On the road just after dawn, trying to avoid the worst of the heat I set off from the motel I’d stayed in on a main road just outside Rupnagar and feeling somewhat relieved that I’d left behind the very noisy air conditioning and the rat under my bed.
At this early hour, already 27C and very humid, the slightest of effort bringing the sweat out of my pores. Within half an hour my cycling kit wet.
Pushing on until 8 when I started to look for some breakfast. I enquired in one dhaba if they did omelettes and they said no, but 1.5 km down the road I could get some. In the end I couldn’t find the place and stopped in a busy dhaba with a number of trucks outside. Communication difficult I pointed at what the people opposite were eating and in a few minutes i was presented with a lovely spicy freshly cooked flat bread filled with onions. While I was waiting one of the waiters noticing I was hot, put the fan on and made sure I had some cooling air. These small acts of consideration and kindness I find everywhere I travel in India. People are always looking out for you.
Further down the road I had to stop to switch over the route in my bicycle computer so I stopped to wait for it to sync up. For some reason it was very slow. Within a few minutes a royal Enfield motorbike pulled up with three young men on board, probably in their early twenties. One holding a cricket bat. Curious about me they went through the usual questions and then invited me to go and play cricket with them. I declined the adventure. More people turned up. Children followed by their mothers. Sadly my update done I left my sitting place on the side of the road and waved goodbye to the beautifully kind strangers I’d just been talking to.
A little further on, cycling through a town I come across some sort of celebration outside the Sikh temple. I cycled a little further down the road to find a drink. By this time the temperature has reached 35C and with the humidity I feel at the edge of my comfort zone. In a cool air conditioned shop I bought a Diet Coke to make a refreshing change from the large amounts of warm water I’d been drinking on my bike. Sitting down in some shade opposite, two people beckoned me in to their motor scooter repair shop and give me a chair, positioning me directly under a fan. Bliss as I cooled down, drinking my Coke.
After a few minutes they suggest that I go back to the temple as there would be some food there. Apparently it was the gurus birthday. There’s one catch I need to cover my hair. One of them coming back from a shop after a minute or two, with a piece of white cotton cloth and a makeshift head covering was made. I cycle back to the temple to observe. As always people are lovely and welcoming, wanting to make sure I’m ok. Offering me food. It’s wonderful.
Sitting down on a chair I get talking to someone else and eventually end up in his wife’s haberdashery shop. It’s nice and cool and we talk as best we can about our families and work. Before I leave the obligatory selfies.
Eventually I head out into the oven with a warm feeling from the afternoons interactions I’ve had with so many nice people.
The Punjab is a great place to be.
