Lions of Punjab

I was on a road trip to Ladakh. After a month of preparation in tuning my bike and body I had finally hit the road. I met two more motorcycling enthusiasts on the internet just three days before riding out solo. One was from Indore and the other from Bangalore but we had all spent our schooling days in Chhattisgarh. This made the bond stronger and the ride enjoyable, as we traversed on the Ch­andigarh highway. We had been riding for a long time since we had breakfast. I was starving and wanted to have the taste of Punjab. So the dhaba-spotting competition began. Every dhaba was decorated as if there was a marriage party.
I always had this feeling that I belonged to Punjab. It’s music, culture, dance and especially food. The voluptuous butter chickens, aromatic saag and stuffed paranthas just made me go crazy. We were having sweet lassi at a sole non-veg dhaba, which was surrounded by many Vaishno dhabas on the Ch­andigarh stretch.
After having our fill, we moved on. Every moment was memorable. We stopped several times to capture the locals and locations with our cameras. Posing here and there, waving at co-travellers and pilgrims who were heading for the Vaishno Devi circuit. By the time we reached Himachal Pradesh the call from within grew louder, the stomach was yelling for food. And spot-the-dhaba contest began. Sher-e-Punjab was one name, which was propped everywhere. There were several dhabas, hotels and even gyms with this unique name. What is so charming about Sher-e-Punjab? Why does it rule the roost when it comes to naming anything. Punjab is one of the smallest states with 84% area under intensive cultivation. It harbours natural biodiversity and provides a home to rare and endangered animals like Indus river dolphin, pangolin, otter and python. But who came up with the idea of lions of Punjab? Perhaps, there were none, so they invented one.