Chasing the monsoon

Updated On: 14 June, 2015 08:40 AM IST | | Ismat Tahseen

<p>Poets have written odes to it, artists have tried to capture it on canvas, and you might fantasise about it over your daily coffee. But there’s little that comes close to experiencing the beauty of the Indian monsoon than on a bike in wild, open country, discovers Ismat Tahseen</p>

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Monsoon travel

There’s something about the rains. It’s magical and mesmerising. The smell of the wet earth when the rains first hit it, the landscape that turns almost silver-grey and the weather that becomes misty and cold. It’s also when India turns into a land of contradictions — the parched, cracked ground almost healing itself with the showers, the brown surroundings turning into a green dhurrie and the patterned, falling rain shifting the harried pace of life into a slow, unhurried one. The season also plays host to a commune of bikers, who have been awaiting the wet weather to explore the best rain-soaked vistas and routes. Here’s where the thrill is taking them...

On the way from Alibaug to Murud. Pic courtesy/TANMAY SHANISHCHANDRA