The story of an incredible journey - Day 3 - We made it !

Some time must have passed, I felt someone was trying to wake me up. Knowing about the policeman's visit, I got up quickly and reached out to my sack searching for my I Card. 

“It’s already four Makarand, and we need to start moving.” This time it was Sandesh. 

“Oh is it? I thought it must be the policeman.” I was still trying to keep myself awake. 

“He did come sometime around midnight. He wanted to wake up everyone, but when he saw my I Card with the name College Of Engineering, Pune on it, he was satisfied, and changed his mind.” 

Instantly we recognized the power of our I Card. We had to use that power a few more times later.

There was no one on the road as we approached the highway to start our southward journey again. 

“Sangameshwar 45 KM, Hathkhamba 75 KM” read the milepost as we reached the highway and left Chiplun. 

One third of our onward journey still remains. Today we were feeling tired, but also relaxed at the same time, because we knew we were going to make it today. The roads were still hilly, but much more greener now and the slopes were steeper. Averaging just about ten kilo meters per hour, we reached Hathkhamba a little after noon.

Hathkhamba is the place where you turn right towards Ratnagiri, straight road goes to Goa and the left turn will take you towards Amba Ghat, Pawankhind and Kolhapur. We are very close to our destination, only twelve kilometers to go. 

“Sushil was going to meet us here in Hathkhamba” Anil was about to say when he realized that Sushil is not seen anywhere. 

There was no place to hide as there was nothing around. We could have started rolling towards Ratnagiri, but there was a risk in it. What if Sushil was waiting for us somewhere there? There will be absolutely no way for him to know that we have crossed the junction.

We were getting restless as thirty minutes passed without any sign of Sushil. 

“How long can we wait?, if he is here he won’t be hiding for that long.” Agreed everyone and we started moving towards Ratnagiri. 

“How can we find his house? Hope he is famous in Ratnagiri, and we can trace him by name.” I kept my thoughts to myself, so as not to demotivate others. How stupid it was to not carry address of a place we were visiting!

We were almost there and just a couple of kilometers before Ratnagiri, we saw a figure approaching us from the west. With the evening sun behind him, it was difficult to recognise who it is. He must be Sushil, I guessed. We started shouting with joy and waved frantically at him. It was easy for him to notice the four bicycles, and he was looking for more. He was also shouting and waving his right hand. We could see it clearly that he was very very happy as well as surprised. 

“You have reached long before I had expected. I thought you would reach by late evening. Well done guys.” Sushil was talking as loud as he could while he took the U Turn. Now it was a team of five.

As we entered Tambat Ali, everyone was staring at us. We had become an item of presentation. Not that they were new to people from Pune, but it was our appearance after a three day long bicycle journey. Sushil’s parents welcomed us whole heartedly.

The next three days were going to be full of fun in the new place, the delicious food at night was just an example of it.