Dec 30: Rajgir & Bike Breakdown(part 1 of 2)

The chief tourist attractions in Rajgir open at 8, so I had a very
good nights sleep. And relief in the morning - got to eat poori-subji,
not litti. The people here have a small twist on poorie-subji: extra
jilebi.

I decide to go to one tourist attraction - the cable car that leads to
the top of a hill called Ratnagiri. Atop Ratnagiri is the Japanese
Shanti Stupa, which is a fairly recent construction. The return ride
on the cable car is more rewarding compared to the onward ride, since
one gets to see the aurrounding hills.

There are other historic ruins in Rajgir too, including Bimbisar's
jail, at which I had a look, and decided to skip the rest. None of
these ruins have a roof at all. Same was the case with Nalanda. I
wonder why...

So I proceeded on the road to Gaya. A few kilometers later, my bike
started acting funny - the back wheel was rubbing the frame. I got
down to have a look. The rim had a horizontal crack and had opened up
due to the pressure in the tube. Bad bad!

The local villager urged me to sell the bike to me at 500 rupees! I
could buy a new one, he said. I did no more than smile at him. The
other villagers asked me to transport it till a nearby place, so that
it would be easy to push it atop the bus(I wanted to take it to Gaya).
I took this advice, and went on a cycle rickshaw. The bike was hauled
to the top of a Gaya bound bus, and two hours later I was in Gaya.

After a few km of pushing the bike, I was at the center of the town -
the Chowk. None of the shops make rims - they directed me to
mechanics, one of whom was fortunately around(sunday blues for the
others). I wanted to get just the rims changed. We couldn't get the
gears off the hub, so the entire drive train was changed - the back
hub, spokes, and rim, and a new local chain! What really happened was
complicated, so I am skipping the flow (incluiding phone conversations
with KP). Overall, I now have a fixed speed bike again - with 18 teeth
gear at the back :-( the local mechanic was fairly incompetent, I must
say too!

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