Every year, To get a break from daily routine work, our team plans a trek to explore the nature and to relax themselves. This time we choose a trek to Thadiyandamol. After a week long analysis and HUGE discussions, we decided our final plan.
On the awesome evening of 15th July, we started our journey and decided to stay in Ambli resort in Srirangapatna. Drive till that point was awesome as being a weekday, we didn't find much traffic.
After reaching the palce, we got welcomed by rabbits, hen and 2 Ostrich kind of luking birds in Ambli resort. We had our snacks, drinks and later dinner there and went to our rooms at 10.
But gathered back in 10 mins in one room for cards.... We started with Bluff as thats the most easiest game for software engineers who are playing cards first time! Those 2 games goes ON till 2 and then we decided to pack as some of us has to drive next day till our final destinations! We all decided that we will start our journey by 8 so everyone has to get by up 6 or 6:30. and Thats the end of first part of our JOURNEY!!
Next Morning: 0605 or 0610 hours!!
-----------------------------------
Got up from my bed and went to balcony to stretch myself. But view from that place stretched my eyes to the both sides. It was a east side facing balcony ...So a YELLOW sun was in front of me, partially in clouds and on ground, i saw a long stream of Kaveri river without any ends. After seeing this view, i can't stop myself to go down there and started jogging along the river side. Nice breeze, a little hot feeling of sunrays and the voice of water is not allowing me to stop at that point. I saw some of my mates are there and enjoying the nature with the same passion. Then we got back and had breakfast. Importantly, cards didnt stop chasing us as we had some delay of 1 hr to strat from that place so we started "UNO" - another card game. It was fun as players are making fun on each other's moves!
Then finally after saying goodbye to all rabbits and hens of that resort, we started at around 10 from that place and reached at the basecamp of honeyvally reort i.e. kabbinikad junction. A local person told us that that we have to park our vehicle here and have to go up in owner's jeep. Wondering what could be the reason as road seems to be OK for our Innova but we did as per the direction given. In few minutes we saw a Mahindra commander coming down with an Englishman on the driver seat. He greeted us and asked us to sit in his vehicle. With in the first 2 minutes of ride, we got the answer of all our questions that why we were asked to keep our INNOVA on the base camp.
Sorry for the thought.... and let me tell you about the journey in the owner's jeep!
When we 7 people in jeep excluding driver who might have thought that this is a trek and gonna be a cool ride in between the forest, will see nature on its BEST and will click the animals on our way.
But all our dreams started shivering as the jeep started rolling on the track. There was no road. We can see the imprints of wheel on the muddy road and driver was just trying to put his wheels on the same spot to save our back, neck, legs ..... mean to say WHOLE BODY. Sometime we can see a long inclined rock in front of us ..while sometime we can see the road going down at an angle of almost 60 to 70 degree. I dont know about others but i got 3 times banged with the ceiling of jeep and got all my good memories back at their place! People took out the camera to make a video of that path and i was laughing on them that why they want to engage their one hand while i was using both my hands to save my sweet memories from more BANGS.
sorry for the next line in advance....
Girls were crying..boyz were laughing and in between of all these emotional exchanges..driver was trying to explain something! Saw a resort on one side of the road( so called) and driver told that owner of the resort has gone to LEH for his trip. :-O
after the 30 mins of that shaking journey, we kept our feet on grounds. Driver was our attendent and showed us our rooms. He said food will be ready within half an hour. While others are busy in exploring their rooms, I set out to explore the vicinity of our resort. I asked someone about the nearby location which i can visit in quick time. he told me about a view point at a distance of 30 mins walk. Since i was very excited about the place because of that THRILLING jeep drive. I started running in the direction of lake view. Don't know which short cut i took, which all insects i stamped, and which all bushes I ramped. But finally, I was standing on a edge from where I can see only two colours. BLUE on top and GREEN on bottom, in various shades. I thanked GOD for showing this part of earth to me.
After breathing 10 minutes, i set back as i felt some rats jumping in my stomach. Rushed back to the place and had my lunch. Lunch was good and the sweet too!
after A little rest, we decided to have a walk so that we can finsih one spotlight of the area on that day itself and will continue our trek on the other day. As we heard about a nearby view point. we started moving to it, BUT then rain...sorry drizling started. But we all are so excited to explore the place that we pack ourselves with raincoat/umbrellas and started the FIRST LEG of our trek. the whole team ws heading in the same direction which i had already explored. But after reaching a DRY POND ( it was just a small pit..nothing else) we choose a route which was suppose to lead us to a VIEW point. We started following the path and found insects of different colours. The scenery was awesome. The drizzling brought the mist which makes the view exciting. The term exciting means We saw a beautiful waterfall on another side of mountain but by the time, we could show that to our mates, it was invisible!.. in the mist. we continued our journey in search of that VIEW. I was sure that it's not the same place where i visited earlier and my partner was sure that we are not able to come back from this palce. as it was getting darker and none of us had torch either! But we keep moving forward as we want to see the view. After ging through many Ups and downs, we found a waterfall. Which means that instead of taking VIEW POINT cut, we took WATERFALL cut from that so called DRY POOL!
but even this was not bad. atleast we finished one spotlight of the area. Suddenly we heard a scream of "OH SHIT" twice from one of our team mate who was apart from these screams... was busy in counting the number of leeches on his legs. This spreads the panic among all people and everybody started searching the leeches like a HERO search for villain in hindi cinema. After removing all parasites( we thought so), we headed back to our rooms. return journey was as exciting as the earlier one. we are back to our room by 6:30. Before entering into the room, everyone started checking ourselves to make sure that those PARASITES won't be able to suck our blood in night! Again people started testing their counting by the number of leeches found on their body. They were everywhere... legs, arms, bely, back, neck and even on one's head too!! we removed them and kept all our wet clothes outside the room.
Suddenly heard one ore scream as some1 yelled that girls are coming to our room. We joined the screaming person to shoooo away the ladies until we get back in our stain free attire!
next part was dinner as the person has assured us for the perfect dinner of chicken and PORK!!!! As soon as we enter in the dining hall, i smelled that we are gonna get our best of pork cuisine here and importangt thing, we are only 4 NV people out of 11 people. rest all are enjoying their chapatis, sabji and curry. frankly speaking, food was awesome but pork has marginally advantage over chicken because of its masala. Then we had wine - home made wine which tastes like grape juice only. some people preferred vodka after that while others preferred to continue the card game.
After a while, One of our mate ASHWIN gave us the best entertaining night of the trek as he started behaving nautoriously after having his 5 drinks. Some are trying to calm him down while others are trying to make FUN of him. I was on the third side party, who are just enjoying this TUG OF WAR.. ;-)
Finaly people managed to end our entertainment and everyone move back to their Bed. A awesome day, a perfect evening and a belly full food! What a Beautiful day it was. With the same thought, I went to Bed.
Next morning, we got up and planned to wind up our journey. By 10, we are all ready to start our return journey. We start thie "U" turn with that mind churning, belly woggling and a perfect head banging ride on that MAHINDRA. Some people tried to extend the plan for another day but courtsy to all the female members of the team, we sticked to our original plan. By evening, we are in bangalore!
It was my first trip with my team. Still, i enjoyed it a lot. Be it my chase of scene in restricted time or our head banging session in JEEP, SPICY pork in dinner or that special home made WINE. Moments of cards session in Car or the funny moments of Ash in resort.
With all these memories, signing off this blog with a wait for the next year trek!
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Monday, 26 July 2010
Kochi first ever trip on BIKE!
A long thought in my MIND was moving from past two years and NOWWW.........
It was time to press the eject button & crash out of the madness of daily life. A trip was long overdue & Kerala seems to be the perfect destination. But then there were infinite number of people telling us not to do it plus we had zero experience of any kind of rides. but to LIVE a dream, i suppressed all those voices and said YES to Arun.... for our Maiden trip!
It was New Year time. "Time for some resolutions".so this is it !
The Riders: Arun & Jeevan
The Machine: Black Electra 4s, 2007 Model
Preparations: Arun got the bike serviced 2 weeks before, took it for a wash & check up 1 day before ride.
Route: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Salem-Coimbatore-Palakad-Thrissur-Kochi
Riding Plan: Start early from Bangalore to Thrissur, take a break there, and then head to Kochi.
Day 1 The D Day
Time: 04:30 Hrs, 29 Dec 07 | Place: Jayanagar, Bangalore|Meter Reading: 4703.1 Kms
The alarm started ringing at 3:30am. As planned I had to start early, but getting up from the bed was bit difficult. I had planned to sleep early the night before but by the time I slept it was 11:30pm. By the way I am staying with my friends & working with an IT company here in Bangalore. Fortunately I had packed my bag & kept everything ready for the trip. So just had to get ready & get going"
Got ready by 4:15am fully thrilled about the journey ahead. It was a calm, chilling but nice morning of December. Arun Rolled bike out of parking lot and pulled the choke, decompressed the engine and one kick & the stillness around was broken with the thump of my Bullet. Sitting on the bike, Arun asked me "r u ready for the trip?" and I said "Chal dost, chalte hai" ..... Noted the odometer reading & headed right towards Electronic City, it was still dark outside & cold too" but I was enjoying every bit of the ride. Kept the speed between 60-70 km/h. For escaping from the traffic only we started so early but even at this time trucks & cabs were crawling all over the streets of EC. Finally reached Hosur, stopped there for a tea break. I know it was too early to take a break but what to do"? It was chilling outside. There was another route to Coimbatore via Raikottai - Palakkodu - Mettur , Bhavani, but none of us had never been through there & were not sure of the road conditions. So decided to take the Dharmapuri- Salem route only. Riding on the two lane highway from Hosur to Krishnagiri was simply superb. I could see the sun coming out slowly & turning the night into a brand new day.
Riding through the morning mist, we reached Dharmapuri, place famous for its mango fields. By 9:30am we were in Salem. It was breakfast time".rats were jumping around inside my stomach. Finished the breakfast & were back on track heading straight towards Coimbatore.
Coimbatore was supposed to be 126 Kms away from Salem. But this time it was bit more than that. After riding few kms from Salem, the entire road was blocked & traffic was getting diverted, courtesy some VVIP movement. Crossed Coimbatore and here we come". Valayar check post was just few kms away. Flourishing paddy fields, lush green coconut trees & with the greenery all around, felt like God's Own Country was waiting for giving us this royal welcome. The real India lives in its villages". It's so beautiful!
After crossing the check post, started the worst stretch of NH 47. Over speeding, over taking & all kinds of potholes makes riding on this road a nightmare. Had to be really careful while riding here. Took a long lunch break in a small mess in Palghat. Finally reached Thrissur. The cultural capital of Kerala, this city is named after Lord Shiva & was our destination for the day. We were going to stay in Arun's aunt's house. Zipping through the narrow lane leading to Arun's aunt's house, Throughout the ride, we stopped for taking pics..after all capturing each moment was important. It was 5:30pm & we had ridded 512 kms..enough for the day! Time to unwind & prepare for the day ahead.
Day 2 Night Riding
Time: 08:30 Hrs, 30 Dec 07 | Place: Thrissur, Kerala|Meter Reading: 5215.7 Kms
The day started at 7:30am. We had to go & visit Arun's relatives. Other than that the plan for the day was like this: Visit the famous Vadakunathan temple, which has Lord Shiva as the presiding deity. The city of Thrissur is built around this magnificent temple, which has archeological importance. Then will head towards Kochi, after making a stop at Athirapally Waterfalls. For that, we started at 8:30am to the temple. Even though the roads within Thrissur is not that good but the scenery around is so good, just like any other country side, the ride reminded me of the punch line which I often see in the Royal Enfield website: "Where the grass is green, air is clean & you and your machine." After the visit to the temple, it was time for breakfast. Then headed straight to visit his grand moms. It was around a 20 kms ride from the city limits. And on the way I took some great pics of my bike with the mesmerizing beauty of Kerala in the background. It was 1:00pm by the time we returned. Stopped at his aunt's house for lunch, packed the bags & zoomed right away to Athirapally.
The stretch of NH 47 from Thrissur to Chalakudy is nothing less than a mess. But the moment, we deviated towards the waterfalls from the highway every thing changed. The entire road leading towards the waterfall from there was what I call a biker's paradise with the right kind of turns, bends & jungle all around! Reached the waterfall - Athirapally was simply amazing! We had planned to head towards Kochi before it was dark but relishing the beauty of the falls we didn't realize how time flied away. Took bath in that icy cold water while Arun roam here and there! Finally it was 6:15 pm when we started our bike to go to Kochi & it was also getting dark. After some 20-30 mins it was completely dark. All I could see till the end was the beam of bike's headlight & all I could hear was the thump of my bike breaking the silence all around. At that time , I had a small doubt "What will we do if the bike break downs here in the middle of no where?" Scary thought...huh? Zooming through the darkness that was the time when you find new meaning, new definition for what you really are. Arun told me not to worry & to just sit tightly. Reached NH47 again, stopped for fuel & then straight towards Kochi. The road after crossing Chalakudy was good. The night riding was fun. Finally reached the destination for the day - Kochi by 8:30 pm. Arun had planned to stay with his cousin, who was working there. He was waiting for us at Deshabhimaani Junction. Went to his flat, got fresh, went out for dinner & a small ride around the town. Kochi was beautiful. It was time out for the day.
Day 3 The Rendezvous
Time: 09:30 Hrs, 31 Dec 07 | Place: Kochi, Kerala|Meter Reading: 5427.4 Kms
It was time to meet the Queen - "Kochi". The Queen of the Arabian Sea as she is known, is a nice place to be. Kochi had a perfect blend of both the modern metro & traditional lifestyle. We started the day a bit late. Had breakfast, took some directions from his cousin & were back on track. Headed towards Fort Kochi. It is one of the three main urban components that constitute the present day City of Kochi. A truly cosmopolitan place that has preserved its beauty inherited from its European past. The first place to visit there was the Dutch Palace. The Jews Synagogue, Santa Cruz Basilica, Dutch Cemetery were few other places which followed in our itinerary. Each place had its own story to tell. While drifting slowly on my bike through the narrow streets of Mattanchery market, I felt as if the past is still alive there. The charisma of the place was such that even after visiting all places in Fort Kochi, we were just zipping around on our bike. The shops & food joints crowded with tourist, fancy private auto-rickshaws which foreign tourist were driving themselves, the fishermen pulling out their precious catch using the famous Chinese Fishing Net...few of the special features of this place, which I came across. It had a charm of its own.
Finally said bye- bye to Fort Kochi. Next place to visit was Bolghatty Island. By 5:30 pm we were there, but hard luck" it was closed by 5:00 pm. Better luck next time. Took a short break after this. then headed towards Cherrai Beach. It was some 30 kms ride from the city. The beach was crowded that day as some facilitation function was organized there. Even after so much of crowd the beach was very neat & clean. First we were standing & watching the waves.....then we were half wet &..... finally fully. Seeing the sun dipping down across the wide horizon was a superb scene. After playing enough in the water decided to go back home. Reached my cousin's flat, refreshed & headed for dinner. After a heavy dinner, we decided to just roam around & check how Kochi" the Queen has decorated herself for the year ahead. She was looking beautiful indeed.
After all the fun it was time to prepare for the next day for the return journey...for homecoming !
Day 4 The Homecoming
Time: 07:30 Hrs, 01 Jan 08 | Place: Kochi, Kerala|Meter Reading: 5551.6 Kms
The fun of journey ends when the destination is reached"¦so the journey should continue so that the fun never ends ! With this spirit I started final day of our trip. It was time to pack up & head back to Bangalore.
By 7:30 am I was heading towards Thrissur. We followed the same route, which we took from Bangalore to Kochi. I had planned not to make any stop till we reach Palakad, But later decided to make a stop at Arun's aunt's house in Thrissur. We had breakfast from there & started from there by 10:00 am. Then it was non-stop riding till Coimbatore. By 5:00 pm we had reached Salem. Took a break there. Bangalore was 5 hours away from Salem. But I was not sure whether we will make it in 5 hours or not as it was getting dark. After wagging a war against the bad roads, heavy truck movement & of course the darkness, finally managed to reach Bangalore. It was a moment of pride, of honor, of happiness. And "I Did It" moment. It was 11:15 pm when I reached my room. we had done 563 kms that day.
After a numb butt, a back & the entire body breaking into pieces, I felt that it was just the beginning, the real game is about to begin..! Meanwhile, the ecstasy of this 1400 kms joyride is going to hang on for sometime before it fades out.
I will never forget my first trip for certain reasons.... like
(1) back ache... i think, you know which part of back, i am talking about!
(2) The whole scenery which i saw on our way..... impossible to give words to that view.
(3) The way, UNCLE SUN hide himself in water. I had seen him hiding behind mountains many times. But Under water, this was MY FIRST TIME!
(4) people of kerala, too good and helpful. My rider - Arun is one of them! ;-)
Cheers to all these memories and See you again with more BUTT paining... hair raising and bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu MOMENTS!!!
It was time to press the eject button & crash out of the madness of daily life. A trip was long overdue & Kerala seems to be the perfect destination. But then there were infinite number of people telling us not to do it plus we had zero experience of any kind of rides. but to LIVE a dream, i suppressed all those voices and said YES to Arun.... for our Maiden trip!
It was New Year time. "Time for some resolutions".so this is it !
The Riders: Arun & Jeevan
The Machine: Black Electra 4s, 2007 Model
Preparations: Arun got the bike serviced 2 weeks before, took it for a wash & check up 1 day before ride.
Route: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Salem-Coimbatore-Palakad-Thrissur-Kochi
Riding Plan: Start early from Bangalore to Thrissur, take a break there, and then head to Kochi.
Day 1 The D Day
Time: 04:30 Hrs, 29 Dec 07 | Place: Jayanagar, Bangalore|Meter Reading: 4703.1 Kms
The alarm started ringing at 3:30am. As planned I had to start early, but getting up from the bed was bit difficult. I had planned to sleep early the night before but by the time I slept it was 11:30pm. By the way I am staying with my friends & working with an IT company here in Bangalore. Fortunately I had packed my bag & kept everything ready for the trip. So just had to get ready & get going"
Got ready by 4:15am fully thrilled about the journey ahead. It was a calm, chilling but nice morning of December. Arun Rolled bike out of parking lot and pulled the choke, decompressed the engine and one kick & the stillness around was broken with the thump of my Bullet. Sitting on the bike, Arun asked me "r u ready for the trip?" and I said "Chal dost, chalte hai" ..... Noted the odometer reading & headed right towards Electronic City, it was still dark outside & cold too" but I was enjoying every bit of the ride. Kept the speed between 60-70 km/h. For escaping from the traffic only we started so early but even at this time trucks & cabs were crawling all over the streets of EC. Finally reached Hosur, stopped there for a tea break. I know it was too early to take a break but what to do"? It was chilling outside. There was another route to Coimbatore via Raikottai - Palakkodu - Mettur , Bhavani, but none of us had never been through there & were not sure of the road conditions. So decided to take the Dharmapuri- Salem route only. Riding on the two lane highway from Hosur to Krishnagiri was simply superb. I could see the sun coming out slowly & turning the night into a brand new day.
Riding through the morning mist, we reached Dharmapuri, place famous for its mango fields. By 9:30am we were in Salem. It was breakfast time".rats were jumping around inside my stomach. Finished the breakfast & were back on track heading straight towards Coimbatore.
Coimbatore was supposed to be 126 Kms away from Salem. But this time it was bit more than that. After riding few kms from Salem, the entire road was blocked & traffic was getting diverted, courtesy some VVIP movement. Crossed Coimbatore and here we come". Valayar check post was just few kms away. Flourishing paddy fields, lush green coconut trees & with the greenery all around, felt like God's Own Country was waiting for giving us this royal welcome. The real India lives in its villages". It's so beautiful!
After crossing the check post, started the worst stretch of NH 47. Over speeding, over taking & all kinds of potholes makes riding on this road a nightmare. Had to be really careful while riding here. Took a long lunch break in a small mess in Palghat. Finally reached Thrissur. The cultural capital of Kerala, this city is named after Lord Shiva & was our destination for the day. We were going to stay in Arun's aunt's house. Zipping through the narrow lane leading to Arun's aunt's house, Throughout the ride, we stopped for taking pics..after all capturing each moment was important. It was 5:30pm & we had ridded 512 kms..enough for the day! Time to unwind & prepare for the day ahead.
Day 2 Night Riding
Time: 08:30 Hrs, 30 Dec 07 | Place: Thrissur, Kerala|Meter Reading: 5215.7 Kms
The day started at 7:30am. We had to go & visit Arun's relatives. Other than that the plan for the day was like this: Visit the famous Vadakunathan temple, which has Lord Shiva as the presiding deity. The city of Thrissur is built around this magnificent temple, which has archeological importance. Then will head towards Kochi, after making a stop at Athirapally Waterfalls. For that, we started at 8:30am to the temple. Even though the roads within Thrissur is not that good but the scenery around is so good, just like any other country side, the ride reminded me of the punch line which I often see in the Royal Enfield website: "Where the grass is green, air is clean & you and your machine." After the visit to the temple, it was time for breakfast. Then headed straight to visit his grand moms. It was around a 20 kms ride from the city limits. And on the way I took some great pics of my bike with the mesmerizing beauty of Kerala in the background. It was 1:00pm by the time we returned. Stopped at his aunt's house for lunch, packed the bags & zoomed right away to Athirapally.
The stretch of NH 47 from Thrissur to Chalakudy is nothing less than a mess. But the moment, we deviated towards the waterfalls from the highway every thing changed. The entire road leading towards the waterfall from there was what I call a biker's paradise with the right kind of turns, bends & jungle all around! Reached the waterfall - Athirapally was simply amazing! We had planned to head towards Kochi before it was dark but relishing the beauty of the falls we didn't realize how time flied away. Took bath in that icy cold water while Arun roam here and there! Finally it was 6:15 pm when we started our bike to go to Kochi & it was also getting dark. After some 20-30 mins it was completely dark. All I could see till the end was the beam of bike's headlight & all I could hear was the thump of my bike breaking the silence all around. At that time , I had a small doubt "What will we do if the bike break downs here in the middle of no where?" Scary thought...huh? Zooming through the darkness that was the time when you find new meaning, new definition for what you really are. Arun told me not to worry & to just sit tightly. Reached NH47 again, stopped for fuel & then straight towards Kochi. The road after crossing Chalakudy was good. The night riding was fun. Finally reached the destination for the day - Kochi by 8:30 pm. Arun had planned to stay with his cousin, who was working there. He was waiting for us at Deshabhimaani Junction. Went to his flat, got fresh, went out for dinner & a small ride around the town. Kochi was beautiful. It was time out for the day.
Day 3 The Rendezvous
Time: 09:30 Hrs, 31 Dec 07 | Place: Kochi, Kerala|Meter Reading: 5427.4 Kms
It was time to meet the Queen - "Kochi". The Queen of the Arabian Sea as she is known, is a nice place to be. Kochi had a perfect blend of both the modern metro & traditional lifestyle. We started the day a bit late. Had breakfast, took some directions from his cousin & were back on track. Headed towards Fort Kochi. It is one of the three main urban components that constitute the present day City of Kochi. A truly cosmopolitan place that has preserved its beauty inherited from its European past. The first place to visit there was the Dutch Palace. The Jews Synagogue, Santa Cruz Basilica, Dutch Cemetery were few other places which followed in our itinerary. Each place had its own story to tell. While drifting slowly on my bike through the narrow streets of Mattanchery market, I felt as if the past is still alive there. The charisma of the place was such that even after visiting all places in Fort Kochi, we were just zipping around on our bike. The shops & food joints crowded with tourist, fancy private auto-rickshaws which foreign tourist were driving themselves, the fishermen pulling out their precious catch using the famous Chinese Fishing Net...few of the special features of this place, which I came across. It had a charm of its own.
Finally said bye- bye to Fort Kochi. Next place to visit was Bolghatty Island. By 5:30 pm we were there, but hard luck" it was closed by 5:00 pm. Better luck next time. Took a short break after this. then headed towards Cherrai Beach. It was some 30 kms ride from the city. The beach was crowded that day as some facilitation function was organized there. Even after so much of crowd the beach was very neat & clean. First we were standing & watching the waves.....then we were half wet &..... finally fully. Seeing the sun dipping down across the wide horizon was a superb scene. After playing enough in the water decided to go back home. Reached my cousin's flat, refreshed & headed for dinner. After a heavy dinner, we decided to just roam around & check how Kochi" the Queen has decorated herself for the year ahead. She was looking beautiful indeed.
After all the fun it was time to prepare for the next day for the return journey...for homecoming !
Day 4 The Homecoming
Time: 07:30 Hrs, 01 Jan 08 | Place: Kochi, Kerala|Meter Reading: 5551.6 Kms
The fun of journey ends when the destination is reached"¦so the journey should continue so that the fun never ends ! With this spirit I started final day of our trip. It was time to pack up & head back to Bangalore.
By 7:30 am I was heading towards Thrissur. We followed the same route, which we took from Bangalore to Kochi. I had planned not to make any stop till we reach Palakad, But later decided to make a stop at Arun's aunt's house in Thrissur. We had breakfast from there & started from there by 10:00 am. Then it was non-stop riding till Coimbatore. By 5:00 pm we had reached Salem. Took a break there. Bangalore was 5 hours away from Salem. But I was not sure whether we will make it in 5 hours or not as it was getting dark. After wagging a war against the bad roads, heavy truck movement & of course the darkness, finally managed to reach Bangalore. It was a moment of pride, of honor, of happiness. And "I Did It" moment. It was 11:15 pm when I reached my room. we had done 563 kms that day.
After a numb butt, a back & the entire body breaking into pieces, I felt that it was just the beginning, the real game is about to begin..! Meanwhile, the ecstasy of this 1400 kms joyride is going to hang on for sometime before it fades out.
I will never forget my first trip for certain reasons.... like
(1) back ache... i think, you know which part of back, i am talking about!
(2) The whole scenery which i saw on our way..... impossible to give words to that view.
(3) The way, UNCLE SUN hide himself in water. I had seen him hiding behind mountains many times. But Under water, this was MY FIRST TIME!
(4) people of kerala, too good and helpful. My rider - Arun is one of them! ;-)
Cheers to all these memories and See you again with more BUTT paining... hair raising and bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu MOMENTS!!!
Monday, 12 July 2010
pondi trip
Petrol may become still more expensive, roads will get even more crowded, the air will become more polluted and one day you too will get old…just to realize that things were much better when you were young. The idea was not to take the stock of things which have been lost or things which will be lost, but to live the day doing what you love the most. Again a long weekend was around the corner with nothing new to do.
It was my wish to have a trip to Pondichery on bike. I got a YES from my friend Arun and after that, I didn't have to think too much to say OK for the trip. Soon I was busy charting the route, searching for lodging & places to visit. As we had 4 days, we decided to visit Mahabalipuram also. And then sms were send with a single line question...''The trip is on…r u in?'' Many friend called up to inform that they may join. Who all are coming, which route we are taking, where we are going to stay...nothing was clear except for the fact that coming Oct 2nd, I am going to Pondy & Mahabs…just cant wait to ride on the ECR.
One day before the trip, I got a clear picture of the things, which was something like this:
Route: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Kancheepuram-Mahabs-Pondy-Tindivanam-Gingee-Tiruvannamalai-Chengam-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore.
Plan: Reach Mahabs & stay there for a night, head towards Pondy by evening through ECR on day 2, roam around in Pondy & stay there on day 3. Head back home on day 4.
No of Riders: 2
No of Bikes: 1 (Yes, No one else joined us because of their monotonous life's routines)
Journey begins…all again !
First day of the trip is always the same...full of excitement & josh ! We had packed our entire luggage into 2 Army jute bags, which were hanged & tightly tied on both sides of our bike. All set & we started riding towards EC by 7 am. Odometer showed a reading of 11385 Kms at the beginning of the trip. Crossed EC to reach Hosur, stopped there to buy water. Now begins the favorite part of the trip. The Hosur-Krishnagiri highway. It's an excellent stretch of road with turns, bends and scenic landscape all around. The chemistry between the bike and tarmac is such that, they seems to be talking to each other. We stopped at Ghar Dhaba. Restaurant was good but too much crowded. I couldn't believe that people are willing to stand in an hour long queue for a masala dosa. As neither of us had that kind of patience, we decided to move on. Just after taking a left turn towards Vellore, we stopped at a small roadside food corner. Believe me, the food was simply great. Back on the road after breakfast, we were heading towards Vellore. The roads from here, throughout our journey were in superb condition I must agree but…it was boring. There is nothing much to see, to enjoy. You have straight stretch of road and our speedometer struck at a constant speed.
Finally reached Kanchipuram. A city of thousand temples & silk. Here the number of shops selling silk products will exceed everything else in the city. As I was going home for diwali so decided to do some serious shopping. It's was so confusing and I ended up at some 2 hours in getting in & out of almost all the shops in the vicinity. I was scared of Arun as he was looking at me like he want to drag me till Pondi on back of his back with those saris. But he said nothing by his mouth and hands... Lucky Me!. This was the time when we thought of a small change in the plan. Deviating from the lines already drawn is always fun…after all riding a bullet is something similar. Instead of going to Mahabs, we thought we will head towards Chennai. Decided to stay with Arun's uncle there and head towards Mahabs next day morning. we called up his uncle to inform him about the grand homecoming of his nephew. After having lunch from Kanchipuram, we were back on NH4 heading towards Chennai. Reached there by 4pm, our firststop. Took some time in finding out his uncle's place as he had been there only once & that too not on bike. After getting fresh, we decided to check out the hot & happening Chennai. When I said hot…I really mean it. But this time weather was not that hot either. Went to Marina beach...man it's crowded like Kumbh mela and was smelling like a dock yard. I asked my elder brother to meet us at a point in our way and decided to meet outside Chennai Central Railway station. Went there not only to meet him but also for handing over the consignment of silk saris which I had purchased, as he was also going home for diwali and i dont want to carry that BUNDLE with me on my trip.. ;-)!! After roaming around for sometime, we were back at Arun's uncle's place. we had done some 400 plus kms and was happy for the day.
The East Coast Ride…
Second day started with a light drizzle in the morning. But thankfully it didn't rain thereafter. I was more than eager to sail through the East Coast Road. Started at around 9am. Plan was to reach Mahabs by afternoon & Pondy by evening. Took the beach road to enter the ECR. It's a single lane highway with traffic flowing towards both the sides & without any dividers in between. But the road has been maintained so well that you will disappointed if you start searching for pot hole to ensure that you are still riding on Indian roads. You will have beach on one side of road for your company & beautiful country side on the other. It was like a sweet dream for every biker. We stopped at Covelong beach & Croc Bank on our way. It was great. Enjoying the ride we reached Mahabs or Mamallapuram by 2pm. Arjuna's Penance was the first place which we visited there. The 108 year old Lighthouse standing with poise, a huge oval rock known as Krishna's Butter Ball defying gravity by not rolling down a steep hill side were simply amazing. Then it was lunch time. After which we went to the famous Shore temple. It has been a mute, tireless sentinel of the shore for the past 1300 years. It's an architectural masterpiece. I came across a poster which read : ''Mamallapuram - 60 Kms & 1300 years away from Chennai''. How true it was. This small town was our second pit stop on ECR. By 4:30pm we were done with Mahabs & were heading towards Pondy. After reaching Pondy, there were two things for us to do. One to enjoy the night at the beach & to find a place to sleep. As no rooms were reserved in advance, I was not sure where or whether we will be getting a room. People were flowing into Pondy in tons as it was a long weekend. After searching every nook & corner of Pondy for almost 2 hours, we were lucky enough to get a room. The room was pretty decent. Got fresh & went to Velu's Military Hotel for a really heavy dinner. Food was good.
After the dinner, took out the bike & headed towards the Serenity beach. It was around 10pm when we reached there. The beach road was full of people taking a walk, enjoying the breeze or simply sitting & doing nothing. As the name suggest you will be able to find calm & silence on this shore even though it was crowded. The beach road is 1.5 Kms long with beach on one side & many hotels, restaurants & offices on the other. Before going back to the hotel, we would have ridden at least 3-4 times from one end to the other. Magic of this place fascinated us like anything that we decided to be there again before sunrise next day. Went back to room and signed off for the day.
The French connection… revisited
Arun was up with the first ring of the alarmas he was die-ing to catch the sun in full action with a beautiful beach in the foreground. Few people are very dedicated, I appreciate that. Like Me who had alarm ringing from 2 cell phones but still showing atmost dedication to my sleep.( I love that part of MINE). Without any guilty feeling, Arun kicked me out of my dream world. Got ready and were on the beach by 5:30.
It was still dark but could see the light coming across behind the horizon. Yes he was on his way. After walking for few minutes, we were standing with our eyes fixed on the horizon. But soon we were disappointed. Sun came out properly but behind the clouds...fully camouflaged ! That was googly of the day. But still we enjoyed the morning walk on the beach. Took some snaps on my K750I cell(thats the only camera, we had)& again ridded on the beach road. What I saw in the dark, the night before was looking even better in the morning. People meditating, doing yoga or talking a brisk walk…it was so peaceful. I decided to explore the streets and by lanes near the beach road.
Here every thing had a European touch. The churches, restaurants, street names, the building…their color, architecture, names everything…! There was something special about the aura of this place. Time had just frozen here and it was so beautiful. After the early morning ride, we were back in the hotel room.
POA for the day was to visit the Shri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondichery Museum & finally Auroville. As there was enough time, we decided to start the ride a bit late. I was resting on the bed watching the TV…that's it. I was out for an hour. When I got up it was raining…again. But by the time we got ready, the rain had stopped and by the time we started our ride sun was out in full strength. I was happy.
We headed towards the Ashram after breakfast. Next was the museum. On display were the findings of Arikamedu, a flourishing port city which got lost in the history. A township which lost its trade, wealth & finally its glory before becoming a play ground for archeologist to plow out things, which doesn't make much sense to normal eyes. Again reiterating the fact that whatever has been gained has to be lost some day…nothing remains forever. That was thought for the day ! Out of the museum by 12 noon and back to the present time, we were faced with a little confusion. Only place left for us to visit was Auroville, which was 10 kms north of Pondy town. As we had the entire evening with nothing to do, there were 2 options: Ride back to Pondy after visiting Auroville, stay there & head back home next day or head back to Bangalore, after Auroville. We didn't do either of them, rather decided to go back to Chennai. Call it home sickness of Arun or our excitement of ECR ride or whatever.
Came back to hotel, packed our bags & zipped towards Auroville. We were at Auroville by 1pm. It's a universal township, where people from different nationalities, faiths and beliefs, can live in peace and harmony. It was closed for lunch, had to wait for some times for seeing the golden sphere, the Matri Mandir. Started the ride towards Chennai by 3:30pm, stopping at all the spots on ECR where we couldn't stop while heading towards Pondy. Riding back on the ECR was marvelous. The odometer showed a reading of 12021.5 Kms while starting from Auroville and it the showed the same till Bangalore as the speedometer cable broke on the way. We were home after a long struggle with Chennai's traffic. It was time to unwind for the day.
Time to say Goodbye
Once again it was time to say goodbye & head back home. Packed our bags, tied them back on the bike. We started the ride by 10:30am. Stopped for fuel & were back on the track. We took the same route, the same good old highway. Stopped at Hosur for lunch. By 5pm we were back in Bangalore…thrill, ecstasy, bliss everything ends here & back to normal life (normal life...? don't have any idea why we call it so).
It was my wish to have a trip to Pondichery on bike. I got a YES from my friend Arun and after that, I didn't have to think too much to say OK for the trip. Soon I was busy charting the route, searching for lodging & places to visit. As we had 4 days, we decided to visit Mahabalipuram also. And then sms were send with a single line question...''The trip is on…r u in?'' Many friend called up to inform that they may join. Who all are coming, which route we are taking, where we are going to stay...nothing was clear except for the fact that coming Oct 2nd, I am going to Pondy & Mahabs…just cant wait to ride on the ECR.
One day before the trip, I got a clear picture of the things, which was something like this:
Route: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Kancheepuram-Mahabs-Pondy-Tindivanam-Gingee-Tiruvannamalai-Chengam-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore.
Plan: Reach Mahabs & stay there for a night, head towards Pondy by evening through ECR on day 2, roam around in Pondy & stay there on day 3. Head back home on day 4.
No of Riders: 2
No of Bikes: 1 (Yes, No one else joined us because of their monotonous life's routines)
Journey begins…all again !
First day of the trip is always the same...full of excitement & josh ! We had packed our entire luggage into 2 Army jute bags, which were hanged & tightly tied on both sides of our bike. All set & we started riding towards EC by 7 am. Odometer showed a reading of 11385 Kms at the beginning of the trip. Crossed EC to reach Hosur, stopped there to buy water. Now begins the favorite part of the trip. The Hosur-Krishnagiri highway. It's an excellent stretch of road with turns, bends and scenic landscape all around. The chemistry between the bike and tarmac is such that, they seems to be talking to each other. We stopped at Ghar Dhaba. Restaurant was good but too much crowded. I couldn't believe that people are willing to stand in an hour long queue for a masala dosa. As neither of us had that kind of patience, we decided to move on. Just after taking a left turn towards Vellore, we stopped at a small roadside food corner. Believe me, the food was simply great. Back on the road after breakfast, we were heading towards Vellore. The roads from here, throughout our journey were in superb condition I must agree but…it was boring. There is nothing much to see, to enjoy. You have straight stretch of road and our speedometer struck at a constant speed.
Finally reached Kanchipuram. A city of thousand temples & silk. Here the number of shops selling silk products will exceed everything else in the city. As I was going home for diwali so decided to do some serious shopping. It's was so confusing and I ended up at some 2 hours in getting in & out of almost all the shops in the vicinity. I was scared of Arun as he was looking at me like he want to drag me till Pondi on back of his back with those saris. But he said nothing by his mouth and hands... Lucky Me!. This was the time when we thought of a small change in the plan. Deviating from the lines already drawn is always fun…after all riding a bullet is something similar. Instead of going to Mahabs, we thought we will head towards Chennai. Decided to stay with Arun's uncle there and head towards Mahabs next day morning. we called up his uncle to inform him about the grand homecoming of his nephew. After having lunch from Kanchipuram, we were back on NH4 heading towards Chennai. Reached there by 4pm, our firststop. Took some time in finding out his uncle's place as he had been there only once & that too not on bike. After getting fresh, we decided to check out the hot & happening Chennai. When I said hot…I really mean it. But this time weather was not that hot either. Went to Marina beach...man it's crowded like Kumbh mela and was smelling like a dock yard. I asked my elder brother to meet us at a point in our way and decided to meet outside Chennai Central Railway station. Went there not only to meet him but also for handing over the consignment of silk saris which I had purchased, as he was also going home for diwali and i dont want to carry that BUNDLE with me on my trip.. ;-)!! After roaming around for sometime, we were back at Arun's uncle's place. we had done some 400 plus kms and was happy for the day.
The East Coast Ride…
Second day started with a light drizzle in the morning. But thankfully it didn't rain thereafter. I was more than eager to sail through the East Coast Road. Started at around 9am. Plan was to reach Mahabs by afternoon & Pondy by evening. Took the beach road to enter the ECR. It's a single lane highway with traffic flowing towards both the sides & without any dividers in between. But the road has been maintained so well that you will disappointed if you start searching for pot hole to ensure that you are still riding on Indian roads. You will have beach on one side of road for your company & beautiful country side on the other. It was like a sweet dream for every biker. We stopped at Covelong beach & Croc Bank on our way. It was great. Enjoying the ride we reached Mahabs or Mamallapuram by 2pm. Arjuna's Penance was the first place which we visited there. The 108 year old Lighthouse standing with poise, a huge oval rock known as Krishna's Butter Ball defying gravity by not rolling down a steep hill side were simply amazing. Then it was lunch time. After which we went to the famous Shore temple. It has been a mute, tireless sentinel of the shore for the past 1300 years. It's an architectural masterpiece. I came across a poster which read : ''Mamallapuram - 60 Kms & 1300 years away from Chennai''. How true it was. This small town was our second pit stop on ECR. By 4:30pm we were done with Mahabs & were heading towards Pondy. After reaching Pondy, there were two things for us to do. One to enjoy the night at the beach & to find a place to sleep. As no rooms were reserved in advance, I was not sure where or whether we will be getting a room. People were flowing into Pondy in tons as it was a long weekend. After searching every nook & corner of Pondy for almost 2 hours, we were lucky enough to get a room. The room was pretty decent. Got fresh & went to Velu's Military Hotel for a really heavy dinner. Food was good.
After the dinner, took out the bike & headed towards the Serenity beach. It was around 10pm when we reached there. The beach road was full of people taking a walk, enjoying the breeze or simply sitting & doing nothing. As the name suggest you will be able to find calm & silence on this shore even though it was crowded. The beach road is 1.5 Kms long with beach on one side & many hotels, restaurants & offices on the other. Before going back to the hotel, we would have ridden at least 3-4 times from one end to the other. Magic of this place fascinated us like anything that we decided to be there again before sunrise next day. Went back to room and signed off for the day.
The French connection… revisited
Arun was up with the first ring of the alarmas he was die-ing to catch the sun in full action with a beautiful beach in the foreground. Few people are very dedicated, I appreciate that. Like Me who had alarm ringing from 2 cell phones but still showing atmost dedication to my sleep.( I love that part of MINE). Without any guilty feeling, Arun kicked me out of my dream world. Got ready and were on the beach by 5:30.
It was still dark but could see the light coming across behind the horizon. Yes he was on his way. After walking for few minutes, we were standing with our eyes fixed on the horizon. But soon we were disappointed. Sun came out properly but behind the clouds...fully camouflaged ! That was googly of the day. But still we enjoyed the morning walk on the beach. Took some snaps on my K750I cell(thats the only camera, we had)& again ridded on the beach road. What I saw in the dark, the night before was looking even better in the morning. People meditating, doing yoga or talking a brisk walk…it was so peaceful. I decided to explore the streets and by lanes near the beach road.
Here every thing had a European touch. The churches, restaurants, street names, the building…their color, architecture, names everything…! There was something special about the aura of this place. Time had just frozen here and it was so beautiful. After the early morning ride, we were back in the hotel room.
POA for the day was to visit the Shri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondichery Museum & finally Auroville. As there was enough time, we decided to start the ride a bit late. I was resting on the bed watching the TV…that's it. I was out for an hour. When I got up it was raining…again. But by the time we got ready, the rain had stopped and by the time we started our ride sun was out in full strength. I was happy.
We headed towards the Ashram after breakfast. Next was the museum. On display were the findings of Arikamedu, a flourishing port city which got lost in the history. A township which lost its trade, wealth & finally its glory before becoming a play ground for archeologist to plow out things, which doesn't make much sense to normal eyes. Again reiterating the fact that whatever has been gained has to be lost some day…nothing remains forever. That was thought for the day ! Out of the museum by 12 noon and back to the present time, we were faced with a little confusion. Only place left for us to visit was Auroville, which was 10 kms north of Pondy town. As we had the entire evening with nothing to do, there were 2 options: Ride back to Pondy after visiting Auroville, stay there & head back home next day or head back to Bangalore, after Auroville. We didn't do either of them, rather decided to go back to Chennai. Call it home sickness of Arun or our excitement of ECR ride or whatever.
Came back to hotel, packed our bags & zipped towards Auroville. We were at Auroville by 1pm. It's a universal township, where people from different nationalities, faiths and beliefs, can live in peace and harmony. It was closed for lunch, had to wait for some times for seeing the golden sphere, the Matri Mandir. Started the ride towards Chennai by 3:30pm, stopping at all the spots on ECR where we couldn't stop while heading towards Pondy. Riding back on the ECR was marvelous. The odometer showed a reading of 12021.5 Kms while starting from Auroville and it the showed the same till Bangalore as the speedometer cable broke on the way. We were home after a long struggle with Chennai's traffic. It was time to unwind for the day.
Time to say Goodbye
Once again it was time to say goodbye & head back home. Packed our bags, tied them back on the bike. We started the ride by 10:30am. Stopped for fuel & were back on the track. We took the same route, the same good old highway. Stopped at Hosur for lunch. By 5pm we were back in Bangalore…thrill, ecstasy, bliss everything ends here & back to normal life (normal life...? don't have any idea why we call it so).
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Nand hill on BIKE
"The favorite part of the ride - Riding up the hill, hairpin bends and dense fog all around. It had started drizzling also by now and that made it even more beautiful."
Does riding a distance of 60 km qualifies to be called as a trip? It will be even more sickening to say that it took more than 3 weeks for us to finalize and set out for this so called long trip to Nandi Hills, which is about 60 km from Bangalore. But then, that is the truth and this was exactly the jinx which we were trying to break.
Before I talk more about the drama which unfolded before and during this trip, the characters involved in it require a small introduction:
Arun - My Friend & my rider in many trips.
Kailash - My brother & always a trip ready person.
Satya - Another friendly soul who was pulled in for this trip.
Baba - A person who tours a lot, mostly in his dreams.
Alok - A Rider, Photographer, Body builder and of course a friend.
Jeevan - That's me.
The stage was set by Baba. After the Shivnasamudram trip, we were back in room to find Baba sitting in front of the TV, waiting to breathe out fire on us. Reason for his anger was that he was not informed about the Shivnasamudram trip. Well, he was in a semi sleep mode when we started the trip in the morning, hence he couldn't realize we were riding out. Anyway he vented his anger on us by giving touching dialogues on friendship. Overwhelmed by his righteous anger, Kailash declared that the coming weekend he will be taking Baba bhaiya to Nandi Hills and we all will have to accompany him. All of us had no option but to agree to that.
The scheduled weekend was around the corner. Alok was suppose to join, but had to pull out in the last moment. As trips are incomplete without photography and Alok being the photographer, we all decided to postpone the trip to the next weekend. The next weekend T20 became the jinx. As few of the characters listed above are die hard cricket fans, it was decided that we will start the early morning ride once the match is over. The plan was to reach Nandi well before the sun rise. After the match, I decided to get some sleep before the ride. Set the alarm for 3am and went to bed. I got up at 3 to find all my buddies sleeping, few of them hugging the television. What an emotional bonding it was! Again the trip was postponed for a week. Now I was running out of patience here. In 2 weeks time one can complete Himalayan Odyssey and here we were not able to manage a 60 km ride.
It was the third weekend now. Alok had gone home & was out of station, Satya was not feeling well, Baba going by his habit was willing to join us in his dreams. Except Arun & Kailash everyone was still in a disposition to postpone the trip for one more week. After some amount of coercion, compulsion and requests, it was decided that four of us- Arun, Kailash, Satya and me will be going ahead with this ride. Arun got up at 3am. Kicking me out of his sleep has always been his job. This time also he did it with perfection. Satya got up, but to inform us that he don't want to come along, as he was not feeling well. Now we had 2 bikes and 3 people. At this moment, I called up all the people in my contact list at 3 o'clock in the night to ask them whether they would like to join us. Not to mention, I was giving them an invitation way tooooo in advance. Since I was not allowed to sleep, I didn't want the rest of the world to sleep either. Listening to all this drama, Satya couldn't sleep and decided to join us for the trip. I was happy. When Satya was asked to take his camera, he was quick to inform us that he didn't charge the battery, as no one was sure whether we will be going for this ride. Wow, what a well planned ride it was, I felt.
Finally we rolled out our bikes to start the ride. It was 4:15 am. We decided to head towards Silk Board, from there to Marthahalli and finally to Devanahalli-Yellahanka-Nandi Hills. It was dark, it was cold outside and I was enjoying my ride. We made a stop at BTM Layout for fuel, as it was the only petrol pump open at that time. While filling the fuel, we asked the attendant to check the air also. He asked us to help our self as there was no one else. Kailash & Satya were more than happy to hear that. When both of them almost messed up the machine, the attendant came running for the rescue, rescue of that machine…I mean.
We were back on the track and heading towards our destination. Arun took this trip too lightly as we had gone quite longer trips before this trip. He was riding as if he is going to get groceries from the nearby shop. That could be the reason why he was wearing floaters instead of shoes and a sweat shirt instead of his jacket. Well that was a mistake, which he realized very soon. The road was in good condition, as the Bangalore International Airport is on the way. So even during this time it was crowded with cabs & other vehicles going towards airport. I was riding at 60-70 kmph. And when the road was too good to resist then my bike would have touched 90 kmph. I could see Satya also going like a bullet, even though he was not riding one. Well it's not just the bike which matters.
Now our eyes had started searching for a tea shop. No prize for guessing why.... So the lesson learned here is: Whether it's a 60 km or 6000 km ride, little bit of preparation is always good. We had crossed Yellahanka by now and the the sun was already out, but behind the clouds. Yes we were late, but the good thing is that it was a cloudy day.
I was wondering how far Nandi hills is, now. We were off the highway and were riding on a narrow road leading towards the hill. We could see many hills beside the road. Which one of them is the elusive Nandi, elusive in our case! But all of them were as beautiful as it can get. Open fields with a small hut, these hills in the background with clouds drifting as if in a trance and touching the hill. All of them were posing for a perfect picture, which doesn't require any kind of editing by Photoshop. Finally we all were at the foot of the hill. Now begins the favorite part of the ride -Riding up the hill, hairpin bends and dense fog all around. It had started drizzling also by now and that made it even more beautiful. It was so much pleasing to the eye and the best part is that all this is just 60 km from Bangalore.
Enjoying that incredible ride we reached the top of the hill. We had to park our bikes there as bikes were not allowed further. There was a long queue outside the ticket counter. Kailash took the job of getting the tickets and Arun took the job of getting tea. He need that badly, as he want to pour hot tea on his feets as they are not responding at all!! It was crowded very badly. The best thing about Nandi hills that day was the weather.
There is nothing much to see around here in Nandi except for the hill itself. It is a 2000 feet granite monolith. We took the tickets & went inside. There is a point called Tipu's Drop. This was the place from where convicted prisons were dropped down to death by Tipu Sultan's decree. It's a place with a gory past.
We stood at the tip of that cliff, stretched our arms and closed our eyes…the effect was magical. Almost felt like flying. At this altitude we were among the clouds. The effect created by the wind which was blowing the clouds so hard was thrilling. We were missing Alok now. The only bad thing about this place if you ask me was the crowd. Well we were also part of that. Otherwise this would have been a perfect place to come, sit and do nothing. There was a temple also at the top. After spending some time at the top, we decided to start our descend. Before that we had to finish one important thing i.e. breakfast. There were few stall & shops even at the top of the hill(Which made the place messy). Went to one of them and ordered our ''all time life saving food'' - Maggie.
While walking down towards the parking after the breakfast, we found a small park meant for kids. It had a board informing that it was for kids below 12 yrs, well for some time we became kids below 12 yrs. When we felt that we had digested all what we ate, we decided to move on.
Ride back to home was nothing special except for once as we wanted to buy the grapes being sold at the road side, for the people who missed this journey and will shout at us at home. Soon we were back to Bangalore, to our room, to the mundane life.
Finally I manage to break the jinx with a Bullet !
Does riding a distance of 60 km qualifies to be called as a trip? It will be even more sickening to say that it took more than 3 weeks for us to finalize and set out for this so called long trip to Nandi Hills, which is about 60 km from Bangalore. But then, that is the truth and this was exactly the jinx which we were trying to break.
Before I talk more about the drama which unfolded before and during this trip, the characters involved in it require a small introduction:
Arun - My Friend & my rider in many trips.
Kailash - My brother & always a trip ready person.
Satya - Another friendly soul who was pulled in for this trip.
Baba - A person who tours a lot, mostly in his dreams.
Alok - A Rider, Photographer, Body builder and of course a friend.
Jeevan - That's me.
The stage was set by Baba. After the Shivnasamudram trip, we were back in room to find Baba sitting in front of the TV, waiting to breathe out fire on us. Reason for his anger was that he was not informed about the Shivnasamudram trip. Well, he was in a semi sleep mode when we started the trip in the morning, hence he couldn't realize we were riding out. Anyway he vented his anger on us by giving touching dialogues on friendship. Overwhelmed by his righteous anger, Kailash declared that the coming weekend he will be taking Baba bhaiya to Nandi Hills and we all will have to accompany him. All of us had no option but to agree to that.
The scheduled weekend was around the corner. Alok was suppose to join, but had to pull out in the last moment. As trips are incomplete without photography and Alok being the photographer, we all decided to postpone the trip to the next weekend. The next weekend T20 became the jinx. As few of the characters listed above are die hard cricket fans, it was decided that we will start the early morning ride once the match is over. The plan was to reach Nandi well before the sun rise. After the match, I decided to get some sleep before the ride. Set the alarm for 3am and went to bed. I got up at 3 to find all my buddies sleeping, few of them hugging the television. What an emotional bonding it was! Again the trip was postponed for a week. Now I was running out of patience here. In 2 weeks time one can complete Himalayan Odyssey and here we were not able to manage a 60 km ride.
It was the third weekend now. Alok had gone home & was out of station, Satya was not feeling well, Baba going by his habit was willing to join us in his dreams. Except Arun & Kailash everyone was still in a disposition to postpone the trip for one more week. After some amount of coercion, compulsion and requests, it was decided that four of us- Arun, Kailash, Satya and me will be going ahead with this ride. Arun got up at 3am. Kicking me out of his sleep has always been his job. This time also he did it with perfection. Satya got up, but to inform us that he don't want to come along, as he was not feeling well. Now we had 2 bikes and 3 people. At this moment, I called up all the people in my contact list at 3 o'clock in the night to ask them whether they would like to join us. Not to mention, I was giving them an invitation way tooooo in advance. Since I was not allowed to sleep, I didn't want the rest of the world to sleep either. Listening to all this drama, Satya couldn't sleep and decided to join us for the trip. I was happy. When Satya was asked to take his camera, he was quick to inform us that he didn't charge the battery, as no one was sure whether we will be going for this ride. Wow, what a well planned ride it was, I felt.
Finally we rolled out our bikes to start the ride. It was 4:15 am. We decided to head towards Silk Board, from there to Marthahalli and finally to Devanahalli-Yellahanka-Nandi Hills. It was dark, it was cold outside and I was enjoying my ride. We made a stop at BTM Layout for fuel, as it was the only petrol pump open at that time. While filling the fuel, we asked the attendant to check the air also. He asked us to help our self as there was no one else. Kailash & Satya were more than happy to hear that. When both of them almost messed up the machine, the attendant came running for the rescue, rescue of that machine…I mean.
We were back on the track and heading towards our destination. Arun took this trip too lightly as we had gone quite longer trips before this trip. He was riding as if he is going to get groceries from the nearby shop. That could be the reason why he was wearing floaters instead of shoes and a sweat shirt instead of his jacket. Well that was a mistake, which he realized very soon. The road was in good condition, as the Bangalore International Airport is on the way. So even during this time it was crowded with cabs & other vehicles going towards airport. I was riding at 60-70 kmph. And when the road was too good to resist then my bike would have touched 90 kmph. I could see Satya also going like a bullet, even though he was not riding one. Well it's not just the bike which matters.
Now our eyes had started searching for a tea shop. No prize for guessing why.... So the lesson learned here is: Whether it's a 60 km or 6000 km ride, little bit of preparation is always good. We had crossed Yellahanka by now and the the sun was already out, but behind the clouds. Yes we were late, but the good thing is that it was a cloudy day.
I was wondering how far Nandi hills is, now. We were off the highway and were riding on a narrow road leading towards the hill. We could see many hills beside the road. Which one of them is the elusive Nandi, elusive in our case! But all of them were as beautiful as it can get. Open fields with a small hut, these hills in the background with clouds drifting as if in a trance and touching the hill. All of them were posing for a perfect picture, which doesn't require any kind of editing by Photoshop. Finally we all were at the foot of the hill. Now begins the favorite part of the ride -Riding up the hill, hairpin bends and dense fog all around. It had started drizzling also by now and that made it even more beautiful. It was so much pleasing to the eye and the best part is that all this is just 60 km from Bangalore.
Enjoying that incredible ride we reached the top of the hill. We had to park our bikes there as bikes were not allowed further. There was a long queue outside the ticket counter. Kailash took the job of getting the tickets and Arun took the job of getting tea. He need that badly, as he want to pour hot tea on his feets as they are not responding at all!! It was crowded very badly. The best thing about Nandi hills that day was the weather.
There is nothing much to see around here in Nandi except for the hill itself. It is a 2000 feet granite monolith. We took the tickets & went inside. There is a point called Tipu's Drop. This was the place from where convicted prisons were dropped down to death by Tipu Sultan's decree. It's a place with a gory past.
We stood at the tip of that cliff, stretched our arms and closed our eyes…the effect was magical. Almost felt like flying. At this altitude we were among the clouds. The effect created by the wind which was blowing the clouds so hard was thrilling. We were missing Alok now. The only bad thing about this place if you ask me was the crowd. Well we were also part of that. Otherwise this would have been a perfect place to come, sit and do nothing. There was a temple also at the top. After spending some time at the top, we decided to start our descend. Before that we had to finish one important thing i.e. breakfast. There were few stall & shops even at the top of the hill(Which made the place messy). Went to one of them and ordered our ''all time life saving food'' - Maggie.
While walking down towards the parking after the breakfast, we found a small park meant for kids. It had a board informing that it was for kids below 12 yrs, well for some time we became kids below 12 yrs. When we felt that we had digested all what we ate, we decided to move on.
Ride back to home was nothing special except for once as we wanted to buy the grapes being sold at the road side, for the people who missed this journey and will shout at us at home. Soon we were back to Bangalore, to our room, to the mundane life.
Finally I manage to break the jinx with a Bullet !
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