Jan 8-12: The story till 12th! (part 2 of 8)

The dacoits of MP around these areas seem to have banded together
around one fellow(whose name escapes me). In case he asks, in Gabbar
Singh's style 'kitna inaam rakhi hai re sarkaar ham par', then he will
end up receiving a not-so-flattering reply 'huzoor, poore teen lakh'.
Minor change, if you consider that these guys got a ransom of 8 lakh
in exchange for the son of a local rich man. These robbers seem to be
a fairly sophisticated lot. Not for them small jobs like looting
villagers!

The area I've crossed today is supposed to mark the end of the
territory of operation of these dacoits. But people here in Shahgadh,
especially the important people, carry around large rifles visibly.
Some protection is provided to people building roads, for reasons that
eascape me.

The new Sulabh Shouchalaya complex turned out to be my best friend in
the morning. But the road after that till Sagar wasn't in the best of
shape. Two gentle 1km climbs along the road here, called 'ghats' by
the locals! And they have a hard time believing that I can climb these
'ghats' sitting on my bicycle. Not much to see in terms of scenary,
with a few distant hills and wheat, mustard, channa fields for
company. So I struggle on the road at 10km/hr to reach Sagar(district
HQ) by 2:00 PM. Sagar turns out to be a sizeable city, starting with
about 4km to go to the city center. A change in the menu for the
better, with curd showing up in the menu: kadhi chawal.

After Sagar, the next town of significance is Rahatgadh, 40km away.
Madhya Pradesh is one place which, it is safe to say, overflows with
forts. If the name of any place ends in 'gadh', then it is safe to
assume that it does have a fort with a few bits and pieces in good
shape atleast. Not all of them may be interesting to visit, but who
knows what you may find. I'm actually tempted to do a full scale ride
of complete Madhya Pradesh some day, but who knows when I'll get the
time for it at all.

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