BHUTAN: Mojo Spot On!

Up in the mountains of Bhutan, there comes a time, ever so frequently, when heavy mist comes rolling in and blocks everything from view. So Akielie and I pull over under an overhanging rock, take off our helmets, gloves and boots.

- Shahwar Hussain

After riding for hours with all the protective gears on, it is a relief to take them off and let our heads, hands and feet breathe! We were in no hurry.

We waited for a good 25 minutes for the mist to lift and when it did, the view was just mesmerising. We stood rooted in our place as we were treated with a grand view of mountains with lush green dense forest, a roaring river way below, cutting through their base and clouds hovering above us.

Bhutan never fails to mesmerise its visitors. It had done that to me a lot of times…. and I was game for some more. This tiny Himalayan kingdom is a great motorcycling country and I decided to try the model from the Mahindra Two Wheeler stable…Mojo, on the Bhutanese mountains. Although I liked the 295cc single cylinder powerplant, I was a little apprehensive about the sitting posture. Not because the posture was awkward but because my riding style is heavily inclined towards the off road variety. But once I got going, things turned out right.

After we picked up the bikes from Kolkata, we rode 600 kms to Jaigaon…and I can’t really say I enjoyed the journey. I usually keep the bike’s headlights on while on the highway even in the daytime for safety reasons. The Mojo has a set of daytime running LEDs that can be seen from a distance. They are two thin strips of light but they do their job exceedingly well.

Jaigaon, in North Bengal, borders the Bhutanese town of Phuntsholing and is a typical border town…Loud, crowded to the brim and chaotic. The last 5 kms to Phuntsholing took us an eternity to cover. We shared the road with overloaded trucks, buses, impossibly crowded mini buses honking like crazy, carts pulled by huge bulls, autos, brightly coloured rickshaws, bicycles and people.

At the end of the town is the gate to enter Bhutan and it is a wonder how crossing a simple gate leads to a different world altogether…literally.