impeccably well within their capabilities and never did once they threw any tantrums on the entire trip. Despite the high speed runs on most of the part of the trip, they proved to be very frugal and efficient. We simply could not have asked for more…either from the trip or from the machines.

We also thank our families to be so supportive; else I would not have been writing this travelogue. We can only tell them that we kept our promise – to ride safe and to be back home the way we left. Ah…wait…not same. They have already complained that we have tanned quite a bit!

Keep revving guys and drive safe!

[moralfibre]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing!

[//M]

Wow Saket Sir, it was an amazing read with some equally striking pictures too. I am glad that you both liked the Rairangpur route. I always use this route to visit my relatives in Baripada and Bhubaneswar and yes Maa Mangala Restaurant is where we stop over for lunch everytime. The road from Hata to Rairangpur is surely a blast. Zero traffic, smooth tarmac makes riding such a pleasurable affair.

I am sure it would have a great experience, riding all the way to coastal West Bengal. I was really excited when you mentioned about riding to Tajpur and Mandarmani over the phone, sad that I missed it though.

Btw, which road did you take to bypass Jamshedpur? Hata-Jugsalai-Bistupur-Mango-Pardih-Chandil or Hata-Jugsalai-Bistupur-Adityapur-Gamharia-Kandra-Chandil ??

[saket77]

Originally Posted by //M

it was an amazing read with some equally striking pictures too...I was really excited when you mentioned about riding to Tajpur and Mandarmani over the phone, sad that I missed it though.

Thanks Arunabh for the kind words. We really missed you on the trip. It would have been a real blast of a trip if you would have been there. Anyway, glad that you are pursuing your dream job. Best of luck

Originally Posted by //M

Btw, which road did you take to bypass Jamshedpur? Hata-Jugsalai-Bistupur-Mango-Pardih-Chandil or Hata-Jugsalai-Bistupur-Adityapur-Gamharia-Kandra-Chandil ??

I was not aware of the Adityapur-Gamharia-Kandra by pass. We went through the entire city, crossing the Mango bridge and continued straight to join the NH-33. However, thanks for the Gamharia by-pass tip. I will look at the route on maps and it should be helpful for my future visits to JSR.

Regards,
Saket

[RevvMusic]

The views and vistas are superb. The roads too seem to be in an adorable condition. The bikes, the wind on the face, the wanderlust, and a plate full of miles to munch = goosebumps. Extremely happy for you Saket, that you could materialize this trip.
I had been to Mandarmani & Tajpur some 7 years back and it was too calm a place back then. Rarely a soul around in Mandarmani. We had the entire beach to ourselves.

Seeing the JH-01 number plates on the bikes, engulfed me in nostalgia. Hope our wanderlust makes us cross roads again, together, on some other trip of a lifetime.

Cheers

[gearhead_mait]

Excellent write-up and pictures!! Had been there recently. The place is wonderful, even so during monsoons.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by RevvMusic

I had been to Mandarmani & Tajpur some 7 years back and it was too calm a place back then. Rarely a soul around in Mandarmani. We had the entire beach to ourselves.

Seeing the JH-01 number plates on the bikes, engulfed me in nostalgia. Hope our wanderlust makes us cross roads again, together, on some other trip of a lifetime.

Cheers

Thanks Shubho! Tajpur is still a secluded beach and place as a whole. Comes as quite a relief after the crowded Digha. The beach is long and there is a lot of place available for you to enjoy the serenity and calmness of the sea in solitude, if you want. Mandarmani is little more commercialzed, as I stated earlier and most of the visitors, esp. from Kolkata are visiting Mandarmani only. Quite a few resorts have also come up there. However, since it is also a long beach, a little crowd does not bother.

Originally Posted by gearhead_mait

Excellent write-up and pictures!! Had been there recently. The place is wonderful, even so during monsoons.

Thank you Sir! I did follow your travelogue and also commented there. I can say that it was the ignition factor that kindled the thought of traveling to Tajpur...sort of final nail into the coffin! It was a lovely write up as well. We saw the Saibuj Saikat resort where you had put up. Actually, we planned for staying at the same resort, but some confusion and we ended up at Sagar Kinare. However, that is a very nice place to stay too for all.

Fortunately (as we were on 2 wheels) or unfortunately (as we could not see the beauty of place in monsoons) it did not rain during our stay. But we did enjoy being there at the nice beaches, watching red crabs, fun in water, great food and to top it up, very good roads.

Regards,
Saket