A devotee rides his motorcycle alone to Kailash and finds that the hardest obstacle on a pilgrimage is always the one that appears last.
Raghu is a Shiva devotee living a quiet, settled life in a small town when something shifts inside him — a call he cannot explain, only obey. He mounts his motorcycle and sets out alone for Kailash, Lord Shiva's sacred mountain abode, a journey that will ask more of him than any pilgrimage he imagined.
Amit Bansal's novel follows Raghu through the terrain of that interior transformation as much as through the landscape of the route. The road brings encounters that test not just his endurance but his understanding of what devotion actually costs — and then, just when Kailash seems within reach, an obstacle appears that seems truly impossible. The question the novel turns on is not whether Raghu will reach the mountain but what will have changed in him by the time he discovers whether he can.
The story works in two registers at once: as an adventure narrative with a solo motorcycle journey across difficult ground, and as a spiritual fable about the relationship between a devotee and the deity who, the book promises, never forgets his sincere worshippers. Readers who have felt the pull of a pilgrimage — or who are simply drawn to stories about solitary journeys through charged landscape — will find Raghu's company worth keeping for the duration.
ABOUT THE BOOK: शिवभक्त रघु एक छोटे-से नगर में सुखी व सन्तोषमय जीवन व्यतीत कर रहा था; फिर आता है उसे एक 'बुलावा'! वह अपनी अन्तरात्मा की पुकार सुनता है और भगवान् शिव के पवित्र निवास-स्थान कैलास की यात्रा पर निकल पड़ता है। अपनी मोटरसाइकिल पर अकेले यात्रा करते हुए रघु का भाग्य कई करवटें बदलता है और वह अनेक रोमांचकारी तथा व्याकुल कर देने वाले अनुभवों से गुज़रता है। वह साहस-पूर्वक आगे बढ़ना जारी रखता है, किन्तु फिर उसका सामना होता है एक असंभव-सी बाधा से । इतनी दूर आ जाने के बाद भी क्या उसे निराश होकर लौटना पड़ेगा? क्या उसका स्वप्न इस बार भी अधूरा ही रह जाएगा? जन्म-जन्मान्तरों की यह आध्यात्मिक यात्रा रघु के जीवन को पूरी तरह बदलकर रख देगी और साथ ही देगी उसे एक अमूल्य सीख - महादेव अपने सच्चे भक्तों को कभी नहीं भूलते। आप भी इस अविस्मरणीय यात्रा में रघु के सहभागी बनिए!
