The (slowly) changing face of Bihar

Bihar has never really featured as one of the great biking destinations. Most of its countryside, hills and greenfields lie unseen by the tourer on a motorcycle who hails from the metro cities of India. So, when riders defy everything to get to Khardung la, Leh and Ladakh, what threat does Bihar pose?

Actually it does. The threat here is some of its people. Highway robberies, murders and other forms of hideous broad daylight crimes for years have given Bihar this infamous image! If you try to go into the case, you will realize that the root cause of all this is unemployment. The unemployed youth (misguided by weird organisations) take to crime to fund their families. As crime rates rise, industrialisation goes out of the window and to complete the circle, unemployment rises more in return! Work cultures do not exist and officials do not work mostly.

The roads are more craters than tarmac and the infrastructure is non existent! So how does a lone biker survive so many gruesome odds? The result is a state, mostly unmarked in even the most daunting 2 wheel tourer's map!

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Our visit to Bihar and the long rides we did there on the highways really changed a lot of our pre-conceived notions. The roads are getting better, the infrastructure is slowly bucking up. The people are friendly to tourists and the cops will happily show you the way! The roadside grub is good and hey, there is even the 'Cream and Onion something' chips hanging outside the roadside shop, which you can wash down with a Cold Soft drink (if the power has been there to run the fridge, yes power is a major problem here)!

Give it another 5 years and Bihar will come right back on the bikers' map. And as you can see in the image below, it is really beautiful!